Secular Confessions

[Cosmosmom]

I don't see how people can believe in god, especially all loving and great one, when they see (or experience) things like those awful storms in the south or other natual disasters.

I really was ready to complain about the snow falling this morning (was not sticking)....until I turned on the news and realized that a few snowflakes was nothing and even kind of pretty.

On a positive note, I think that DH has agreed to maybe go buy the elliptical tomorrow! We are both trying to lose weight...he's better at dieting than me though! I have zero will power but at least trying to stay within points on WW.

And I finally decided I'm just going to buy a Cricut in a few weeks (waiting for the next credit card statement as that will give me enough points to pay for half this machine for free....I do love my Amazon rewards card!) to help with the portfolio making. I am just not a good cutter and cannot see me doing freehand cutting of letters for the pages (like our names or things like Our Home, Family, Cosmo)....and since I have to do two identical books, stickers was starting to look expensive. I don't think at this point that I'm going to be ready for the last step, the home visit, until late June or even early July.

[missychrissy]

I don't see how people can believe in god, especially all loving and great one, when they see (or experience) things like those awful storms in the south or other natual disasters.

They use those storms and disasters as more 'proof' that God exists and He is angry. I was just reading this nonesense in the Binghamton's Letter to the Editor section:

The letter referring to elected Republicans
as emotionally weak or misogynists for
trying to limit abortion is scary. The writer
hasn't gotten the message yet that America
and the world are being chastised by God
for our laws allowing legalized murder and
other evils that are promoted as good.

Prophecies have said that natural and
man-made disasters will increase and will
lead up to a worldwide chastisement in
which a great part of humanity will be
destroyed. Did this man not get the
connection last week when our country
experienced destruction from tornadoes
after President Obama refused to limit
funding to Planned Parenthood?

Eventually, people will see the connection
when things get so bad that we are no
longer be able to recover from them.

Maureen Van Dusen

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110427/VIEWPOINTS03/104270309/God-s-wrath-against-U-S-happening-now?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

[Cosmosmom]

Ugg, I could maybe buy that if say only people that did stuff that made him angry got hurt. But not when it's supposed believers (and I'm guess that out of a couple hundred, some were believers especially in the south)....or kids.

Oh and there is the whole idea of if there was a god, knowing what would make him angry....since the bible was written by various men and translated many times and changed over the years and contradicts in places. I just don't get how someone can read it and belive it literally.

When DH got home this morning from work and saw the news, his response was global warming in action....

I just feel so awful for those affected. I cannot imagine seeing my home like that.

[AmeriBrit]

The storms in the South are so scary; my parents are in northern Arkansas but so far have only had some minor flooding. It's weird how I used to be so used to wild weather and now living over here where we don't even get thunderstorms ever, that wild weather freaks me out a little bit.

Myles, happy anniversary!

Gosh, you guys, Travis has been so wild lately. I think year 3 is going to be a lot harder than the terrible 2's. He never was too bad as a 2 year old. He is really acting out a lot lately. He's been going up to Cash and slapping him (not hard) but looking at me while he does it as if to say, 'look what I can do.' And then we're still having issues with his cousin that he fights with all the time. Travis has now become the aggressor in that situation whereas before, his younger cousin was bullying him. He now pushes him nearly every single time they are together. And he does it like he's excited to see him but he just has to push him. I don't know what to do with him. I've been doing time outs and they work momentarily, but I feel like I need to do something bigger to correct his behavior. Sigh.

[daylilies]

Kate, the build-up to your cruise sounds fun just by itself.

Mandy, thank you for the link. I'll check it out today.

I've been married 4 yrs today. I can't believe it's only been 4 years. We're taking Bodhi with us on our "date" to a Brazilian grill on the beach.

Happy anniversary!
The cruise buildup has been a lot of fun. I'm almost afraid the cruise will be a letdown after almost a year of anticipating. But I don't think that will be the case.

