Trying...really I am!

Trying to let sleeping dogs lie and not jump on the comment bandwagons....but really, have we met before?

Soooo, where to start?

Is anyone truly surprised that Phil Robertson said that he thought homosexuality was a sin? (Newsflash..that is what he said...he didn't say "I hate gay people.") He was asked by a reporter at GQ what he considered sin. He gave several answers starting with homosexuality then added beastality, adultery, and so on...he was never asked, "Who do you hate?" He was asked what he considered a sin. As a Christian, he (and I) were taught that sin is sin is sin and we are all sinners. (If anyone has read his book or knows anything about him, they would know that he himself is an adulterer.) He then added it was not his place to judge anyone and quote, "However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”   

Now one can infer all they want about what his meaning was/is, the fact of the matter is...why are we surprised that he answered the way he did? 

Now whether or not you agree with what he said, I think we can all agree that A&E has shit in their own nest, as the Robertsons and Duck Dynasty are a cash cow/goldmine.

Now, what? Oh yes, to the Husker fan (not saying you are bad people...don't call me an intolerant Huskerphobe) who is on the IOWA STATE fan page on Facebook commenting that the only reason that BOTH ISU's mens and women's team are undefeated, is because the Big 12 is weak..could you PLEASE get immediate treatment for your headupassitis? Your level of fucktard is astonishing...the Big 12 schedule hasn't even started...go crawl back into your corn hole..

Why pray tell, do we need to see "exclusive, leaked footage" of Paul Walker's car crash, complete with morgue photos? No, just....No.

I am an aca-geek that is an..aca-loving..aca-excited..acapella geek because I am obsessed with the Sing Off. Miss Jaci is in awe because, 'I met those guys!!!' I touched the one with the beard and I shook the hand of the one with the low voice.' So, she's tight with the boys from Home Free and is loving the fact that they are on TV...me too actually. Tim Foust's bass is ridiculous...

Holiday shopping is nearing 35% completion...next year everyone is getting their gifts from Amazon. If it cannot be found and ordered on Amazon, pick something else. I ordered three things from there on Tuesday...they arrived today, with FREE two day shipping. 

Holiday baking is around 10% complete...I made a pan of sugar cookie bars...Miss Jaci is bound and determined we make Mr. Birks some oreo balls, so, I will be doing that tonight, at 9 p.m. when I get off work and am watching my dvr'ed episode of the Sing Off...that is if the rat bastards I live with don't hit cancel on my recording...(Can't you feel the holiday love?)

Bah Humbug!

With the holiday season upon us, I’ve found myself in a quandary…I’ve lost my fa-la-la. With Miss Jaci begging to set up the Christmas tree, I figured I had better search for it, fast. So, I poured my self some “holiday cheer” also known as eggnog with a splash (oh, who are we kidding—healthy pour) of spiced rum and started my search.

My fa-la-la has been slowly fading over the past several years and I knew finding might be a challenge. In years past, I have decorated every nook and cranny and shopped with great excitement. I am the girl that one year made my own wrapping paper and got glue gun burns making fancy bows with silk poinsettias attached. I am also the gal who hosted a holiday bake-a-thon with my mother, mother in-law and two sisters-in-law and cranked out 15 different kinds of cookies and candies in one joyful (??) afternoon. This year…I’m not feeling any of it.

 I braved the basement and located the numerous boxes and bags of Christmas “stuff” and started hauling the big tree up the stairs. After throwing my back out and pulling muscles I didn’t know I had only to find myself half way up the steps, I decided to just put up the smaller tree. (See? I was once a “more than one Christmas tree” person!)

With the small tree and the decorations hauled to the main floor and Jaci excitedly decorating, I began to go through the décor to decide what to put out, what to keep and what to throw away. Each box and bag triggered a memory from Christmases past.

I thought of the time my younger brother got a pony. Santa had left it tied in the basement and it pooped all over.

As I hung the stockings, I couldn’t help but think of the stockings that hung when I was a child. Mom hung our stockings in the double doorway between the kitchen and living room. Always feeling left out; my dad would tack up a pair of my mom’s pantyhose right in the middle, telling us that was “his stocking.” Santa would always drop an orange into each foot of the nylons and by Christmas morning, those puppies would be hanging to the floor.

I thought of all the times the entire Jensen clan filled Grandma and Grandpa’s tiny house and fought over Grandma’s Chex mix, always set out in recycled margarine containers. Being one of the youngest, by the time I got to it, all that was left was cereal, a few pretzel sticks and the occasional Brazil nut.

Grandpa Clarence’s sleigh bells from the horse drawn sleigh came to mind, too. Each Christmas he would sneak away and start jingling them to let us Grandkids know that Santa was near.

I laughed at the memory of our first Christmas as a young family. I had conned Dan into buying me a real tree and I thought I had picked the “perfect one.” I set it up in the corner of the living room in front of the door that no one used during the winter. Little did I know just how genius of a move that would be, as the dumb thing wouldn’t stay up. After finding it lying on the floor for the third time, I wrapped fishing line around the trunk in several places and tied it to the doorknob.

With the tree finally staying upright, a new problem emerged…the tree would give off a funky smell every once in a while. We couldn’t figure out what was causing it until we witnessed the source. You see, our faithful and spoiled rotten hunting dog, Bud, was allowed to come into the porch on nights when it was rather cold. Little did we know he didn’t stay in the porch, but instead took a nightly constitutional around the house. That journey included peeing on the Christmas tree. I was told I couldn’t get mad at him because he was a dog and it was a tree and dogs pee on trees.

This was also the same Christmas where I had volunteered to cook Christmas dinner for my mother-in-law’s extended family. (A suicide mission if there ever was one, I know.) I planned to do turkey and all the trimmings, complete with pie featuring my mother’s famous piecrust. The night before the event, I took the lard out of the freezer to thaw. (Yes, I said lard…pie crust needs lard.) The next morning, I got up and set about to start the pies. I went to the kitchen and the lard was nowhere to be found. I thought that Dan must have put it back in the freezer, so I went to retrieve the missing pork fat. It was then that I discovered where my lard had gone. Bud, on his evening journey had decided it would make a good snack, only his stomach did not agree after he wolfed down the entire package, plastic wrap and all. The evidence was in a giant puke puddle on my back porch rug.

As I reminisced and finished the decorating, the last piece I put up for display was the Christmas basket I made for one of my Grandma’s. (Yep, I used to MAKE gifts, too!) It is just a simple basket with greenery wrapped around the handle and the edge. It has gold ribbon and tiny, white lights strung throughout the greenery and features a lovely bow and white silk poinsettia blooms throughout. In the center is a ceramic Nativity. It was then and there that my search had ended. What had been lost, was found; for there, in the tiny manger of that Dollar Store Nativity Scene was the real reason for the season…there was my missing fa-la-la.