Our New Monitor!

Woohoo! Jeremy came home with a 19" flat screen (not flat back though) monitor! Man, its sooo much better than what we had before!

Here's the background story... when we bought our Compaq Presario, the monitor we had bought to go along with it (and had upgraded to a bigger size) only lasted a year. Instead of bringing it back... it just sat in our back room (storage room). Jeremy had brought it to a local repair guy and he said there was nothing he could do to fix it. So, Jeremy bought a monitor from him, that was actually in use at their shop, for their shop. So, it was second hand. Anyways, from the time he brought it home, I noticed it was blurry. Also darker than it needed to be. We'd try to adjust the monitor settings themselves as well as our graphics card, but, nothing really worked quite right. We just dealt with it.

Well, I guess Jeremy finally got sick of it and he went put a monitor on layaway. And I have to say, YAY! I love this one! hehe

I can actually read the screen now! Most of the times before, I had to highlight the text of many sites and emails just to read them! Another good thing is that now I know exactly how to correct the coloring, contrast, etc. of my digital photos!

There's one more thing I want to buy today. I believe the sale at Wal-Mart ends today, that's what today is the day. Its a 3 in 1 printer, scanner, fax machine for $50. Plus, the cartriges aren't too badly priced, like my other printers (that haven't worked in a couple years). I've been wanting another printer. I thought my older ones still worked but we bought more ink and they still do nothing. I've also been wanting a scanner... so, this will work out perfectly!

Today is Calista's Flea/Fly game @ 2pm. Jeremy's parents are coming this year. I won't have any video footage of it this year as I don't have a battery for my video camera. I will take pictures, of course. I'll post them in my girls' blog later on.

I'm going to have to remember to buy another video camera battery too... esp. before this baby is born! As well as some new rechargeable AA batteries for my digital camera; the ones I have now seem to be on the brink of oblivion... :D

The Govenment is Attempting to Take Away More of Our Rights

Measure Eases Vaccine Rules

Here are some excerps from the article:

"Congress is considering a bill that would allow the government to order that vaccines be given to every U.S. citizen in a national emergency, even if a vaccine has previously harmed some people.

The bill would also make it almost impossible for anyone harmed by these substances to sue the manufacturer or drug researchers. "

"This is a drug company stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare," said Barbara Loe Fisher, director of the National Vaccine Information Center. "It is a sad day for this nation when Congress is frightened and bullied into allowing one profit-making industry to destroy the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing citizens their day in court in front of a jury of their peers."

"Information about the drugs' effectiveness or its potential to do harm could not be obtained through normal federal Freedom of Information channels. Manufacturers would be immune from lawsuits arising out of negligence claims in cases where people have been made sick or have died."

"Since the public would have trouble obtaining documents proving a drug is causing adverse reactions, Fisher said, there is little chance of challenging a drug company in court."

"The last resort for ordinary Americans who are victims of corporate negligence, is the civil justice system. So, we are against any proposal that leaves people without a just remedy [like this one]," said Erin Mayton, deputy director and counsel of communications for the American Trial Lawyers of America."

This really sickens me. How can we be the 'land of the free' and have so many of our rights taken away?

We were born with free will, granted to us by God. Let's exercise this free will and make sure this bill NEVER passes!

License to Drive... Again!!!

I'm SO excited!!! After having gone 2 yrs with an expired license and having an insurance block on it, I finally have a license to drive again!!!! WooHooo!!!!

My sister, Cherie, came over Sunday and left Monday evening. Monday morning, she brought me to the DMV and generously paid for me to get my license all fixed!!! A bonus to this was that they didn't make me retake the written or driving test!!! I was so happy about that!!! I was told by the DMV, when I called, that I'd have to retest since it had been over a year since my license was expired!!! We expected to be in there for a few hours! NOPE! From the time we entered the building to the time I was given my license, it was like an hour! And the parking lot was FULL!

What a sister, huh?

