We’re growing new plants here.

Interesting faces…

We attended the Columbus Tea Party yesterday, and it was a success.  But while I was photographing the event, some very interesting people wandered through the rally, and I couldn’t help but snap pictures.  I love beautiful faces, because there’s always an interesting story behind them.

This one turned out to be my favorite.  I think I may try to spend some more time downtown in the future and capture some more stories:

man on street

I’ll be uploading the pics of the Tea Party later today or tomorrow.  It was wonderful being with a group of like-minded people standing up for what we believe in!

Bristol…

Come on, get over it.  I can’t believe the news is focusing so much on this insignificant story when there are MUCH bigger things to talk about.  Like one man driving this once great country so far into the ground we will never recover, for one.

It wasn’t a big political cover-up, it wasn’t for “looks” that she was engaged, it’s isn’t a conspiracy.  It’s a freakin’ young relationship that didn’t work out.  Happens.  All the time.  Every day.

BIG. FREAKING. DEAL.

She’s a beautiful, intelligent woman with a support system that a lot of teenagers and young adults would envy.  Yes, she had a baby out of wedlock.  Yes, she’s the daughter of a prominent political figure.  This shouldn’t change anyone’s opinions of the qualifications of Sarah – we know she’s more qualified than “someone else” to be President.

Maybe that’s what goads the liberal media, eh?

But she’s also just a person, just a mom.  And from all accounts, she’s a very good mom.  With one of the classiest and beautiful Grandmas I’ve ever seen.

Leave Bristol alone.  She has a gorgeous new baby to tend to, and the rest of her life to get on with.  It’s nobody’s business but hers and her family’s.

What else can it possibly take to make Global Whining stop???

It’s been proven over and over and over and over and over (infinity) again that it’s just not happening.  Yes we’re still dumping millions of dollars towards research.

How do I start getting research grants showing that wearing yellow makes a child smarter?  I can make up bogus studies too… just like the alarmists did.  Lord have mercy, make it stop already.

 

Lord Monckton discussed some of the deliberately misleading myths about climate change that are propagated by warming alarmists, listing them as:

“Global warming is happening now” – it’s actually cooling.

“Global warming is getting worse” – it’s actually getting better.

“Arctic sea ice is disappearing” – in fact, there is no discernable trend in winter sea ice area over the last 30 years.

“Antarctic sea ice is disappearing” – in fact, the area of sea-ice around Antarctica reached a 30 year record high in 2007.

“The Great Barrier Reef is being damaged by global warming” – in fact, there is no trend in the sea surface temperature of the reef over the last 40 years.

“Hurricanes are being made worse by global warming” – rather, the accumulated cyclone energy index recorded its lowest value in the last 30 years in Oct. 2008.

Lord Monckton also commented on recent opinion polls that show a strong swing of public opinion away from climate alarmism: “Every opinion poll shows that public opinion is cooling as fast as the climate itself”, he said.

Lord Monckton concluded with some comments that will serve well as an epitaph for the entire Heartland-2 climate conference. “There was no climate crisis, there is no climate crisis and there will be no climate crisis”, he said. “The correct solution to global warming is to have the courage to do nothing”.

A strong vote of thanks is due to the Heartland Institute, and to its CEO, Joe Bast, for having again convened an outstanding conference at which rational discussions of the science, economics and policy of climate change were presented and discussed in a dignified and disinterested way. All participants in the conference must surely have left New York with a lightened heart, knowing that independent scientific approaches are at last starting to lay waste to the scourge of public climate alarmism.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/03/10/iccc-conference-day-3/

Obama Officials Confirm He Will Fund Foreign Abortions Starting Wednesday

http://lifenews.com/nat4757.html

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – Officials with the incoming administration of Barack Obama have confirmed that he will indeed overturn a pro-life policy of President Bush on his first day in office. Despite campaigning on the rhetoric of wanting to reduce abortions, Obama will make one of his first actions promoting them globally.

Meanwhile, some 77 members of Congress have signed onto a letter asking Obama to back down from doing so.

I am searching for the words to express my personal disgust and disdain of this information.  I watch my babies play on the floor this morning and want to cry for those who can’t.  And now our tax dollars can pay for more murders. 

Good job, America.  Not only did you vote in a racist, you voted in a murderer who thinks babies are punishment.  What’s wrong with you people? 

In mourning today.

I will be sad, yet satisfied, when I get to buy the bumper sticker and t-shirt that says “I Told You So”.

