State of Obvious

airy tales will tell you that happiness comes to those who wait.  That happiness will find you, will repay you for all the bad things that have happened. Fairy tales lie.  That's why they are called tales, you know. Happiness is a verb, an action, a reaction.  You do it, you feel it, you hold onto it, you chase it, you share it.   There's no sitting idly by for happiness to come.  Chances are it passed you by while you were sitting around. I have a hard time understanding chronic unhappyers.  There is so much to appreciate in most of our lives, so much to see and feel and do.  There are so many little moments of perfectness that being unhappy seems like a lot of work.   Being sad, mad, pissed off, entitled, upset, and demanding ALL THE TIME must be a lot like shouting ALL THE TIME.  Eventually you lose your voice.  People just don't care that you're sad, mad, pissed off, entitled, upset and demanding.  It becomes who you are instead of what you do.  "Well,&

The best photos (in my humble opinion) from Uncle Scott's two week visit: All found in New Mexico, less than a day from my house (most cases, a couple hours away if you're driving lazy.)  Of course, my favorite pictures is a whole other posting.

Today is "Poppa Day."  Also known as Sam's birthday, the day he would have turned 73.  My father-in-law was an interesting character.  Often grumpy, full of sass (and gas), Poppa could give you the impression that he'd rather be alone thank-you-very-much.  But he was also extremely marshmellow-y on the inside.  He would often request a kiss on his bristly cheek.  He would often buy Josh THE MOST EXPENSIVE toy at the store, just because.  He would drive with his wife, his Annie, to the cemetary and eat ice cream while Josh chased geese.  He would sit on his front porch and puff a cigar.  He would spit shine my kitchen table, no joke.  He would request a chocolate milk (for his sugar levels) five minutes after we got in the car.  He would buy us dinner, tell us jokes, make up prayers, play cards half blind and win at Monopoly even when we cheated. In honor of "Poppa Day" you should engage in at least one of the following acts: Buy some extra toilet paper

not Heavenly Powers, but rather Government Powers, in case I need to be clear. You are exhausting me today. You have worn through my optimistic shell down to the pessimist that secretly lives inside. Apparently, this new healthcare reform is THE END OF THE FRIGGIN WORLD. If it doesn't hold up, we're all DOOMED. If it does hold up, we're all DOOMED.  I'm pretty much banking on we're all DOOMED, there doesn't seem to be any other options. Also, I'm not really sure how this happened but apparently my NM driver's license was suspended in 2000.  I didn't have a NM DL in 2000.  I didn't even live here.  And nobody told me it was suspended either, not until today when I tried to officially become a resident.  I'm pretty sure a majority of my brain cells just died.  But I'm not really surprised because we're all DOOMED anyhow. DOOMED. With affection , Me

...we jumped in the car, sort of early-ish and started driving.  We went west, then south, then west some more and came across the little phenom known as the VLA (or Very Large Array).  To say this was fascinating is like calling Big Bird yellow.  Well, duh!  Upon our arrival we discovered our little, faithful red camera won't focus.  So, we have no pictures of the VLA.  But you can find it here .  We walked around, our mouths open, and wondered what it be like if one of those giant things suddenly moved.  And then one did!  It was swell. ...we went south some more, kinda curving around.  We drove through many, many mountains on curving, twisting roads that ride the edges.  It was amazing.  We split off on a random side road and found Cooney's Tomb.  We wondered what it would be like to discover a gold/silver mine.  We fantasized about buying property right next to the stream and digging through the rich earth.  The camera was still broken, but you can visit Cooney's Tomb

First I would just like to take a moment to thank the National Park people for making things free.  I like free.  Second, I'd like to thank my family for always making goofy faces in pictures.  Cross-eyed, sticking out tongues and the like are a guarantee.  Last, I'd like to say thank you to New Mexico for looking like this often.  It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, as you can see: " Picnik Show " Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Lately Carly has been saying a gazillion cute and crazy things.  Like today she said: "Mom, why does the P have a line on it?" Okay, so that doesn't sound so cute and crazy when it's typed like that.  And by "like that", I mean wrong.  Because that is not exactly what she said, although it is the general idea. The point, you're saying, what is the point!? The point is, I keep forgetting all the cute and crazy things she is saying because A) I am not writing them down and B) I think I'll remember and then I don't That is what you call a 2 part plan of failure.  I succeed at failing.  Go me! But you know what makes it all better?  A little of this: That, my friends, is a picture of my children after we had a flour fight.  It's like a squirt gun fight but without water or pistols. And this: This is Josh (still flour encrusted) bein' raised up right - aka doing the dishes.  (Doncha just wanna pinch his cheeks?)   You&#

I've had an interesting couple of days.  I didn't really do anything or go anywhere in particular.  I wasn't on a vacation or a staycation or a playstation.  I was just hanging around, doin my thang. And God bumped me on the head. The God , yep. Now, I understand completely that a few of you stopped reading right there.  That's okay though, because one thing I learned in the last couple of days: You don't have to believe in God the way that I do.  The relationship that I have with Him is completely my own and personal and doesn't need to be understood, explained, sold, or vindicated.  I know, right?  Epiphany. I just wanted to say epiphany actually.  It wasn't so much an epiphany as a revolution of thought.  The idea was already there, mingling around with all kinds of other information, it just never stepped center stage before. One of the other things I realized in the last few days - even if I'm doing it all wrong, the whole righteous se

This brought a smile to my face on a day when I didn't feel like smiling. OK Go is just awesome-sauce.  And that is all.

Disclaimer: The mohawk was for crazy hair day at school.  It was too good not to get a punk rock picture of.  Click on it to see it bigger.