Gale's Garden of Verses and Ramblings

Okay so it DOES matter. Vote. Clearly it mattered 4 years ago and 8 years prior to that and not enough people took it seriously the last two times (I have to believe that is why Bush had two terms...I really don't want to believe that people ACTUALLY voted for him).

 

Anyways I am living in the country now. There is a Ho-down (spelling here is unknown) where I can meet my local representative (or at least the republican one). What does one wear to a ho-down? LOL! Even more importantly what will happen there? What will be said? Not sure if I can go given the party affiliation. Hmmm...I am curious. Will they be chanting Palin and McCain's name? Ah Palin. Isn't she such a wonderful representation of what it means to be a smart, well-spoken woman in America today? I mean golly-gee what a Maverick. Okay enough of the politics. I apologize for the sacarsm but it is once again UNBELIEVABLE what has happened in America today and politics here.

 

All I keep thinking along with everyone else is HOW BAD IS IT GOING TO GET? We have open enrollment in November when we have to decide what we should do with 401k and other investments...um, is there going to actually BE a stock market?! See my dad was not that far off. I am not that crazy either...we are all just waitign to see what is going to happen. Biting nails and wondering why I even bother to listent to NPR and Lehr hour because it just causes anxiety about the state of things which really I have NO control over. So I am moving on. We all need to move on. Bye Bush Bye! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Okay so the first day Matt and I took occupancy of our new house we left the windows open and it poured all over our living room floor and in our basement. We knew that there were some water problems with the house given it has a sump pump but we didn't realize the water problems also included gutters not working properly. The rain water the first time was not so bad and so the next sunny day Matt and his brother reconnected some of the gutterst that were taken down for whatever reason and we thought, okay problem solved. Apparently there were also a lot of leaves in the front gutters and Matt and his brother could not get to them because the bushes are right up against the hosue and they coudln't squeeze the ladder in there. I know this because a week later it rained like crazy and it got so backed up that the rain started pooling in the living room window and poured all over my floors. I was a mess. The kids were screaming and I was soaked. When it calmed down a bit I grabbed a shorter ladder, smashed it in between the bushes and the house and stood almost on the top of the ladder with a huge pole to get the leaves out because I was NOT going to clean all that water up again. It seems to have solved some of the problem but it is looking like we might need to replace gutters or at the very least put new seams on some of them. IF only the rain would stop. But that is not the only water problem I have had to deal with.

 

A few days before the gutter inicident I had a leak in our brand new hot water on demand tank. It was leaking like crazy all over the basement floor. A huge amount of water was everywhere...so much that we had to push buckets of it into the sump pump. Matt tried to turn of the main water but that still didn't seem to stop it. At this point we called the sellers of the hosue because we legally can't do anything until we close and we can't close until the septic is all done but that is another story alltogether. So anywyas after mopping up the water twice and still having a steady stream, I finally got the idea to get the big crazy rain water bucket and collect the water in that. I had to empty it twice and it holds like 30 gallons of water. That was fun. Fortunately the sellers are cool and got right on it and had a plumber come and fix it. So that problem is now solved.

 

And now the water is messing up our closing date. We hope it won't but we are biting our nails. My yard is piles of dirt and rock with huge holes right now as the septic workesr try to finish up the septic in time for our closing date this Friday. We just want to be done. It stopped raining this morning long enough for the health inspector to give the job a "go ahead" and now it is raining on and off. I don't know what it is about us and the places we move to but it seems like we just bring the rain. So please come out Sun. Please go away rain! Cross your fingers for us because we really need this whole thing to be over.

 

But anyways despite everything we love the house and we love the neighborhood. Several neighbors have come by and one even brought bananna bread. There are lots of small kids in the neighborhood and we even have a teenage girl next door who loves to babysit. So through it all, we are still happy we live here. Okay cross your fingers. Got to go check on the work now.

Yeah! Really wishing in some ways that we stayed in Germany but I really missed my family and needed to come back. Oh America, a storm is coming. I am no expert here but I do read and watch the news. On THe News Hour last night Roger Altman, a former Clinton Financial Advisor, stated:

 

So yes I believe we ARE in trouble Mr. Lameduck President. Oh yes we are. Do you know that George W. Bush scheduled a press conference yesterday exactly at the same time Ben Bernanke had his press conference so that he could talk about the state of the economy at the same time Bernanke was talking to the Senate Finance Committee. What the heck is that? And while Bush was saying things like the economy is not in as bad shape as we think, Bernanke was saying the complete opposite. That in fact inflation will get worse, more banks will have problems, and there will likely be more job losses. Consumer confidence is down and so is consumer spending. Times are tough. So yes. Please let's face the facts folks! Take those blinders off. Admit, America is in for some tough times.

