Big Green Help

My 6-year old likes to watch Nickelodeon throughout the day, before school and after. I've been hearing this commercial about a project called Big Green Help for Earth Day. From what I've gathered, on Earth Day, we're supposed to shut off all of the electronics in our house for one minute. Okay. So, I'm wondering how this would make a difference. Yeah, it says, according to their site, that we are saving 848547 tons of CO2 by doing this. Still, it's a one time thing right? I can see how this would make a difference if it were done more than once this year. I mean, to me this is a lot like Ashton Kutcher beating CNN for tweets. Who cares? For $100,000 that goes to fight malaria? Come on, Ashton, why do the tweet thing, just write the check and do it 'cause you care.

More Celeb Look Alikes

I decided to start a list of celebrity look-a-likes that have been on my mind. So, here we go:


Tom Cruise and Craig Groeschel


Helen Hunt and Leelee Sobieski


Reese Witherspoon and Alexis Bledel

Good Mexican food

One of the things that bothers me about living in the heart of the Midwest, is that it's hard to find a place that serves really good, authentic Mexican food. Even worse, most of the 'authentic' restaurants in town are the same. There's not much that differentiates any of them.

They all serve something that's fried and covered in some kind of sauce, alongside a pile of rice and drab beans. Some of the dishes clearly look like they've been thrown in an oven or microwave to melt the cheese or to simply re-heat the food.

The simple fact is that the whole idea of freshness, that is Mexican food, has been thrown out the window and has been replaced by easy-to-prepare dishes that just don't look very appealing.

I've mentioned many a time to friends and family that I'd love to open a restaurant where people will get a real taste of Mexico. Not just fried food with your run-of-the-mill rice and beans, but fresh food that's full of flavor, color, and just damn good. After all, those are the things I remember when I was growing up. Picking up recently caught seafood, butchered meat, poultry and pork, freshly made tortillas and decadent sauces made from scratch.

Now that makes good eating and I believe the people in this unassuming town would fall in love with. But, I don't think it'll happen. Not any time soon at least. My husband has jokingly threatened to divorce me if I tried to do something like this, and quite frankly I don't have the training or experience to pull it off. It is needed though because I'm sick and tired of seeing these little restaurants popping up that serve the same boring food and tag it with a Mexican label. While it is Mexican, it's far from what it could be.

Simply irritated at the whole thing

I'm completely stumped about everything that's going on in Washington D.C. these days. So stumped in fact, that I hardly have any words. I just sit and listen and watch what's been going on, and I just can't believe it. While my disbelief subsides, for a brief moment, my irritation increases. More like frustration and, yes, anger.

Of course, President Obama says I should be angry, but I don't think he'd say that if he knew what I was angry about. Before I continue, I want to preface this post by stating that I'm not Republican nor Democrat. I'm conservative, yes, in many aspects of the political spectrum -- social, economic and foreign affairs. In fact, these days, you can probably find me along side the Independent lines and, financially speaking, more Libertarian. Really, I can't claim either party, and I'd like to keep it that way. I think Americans would be better served this way, but that's for another day. On to my rant.

One of the causes of my irritation, there are many, is this whole 'rush' the government is in to try to fix the economy. I don't think there's a need to rush and I also don't think anything needs to be fixed. I'm a firm believer in capitalism, and regardless of companies going broke, yes, even the big ones, I also believe the economy is just fine. That's just how things should be.

This whole rush to fix things has created unfounded fear for many Americans, and the government has taken advantage of this fear to push their agenda. The very thing the Bush Administration was criticized for after 9/11, you know, the whole going to war thing because we were afraid, is exactly what the Obama Administration is doing with their handling of the economy. They are using fear to push legislation that will not only prolong the mess, but will eradicate the very foundation of our capitalist society.

I don't really care about any one's affiliations here, whether it be liberal or conservative, but two wrongs don't make a right. And to sit by while your party says one thing and does the exact opposite, well, in my book that's known as hypocrisy.