Born Free: Unassisted Childbirth in North America

http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2009/01/born-free-unassisted-childbirth-in.html

An Open Letter to Best Buy

I have never been so livid and furious at Best Buy in my life.

My husband and I visited your Tuttle Crossing store on Monday, December 22, at approximately 11:30 a.m. to inquire about/purchase a 20″ television set for one of our sons.  When we arrived, we were discouraged to find they were out of stock, however – the two helpful glorious young employees in the TV department looked up the information on their nifty computer and discovered that 11 more of these Dynex tv’s (model: DX-R20TV) were being delivered that evening and would be available in the morning of the 23rd.  They advised us to call first thing in the morning and they would reserve one.

Move forward to the morning of Tuesday the 23rd.  I pull up the website and see that I can order the product for store pickup, it is in stock at our local store, but my husband decided that simply wasn’t necessary, because we were assured it would be no problem.  And what if he gets there and another TV is on clearance, or a better sale comes on?

So we call and were told “that’s ridiculous, we can’t put anything on hold”.  Hm.  Asked for the TV department and were told the stock did come in, and then we were put on death hold. So my husband took off out the door to run the 15 minutes to get one.

When he arrived, he was told they were all ON HOLD.  ??????   We were also told that if I would have paid for it online for store pickup, when we got there to get it, we would’ve been told that we were out of luck, no TV would be available (because they are all on hold). 

I’m not sure what kind of operation you’re running there, but this is not the first time you have wasted a day of my life.  My husband drove across the parking lot and happily paid $20.00 more for a similar TV at Walmart, where we will be taking 100% of our electronics business in the future.  I will also be sure to tell my clients about this experience, as well as our rather large circle of friends and family.  I can assure you it will have a ripple effect, and you will lose their business.  Eh, it may not impact you at all, but being a business owner myself, I would certainly want to ensure that something like this never happens again. Your practices are embarrassing and unacceptable.

–

Natural childbirth is cruel???

So I was nursing Ayla to sleep last night in my bed and was watching a show on ID about an obstetrician who had his license revoked because of patient complaints against him.

I don’t know enough of the story to say whether or not he should’ve stopped practicing medicine.  Whether or not he was negligent isn’t something I will judge.  He was judged, and I’m not sure I agree.  It’s a he-said, she-said for a couple of things, and to me only a handful of complaints over 25 years is pretty amazing – I mean, whether a “botched” childbirth was his fault or not, a mother who loses a child will want to blame someone, and that’s why doctors have malpractice insurance.  I don’t want to diminish the loss of the few people that suffered one at his hands, but doctors are not gods and shouldn’t be considered perfect.  Nature does hold a hand in some birth deaths, there are things doctors can’t prevent.  But I digress.

My understanding is that he practiced for 25 years, had the lowest C-Section rate of any physician in the hospital he practiced in (6% – that’s PHENOMENAL!!), had lower infant mortality, less complications, and *gasp* advocated natural childbirth.  Imagine that, a doctor advocating low intervention.

The exclamation isn’t mine – it seemed like every nurse and doctor at this hearing really found that idea to be awful.  How dare he let the mother control her labor.  He’s a bully, they said.  He demanded his patients be cared for to his standards.  His patients didn’t want interventions, he didn’t want the nurses to push needles in the spine.

In the words of one doctor, “it’s cruel” (to the mother not to give her an epidural). 

I almost jumped out of bed on that one.  WHAT?????  Cruel – not to give her a drug that is used in warfare.  Not to give her a drug that is NOT safe for mother and child, has proven complications, can make labor longer, leads to more interventions, and leads to major surgery (unnecessary c-sections) that causes mortality rates to rocket soooo much higher than natural vaginal deliveries.  This is a drug that shouldn’t be the “norm”, it should be the exception to the rule.  Period.  Not to mention the recovery time afterwards… natural childbirth about an hour, c-section about five days. 

These women chose this doctor because of his beliefs.  They made an educated decision.  They knew that if their doctor didn’t advocate for them when they most needed him, they would cave to the list of unnecessary interventions, done for the convenience of the medical staff, not the mom.

Cruel.

What has our Western Culture come to when natural childbirth is considered evil.  Bad.  Cruel.  I’m mortified. 

It seemed the nurses didn’t care for this Dr. Morgan either, because he didn’t want his patients having all the interventions.  Maybe because then they (the nurses) couldn’t control the situation?  They didn’t have a woman captive in a bed, strapped to monitors and IVs, so they could determine what was best for her?  I mean, God forbid she want to walk, or eat, or labor for hours… we must have the situation under control.  Har har har.  We are the nurses, we are the experts, mom doesn’t know what she needs or wants, it’s not possible.  Daggone it.