Not only did she do that, but she low-lighted my hair, as you can see in my blurry pic, my roots are horrendous! lol But, the low-lighting helped blend the roots with the lighter parts. AND she gave me a manicure! *She's finishing up her cosmetology schooling, so, I am happy to have her practice on me!*

So, we had a busy Monday. Monday evening was Calista's Flea/Fly practice and group picture. I was able to drive there!!! So, that was awesome and MAN! Does our '93 Cadillac DeVille drive good!!! What a sweet, smooth ride! See, even though we've had it since March '05, I am too chicken $hit to drive without my license... lol So, its been a while since I've driven any vehicle!

You should have heard Calista. She rode with Cherie and her girls to practice and they followed me and Ursula in our car. Well, Calista gets out Cherie's *new-to-her* van and asks where her daddy is. I told her he's still at home (he took the day off) and she asked how I got there, I told her I drove! She started jumping up and down and was all excited that I can drive again! hehehe She was cheering and all :D hehe

All I need now is a car....

New Cookware! woohoo!!!

Jeremy finally bought me some nice cookware (the actual set is the one I have pictured)!!! Stainless steel! I'm so happy! I've been wanting to get rid of my teflon crap cookware and replace them with stainless steel! I do have 3 cast iron frying pans and one large iron pot... but, I wanted stainless steel!

29 Weeks

I did an oopsie and posted my 29 wk's gestation post here instead of where its supposed to be! lol

So, I went ahead and edited both journals and here's the link back to my 29th wk. appointment with my CNM.

The comments are going to remain here for that post since I don't want to ask Jessica to redo what she's already done... esp. since she's still on dial-up and it takes her forever to accomplish anything online... bwa ha ha ha ha!

The Personality Defect Test

Okay, I actually have to agree with this one... I was that 'hand-raiser'!!! lol I did always sit close to the front of the class! lol And I would get so annoyed when I wasn't called on! ha ha haha

Hand-Raiser You are 57% Rational, 57% Extroverted, 28% Brutal, and 28% Arrogant.

You are the Hand-Raiser, that annoying kid in class who always had an answer for everything. No doubt, as a child you probably sat in the front of the class, anxiously waving your hand back and forth in the air while your teacher desperately tried to avoid calling on you because you were the ONLY fucking kid that answered her questions. Clearly, the key traits of your personality are your rationality and your extroversion. You are like a little talkative calculator, in other words. You also tend to be rather gentle and less arrogant than most people. So what is your defect, then? Well, you're boring, and when you're not boring, you are just plain annoying with your ultra-logical responses and constant need to talk to others. So keep waving that hand in the air, son. I'm still not calling on you. You are too logical, you talk too much, and your humility and gentleness only makes me hate you more, because they make me feel like I almost SHOULDN'T hate you. But I do. Big time. To put it less negatively: 1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive. 2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant. Compatibility: Your exact opposite is the Brute. Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Braggart, the Haughty Intellectual, and the Robot. * * If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits. The other personality types: The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 34% on Rationality You scored higher than 62% on Extroversion You scored higher than 25% on Brutality You scored higher than 20% on Arrogance

Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

The Commonly Confused Words Test

I'm kind of disappointed in myself... I thought I'd do much better! lol But, I do know that I've lost some brain cells along the way... children will do that to you! ha ha ha Actually, I think some of it has to do with the computer community as well... I mean, so many people mess up the English language online but you just kind of ignore it and than, next thing you know, you're doing the same things... bad habit kind of thing.

I just looked at the answer key and found that I did have some of them right but changed the answer... that was my biggest problem with test-taking in school... I always doubted myself and once I went with my initial thought, I received higher marks (like, from 10-12 grades, I had an "A" GPA; whereas from like 7th to 9th, I had a high "B" average).

Another thing... I don't know why this thing is spaced out so much... I went into the editing mode and I can't figure out what the deal is with it. Oh well...

Advanced You scored 78% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 80% Advanced, and 53% Expert!

You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score. Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 4% on Beginner You scored higher than 42% on Intermediate You scored higher than 5% on Advanced You scored higher than 2% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

The Climate Here

Mosquito cloud hangs over parish

"Hurricane Rita has created ideal conditions for mosquitoes that now are breeding - and biting - by the millions.

