I was fairly unimpressed with American Idol last night. Nobody really blew me away but nobody really turned my stomach either. All in all, it was pretty darn boring. In fact, just about the only person that stood out in any way was David Cook, and that was only because I seriously did not care for his song. Yes, my favorite of this year picked a song that left me with my eyes crossed and my ears hurting. Oh well. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later...it would have been too much to ask for me to love
every performance from him, right? Anyway, I'll only pick 2 for the bottom this week since we're down to what? 8 idols now? I say that
Syesha and
Brooke will be in the hotseat(s). Shame, too...I really like that Brooke. She moves like my granddaughter. That is to say, she lacks somewhat in rhythm. lol
Moving on to another subject. I recently bought a personalized stamp to use with my scrapbooking. This stamp is so cool. I got it so I can stamp the back pages of these little albums I've been making. I promised my daughter-in-law,
Jodie, that I would post a picture of the stamp so she could see it. I'm a little slow in getting that done (sorry Jodie!), but here it is:
I first saw a stamp like this when I received my beautiful and fun Christmas card from
Terri. She has one with her address on it, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I was quite enamored of it and decided I had to have one. Then I got caught up in this, that and the other and forgot about it. A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing through a scrapbook magazine and saw an ad for these stamps. I got online and ordered one. (For anyone interested in ordering one, go
here). I think with shipping and handling and tax, I paid a little under $40 for mine. By the way, it shipped a whole lot sooner than the website indicated it would. I think it actually took about 10 or 11 days after I ordered it for it to arrive via UPS. Anywho, when I went to order my stamp, I was undecided about how to do my name. I know, I know. It would seem to be a no-brainer. I mean geez, your name is your name, right? Well, that's kind of the thing. When I got married, I had to change my name. I guess I didn't
have to, but it was the socially acceptable thing to do. Still is, as a matter of fact. A man and a woman get married and the woman loses her name - the one she's grown up with - and replaces it with her husband's. Why is that? Why does my name matter less than my husband's? Why must I change my name to his? Don't get me wrong. I love my husband and he's got a perfectly wonderful last name. But so did I, before I got married. But now
my name is
his name and I'm left wondering if that means
I'm a little less important. This is not a new thing for me...I've long wondered about this. I'm a big believer in equal rights for women. Sounds kind of funny coming from a housewife, eh? But before you start rolling your eyes and envisioning me hosting a bra burning rally in my backyard, let me clarify. I think men have certain capabilities that a woman simply cannot match. I also believe that women have certain capabilities that a man cannot match. Niether case means one sex is more dominate than the other. To advocate equal rights between men and women is not to say that men and women have equal strengths (or weaknesses). It's saying that they should have equal rights to express their strengths and to have those strengths appreciated based on performance and capabilities rather than their sex. You know, many years ago, I made a conscience decision to stay home and raise my children when I could do so. I worked when I had to, but when given the choice, I stayed home. I did that for many reasons...Randey had much more of a career than I did (and that was thanks more to my poor choices as a teenager versus his
good choices, than anything else), and was therefore capable of making more money for our family. I was more the teacher as well as the disciplinarian in our family (Randey was generally more apt to turn a blind eye to things) so my mindset was more geared towards the responsibility of raising children than perhaps Randey's was. For those and many, many more reasons, staying at home and raising our children was the career choice for me. Of course, now that the kids are just about raised, I'm left with outdated job skills and a fairly old fashioned looking resume' so my choices when it comes to re-entering the job market are somewhat limited, but that's for another post. The point I'm making here is that while I stayed home in what would be considered the more traditional role for women, it wasn't for that reason. I stayed home because that was what made the most sense for our family. Had I gone to college and had a career path in motion at the time Randey and I had gotten married, things might have gone differently.