I don't see how people can believe in god, especially all loving and great one, when they see (or experience) things like those awful storms in the south or other natual disasters.

I really was ready to complain about the snow falling this morning (was not sticking)....until I turned on the news and realized that a few snowflakes was nothing and even kind of pretty.

On a positive note, I think that DH has agreed to maybe go buy the elliptical tomorrow! We are both trying to lose weight...he's better at dieting than me though! I have zero will power but at least trying to stay within points on WW.

And I finally decided I'm just going to buy a Cricut in a few weeks (waiting for the next credit card statement as that will give me enough points to pay for half this machine for free....I do love my Amazon rewards card!) to help with the portfolio making. I am just not a good cutter and cannot see me doing freehand cutting of letters for the pages (like our names or things like Our Home, Family, Cosmo)....and since I have to do two identical books, stickers was starting to look expensive. I don't think at this point that I'm going to be ready for the last step, the home visit, until late June or even early July.

Have fun with the whole scrapbook thing...I know maybe it seems like a drag because you have to do it (and you have to do two) but it'll be nice to have it anyway. It's fun to do once you get into it and if you don't get in over your head.
Also congrats on getting the elliptical. I hope it helps.
I've given up on any strict diet. I used to be so worried about carbs in bread, pasta, etc. that I just wasn't enjoying eating anymore. I'm so close to my desired weight that I don't mind if I maintain or lose really slowly. I try to eat wheat bread and pasta, and I eat more good carbs than I used to. (I never realized oatmeal was a good carb)

The storms in the South are so scary; my parents are in northern Arkansas but so far have only had some minor flooding. It's weird how I used to be so used to wild weather and now living over here where we don't even get thunderstorms ever, that wild weather freaks me out a little bit.

Myles, happy anniversary!

Gosh, you guys, Travis has been so wild lately. I think year 3 is going to be a lot harder than the terrible 2's. He never was too bad as a 2 year old. He is really acting out a lot lately. He's been going up to Cash and slapping him (not hard) but looking at me while he does it as if to say, 'look what I can do.' And then we're still having issues with his cousin that he fights with all the time. Travis has now become the aggressor in that situation whereas before, his younger cousin was bullying him. He now pushes him nearly every single time they are together. And he does it like he's excited to see him but he just has to push him. I don't know what to do with him. I've been doing time outs and they work momentarily, but I feel like I need to do something bigger to correct his behavior. Sigh.

3 was really hard for us too. It was nothing compared to 2. It was actually really hard until recently, it got better and now it's difficult again lately. I think he's going through a major growth spurt since he's hungry all the time and doesn't seem to have his emotions under control. I think even he doesn't know what's going on with him sometimes, and it's sad to watch.
I'm sorry you're still having trouble with Travis's cousin. How often do you see him?

[AmeriBrit]

How often do you see him?

You'll laugh when I tell you. We see them at least 4 out of the 7 days of the week. So....it's haaaard on everybody to be the referee in their fighting. We see each other so often because I live next door to my MIL and we're only a small family, so we're all we have really. If it was anyone else, I think we would limit time with them. :S

[daylilies]

Ugh!
Yeah, you do need to resolve this soon. With that much time together, he's going to negatively affect Travis so much.

[Cosmosmom]

I told DH that after I finish our portfolios that maybe I will do a Cosmo book...he replied that we probably don't have enough pictures of her.....really she is the subject for well over 60% of our photos. LOL

The anticipation for a vacation is all part of the fun! I'm sure that the cruise will be fun too.

[missychrissy]

Ugg, I could maybe buy that if say only people that did stuff that made him angry got hurt. But not when it's supposed believers (and I'm guess that out of a couple hundred, some were believers especially in the south)....or kids.

Oh and there is the whole idea of if there was a god, knowing what would make him angry....since the bible was written by various men and translated many times and changed over the years and contradicts in places. I just don't get how someone can read it and belive it literally.

