Roadside Political Signs

What a beautiful time of year! Clear blue skies, cool weather, and....road-side political signs everywhere. I hate them. They mess up the beauty of God's creation. They're nothing more than garbage thrown fromt he window of a moving vehicle. However, they can be useful.

I was thinking of ways to advertise my upcoming Yard Sale and thought that maybe I'd be doing a community service by removing, oh say....4 or 5 signs. Then I had a question. Is removing said signs illegal? I wasn't sure because most of them are placed on public property, right? So, technically, I'm cleaning trash off public property by removing these eyesores? Especially if there's like 12 signs for the same candidate on the same intersection corner?

Well, just to make sure, I phoned the local Sheriff's office. Now, I don't know about the rest of the country or even the rest of our lovely state, but this is what the detective I spoke to told me.

Detective: How can I help you?

Me: (little giggle) I have a silly question and I apologize for wasting your time with this one but I just wanted to get a clear answer in order to act with a clear conscience.

Detective: Mmm Hmmm

Me: You know these political signs on the side of the road? Everywhere I look I see them. There are even those that look like they've been run over. Is it okay if I stop and grab 4 or 5 of them to relabel for a Yard Sale? I just wanted to make sure.

Detective: Your answer to that question is No. By taking those signs, even if an election is over, you are committing the act of theft. The signs are bought and paid for by the candidate and it is their responsiblity to pick them up when the election is over. I suggest you place a phone call to each candidate whose name you see on the sign and ask their permission to retrieve a couple of those signs. If permission is given, then it's okay. Otherwise, it's theft.

Me: Okay, thank you.

I hung up and thought about the issue for a few minutes. If I stop and pick up one or two signs on a country road who would really know? Answer: Me and God. If I hadn't phone the sheriff's office and asked my question, would my taking a sign or two be a sin? Which leads to another question, if I do something that is a sin, but I don't know that it's a sin, is it still a sin? Answer: I believe so, because eventually I would find out that the act is still a sin and I would be faced with the consequences and need to repent. Therefore, it is my conclusion that I need to be well informed before I make such a simple (or silly) decision as to whether or not my act would be breaking the law or commandments.

That being said, I'm now at home, typing on my bloggy thing, preparing to search for some cheap Yard Sale signs that I won't have to staple gun to a light pole. It's also a plus if they're in good enough shape to hang on to until my next Yard Sale so I won't have to deal with this issue again!

Now I have come to the end of my dilemma for the day and will no longer bore you all with this issue. I'm off to do some sign hunting via the informational highway!

Garage Sale Stuff

From some silly reason my sister and mom decided to have a multifamily garage sale at mom's house this weekend (Nov. 1). However, they didn't tell me about it until Sunday! Soooo, I told them I'd be happy to contribute to this garage sale and set about stripping out my master bedroom, bathroom, and closet. It has taken me 2 days to get the junk out of that room! I still have the rest of the house to go through (kitchen, utility room, living area, kid's bathroom, and 2 more bedrooms + closets!). The big day is in 2 more days, I have to get my trailer loaded up and at mom's house for Halloween night. I'm really working on a deadline here! I can't BELIEVE the junk that has come out of just one room! Isn't it amazing what one can collect over the years? I can't believe this stuff is JUST from my master bedroom area!

Monday, Monday

I never know what to title these bloggy things. I've been hesitant to post the past couple of days. I've been in a funk I guess. The weather was so beautiful yesterday but I couldn't really enjoy it. See, Saturday night my girls both had a bad dream. So, around 1:30 or 2 a.m. my Little Bird comes crawling into bed with us and Kangaroo was about 3 seconds right behind her. Good thing we just got a King sized bed!! Anyway, they were very restless sleepers at that point. Several times during the wee hours I woke up with a foot in my face or in my back or in my stomach. They like to lay across the bed instead of down the bed like your supposed to do.

Okay, well after all that, I had the alarm set for 7:30 a.m. to get up and get dressed for church. DH got up and took the 21 y.o. work (she had to be there at 7 a.m.). As he left, he woke me up and said he'd be back about 8. Well, I was thinking that when he got back, he could wake me, and I'd get myself dressed and go on to church. I'd skip out on getting the girls dressed because they'd had such a restless night. So, I closed my eyes again and drifted back into my lovely slumber.

I awoke with a start at 8:20 a.m. and realized DH wasn't home. I jumped out of bed and proceeded to get myself ready to go. I had to have my booty on the piano bench at church no later than 9:30 a.m. As I'm getting dressed, DH comes in. He'd stopped at the store for coffee and the Sunday paper. He took his time and enjoyed the crossword puzzle for a bit before deciding to come on home. At any rate, by 8:45 I'm ready to walk out the door. Imagine my eyes rolling back in my head as my girls sensed my leaving thus waking up with a roaring, "I wanna go to church!!!".

"Okay, but we need to hurry!" I say and I proceed to look through their things for clean dresses. Yes, Yes, I've been neglected my laundry duties. Finally, I found something for them, got them dressed, tossed them each a biscuit for the ride, and loaded them in the SUV. By the time I actually got on the road, it was 9:25!

I drove about a mile when my SUV starts beeping at me to "Check Tire Pressure". Arrrgghhh!!! Could anything else delay me? I placed a phone call to the church to let the music minister know I was on my way but running later than usual. Stopped and checked the tire pressure. Everything was fine. I was again on my way.
I got there in time to rehearse the worship invitation/benediction. The music minister wasn't very happy with me but **shoulder shrug** oh well!

