Volleyball & Soccer

Moriah and Haley had their first Volleyball tournament Sunday. They love volleyball now! The games went well...lost to the first team, but won against the second team they played. It's fun to see the quick progress.

Brooke is all about soccer these days! She was so honored to be asked to join a traveling soccer team...and that team is quite good, and coached really well. She's progressing quickly. It helps when you really like the sport!

Life is getting a bit crazy this month, and we'll all be glad when October is over! Brooke now has soccer 4 nights/week. Haley and Moriah have volleyball 2 nights/week, plus soccer the other 2 nights/week. Dan has football several nights/week. I'm just trying to maintain, work on the kitchen, teach school, follow a now very mobile toddler around the house to prevent accidental electrocution, and so on.

Well...off to a choir concert!

How Much is $700 Billion?

I received this email a few days ago, and although this wouldn't work (it would cause needless runaway inflation), it makes you think:

This idea sounds just crazy enough to possibly work, so
naturally it won't be given serious consideration. How
great is our bureaucracy!!

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to
America in a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are
200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every
man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that
equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.

So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.

That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.

Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads

Put away money for college - it'll be there

Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new car - create jobs

Invest in the market - capital drives growth

Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves

Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+
including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers
and every other company that is cutting back. And of course,
for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's
really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00
( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that is being
proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout,
let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.

Sell off its parts.

Let American General go back to being American General.

Sell off the real estate.

Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and
clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can 'never work.'

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the
$85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG
or in Washington DC

And remember, this Birk plan only really costs $59.5
Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes
to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Update

As you can tell, life around here must be busy, because I haven't made any posts lately!

Yes, life is busy!

Just a few glimpses into the past few weeks:

Dan has been helping coach a 5th/6th grade boys youth football team several nights a week. Games are on Sunday afternoons. He's enjoying the coaching and the games, although it's a bit crazy during an election year, when he's swamped at work.

Earlier this summer, I tried to sign up Haley and Moriah for the youth sports volleyball league, which starts in September. I must have missed the deadline, because they were put on a waiting list for a team. So, thinking that there was no chance they'd be playing volleyball, they took a risk at trying out soccer for the first time. They're in sixth grade and haven't been on a soccer team before. I saw a sign for the Y soccer program, and Brooke is totally all about soccer right now, so I signed her up for a girls team. Haley and Moriah agreed to sign up for a team, too. We got to the first practice, and they were the only girls - it's a co-ed team! Ahh! Needless to say, they are being really good sports and are enduring the longest six weeks of their lives....never to do soccer again!

However, not Brooke. Last week, her soccer coach pulled her to the side afterwards and encouraged her to go attend the practices for the travelling soccer team. She is floating on air. She's so excited. How this will affect our lives, I am waiting to see...

Back to volleyball...so the night before the first practice, I got a call from the coordinator, and there were two openings on a volleyball team. Yes, we joined. They really like the sport - waaaayyyy better than soccer! But...2nd practice, and Moriah jammed her index finger. It's still swollen and a bit purpler, but getting better.

So we have all these things going on in our world....and if you look at the previous post, I did manage to get a good start on our kitchen. I'm working on cabinets now, slowly but surely.

School's going well. The baby is growing incredibly fast and becoming more and more of a toddler every day.

Speaking of school and babies....must get started now.

8:00 am

This Week...

...started off with Labor Day, so we went camping at this really posh 5-Star Campground. No Reservations needed and we & some great friends had the whole place to ourselves! There was plenty of room for the kids to ride their bikes, a fire pit to cook over, shady spots for the campers, a carpetball game table, a sand pile, a log roll, and space to play Ghost in the Graveyard. Where does such a great place exist, especially on a busy holiday weekend? On a family farm! Dan's parents allowed us to camp there last Sat/Sun and we had a great time.





We got motivated to start on the kitchen. So, that's is full swing now. Lots of late nights, prepping and painting. Dan's making trim to match original trim for around the new windows.





We started school September 2nd. It's going well so far.



Soccer is going well. This is Haley and Moriah's first season, and it's co-ed, 6th-8th grade. They did really well after only two practices, and going up against a few 8th grade boys that look like linebackers for the high school. Brooke scored the tie-matching point this morning in her game and was very pleased with that effort!

That's Brooke with the ball, driving towards the goal.

No Comment

Ok, so I didn't get any comments on my actual blog, but I did receive several email comments. And the lyrics! Apparently, it's difficult to post a comment unless you already have a google account. Sorry about that.

Still wondering whose program it was that this came from - Captain Kangaroo? Sesame Street? The Electric Company?

So, here's the song (sang to the tune of "Three Blind Mice"):

Brush your teeth
Round and round
Circles small
Gums and all
A small soft toothbrush the round and round way
Will keep your gums healthy and stop tooth decay
So clean very carefully three times a day
Go round and round

Thank you!

Brush Your Teeth???

People have told me they read my blog, but I never get any comments. So...here's something I'm going to try. Do you remember that song about brushing your teeth? I think it was from Sesame Street or possibly Captain Kangaroo. It starts out like this:

Brush your teeth...round and round...circle small...gums and all...blah blah blah blah blah.... ..go round and round, round and round!

See...I'm missing some vital lyrics there. When I first started brushing the girls' teeth back in their toddler stage, I sang this tune and just hummed the missing words. But, now I'm brushing Case's teeth and it irks me that I don't know the words.

Please help! Post the words if you know them! Thanks!