It Starts

The Binky just fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor, a baseball mitt stuck hopefully on his chubby little paw. Poor little guy. . .  : ) He wants to be just like his big brother Jeffy! But mostly he wants to play ball! Too bad they don't have a little league . . for little 2 year olds. : ) There's probably a good reason.

Monday Charlie signed Jefferson up for T-Ball. Then last night they went out 'bat shopping'. : ) Jeffy's eatin' it up, wearing his baseball hat everywhere, and now the whereabouts of the mitt and the bat are being carefully monitored. Such a cutie! : )

Sigh. They grow up too fast.

But here it comes. . .

Spring, I think, is finally here, and with it chaos to our home and our lives. Not that that's anything new, but May and December, December and May. . . are crazy, busy months, and now, with the coming of warm weather, I can feel it coming. . . Craziness in general will once again reign supreme at the Mason residence. It's just a matter of time.

Graduations, birthday parties, reunions, baseball practice, swimming lessons. . . Soccer, Scout camps, Youth Conference, Girls camps. . . Summer.

Big grin.

Here we go!

A few years back, we decided to limit the kids' extracurricular activities to one per child per year. This works out to 'almost manageable', if you do the math, and makes it so much easier to keep it together. . . because, my friends, there are only seven days in a week.

And how many kids? : )

Mama. . .

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Last week I was heading to school, in a driving snow storm.

I had studied all day. I was brain-fried. There was no way I'd be able to remember all the stuff I'd read.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the driver's side windshield wiper somehow went from slightly torn to shredded, making visibility a mildly urgent issue. At that moment I realized that the heater had stopped working, eliminating the defrost mechanism. To add insult to dubious injury, the low-fuel light chimed in, with it's not-so-pleasant beeping, letting me know that we were almost out of gas.

Oh brother.

Was I not supposed to take this test? Had the elements literally combined against me? What to do. I had left the cell phone at home, no gas station within a mile or so. . .

There was no time, I'd have to chance it. . .

Coasting into the parking lot, I realized that I had just enough time to make it to class. Battling a head wind, in almost blinding snow, I hurried across the frozen campus toward my building and shelter.

Throwing open the door, I darted inside, and shook the snow out of my hair. I'd made it!

The instructor mercifully gave a short lecture, allowing us slackers to cram in a small amount of studying before he administered the test. Arghhh!

"This test will probably take you 30, 35 minutes. . ." he droned.

Heaving an internal sigh, I began, going with my first gut impulse, first reaction to each question. I only got stuck on a couple, which I flubbed my way through on the second go-around.

Yay, done!

I looked at the clock. It had been about 5 minutes. Since we were free to go when we were finished with the test, I decided to high-tail it out of there, maybe try to limp back home. Thankfully, the storm had let up. You know how it is in Utah. . I'd heard it a hundred times. "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes." Yeah!

I made it back to the car without too much trouble, but noticed, to my momentary alarm, that someone had been in it! There was a red and yellow box sitting on the passenger seat that had not been there before. I hesitated, took stock of the situation, and realized that it was okay. The car was locked, no one in the back seat. . . It was still light outside. . . Once I saw the Almond Joy on the dash, I knew I'd been been saved. Charlie had left a note, with my favorite candy bar, and had changed the wiper blade while I was in class. : ) Wow.

I always knew I had a guardian angel, and now I know why my Daddy let me go ahead and marry this guy, even when we were so young and goofy. Sigh. Because of little things like this. : ) Which add up to life.

Charlie's a good man.

Busy Weekend

Friday before last we were pretty busy. . . At 6 pm, a guy from the Red Cross came over to help Clint get started on his Eagle Scout project. Clinton has chosen to hold a neighborhood blood drive. Yay! : ) At 7-ish, Charlie and I, and the 3 little kids, drove across town to Hyrum's and Kim's for ice cream. The little buggers had a good time playing with their cousins. . . Then at 8 pm, I took Laena and Clint to meet their friends, Morgan and Kalin, who were in town for the High School Basketball State Championship Playoffs. They were staying at a hotel over by the E- Center, with about 300 or so other supervised adolescents. I spent the evening in the lobby, reading my POLYSCI book, and trying to tune out dozens of giggling teenagers who kept buzzing in and out. . . Yeesh. . Yawn. Laena went to one of the games the next day, before her date with Trevor. West Jordan ended up winning later that weekend. : ) Champion Jaguars! Pretty cool. One of these days, I'll figure out how to stop procrastinating my Singing Time lesson. . . Ha ha ha! It just never stops. . . .

Idy-Heidy-Ho!

Never thought it'd be Idaho, but a few days back, Laena got her acceptance letter from BYU-Idaho! Formerly known as Ricks' College, up in Rexburg, it's now a full-fledged, 4-year University. : ) I think Laena was pretty excited. She smiled, and hopped online to verify her intentions. Sigh. Should be interesting. . . We were almost expecting her to stick around and go to the community college, but Charlie and I feel like this would be a much better idea, a fantastic opportunity for our little girl! Except she's not so little anymore. . . and now we won't get to take Math 1050 together. . . . Sigh.

