Okay… here’s your warning… I am about to get all selfish here for a little while… so if you aren’t really into reading selfish posts, then I would probably stop reading this right now.

I live in a small suburb outside of Dallas, not too big of a city or anything… and I live really far from the coast, so with the exception of a little post hurricane rain, I had never really been affected by a hurricane, until Katrina.  When Katrina happened, people from New Orleans came flocking to Dallas, and I rushed to help.  I cleaned all the old clothes out of closets, and I did as much as I could.  That sucked for the people of Louisiana and the people of the DFW metroplex really stepped up to help them.  I really think Texas did a fantastic job of stepping up for their fellow Americans, and it was really cool to see.

Fast forward three years to Gustav.  The hurricane evacuation relief effors are estimated to cost the area of DFW twelve million dollars.  uhhhh… what?!?! Did someone just say that the New Orleans evacuation effort is going to cost US 12 million dollars?  seriously?  Why is this coming out of our tax payer pockets?  This confuses me big time…

Then, I get a kid from my kid’s teacher saying that they aren’t having preschool this week because their school is being used as a rescue shelter for evacuees?  Uh, again, what?  These people have evacuated all the way to here?  There was nowhere closer to their homes that could hold them?  I mean we aren’t like a major city, and that isn’t like a big school or anything… it is just a small building… Louisiana doesn’t have those to house their own evacuees?  Instead, we have to put off our stuff?  Last time I checked, I didn’t move into a Hurricane prone area… so I shouldn’t be having to change MY week for it.

I realize this is selfish, but I just don’t understand how after THREE years the answer is still to come all the way to Dallas for help… what makes us the special place here?  I just think that is weird.  Also, how do ALL these people not have a place to stay for a night?  They are showing up in nice cars wearing nice clothes… they are showing us all the pictures of this on the news… why are they not able to afford some sort of accomodations for themselves?  I mean, if it were us, we would never DREAM of staying in a shelter, I mean, are you kidding me?  We would hop into our mid-size SUV and drive until out of harms way, while I was on the phone securing our hotel reservations for the upcoming few evenings… how is it that these people aren’t doing this?  How is it that these people don’t have friends or families to put them up during this storm?  If I chose to live in an area like that, you can bet your ass I would have money put away for hurrican season, and I get that some of them still haven’t recovered from Katrina… but the sheer number of people just blows me away…

crap, now I feel bad… I better go donate some money, which I don’t mind doing, by the way… in fact I have been thinking about volunteering with the Red Cross for some time, and this is just the push I need…I just don’t understand why things aren’t better thought out.

Okay, as many of you know, I am more than obsessed with Dr. Horrible.  I LOVE it, I think it is adorable, and I love that it is a high quality internet production becoming a phenomenon.  I also have to be excited about the whole Jed Whedon thing, I mean I do have a brother named Jed… so I totally feel like I have to love it more!

Now, about this whole Dr. Horrible of awesomeness.  They just became the number two album on Itunes!  Hello, that is AWESOME!  I mean to see that people LOVE it as much as I do is so great… and not because it is too cute and awesome but because I think it is one of those things that is making people realize that the internet is where it’s at.  People are starting to get all their TV on the internet, people are using the internet the way it should be used, and not just high tech dorks either… REAL people!  My friends at mommy groups are mentioning youtube, and dare I say that the other day I think one actually mentioned TWITTER!  I love seeing people go high tech!

Anyway… I love seeing Dr. Horrible do that well, and I love seeing a Jed make it big!  hehe

Go internet!

Well I am sitting here watching the season premiere of one tree hill and can I just say that after the suckiness of the writer’s strike last year and then a summer of less than awesome shows it is nice to see some actual tv again! So what is my most anticipated show coming out this fall? That would have to be chuck!

