Figured it out, kinda sorta

I stayed up way too late last night because the Google Reader thing STILL wasn't working, and it was driving me crazy. I think I finally got it to work correctly, the only problem is that in Google Reader it lists my blog as being called "Family Gems", but it is feeding my posts correctly. I suppose you can rename it in your Reader, as I still haven't figured out how to correct it.

On another note, I discovered that Blogger essentially has NO customer service, just some help topics and a help forum. No way to contact them directly. Nice.

Don't Give Your Husband the Password

So . . .

My wonderful dear sweet husband (who by the way RARELY reads this blog unless I tell him to) asked me for the blog password a few weeks ago. I thought, "Maybe he's posting something. Cool!" Turns out he added a feed from LDS Gems onto our blog. (LDS Gems is a service that sends you inspirational quotes from church talks each day). It was a great idea. I mean, who doesn't need inspiration every day, right?

Well, turns out that my blog stopped sending its normal feed into Google Reader (what's Google Reader? If you don't have one set up, you should. It's awesome.) Anyway, even though I deleted the LDS Gems feed because it was going wild, now Google Reader is still taking people directly to lds.org when they try to go to this blog. (I promise that I am not trying to send subliminal messages to all my non-LDS friends). So, on Google Reader you will probably have to click "Add subscription" again and put this blog address in http://www.joemeg.blogspot.com/ and then hopefully it will correct the problem and you will start reading my blog again.

Have a great Saturday. I will be working all day, but I hope you're not :)

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!