Totally random mishmash...

Do you, or anyone you know, use hankies? I ask this because it recently came to my attention that I have several friends whose husbands use them. And these are not old people, my friends. See, I thought only old people used hankies. I find them repulsive. "Hey, let me blow a big ball of green snot into this thin piece of cloth and then wad it up and shove it back into my pocket. And hey, look at this! It's 20 minutes later and I can get it back out and repeat the whole cycle." Ick! Ick! Ick! Words cannot describe how repulsive the whole idea of it is to me. So consider this an informal poll....

Hankies:
1. Disgusting Items for Old People to Use
or
2. Useful Tools for Keeping Your Nose Clean


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Steve went to WalMart 3 days ago and bought both girls a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas. Please keep in mind that my daughters are ages 3 and 5. [sigh] Grace loves to shoot. She's never shot anything more powerful than a BB gun (which, for all intents and purposes, I realize can also be "powerful" in terms of injuries), but she loves it. And she's a damn good shot too. Steve sets her up with "targets" drawn on paper and taped to empty beer boxes. (Can we all say "redneck"?) And she gets pretty damn close to the bulls eye every time. She's been begging for a BB gun for about a month now, and out-of-control hunter, Steve, decided that he would fulfill his daughter's wishes. And of course Hannah needed one too because god forbid if the child has to learn that sometimes her older sister will get things and be able to do things that she just can't yet. [rolling eyes]

Now before anyone goes and gets all anti-gun on me, let me say that I don't really give a shit what you have to say. LOL! I don't like guns, and frankly, they scare the shit out of me. BUT, Steve grew up around guns, is beyond safe with them, the kids are only allowed to shoot under strict supervision of Steve (and again, "only" BB guns), they are more than aware of the damage a gun can do, they know guns aren't toys in any way, shape or form (and in fact, don't own any toy guns), they always wear protective eye gear when shooting, and well... things are just "different" around here. I swear to god, around these parts, kids are hunting 3 weeks after emerging from their mother's womb. (OK... not really, you have to be 12 to hunt here legally, but you get the point...). Steve and I have talked about the whole thing at length and we've decided that we'd rather have the girls exposed to guns at an early age so they know the damage that guns can do. Since Steve grew up always around guns and shooting them so young, he wasn't that fascinated with them. So when his buddies who had never handled a gun before managed to get their hands on one and do stupid things with it and not handle it properly, Steve shrugged it off and walked away because it wasn't such a big thrill.

Our kids will grow up around guns because of Steve's love of hunting. Now they aren't kept in our house and they're under lock and key in another building on our property (as will their BB guns be), but the point is that they're here. So we just feel that teaching them the importance of gun safety and the dangers of guns from the time they can comprehend it, we'll be doing the right thing.

OK... so off my political soapbox now. The main point of this is that my daughters are getting Red Rider BB guns for Christmas and everytime I think about it, I can't help but say, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" in my head. LOL!

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I have spent WAY too much time making homemade gifts for people for Christmas, but I think I'm almost done. I'll post some pictures tomorrow, but other than printing out 2 more CD calendars and making envelopes for them, I'm pretty sure I'm done. And that's a good thing because I've about had it up to here with gluing, printing, cutting, drawing, etc. I'm way beyond done mentally with all of the projects and I'm glad it's just about over.

(And yet, at the same time, now that I'm done, I find myself wandering around the house aimlessly, wondering what the hell I'm supposed to do with myself.)

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I'm sick of being sick. My nose is raw from blowing it, I haven't been able to breathe in about 5 days, I can't smell or taste anything, and frankly, it's making me kind of grumpy.

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If Grace asks me one more time how many more days there are until Christmas, I might throttle her. :)

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So anyway, I hope to blog again before Christmas, but if I don't get the chance, I want to wish all of you the happiest Christmas ever. May you all get everything you want, avoid killing any in-laws, get drunk, and come back wit stories. ;)