I have spent the past two and a half hours of my day doing my pre-voting research.
It has been a frustrating, exhausting, not-as-informative-as-I-would-like-it-to-be search on candidates, their issues and especially the local BONDS initiative.
***IMPORTANT!***
For those who live in Galveston County, there are 3 bond propositions that are on the table, ~$135M in proposals. After an hour of exhaustive searching, I found a website that gives the details of the initiatives, located here: www.gcbonds2008.com
***PASS IT ON!***
I may be unique in that I've found it excruciatingly difficult to get any information, but I doubt it very much. I have not received ANY information from the county about these proposals and am very upset that it is so difficult to find bond information. I should not have had to search for an hour using creative word searching to find these...I am very disappointed in our local government for this and they will be hearing about it.
Dang it, it doesn't have to be this hard. It simply doesn't. No wonder people either don't vote or vote uninformed.
In an effort to make the voter an better-informed one, the local chron.com has a great search feature so you can see the ballot for your precinct. HOWEVER, it only shows the Republican or Democratic candidates, leaving out any other party. What a joke. It is possible to have someone who isn't a Republican or Democrat serve in office. Surely I am not the only one who recognizes this. Just because it isn't as likely to happen in the area we live in doesn't mean they don't deserve their due attention and respect. These are all people who are trying to make a difference...at least that is the hope.
I'm starting to lose faith in the human condition.
Please try to be informed, even a little, before making decisions about the people running your government.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Fun Things
The spirit of Halloween is in the air and it's one of my favorite times of the year! I definitely love the candy part (fa sho!), but mostly I enjoy the decorating and silly celebrating that ensues.
We started the "Boo Bucket" tradition on our street this year and before I remembered to put up a sign on our door so we didn't receive one (and thusly have to make another round of them), we got one on our doorstep as well!! Charlie was a little out of sorts this year, so I made both buckets - thank you Dollar Store and Michaels! Aren't they cute?
We started the "Boo Bucket" tradition on our street this year and before I remembered to put up a sign on our door so we didn't receive one (and thusly have to make another round of them), we got one on our doorstep as well!! Charlie was a little out of sorts this year, so I made both buckets - thank you Dollar Store and Michaels! Aren't they cute?
In addition, I made my very first diaper cake for my friend's upcoming baby shower. The fabulous Erin Sholl (taught by none other than the crafty Beth Wilke) helped me put it together. For those that don't know, it's a bunch of diapers put together to look like a cake (vice a cake that looks like a diaper...). The baby's theme is a jungle theme with monkeys as the key ingredient. I think it turned out well for a first attempt!!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
An Embarrassing Sap
I just got home from watching the movie "Nights in Rodanthe" with a girlfriend of mine (yay Jen, we did it on a schoolnight!) and it was the worst movie of all time.
Why is this so you ask? Is it because it was a girl movie? Because it was Nicolas Sparks? Because Richard Gere is in it?
No.
It is because the movie is only 1.5 hours and I cried for 1 hour of it.
Cried like a baby. People were in love and good lord nothing makes me weep like some good LOVE.
Embarrassingly I cry when people are in love, especially in movies. Sure it's usually romanticized and all that, but really - I am a romantic at heart. So when I see a movie about people married for 43 years and how the husband whose wife he just lost talks longingly about how her eyes were the deepest brown and so soft...I weep.
I do not weep for the longing of love, but I weep for the depth of love that I feel for my husband. For my loved ones, for my family. I have been gifted to be the recipient of so much love from those same people, that I wish for everyone else to have the same. I cannot love my husband more than I already do, and yet...one movie makes me love and appreciate the precious time we have in this life even more.
So I cry for love, for the ultimate future of loss, for the promise of a tomorrow with the person I can't imagine living without, and I cry especially for this run-on sentence...or at least LONG sentence.
Dang girly movies.
Why is this so you ask? Is it because it was a girl movie? Because it was Nicolas Sparks? Because Richard Gere is in it?
No.
It is because the movie is only 1.5 hours and I cried for 1 hour of it.
Cried like a baby. People were in love and good lord nothing makes me weep like some good LOVE.