So, just recently I found this super cool website that lets you download the digital scrapbooked desktop.  I love it because I don’t have to do anything AND I get a cute desktop each month that I can put pictures of Hal in.  I have been a long time reader of the shabby princess blog, but I hadn’t looked at it in a while, and lo and behold, she has been making these awesome desktops each month!  I love having the calendar ON the desktop, and I love being able to change it out so easily… I am a big time desktop changer because I get bored easily.  So, anyways, thanks shabby princess!  Lovin’ the desktops!

Okay, so the Olympics came and gone, and I am feeling totally guilty that I didn’t get into them this year.  In the past I have always spent tons of time watching getting excited to watch people win gold, and loving them.  But I sat down a couple of times and I just couldn’t get into them.  I mean, I didn’t even jump on the Phelps bandwagon… (which is a very cool bandwagon that I WISH I had watched more of)

Now I am kind of sad that I missed it all, I mean sure I could go back and watch them… but I know what happens, and I won’t be watching it with the rest of the world.  I almost think that is why I wasn’t very into it.  I hated that the time differences were so big and that a lot of the cool stuff we were watching was pre-recorded, etc.  By the time we got to see a lot of the stuff I had already read about it elsewhere.

The internet really added a different dynamic to the Olympics this year…

A fellow stay at home mom and I were hanging out yesterday letting our kiddies play when we started imagining ever going back to work.  We are teachers by trade, and this time of year is always the best as a teacher.  It is grueling, time draining, and tiring, but it is new, fresh, and just plain cool.  So we always miss school a little bit each year when everyone starts getting ready for it.

We were talking a little about how we aren’t sure if we could ever go back now that we are full time stay at home moms.  We both made the choice when we had our kids to put our careers aside and raise our families, and while I LOVE staying at home, I LOVED being a teacher, too.  So, I have always thought I would go back to it eventually… but then we started talking about what it would be like to be a mom and a teacher at the same time.  We both agreed that people do it every day, but we wonder if we would WANT to do it.  I mean… it is just so fun being a mom, having so much time to spend nurturing your own children and showing them the world… and I always said when my kids were in kindergarten I would go back… and now that is only a couple of years away!  I don’t know… will I be ready then, or will I want to be a ‘room mom’ and all that good stuff?

Okay, so one of the really cool things about the iPhone is that I can hand it to my three year old when we are standing in line waiting on some random whatever and she can PLAY with it!  I LOVE this about the thing.  I know what you are thinking here… you hand your three year old your iPhone?  Yes, yes I do… BUT…. I did a couple of things to protect it.  The first thing I did was get one of those screen protector thingies from the apple store, and then I think we have found pretty much the best cases they are making right now…These awesome Griffin ones.  Seriously… They slide into your pocket, and they are like invincible… but they don’t look TOO stupid, and all the important parts of the phone are open for you to get to.

Now, remember, your kid is going to be able to get into ALL that other stuff on your phone… so if your patience is easily tried… maybe you shouldn’t hand them your phone after all…

Okay, so see my iPhone is totally protected and I don’t like let my kid play with it unsupervised in the other room!  LOL I am not that dumb!  Anyway…. here are THE best Apps I have found so far for my preschooler on the iPhone:

Now, let me just say that I haven’t tried them ALL yet… but I do plan on trying more of them, and I promise to let you know what I think of each of them as I do.

Okay, my hands down favorite app of all is the preschool adventure.  It has four different games and my kid can play them NO problem.  I think it is really neat that they are all educational and fun (okay, this one is mostly fun, but still…) but they don’t have to worry about the hand eye coordination thing of learning the mouse, so they are able to do the COOLEST stuff with these things.  My daughter LOVES this game, and my iPhone will NEVER again go without it.

Another good, and educational one is alphabet sound machine now, I am not TOTALLY as big of a fan of this as I am the other one, and I think this one can get boring after a while, but it is still a really good app for my kid to play with while we are standing in line at the grocery store.

One of my personal favorites, based on sheer cuteness alone, is iGotchi.  We feed him, we pet him, we tickle him, and he grows up!  It’s like Furby in your phone, and who doesn’t love Furby, right?  This one is just cute, and my kid loves to make the little fuzzball laugh.  Is it worth two bucks?  Well, that is less than a soda most times… so I say yeah… he will make you smile, and a smile is totally worth a couple of dollars!

