Recap

Jackson wants me to post something positive. A bit more of a "recap."

We left London on Sunday morning. We took a train to Edinburgh. We sat next to an interesting English girl and quizzed her about her life here. She was kind of odd, but nice enough. She had a crush on some boy and turned bright red when we asked her about him. I found that humorous. She also had bad things to say about Obama (who has yet to send an airplane for me...) so that's always nice. Anyway, she was a history major at "uni" (University for those of us in the know) and didn't know a darned thing. I was especially disturbed that she had NO idea about their tax structure. SIGH. Anyway. That was our train ride. There were some pretty sights, but the ride was supposed to be 4 hours and was about 6 due to some "signal errors." (I think the Conductor was snoozing.)

So we get to Edinburgh (the COLDEST place inhabited by human beings on the face of the planet) and walk to our hotel. The hotel is pretty awesome. Get this: you walk into the lobby on the 5th floor and your rooms are in the basement! It was like sleeping in a cave (it was usually quiet with a occasional screaming, bratty child making all kinds of noise. That kid is lucky we could not find him). The room was super nice and the shower felt like a power washer. Talk about water pressure. I think my scalp is still recovering. Anyway, the room was nice. They had a "free" (it is not free if I am paying to stay there...) spa that was not a spa. It was a pool and a hot room. No massages. No hot tub. False advertising at it's finest.

We snuck out to get a swimsuit. Again with 30,000 people slammed into one department store without a single matching bathing suit. Sigh. We went to a pub for dinner and had awesome nachos. Seriously, they were so good. (I still cannot get a SPRITE!!!) I ordered Mac-n-Cheese. It was decent. Nothing to write home about (as if people still write home). Oh, we're not sending postcards because the Royal Mail is on strike and won't deliver. C'est la vie.

We were supposed to go to St. Andrew's, but the course was covered in snow. Jackson did not want to go unless he could play golf. Susie, he'll be looking to bring you over sometime to play. (Jenna is never leaving the God-smiled-upon U.S. of A EVER again. Someone stop her if she tries. Honestly.) Jackson was really sad and I felt bad for him. :( That day we pretty much just wandered around town. Jackson is so ashamed that we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Edinburgh. It was OK. (A real Mexican would have been pretty angry because the restaurant had pictures of NATIVE AMERICANS up as a representation of Mexicans. Just a little confused...) Anyway, that was interesting. I'm not ashamed of our attempt at yummy food.

We pretty much just explored the city and froze. SO COLD. They have this little festival going on and these crazy cold-immune people are out riding fair rides. BRR. Think 4-H fair in the middle of a real castle. Odd. But neat. (No "fair food" by American standards. However you can get french fries with gravy on them. GRAVY! Gag.)

Have no fear, we did find the Hard Rock Cafe to get my Mom a pin. Whew.

Today is our last day in the "arctic circle." We took the Edinburgh Castle tour. I expected it to be awesome to see how the Queens used to live. SNOOZE. They made the whole thing into like a museum. We did get to see the Scottish Crown Jewels. They were awesome, but no photos could be taken so you'll just have to take my word for it. ;)

They have a place here called "Costa Coffee" that is supposed to be awesome. We tried it out. Not bad. (The Starbucks here is quite different from that served in America.) They are not much into sitting around reading in coffee shops here so we hopped into an Internet cafe (without a cafe-??) to blog really quick. (You're welcome. ;))

This evening, we will catch a train back to London. We are homeless tonight as we have no hotel to go to in L-town. :( We have an early morning train to Paris. (Fingers crossed that we do not get stuck under the ocean like they did last week!) Paris should be interesting. (Still waiting for that plane, Barack...)

We're not so sure we will have access to a computer there and even if we did I feel certain that their keyboards would be even more screwy than the one I am currently attempting to use. So we will bid you good-bye from Europe. We'll be sure to post photos when we get back to Denver. (Denver has never sounded so good to me. Ever.)

Please pray that we have safe flights. All of these bombing attempts have made us a little nervous. (OK, made me nervous. Jackson never gets worked up. And that bothers me.)

