Best of Both Worlds

Last night I got to be 15 again! We got free tickets to the Hannah Montana at the Joe Louis Arena. Chris' radio rep from Radio Disney let him know early this week that she had 4 tickets for us. We told Emily and she was soooooooooo excited! She loves Hannah Montana, loves her music, watches the show, was even Hannah Montana for Halloween! I thought the seats would be ok...but probably towards the back since they were free. When I picked them up from Will Call and saw that they were 3rd row, I couldn't believe my eyes! Once we entered our section, we started the stairway down towards the center of the arena and just kept going almost to the floor to our seats. They were so awesome! Thank you, Susan!

The show opened with Aly and AJ performing. I was surprised how much I enjoyed their music. It was actually pretty good. Then we had Hannah and after Hannah it was Miley's turn. I loved so many things about the evening.
1. Being with Emily, Anna and Jodi. Awesome GNO! Love that Em thought we were cool enough to go with her.
2. That even though all the costumes weren't 100% modest, none were sleazy or sexy. There was nothing at all sexual in any of the numbers. I heard no swearing. It was absolutely family friendly.
3. Watching Emily and Anna dance together.
4. Watching Jodi laugh at all the crazy little girl fans.
5. Watching dad's dance along.
6. Hearing such loud screaming and enthusiasm. Must have been what it was like when the Beatles came to America.

It was really fun and I am so thankful for Susan Woolner being so generous and giving us this opportunity. Thanks!

Emily bought herself this Hannah Montana tote.

Emily and Anna

Me and Emily before the show

We were incredibly close to the stage!

Aly and AJ rockin' out!!

Best Day Ever!!

Jodi and I

Hannah

Miley




The screaming was soooooo loud!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

Chia Bart

We have a garden of Chia pets growing on our already minuscule kitchen counter. They started with Spencer asking for one from Santa and, as always, Santa delivered. He was delighted with his Chia Kitten and couldn't wait to plant the Chia seeds. All the other children were so enamoured with the Chia that they wanted their own. Luckily, Grammy heard their cries and also delivered. Calvin got a Chia Scooby, Christopher got a Chia Bart Simpson and Emily got Chia Donkey. They are all in various states of Chia sprouting. Enjoy the photos!

Chia Donkey

Calvin and Chia Scooby

Chia Kitten

The whole Chia family

An Inconvenient Thermometer

Al Gore might be right...global warming might not be a myth. Our outdoor thermometer has been registering some rather unusual readings for January and, actually, for Michigan. It started several days ago with a reading of 86. It gradually increased to 100. Today, we are at 131. Maybe I should dust off my summer crocs?

Movie Review

I saw a movie today! This makes two movies for me in the last month. I think it's some kind of a record because I don't think I saw two movies last YEAR. Today my friend, Jodi, took me to see "Juno." We sat in the theater and laughed and laughed. It was a hilarious movie! This movie was about a 16 year old girl who gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption. The girl, Juno, was played by Ellen Page and she delivered some really great lines that I am hoping I can remember forever. Her delivery was completely deadpan. I completely enjoyed her performance and can't wait to see her in future movies. I also loved her boyfriend, Bleeker, played by Michael Cera, whom I adored in "Arrested Development." The story was great and I left feeling happy but the movie also made me think a bit about what I would do if my daughter were in that situation. I'm glad the ending was happy. My favorite kind of movie is one where I leave feeling happy. I would recommend this movie to most anyone over 16 with a bit of reservation. If you think it is a sin to eat chocolate than I don't think this is the movie for you; it has some irreverent moments. There is no sex at all, no violence, some foul language and some irreverence. I give this movie 2 thumbs up. Thank you, Jodi, for taking me and for sharing nachos with me. Sorry I spilled cheese on your shoes!

Thankful Thursday 1/10/2008

1. "Carpoolers"

2. Gift cards to restaurants

3. Free Hannah Montana concert tickets

4. Warm January weather

5. Aldi

He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it.

