Thursday, September 18, 2008

Participate in History

At Jamie's request I offer the following public service announcement in regards to voting in the presidential election: (this is cut and copied from a website that is apparently so liberal that Jamie didn't want me to link to it and give it more hits than it already has.) Both Texas and Tennessee are included.

Texas

Deadline for registering to vote is Monday, October 6, 2008.

Texas On-Line voter registration form, here. Sign, print out the form and mail it to the county voter registrar. The County Voter Registrar's address can be found at the top of the online outputted voter registration application once you have submitted your information from the fill-in-the blanks screen.

Check to see if you are already registered to vote in Texas, here.

List of county voter registration offices, here.

Early voting in Texas

Early voting in person may be easier than you think. You don't have to stand in long lines on Election Day. Registered voters may vote early at a location convenient to them within their political subdivision. Early voting in person generally starts 17 days before each election and ends 4 days before each election. Early voting for the May uniform election date begins 12 days before the election and ends on the 4th day before the election. If you can drive or if you have a friend or relative who can drive you, you don't even have to get out of the car. Call ahead to notify the early voting clerk that you want to vote from your car. This procedure is called "curbside voting" and is available to any voter who has difficulty walking or standing for long periods. The election official will bring your ballot to your car outside the polling place. Curbside voting is available during early voting and on Election Day. State and Federal law requires all early and Election Day polling locations to be physically accessible to voters with disabilities. Call your election official for information on your particular voting sites.

Vote early in person (you don't need to vote in your precinct, you can cast your ballot at any early voting site in your county which is convenient to YOU) or vote early by mail (this is done by requesting an application for a ballot to be mailed to you or downloading an application form). Voting early in person is convenient and, unlike early voting by mail, you don't need an excuse.

Early Voting dates are October 20-October 31, 2008. Contact your county registrar for voting locations.

To request an application ballot to be mailed to you (ABSENTEE), click here. Or request an application for a ballot (absentee) by mail, here.

Contact Information:

Texas Secretary of State
1.800.252.VOTE (8683)


Tennessee

Deadline for registering to vote is Monday, October 6, 2008.

Voter registration application is here. Mail the completed application or take in person to your county election office, here.

Persons can also register to vote at the following locations:

County Clerk’s Offices
County Election Commission Office
Department of Health (WIC program),
Department of Human Services,
Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation,
Department of Safety (motor vehicles division)
Department of Veteran’s Affairs
Public Libraries
Register of Deeds Offices

Voting by Mail or Absentee Voting, to qualify read here. If you qualify, request by writing to the voter's local county election commission office. The request can be mailed or faxed to the county election commission office. For further information, contact your county election commission office.

Early voting is allowed in Tennessee. Any registered voter can early vote. Early voting begins 20 days before the election and ends 5 days before the election. A voter may vote on any Saturday during this time frame. Persons may vote at the county election commission office or any designated satellite voting location. Contact your county election commission office for locations and times.

Contact Information:

Tennessee Department of State
(615) 741-7956

Friday, September 12, 2008

Grapefest

We just got back from Grapefest, which is like a street fair they have here in Grapevine, and boy did we have fun! We went with Jen & Haylee, and met up with Tara, Jennica & their kiddos. It was HOT when we got there, but thanks to Ike, the temperature was falling as the day went on.

Haylee wanted to go on a ride, and so she went around and debated about all of the kids rides, the tea cups, the helicopter, the spinning bears, etc... In the end she and Jen ended up on the real live rollercoaster, which Haylee DID NOT like once it started going, and I can understand why, it was fast and a little jerky too...

After being traumatized by the roller coaster we went over to the petting zoo, and Kaiya was in her element! She LOVED it! At first when we went in there, she got right down face to face with the goat and was trying to figure out if they were going to run away from her like Pepper & RaRa do...

Then when she figured out that the goats weren't going anywhere, she really got excited. She patted the goats...


She hugged the goats...

She even got kisses from a goat...

There were also chickens and bunnies.

This poor guy was laying right in front of the fan and just panting. I think the other bunnies call him Sarge, and when he gets back to the bunny hutch after a weekend at a petting zoo, I bet all the other little bunnies gather around him, and he says in his deep, raspy bunny voice... "It was heck out there men; pure heck..."

There were also llamas and miniature donkeys, but they were in their own little pen, so I had to hold Kaiya to pet them and didn't get a picture. But we decided it was time to go when Kaiya started identifying body parts on a rather disgruntled looking llama and when she got to eye, she tried to poke her little finger right in there.

So a good time was had by all, except for maybe the petting zoo animals. I can't wait to take her to the State Fair of Texas petting zoo!!! They have a giraffe, good luck trying to poke his eye!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sassy Britches

So, I went shopping with Hattie while she was still on maternity leave at a shi shi little kids store. And I don't know what it is, but somehow Hattie always gets me to look at things that I would normally never give a second glance to, but when I try them on, I LOVE them. So I guess it is no surprise that she has the same gift with Kaiya's clothes too...