When DH got home this morning from work and saw the news, his response was global warming in action....

I just feel so awful for those affected. I cannot imagine seeing my home like that.

I totally agree with everything you said. Even your husband's take that it's global warming in action.

Gosh, you guys, Travis has been so wild lately. I think year 3 is going to be a lot harder than the terrible 2's. He never was too bad as a 2 year old. He is really acting out a lot lately. He's been going up to Cash and slapping him (not hard) but looking at me while he does it as if to say, 'look what I can do.' And then we're still having issues with his cousin that he fights with all the time. Travis has now become the aggressor in that situation whereas before, his younger cousin was bullying him. He now pushes him nearly every single time they are together. And he does it like he's excited to see him but he just has to push him. I don't know what to do with him. I've been doing time outs and they work momentarily, but I feel like I need to do something bigger to correct his behavior. Sigh.

3 is definitely harder than 2, I don't care what anyone says. I think the only thing that you can do is remain consistent. Somehow, kids 'get it' eventually.

You'll laugh when I tell you. We see them at least 4 out of the 7 days of the week. So....it's haaaard on everybody to be the referee in their fighting. We see each other so often because I live next door to my MIL and we're only a small family, so we're all we have really. If it was anyone else, I think we would limit time with them. :S

I think it makes sense that they fight so much. They're practically siblings! It's just like sibling rivalry, and statistically the closer they are in age the more likely they are to fight. Although that wasn't true with Bobbie and Jessica.

For whatever it's worth, I was that close with my cousins and we used to fight like brothers and sisters all the time. It went on for years (don't be scared by that!) but we ended up being extremely close. As we got older the fights were less and less frequent, although I do remember getting into it with my cousin Rog (my age) when we were 15. I think that was the last time. But even at that age, it was our first physical fight since about the age of 9 or 10. He's like a brother to me though...despite all the fights we had when we were little.

It wasn't due to our parent's lack of trying either. As we got older, we just got more clever about fighting away from them.

[AmeriBrit]

Thank you for your perspective, Chrissy. It makes perfect sense. I used to beat on my sister all the time. I'll mention it to my SIL.

[missychrissy]

I know it's not fun when they fight, but I think it's one of those lessons that just takes a really long time to fully grasp. They have more impulses when they're little, but it doesn't ruin lifetime relationships nor indicate how they're going to behave in school with their peers. My cousins and I used to really go at it-but none of us were bullies in school.

[Ky'sMom]

Need to confess that one of my favorite conservative friends on FB has actually gotten on my nerves. I usually don't let FB interactions rub me the wrong way, but he is insinuating that a church group who went to a DMV in CA should be able to go there and hold all the tens of people hostage while they read the bible. He posted a youtube video and the preachers were arrested due to spreading religion at a government facility.

He really lowered my opinion with him on this one. He is an old high school friend and a staunch libertarian and I actually don't mind a lot of his political spews and views since they aren't to the extreme and he denigrates both republicans and democrats on a equal basis. But he is very staunchly religious and says that the preacher speaking was arrested for no cause because he has freedom of speech (eyes rolling out of head here, that is a government building). Sorry to bring my political tirades here, but I have been in a political mood lately.

Erin

[missychrissy]

That's ridiculous Erin! I'd be pissed if one of my friends posted something like that too. Unbelievable.

On a somewhat related note, I actually had a mom on another message board tell me that in the US we're guaranteed freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. It was in regards to whether or not the military should allow for Atheist chaplains or not.

[Ky'sMom]

That is laughable Chrissy. I can't even fathom how they came up with that!

