For you Dedra....

Dedra, you wanted to see what had been done to walls to make me ask for advice. It was done in permanent black marker, by an artistic 2 year old. I have tried dry erase marker, magic eraser, that just gets rid of all layer until you can see the drywall again, and every kind of cleaner I have. Nothing is removing it, but I figure this gives us a push to finish painting the rest of the room. We left the one wall blank so we could do a darker version of what is already there, so there would be a nice contrast. Now we are thinking about switching which wall will be going darker.

Today is my Mother's 60th birthday! Happy birthday Mom. Alan, my little brother got Mom a full-size body pillow that she had been wanting. The video is just showing how much fun Alan and Mark had enjoying it. I hope you all enjoy it! I love it. I haven't laugh so hard in a long time.

advise

Any suggestiong for the removal of permanent marker on walls would greatly be appreciated.

Pictures

Last week Friday, two of my best girlfriends and I went and got some pictures taken of us at JCPenney's just for fun. Kate, the brunette, and I have known each other since she was born pretty much and have stayed pretty tight the whole time. Sara, the red head, and I have been best friends since she turned 12, and came into Young Women's, we are now sister-in-laws due to me marrying Ethan, her older brother. We have been best buds for a long time, and we wanted to get the pictures done for posterity sake. We have been friends through just about everything, death, separations, marriage, births, college, and so on. With the exception of Ethan, there are no two other people I would want around me through the toughest times. Except maybe Alan. He is a story for another day.

Kate is a very busy and ambitious person, who is constantly on the go. She is going to school for Music Therapy with a minor in Spanish. She is a bargain shopper, and a fantastic dresser. She had 30 minutes to get a shower, get dressed, clothes were still wet from the washer and she manages to look this impressive. She has been a very outgoing, talkative, sarcastic, and blunt all her life. We have worked together and surprised others with our banter to the point that our manager was wondering why I wasn't offended when Kate commented on me being "deaf". Her response was, "She is!" I just laughed.

Sara and I got to know each other at a sleepover in Young Women's and needed makeover partners. She was the one that details of boys and just general being a teenager, were discussed with. She got married and has two daughters, and now is a wonderful mommy buddy, of who I am constantly talking to about about kids. She is attending school and working her butt off to finish to support herself and her girls. She has the grits to do what needs done.

Super belated pictures from the Superbowl. Mark was hanging out with two of his cousins, Kira and Ari. These are the two girls I watch regularly during the week. We start fan brainwashing at an early age for the Steelers.

WHY WE CARRY... be sure and keep up with HR45. it is a gun bill that may come up for a vote. with the people in power, it may just pass.

PEOPLE ASK WHY?
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and Not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.


Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves.Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the Crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess. They can not be everywhere and protect everything and everyone. We don't expect teachers to raise our children, we can not expect people to protect everyone. There simply isn't enough manpower, and frankly, we should be willing and able to take care of ourselves.

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953,about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were roundedup and exterminated.--------------------

In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up andexterminated.------------------------------

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a totalof 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves wererounded up and exterminated.--------------

China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 millionpolitical dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded upand exterminated------------------------------

Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up andexterminated.---- ------------- -------------

Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up andexterminated.------------------------------

Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, onemillion educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded upand exterminated.-----------------------------

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Centurybecause of gun control: 56 million.------------------------------

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forcedby new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed bytheir own Government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than$500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:

List of 7 items:

Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.620 percent.Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in,the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease inarmed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in thepast 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults ofthe ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how publicsafety has decreased, after such monumental effort, and expense wasexpended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. TheAustralian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind themof this history lesson.

With guns, we are 'citizens'. Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because theyknew most Americans were ARMED!

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in just defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
SWITZERLAND ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN! SWITZERLAND 'S GOVERNMENTTRAINS EVERY ADULT THEY ISSUE A RIFLE. SWITZERLAND HAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!IT'S A NO BRAINER! DON'T LET OUR GOVERNMENT WASTE MILLIONS OF OUR TAXDOLLARS IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS AN EASY TARGET.

I'm a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment!

Joys of little boys...

On Saturday, Sara was throwing a Scentsy party at my house. There were a fair amount of adults and little kids there. Not a problem, I have toys and there is room to run around now. About half way through the party, someone informed me there was problem with the toilet. Lovely, it couldn't happen while it was just Ethan, Mark, and I hanging out at home, no, in the middle of the party. They had tried to flush and the water level wasn't going down. No overflowing thankfully. Out comes the plunger. Spend a good amount of time with that, and water level come down, but there is obviously something in the way. Many thanks for people who helped me!

I didn't know what to do, so I start IMing Ethan at work asking him. Not much he can do, he is stuck at work until 10pm. I asked him if he wanted me to go buy one of those toilet augers, or snake things to see if that helps. Tells me no, that he can probably get it taken care of when he gets home. Fine, no problem. After picking him up and his failed attempts, we finally say, we'll worry about it later tomorrow.

Next morning, before church, Ethan takes the toilet off, in hopes that whatever the stupid thing is, will be right there, and problem solved. Not the case, but we needed to get going to church. After church, we hit Home Depot and pick up an auger and wax seal. Immediately set out to revive the toilet. Tried going through the top, no such luck, I am holding the toilet now, and Ethan is seeing if we can get the item out from the bottom. After about 5 minutes, the auger itself it stuck in the toilet. Spend about 15 more minutes just fighting the toilet to free the auger, so we can at least try something new. I get tired of holding it, and ask if we can turn it on its side. Ethan agrees and voila' the auger has been freed with a few tugs. We are both starving, so we sit it back up and hear the miracleous sound of "clink" and open the top. We can see something, so down the stairs for gloves and now we can see the wonderful present Mark left for us in the toilet.

Its a candle lid.

Now, the one is the pictures is not the same one that was pulled out. That got pitched. But just so you have an idea. We thought we had been pretty good about keeping the bathroom door close, but apparently not.

I love watching little kids dance!!!!