Love it, I think...

McCain picks Palin as surprise No. 2

Love it:

19-year-old son enlisting in army
pro-life in word and deed
articulate, young, diverse, athletic, beautiful, female, NRA member...


Not sure about:

Glass ceiling? Is there really such a thing? Don't most women choose family over career? And, speaking of family, is mommy VP really in the best interest of the little ones? But, I think I'll go along with it for the sake of the un-born...

p.s. -- just thought of another thing I'm not so sure about: ever since Bob Dole, I've liked the GOP VP more than the Pres. nominee, haven't you?

as promised...

Here's Sarah at soccer:






















Here's Ruth occupying herself:






















Here's Phillip on his way to school:


As I was dropping him of this morning, "I'm glad now that I got my hair cut." (As if he had any choice in the matter.) I think he knows he looks good :-)










and here's Sarah at her school desk:

you know it's time...

you know it's time to do a post when your husband says "that photo would be a good one to put on the blog."

So, there's the little guy...rapidly becoming not-so-little. And, for all you mom's who were jealous of his great sleeping, he's started waking up at 2am pretty regularly. Not a big deal b/c I just feed him and he goes right back to sleep (and so do I). He's 4 months old this week!

Sarah had her first soccer game on Friday. Photo's to come... She's very excited about starting kindergarten this week too. Lord willing, we're going to do reading, writing and math with some piano and catechism thrown in.

Phillip starts his new school tomorrow. I'm excited for him. He won't admit it, but I think he's excited too. Maybe I can get a photo of him in his first-day-of-school tie...

staying busy

While I'd love to have the time to share my thoughts and opinions on things that interest me with all my faithful blog readers, it seems this past-time is falling on hard times. We're in our last two weeks of summer, and the kids are quite demanding of my time. Phillip needs to eat every two hours and Sarah and Ruth need some structure to keep from eachother's throats. Fortunately, my sweet Paul boy is not so demanding:

















Maybe after we get our school schedule up and running I'll work in more frequent posts, but for now I'm going to stop trying to keep up with Nora. Maybe I'll have to look into a photo-sharing site to appease the grandmothers. Anyone have a suggestion on which one to use?

Quote of the day:

"A dozen chickens are less trouble than one neurotic house cat."

-Ask Granny, via Amy, of course.


If I spend much time at Granny's blog I'm sure she'll talk me into starting a backyard farm of some sort.

For Peet's sake!

From today's Bee:

A new coffee company expansion is under way in the Sacramento region.

While rival Starbucks is shuttering hundreds of stores nationwide, Peet's Coffee and Tea is adding two more retail locations here this year – in addition to four already opened in 2008. The six new stores, which bring the area's total to 16, are in El Dorado Hills, Fair Oaks, Roseville and Sacramento.

It's also vastly expanding its shelf space for bagged coffee sales in local supermarkets.

Peet's CEO Patrick O'Dea says Sacramento was something of a test market for the company – "a good learning experience" on how to take its brand into a new city.

The results are most positive in the grocery sector, he says. Two years ago, Peet's was a "distant second" to Starbucks in terms of grocery sales.

Now it's No. 1, with a 15 percent market share, according to O'Dea.

Peet's, which was founded 42 years ago in Berkeley, also is contracting with third parties to open dozens of kiosks in local supermarkets, colleges and other locations, the exec reports.

How is Peet's able to expand when Starbucks is scaling back? One reason is that it hasn't saturated the market, as its giant rival perhaps did.

Another reason is that Peet's coffee is AWESOME. Apparently Bob Shallit has never tried it.

A hearty "amen"

Here's a lighthearted change of pace. Deathly serious, though. Copied from another great link from Amy:

Fashion left me behind about ten years ago when everything switched to stretchy, drapy super-snaggable polyblends and 1970s patterns. I am hoping that eighteen months from now, when my body has settled into whatever it decides is post-baby normal and I need to finally replace my wardrobe, clothing will once again be tailored, monochrome and 100% cotton.

Fingers crossed.

For now, I am still in the purgatory of maternity clothes. And I have a few words to say on the subject.

Designers, listen. I know we’re not friends. You don’t like me and I don’t like you. I don’t spend nearly enough on clothes to be your target market, and you make clothes apparently only to pain and insult me. Your maternity clothes seem designed around skinny women wearing artificial belly bumps rather than real women with real pregnancies. I am going to charitably assume that you design the clothes you do out of well-meaning ignorance rather than sadistic scorn for heterosexual procreators, so I’m going to help you out with a little advice.

3. A pregnant woman’s stomach extends more than two inches below her belly button. I realize that in your youthful days you may have found a little breeze down there kinda sexy. I do not find breezes sexy. I find them drafty. And I would like to be able to walk down the stairs without everyone below me staring fixedly at the two inches of exposed stretch marks that are feeling a chill because you can’t make a shirt that meets my pants. And this is not a size issue. Lane Bryant’s maternity clothes do the same stupid thing.

4. I do not actually want to share my cleavage with the world. They will get enough of an eyeful once I’m nursing. Until then, kindly give me a neckline that allows me to bend over and pick up my current children without flashing the old man sitting next to me.

To read the rest of her advice, click here.