Beautiful Words To Remember Today

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everyone!
Today I celebrated by carpooling with some friends to a lovely cafe called One World Cafe. This place is so cool. They believe in local organic food and eliminating waste, while serving those in their community. At this lovely little cafe you decide what you want to eat, how much you want and what you will pay. You can also exchange an hour of volunteer work for a meal. They will not send anyone away, no matter how much money they have to pay for a meal. Proceeds go to their volunteer program and meals, their community, local farms, their community garden, and those less fortunate in the community, etc.
What better way to spend Earth Day?!

This picture doesn't give the place justice, but it really is a beautiful place.

New Family Member

My brother just moved in this weekend, and with him came his cat, Buddy. I love animals, so I am all for having another animal in the house, however, there was some complications.

1. I have a dog who is spoiled, not used to other animals, and is a bit of a wuss.
2. I have an elderly cat, Sophie, who lives happily in the basement.
3. Buddy is a bad ass outdoor cat who could, if he wanted, rip either of them to shreds.

So these 3 things made me a bit nervous to have Buddy in the house. But I'm happy to say that the Louis/Buddy introduction went incredibly smooth, and Sophie is living happily oblivious in the basement.

The complications to come is that Louis and Buddy are both playful animals and want to play with each other. I witnessed an attempted play that went awry. The good news is that nobody was hurt, but now Louis is scared of Buddy and Buddy is skittish around Louis.

I don't want to worry (and believe me, I'm a worrier) every time I leave the house that while I'm gone there will be an animal brawl. So let's all hope that the animals in my house can peacefully coexist.

And take a look at our new family member Buddy.....

Sarah Palin's Idiocy

I, like millions of people around the world, am extremely saddened by the tragedy in Arizona. Once more, as an American I find it deeply depressing that now we have to fear domestic terrorism brought on by fear and hate. Hate stirred up by people like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly (and those are just a few).

Then Sarah Palin has the audacity to say that we shouldn't be pointing fingers at people who use gun rhetoric.
This morning I read an article in which Sarah Palin said it was irresponsible to blame rhetoric for the tragedy in Arizona. Really?! She thinks it's OK to put cross hairs of a gun over democrats that she is "targeting". Sure Sarah, it's all fun and games.....until someone gets shot. She goes on to say that the crime begins and ends with the individual who committed the crime. So if someone was paid to kill someone else, then is the only person responsible for the crime the one who actually committed  the murder?  Of course not!

I'm not saying she, or others, wanted this to happen. But are they really surprised? If you say over and over again things such as, "we need to take this country back before it's too late", and "let's make my opponents afraid to come out of their houses (Alan West)", and "join me firing machine guns (Jesse Kelley)", and then someone goes out and shoots a politician, can these hate mongers really be surprised that someone took them literally?

The thing that makes me mad is that Sarah Palin could have come out and said, "I was wrong to put cross hairs over people's faces, I was wrong to say things that I said, I never wanted my words to be taken literally. I am grieved by what happened in Arizona." But she didn't, she instead defends her rhetoric.

We do have freedom of speech, but does that mean we should not filter what we say? Words have consequences, and in this case people's freedom of speech was at the expense of others lives.

Sarah Palin and other hate mongers I have some advice for you, in the words of my good friend Tom, "sometimes you have to eat your words so don't talk shit".

Lazy Weekend

I had a lovely lazy weekend filled with football, crocheting and procrastinating. Now that it’s Monday, I definitely have some work to catch up on. Instead of doing my reading for school, I did everything else I could think of to occupy my time. I crocheted a hat (which I haven’t done for years), I crocheted matching baby booties (which I’ve never done before), and I watched A LOT of football. I also watched Despicable Me, which I highly recommend.

By the way, one of the football games that I watched was the Division 1 NCAA college football championship game, in which my college team was playing in and we WON!

Congrats EWU Eagles!!!

So besides all the football I watched I also crocheted (to avoid my homework) and completed a baby beanie and matching booties.

If you've ever thought about crocheting you really should give it a try. Once you get the basics down you can make anything, and finishing a project is very gratifying. You can find plenty of free pattern on the web. So go buy some yarn and needles and get started :)

A Dog Named Louis

I thought for my very first blog (ta-dah) I would post something funny and entertaining. This is my beloved dog that has the biggest personality of any dog I know. In this video he is playing with a wind-up toy.  I’m pretty sure my dog is the funniest dog (not to mention cutest, but I’m a little biased) dog in the world. Here is a taste of his comical personality in action…enjoy!