Got home after church and laid the girls down for a nap. I hopped in bed with them for a short one for myself and we all woke up at 5 PM!!! Great! Now we won't sleep tonight! To my surprise, they were ready for bed and dozing off by 9! Yay!

Today, we started our homeschool lessons and were finished earlier than I thought we'd be. Then I proceeded to tackle the master bedroom for garage sale items. My mom, sister, and I are doing a multifamily sale at mom's house on Saturday. I have 3&1/2 days to get my stuff together!

It's amazing how overwhelmed one can get when they decide to declutter their house. I couldn't do anything today! I stood in my bedroom doorway and just stared! I had somehow hoped that the items would just jump out and scream "Take me! Take Me!" but that didn't happen.

After a run down to St. Amant to visit the in-laws, I made a short detour past the Dollar General and Family Dollar for some boxes. Got home and borrowed a tandem trailer from my dad and began loading the boxes on it. Things will be much easier tomorrow as I begin loading boxes and setting them on the trailer. Friday night I'll drive it all over to mom's and start setting up.

I'm not feeling so funky anymore. I finally feel like I might actually get something accomplished!

Spiritual Leadership

I got up this morning about 8:30 a.m. I've been feeling a little down the past couple of days and blame it on the weather. However, today, I can't blame it on that because it's a nice, crisp, beautiful day outside. Anyway, I've been craving spiritual leadership in my home. I feel like I'm the only one doing anything around here. I don't mean to put down on my husband or anything. He's a good man, hard worker, does his part around the house, likes his Budweiser, Copenhagen, and LSU games. The stereotypical redneck fella. He's definitely not a spiritual man much less a leader. He's one of those Easter/Christmas christians.

I sat down with him to have a talk this morning. I told him that I'd been needing something from him for quite some time. Then I paused while I got my thoughts together. At the same time, I could feel him getting defensive. Then I told him what it is I've been needing....Spiritual Leadership in our home. His response? "You know that church just isn't my thing...." and then he started this "If you want me to do this for you then you have to do some things for me...." and off he goes on the housekeeping rant. Then he tells me to stop pushing. I have never pushed. I just mentioned it this time because it's been heavy on my heart lately.

All I want is daily prayer and devotionals with the children. Is that really too much to ask? I could do it myself but (and here's my excuse) I'm afraid I won't do it "right". Besides, I don't think that was the original design.

I guess I hope that later he'll start feeling convicted and WANT to go to church with us on a regular basis. I don't know. I told him that if he felt embarrassed to be in church that he could sit on the back row where no one will see him, except the other hubbies sitting back there.

Okay, that's all for now. I need to get off my behonkus and start cleaning house. We're planning a big yard sale next weekend at my mom's and I have a lot of work to do now. I wonder if I do a really good job today, will he go to church with me tomorrow?

My Friday

Okay, well, there's not much going on here. I've been playing around on my blogspot and looking at others. I got out of bed at 9:45 a.m. this morning. The girls and I had a late breakfast and then I did some online Christmas shopping before finally getting away from the computer to practice some music on the piano. At around 3 p.m. I decided to get out of the house and distract myself by going to Wal-Mart. I asked Martha to ride with me just for the company.

We didn't get very far when the girls started hollering that they needed to go potty. I asked both of them if they could hold it until we got to Wal-Mart and they both said yes. However, once we arrived at Wal-Mart, I had forgotten all about them needing to go to the bathroom. We went straight over to the Health dept and got some items I needed and then we went to the Toy dept to look and play a little bit. While I was looking at a toy, I heard Kangaroo say, "She tinkled!" and I turned to see Little Bird squatting in the aisle with a huge yellow puddle underneath her. To my horror, I looked up to see another Wal-Mart shopper standing right behind her with this mortified look on her face. What? She'd never witnessed a child have a tee tee accident? I guess not!

At any rate, I grabbed Little Bird's arm and firmly spoke to her, "You're supposed to TELL ME!" and thinking at the same time, "She DID tell me and I ignored it!" feeling like a horrible parent! I raced to the bathroom with her squishing footfalls behind me. On the way I detoured through the little girls' dept. for a fresh pack of panties and a $1.00 pair of shorts.

After the bathroom visit, we headed on out of the store. I'd figured that at this point I needed to just get back home.

So, to home we go, and here I sit now typing a silly blog that no one is prob'ly gonna read. I hear the girls playing in the bedroom, the son is watching "I, Carly" in the living room. Little Bird comes in and tells him to "put it on a kid's show!" to which he yells, "I did!".

I look at these other blogs and wonder how in the world these women with the 25 kids can do it all! I have only 2 that I'm chasing after and I feel that I'm failing miserably.

According to the blogs I read, these women jump out of bed, bright eyed and bushy tailed, every morning! They have a strict, daily schedule that they follow in order to run their household and educate their children. I have had good intentions for many years but can't seem to take the step to get it all together! What's my problem? Why is it they seem to do everything right but I don't?

First time Blogger

Well, let's see. I'm not really sure what to write at this point. This is my first time doing a blog. So, I guess I'll just say "Have a blessed day!" for starters.

I obviously don't know what I'm doing here on Blogger. I have some blogs and pics up on Myspace and Facebook but I'm thinking of deleting those and incorporating everything into one place. I'm getting confused with trying to keep up with all the other sites and places that I post. I also have a page at http://www.geocities.com/celestialtones but that is costing me a little bit and since Blogger is free I think I'll delete that page as well and incorporate it here also. I haven't figured out how to upload pictures or videos or any of that stuff yet. I'm also not a great writer but I'll just try to share my stuff as it happens.

Thanks for reading this much ya'll!