No place like HOME

Let's be honest: I WANT TO GO BACK TO AMERICA, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A picture of Europe: people EVERYWHERE. They stop when you are trying to walk. They have umbrellas out in the snow (idiots). The food is awful. Seriously. Come here if you need to diet. My jeans are already falling off of me with long johns on underneath them. It is so cold here that you do not even unfreeze during 8 hours of sleep. SO COLD. Please, Barack, I'll never talk crap again if you send Airforce One for me right now in Scotland. PLEASE.

That's about it. Jackson, however, likes it here.

Harrod's

Boxing Day

Last night we ordered room service for the first time in our lives (we think). It was pretty good, too. The hotel has a little DVD stand so we checked out a movie and snuggled in for the night.

This morning we got up at a decent hour to help the people of London celebrate BOXING DAY. I'm not sure what it is other than a reason for stores to have sales the day after Christmas. Anyway, who are we to poo-poo a celebration? We went to the hotel's restaurant for our complimentary breakfast. GAG! We ordered scrambled eggs. BIG MISTAKE. They looked like yellow cottage cheese and tasted like crap. UGH! I seriously want to hurl just thinking about them. They did have great seasonal fruit and "Frosties" (aka Frosted Flakes). 

Then we headed out to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. 
Along the way, I noticed that the subway had a grammatical error. How annoying. 

Jackson's reaction to my taking a photo of the sign. Priceless. 
We ate lunch at a quaint little hamburger stand called McDonald's. They said they had a few locations in the States, too. ;) Sue us. We had a crappy breakfast and wanted some "good" food. Look at how happy Jackson is with that Big Mac in his hand. :)
This is out of order, but tonight in Chinatown we saw this restaurant and it reminded Jackson of the Duckwall family. Weirdo. 
We did some shopping in the afternoon and even stopped in at a grocery store to see what it was like. We are spoiled in America! Their meat selection lead me to reprise an old favorite song to sound a little something like this: 

God Bless America,

Home of good meat....

HA :)

So we came back and took a little nap. I just cannot get down with the time change here. Then headed back out to HARROD'S. 
Isn't it gorgeous? I LOVED the green! 
I did not buy a single thing for three reasons:

1. It was the most expensive store that I have entered in a looong time

2. We were packed in there with about 40,000 other people

3. I felt it needed to be mentioned again that it was EXTREMELY expensive

So we went to Chinatown to eat dinner and ended up at a place called "Pizza Express." Classic. It was actually great pizza, very similar to Pizza King in Marion. YUM! 

That was about all of our day. We hopped a train back to the hotel and we're packing for our journey to Scotland in the morning. We will likely not have much internet access after tomorrow morning, but we'll try to post when possible.

We keep seeing this sign in the Tube Stations and thinking of MacKenzie. We miss her.

PICK UP THE TRASH

I understand that there have been holidays and what-not going on, but for the love London, pick up your garbage! There are hardly any trash receptacles throughout the city and the ones they do have are flowing over. It is quite disgusting and a disgrace to an otherwise nice city.

Oh, and people seem to just throw their gum onto the sidewalks here. Sick. Their sidewalks look like crap thanks to those hacks. 

Great view

The view from the Golden Jubilee walking bridge. 

We passed some men smelling cinnamon nuts today- what would Christmas day be without stinky nuts? ;)

Guards

If you listen closely you can hear some pretty funny commentary. :)

The Palace

Buckingham Palace

A Petefish Christmas

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d544d334d7a6b324d6a633d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown

Our dear Kathi made this for us. It made me cry because I'm feeling particularly homesick today.

Thanks, Kathi. It was so sweet! 

Merry Christmas!

We are wishing you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS today. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and remember to thank God for his blessings upon our lives.

London

We made it! Woo hoo! And I am blogging from this lovely computer/tv in our room. We're so impressed with this iMac tv and computer that we think we will purchase one upon our return to the states. :)

Our hotel is extremely nice, but the Europeans believe in small spaces. It is all we need, I guess.

Jackson illustrating how close the hallways are- eek. 
If you know MacKenzie, you know that she loves to play ball so we about died when we passed this sign hanging near a school park. Classic. :)
We did extremely well today- we did not get lost one single time. That's a big deal! Here is Jackson riding the escalator down to the "tube" aka the subway. 

I had to laugh tonight when we went exploring as there was a 2-story KFC in the middle of London's version of Times Square called "Piccadilly Circus." Really? KFC? It just made me laugh.
There is a the huge Ripley's Believe it Or Not. We didn't go in.
Doesn't it remind you of Times Square?

