Category Archives: news

Wassup Wednesday 18 — A few hours early, because, well, it’s Ground Hog Day

Each year, I am required to do a Ground Hog Day post.  I am obligated because of my family heritage.  Both my parents were born in Punxsutawney, home to Punxsutawney Phil.  Since life is even more hectic than usual, this will be just a cursory meeting of my obligation.

I was talking with Mom on the phone last night.  She said that there has been some controversy regarding the care of Phil in Punxsutawney.  Can you believe it, PETA has taken notice of Phil!?  Here’s a link to the bru-ha-ha.  For the record, Phil is in better living conditions than some children in the state of Pennsylvania.  PETA need not worry for his comfort.

Finally, here’s news of the prognosticator’s prediction.  Phil saw his shadow–6 more weeks of winter.  But think about it, the choices are: he sees his shadow, then there’s 6 more weeks of winter.  If he doesn’t see his shadow, then spring’s just around the corner.  There’s not too much difference between  6 weeks and “just around the corner” is there?

I leave you with photos of my children on our last pilgramage to Punxsutawney in  2007.  They have grown, but Punxsutawney is still the same little town about 20 minutes south of where I grew up.

A Frustrated Former News Junky

My first real job out of college was working for a large Christian ministry as an editor/writer.  In that job, I was expected to keep up with the political news of the day at least enough to write and/or assign and edit somewhat thoughtful pieces for the ministry’s political newsletters.  I used to read more than one news magazine a week.  I watched all the news shows.  I read the newspaper every day.  Hey, it was part of my job.

After marrying and having children, I still wanted to keep up.  But it became harder.  I got most of my news from Fox News and NPR (now, there’s balance for you!).  Reading news became practically unheard of in my world of changing diapers and keeping everyone fed and in clean clothes.

Now that the children are older, I am starting to realize my excuses are gone.  So now, as most 21st Century Americans do, I read my news on the web.  Of course, NPR is still programmed at #1 on my van’s radio.  Admittedly, I don’t watch Fox News much anymore.

But even with the web and radio news, I still don’t feel confident that I have any right to comment on the events of the day.  There was something about the news being a part of my daily work that made me feel like I was worthy to share my perspectives on politics and what bills were being passed, etc.  Now that I am in the middle of a life that is really affected by what happens in Washington and Jefferson City, I don’t feel qualified to register my thoughts anywhere “important.”

With the Democratic Convention drawing to a close, I am thinking this fall is a great time to get back into the groove of political pontificating.  So you may have to bear with me as I start to get my political feet wet again and share some of my thoughts about today’s goings on.

BREAKING NEWS — I wrote this post yesterday, but now with the announcement of John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, I know it is time to get excited about politics.  The addition of Palin has been called a “game changer.”  I don’t care what you call it and whether you like her or the republicans or not, it was really brilliant political strategy!  It’s about time we have something fun to watch in this campaign.

Gas Prices

This morning, Mark was staring at his computer screen and asking me where certain streets were in relation to our house.  Why was he doing this?  He was looking up the best prices on gas in our area before heading out to fill up the tank.  I told him I thought the station just down the block from us was as cheap as the places listed on the site.  So he went to get gas, and I headed out to a computer class I have been taking at the library this week.  I called him on my cell phone when I passed our neighborhood station to tell him the price there was a penny lower than those on the web site.

I went to my class.  An hour and a half later when I was on my way home, I drove past several gas stations.  The prices were the same at most, but then I saw one for $.26 cents more than it was earlier.  I drove further down the road and saw at one station the price raised, and at the station across the road, there was a line 10 cars long waiting to get gas at the morning’s lower price.  Thankfully, when I arrived at the intersection near our house, the price at our neighborhood station was still low.  I quickly pulled in and filled up.  Mark just left for an appointment about an hour ago.  He called to tell me the price at our station had just been raised by $.26

The news reporters have been forecasting a price increase because of Hurricane Gustav that is expected to hit the Gulf this weekend.  I thought the prices would be in a holding pattern until we saw where Gustav lands.  So I am guessing that this has to do with an expected demand increase as people get ready to travel for the holiday weekend.   I would really like to understand how gas prices really work.  I know supply and demand has a lot to do with it, but it seems there is more to it than that when it can increase so much in a short period of time.

So I’ve Changed the Name of My Blog

My blog has been Jenn’s Blog since I started it nearly 7 years ago.  I have thought of changing it many times, but I could never come up with a good name.  I might not have come up with a good name now, either, but at least it’s different.

I hope to be a little more regular at writing entries now, too.  We’ll see.

Here’s to trying something new!

That’s Our Girl!

Evangeline

This is a post that is a little late. The photo above was taken nearly a month ago, when Evangeline competed in a regional Christian school speaking competition called “The Speech & Word Festival.” Back in November, she won for her grade and category at her school, and in January, she went to the regional competition. The festival has several categories: illustrated story telling, Bible memory, poetry, dramatic reading, etc. She competed in poetry. She recited a Shel Silverstein poem that I knew of from my youth called “Bear in There.”

Bear in There

There’s a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire–
He likes it ’cause it’s cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He’s nibbling the noodles,
He’s munching the rice,
He’s slurping the soda,
He’s licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he’s in there–
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

After the students finished competing in different rooms around the host school, everyone gathered in the auditorium to await the judges’ decisions, and during that time, several students who were selected by the judges perform for the entire group–“showcased” as it were. The top photo shows Evangeline during this time of the day. After about 40 minutes passed, we heard the results. Evangeline tied for first place in her category. She was beaming. I admit, I was, too.

Here she is with her first place ribbon.

Evangeline with her first place ribbon