thought it was funny, thought I'd pass on...

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is "Wrong"

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans

Wicked

****SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen "Wicked" and would like to, and you don't know the story, don't read anymore, unless you don't really want to be surprised, then please continue on.

The play opens with the Wicked Witch of the West being dead, and we are reminded of one of the last scenes in "The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy has killed the witch with water. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, is discussing how she was not actually friends with Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west), they just knew each other from when they went to witch school and they happened to be room mates way back when. We soon discover that they are actually friends, but only behind closed doors, because Ga-linda (with a "Ga") doesn't want people to know that she is actual friends with this freakish green being. Let me break in here, how many people have you known to be like that? "Good" for show? Ga-linda continues to sing and dance and be "good", and I am thinking that she is just like Elle Woods (you know, from Legally Blonde?) trying to show Elphaba how to be "popular".

They now have a project ahead of them, get to see the Wizard of Oz, to find something for a teacher they share. We then discover that Elphaba can read this spell book written in some secret language, therefore she was used by her teacher and the Wizard and she is able to make things right for her sister (who was in a wheelchair) making her able to walk again. Meanwhile, they (Wizard, Glinda and the teacher) all figure out a way to set up Elphaba and Glinda says, "she'll come back for her sister!" By this point of the play, I'm pretty irritated, this beautiful "Good Witch" is just plain bitchy and not good at all! Elphaba is the good one, made to be evil because she is green, I'm guessing, and since differences can't be good let's alienate her some more. They do claim to be friends throughout the play, but not ever in front of others, that part I thought to be kind of sad.

There were some love stories in there that I didn't quite grasp, but it's a good play. You should see it, even if I ruined it for you. :)

Spring break

We just got back from Seattle, and I have much to write, but let me just make this post about the recycling that goes on out there. EVERYTHING! I was very impressed. My sister who lives in the city, by law has to recycle all paper and plastic and aluminum and put food waste in compost. If failure to do such she gets fined. I was thinking about how far Alabama is from that. We would go to restaurants and they also had separate trash cans for recyclables and trash. I remember when I moved out here from SLC, UT there were recycling bins next to most trash cans in 1993! Now, in 2009 in Alabama and not all garbage pick-up even has recycling pick-up. Crazy!

on owning a home

My parents told us, after we bought this house, that we will now never be rich. I thought they were crazy, I mean home-ownership put us in middle-class, right? Well, the problem is, we have to fix stuff all the time! I sometimes wish that I had a millionaire uncle that was very generous so that I could just go to him when I needed something for the house.

mean girls

I am sure most of us have seen that movie, "Mean Girls" based on that nonfiction book "Queen Bees and Wannabes". I found the movie very entertaining and funny, and so true to how it is in high school and wanting to belong so badly. The "B" in my name, btw, is for "Becca" not "Bee". Anyway, I was reminded of this today while watching a show that I TiVoed. It was the reunion show for The Housewives of Orange County. They are all very beautiful women, and I guess "hot moms", but they are so ugly to each other. I was totally blown away at how mean they are to each other behind their backs and then had to own up to it on TV for the reunion show. I wonder how beautiful people in beautiful homes can be so ugly, appearances can be very deceiving.

I guess I'm still affected by it, and had to write about it, and I don't know where else to go with it. I'm sure I'll have something more upbeat to write next time. :)

The Mecedes Marathon (or Half - Marathon if you're me).

Let me start by saying this was my first time. I thought that this one would go so well that I would be ready to do the full marathon next year. Well...the half was much tougher than I planned on, so I think I will master this before moving on to the full. Not to be a "Negative-Nancy", but as the full marathoners kept passing me, I was pretty sure that I needed A LOT more training, and I'm only human. :)