Yes, that is leopard print ruffle trim on the ankles & waist; the perfect addition to the pink paisley and pucci inspired print on the left, and don't for get the sequins on her right leg...
I didn't even put the bracelet on her, Kaiya did that herself!!! Are we in trouble or what?

Thursday, September 4, 2008

A Vision of the Future...

I am a little bit scared of how much Kaiya liked this car at Toys R Us...I'm having scary visions of Kaiya's teenage years! No more growing up, okay????

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

An Evening at the Botanical Gardens

I love Grapevine; it is such a beautiful place to live. A few days ago the three of us went to the botanical gardens here in Grapevine, and had such a good time.

Of course the highlight of the trip was the fountain.

It is a great design for kids, because they can lean over, get wet and splash without actually getting into the fountain. Kaiya pulled rocks out of the fountain & Jamie lined them up in a tidy little row...

Then when she got thirsty, Kaiya helped herself...
(amazingly enough, she didn't get sick, but the fountain did smell like it had a little chlorine in it, so maybe that is why)

Jamie was even kind enough to carry our soaking wet child back to the car when it was time to go. Kaiya apparently had some things to discuss with him on the way.

This is one of those things that I was so excited to do before we had Kaiya, and sometimes I just can't believe how blessed we are. What a miracle.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Sometimes Two Rights Make a Wrong

So, I know I generally don't do shopping blogs, but I was doing one of my favorite online pastimes, pouncing on Etsy* and it was quite funny, because Twilight** related items randomly kept coming up so I was curious, and as of Sunday evening, there were 1271 Twilight items for sale!!! Can you believe it? So I couldn't resist coming up with my own review, and without further ado, here is the good, the bad and the freaky of fan created Twilight paraphernalia...

The Good:

Here is my favorite item:
It actually made me laugh out loud. If you can't live without it, here is the link
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14450341

And because I tended to like the stuff that you would have to know the series to understand, here are some of my runners up:

Get it? The earrings, they are forks, like Forks, WA, where the books take place. Ha Ha
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_18&listing_id=14442086

and rounding out my top 3 is:
because once again, you have to know the books, to understand its meaning, and the crystal heart is just icing. Here is the link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_8&listing_id=14297146


The Bad:

Here there are just too many in this category to even make a fair representation, I would have to say that the excessive numbers of "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" items would have to top the list. However, this little item I thought was just a teeny bit over the top:


Yes my friends, that is actual sand from First Beach on the reservation. Just what you need to carry around on your wrist...dirt... I am even a Jacob fan and I think this is too much.

The Freaky:

Once again, I had trouble narrowing this category down, but here are my top 3 items that made me go, "Huh???"

First, the I heart Edward Cullen Coffee Cozy,

because sometimes, you just need to proclaim your love for Edward before you finish that first cup of joe... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_5&listing_id=12389490

Also, in this category are Twilight themed coasters


Because once again, you might need to remind yourself not to make a ring on the coffee table by putting your beverage on a character from Twilight. I am guessing here that the Edward coaster is either a mountain lion, or just a regular lion (as in, so the lion fell in love with the lamb). http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_20&listing_id=12644101

And finally:


Yes ladies, now you too can proclaim your loyalty to either Jacob or Edward all night long with these eye masks! They can be yours for the low low price of $13.00 each!

Still hungry for more??? Here are links to some of my other favorite items. But beware, they tend to more Jacob related, but it is my blog, so I can put whatever I want on it!

These links will expire when the listing is over, so don't delay, look today!!!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_19&listing_id=14156844
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_3&listing_id=14112990
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_16&listing_id=14337385
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_21&listing_id=14492925
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_20&listing_id=13535426
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_18&listing_id=13643554
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_14&listing_id=14042732
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_6&listing_id=14415739
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_12&listing_id=14511509

*www.etsy.com is like ebay for handmade/crafty things, and pouncing is a feature that randomly brings up items that have just been sold. It is essentially a way to window shop.

**Twilight is a embarassingly addictive book series, see my previous post "Done!!!"

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

My Birthday Girls Day Out

Jen & I have tradition, we treat each other to lunch and pedicures for our birthdays, and it is quite a lovely ladies day out (sans kiddos of course). So for my birthday we took a jaunt over to Sam Moon's (la la la...those are the angels singing) and got some lovely new items. I got a new wallet and some earrings and almost got in a fist fight with a woman who got the last one of an adorable wooden beaded necklace (I totally could have taken her). Jen didn't want to take the picture inside, because she thought we might get taken down by the either the security guard or the Chinese mafia. I thought it would be fun to try something new on my birthday, and I have never been tackled by a security guard OR had a hit put out on me, but Jen put her foot down and said no, we must take the picture outside. Party pooper... Anyway, after that we went to lunch, and I had a hankering for some grits & gravy, so we headed over to the Cracker Barrel, where we not only had lunch but also an intense game of checkers. Then finally over to the nail place to get our toes done, aren't we sassy???
What a FABULOUS birthday!!!