This will totally make you laugh

I've never really been a big fan of shows like America's Funniest Videos that broadcasts people getting caught doing silly things. I don't enjoy laughing at other people's misfortunes.

But, then I saw ABC's Wipeout... and I'm hooked. This is hysterical... and I feel comfortable watching it because these people SIGNED UP FOR IT!

I'm not sure if it's the commentary, or the people getting wet and dirty that is so funny. Watch, laugh, and enjoy!

Say thank you, anytime, anywhere

The Gratitude Campaign

Another new blog

One of the things that makes a blog successful is it's uniqueness of topic and target search word. Based on a recent conversation with one of my favorite people (which may come as a shock to him :D ), I've created a new word - and hope it will become a rather entertaining blog. It's very micro-niche... and you can find it here: Neighb-Orbs

PS: I'm looking for people willing to use their yards as subjects for future posts!

Introducing Minivan Monologue

I started a new blog called Minivan Monologue. My inaugural post includes the video I made for the teachers at my daughter's pre-school. Red Writes will be full of my random thoughts (when I jot them down for the world to view). Minivan Monologue will be full of posts about the life and times of my mommy journey.

There is a season for everything - and a place to share it all too.

Enjoy the video :)

Thanks to Anonymous, I have a blog post today

Yesterday in my email inbox, I received a fabulous comment from Anonymous regarding my post here about the Democratic nominee race.

Blog comments are great - I love when people take time out of their days to share a thought that either agrees with or disagrees with mine. I love it even more when a shared thought prompts a blog post. So, thank you, Anonymous, for responding and inspiring me.

Here is the comment:

It is still a MAN's world and we may never see a woman in the White House. What amazes me however is the amount of women who will not vote for a competent person as Hillary. Shame on them and I hope I never hear another woman complaining about the glass ceiling. It is their fault that it will remain. Men haven't been able to get the job done for over two hundred years and I am sure HILLARY would have made a great president. It is not meant to be, even though there are more women in this world, but they are too stupid, and too jealous, and too intimidated by a strong,intelligent, working mother like Hillary Clinton. Hillary,you will always have my vote!!

This person is clearly a passionate Hillary Clinton fan. Great! Get behind your candidate of choice 100%. I'm a little sad that this person has given up, when Mrs. Clinton hasn't yet. She still believes that she can win the nomination. Too bad some of her supporters are giving up. That's the unfortunate power of a biased media more than anything else. At least in my opinion.

Electing a person should be about the facts: what a person has done/not done in their life and how their record matches up with prior commitments. But, perhaps due to an insane number of years spending more time building publicly educated children's characters and less about the political process (and other subjects for that matter), voters are not taking the time to look at factual information as closely as they need to before casting a vote. Media taps into emotions, and whomever develops,designs and creates the candidate messages that make people feel the most good will win. Our country has raised a couple of generations of people who must feel good even when they're wrong: No, Bobbi, 2+2 does not = 5. But look at how boldly you gave your answer to the class. I like how you believed in yourself enough to try.

Really, the better response would be "No, Bobbi, 2+2 does not = 5. Does anyone else want to try?

But I digress.

I think it's sad that I should be expected to support Hillary Clinton simply because I am a woman and so is she. I agree with the author over here who says that is sexism. I'm sad that voters are using gender or race as a primary focus on their decision. I'm sure it's happening. It's also sad to assume that members of a specific gender or race choose not to vote for a particular candidate are doing that group disservice.

Check out this blogger's comments on the issue. I'm particularly fond of her changes to a quote made by Gloria Steinem found at the bottom of the post.

Speaking of Ms. Steinem, I found both of the above linked-to articles searching fro a quote I remember reading in the Washington Post or the Examiner a few weeks back. Ir said something along the lines of women not needing to support Hillary Clinton simply because she's a woman.

Anonymous says:

What amazes me however is the amount of women who will not vote for a competent person as Hillary. Shame on them and I hope I never hear another woman complaining about the glass ceiling. It is their fault that it will remain.

To that I reply:

A) I'm too old to believe that I must take the fall for someone else's view of the state of the world

B) I was raised to stand behind what I feel is right based on educated research and non-biased data (which is tough to find these days)

C) I was also raised to believe it is my civic duty to vote, and tend only to get into political conversations with people who actually vote. I believe non-voters are the people who do not have a right to complain about their world - not the ones who vote for the candidate that ultimately loses.

D) I've written enough for this morning and now it's time to go back to bed (at 5AM when I've been awake since 3:30)

Play games, and give water to those who need it

One of the causes I belong to on my Facebook account is PlayPumps International. I learned about them last month when the youth in our church gave a presentation on them. As a group, they're trying to raise awareness, and money, so they can get a pump installe. Today, I received the following message from PlayPumps International. It's a way to donate money without actually digging into your pocket. You just have to visit this site and play an online game.

Happy Friday - and in the name of charity, go play this game :) And now, the message from PayPumps International:

Want to flex your music trivia muscles and support a great cause? Now, you can play online and help support PlayPumps International.

Visit www.savetheworldwithmusic.com to play this fun, free online music trivia game. Every music trivia question you answer correctly will provide clean water for one person for a day. The more you answer correctly, the more water you give. Keep answering questions for as long as you like - the quiz is never-ending and every right answer supports our efforts!

So go on, test your music trivia knowledge and help support clean water for Africa. Visit savetheworldwithmusic.com and be sure to tell your Facebook friends and colleagues about this great game.

So many orbs!

Many who know me are aware that I believe in an after-life. What many do not know is how much I dig ghost tours and walks through grave yards... especially on a ghost tour.

I've never had my camera on a ghost tour. Not until Friday night when my One-and-Only (OAO) and I were in Strasburg, PA and decided to take their tour.

One of the last stops was at the cemetery. Our guide suggested that if we had digital cameras, we should snap pictures to see what appears. Never having experimented with graveyard photography, I seriously thought she was kidding. Like I was gonna snap a picture and get and orb. The first picture, we thought the orbs were street lights - until further examination showed they were too high in the sky for that.

Then, I got all jazzed and started taking pictures. Surely, there was something on my camera lens or something... or not?

So then I'm just snapping pictures. I got this great one before I knew that it was the head stone for a woman named Annie - who haunts the most haunted house in Strasburg.



And it seems the spirit in that first picture is hanging around in the second one (when I knew it was Annie's grave).



When we left the graveyard, I just snapped a picture to see what would appear:



Before we got to the grave yard, we heard about Annie and her hauntings at this GORGEOUS house on Main Street. I was just snapping pictures of a pretty house. Wasn't even hoping for an orb... can you see it by the chair on the porch? FYI, that big circle at the top is the porch light. Duh.



After the graveyard, we went back to the haunted house... and snapped this.



I've decided when I go into old towns with lots of history, I'm gonna have to take my camera and just start snapping :) It just confirms my belief that spirits are always around us!