The day started very early and COLD. My friend M.S. picked me up and we carpooled to the race together. We got free parking on the street in front of the bus station, and went to the Boutwell Auditorium to use the bathroom and check our bags in the "sweat check", and stretch and drink more water, and eat a few more calories, and drink more water... you know, regular pre-race stuff. Well, M.S. decided that she didn't want to wear her sweat shirt through the race and she didn't want to leave it in the street, so we walked back to her car to leave it there. It was a good thing we parked so close to the bus station, we were able to go in there to use the restroom one more time, and it was so warm in there, very nice. :) We then jogged to the starting area, inside that crowd which is normally very uncomfortable to me, but it felt nice and warm inside that crowd. We just listened to our iPods and waited for the gun to go off. BLAST! I was off! walking...walking...walking...seeing others jump up to hit the starting banner...walking...pass the starting banner and I was off to a nice slow jog. Bye, M.S., she was off and I was going at my slower more comfortable pace, lip-syncing the songs I was listening to and seeing the crowd in front and behind and to all sides of me. By the time I got to about the 20-30 minute mark I had to pee really bad, so I started walking until I got to the next pit stop where I was able to relieve myself and then started running again. I couldn't believe that I was only at about 3 miles, it felt like much longer, but I pressed on. I eventually heard, "Mommy!", and there was husband with kids offering me a hug.

This really made me smile and feel good. Husband asked, "How's it going?" I said (iPod was on, so I was probably talking pretty loudly), "I really have to pee!" He said that there were some port-a-potties just beyond the next water stop, that was great, I was going to go and then start running again... I got out of the potty, said good-bye to the husband who wanted to get my picture leaving the "bathroom", and went off running again.

My head said, "run" but my body said, "oh no you didn't!" So, I was able to go to a power-walk kind of pace. My knee was starting to hurt, but I was okay, I was half-way there. Just as I was passing Ruby Tuesday on Highland Avenue, I was being lapped by that famous Kenyan guy that wins all marathons, David Cheruiyot. He finished in 2 hours and 23 minutes! That was about mile 9 when he passed me, and I eventually passed a police officer who was calling a medic for a woman that was hurt, and I felt safe in case I couldn't go on with my knee hurting. I got to almost mile 11 when I thought that I couldn't go anymore and sat on the curb. A woman passed me and said, "if you sit, you won't finish!" I knew she was right, and told her that I was just stretching because my knee hurt. I got back up and continued walking, and a woman walked up to me (one of the many spectators) and handed me some gel packs, which is jelly-type stuff to rub on injured muscles. I thanked her, sure she was an angel and pulled my pants up and rubbed it on my knees and shins and continued, and it worked! I was able to push on to the finish line and I finished the half marathon in 3 hours and 45 minutes.

I'll be back next year. :)

My favorite signs:

Run like you stole something
The pain you feel is just weakness leaving the body
If you think running a marathon is bad, try Chemo
Cancer Sucks

Debt Diet - the rules

1. I must make a list before going to the grocery store, if it's not on the list it is not legal. Also, just so I won't be "working the system" I will only include things I need on the list. To be clear; Wine - need, gossip magazines - want. To help with this list, I will also make my menus for the week(s) to help with planning. Sometimes I do have to go to the store in the middle of the week, for milk or bread or something, on these occasions I must have a list, and still can NOT stray from that list, if all I need is milk, then that is all I can get.

2. NO DRIVE-THRUS. I can not just decide that tonight I don't want to cook and get the kids something at a fast-food restaurant. I have the menu prepared, therefore I can prepare that meal, as I should have the ingredients since I most likely got them at the store. The only time there is an exception to this is if I am very ill and can not get up from the bed to cook dinner, my plan is to stay healthy throughout the month. :)

3. We will still give to our church, this includes dinner on Wednesday nights.

4. Super Bowl Sunday, we can still order pizza. This is a tradition in our household which we will keep and Super Bowl Sunday just happens to fall on the first day of February.

5. Playgroups. On playgroup days I will have to bring a snack that can be made from what I have in the kitchen. I can NOT just go pick something up at the store on my way to playgroup.

6. Moms Night Out. I will have to go to these events with cash, and I can't spend past the cash that I have. If I have to use my check card, or credit card, then I will have to own up to it.

The main theme to my rules is plan making, and sticking to the plans. I am hoping to stop any bad habits on spending money and I am hoping that I will have a better grasp on how much money I spend unintentionally. If any of this seems unfair to any of the other debt dieters, then please speak now so that I can change my rules and post them here.