Monitor Mischief

This is what my daughter does when she is supposed to be napping.  I swear she is groggy and tired eyed when I put her in there.  But...she just has the urge to sing! She can't help it.

A medley of songs from story time! 

 Too much Mary Poppins.

Long Time, No See and Lego Santa. Plus Floating Lanterns.

I feel like it's been forever since I posted.  A lot of fun things have been happening, and of course I have pictures of everything...but I am far too lazy to recap it all.

We saw Santa today. Cass was a little scared at first, but ended up taking a picture with him.  Mostly she just wanted the coloring book and crayons.  Our Santa visit took place at The Henry Ford, so afterward (there was no line, so the whole visit took all of 5 minutes) we hung around for a while and looked at other things.  We quickly passed through the Lego exhibit to get to the the Lego playing room.  Fun stuff.

"That's not Santa, Mommy!"

Thanksgiving weekend we went up North and my husband surprised me with an early birthday present.  He had bought a bunch of large, floating "wishing"  lanterns to commemorate my upcoming birthday.  It was quite fun, and a unique way to celebrate.  Love him!

Of course, my kid was terrified when one veered off course into a tree.  It looked like the tree was ablaze, but after we (well, not me) knocked it down with snowballs, we quickly realized the tree was never in any danger.  The small wax square that is lit on fire to propel the lantern was simply still burning.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving

Man, am I thankful. I honestly have an amazing life. I don't even understand why I am so lucky. It's humbling. I want to shout, "God is good!", but I don't talk like that. So, I'll settle for, "my life is amazing!"

Thanksgiving feast this afternoon with my mother. My amazing husband should be home from work momentarily, baby will be waking from nap, and eating will soon commence! My only turkey day food foray this year is a green bean casserole. That's all I'm responsible for. Another blessing! :)

Not a fan of posting pictures of myself, but this one that my darling daughter took of me earlier captures my mood.

Treasures From My Youth

Recently, with more than a little help from my step-mom, I cleaned out my basement. I found an innumerable number of treasures - including a hand knitted, yellow sweater with the monogram, "Tracy."

Tracy was my given middle name. I changed my middle name to my maiden name and ditched the Tracy when I married, but I used to love it.

When I was about 3 years old I went through a stage where I wanted everyone to call me Tracy. I've heard stories from my mother and seen the evidence. One time, she told me, she came to pick me up from Sunday School after her church service, and the director said there was no one there by my name. When she pointed to me, the woman said, "She told me her name was Tracy!"

Another instance of my Tracy fixation is evidenced by an old newspaper photo of me and several other children. I'm standing there smiling, holding up a holiday coloring sheet from the local grocery store.  I assume I must have colored it better than any other 3 year old.  Although, I'm surrounded by other kids holding up their own, so maybe not? Regardless, my drawing and I were asked to be in the photo.

Below the picture is a list of the participant's names, and I am listed as "Tracy MyLastname." Ha ha!

I guess I was going through an early identity crisis or something. I still love that yellow sweater. So glad I found it.

Michigan for Obama!

I am fervently praying (I doubt God gets involved in the presidential election of the good 'ole USA, but still) that Obama wins by a landslide.

Most polling indicates a very close race (which is unbelievable, in my opinion), but I have a hard time trusting the polls.  I'm no statistician, but the sample sizes seem way too small to truly reflect anything.  I think the methodology that many pollsters are still using is arcane.  Gallup is especially fishy right now.  They have a history of being wrong when they are such an outlier, and thus are very hard to trust at this time.  I also don't see how even the best methodology and formula tweaking can account for the fact that there is no proof of the veracity of the respondents.  If Obama wins by a lot, then it will be interesting to see how polls are weighted in the next election.    

I also feel the media is hyping polls (these arcane things with no certainty of truthfulness in respondents), in order to keep public interest up.  A random poll coming from a random polling company will get a headline if they are enough of an outlier.  Why? It sells. 

After my desire for Obama to win big on a national level, comes my desire for him to win Michigan.  Even the polls, those ridiculous things, indicate he has Michigan in hand.  But again...I don't trust the polls.  

I've got to stay away from the news, because it's not even really news.  It's spin - from both sides.  The truth will only be known after all the votes are counted.  

So, please God, let Obama win, and please, please, please don't let anyone tamper with this election.  I'm not sure if I'm paranoid or if it is a real possibility, but I am fearful of interference. 

Rainy Day Fun

As Sandy pummels the East Coast, we just have a typical rainy and windy day to contend with. Cassie got these awesome foam letters and numbers for her birthday and we finally pulled them out.

Rainy day success!!

ETA: In retrospect, it seems wrong to have been enjoying our rainy day while Sandy wreaked havoc. What a horrible storm.