A red phone booth photo is a requirement when one is traveling to London. I'm holding an instant hot cocoa that was terrible. Ick. Below Jackson is making fun of me for being such a tourist. Hmp.

That is the "London Eye." It is like a big fancy ferris wheel that is super expensive to ride so we just looked at it from across the river.
Jackson checking out our map. We are hating life without our iPhones to save the day constantly. 
Big Ben all lit up for Christmas.
STILL reading his map (but he looks so handsome when he navigates..)


Instead of "yield" they have "give way" signs. Hilarious. It seems much more polite to say give way. We just cannot get used to the way that they drive here! Sooo different. I get a kick out of the different words that they use here: lifts = elevators, cheers=thanks, bedrooms=hotel rooms. Love it.

So we had a heck of a time getting out of Denver and into Chicago, but we finally made it. Thankfully, we had a 4 hour layover in Chicago so we still made our flight to London without issue. We took sleeping pills in the airport and I slept for almost the entire 7.5 hour flight. Jackson was not as lucky and had trouble sleeping. Poor kid.

We got into London around 1 p.m. their time, went through customs, got our bags and hopped on the tube to our hotel. We iChatted with my Mom for a bit then headed out to get some dinner. We went to a pub called "Barley Mow" where Jackson had fish & Chips and a pint. I had salmon with potatoes. Both dishes were excellent! We were quite pleased and felt we had a very British dinner. :) Funny story: I asked for a Sprite. I had to repeat my request to 4 bartenders and finally they offered me "lemonade." I agreed only to get a clear lemon-lime flavored soda. It was not the Sprite that I know and love nor what it lemonade. It tickled me.

That's about all we've got so far. We intended to go to church tonight, but the lack of sleep caught up with Jackson and he's already sawing logs. :/

Merry Christmas everyone!

Because it could happen...

I've decided to write a quick entry detailing how things should go if there is some freak accident and Jackson and I die at the same time. (I've always wanted to die before him so I don't have to face life without him, but I've always hoped he would still be around to hang out and enjoy things with me gone!)

1. My insurance money will go to Guy (I changed it one time when I was mad at my Mom- ha. I'm sure he'll share.) Jackson's will go to Susie. (We hope that she'll use some of it to take care of MacKenzie.) We have a few misc. investment accounts that can go to Grace, Justin and Alex's college funds.

2. MacKenzie will get to stay in Indy with Grammy and Boomer. We will miss her with our entire hearts and be squeaking a little pink ball in Heaven as soon as she comes to join us. No hurry though, MacKenzie. Keep Grammy company for as long as you can.

3. Our rent is paid through the end of January so there is not a super rush to come clean out our belongings. Anything that you do not want, please donate to charity and get a receipt for our final tax return. (I'll be watching. Do it.)

4. Write to Nelnet and tell them to shove my student loans. Muah ha ha. Beat you, suckers.

5. Ask DU to grant me a posthumous Masters of Taxation. I promise not to practice anymore, though. ;)

6. Know that we loved our families and friends with all of our hearts and will miss you all (if missing is allowed in Heaven. The jury is still out on that one.)

7. We'd like to have a joint funeral. I do not want to be buried and take up room forever. So just spread my ashes somewhere nice. Jackson doesn't care. At our funeral, please do not do any of this new age not wearing black stuff. I want the women in black with high heels. The men should wear dark suits. MacKenzie should be there to greet people. We will, however, be going to our Heavenly home so there is no real need for crying.

8. Please give Madison a final pet for me.

I think that is about all. Some of you may find this weird, but these are things that I think about and I would hate to die with "unfinished business." Plus, I'm super nervous about flying "across the pond."

The Dentist

Thursday morning I went to the dentist. I have to have 3 fillings put into broken teeth or something like that. Anyway, I needed work done. When he is about to give me the numbing shot he tells me to go to my "happy place." I go. Then I do not feel numb so he gives me another shot. It didn't hurt, but it felt odd. Then I'm numb and have the work done.

I leave the dentist's office and head to work. I put in a solid 2 hours before my mouth is just killing me. It is swollen and sore. I think it is just because of all of the work I had done and head home for a nap. Friday, I work for 5 hours and then get early release. Woo hoo. I go to the mall where a lady asks me why I've had cosmetic work done at such a young age. I hadn't. She thought that I'd had a face lift because my jaw was so swollen. Eeek. I call the dentist he thinks I'm having an allergic reaction. We treat that and nothing improves.