Anyway, we're way excited for our Laenabug. : ) Should be a good experience for her.

An Exhange

H.R. 45: Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 (GovTrack.us)

Source: www.govtrack.us

A bill in the U.S. Congress: To provide for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms and for a record of sale system for those firearms, and for other purposes.

"Once this bill becomes law, you'll need a license before you can exercise your 2nd Amendment right to obtain a handgun.
I wonder what would happen if Congress tried to require that you get a license before exercising your 1st Amendment rights?"

Dot, dot, dot. . .

"I might feel differently about the licensure for exercising First Amendment rights if words and pictures were as capable of killing as firearms."

Etc, etc. . .

"And I think you're making an awfully big leap to think this will become a law. Something like the Stimulus bill can go on a straight party line vote, but there's no way something like this bill would. Too many moderate Dems and Republicans that will sway one way or the other. Plus there's plenty of crap McConnell can do in the Senate without 60 votes against him. This might get a vote there in 2011."

"The most comforting thing I find in this potential legislation is that I am sure, absolutely sure!! (like all of you should be) that the current administration will be able to assure - even guarantee - that EVERY American, good guys like me and bad guys like rapists and muggers and home invaders will go get the license. Oh, and that any licensee will use such license and weapon for the protection of others not to do any harm. I'm sure after such a great law is enacted there won't be a soul in the country possessing any firearm without a license. I also hope to see the President and his family out in public without the protection of firearms, because after all there won't be any threat to their lives by an unlicensed firearm user."

"Maybe they could give the secret service guys mace, or something. . . maybe really heavy flashlights."

"And whatever is Hollywood going to do when firearms are no longer politically correct? All those sexy action movies. . . I mean, James BOND!"

"He definitely has a license."

"As, I'm sure, do all the bad guys. Sounds like effective legislation. I feel like it's Obama and crew out and out saying "Yes, we CAN take away your 2nd Amendment rights." Let's make it as difficult as possible for law-abiding citizens to obtain protection for their homes and families, while all the bad guys will have whatever weapons at their disposal, because that is simply the nature of things. I will NOT leave my family defenseless. Sportsman's Fast Cash, here I come! Hmm, also might buy Charlie's 30 ought 6 back from our neighbor down the street. I wouldn't move to Phoenix, but if you do, and when those 'bad guys' are breaking down your door, I'll gladly lend it to you. . ."

"Do you guys remember the days, back in HS, during hunting season, or not, when you'd drive to school with your rifles mounted in the cab of your pick up? Doubt that'd be tolerated anymore. Slowly, but surely, our rights are being stripped away. . . I ask you, why should I have to have a license to exercise my Constitutional rights? Isn't the fact that this is the central document, upon which all of our country's law are based, enough?! And why should it be concealed? I've never killed anybody. Why should I hide my weapon? Is it gonna freak somebody out? Realistically, crime would drop if everyone packed them some heat. It's just common sense."

"Food for thought: If your teacher were strapping a Glock, and you could see it, would you mess with him? Doubtful. Anyway, you'd be a little more hesitant than some of the disturbed teenagers we've heard about these past few years. . I have some beef with schools not allowing firearms on campus. Number one, it goes against the Constitution. Number 2, the very idea is ridiculous! They're sitting ducks! Ever think, if the teachers at that unfortunate HS in Colorado had been required, or simply had had the OPTION, of choosing to carry firearms and thereby protecting their school, classroom, students, that maybe a few more of those kids would've had a shot, literally, at survival while attempting to acquire an education? As it was, many people, most of them children, died, because of an obvious lack of preparation. I think every teacher should be asked to take a gun safety class, and also to carry a firearm while on campus, whatever the learning institution, in order to protect against possible uprisings. If some crazy kid gets out of line, there they would be to take care of it, and to protect the life of your child.

And what is the cause of such behavior? Let's get down to the real issue here, the unbelievable onslaught of negative, violent programming/movies/videos games, which cleeeeaarrly affects and influences the young mind, and certainly does not promote peaceful behavior. Perhaps we could spend some of the 'stimulus money' on programs to eliminate drug use! Maybe we could go retro and acknowledge the existence of right and wrong, something that seems to be regarded as old school or outdated. It's still in effect, y'all! Right is right, and wrong is wrong, however ya wanna slice it. I know it's ain't politically correct, but that's the way it is. All of my 7 kids are going to be taught these principles, and hopefully pass them along to their own children.

Schools should be institutions of learning indeed, where we can feel protected, relatively safe, and be able to concentrate on our studies.

Oh, and FYI, nowhere in the Constitution does it mention anything about concealment of 'arms'. Just the right to keep (have) them, and bear (carry) them. Meddling with these freedoms/rights is just not smart. We're just a couple of notches up/away from what happened to the citizens of Germany right before World War 2. They took guns away from the people. How'd that work out again. . ? Hmm. . . Exactly. And that's where we're headed, if we stand idly by, and do nothing about some of this ridiculous, oppressive legislation that is being proposed. Squelch it now, make it stop, retain your rights, and protect your families."

Something important to think about.