i have a little bit of a crush

i will finally admit that, while others are completely fixated on el presidente, i'm nursing a bit of a crush on ...

wanted: the obamas in our pews

a while back, avis thomas-lester had a piece in the washington post about how "in demand" the obamas are in and around the district. it profiled a hair stylist who was angling to do michelle's do and a city council member looking to hit the links with barack. all pretty interesting in a benign stalkerish sort of way.

then thomas-lester explored how local churches are jockeying to get the obamas to worship with them. i guess this is okay too, but i became a little wary of some of the motivation behind getting the obamas in the pew when i read the following -

Anthony Hawkins, administrator of Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Northwest Washington, said many churches in the District are offering a spiritual home for the Obamas because of the prestige it would bring.

"Since they are African American and Washington, D.C., is a predominantly black city, there are a host of black churches," he said. "It would be a feather in one's cap to have them worshiping with you."

is this really why these churches want the obamas to worship with them? to be able to brag about it? to be proud? this strikes me as incredibly un-christ like. i wonder why anthony hawkins did not immediately declare that his church would be the best place to nurture the faith and walk of each of the obamas?

something tells me THAT'S what jesus was looking for ...

courage campaign

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

lucketts, buckeystown, and the washington times

today was adventure day in the flipflop fed house. first we made a stop at wegmans in sterling and then we headed to the old lucketts store in lucketts, va. this has to be one of the coolest places around. tons of salvaged materials - old shutters, doors, weather vanes, windows - mixed with fun new stuff. while there we finally decided what to do with our bed. (you see - for four years we have been talking about making a bed frame. we've had tons of different ideas but never seem to follow through on any of them.)

we are going to make a headboard and foot board from salvaged doors - all hardware included! the headboard will be two doors side-by-side and vertical and the foot board will be one door horizontal. as we were looking at doors we struck up a conversation with a woman who was wandering the property taking pictures. she was from the washington times and was doing a story on the old lucketts store. she was intrigued by our idea and asked if she could take pictures of us for her story as we surveyed the doors. we obliged.

if this were any other paper i would say that you should look for kristin and me in an edition this week. but this isn't any other paper. this is the washington times - the conservative washington paper started by the reverend sun myung moon. (yep, that's the guy that started the unification church, better known as the moonies.) there is NO WAY that paper will feature a picture of two lesbians who are figuring out how to turn doors into a bed! i'll just have to wait for my moment of fame.

anyway, we ended up not purchasing any doors because another customer told us about an even better place to buy salvaged goods - chartreuse and co. in buckeystown, md. we're headed there tomorrow and i'll let you know how it is.

nanayboo

babysitting woes

last night i hung out with my two favorite boys in the whole world under the age of 5. their parents went out to dinner and we played with toys (including my favorite - a pt cruiser low rider that plays ricky martin songs!) and read books. we ran around the house and watched chicka chicka boom boom a few times. finally, at 8:00 pm it was time to go to bed.

the 'rents made it sound easy ... the older one sits in his room until the younger one is asleep (and that only takes two books and a crib filled with crap) and then the older one reads two stories and makes up two stories. easy.

at 8:45, i was sitting on the floor of the two year old's room (the older one still waiting patiently for his stories) listening to him tell me that the minuscule clock across his room was scary and that he needed more crap in his crib. clearly able to discern that i was exasperated, he looked right at me with his little cherubic face resting ever so gently on his pillow and said --

becca, i am not nice.

so cute ... and i couldn't have said it better myself!

pet peepers or tinkle trousers?

we've now entered the next phase of mennonites at war and are in the process of researching cat diapers. we've narrowed it down to three choices - pet peepers, planet urine cat diapers, or tinkle trousers. honestly, i think that all three are the same product so in the end it will come down to the name that will get the most laughs over drinks.

when dayenu does not suffice

on the same day that i decided to live my life by the principle of "dayenu" (see post immediately preceding this one) i engaged in decidedly un-dayenu behavior.

first i have to take you back two weeks to set the stage ... kristin was traveling and i decided that my time would be best spent finally finishing some of the lingering projects around the house. the number one project was replacing the brace on the entertainment center. the first step of that project was to move the television off of the shelf. the problem was that the tv weighed about 100 lbs. it definitely not a one person job. the end of the story is that the tv dropped - as you would expect any 100 lb. awkwardly shaped object would when being moved by only one person - and the case cracked. after replacing the brace, i put the tv back into position (secretly hoping that it was broken so that i could get a fancy new, flat screen, hdtv!). i pushed the "on" button and ... it turned on!?@?!