Here’s some quotes which are factual and wonderful, but his “peers” find apalling:

On prescribing pain medication to women in labor: “I need to know more than just the patient is being uncomfortable again.”

On computers predicting birth weight, a factor in delivery risk: “There’s no way to anticipate what the size of the baby is going to be.”

On internal electronic fetal monitoring: “I consider sticking a screw into the baby’s head as an invasion of their primary defense for infection, and I try not to do it.”

He added: “I feel like I don’t have to do it.”

 

Sigh.  Now before I get 100 emails about how awful this doctor was, I’m not debating his guilt or innocence.  I’m wondering why his philosophies are so CRUEL.  They’re not.  They’re beautiful, normal, NATURAL.  There is no cruelty here.

Fabulous Fragrance Giveaway on one of my favorite Blogs!

http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2008/11/fabulous-fragonard-giveaway.html

Think Pink!!

In light of Halloween coming up…

I had to repost this great article from one of my favorite bloggers:  Let them Eat Unwrapped Candy!!

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/let-them-eat-that-unwrapped-candy/

I’m so old I remember back when Halloween was supposed to scare the kids.

Now it’s got a lot of parents shaking in their schlocky costumes, terrified that if they let their kids go trick or treating those kids may meet a fate far worse than too many Mary Janes. (“The candy everyone wishes was something else.” That should be its slogan.)

Parents worry their kids will be abducted, of course, or seduced inside for some Satanic rite. They worry the kids will come home with a big, shiny apple and fail to notice the big, razor-sized gash in its side. Most of all, they worry about unwrapped candy – as if any killer really bent on poisoning moppets would be stupid enough not to carefully glue-gun shut his tainted Snickers.

The thing that’s really spooky about all these fears is how gullible the parents are. I spoke with Joel Best, a sociologist who has studied post-Halloween newspapers going back to the 1950s, searching for stories of kiddie crimes. As far as he can tell, no child was EVER poisoned by a stranger’s candy on Halloween. It’s an urban myth. And in fact, the evidence was so convincing to him, he never looked through his own children’s candy before he let them eat it. (Or, for that matter, before he ate it himself.)

Read almost any parenting article today and they will beg you to please, PLEASE examine those treats for tampering. Keep Poison Control’s number handy. Better still: Just take your child to a Halloween party someplace you trust and don’t let them visit the (probably insane psycho-killing) neighbors at all. The only safe kid is the one kept in a pumpkin.

Provided there’s no candle inside, of course. And that you remove child before carving.

100 Things…

In honor of my 100th post (okay, I have more than that, but I saw this on another blog and enjoyed it…), I compiled a list of 100 things about me.  If you’re that bored and actually going to read this, well, good luck, and I’m sorry. 