As I was watching the video he posted I just thought of the plenty of times I've had to wait in long lines at the DMV and since I usually was always POd at the time due to standing in the line, I would have been extra POd if I had had to listen to someone preach at me when I am at a place (government facility mind you) where I am forced to stand. My FB friend then proceeded to try to tell me that the preacher wasn't "in" the DMV just outside and that he could have been on a street corner. Now this is a video he posted and he didn't notice that the preacher was standing in a handicapped parking space next to a sign that said "DMV parking only." So then he says, well the parking lot is not a government building. But the parking lot is DMV property I tell him. He was just being really nit picky. And when I told him that if he were at the DMV and someone came up and started reading the Koran and trying to turn him into a Muslim, I'm sure that he and others would have called the police and accused them of terrorism, he said he wouldn't have a problem with it. Yeah right.

Forgot to mention the part that really upset me, he insinuated that the arresting officer arrested the preacher because the officer was gay and gay people don't like Christianity. For one, the preacher was not reading anything about God hating gay people and two, how would anyone know that the officer was gay. That just was very ridiculous to me. I never assume someone is gay. Plus I know quite a few Christian gay people, it's not like there is no such thing as a Christian homosexual.

Erin

[Gwenn]

Chrissy, I've heard people say freedom of religion, not from religion before ... but it's intended meaning was pretty much the opposite of how that person interpreted it. It's meant to mean the government can't forbid you to believe what you want to believe, not that the government can't allow people not to believe. Just completely the opposite of how that woman interpreted it. Yikes.

[Bridget]

Erin, your friend is being ignorant. I can't stand when people are so staunch in their beliefs that they don't look at the simple obvious facts. I have family like that.
I am so not political either and I've also been in a political mood. It's hard not to be with all the ridiculousness that is going on around us these days.

[AmeriBrit]

I've been watching the royal wedding since I got up and cried when I saw Prince William and cried again when I saw Kate; she's so beautiful and her dress is absolutely stunning. I don't usually bother with the royals but it feels like a special day today.

I told Travis I wanted to get married again after watching all this wedding stuff and he said to me, "Nooooo! You are not Mary; you are Ashley! lol

[daylilies]

I've been watching the royal wedding since I got up and cried when I saw Prince William and cried again when I saw Kate; she's so beautiful and her dress is absolutely stunning. I don't usually bother with the royals but it feels like a special day today.

I told Travis I wanted to get married again after watching all this wedding stuff and he said to me, "Nooooo! You are not Mary; you are Ashley! lol

OMG, that is so funny.
We forgot to record it and DH didn't wake me up until 7:45 eastern time. I'm sure there will be clips on youtube later.

[Bridget]

I thought of one of our convos when last night I went to dinner with my brother and I brought Sawyer with me. All the waitstaff was oggling Sawyer and one really hot and clearly gay waiter was checking out my brother. I jokingly said I was going to kick his arse because for all he knew we were a couple with our new baby. My brother said gay men know when other man are gay and I said. "That may be true but clearly you are living a lie and pretending to be straight with your wife and new baby so he should back off!"
Anyway, I made a point to call him Uncle T when the waiter walked by our table.

[daylilies]

LOL Bridget!

[demigraf]

oh, bridget, I love it! I would love to have a gay brother to pal around with.

Erin, I can see why your friend's position disappointed you, especially the pejorative stuff about gay people. Hypothetically speaking, though, if the DMV bible-reading group's free speech were protected under their civil liberties, I would just take that to mean I also have the freedom to object just as loudly back at them. Here, in heathenistic California, I've seen my share of street preachers with megaphones and evangelical groups parading through public places - everywhere from the Venice Boardwalk, to the Golden Gate Bridge, to the UC Berkeley campus. Some have even invited strangers to step up and debate them. And as much of a nuisance as it is when I just want to mind my own business and not listen to someone else's "activism" pierce my airwaves, I tend to lean towards the free speech protection side of the argument. I like the phrase from that former Supreme Court Justice: 'Sunlight is the best disinfectant' about openness and transparency of one's speech. I feel sometimes it's best to let people show not just the wrongheadedness of their ideas, but also how far they're willing to go to make a headache of themselves and let the crowd naturally police them by their own response.