now fast forward two weeks. kristin, back from brazil, was watching tv when the picture suddenly went dark and the unit began to smoke! oops!

so two weeks after wishing for the worst and one day after committing to live by the principle of "enough," i bought a fancy new flat screen hdtv.

finally ... dayenu!

dayenu

i was listening to npr this weekend and the guest was talking about the jewish concept of "dayenu" (pronounced -- die hey new). dayenu is loosely translated "it would have been enough" or "it would have sufficed." in judaism, and immortalized in the passover song, it's the idea that if god had only done (fill in the blank) then it would have been enough.

that got me thinking about the whole crisis that we find ourselves in now and how it might be a little easier to weather if we all committed to living by the principle of "dayenu."

if we only bought what we needed
if we only ate all that we bought
dayenu!

if we only took care of each other
if we only allowed ourselves to be taken care of
dayenu!

if we were content with what we had
if we were content with who we are
dayenu!

and on, and on, and on
dayenu!

do they have a 12 step program for this?

my friend, urban mennonite, is a fantastic writer/blogger. but she is even better at finding "time sucks" on the internet. her latest discovery is -

addicting games dot com

play bubble spinner. you have to wonder what the programmer was smoking when he or she came up with this one (especially the music).

no poop, no policy

before you get your panties in a bunch and freak out about the flipflop fed posting blogs during the work day on your tax dollars, you should know that we were sent home because there was no water in the building. seems that some genius ran their car into the water standpipe in the parking garage.

this really does beg two questions - how fast was this person driving in the parking garage? (we are bureaucrats, not attractive rebels trying to pull off the italian job.) and did they really put the main water pipe in a place where it could be easily knocked down by a car??

so there you have it. if you can't poop, you can't make policy.

missiles beware! rocks and sand? ... you're safe

the ship to the left is the uss port royal. it is, by all accounts, one of the navy's most advanced ships with the capability to intercept the missiles fired at us by the bad guys. and with a price tag of over $1 billion, we should expect nothing less!

so where is this fine piece of metal now? patrolling the indian ocean to rid the sea of pirates? nope. somewhere off the coast of cuba just in case castro decides to get froggish and jump? nope. surely close to the middle east in case our troops in iraq need some help? one last nope.

up until monday, this bad boy was stuck on a sand bar right off the honolulu airport. well done cap'n!

it can never be good when nuts are involved

overheard at the office ...

while looking at the nearly empty container of nuts and in a VERY loud voice --

damn tex*, looks like someone has really been sucking down your nuts!

truth is, i didn't overhear it ... i said it!! and was completely humiliated afterwards ... (but it was kind of funny!)

*name changed to protect the innocent

can't live on $500k?

allen salkin wrote this piece in the times today about how difficult it would be for a banker to live on $500k, particularly in new york city. i'm going to take it as satire because otherwise i will soon be engulfed by the fumes, vapors, smoke, and flames that are currently gushing from my eyes, ears and nose.

are we supposed to feel bad for people that can't live on $500k a year, regardless of their home town? do $1000 suits really make you a better person or allow you to conduct better business? do you have to take 2 major family vacations a year? are full-time nannies really an acceptable substitute for full-time parents? and who are you really trying to impress? the rest of the people that won't live east of 3rd and south of 60th? the ones who are also mortgaged to the hilt?

tightening the belt means that some of the fat is not going to fit. and it's not about buying a bigger suit either. it's about humility, simplicity, and contentment. and knowing that you will inevitably be remembered (and should want to be) by what you did and not by the brand of your suit or your address.

gladys loves jesus but she drinks a little

my water broke! we'll send the river rescue unit ...

no joke! last night my very pregnant neighbor called 911 and the on-the-ball, top notch dc emergency dispatch sent the river rescue unit - complete with a zodiac on the roof of the truck. i wonder what sort of water rescue they were planning to do?

god bless you barack obama

for me, one of the more offensive initiatives of the bush administration was the amp up of the office of faith based initiatives. (this project actually started during the clinton administration, but was not as prominent.) first, the name was misleading. it should have been called "the office of christian initiatives with a few grants to jews just so it doesn't look like we're discriminating." (i actually heard that they were considering that, but the acronym wouldn't fit on the letterhead!) second, it is well documented that federal money was given almost exclusively to christian groups and those groups used federal dollars to proselytize and hire only people from their particular faith traditions. all this, and the bush administration turned a blind eye.