Embarrassingly I cry when people are in love, especially in movies. Sure it's usually romanticized and all that, but really - I am a romantic at heart. So when I see a movie about people married for 43 years and how the husband whose wife he just lost talks longingly about how her eyes were the deepest brown and so soft...I weep.
I do not weep for the longing of love, but I weep for the depth of love that I feel for my husband. For my loved ones, for my family. I have been gifted to be the recipient of so much love from those same people, that I wish for everyone else to have the same. I cannot love my husband more than I already do, and yet...one movie makes me love and appreciate the precious time we have in this life even more.
So I cry for love, for the ultimate future of loss, for the promise of a tomorrow with the person I can't imagine living without, and I cry especially for this run-on sentence...or at least LONG sentence.
Dang girly movies.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Introducing The Sholls!
Charlie and I arrived home from Pennsylvania Sunday afternoon, pretty tired from a fun-filled weekend with our friends. We arrived in Baltimore on Thursday afternoon, had some dinner at Damon's just outside the BWI airport, then drove 2 hours from Maryland to Pennsylvania in the Ford Fusion (John & Beth Wilke, Mar and me). After checking in to the hotel, we met our friends the Merancys and Tanner and Karen at the hotel bar for some drinks and snacks. No sooner had we gotten our first round of drinks, than Cory & Erin arrived with their rehearsal dinner crowd at our hotel bar - so naturally we joined them there for some post-rehearsal, pre-wedding festivities. I cut my evening short since I was super exhausted from a long day of travel and just wanted to sleep, and returned to the hotel for an evening of rest in my snuggly hotel bed.
Friday we had planned to go outlet shopping with the group before the evening wedding, but an impromptu morning visit from Cory and suggestion of breakfast and mini-putt changed those plans! The lot of us headed to Denny's first (too much breakfast!) and then Jim Mack's for 24 holes of putt-putt and then some AWESOME homemade ice cream (I had black cherry). It was a good time fa sho (Nujoud, Karen and I even rode in an alien spaceship, wow! :)!! We left putt-putt, got ready for the wedding, and caught the shuttle (I call it the party bus) from the hotel to the ceremony/reception. Even though our driver took the longest way in the history of driving, we made it with time to spare for the ceremony.
Erin and Cory (now officially "The Sholls") got married in a lovely ceremony in Lancaster, PA in front of a beautiful river backdrop. Erin was beautiful and Cory looked dashing in his fancy tux. All the details and time Erin spent putting into the wedding really showed and it turned out great! Way to go DIY bride! In sum of the evening: we ate, drank, stepped on Erin's dress, Charlie danced with Erin (jazz hands style), lit fire to some sparklers and danced like crazies until they kicked us out. Since the reception ended relatively early, we all went back to the hotel bar and hung out (I spent most of the evening with Old Man Wilke) until just about bar close...or until a massive bout of hiccups and nonsensical conversations (sorry Brent) dictated I get escorted back to my hotel room for nighty-night time.
On Saturday we packed up and went to Cory's father's home on the Susquehannah (sp?) River. We had some delicious burgers and leftovers then went on a boat ride to watch Cory tear up the river with his awesome wakeboarding. That kid can shred! It was a beautiful (albeit cold-watered) day for a boat ride :) We left after a couple hours to drive back to Baltimore, where the Wilkes and Marshiks met up with the Tobins for dinner and drinks. It was great to see them, if even for a brief evening. After dinner and drinks on the Inner Harbor (I had some really awful tuna steak, ick), we walked to the ESPN Zone...at which point I was certain that tuna was catching up with me since my face was hot and splotchy-red, plus my tummy was gurgling something fierce...so the dudes went on with their evening and at 8:30 pm the ladies went back to the hotel, changed into our jammies and talked until 12:30 am. The guys returned home at around 1 am, Jim body-slammed me on my bed, we slept until 6:30 am, got ready for the trip home, ate hotel breakfast (mmmmmmmmm, belgian waffles with raspberries) and said our goodbyes. By 10 am we were back at the airport and by 4:30 pm we were finally back home in League City. Charlie went to bed at 8:00 pm last night and I followed after Desperate Housewives.