Bubbles! Bubbles is free, bubbles is pretty, and it makes a great popping sound!  Basically you just run your hand over the screen and bubbles appear, then you can ‘pop’ them.  Hey, it’s free, what’s not to like about free, right?  My kid will pop bubbles for a while though… and it gives her something else to do!

The first app I bought on my iPhone was Koi Pond, and it is okay, but it is neat if you put your finger down eventually the little fish walk up and nibble it!  That’s some virtual fun right there, right?

And the one my daughter can’t get enough of?  Scribble! She loves this one, and they recently updated it so that she can draw on the pictures in my phone!  It is a great little free drawing app with not too many options, so my kid is able to play with it no problems!

I just hope that more companies come out with these in the future.  Here’s hoping someone cool like Disney or Nick starts putting out iPhone Apps!  I would love to see some princess games in the near future.  And, with the recent rumors about iPod touches going down in price for the Christmas season… it might actually be an option to get one for your toddler, and way cooler than that boring ‘ol DVD player, right?

Well Halle is giving dance another go. Last time we tried it at the rev center and she wasn’t quite liking it enough. But this time we are trying it at the Top Hat Dance Centre and she seems way more into it. Here’s hoping!

So… this is a big one, right?  I mean for one, I finally feel like I am old enough that my vote matters.  Not that the 18-24 crowd doesn’t matter, I just never thought I was knowledgeable enough in current politics for my vote to matter.  I know this is so totally against every rock the vote campaign ever written, but I could never shake that feeling when I was younger.  I mean…. I would go like MONTHS without ever even catching a newscast on the tv, and when I was in college… I remember once wondering aloud, “Man if there was like a war or anything going on unless it was at the bar I would have no idea because I haven’t even like turned on a TV or even glanced at the front of a newspaper in as long as I can remember.”  (I didn’t say I was perfect, ever, okay?)  Anyway… I feel like I was totally unqualified to vote.  Maybe this younger generation has more of a sense of what is going on.  They can get tweets from Barack and he will be announcing his running mate via text message.  There is almost always something presidential on the front page of digg, and our RSS feeders make it so we can read CNN without ever actually having to log on to their site.

Heck, come to think about it… maybe THAT is why I am more informed this year… sigh, maybe without it I would be no better off than I was all those years ago.

Now, here is how I feel about presidents and such… I think that we have done a pretty good job (at least in my lifetime) of switching things up on a regular basis.  Meaning that we have let the democrats control things for a while, then the republicans… then some democrats again, etc.  And, as such… it is time for the democrats to have their turn…

Which means Obama… I have mixed feelings about Obama as the democratic nomination… I don’t have mixed feelings about him being president.  In fact, I think he would make an awesome president and is one of the best candidates we have seen in years.  I think he will bring new and fresh things to the presidency and isn’t it about time America gets over this whole prejudice thinng?

But… the prejudiced thing… THAT is the problem… CAN America get over the prejudice thing enough to vote for a black man for president?  Is America ready to do it?  I am so worried that the democrats shot themselves in the foot with this nomination.  I would like to believe that America can see past skin color and see what a fabulous president Obama can be, but I can honestly say that I don’t have that much faith in America.  I hope that I get to write a post at some point saying how I was wrong about America and that they actually were mature enough to look past skin color, but I am definitely scared I won’t be… and we will end up with McCain as president… and well… I think even the republicans can agree that guy is a noodle short of a macaroni salad.

So, here’s to hoping America stirs that melting pot one more time and we get to see something REALLY cool happen.  The first black president… I for one think it is awesome, but I want to see it not even MATTER at all what color his skin is… maybe this is a big step in that.  It will be interesting to see what kind of presidential race we will have when my daughter is 29.

Here Is my favorite person just hanging out at the restaurant waiting on food.