Political Compass

I just took a couple of Political quizzes, to see where I fall. They are all coming back Libertarian. You can take a look at the chart on the left and where the red dot is located, is where I measure up. With a small lean to the "right" I think this last quiz I took at http://www.politicalcompass.org was probably the most accurate so far. I used to be as liberal as they came. But as I age I am finding my views to be shifting to the more conservative side. I am not thrilled with either the Republicans or the Democrats. I, as of late, have been advocating a third party system. Anymore I don't see a huge difference between the D & R's. My feelings are that we need to get out of big Government, the more freedom the better. I am tired of the Government legislating our morals, our behavior and what we can and can't do in what seems like every aspect of our lives. This is supposed to be a free nation. Part of that freedom is a free market and the upholding of our Constitution. If you are interested in seeing where you lie, or at least get an overall idea, I encourage you to take this quiz. I have also included a few charts below to give you a reference to where I stand. Should be interesting for a

debate!

Concert

Last night I went to the Eric Dodge and Travis Tritt concert. I had an amazing time. I hadn't planned on going until last week I thought, "Hey that might be fun." So I was able to hook up with my friend Tami who got us the tickets and we had a girls night. The evening started out with us going to dinner and then heading over. The first show was Eric Dodge. I had mentioned him before and I am going to do it again now. He did absolutely AMAZING. He is truly talented and so is his band. Watching him and listening to him mature as an artist is fascinating. He has a great presence on stage. It seems as tho he is on the same level as the audience, jamming with us not just for us. He has a new album coming out this April, I cannot wait. He played some music off of it and all I can say is WOW! Good job Eric, you are well on your way to making it BIG!

After Eric Dodge was Travis Tritt. I had seen him before. This show was much better. Last time he fell off the stage. Really. One had to wonder why?! He played a lot of his older hits along with some of his newer ones. I have always loved his music. When I was in college I had his greatest hits CD and my roommates and I used to play that thing until it wore out. I loved hearing his rockin' tunes and his acoustic session where it was just him and his guitar. He put on a great show.

After it was all over, I can say we had a great evening. I love my kids and all but sometimes it is fun to remember that I am more than just a Mom sometimes and I do like to have a good time with the girls.

Guns & Freedom

I was just reading this article sent to me. It is pretty much anti-gun. I figure this is a good topic for discussion. I don't really want to castigate this guy. Among our right to keep and bear arms is that thing called freedom of speech and the press. He is certainly entitled to his opinion. But reading that makes me realize how stupid some people are. I am not a gun fanatic. My husband and his father definitely are. They teach concealed carry classes, hunter safety classes are members of two practical shooting clubs and usually at least once a week they are out at the range or in the 'pits' shooting. I support my husband in this because I have realized the importance of responsible gun ownership and keeping yourself armed and ready.

What the author of the above article doesn't understand is that true gun enthusiasts encourage responsibility, discipline and training when it comes to your firearms. Tom is emphatic about people knowing their gun inside out before carrying. He is also teaching our children from a young age the art of handling a gun. They are learning that they aren't a toy, they are to be respected and how to use them. A couple of other moms can't believe that I 'allow' this. I tell them that they are his kids too, and if they know the responsibility of the gun from an early age, they are less likely to have an accident.

As far as gun control in this country, "my idea of gun control is using both hands" I love that quote. I don't think they anti-gun folk understand that you are in big trouble if you do try to take them away. Law abiding citizens may give them up but criminals don't care about the law anyway so why would they give them up? Then the rest of us are at the mercy of thugs and we can't protect ourselves and our families because a karate chop isn't going to stop a bullet. Some say, "Just call the police." Yea, OK, let me see, an intruder breaks into our home, is threatening us with a weapon, doing God only knows what, and we can just call the police? Not to mention how long will it take to get to wherever you are? I live 10 miles out of town! No thanks, I will call the police to come remove his bullet riddled body from my home. I find great comfort in knowing that Tom and I can protect our family if need be. We aren't chomping at the bit to shoot somebody. That is a last resort for us, but, just try to harm us, you will be sorry.

Nationally, do you understand what it would mean for us as a nation? We would be subject to a tyrannical, socialist government. I believe that knowing that the citizenry of this country are armed, does keep them somewhat at bay. Give them up and you can kiss the rest of your freedoms good-bye. I am dead serious about this. If you value your freedom at all, you will hold on to your weapons.

