I am participating in the August Blog Challenge. Thanks to Belinda for the daily prompts!

Day 29: Complete this sentence: In a perfect world, …

1. In a perfect world, every single American would pay a flat rate percentage of their income to taxes. No loopholes, no deductions, nothing. Everyone pays the same percentage. Period.

2. In a perfect world, same sex marriage would be legal and politicians would quit using that as an issue to fight with each other about.

3. In a perfect world, there would be no party system in politics — everyone one would run for office on their own merits, beliefs and ambition.

4. In a perfect world, I would weigh 50 pounds less, and there would be no visible cellulite anywhere.

5. In a perfect world, I would have a lot more money.

6. In a perfect world, we would eliminate the phrase “third-world country” from our vocabulary.

7. In a perfect world, teachers and US soldiers would earn more than a professional athlete.

8. In a perfect world, I would be a stay-home mom.

9. In a perfect world, everyone that considers themselves to be “pro-life” would adopt at least one unwanted baby or at least one foster child. Or take in a teen mother and care for them.

10. In a perfect world, schools would never need to raise funds. They would have all the money they need.

11. In a perfect world, people on welfare or any kind of public assistance would have to be drug tested — at random intervals.

12. In a perfect world, people on public assistance would be required to volunteer a specified number of hours at a needy organization.

13. In a perfect world, there would be no organizations classified as “needy” and really, there would be no people that needed assistance.

14. In a perfect world, the only people that have handicapped placards or license plates for their vehicles would actually BE HANDICAPPED.

15. In a perfect world, people would take care of others just as much as they take care of themselves.

16. In a perfect world, there would be no cancer.

17. In a perfect world, I would not get any migraines.

18. In a perfect world, my parents would live closer.

19. In a perfect world, telemarketing would be considered illegal.

20. In a perfect world, kids would not be bullied or made fun of in school.

21. In a perfect world, both socks in a pair would make it through the entire laundry process without getting lost.

22. In a perfect world, chocolate would have zero calories.

23. In a perfect world, the weather people on TV would always be RIGHT.

24. In a perfect world, milk wouldn’t have an expiration date.

25. In a perfect world, bathrooms would be self-cleaning.

26. In a perfect world, dogs would be capable of cleaning up their own poop in the backyard.

27. In a perfect world, everyone would use their turn signals.

28. In a perfect world, the only people allowed in the “passing lane” on the freeway or interstate would actually be the ones PASSING PEOPLE.

29. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t need to make these kind of lists.

If you would like to participate in the August Blog Challenge, go visit Belinda for the daily prompts.

Day 4: What is laying around your house that you could sell?

When I stop to think about it, A LOT of stuff is just sitting around my house; not being used. We have a Wii, with the Wii Fit and Wii Rock Band, all of which never get used.

We have hundreds of DVDs that have been watched and then stuck in a cabinet. We also have hundreds of VHS tapes that I have boxed up, but still keep- because you just never know when VCR’s are going to make a comeback, right?

Our basement is full of clothes, coats, shoes, and tons of miscellaneous that no longer fits, no longer is used, or we no longer have room for. Our garage contains tubs full of camping gear and two tents; yet we haven’t gone camping in three years.

Really, it’s pretty ridiculous the amount of crap we have sitting around.

I decided I am going to participate in Belinda’s August Blog Challenge.  I am always looking for things to write about, and these sounded like some good writing prompts to help me get through the rest of the summer.

If you would like to join in, leave me a comment here and don’t forget to stop by and see what Belinda has to say also.

1. What are you looking forward to the most for the last 4 months of this year?

2. If you had 15 minutes of uninterrupted time, what would you do, when would you do it, and where?

3. Worst chores around the house

4. What is laying around your house that you could sell?

5. What way has God spoken directly to you?

6. If you could be a fly on the wall, who would you eavesdrop on?

7. What do you secretly hope each of your children will grow up to be?

8. What movie can you watch over and over and not get bored with?

9. What is one thing you do today that you didn’t think you ever would do?

10. What characteristics do you get from each of your parents?

11. What is something you regret doing?

12. What is a list of baby names you like now if you ever were to have any more children?

13. Which of the 7 Deadly Sins do you struggle with?

14. Everyone is addicted to something. What are you addicted to?

15. What do you think stands in the way of you achieving your goals?

16. List 10-15 things about yourself that others may not know.

17. What are you looking forward to the most about kids going back to school?

18. How do you prepare for the holidays?

19. How do you try to slow down time?

20. What is a memory you have of your childhood?

21. What has been your best vacation?

22. What would be an awesome way to spend a milestone birthday?

23. Favorite thing you have done this past year

24. Biggest project you’d like to do that can be completed by the end of the year

25. Who have you lost contact with over the years that you wish you could reconnect with?

26. Where would you go if you could go on a vacation with your best friends and why?

27. Describe each of your children’s personalities and characteristics, including photos of each, age today, grade level, words that best fit them, their favorites, etc.

28. Favorite topics to surf the web about (blog topics you read, google search, twitters you follow, etc)

29. Complete this sentence: In a perfect world….

30. Make a list of things you want to accomplish by the week from now until the end of the year (your gameplan)

31. Things you’d like to learn more about

I have no idea what I did to fix my blog, but something I did must have worked!   I’m BACK!

Well, my blog has gone all wonky on me.  Broken theme, which happened out of the blue, and it took a ton of people much smarter than me to help me get the theme re-installed, but now I am stuck with a missing header.

