Election Day

Well I'm a slacker and never got back on here to share my election recommendations. Since it's pretty much too late now, I'll just say that only ONE proposition got a "yes" vote from me. In general, I don't like propositions. I like the direct democracy in theory, but I think most propositions are put forth by special interests and too many of them just don't make sense.

Propositions are usually:

-way too vague, which is guaranteed to end up in court for a judge to interpret, or

-they advertise that they are about one thing to play on emotions but carry a lot of consequences that people don't realize, or

-they institute programs without taking into account the fiscal impact.

Studying the propositions really makes me appreciate the job that our legislators have to do. Maybe I'll try writing a proposition one of these days, I bet I could do better than some of these clowns. I'm also setting a goal to stay more informed about what is going on in politics.

In other election matters, you should know that the Fechter household has been just as divided as a lot of the country when it comes to the presidential candidates. Specifically, the twelve and under crowd vs. the parents. All of this has taken place on the refrigerator. For instance, this would appear on the fridge in the morning:

And then it wouldn't be long before someone would change it to read

OR

(Sorry John, apparently we never quite had the right letters to spell McCain).

So at dinner last night we gave Hannah a chance to defend her candidate and all she could come up with was: He's nice. Hmmm, that's a pretty good quality to have in a president I suppose, but it wasn't quite enough to convince the registered voters of the household. But I just want to say that I love Kids Voting because it really does let the kids become involved in the process. I don't mind if my kids' opinions are different than mine, I'm just glad that they're interested in the process.

It is a very good thing that the Obama campaign didn't find out that Kendall was a supporter though, because her endorsement alone may brought in enough votes to seal the deal for him (although she frequently changes her mind and says that she wants to vote for "John McCain and the girl." She really likes "the girl"):

Why are you still reading this??? Go vote!

Are You Tired of Politics?

Because I am. But I still want to go there.

I have never considered myself much of a political activist, but I am somewhat of a news junkie. If I had cable I would watch the news channels all day long, when I wasn't watching HGTV, that is. I really like to weigh all angles of an issue before making a decision, and that sometimes takes me a long time. I am often surprised by the quick judgment of others. I've learned that sometimes that judgment comes as a result of experience and wisdom to know what is right and quickly identify it. I've also learned that too often that judgment comes from acting before thinking, often followed by regret. It took me a long time to see that my tendency to reserve judgment is a gift, not a character flaw. It has served me well many times. It can also be overwhelming when there are so many issues to consider on the ballot.

There are a few items on the ballot I feel strongly about. One is the Dysart School Board election. My votes will go to Jennifer Tanner and April Allen for sure. My third vote is still uncommitted, but it is currently split between Bonnie Schroader and Anthony Piazza. I know that both Jennifer and April are honest, hardworking, reliable women who will serve this district well. They want what is best for kids and families and teachers. Please pass on the word to anyone you know in the district.

Also, two issues that I don't get to vote on, but many in the Valley do, are district realignment and bond overrides. I have studied some information on the proposed realignment of school districts and I just think that it is bad for kids, teachers, administrators, and tax payers. I think that there could be a better plan that I might support, but this is not it. Also, if you have the opportunity to pass a budget override for your school district, please vote yes. Kids will lose many valuable programs if these overrides don't pass. Don't take the economic crisis out on our kids.

Okay, more to come on the propositions.

Halloween Fun

We were cool enough to make it on the guest list of Glamma and Mr. Fabulous' halloween bash, and they spared nothing to make it an amazing party, from the invitations to the decorations, it was truly "fabulous".

We had a good time as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, hanging out with the "best costume" winners, the "Phantom couple".

There was also the well-known golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife, the Otter Pop.

We enjoyed the company of some scary witches, a spider, and a lovely swimmer (who wouldn't take a dive in the pool for us.)

Hmm, what are these guys up to? What exactly is in those bottles, pirates?

And what are you smoking there, Mr. Ricardo?

I think we need a priest so these guys can make confession. Good thing there was one at the party.
Well, looks like he needs to confess a few things himself.

There was dancing,

contests,

and a good time was had by all. Thanks for the invite!

(Someone really needs to alert the pope about these two below).

Good Riddance, September!

Beware: I needed to vent!


I thought I was never going to make it out of September alive! It was honestly one of the busiest months I've had in a loooong time. Getting back into the routine of school, with Kendall in preschool and a new carpool schedule. Working more because I started a third survey for the Census Bureau (what, you didn't even know I had an actual J-O-B?), I worked about 60 hours in September and put 800 miles on my car just for work (that's about double my usual work schedule)! Even though it was nice to make the extra money, we spent a good chunk of it eating out because we were so busy. Yuck. I'm sick of fast food. Busy as ever with my calling of Enrichment Counselor, as we had our quarterly enrichment meeting and I made most of the food for the dinner, on top of teaching the first Sunday lesson as well. We also had doctor and dentist appointments all around, I reviewed a book for the school's library committee and I'm working on another one, threw out my back for a few days at the end of the month, got most of my visiting teaching done, shopped for a lot of Coupon Sense deals (I have toiletries and granola bars and Powerade galore!), did some serious reorganization in my house (kinda unfinished though), went on a Dysart bus tour (and got my picture in the paper), almost switched my kids' school, chauffered Hannah to her ever increasing activities/lessons, and just tried to keep up with the normal housework, homework, etc. Thankfully Joey helped out with a lot of that stuff, but I felt like I headed out the door almost every night after he got home and we hardly saw each other. I'm craving a family vacation or a weekend without the kids (guiltily though, because I feel like I haven't seen them enough lately). And I'm going to be just as busy with work at least through December, so I don't even know how I could possibly get away for the weekend! The good news is that I'm mostly done Christmas shopping, so the fact that the holidays are coming doesn't stress me out so much this year. And by the way, September was hot! So I'm just glad to be in a new month and looking forward to cooler weather and fun holidays.