The article makes references to the shooting at Virginia Tech. He actually said, "What is not a joke is the absurd contention of the NRA gunslingers that if the Virginia Tech students had been armed there would have been far fewer victims." That, my friend, is a bunch of BS. Had even a couple of the students there, been armed, they could have taken out the shooter long before it got to the massive casualty level that it did.

I said this before in another post and I will say it again. We, (Tom and I,) will NEVER give up our guns. We will become outlaws if we have to. "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands." Thank you Charlton Heston!

Christmas in the Country.

Wow today it seemed like a lot going on. I got up to my bazaar just in time for the big rush of people that came in from the parade down town and Santa showing up. I had to laugh because I had people from yesterday come back and get more. I was glad I had made more of my sold-outs! Guess, what? They sold out again...hehe. One lady came back three times over the course of the day wondering what I had used to make a certain card cause she was trying to copy them. That is cool. Then she said, "I probably shouldn't have said that!" I told her that I was flattered that she liked my cards enough to want to copy them. I sold a bunch of items and looked up to see Tami and Tia, with their Mom and Tia's kids. For those that don't know, Tami and Tia are some of my best friends and I love them like sisters so it was awesome to have them come up. They came cause they wanted to go to a real craft show, not full of commercial items. There were a few booths that sold those things but about 90% of the booths there are home crafters like myself. We all hung out for awhile and they had to leave. Shortly after, Tom showed up with Chloe. Chloe wanted to come up with me and help me so I told Tom that he could bring her up after lunchtime. He fell in love with a knife that the lady at the booth next to me had. It had a real rattlesnake head on it, made by an old Navajo man. Some of you may have gotten a pic text from me showing it. Even I thought it was really cool. But not cool enough to spend 65 dollars on. If you want me to send you a pic on your cell give me your number and I will.

Chloe was so cute at the booth. I don't know why but it seems like I attracted all of the husbands to hang out at mine. They all told the same story, "My wife made me come here, and if I stay here long enough, maybe I won't have to shell out all my money." I would laugh and say, "Sucking the manhood right after you huh?" And they would say, "YES!". Chloe got fed up with this and finally said to one guy, "Are you going to buy my mommies beautiful cards or not?" He couldn't resist my daughters charm and proceeded to purchase some items.

Eric Dodge was there. He is a local country singer with a few Cd's out. He was trying to sell his Christmas music when I told his buddy that I would rather have a regular music CD. While I enjoy some Christmas music, too much and I will start shooting at people from my roof. Eric then came over to my booth and handed me two Cd's. His latest album and his Christmas one. Two very good Cd's for ten bucks! SWEET! Here is a shameless plug. If you haven't heard him, you should. He truly is talented. You can check out his music at www.ericdodge.com . I love to support local music, and he is one I definitely have no problem supporting. And who knows, maybe he will become hugely famous one day and I can say, "I knew him when..."

Manning the booth, talking to forlorn husbands and helping people get their creative juices going was a lot of fun for me. I really enjoyed it. Near the end of the day came the fun part. A lot of us start trading with each other. At the end of my trading I managed to acquire a Minnesota Vikings Kleenex box, a 20 oz vanilla candle, 7 wax blocks for my Scentsy warmer, 4 Tupperware kid cups w/lids, 2 pillows, a bracelet for Chloe, a hair bow for Chloe and some bread. Oh and an invitation to the bar...took a rain check on that one. How cool is that? I mentally added up what I had traded to get these things and it came to about ten dollars in supplies to make what I did. So I feel very accomplished hehe.

There was one moment of uncomfortable. Last year about this time a dog ran into the front fender of my minivan. I had always suspected that I new whose dog it was, but Tom insisted that it wasn't theirs. Well I am friends with the lady of that house and she came by and said hi. I don't know why, it was like I was possessed and I couldn't stop myself from saying, "I think I killed your dog last year!" I told her what had happened and she confirmed that yes it was their dog. I apologized all over the place and told her that we did go back to make sure that it was dead and not suffering. She was so understanding and said, "These things happen, and to tell you the truth I am glad to know that at least you didn't just leave him there suffering, that you made sure he was dead, it wasn't your fault he shouldn't have been out!" And now, I feel so relieved.

All in all, it was a fun day. Although it was snowing hard on the way home. I was OK but the 6 million cars from California and Nevada sure weren't. They hog the road, drive like turtles and seem to slam on their brakes. I understand being cautious and all but that is so stinkin' annoying! They are going to cause more accidents that way.

So there, I completed my once a day for a week blog. I will continue to post but I can't promise daily anymore. Hopefully frequently tho.