1. I have four children
2. I want twice that many
3. I used to repossess homes for a living
4. I was attacked by a German Shepherd when I was a child – up until about 5 years ago they scared me to death
5. I have four cats and two dogs, and had two birds until they became a buffet for one of my cats
6. I married my boss (I also divorced him)
7. I am a Conservative Republican
8. I am Christian, but dislike organized religion so I never go to church
9. I type almost 100 words per minute
10. I have a handicap and get to park in the front row
11. I am a natural redhead and have never changed the color of my hair (I have hilighted it, however)
12. My favorite job was the Secretary to the President of a large company – I enjoyed getting his wife gifts and scheduling his veterinary appointments!
13. I flipped burgers in a fast food restaurant – for only eight hours… because it was a horrid job
14. I consider my husband my best friend
15. I am a photographer
16. I’ve lost a baby at 13 weeks
17. I had my jaws wired shut when I was 19, due to severe TMJ
18. I am a reality TV addict
19. I had a brief marriage when I was 20 that lasted 6 months – I don’t “count” it and never talk about it
20. I love football
21. I broke up with someone in high school because he had a brain “bubble” – if it dislodged he would die and it freaked me out
22. I have a banjo and want to learn to play it before I die
23. I was in choir in high school
24. My nickname was “Red” in school – from middle school on up
25. I hate Ohio drivers – well, I really hate pretty much every driver
26. I only have one pair of shoes
27. I have seen “An Affair to Remember” over 200 times
28. I hate shopping
29. I have been stalked
30. I lost my virginity at 17
31. I’m still being stalked
32. I still remember my high school boyfriend’s phone number – from 25 years ago
33. I’m utterly surprised that I’ve thought of 32 things so far, will be shocked if I make it to 100
34. I have a coffee stain birthmark barely visable on my calf
35. Speaking of coffee, I am a coffee addict – I drink several pots a day, from morning to bedtime
36. My favorite food is from the Japanese Steak House
37. My favorite snack is powdered donuts
38. I am an arachnaphobic – a SEVERE one
39. I love being pregnant
40. I played with a Ouija board once and it scared me to death – and I still have memories of it
41. I love love love horror movies
42. I’ve been robbed
43. My favorite actor is Cary Grant
44. I dated a 35 year old when I was 17
45. My favorite book is Momfidence, by Paula Spencer
46. I still want to hug my husband hard enough that I end up behind him
47. Some of my best friends live very far away and I’ve never met them in person
48. I love the family bed and wish everyone could experience how wonderful it is
49. I can’t eat scrambled or fried eggs without mustard
50. I am immune to poison ivy
51. I suffer from insomnia
52. I have never completed a home improvement project – something is always left undone, whether you can tell or not
53. I have been a victim of domestic violence
54. I have never skinny dipped
55. I didn’t experience pain in my drug-free childbirths
56. I support the death penalty whole-heartedly for any murderers (except self-defense)
57. My favorite subject in high school was English
58. I love doing laundry, but hate putting it away
59. I love playing euchre
60. I am the youngest of four siblings
61. I am hated on Internet chat rooms because of my laid-back, non-by-the-book parenting style that I freely brag about, and I love it
62. I’ve lived in three states – Ohio, Alaska, and Texas
63. I never went to a prom in school
64. I’ve been married three times
65. My first car was a 1969 Plymouth Valiant – and if I hadn’t wrecked it, I’d still be driving it – it was a great car
66. I can wiggle just one side of my nose
67. I’ve never been able to do a cartwheel
68. I used to be a bill collector
69. My best friend growing up was Cinda, and I miss her a lot
70. My sister and I are polar opposites and think we come from two different dads (LOL)
71. I’ve never met anyone famous face-to-face
72. I love to cook and would do it professionally if it didn’t require evening hours
73. I am addicted to The Food Network and it’s on most of the day
74. My ideal Friday night is being snuggled on the couch drinking hot coffee and eating popcorn, watching a thriller movie in the dark
75. I am even more stunned that I’ve thought of 74 things about myself than I was at 32 (cheating, I know)
76. I used to model when I was a teenager
77. I actually miss padded shoulders and wish they would come back in style
78. I was a “hood” in high school - because I smoked and wore leather jackets and concert t-shirts
79. My mom and I used to go out together to the bars to try to pick up dudes… we had a blast
80. I still remember the phone number of my childhood home
81. I once got so drunk I was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning
82. My first concert was the Scorpions
83. I sent wedding invitations to over 200 celebrities, and received about 30 autographed responses back (no one came… lol)
84. I have never questioned any of my parenting choices
85. My earliest childhood memory is of a “huge” gorilla in the basement that my brother teased me with
86. If I hit the lottery, the first thing I’d spend it on is electrolysis for my legs!
87. My favorite holiday is Halloween
88. I can’t sleep at anyone else’s home – even my parents; it’s either my house or a hotel
89. I could live in flannel pj’s if given the choice – I’ll even go grocery shopping in them… and have
90. I’ve never had a one-night-stand
91. I can’t stand female stand up comedians, except Paula Poundstone
92. Magic tricks piss me off
93. My dream vacation would be a trip to Venice
94. I suffer vertigo
95. I really want to be in the audience at the Ellen Degeneres show one day
96. I have been ”arrested” only once in my life – for a curfew violation when I was 17
97. I skipped school a lot – but still had a high GPA
98. I have never fought with my husband, in over 10 years together
99. I have to sleep with my right foot hanging off the side or foot of the bed to be comfortable
100. I have the best friends in the whole wide world

She’s gone.

My sister in law has lost the war to the liver and brain cancer that was so painful, so determined, so evil.

A few minutes ago, as my brother held her in his arms, she went to the Lord.  At least she’s whole now – no pain, no holes in her body, no more tests, no more operations, no more pokes and prods.  No more scarves to cover the hairless scalp.  No more needing my brother to lovingly help her drink through a straw, help her to the bathroom.  No more drugs to help her make it through the day, no more sleepless nights.