We continue through the weekend with me in severe pain. My entire face hurts and my ears will not stop ringing. Finally, Tuesday morning I call the dentist again. I'm still in a ton of pain and I'm leaving the country tomorrow. I got an appoint for 5pm. I roll in and he's stunned. My jaw is so swollen and warm to the touch on the left side where I had the work done. We take PAINFUL X-rays and scans and I actually cry in the chair. I never do that. I am tougher than that, but it was just beyond words painful. We find that there is no infection-yet, but when he gave me the injection of the numbing agent he severed a vein. I'm actually bleeding into my face causing the swelling. The scan showed a pocket about the size of an Ivanhoe's chicken finger just full of blood. The doctor freaks a bit. The chances of such an accident happening are 1 in 30,000. Seriously. He gives me an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory and sleeping pills. (Woo hoo for the sleeping pills!)

I'm still darn sore today. If the swelling does not go down I will have to go to a hospital in Europe to have some of the liquid removed. Sweet action. Let's just pray that it stays calm and we have an enjoyable trip!

Grace & Mac

Yes, believe it or not that girl is my CeCe. My little Gracie. My tiny little girl. Look how grown up she looks. Tear. (I'm so glad that MacKenzie has finished growing- my heart cannot take much more of this madness!)
I love how MacKenzie is looking intently at Gracie's hand just waiting for the ball to be thrown.
That black dog is MacKenzie's boyfriend, Boomer. He lives across the street from Grammy. He came over today for a playdate. (Heidi- he's just a black Gunner!!) MacKenzie is even allowing him to play with one of her favorite toys from her late Uncle Mike, Leon the Lion.
And Grammy was able to snap a quick picture of a very tired MacKenzie and Gracie.

We hear they're having a great time together. We sure wish we could hang out, too!

Fun weekend

We had kind of a busy weekend. I had Thursday afternoon off of work because I had some serious dental work done and was in a lot of pain. I only worked a half day on Friday so it was quite a long weekend for me.

Friday afternoon, I braved the mall. It was not pretty. At all. But I had a few things to pick up and it was a successful trip. I also got Jackson's car washed and detailed- just because. :) We had my work's Christmas party. That really means we went to dinner with my boss and her husband. We went to a really good steakhouse. Jackson said it was the best steak he'd had in years. Yum. :)

Saturday, we took down our Christmas decorations. It was either do it this weekend or when we got back from Europe. We figured we'd be tired after Europe so we tackled it this weekend. We did some more shopping that evening, too. We went to dinner at a new restaurant and had such bad service that we got $35 in gift cards to "try them again." We'll see if that happens.

Today, we did some packing for Europe. We went to see the new George Clooney movie, "Up in the Air." I liked it a lot. It was an interesting movie. We saw it at Landmark and even paid for the VIP seating. Ah, sitting on a couch that reclines and rocks is that best way to watch a movie! :) It was such a gorgeous day that we took a walk and then went to the driving range. Jackson hadn't hit the ball in months and had ZERO rust. He's ready to take on St. Andrew's next week. We watched "Love Actually" tonight- it is set in London at Christmas. It was fun to see. Woo hoo. Jackson is so excited that I'll be surprised if he sleeps at all this week.

MacKenzie seems to be having a good time in Indiana. She took her favorite ball to Newburgh to visit Gracie and Kathi so she's been having some big ball games. It is so quiet here without her. I attempted to sleep in this morning since we are puppyless only to be woken up by Jackson screaming, "WE'RE SUCH OLD FOGIES-WE CANNOT EVEN SLEEP IN!!!" Umm, speak for yourself old man, I WAS asleep prior to your outburst. ARG!!!

Anyway, that's what is going on here. Right now we're just really hoping that the weather holds up for our flights to Chicago and then to London.

Happy Christmas week! :)

Cutest Puppy

25 long years...

Today it hit me. I am 25 years OLD. OLD. OLD. My friends are having kids. They're going to be parents. Isn't that scary? The mere thought of having the responsibility of a baby makes me want to kick, cry, scream and panic. When did I get so darned OLD?

