I may not be saving the planet . . .

But at least I'm saving some cash! We installed a programmable thermostat yesterday. The thermostat was under 50 bucks, and took about twenty minutes to install. Mostly, it took so long because my old thermostat was hooked up wrong, so there was an extra wire that confused me. As a bonus, with the old thermostat (presumably because it was hooked up wrong) our breaker box made the "zzzt!" sound everytime the heat kicked on. Now, the sound is gone! It's great!

Presumably, since we never adjusted the heat when we left for work or went to bed, the new thermostat will save a significant amount of money, since we went from running the heat 24/7 or only for about 8 hours a day during the week. I will get back to you.

In related news, they now make Compound Flourescent flood lights. We already switched out all of our bulbs for compound flourescents, but the flood lights in the kitchen were a problem (and they seem to burn out a *lot*.) We havent' actually put them in yet, we're waiting for a bulb to burn out, but I'm pretty excited!

Now, if I can just get my tankless hotwater heater, I should be set!

I felt like I had to make up for it

by finding a way in which ron paul was also psycho. it was very easy.

For example, ron paul thinks we should abolish the department of education and public school and everyone should just home school their own children! Isn't that a great idea????? I wonder why we didn't think of that before!

I'm an idiot

Yes, I meant romney, not ron paul.  I have got to lay off the wine-in-a-box.
 

 

at the risk of being political . . .

and losing both my readers, this needs to be said. Geeky-girl recently posted that crazy Tom Cruise video. That man NUTS. The way Scientology is often described, though, as the only religion founded in the 20th century, reminded me of another nutty religion, Mormonism.

Mormonism is NOT Christianity. Mormons will tell you differently, partially because their own church flat our lies to them and re-writes their scripture (the book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price) as they see fit, but it's not. They dont' believe in One God. They worship only one God, but they believe that each planet has its own God, and that when you die, if you're a good Mormon, you will go get to be God of your own planet. Thats polytheism, and I dont' care how you sell it.

I could write a book on Mormonism and how nutty and not Christian it is, but the political part of our program is that a popular political candidate, Ron Paul, is Mormon. Ron Paul is selling himself to a lot of people as a middle of the road sort of guy. Many of my students at school are very excited about him. Heres why he scares the hell out of me: Mormon's believe in continuing revelation. The Mormon church is led by a prophet and they think it's ok for the Prophet to say God says one thing today and another thing tomorrow. As a Mormon, how is Ron Paul going to reconcile his beliefs when the prophet says invade Iran to spread Mormonism or suspend freedom of religion?

Yes, Huckabee scares me too (mostly because I think he's kind of a moron) but at least he's a known quantity. The Bible is done. Finis. Over. When Huckabee says his religion will "drive" his policy (*shudder* Iran *shudder*) at least we know *exactly* where he stands, on scripture. Ron Paul could very well stand on a different revelation tomorrow than he does today.

scary scary scary.

I am a born again Christian, I am not afraid to talk about Jesus and be a Jesus Freak all day long, but let's please run our families and our church's on the Bible and our country on the Constitution, thanks. If you dont like it, please move to Saudi Arabia and tell me how you like it.

and, oh yeah, Obama is not, and never has been, a muslim.

My house is the cleanest it's ever been

which is a VERY relative statement.

Between spending several days of Christmas Break straightening the bedrooms upstairs (courtesy of hubbles) and most of the morning straightening and seriously cleaning downstairs (courtesy of both of us ) AND the new couch, my house is awesome right now. It's very nice to sit in the living room and not see something that needs to be "done," for once.

After Greys Anatomy Tonight . . .

I told my husband I intended to never get a divorce, and that I was prepared to make us both miserable befor I left him, and that if he left me and went to a hotel I would follow him.

break ups suck. Greys anatomy sucks. The writers strike SUCKS.

Super Easy grilled chicken for salad

One small citrus fruit (lemon, lime, clementine, whatever), juiced
Couple of tablespoons olive oil
few grinds pepper

Whisk it up, toss chicken in it to coat (I like to use tenderloins)

Let marinate at room temperature for about twenty minutes.

Grill, slice, serve over salad. It's delicious(ly easy)

yay consumerism!

Todd and I got a new sofa yesterday (which we needed very badly.) here is a picture
Even though it is a sectional, it actually fits in our relatively-tiny livingroom very well (sorry, I can't take a picture that quite seems to capture it.) We did have to get rid of our chair (we put it upstairs) but it has made the living room quite nice. Right now, me, Todd, and all four dogs are on the sofa. It's great. There's even room for one more person.

Worth Every Penny

Things have been going really well since we started our dog training. The dogs were immediately calmer and listened a lot better. They are both good at come, sit, and off but bad at place (that's the last one they learned.) We can have them out of their crate a lot more, which is wonderful, and when we had house guests for new years I wasnt worried the whole time about how much they were barking and jumping on people.

Four dogs is still a lot, sometimes there's not even enough places to sit,but life is already way better. Renee is a miracle worker. Really.

The collars we got them were expensive, and the training would've been even more expensive (if we werent paying her in brownies,) but it is totally worth it. If you have dog troubles, you can find a trainer through IACP. A high quality dog trainer will be more expensive, but finding someone who really knows what they're doing is totally worth it. Our quality of life has drastically increased, and we're really getting to enjoy our dogs again.