However, then you get into the question of people like the Koran-burning Reverend Terry Jones and the Westboro Baptists who picket military funerals with signs that say "God Hates Fags". Admittedly, my defense of free speech position falls apart there. I guess theirs is a different level of speech - hate speech to be precise - and it shouldn't be protected if it creates a peace disturbance.

Chrissy, your friend, on the other hand, just got it all wrong. The "freedom of... not freedom from..." argument does NOT protect the right of anyone to discriminate. Restricting the freedoms of an atheist to perform the duties of a chaplain would be discriminatory. I mean, a Christian chaplain could feasibly be called upon to provide spiritual comfort to a Muslim soldier, right? As long as the individual does his/her job to provide the necessary support, then his/her own spiritual beliefs shouldn't come into question. It does bug me when people hide behind the concept of "freedom" to justify words and actions and legislation that is harmful to other people.

AmeriAsh, I wish I had some wisdom for you with the pushing. I'm just sitting back and taking notes for my parenting-lessons list. I hope things improve for you though.

[Bridget]

You guys, I opened this book called I Love You Rituals that I checked out from the library. http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Ritua.../dp/0688161170
It's very sweet. I love it.

[AmeriBrit]

I'll have a look at that book, Bridget.

I have a funny story to share. One of my cousins in Arkansas was at her mom's over a week ago when the storms/tornado-ish weather was going on and they were warned that a big storm was coming, so she said they stayed there for 3 hours with just light rain. She decided to just risk it and go home. But half way there, she said the rain turned to hail and flash floods and she couldn't see anything, so she pulled in to the first driveway that she could find. She sat there and thought she better just go run in and tell the people in the house that she was going to sit in her truck on their drive until the rain let up some. So, she ran to the side of the house where there were some glass sliding doors and knocked. And she said as she knocked, she could see in the room there in front of her were an 80 year old couple doing the deed! The guy got up and opened the door and she said she just said, "I'm just gonna be on your drive for a little bit" and ran back to her truck." LOL

[demigraf]

OMG!!!! That gives me a slight bit of hope that I'll still be at it when I'm twice my age, Ashley. And it gives me a slight decrease in appetite.

Bridget, that's the author of "Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline", which I once took out from the library (and thumbed through really quickly). I really like what that author has to say. Like I said, I didn't read her whole book, but every time I turned to a random page and read a passage, there was always some nugget of wisdom in there that stuck with me. Now I want to check out this book you recommend. Games to let your child know you unconditionally love them - how cool is that?!? Thanks!

[missychrissy]

I've been watching the royal wedding since I got up and cried when I saw Prince William and cried again when I saw Kate; she's so beautiful and her dress is absolutely stunning. I don't usually bother with the royals but it feels like a special day today.

I told Travis I wanted to get married again after watching all this wedding stuff and he said to me, "Nooooo! You are not Mary; you are Ashley! lol

I watched it too this morning. Even though it was my day off, when my alarm went off and I saw that was on I stayed awake and watched it. It was very sweet and touching. I like that Kate girl.

[Gwenn]

I watched it too this morning. Even though it was my day off, when my alarm went off and I saw that was on I stayed awake and watched it. It was very sweet and touching. I like that Kate girl.

I got up and watched it and went back to bed! I like Kate, too, and William. But work today was kind of a wash.

[missychrissy]

I like William and Harry too. I was a big Diana fan and I adore her boys. I'm very happy for William. I've heard that William and Kate plan on living in a 4 bedroom house without servants. It sounds like Diana's wish for her boys to be as 'normal' as possible is coming true.

[daylilies]

I'm curious if this is a marriage that is good because of politics or if they are really in love. I hope they are.

[missychrissy]

I think it's real. They've been together for years and when they broke up Kate was offered 10 million dollars to tell all, but she didn't even though William was out with a couple other women. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

[daylilies]

I'd never heard of her until they got engaged. When did they break up?