I don't like it one bit. From today forward, I am on freeze. I refuse to take on any additional responsibilities. I will drive fast. I will listen to loud music. I will do what I want, when I want, how I want. I will be young.

Shame on...

Shame on Nike. The sneaker company's chairman and co-founder, Phil Knight, says Woods' latest woes are simply a "minor blip" in the golf star's legacy. "I think he's been really great. When his career is over, you'll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now," Knight said. REALLY, PHIL? REALLY?!

You have GOT to be kidding me. Now, I understand that Nike is not exactly known for being a socially aware or moral company. I mean they do pay kids in Asia $2.46 (actual dollar amount) a day to make $150+ sneakers, but that discussion is for another day. Today, let's focus in on how jaded Mr. Phil Knight has become. First, let me point out the obvious: Mr. Knight is clearly diddling with his secretary, her best friend, that lady in accounts payable and probably his grand kid's nanny. (He did step down from his day-to-day job at Nike, but I feel certain he still has a team around him.)

Second, he is a BILLIONAIRE who has lost contact with reality. Arg. I do not think that Elin, Sam (Tiger's daughter) or Charlie (Tiger's son) will feel that this is a minor blip in their lives. I'm sure it will stick with them forever. I think Jackson put it best when he said this, "I think to God, GOLF is going to be a minor blip and character is going to matter." I could not agree more.

Will Americans one day forget about all of this and flock to golf tournaments to see this man play? Probably. But will his kids have someone to look up to? No. I've always said that parents should not look to celebrities to be their children's role model. I believe that parents should point to Jesus and look to themselves to show their kids the way. What happens when your dad is the celebrity? Where do you go then? Poor kids. (Side note: I have scratched seeing Tiger Woods play in person off of my "Bucket List" and will now be a Phil Mickelson fan. Sigh.)

Shame on Nike. I will certainly be taking their stance on values into consideration next time I go to purchase any athletic gear. (Which is actually somewhat often, believe it or not.)

A dogless life

Our little condo seems to quiet and boring without MacKenzie here. We still catch ourselves looking for her in her little cage. We know she's having a good time in Indiana, though, so we've got to just miss her for a little bit.

Tonight we went to dinner with our dear friend Meg. We ate at Texas Roadhouse. Oh, I loved that place! She was kind enough to let us borrow 4 England-based movies to watch on our trip. All of the movies star Hugh Grant. Too funny. Poor Jackson. She also hooked us up with some awesome travel books. Meg is the best!

Today when I got to work I had a cookie basket and a Starbucks gift card waiting on me. This raises the question of what to get in return for my boss. Suggestions are welcome. She's a successful 35-year old CPA. Talk about hard to buy for!

Yesterday, I got a wonderful surprise in the mail: a Coach makeup bag from Cali Kate. What a thoughtful friend! :) I was so excited.

This Christmas season has been full of presents in the mail and I LOVE it.

Well that's a quick update from Denver. We hope you're all doing well.

Quick trip

We packed MacKenzie up for her month long stay in Indiana on Friday night. She flew home with me. She was really well behaved in the airport.

Jackson decided to watch to IU vs. UK game in Upland with the dogs. As you can see, MacKenzie was rooting for the HOOSIERS. Unfortunately, IU lost. That's ok. We'll get 'em next time.
Today we hopped over to Jackson's buddy's house to meet his new baby, Molly. She is actually 9 months old already. Is she not soo cute?!

I'll blog with more details later, but I'm tired now and have a long Monday ahead of me. We hope you're all enjoying the holiday season! :)

Hip Hip HOORAY!

Today Guy was able to score me my new car! :) I'm back to having a red convertible! :) WOO HOO!!!

Now, bring on the sunshine, please! I cannot wait to drop my convertible's top!!

The Gift

I got really excited yesterday when my favorite reading buddy, Danielle (who is pregnant with twins so I'm betting that she will soon not have time to read anymore- eek!), sent me a text that one of our favorite authors had released a new Christmas book. I ran out to Barnes & Noble to purchase it as quickly as I could. I read the entire book today. It is called "The Gift" and it is truly a gift. It has a beautiful story from which we could all learn. If you're a reader (I am a total reader when school is not in session!!!!!) then I cannot recommend this book more highly. Run to Barnes & Noble and get it today! :)

Snowglobe

We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. Luckily, we went to Barnes & Noble last night and I got 3 new books. Then today became a perfect day to sit by the fire and read. I love it when that all works out! :)

Side note: I'm not sure why I talk to MacKenzie in such an annoying voice. Perhaps I should work on that. :)

Happy Birthday, Susie

We would all like to wish Ms. Susie Petefish a very happy 65th birthday today. She'll be spending the day at Disney World (gag me!) with her older sister. Have a wonderful day, Susie! We love you!

