To my dear cousin Charity

Dearest Charity,

I don't know how to contact you. I have searched all over the internet for you, but to no avail. Will you please leave me a comment with your email address so I can write you a letter? I have been thinking of you everyday and wishing that I could talk to you again - it's been so long. I hope you read this soon.

Love,
Stephanie

We took a train ride last Saturday with our friends the Willises. Here are a million pictures that I took - we had an awesome time.

Unusual dairy practices...and a contest!

In response to a question from Anne: You can submit as many names as you want. Each one will be considered separately. And thanks for humoring me in this - I am so excited, it's ridiculous.

Our Saturday night fun comes from laughing about this article from the Chicago Tribune. Tell me this is a joke...PLEASE let this be a joke. Continue reading after the article...

In a highly unusual break from the normally sane and practical modus operandi of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the animals' rights organization has petitioned the successful and highly visible ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's to replace the cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk.
PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves. PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.
"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."
It's hard to argue that 'the breast is best,' so I polled the office for some ideas for flavors that Ben & Jerry's might make with human breast milk.
How would you like to wrap your lips around a scoop of: 'Titty Tiramisu' or maybe, 'Mammary Macadamia Nut.' If that doesn't titillate you, you might want to try, 'Fudgie Juggs', 'Nippley Neapolitan', or 'Racky Road?'

I'm just going to zip my lips about all the unethical practices PETA suggests imposing on human mothers, because it is quite obvious none of the members of PETA have ever produced milk themselves. Otherwise, they would never even dream of petitioning Ben & Jerry's for such a thing. But what I am going to open up for is...a blog contest. I have secretly always wanted to do a blog contest. So here it is. Whoever can come up with the best name (Andrew and I will be the judges) for an ice cream made of breast milk will win: 5 ready-to-use Christmas cards, handmade with love by none other than moi. I know it's a small, insignificant prize, but humor me. It will be fun. The contest will close on Friday, October 17th at 9pm Pacific Time. So, as my elementary teachers always used to say, put your thinking caps on! Contest starts NOW!

Not to be political again...

But I'm going to be. I just finished reading this post, and all the comments, and, as politics mysteriously do to most every American, it got me all fired up.
I'm not going to act all knowledgeable about everything this country needs or anything. I am so sick of all the eletion crap, I could throw up. (The only thing I watch now is SNL's version. It's much more fun.) I hate McCain almost as much as I hate Obama. But let me make one thing clear. The only real reason I am voting for McCain is because I think Obama is out to take away my husband's job. (Not personally, of course, but he's obviously not all about supporting our troops.) And in the end, I'm all about job security in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Especially if it means my family won't be out of an income and my husband will never have to do something he loves less than flying. Selfish? Yes. But I'm sure most people vote for selfish reasons.
Andrew wants me to start a blog that will get everyone rallied together to obliterate the two-party monopoly in this country. I'm sure, what with my worldwide internet influence, that should be easy.
So, who are you voting for? Why? Are you sick of the politics? Want to kill me for bringing it up again?

My magic gloves

I truly believe that my rubber gloves are magic.

Without fail, every time I put them on, something happens to me. I turn into a happy cleaning machine.

Case in point: About an hour ago, I told Andrew I wanted to scrapbook SO bad because I had some great ideas. He suggested that we just pick up a little first. I put Eva down for her nap, and Andrew put Leighton down. I looked around the living room and thought, "I'll just vacuum really fast." So I did. Few things make me feel better about my life than vacuum lines in the carpet, as I'm sure I've said before. On my way back to put the vacuum away in the closet, I vacuumed the kitchen floor. Then I thought, "I'll just do a few dishes." So I did. The easy ones, anyway. The George Foreman I used last night sat filthily on the kitchen counter staring at me, daring me to try to get the dried-on blackened bits off of it. Then, I saw one rubber glove lying on the floor. (Eva likes to play with them too.) And then, the magic of the gloves took over.

I slipped the bright yellow gloves on my hands, and got to work. Maybe it's that I love not feeling the dirtiness on my skin when I do dishes. Maybe it's that the smell of the gloves takes me back to happy childhood days of watching my Mom wear gloves and clean the kitchen. Whatever it is, it took over. And before I knew it, my kitchen was clean.

(Now that I know the power of the magic gloves, I may just have to upgrade my plain old yellow ones to something more fun, like these.)