Bear with me…

Today I am starting my challenge to read through the entire Bible in 90 Days.    I have my Nook ready to go and my schedule printed out. 

I’m ready for this.

I can do this.

I NEED to do this.

Note: Today’s reading is Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 16:16.   

Normally when I go grocery shopping, I don’t pay much attention to how much things cost. If it’s on my list, I get it. There’s also the game we play where my husband and kids sneak stuff into the cart– and it usually goes unnoticed until we get to the checkout line.

Now given the high price of gas, not only have we started paying a little closer attention to what we are putting in the cart, but I’m now noticing that HOLY HELL– groceries are getting expensive, girl! We do our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, because they have the cheapest prices.

The receipt in this picture shows the total from our most recent grocery shopping trip. We didn’t get a lot of extras, just the usual stuff. Besides FOOD, we did get toilet paper, paper towels, body wash… that accounted for probably $50 of the total.

While I admit to not ever really knowing how much my regular items “usually” cost, I did find myself mentioning about a bazillion times through the store “I really don’t remember ________________ costing this much the last time we were here!” I think my husband and kids got tired of hearing me say that phrase… maybe.

Now that we lugged it all home, put it all away, the cupboards, refrigerator and freezers are full, I predict it will be one week before my kids start complaining that we have “nothing to eat.”

Last Friday, a Nevada, Iowa high school student was killed. He was a passenger in a car driven by a 18-year old Kaleb Hoversten, who crashed into another car after stealing $50 worth of gas from a local convenience store. A police officer tried to pull the car over, but the driver fled, driving as much as 90 mph, when he finally crashed into a car driven by a 38-year old man (who is still in serious condition).

When this story first broke a few days ago, there were several comments made on the news station’s Facebook page and on their website where people blamed the high price of gas for the reason this 16-year old was killed.

Um, what?

The price of gas has NOTHING to do with this child’s death, and people that are insinuating otherwise are being foolish. I understand that gas prices are high, and I myself hit a record high of $120 to fill my tank two days ago– but I’m sorry… it doesn’t matter what the price of gas is, Kaleb Hoversten had no intention of paying for it.

He made a choice of deciding when to stop the gas pump, whether he stopped it at 5 gallons, 10 gallons, or the approximately 13.3 gallons I figured he probably put in there (our gas is currently about $3.759/gallon). He made a choice to drive away from the gas station, knowing he didn’t pay for the gas. Then, when the police tried to pull him over, he again made a choice to try to get away. These choices are the reasons his 16-year old passenger, Brice Nelson, was killed. NOT the gas prices.

Let’s just do a little math here, shall we?

Assuming today’s price of $3.759 per gallon, he stole $50 worth of gas. This equals 13.3 gallons.

If gas was $1 less per gallon, those 13.3 gallons would have cost him $36.69.

Bottom line, I would venture a guess that Kaleb didn’t have the money to pay for any of the gas, regardless of the cost. Unfortunately, the price he will be paying now– being charged with vehicular homicide, also having his 3rd passenger (14-year old girl) in critical condition, and the driver of the other car in serious condition– that price is much higher than any of us could ever put into our gas tanks.

(Photo Credit: whotv.com)

Did you ever have something you could threaten your kids with when they were little?   Something that would make them stop whatever bad thing they were saying or doing and immediately begin behaving?

When my youngest daughter was probably about three years old, she was pretty much naughty on a consistent basis. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. She loved to push our buttons and test every limit and boundary we set. Around Christmastime, we always pulled the old “We’re calling Santa” trick to get her to shape up, but that only really worked pretty much during the month of December.  Any other time, and it was like “Santa who?”

So we had to resort to other tactics.

Enter Mrs. Smith, stage right. One particular time, when Courtney was being especially horrid, we threatened to take her to a babysitter rather than going with us to dinner.

Me: Courtney, if you don’t behave, you are going to have to go to a babysitter.

Courtney: To Aunt Darcie’s? (favorite aunt)

Me (thinking frantically): No, not to Aunt Darcie’s.

Courtney: To Jodi’s? (daycare provider.)

Me (exasperated): NO, not to Jodi’s!

Courtney (pouting): Then where would I go?

Me: I’m taking you to… to… MRS. SMITH’S HOUSE!!!!!

Courtney: (pout) {gasp} *blink* *blink* {much sad lip quivering} Who’s Missus Smiff? {more lip quivering}

Aha! We had found something that worked! FINALLY! Over the next few years, we began adding to Mrs. Smith’s persona, and boy did this lady become scary. Mrs. Smith was the scariest babysitter ever.

Did you know Mrs. Smith lived in a scary old house across town? And for lunch, she serves cold macaroni and cheese? And when kids get in trouble, she locks them in a dark closet? When they are really bad, they have to get locked in the basement? WITH NO LIGHTS ON?

Of course, we were pretty much insuring our child would need therapy someday.

The older kids played along, too– adding tidbits of scary information to the facade of Mrs. Smith and her horrible life. How she was missing a finger, or a leg, or how she had a crazy cat that had sharp claws… you name it, my kids’ imaginations ran wild.

That lasted a few years, and then Courtney got smart. She realized that she never really got sent to Mrs. Smith’s house. She figured out Mrs. Smith was not real, and now we just had to go back to our regular old methods of punishment — beating them and locking them in dog kennels.

What? You’ve never tried it?