Mon, Tue, Wed/Fourth of July

I've been a little busy with projects around the house and so I haven't written lately. Monday was depressing because of what my last post said. I've been hearing from more and more people that tell me they've sent emails to Dan Marks the owner of Libertyville Lincoln Mercury. So that makes me feel a little better. Thank you to everyone whom has done that! We had dinner at our friend across the street's house Monday night. They made buffalo that they bought from a vendor at the Grayslake Farmers Market. Wow was it really good! Very lean and tasty. We drank some beer and a lot of wine though and so it was good our "commute" was short because I couldn't have driven home. :-)

Tuesday was gymnastics and since Grace was up late Monday night she was really dragging at class. But I think most of the girls in her class were dragging. Miss Debb, her teacher, was trying to get all of them into it but they weren't responding very well. Grace did seem to kind of wake up about half way through the class. After that we just hung out for a while and then a guy that lives down the street stopped by. He is a tile-guy and was stopping to give us an estimate for putting the new tile in our entryway. He recommended that we get smaller tile. The tile we bought was 18" x 18" and he thought that 12" x 12" would fit better considering the size of our entryway. He also thought the edge piece we picked up was too small and would be lost with the trim piece we'll put over the transition from the tile to the hardwood. So we'll have to return this tile and find something more appropriate. He was over for about a half-hour and explained everything very well. I've heard absolutely nothing but good things about him and about his work plus he has 29 years of experience. So no matter the cost I'm sure he's worth it. He called later to tell us the price and it was more than I expected which is what another neighbor said to expect. But like I said, quality is what we're after and since it's the entryway and the first thing you see when you enter our house, I'd like it to be perfect.

Today was the 4th of July and we didn't really do much. I had finished painting a shelf I wanted to hang in the dining room to put my cactus's on, but I had a few difficulties hanging it so I'll have to make a quick trip to the hardware store tomorrow. Lets just say that hanging shelves on drywall isn't the easiest combination. We went to Julie's sister's house for a picnic this afternoon. We had a really fun time and Grace wouldn't hardly get out of the pool. She's going to sleep good tonight! Our lawyer was there and so we talked about our "issue" and now we have a new line of offense to start implementing.

So that is the last three days in a nutshell. We got a whole inch of rain last night. And it was humid today; hot and humid. Now we're hearing the nightly barrage of mortar rounds outside. I'm so glad fireworks are illegal here or else we might have to hear mortar rounds outside every night, ha-ha. As a veteran, I feel very strongly about my country and I'm glad to live here and I'm very happy we are a free country, etc., etc., etc. However, fireworks just don't do anything for me. Especially when we are in a drought and fire is not our friend and since the larger fireworks are illegal here. I just don't get it. I'm tired of everyone in this country only caring about themselves and not about anyone else or our country.

Speaking of our country, did you hear about Al Gore's son getting arrested today for driving his Toyota Prius at about 100 mph on the highway in California? And then they found drugs both illegal and prescription (and he didn't have a prescription for them.) Oops! Daddy's not gonna like that one.

And then in Wichita Kansas a woman was stabbed in a convenience store and people were stepping over her and taking photos with their cell phones instead of calling for help. She later died at the hospital. What is this country coming too? Do we care about ourselves so much that a person can lay dying and we'll stop to take a picture while picking up some Gatorade, and not help them? This is absolute disregard for human life. I guess I'm just old-fashioned since I believe in the old adage that you treat others how you'd like to be treated. That's what we try to teach Grace. That's what my parents taught me and that's also what the bible says. So why doesn't anyone do this any more? Are these the same people that are "horrified" at the number of civilians being killed in Iraq?

That's another issue I'm just sick of hearing about. U.S. troops are not killing civilians, and if they happen too it's not intentional, it's Al-Qaeda and the insurgents that are doing that along with killing our troops too. Does everyone really want Iraq to become another Vietnam just to prove how "wrong" President Bush was about this war? He won't be in office for much longer and I don't think "proving" anything about him, right or wrong, is going to improve our situation in Iraq or help us to select our next president. I don't blame President Bush at all for what has transpired and I think he did the right thing. Whether we should be there or not right now is no longer the point. The point now is what will happen if we just walk away without stability in the country. Granted the other side of the story is that stability will never come while we are there. But I personally feel it will be much worse without our presence.

Alright, that's enough ranting. Tomorrow will be here before long and I need some rest.