This week Noah had to do his first book report (which he received 100% on, good job!). I sat with him while he did the writing portion of it, and then I had him start drawing the picture while I got some things done around the house. When I came back to check on his finished product, I couldn't help but laugh. See if you can figure out why:



Do you see something out of place there?

In case you couldn't figure it out, check out the "Parent Signature" line. He's hopefully not heading into a career of forgery. It gave me a good laugh though.

How was your September?

Do You Disney?

If you love Disneyland as much as I do, you need to take advantage of this deal! In 2009 Disney will be offering free admission on your birthday! I'm going to try and get a trip out of this next year for sure. If members of your family have birthdays on the same day you are really lucky! If you have an annual passport already you can get some other special offers instead. You do have to register for this in advance though. (You people know how much I love FREE). You have to register and then you can add your kids. Your spouse will have to do a separate registration. Now, I must go plot whether I can go in February, April, May, June, and August when each member of my family has a birthday! I love Disneyland.

Register here!

I Waited 30 Years . . .

. . . to finally have a sister. I have two older brothers, and always begged my mom for a little sister. When I was 11 my hope was renewed, but I got a baby brother instead.

I actually cried on the way to the hospital, until my cousin Jennie who was driving me to the hospital said, "It's okay, we can still put him in dresses." Of course once I saw him I loved him and didn't mind that he was a boy.

But since my brother graduated from high school this year, my parents weren't quite ready for an empty nest, so they decided to adopt.

Her name is Winnie, and we got to babysit her over Labor Day weekend so that my parents could go out of town. And after all, they deserved a break because having a newborn is hard work.
She's a Maltese/Yorkie mix (Morkie, according to Jessica). It was fun, and a lot of work, having her for the weekend. Noah and Kendall are a little scared of dogs in general so it was good for them. I can safely say that Kendall has overcome her fear of "Winnifer" (as she sometimes calls her), but the jury is still out on Noah. In his defense, Winnie can be very rowdy, barks a lot, and she does bite sometimes.

So I guess I have a little sister now, although I think that she bears a stronger resemblance to my three brothers.

Remembering . . .

Not to be cheesy, but since I was just listening to people on the radio share their "Where were you?" stories from September 11, 2001, I thought that I should record mine. Even though I'm sure my own experience is not significant to anyone but me, I think that it is an event that we will always reflect on and think about throughout our lifetimes and someday I probably won't recall the details that I still remember now, seven years later.

At the time, we were living in Joey's parents' house, and his sister Kristi and her husband Mike were living there with us (his parents had already moved to New Mexico). I was in my first year of teaching at Barcelona Middle School and Hannah was in kindergarten. I remember that I was blow drying my hair in the bathroom and Joey walked in and told me to come look at the TV. We sat in our bedroom for awhile and watched the events unfolding, still really uncertain of what was going on.

I would take Hannah to my parents' house on my way to work so that she could ride the bus to school with Andrew, and as I dropped her off I got really emotional. I was terrified of planes flying into buildings across the country, imagining that it would keep happening all day long. Since my parents both worked downtown I was afraid for them, and I was also scared of letting Hannah go to school and being away from her. I remember that we said a prayer with my mom before I left for work.

Being in an 8th grade classroom that day was an interesting experience. As teachers, we just felt speechless and shellshocked. We would listen to the radio and check the internet periodically throughout the day, trying to find out more but without having access to a TV I felt a little bit in the dark. I spent a lot of time just talking to my students, trying to explain the facts that I knew and trying to disspell the junior high rumors that had already started spreading. It was similar to the day I spent as an intern in another classroom on the day of the Columbine shootings. I felt a great responsibility to my students on those days.

I of course remember the terror and the disbelief and the sadness, and just being glued to the TV, trying to understand why this would happen. I remember being grateful that we had just returned from a trip to Kentucky for my grandma's 80th birthday celebration, and that if the party would have taken place on her actual birthday (September 18th) then we wouldn't have been able to fly there. And I couldn't forget the amazing stories of patriotism and love and kindness that came out of September 11th.

It just so happened that we were trying to conceive at that time. It must have happened within days after, because about a month later I found out that I was pregnant with Noah. There was a little baby boom at that time, and when I was delivering him the stories were all over the news about how hospitals all over the place were overflowing with deliveries from what they called "September 11th babies". I've never considered that anything but a coincidence since we were already trying before September 11th, but I love the idea of all of these sweet spirits being sent to earth at that time to bring comfort and love and help people remember what really matters.

Visiting "Ground Zero" in 2005 was an interesting experience. It was hard to connect that big hole in the ground with what I had seen on TV. It was a solemn experience but I had a difficult time making an emotional connection when it looked completely different from what was on TV (and thank goodness, because if it looked the same it would have been overwhelming). I felt that it was necessary to go there, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time there. It was a sad, empty place.

On a happy note, I love America! I feel so fortunate to live in this country.

The end.