He may have been the one staying home with the kids while
I went out and made the bread money. That's kind of the beauty of how far we, as women, have come in our society. We now have choices and aren't limited by ridiculous concepts of what we can and cannot do. So where does all this tie into the name thing? Because the "name thing" just illustrates for me, personally, how much further we have to go still. A woman shouldn't have to alter her identity when she gets married. It shouldn't be
expected that a woman will change her name to match her husband's.
It should be a choice. My choice is to compromise. I've taken my maiden name and added it to my last name. It's the best solution that I can think of to retain my identity without rejecting my husband's. And now if I could just get him to accept my maiden name, too....
P.S. I've been a bad, bad blogger lately but am hoping to start visiting all your blogs again soon. I have to take care of some business that I have ignored for far too long, but once that's done, I should be back to full blogging strength.
The next picture tells, on the left side, of 12 things my father taught me. The right side tells of twelve things my father never taught me. I used the same photo, but used a program that makes it look like a water-color painting. Then for the picture on the right, I reversed the image and changed it to black and white.
These next pages show my dad's parents (on the left) and on the right is a picture of Dad with his brothers, individual pictures of his sisters and a single picture of me.
This next one shows, on the left, an action shot of Dad sliding into 3rd base. He used to play on a softball league out at Tinker Air Force Base. Those games were a lot of fun to watch. The right side shows Dad demonstrating his perfect bowling form! My parents were always in a bowling league when we were growing up. In fact, that bowling alley is where I got my first real job. First I was a waitress in the snack bar, but kept forgetting to give people silverware. Then they switched me to short order cook. I still can't believe they didn't just fire me and be done with it. lol I think it's because the owners liked my parents so much, they didn't have the heart to tell them their daughter was a dork!
The next page I did (below on the left) tells my dad about some of the things I feel certain I inherited from him. (most of which I'm sure he'll agree with!) The page on the right is a picture of Dad and his lovely wife, Wendy.
These next pages show Dad's kids on the left and Wendy's kids on the right. His and Hers.
And then "theirs" (below) - the left page is all the grandchildren that Dad and Wendy have, combined. I whited out the names because I don't know if their parents would want their names all over my blog. The page on the right is a note to Dad from me. I blocked out some of it because that part is particularly personal.
And here's the back cover, featuring my brand-spanking new stamp that I so love. I know you guys are wondering why I've started showing so much scrapbooking stuff lately, aren't you? Well, aren't you? You're interested enough to wonder, right? (Say yes. You know I need the validation. lol) Anyway, the answer is simple. It's the easiest way I know to show this stuff to my daughter-in-law, Jodie. Loading these pictures onto e-mail takes forever and a day. Unfortunately, it means I'm now boring you guys to tears, I'm sure, but bear with me. I at least tried to make the background of the pictures bright and happy so they'd look halfway interesting. :)
Moving on...has anybody else seen these "Poof" fairies? I love 'em. I found them at our local Hallmark store and they just crack me up. Wendy's birthday is a few days after Dad's so I got her a "Poof" fairy to celebrate. It says "Poof! You're 29!". LOL They have ones that say "Poof! The dishes are done!" and "Poof! The house is clean!" (I could really use one of those...). Here's what they look like, although the different phrases come in different colors. They're so ugly, they're cute.
This next picture is NOT FOR MADDY'S EYES, JODIE! Do NOT let Maddy see this! This is the new Build-a-Bear they came out with today. It's a Topaz bear. I had to get it for the Moose because Topaz is her birthstone (she's a November baby). This is the cutest little thing! I named her Daisy May. Shut up, you guys! I happen to like that name! Although I kind of wish now that I had named her Buttercup, 'cause that's what I think of when I look at her. Not that I've been playing with her or anything. ha! The trick will be for us to hold off giving this to Maddy before her birthday. It's hard to hang onto something that long. It's the reason I can't shop for Christmas gifts throughout the year...I always end up giving the gifts waaaaay before Christmas and then I have to buy more. 
Okay - that's enough goofiness for now. It's almost midnight (Yikes!). Time for all little bear buying, fairy poofing, scrapbook making chicks to be in bed. Goodnight, ya'll!