I am having a crisis of my faith. Not my religious faith but my political faith. My political ideals have been very important to me for a long time. I had my first witness, if you will, on November 4, 1980, as I cheered Ronald Wilson Reagan to victory over Jimmy Carter. I vividly remember that night as I was allowed to stay up late with my parents and watch the election returns on our 20 inch, black and white TV. I took one look at Ronnie and I was hooked. I remained a staunch Republican throughout elementary school and kept track of electoral votes on November election evenings in 1984 and 1988. The year 1991 was very important to my political development as I fell in love twice that year. The first was with a man who believed in everything I did and thus I became a fervent Rush Limbaugh listener from the first moment I laid ears on him. The second happened in October when I discovered Senator Orrin Hatch during the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill Hearings. I was smitten from the beginning. As a junior in high school, most of the girls had photos of the "90210" hotties in their lockers. I had photos of Orrin Hatch in my locker and taped to my school notebooks. There was no more exciting moment to be had in my young life than the day the autographed photograph of him arrived for me in the mail along with a letter that he actually signed thanking me for my support. I carried them around with me for months and still have both in my possession. In 1992 when Clinton took over the White House, I was discouraged but still fervent in my political beliefs. Being one month away from 18 and too young to vote was heartbreaking. Especially, when my friends who could vote were all voting for Clinton. Traitors. I cast my first presidential vote in 1996 for Bob Dole, even though I knew he had no chance of winning. The 2000 election brought all my political fervor from simmering to boiling over. I was fixated with the election. I watched "The O'Reilly Factor" and "Hannity and Combs" like a fiend. I knew everything there was to know about ballots and hanging chads and the counties that made up the state of Florida. Our TV was rarely off Fox News for the entire month of November and into December until Al Gore conceded the election on December 13(my birthday) to President George W. Bush. Again in 2004, I cast my ballot for President Bush.

For months, the candidates for president in 2008 have been in the forefront of mainstream news. They are discussed ad nauseam on the radio and television. As I listen to speeches, read articles and take quizzes matching me with my perfect candidate, I have learned something very interesting about myself. I might not be a conservative Republican any more. *Gasp* I am definitely a social conservative. There are certain issues that are more important to me than others. Abortion, traditional marriage, and stem cell research are issues that I don't think I'll ever lean to the left on. I would have to say that the right of the unborn is my most important issue. I would have an extremely difficult time voting for someone who doesn't agree that all life from the moment of conception is sacred. I am also conservative when it comes to the war in Iraq, believing that we need to leave our troops there for the long haul. The leftward leanings that I have are when it comes to economics, the death penalty, health care, education and immigration. As I have grown and experienced life more, I find myself changing my opinions on these issues. So am I a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat? The last thing I want to be is a moderate. What is happening to me? I still love listening to Rush but no longer can stand Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly and their self-important attitudes.

I don't like any of the candidates for president this year. You are saying to yourself, "Jennifer, but the Mormon...surely you must love the Mormon." The last thing I would ever do would be to vote based on someone's religious beliefs. Romney isn't getting a pass from me on his flip-flopping Abortion views just because he's a Mormon. None of the Democrats are pro-life and none of the Republicans match my other criteria. My true crisis of faith this November will come if I am forced to choose between two pro-choice candidates like Giuliani and Clinton or Obama. I have no idea what I will do then. I might just have to write in Orrin Hatch.

Oh, woo. Look at the time. I gotta get to bed. I still gotta brush my teeth, feed the hog, still got some homework to do, still got those bills to pay

Our home has been enduring the worst appliance failure I can imagine. Our dishwasher is broken. This broken dishwasher is causing much angst among our residents here. Everyone hates doing dishes by hand! Hand dish washing has so many drawbacks. It takes a long time, they are never cleaned as well as in the automatic washer, our sink is not the proper kind for hand dish washing (you need a double sink to properly hand wash dishes, we have a single sink), it brings out the worst in my children, etc...

I am no stranger to washing dishes. I grew up in a home that didn't have an automatic dishwasher. One of my dad's favorite sayings when asked why we didn't have a dishwasher was to point to Anna and I and say, "I've got two. Jennifer and Anna." Annoying! I hated washing dishes as a child. Anna and I would devise all kinds of ways to make it endurable. My first tactic was to distract my dad. If dish washing time was at the same time as Mr. Wizard was on Nickelodeon, I could put off the dishes til after Mr. Wizard was over. This also worked with Jeopardy!. I guess my dad considered educational television more important than housework. One of Anna's tactics was to lay on the floor and whine and complain. This didn't get very good results. We would sometimes sing while we would wash. That made time go faster. I have fond memories of rousing renditions of "There's a hole in the bucket." Another game we played was called "10 and 10." This was simple. She washed 10 items and then I washed 10 items. You got a break while the other person was washing. We were child geniuses.

My children are hating washing dishes as much as we did. They are employing a few tactics of their own. The first involved piling as many dirty dishes inside the broken dishwasher as possible, closing the door and hoping no one would notice. I started to notice that some of the plates were missing and my silverware drawer looked empty. I opened the dishwasher and could not believe my eyes. Or nose. I got very angry and that's all I'm going to say about that. They are also taking tips from Anna's playbook and employing the whining and complaining tactics. This is working about as well for them as it did for her 18 years ago.

I don't know what is wrong with the dishwasher. I tried to take it apart. I know...bad idea. I couldn't tell what was wrong and now it is not completely back together because I can't remember how to do it. If anyone knows a mechanically inclined person who might be able to fix it, send them my way. Until then, stay away from the Vos house after meal time. It's a dangerous place.