today, at the national prayer breakfast, president obama announced that the office of faith based initiatives would continue in his administration, but with changes. the name has changed to the office of faith-based and neighborhood partnerships. more importantly, the justice department will review any cases in which there is a question regarding the separation of church and state. also, he named an advisory board, including both religious and secular members, to oversee the program.

this is great, but there's still work to be done. at first glance, it seems that only judeo-christian traditions are represented on the board. now obama did say that he wasn't done stocking the board so one can only hope that a wide variety of groups ultimately will be represented.

what a way to spend your money

despite opposition from those who oppose my right to marry, the california secretary of state finally released the full donor list for those who bankrolled proposition 8. the good thing is that i don't know a single person on the list -- truth be told, i was concerned that i would end up finding at least one name that i recognized. but the bad thing is that so many people contributed to a campaign to promote discrimination.

it's ironic that those who contributed in support of prop. 8 were concerned that, by releasing their names, they would become the victims of harassment and discrimination. yet, they had no problem sending money to support what many view as harassment and discrimination.

what follows is not harassment or discrimination, rather an accounting (with a little bit of snarky commentary thrown in) of some of those who contributed the the campaign -

contrary to most published reports, the single largest group of contributors were members of the caster family of southern california and not the church of jesus christ of latter day saints (although lds did misrepresent the total amount of lds related donations. i seem to recall something about not lying in that good book they supposedly follow. maybe that's a part that joseph smith thought wasn't all that important?). the caster family made their money in storage. one of the casters is now a man of god who counsels others on family values.

david silva did a great piece on the casters in the san diego city beat. in it he highlights some of the family values promoted by the casters -

In the workshop section titled “The Husband’s Companionship Needs,” Pastor Craig counsels the good wife to hold her husband’s needs “2nd only to God in your life, not because he deserves it, but God commands it.”

He later writes: “A contentious wife is unwilling to trust and obey the Lord by affirming her husband’s leadership role. Husbands need to be affirmed in their leadership role by their wife—ALWAYS!”

Common “disaffirming practices” of a husband’s dominance, Craig writes, includes “[c]orrecting him in front of the children and others,” being “unwilling to serve him in public” and being “unwilling to surrender to him physically."

okay casters - you don't have to worry about me co-opting your vision of marriage. i PROMISE!

(click here for a picture of one of the casters that donated over $10,000. case of self-loathing maybe?)

another contributor owns an interior design business. anti-gay marriage or just sour grapes because she's losing business to the happy homos?

then there's the woman that seems to have donated a little bit each time she got paid. of course, there's a guy who's last name is gay (that one's way too easy). or how about the donation from the our lady of the rosary social fund? i don't know about bessie and thelma, but i would have rather gone bowling!

you have your retired military members and, just like the guy named gay, i'll refrain from taking the easy shot. however, one of the more interesting former military donors is a guy named lee m. holmes who lives on guam. a quick search revealed that mr. holmes, the owner of a cable outfit, has a history of tax problems. seems to me that his money would have been better spent fulfilling legal obligations.

but here are the ones that disturbed me the most - the teachers and the hospice doctor. those are people that are responsible for educating kids and providing solace to the dying!

shame, shame, shame

i've got things to say ...

first, i dare anyone to argue that white men of the elite class are not afforded special privileges. they may be out of the oval office, but they can still ...

... "forget" to pay substantial federal tax bills and still be promoted to positions of the highest authority (don't worry daschle - your boys have your back and you'll be confirmed soon too. they just need to make you sweat a little more since your mistake took you over the $100000 mark.)

... be an emissary for god

second, obama had it right when he called out washingtonians for their inability to deal with even the smallest amounts of winter weather (and for those of you with your panties in a bunch - he was poking fun. looks like you can't take a joke either.) and don't give me the "this is washington, not chicago" argument because you're right - this is washington and in washington it snows EVERY YEAR and every year the same stupid shit happens. here are a few pictures of the debilitating ice storm in case you were wondering ...

and while it looks debilitating, it all actually melted by 10:00 am.

third, we will do pretty much anything to get our cats to stop peeing and spraying - including spending ridiculous amounts of money on two cat trees (had to have one for each so there wouldn't be any rivalry which would then in turn cause a cat to pee and spray) and turning an entire corner of our living room into a kitty playground. (this is one giant step towards becoming grandma pugga!)




and of course, they decided to use just one of them after the novelty wore off.