 

So not to sound crazy but I did buy extra flour, rice, and some soup. Hey what the heck? I have a family and like most Americans I don't have a lot of extra room in my budget for additional food price increases. Where do you cut the food? I used to buy organic. I can't afford it. I used to really read the labels and try not buy too much high fructose corn syrup, too much saturated fats, salty stuff. I still do but I also need a few snacks. I just buy less of them because it really does cost more money to eat healthy. Sad but trure. But I need to live and so does my family. So now I am cutting coupons. I used to do that but then I got lazy. I am back to it. I saved $4 dollars yesterday at BJs. Oh yes. Wholesale baby. I have to buy wholesale. I am sure that we do save money even by not having to drive to the grocery store twice a week, that saves. So that is the state of affairs. I want to go back to work but I am not sure I can find work. I started looking and didn't see much and I am not sure I can afford the childcare. Oh yes I feel the shock. Work so you can pay for daycare. Work so I can have a few extra dollars in my pocket to offset the rising cost of food and gas. The only reason I didn't work on getting a job right away is because we knew we were going to move out of the city and try and buy a house but we didn't know where. How can you get a job if you don't know where you are going to live? We are still in the process of trying to close on our house and I will not breathe a sigh of relief until we close in mid August. I have heard that banks have bailed at the last minute even after they issued a commitment letter. Well I have a commitment letter but I am being cautiously optomistic. I am trying to stay positive about the house even though I know that the value is going to drop the moment we sign the final papers. So that is that. I am done. Not really all that crazy. I mean a lot of people think I am Far out there worrying a little but guess what? I am not the expert here but the experts are telling us to brace ourselves.

Okay. SO I just talked to my dad. It is okay if I write about him on my blog because he doesn't care much for computers. But if he does read this, well he will have to forgive me. Anyways my dad seems to think that really bad economic times are coming. He is not alone. There are a lot of people out there who feel that way but he is taking it a step further and believes we need to perpare ourselves for the worst: food shortages, water shortages, sickenss...oh you know utter mayhem. He is a Vietnam Vet and I think he might be going a bit overboard but then again it gets you thinking....OH BOY what if it gets THAT bad? THen i guess we are all screwed. I have some dried fruit and nuts and a bunch of backpacking gear...but really what the heck am I going to do if it is all falling apart around me? That is all I can come to for a conclusion. There are people saying that it is a planned collapse of America so that the dollar will completely fall and we will suffer economic collapse like Argentina did because we are self-centered arrogant people who are out of touch with the rest of the world and our time has come. Well I don't know. THere are definitely a few of those here but not everyone is that way. I am not so selfish or so out of touch but you know hard times are here and more will be coming. But even though that could very well be the case, things could get that bad, I still want to believe that it will GET BETTER. I have to believe that as a Nation we can get it together and figure out how to do GOOD in the world or at the very least, help our neighbors. The midwest floods show people helping people. Heck the Ameircan people helped Katrina victims (our government didn't but regular citizens did). I still want to believe in people. If you can't see the good in the world, then what is the point of seeing? So for the sake of my family and the sake of all I will keep on believing in the greater good. Call me crazy but I have to.

 

Two weeks ago we think the first word that Taylor uttered was bottle. Matt was downstairs with Taylor and he was pointing at a bunch of things muttering uh and um and then Matt said what do you want? And Taylor said bot-tal. Matt said you want a bottle? And Taylor answered um and laughed. A few days later I was in the living room and Taylor was doing a similar thing, pointing and grunting. And I said what do you want? And he said ra-moot. I said did you say remote? He picked it up and laughed. Yesterday in the car he picked up a book about Dinosaurs and said Din-a-soor. We said did you say Dinnosaur and he repeated it. But he doesn't say these words again. He seems to only utter them once or twice in passing and then when he has said it that is it, time to move on to the next word. This would not surprise me because that seems to be how he works with most things...he sees things as a challenge like trying to climb up on the couch and he will do it over and over until he gets it and then he moves on to something else. And I think with communicating he will do what is quickest....like he will sign milk because he can't say it but he verbally told my mother Down when she was trying to rock him and he wanted nothing to do with it.

 

So the little guy is growing up. Walking, running, and climbing like crazy and now he is starting to really talk. Oh and let's not forget the destruction: banging, smashing, crashing, and tearing apart all things he can get his little hands on. Love him. It is so much fun to see the differences in Olivia and Taylor's personalities. I love and sometimes get upset by the dead-pan stare Taylor will give me when he is about to push his sippie cup or food off his tray. He stares right at me with this hard staret while pushign whatever it is onto the floor and then he waits for my reaction with tinniest hint of a smirk on his face as if he is saying So what are you going to do about it? Matt's Dad told me that Matt did a similar thing with his bottle when he was Taylor's age.  But you know, it is great to see his mind working. Oh there have been days when I thought I was losing my mind....when Olivia is yelling more this and that and Taylor is practicing sceeching and I have to lock myself in the bathroom for a minute and turn the fan on before I go insane. But then I am so happy to be home with them. Like this morning when I saw Olivia sweetly talking to Taylor and giving him her hand so he could get up on the couch. I am so proud and so lucky!