"You can't move without being overwhelmed. It looks like something out of a horror movie," said Lisa Arceneaux, who lives in the Plaisance area."

Man, the frickin' mosquitos are terrible right now! I can't let my kids go outside to play because of them!

We're supposed to be having a cool front this week (woohoo!) according to KATC (down to 54 degrees tonight!) and hopefully, that'll kill off those miniature vampires!

And THEN, we're NOT EVEN out of hurricane season yet!!!

OMG!!! Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator

Jeremy told me this story in bed last night! I was like "what???" Then looking for other info, I came across and just HAD to post it!


Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator
Posted: Oct 6, 2005, 08:24 AM CDT


MIAMI (AP) -- The alligator has some foreign competition at the top of the Everglades food chain, and the results of the struggle are horror-movie messy.


In this photo provided by the Everglades National Park, the carcass of a six-foot American alligator is shown protruding from the mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Everglades National Park

A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.

The incident has heightened biologists' fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades.

"It means nothing in the Everglades is safe from pythons, a top-down predator," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor.

Over the years, many pythons have been abandoned in the Everglades by pet owners.

The gory evidence of the latest gator-python encounter _ the fourth documented in the past three years _ was discovered and photographed last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife researcher.

The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it.

In previous incidents, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

"There had been some hope that alligators can control Burmese pythons," Mazzotti said. "This indicates to me it's going to be an even draw. Sometimes alligators are going to win and sometimes the python will win."

It is unknown how many pythons are competing with the thousands of alligators in the Everglades, but at least 150 have been captured in the past two years, said Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist and crocodile tracker.

Pythons could threaten many smaller species that conservationists are trying to protect, including other reptiles, otters, squirrels, woodstorks and sparrows, Mazzotti said.

Wasilewski said a 10- or 20-foot python also could pose a risk to an unwary human, especially a child. He added, however, "I don't think this is an imminent threat. This is not a `Be afraid, be very afraid' situation.'"

Damn Sims!

I ask myself, "Why?" Why did I go and buy The Sims 2??? OMG! Can it be even more addicting than the original Sims??? I can barely tear myself away from it! LOL Of course, there is that newness factor too... but,... between playing it and going online and finding new 'skins'.... geez.... lol Maybe its that inner control freak in me that loves this game so much? Or that part of me that wants to be a stylist (you can do make-up and hair on these sims - I've given many of the game-created sims a makeover already, to make them prettier :D hehe)? Or maybe its a way for me to dream.... oh, the nice houses and furniture you can build and buy! hehehe Or just an escape from reality? I don't know... I told my sister, Angele, that I have it now and she's like, that's why I don't even try to play those games... I know how I am, I'll play them nonstop for 4 days! lol Maybe that also runs in the genes... because our brother is a game freak; always has been... from Atari to Coleco (oh gosh, I have no idea how to spell that one!) to X-Box and PC games... it never ends for him. He says he needs the constant stimulation... lol His firstborn is only 5 yrs old and just like him in that aspect.... meaning, he loves playing video games.

Calista is fond of PC games... but not so much the console types. Not sure what Ursula prefers yet. So far, she's way more into pretend play with her babies and Barbies than anything else... although she really likes to ride her bike now!!! Calista is expressing interest in soccer. I'll have to find out about any soccer teams in the area; I have no idea what season they even play in! lol I know little to nothing about that!

Back to The Sims 2... lol I love that game. I have the original and the one for the GameCube. And they are all different from one another, love that about them too. But, as for now, I think I prefer this PC one, Sims 2. You have way more control over way more things... from their facial features to their skin coloring (you can download green, blue, tattooed, etc skins for them) to the cool ass 3D viewing of everything! Smooth transitions. Great sound. Awesome graphics and textures. You can even talk to the NPC (non-playable characters), like the mailman and maid (there's also a male maid too!) So far, there's two expansion packs. And of course, I want them. lol But, I'll give it time before I buy them. Look how long I waited for this one! Its been out for at least a year already, right?

Jeremy stayed home today... so, I don't see me playing it today, not while he's awake anyways. So, I guess I'll do some house cleaning... {groan}. So not fun... I wish I had a maid... lol