Think Smart, Be Smart

In one of my first college classes, I had a professor that told us the key to taking exams was, "look smart, think smart, be smart." At first, I thought that this was quite obvious. Then he explained what he meant and I've never forgotten his advice.

He said that looking "smart" was objective and whatever we thought was our best student appareal was what we should wear. In my undergraduate days, I normally wore black pants and a sweater thinking that I looked professional and smart. Now in graduate school, however, I usually wear yoga pants and a college t-shirt because that's what I wear to study and that's how I feel the most comfortable sitting for THREE hour exams. I always try to wear "smart" college t-shirts so I normally rock my Princeton t-shirt and matching flip flops. (What? I love that school. Go visit their campus and see if you don't want to rock Princeton gear all of the time. I dear you.) I am changing it up today and wearing my Harvard t-shirt but still my Princeton flip flops as they are a tradition. Oh, that's another thing, I never wear real shoes. Sick. How can you tuck your legs up underneath yourself with big shoes on? No thank you. And I always wear my glasses, duh. :)

Thinking smart meant having your notes structured in a way that your thoughts were easily located in all of those hand-written pages. It also meant to express your thought pattern because even if you were wrong the professor knew where you were headed and could award partial credit. Partial credit is a taxation graduate student's best friend.

In the end he said that by looking smart and thinking smart then we would be smart. I'm not going to lie, it has worked for me so far so I'm sticking with it.

I also eat chocolate during exams because it helps to increase concentration. There are studies published out it, read up and then get a Hershey's bar, folks.

Here's to my 5th to last exam of graduate school! Sigh. These darn 100% of your grade exams really mess with me, can you tell? :)

Alex

Today I got a great laugh and smile when I read my first note "from" my new nephew, Alex. I really like how he spelled sox! HA! :) I just thought it was so cute that I had to share it with you all.

Little does Alex know that I got him his very own stocking that is now FULL of presents! (I am aware that he's not due until April-ish. Leave it alone.)

Finally, I had to share MacKenzie's antics for the day: she undressed the Christmas tree! She was running around the living room with the tree's skirt in her mouth! How rude!

Frustrated Americans

I was just thinking today how I feel bad for people who do not have blogs so that they can share interesting emails with people without actually invading their inbox. I got this really cool forward from my former boss, Bill.


The following letter read on Glenn Beck's show, is rapidly circulating around the country. Americans everywhere identify with this 53-year-old woman. She has given us a voice. Once you read this, you will want to forward it to all of your friends...

GLENN BECK: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona . She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership:
"I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation:
One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again.. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This is not to be confused with legal immigration.
Two, the STIMULUS bill. I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you No, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution, and honor it.
Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There are many conflicting opinions and it is too soon for this radical legislation. Quit throwing our nation into politically-correct quicksand.
Five, universal health care. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden me, my children, and grandchildren. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down! Fix only what is broken -- we have the best health care system in the world -- and test any new program in one or two states first.
Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. More is not better! Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real [Constitutional] obligations. Why don't you start there.
Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes -- how did they pull that one off? Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with any of our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people.. Investigate.
Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs -- and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person! Why do you want me to hate my employers? And what do you have against shareholders making a profit?
Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources.. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. (Have you ever ripped off a Band-Aid?) We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.Take a breath. Listen to the people. Slow down and get some input from non politicians and experts on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent.. I work. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to un-intelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is needless urgency and recklessness in all of your recent spending of our tax dollars.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on bringing our concerns to Washington . Our president often knows all the right buzzwords like unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented.. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone.... and we are now looking at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution, and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them.. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming."

I feel like this lady represents a lot of the frustrations that I am hearing at work and around town. Well the frustrations I am hearing when people are not discussing Tiger Woods that is. HA!

L Town baby!

In exactly 3 weeks J & J Petefish will be in LONDON celebrating the birth of our Lord, sight-seeing and attempting to pick up really cool accents. WOOT!

