My MINIONS!

Allison and Julia were having an argument one morning. Julia was telling Allison she forgot to do something. Even if it's true, Allison's response to any bossing around from her older sisters is almost always, "You're not the boss of me!" So, that's what she said back to Julia. I added, "Julia's right, you know, you did forget to do that." Allison said, "Yeah, but she's not my boss." I responded back, "No, but she's my minion." Allison thought for a minute and stated, quite seriously, "Ohh, and dad is your minion too."

Todd, upon hearing this declaration, just shook his head and answered with a resounding, "No, I'm not."

After I finished laughing, I simply responded, "Yeah, when have you ever known dad to listen to anything I say!"

Matthew's new way to say goodbye

Matthew thinks it's REALLY funny to tell people he doesn't like them (and giggle). Todd has decided to not let this bother him and will often say, "I don't like you either!"

Yesterday morning, Matthew saw Todd leaving. Todd says, "I don't like you." And, Matthew responds, "I don't like you too!" And he runs over and gives Todd a big hug. It was pretty cute :)

Halloween 2008

Friday night trick-or-treating? Could it get any better than that? See, we have an awesome neighborhood (in case I haven't said that a few thousand times already). Amanda was a cheetah, Matthew was Spiderman (or, Spider Matthew), Allison was a doctor, and Julia was "Clark, the flying raving rabbid who doesn't ever actually go crazy with plungers and flies with a red cape". She also thought about being "Dark Matter" (but I had to break it to her that it was theoretical and nobody actually knew what it was), a baked potato, granite (as in the rock), or a hobo. She settled on Clark and wore the bunny costume for at least the third year in a row. Doesn't that sound like Julia??? We had a block party with pizza, drinks, and games, a HAYRIDE, trick-or-treating, and then a chili-cook off. The kids had a blast. Well, all except Allison (who was running a 103 fever by Saturday and had started feeling tough Thursday night). She wanted off the hayride after about an hour (yet still managed to fill her bucket). Amanda did have a few breathing issues due to the hay, and when our friend driving the hayride said he'd stop to let her off at our house to run in and get her inhaler, she replied, "Great! But, I'm going to hit these two houses first before I get it." Yep, sounds like Amanda, right? Now, I should also point out that the hayride stopped at every house in the neighborhood. So, the kids barely had to walk for their Halloween goodies. Some houses even set up at the end of the driveway to make it even easier. See, awesome neighborhood. No crazy neighbors putting string in between your yard and theirs, no drug dealers, no neighbors suing other neighbors because their tree sheds leaves on their prized begonias, etc. And we have to leave this...but, whoever moves here will love it!

Amanda's breathing problems were never really much, Allison is feeling WAY better as of Sunday night, and the other two are just fine. We very much enjoyed that extra hour of sleep today....we should have that every weekend!

Thanks Cathy for the special Halloween cards - the kids LOVED them!!

Remember to vote Tuesday - it's a citizen's responsibility to register to vote and to have your vote counted. You are only allowed to complain when it's over if you took the time to have your vote counted!

I would also encourage people to look up the Fair Tax (http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer) Imagine having no federal income taxes and everyone paying an equal federal sales tax. Wow, wouldn't that solve some big squabbles about what is fair! What would the fair tax do? People below the poverty line pay NO tax, illegal immigrants pay taxes, billionaires lose their tax loopholes, and foreign producers pay a federal sales tax on good sold in the United States. Hmmm... that doesn't sound too bad, does it?

The book is a quick read and does a good job explaining why it is potentially a better way to fund our government than the current system run by the IRS. Did you that we spend nearly $500 BILLION a year to comply with a tax code that is constantly getting more confusing? That's a big blow to our economy. And, all of that is spent to collect no more than three times that amount in tax revenue. We need to find a better way.

Even if you don't agree with the idea of a national consumption tax, it's worth it to read the book just to learn about how our current income taxes were instituted and some really interesting details about how tax withholding came about. Don't just listen to the media - read the books (check them out for free at a library).