Is it wrong to think that there’s some degree of relief in this sorrow?  Is it bad to feel that somewhere in the mind of the caregiver, a semblance of freedom can exist?  The knowledge that she’s safe in God’s arms, and that at the young age of 48, there’s still a life to be had?  To be enjoyed even?  Knowing there will be a period of grief, and pain that will probably never go away but just lessen over time… can he again feel whole?  Without the wife, friend, lover of nearly 30 years by his side, can he find another to love?  Another friend to hold?  Or would he rather muddle through alone, having his children and his grandchildren to fill his hours and days with love and happiness?

Knowing my brother, he will love again.  Hesitantly, maybe.  But he’s so full of love, humor, happiness – I think he’ll need to share. 

My heart really hurts for him, for my nieces and nephews, for their children.  I can only imagine this as being one of the worst things to have to suffer through in a lifetime – burying a spouse, a child, a parent.  I’ve been fortunate in my life not to have had these hurdles to overcome, but I know someday I will.  I do not know how I’ll handle myself at that time, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Hopefully we’ll be waiting a very long time.

 

Carol, you will be missed.

There really IS hope for the children of today…

I was recently made aware of this great site:  Kids Against Anthropogenic Global Warming (okay, before you all go and look it up, that means “man-made”) and I just couldn’t be happier. 

I know my children are aware of the myths and totally unproven theories of man-made global warming (still makes me chuckle a bit to think that this movement has made so many people *coughalgorecough* millions of dollars and fooled so many others into thinking we are so responsible for the absolute cyclical nature of the Earth’s environment, and that they aren’t changing a darned dagnabit thing… but I digress), and I know dozens upon dozens of scientists are braving being scorned by the public bandwagon to come out and say things like Gore’s farce movie was complete crapola… but to see a 14 year old girl take it upon herself to stand up and get noticed – to even make a website – just warms the cockles of my heart.

You go girl!

 

I told my class about Al Gore and how he’s a hypocrite and scaremongers people with his manipulative ways and how it is unjust that he be allowed to preach to people that AGW is a fact, without addressing the “Inconvenient Truth” that AGW is naught but an unproven theory. Then we did a vote on who thought AGW was real (man-made) and who thought it was a myth (natural). About 9 voted for myth and 4 for reality. The rest of my class was undecided. I brought up the Carbon Trading scheme about how Gore is head of the company and therefore has the biggest commission. Also the Polar Bears, who can forget about Santa’s neighbours? I pointed out that the polar bears are in fact not dying and that they are increasing in number. That just because someone says they are, it doesn’t have to be true. Even if AGW was real and the polar ice caps were really melting the polar bears can easily swim for up to 50 miles which they do anyway, to hunt for food. Its really annoying that people won’t be open minded. In all reality if someone came up to me tomorrow saying that AGW was real and that we needed to act now, and they actually produced facts that were reliable and with backup, I would change my mind. The way our brains should work, we should always ask questions. We should always ask why, and how and if the answers aren’t up to scratch we have the right to be skeptical. All I ask is to ask questions, don’t let me tell you what to think, look up a bunch of reliable links on the internet and judge for yourself.

Update: I forgot to mention, my teacher was one of the 9 who voted AGW as myth.

 

My boys know that if the school is going to make them watch Gore’s comedy of terror, they are to let me know, and they get a day off to spend at home with me.  I won’t tolerate misinformation, brainwashing, and bullcrap.  Not if it’s being presented as facts or even actual information.  Present it as fiction, and we can talk.

This girl is fan-freakin’-tastic.  Let’s quit focusing on giving our money to buy carbon credits and live our lives.  Sorry, folks, we ain’t changin’ the world by changin’ our light bulbs.  In 30 years, when “scientists” say we’re approaching an Ice Age, who will we give the Nobel Prize to then?  Dan Quayle???  Dan, you better start writing the screenplay now…

I just love WordPress blogs…

If you’re looking to set up one, this is definitely the one to go with.  Although there’s limited designs, you do have the options to change them somewhat…  but what I love the most is the Dashboard – being able to see exactly where people came from, what links they clicked to get here, what terms they searched for to find me, what images they click on the most, what posts they read and forward, and on and on and on.  It’s a fantastic system, everything is there and traceable!!    It also tracks blogs that I frequent, blogs I post comments on, and gives me instant feeds to those blogs I’m most interested in.  Those are the ones you see to the right here in my “blogroll”.

So if you’re looking to set up a blog, I do recommend WordPress.  Easy to get started, you can import old blogs, upload images and video, and more… it’s fantastic!