Goat

I was feeling unsure about what to ask for this year for Christmas so I posted about my lack of ideas on Facebook. I got a comment from one of my friends, Gerald (from the G Family) that last year they had a goat donated in their honor by his sister. I thought it would be a great thing to do so I sent them a goat this year, too! They are probably wondering why I sent them a goat, but that's ok! Consider it a thank you for having a cute blog gift. :) (I understand that Gerald might have been suggesting that I ask for a goat, but I had some money set aside to donate and felt it was a worthy cause so I just took care of it myself. I still am not asking for anything for Christmas. Gasp.)

A little info about what one goat can do: Goats nourish hungry children and families with healthy milk, cheese, and yogurt. Goats also give a much-needed income boost by providing offspring and extra dairy products for sale at the market.A healthy dairy goat can give up to 16 cups of milk a day. Goat milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk and is an excellent source of calcium, protein, and other essential nutrients that growing children need. Goats are practical animals — flourishing in harsh climates while producing valuable manure to fertilize crops and vegetable gardens.

Thanks again, G Family, for the suggestion. We are happy that you now have 2 goats! :)

P.S. I thought later that I could have given the web address on where to give (if your heart so dersires). It is http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10375

P.P.S. Kathi says there is a book called "Beatrice's Goat" that donates money to buying goats for villages, too. It is available at http://www.amazon.com/Beatrices-Goat-Page-McBrier/dp/0689824602

Funny man.

Jackson is always making jokes. These jokes are usually highly sarcastic and told to people who totally miss his sarcasm (i.e. store clerks, etc.). I usually do not think they're funny because I'm busy making sure that people understand that he's joking. He did, however, make a few really funny comments this weekend.

Comment 1:

We're in Victoria's Secret looking for some assorted undergarments. I wanted some undies that read "Santa Baby" like I had last year. I had Susie ask the sales associate if they had any of those this year (Susie does not get embarrassed by such things). The lady said they did not, but they had some with snowflakes, some with stars, some with reindeer and some with nutcrackers. Jackson then screams, "NUTCRACKERS?! THAT'S THE LAST THING I WANT TO SEE ON MY WIFE'S UNDIES!!!" I wanted to die. That's my husband, folks. All mine.

Comment 2:

We're in the car talking about what we'd name our son (if we ever decide the have kids) and how his middle name would be Lincoln after Jackson's dad, Charles Lincoln and we'd call him "Link" for a nickname. I was telling Jackson and Susie about how I know a girl with a baby named Lincoln as his first name and she doesn't allow him to be called "Link" because it reminds her of a sausage. Jackson, outraged, screams, "I meet people named Patty all of the time and I've never run into that complaint!" I laughed so hard.

Situation 3:

This isn't a comment, but it is worth telling. I burned my finger today while making fudge. It was really hurting when I was trying to shower so I asked Jackson to come in and wash my hair. He washed my hair like I would expect the Beast to wash Belle's hair in Beauty & The Beast. He was pawing at me and making more tangles than he was getting rid of. He tried to help wash my face and nearly poked an eye out. It was pretty comical. Poor Susie was in the front room wondering what the heck was going on in that shower because we were just cracking up! It was seriously too funny. (Side note: my finger is finally starting to feel better- it really hurt!)

Mac the climber!

Listen, I spent a lot of time trying to make this video look right and it just doesn't. Deal.

Lookout Mountain

MacKenzie posing by our tiny tree. We didn't get a big one this year since we'll be in Europe for the holiday!

MacKenzie on the top of Lookout Mountain.

Susie wanted a photo of her in the snow because she leaves Colorado for Florida on Monday. Punk! ;)

I just really enjoy making my family do silly poses. :)

The view from the top of Lookout Mountain. It was seriously so pretty.

We went hiking and some of the trails were really icy so Susie decided to play it safe and slide down on her butt!

The Petefish family out for a hike!

Jackson climbed the rock and so did Mac. Susie chose to stay at the bottom and smile!

We had Christmas with Susie this morning. Then we ran errands and went for a hike. Our hike

was cut short by all of the ice (see Susie on her butt photo-lol). We drove up to Lookout Mountain and it was awesome. Then we bathed our disgustingly dirty puppy and went to dinner. Finally, we drove around looking at all of the Christmas lights around the greater Denver area. It was a really fun day! :)