No. Really. You can keep the "change"

So I guess this is the 2nd time in her life that Michelle Obama is proud of her country. The rest of us are disgusted and contemplating moving out of the country.

The only good thing to come out of this election is that I can look many of my neighbors in the eye and give them a little smile -- McCain won the state of Alabama. We didn't buy into the hype and did the right thing.

I am so ... at a loss for words? I am so ... more than disgusted -- maybe "afraid" is a better word to describe what I'm feeling? Frustrated and disappointed in my fellow Americans perhaps? Did we forget 9/11 so quickly? What do we really know about this man?

If you need me, I'll be hiding under the covers. Call me in '12 when this is all over.

I'm done

I voted. Took all of about 60 seconds. Actually took me longer to drive to the polling station than it did to vote.

Obama Gives McCain the Finger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBMdWxcFXQg
Wow, very classy Obama.
OK. I'll admit I've used the move a couple of times (especially to one of the mom's who accompained us to Europe this past summer). However, I am not running for political office and no one caught me on film doing it (that I'm aware of).

Colin Powell

Earlier this morning I read a blog where someone made a comment about Colin Powell's recent endorsement of Obama. This individual thought that Powell's reasons for endorsing Powell were succinct and very specific which lead her to believe it was not racially motivated. Are you freakin' kidding me? Of course it's racially motivated. Do you really think a black person is going to freely admit they are only voting for Obama because he's black? Nope. They say they're voting for him because he's the most qualified candidate. Oh really??? If a couple of years in the Senate (emphasis on a "couple") and voting "present" qualify you to be leader of the free world, someone please tell me where I can get a gig like that. I could really use the retirement benefits. Voting "present" is like T & KJ attending class but not really participating. When the teacher calls on them to do a math problem on the blackboard, they simply reply "present." Lame, lame, lame. Shame, shame, shame. I feel a major headache coming on.

I hate Mondays. I really, really do.

T got home from ATL safe & sound. A little tired but she had a great time and she showed me a couple of the dances she learned.

As always, this will be a busy week around here. T has all-star lax tonight, the girls dance on Tuesday, nothing planned for Wednesday (yay!), dance Thursday, football Friday.

KJ & I are doing our best to wear Chris down and buy us a puppy. I've been in touch w/ the breeder our friends bought their dog, Lola, from. They've sent some pics of a male and a female shih-tzu they have. I like the male, Chris & KJ like the female. KJ & I have decided that if we get a female dog, we're going to name her Trixie. T is vehemently against the idea of another dog and has made it very clear that she will have nothing to do with it. She told me she helped take care of Buddy, she will not help take care of the next one. I showed her the pics the breeder sent and she said the dogs looked "gross" and looked like "Gremlins." So, KJ & I thought if we got the male dog we'd name him Gizmo after the Gremlins movie. Thanks T!

Boy Shih-Tzu

Girl Shih Tzu

KJ's school is doing a FunRun fundraiser this year instead of the annual Fall Festival. I've been attending Fall Festivals at that school since 1999. Just doesn't seem right not to have one. Anyway, this FunRun sounds interesting. The kids are supposed to run 35 laps. I can tell you right now KJ will be lucky if she can run 35 feet. Our neighbor's daughter participated in this FunRun at our parochial school and my neighbor said they cheat and mark off little itty bitty laps so the kids can get in the full 35 laps and the school gets all their money. This must be the hot new fundraiser -- friends of ours live in Vestavia and their son hit Chris up for a corporate donation from the store.

So tomorrow's the big day. Don't forget to get out there and vote. I think everyone is going to be on pins & needles Tuesday and the TV coverage is going to be ridiculous. I'm going to try my best not to watch CNN or Fox News. It will just give me a headache and upset stomach.

T-bone

A couple pics from one of T's freshman football half-time routines. They kick it old school for the freshman games and wear big baggy black sweat pants, orange tanks and black sneakers but for varsity games they wear fancy black leotards and black jazz shoes.

Talked to T for a little bit last night. She had such a good time yesterday at this dance clinic/competition. She took a jazz class and a ballet class in the morning and in the afternoon she took a tap class and a hip-hop class and said everything was "amazing." She said the tap dance was taught by Nick Drago who won "Step it Up and Dance." We watched the show faithfully and he was one of our favorites. We were happy he won. T said he was so energetic and fun and crazy. The hip-hop class was taught by Benji who won "So You Think You Can Dance." Never saw that show so I don't know much about him but T said he was great, too.

Chris is headed to T-town today to play some lax. Alabama has an alumni game each year (current players vs. Alumni). Let's face it folks, Alabama doesn't really have a lot of alumni that played lacrosse so Chris and a couple other guys from his men's team help them out and play. One of the boys that played for Chris the last 3 years is a freshman @ Alabama and he will be covering Chris today. Conor plays defense, Chris plays offense. We've been trash-talking w/ Conor all week on facebook and this morning KJ told Chris he needs to stop at Children's Hospital and pick-up a wheelchair for Conor. Oh no she didn't!

Happy birthday Pop!

B-day shout outs to my dad. I've been sooo bad lately -- I haven't sent b-day cards to anyone. I buy them and forget to mail them. KJ's on the phone w/ Grammie & Pop as I type. It's always a big joke in our house...the girls ask Grammie & Pop if they dressed up for Halloween and how many trick-or-treaters did they get? (not many considering Grammie & Pop spend their winters in a retirement community).

Nice day planned -- Chris is at lax practice and then he has a couple of lessons to do. KJ is going to Camp Coleman w/ her scout troop today. I think I'll take down the Halloween decorations and start putting out some more Thanksgiving kind of stuff.

T is in ATL for the weekend. A bunch of them from the dance studio drove out last night. T forgot ATL is an hour ahead and called at 7 AM this morning to tell us she's awake and getting ready to head to the dance lessons. She then called a couple of minutes ago and said she had a jazz class and a ballet class and loved them both.

So Halloween was a little weird last night. KJ had a good time but it was strange. I think I had 10-15 trick-or-treaters. The last wave of kids came @ 6:45 PM. Chris also said there were a LOT of houses with nobody home. Our neighborhood seems to go in phases -- when T was little there were TONS of kids and everyone decorated and had a great time. Now those kids are older and we have a bunch of little, little kids in the neighborhood. KJ's somewhere in the middle. There aren't very many kids KJ's age. Thank God she has Evvy. They walked around together and KJ spent the night at her house. Somewhere along the way KJ also lost a tooth. KJ looses teeth like crazy. I can't imagine she has many baby teeth left.