Hey, O.J….

That’s called KARMA.

Possibly my new very favorite website. Ever.

HumanEvents.com

Off to buy a dozen more McCain bumper stickers!!!

What is your take on global warming and how is it affecting our country?

A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.

-Sarah Palin

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/sarah_palin_vp/2008/08/29/126139.html

 

Thank God, a politician without her nose up Gore’s ass, or on the Bandwagon that Makes Us Look Responsible and Smart and Good.  She actually THINKS and researches and knows what she’s talking about!!!  What are the odds????

I think McCain made an absolutely brilliant choice, a person that actually thinks for herself – she told that bandwagon to go away.  And I’ll bet she doesn’t pay Al for carbon credits, either.

I’m a Fantasy Football Widow

Last night darling hubby held his annual Fantasy Football draft in our home. To those unfamiliar with this primal male practice (yeah, yeah, I know some women are involved too, but “primal male” always makes me picture men in a circle beating their hairy chests shouting Argh Argh and being all powerful and manly and stuff, k?), a group of men gather with their stash of football magazines, “insider” information, printouts from sports websites, spreadsheets, paper, pens, and beer. And meatballs.  And shout Argh Argh.  But I digress.

So our men draw cards to decide who gets to go first in the draft. Just like the pros. Well, the pros don’t sit at a kitchen table and draw Bicycle playing cards, but I mean they go in a specific order. ‘Cept the pros go by the Suckiest Team Ever for Last Year. My favorite team has been able to go first or nearly first for a really long time. Maybe Parcells will make this change. Either that or I’m going down to Miami and applying for the quarterback position. I think I can do better.

I digressed again. Anyways, so #1 (or the Ace) gets to pick his player first. You can see him quiver in anticipation of getting to be first.  Like the shot heard ’round the world, two little initials that every man in every draft wants to be able to say first, are shouted out like a old lady with blue hair screaming BINGO!   LT, if you get hurt this year, millions of men will singlehandedly (is it singlehandedly if millions do it? I dunno… but I digressed again) increase the stock of Budweiser by drowing their sorrows in alcohol. Be safe, my man. Be safe in your Journey.  I will pray for you.

That man sits back, looking smug, and sighs with relief.  And I’m sure he’s close to needing a smoke even if he’s never picked up a cigarette in his life.  Yes, he would say it’s as good as sex, at this very moment.

And so it goes, A through K, and back down again, until finally the “dregs” of the NFL are chosen for their team.   So now each man, glassy-eyed in anticipation of the season starting, has a roster that they think is the Best of Any Man, anywhere, in the world. Really. It’s perfect. Their quarterback will have more completions and will run in more touchdowns than any other QB ever. Their defense will sack the opposing team’s quarterback at least 6 times a game, and intercept double digits each week.  And on and on.

And in a few weeks it will begin.  Let me first say, I am a HUGE football fan.  I know all the fancy words that Madden spews each week (“all he needs to do is throw the ball and they can score”), and I can follow all of the commentator’s pretty drawings all over the screen, that are clearly there to help the men that have to stay out of the Circle of Manly Men until they grow chest hair.  So, I’m a fan.  I love to watch football.  But I love to watch the WHOLE game.  Like, the Steelers vs. the Dolphins.

I don’t wanna watch for Roethlisberger vs. Miami Defense. 

This is what a Fantasy Football Widow has to listen to for three hours every Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, Monday night, and sometimes Thursdays.  It no longer matters who actually WINS the games, don’t be ridiculous!  It no longer really even matters what the scores are, although that does play a part in the QB’s, or RB’s, or defense, or a plethera of other players’ ultimate individual points.  They get so many points for a pass, for how many yards it is, for the kicks, for the interceptions, blah blah blah. 

I give points for cute butts, but the guys refuse to add that as a category.  Whatever.

Anyways, then begins the Cursing.  The trades that fail.  The beadie-eyed scanning of injury reports posted on the Internet.  The rush to submit your latest lineup.  The aggravation when you realize your running back’s team is on a bye week.  The grumpiness for an hour after every game.  The shouting at the TV because the QB threw to Bob’s player instead of yours.  The concern over the injury – not really for the player, mind you, but for the lost points that week that may have pushed you into first place for the League. 

Why, you ask, do I not participate in Fantasy Football?  Well, I don’t want these Chest-Beating Men to be deflated when a woman kicks their collective arses for the year.  *grin*

Ah, football.  How I miss you.