I've got to be honest (thanks Beth for the phrasing), it was a great vacation with great friends.
Congratulations to Cory & Erin on their awesome wedding!!
Friday we had planned to go outlet shopping with the group before the evening wedding, but an impromptu morning visit from Cory and suggestion of breakfast and mini-putt changed those plans! The lot of us headed to Denny's first (too much breakfast!) and then Jim Mack's for 24 holes of putt-putt and then some AWESOME homemade ice cream (I had black cherry). It was a good time fa sho (Nujoud, Karen and I even rode in an alien spaceship, wow! :)!! We left putt-putt, got ready for the wedding, and caught the shuttle (I call it the party bus) from the hotel to the ceremony/reception. Even though our driver took the longest way in the history of driving, we made it with time to spare for the ceremony.
Erin and Cory (now officially "The Sholls") got married in a lovely ceremony in Lancaster, PA in front of a beautiful river backdrop. Erin was beautiful and Cory looked dashing in his fancy tux. All the details and time Erin spent putting into the wedding really showed and it turned out great! Way to go DIY bride! In sum of the evening: we ate, drank, stepped on Erin's dress, Charlie danced with Erin (jazz hands style), lit fire to some sparklers and danced like crazies until they kicked us out. Since the reception ended relatively early, we all went back to the hotel bar and hung out (I spent most of the evening with Old Man Wilke) until just about bar close...or until a massive bout of hiccups and nonsensical conversations (sorry Brent) dictated I get escorted back to my hotel room for nighty-night time.
On Saturday we packed up and went to Cory's father's home on the Susquehannah (sp?) River. We had some delicious burgers and leftovers then went on a boat ride to watch Cory tear up the river with his awesome wakeboarding. That kid can shred! It was a beautiful (albeit cold-watered) day for a boat ride :) We left after a couple hours to drive back to Baltimore, where the Wilkes and Marshiks met up with the Tobins for dinner and drinks. It was great to see them, if even for a brief evening. After dinner and drinks on the Inner Harbor (I had some really awful tuna steak, ick), we walked to the ESPN Zone...at which point I was certain that tuna was catching up with me since my face was hot and splotchy-red, plus my tummy was gurgling something fierce...so the dudes went on with their evening and at 8:30 pm the ladies went back to the hotel, changed into our jammies and talked until 12:30 am. The guys returned home at around 1 am, Jim body-slammed me on my bed, we slept until 6:30 am, got ready for the trip home, ate hotel breakfast (mmmmmmmmm, belgian waffles with raspberries) and said our goodbyes. By 10 am we were back at the airport and by 4:30 pm we were finally back home in League City. Charlie went to bed at 8:00 pm last night and I followed after Desperate Housewives.
I've got to be honest (thanks Beth for the phrasing), it was a great vacation with great friends.
Congratulations to Cory & Erin on their awesome wedding!!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Catching Up and Heading Out
Well, it's been a while. Here is a recap: Charlie turned 30, we had a bday party for him on 9/20 and ended up watching Over the Top somehow with our friends (it was a "rager" :) and then he bought a motorcycle (2005 Buell Blast, black) on wednesday 9/24.
We are currently packing for Pennsylvania - we leave tomorrow for our friend's wedding (Cory & Erin-to-be-Sholl) in Lancaster, PA. We'll be headed straight to Amish country - that should be fun. Can't wait to have a vacation, but am bringing my laptop to keep up with work and school (BOO). Nothing says wedding like "space environment"...for shame.
Will be taking lots of pix as usual and will post when I can.
Hope everyone else is doing well too!!
Much love, the Marsheeks.
We are currently packing for Pennsylvania - we leave tomorrow for our friend's wedding (Cory & Erin-to-be-Sholl) in Lancaster, PA. We'll be headed straight to Amish country - that should be fun. Can't wait to have a vacation, but am bringing my laptop to keep up with work and school (BOO). Nothing says wedding like "space environment"...for shame.
Will be taking lots of pix as usual and will post when I can.
Hope everyone else is doing well too!!
Much love, the Marsheeks.
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