Daughter got a great deal at Bass Pro

Friday night, Isa decided she wanted to go to Bass Pro to buy some kind of stuffed animal to accompany the little deer her uncle Caleb got her. She grabbed some money from her dollar jar, and we headed out.

We first stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at the Ruby Tuesday's right by the Bass Pro. I wanted to eat out since I'm home all day. Good dinner too.

After dinner, we finally drove to Bass Pro and checked out their collection of stuffed animals. Of course, the one Isa picks out costs more than she can afford, so I tried to find something she could buy. She had $15, which is a lot for 6-year old, but still not enough for the one she wanted (that one cost $25).

I finally found a couple that made sounds when you squeeze them, and she loved the little lion cub. I looked at the price, $7.95. Definitely within her price range.

So, we walked over to get Matt, who had sneakily meandered to the gun and ammo section. After following him around for a bit, we finally headed to the register.

Isa gives the cub to the guy at the register who proceeds to ring it up. I looked at the price and was surprised by what I saw. He was surprised as well. The price? A whole $0.97. That's right. After taxes, it was $1.02. Isa pulled out her wad of money, not quite getting the fact that she only need two $1 bills. He, of course, only took the one and we were off. Talk about a great deal.

As we walked to the car, I couldn't help but think what the one she wanted cost. Of course, she could have also bought all of the little squeezable animals. Oh well.

I hate drama

I'm one of those people that enjoys a simple life. Being a semi-geek, simplicity isn't necessarily easy. So, I try to keep the rest of my life as simple as possible. Most of the relationships in my life, if not all, are free of the drama. Something I think is rare nowadays.

Anyway, my little brother is going through some it right now and I hate the fact that there's nothing I can do about it. I'd love to be able to hug him, take him out for coffee and just talk. For now, the phone call will do. But I hate it. I hate that he's going through this crap. He has a great heart and I hate to see it broken.

One thing I can say, this is for you little bro, is that I love you so much and I'm praying that God will bring you comfort and guidance. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you and the family. Just remember that I'm here anytime you need me.

Hey, I'm Back

Ok, so it's been 'like' forever since I've written a post here on Musings, but, I'm back. My life got pretty hectic after Carmen's birth. It was a crazy transition time for me.

Now that things are somewhat settled, I decided to make some changes around here. You'll notice I changed the dark color scheme to something much lighter. I'm not sure why I used something so dark, but I couldn't stand it anymore. I worked on the header, and I have to say, I like it a hundred times more than the generic stuff you get from Blogger. Anyway, on to my musings or ramblings for today.

Unless you've been living in a hole, you're aware of the Chris Brown-Rihanna incident at the Grammy's. Every media outlet is covering this, and I really don't have a problem with it like I do other celebrity crap they post as news. You know what I'm talking about. So, I hit CNN.com this morning to get my daily dose of biased news and saw that Chris Brown says he's sorry 'for what transpired'. Really? He's sorry. Well, golly gee, Chris. I guess that makes it okay. I mean, saying your sorry for hitting a woman will make everything just go away, right. Heh, you know what's sad? In his case, it probably will.

Oh, the funniest thing I've seen this morning (other than the crusted snot on my baby's face from overnight sneezing that we couldn't get to), is a YouTube clip that's been making the rounds on most media sites. If you haven't seen it, take a look at this lady having a bad day at the Hong Hong airport. What's funny about it is that anyone that's ever missed a flight has wanted to throw a tantrum like that. We just never do. Unless of course we've made a little stop at the bar, and then we just can't help it. But this lady is sober when she goes nuts. Too funny.


Well, Obama's keeping his promise of bringing change to America. (It was probably the single-most successful presidential campaign I can remember.) Most Americans would agree that something needed to be changed. I'll be honest, I voted for W both times, and I didn't vote for O. But, I did agree with him on that one topic. We did need change.

But it's really scaring the **** out of me at the way big O is going about it. He's inching us closer and closer to socialism, and if that weren't scary enough, Americans are loving him for it. I just don't get it.