Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 1 Comment

Wishing you a memorable Fourth …

it’s been a crazy week with appointments every day.  It’s become our annual tradition to have a few friends over for the traditional fare of burgers, hot dogs, baked beans and the like.  I’ve not had a chance to go to the store until now, so I’m about to head out to the insanity that is the grocery store on the night before any holiday.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Pottermom for reminding me at what cost we celebrate this very important day, though.  So while we’ll be having a good time tomorrow with the yummy food, kids splashing in the pool, and fireworks later in the evening, we’ll be remembering how very blessed we are to live in this great country … it may have its flaws and shortcomings, and our leaders may make us want to beat our heads against brick walls at times … but as Michael Medved says each day on his radio program, it truly is …

the greatest country on God’s green earth.

Happy Fourth of July!

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 3 Comments

New Quote to Ponder

The quote above was derived from an article by Mark Sherman of the Associated Press.  For the full article, go here.  Gotta’ love Justice Scalia.  Such common sense and practical application of our rights as American citizens.

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 7 Comments

Freecycle …

is awesome!  Or at least my first experience has been pretty good.  A gal in our area was on the lookout for a rice cooker for her large family of 6.  I had one in my cabinet that I was seriously thinking about getting rid of not two weeks ago because I use it so rarely (maybe 4 times since I’ve bought it).  So I sent her an email and said, “If you want it, you can have it.”  When she got it, she hugged me THREE times.  That was really cool.

Today I touched base with someone who had almost full bottles of clothes soap available … I don’t know if she has an allergy to the fragrancee or what, but she was getting rid of a brand-new bottle of Tide (24 washes), an almost full box of Arm & Hammer w/ OxyClean (96 washes), and a half-full bottle of Everyday Living (Kroger) brand (96 washes) … the two people who expressed an interest prior to myself never showed up to pick them up.  So she left them on the front porch for me to pick up … which I did about 10 minutes ago.  My jeans are currently washing in a “free” load (well, free except for electricity … we have a well, so the water’s free, too!)

Have a great day!

P.S. — Just got the scoop on the soap — she just got a brand-new HE washer.  She wanted to get the old soap out of the house so there’d be no chance of someone messing up the machine by using the wrong soap in it.  LOL

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 4 Comments

What do you think?

So I ran across the following news blip and personally, it ticked me off to no end.  I may be having a more passionate response to this because I am a mother, but I think the Supreme Court is dead wrong on this one.  They (the five liberals that outvoted the four conservatives) claim it’s cruel and unusual punishment because the crime does not involve death … that would be physical death.  Do you think that raping a child is the murder of his or her spirit?  Seriously, how will that child ever be able to trust again?  Relationships will forever be scarred by the violation of body and soul, and in essence the child’s life has been stolen (same as murder, if you ask me).  Jesus said “Let the little children come unto me, and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of heaven.”  Children have a very special place in his heart, so much so that unless we be like little children, we shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven.  I understand this to mean that unless we trust in Him, with the trust of a child …

Rape, most assuredly, is one of the greatest violations of a child’s trust … I cannot think of one greater.


Court rejects death penalty for raping children

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 33 minutes ago

The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.

In a 5-4 vote, the court says the law allowing the death penalty to
be imposed in cases of child rape violates the Constitution’s ban on
cruel and unusual punishment.

“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of
a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His
four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative
justices dissented.

There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years.

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 3 Comments

Painting Update

Well, just touching base … the Cuban Orchid went on beautifully.  It took two coats to get the coverage and deepness of color that we wanted, but as my sister has told me many times:  “One coat coverage is a lie.  Any paint label that reads “Covers In One Coat” is just false advertising …”  She told me this a few years ago when I had a “panic attack” while painting my kitchen cabinets.  I could not figure out why the primer was bleeding through … she said, “Do two coats and you’ll be fine.”  And I was. 

Now the Fuchsia Flock is a different story.  It’s going to take THREE coats of that to get the coverage and color we want.  I just don’t think there’s a better paint out there than Valspar and this little experience with Olympic reinforces my opinion.  Right now the wall looks terrible with just one color on it, but I think it will all be okay in the end.  (At least I hope so, because it’s going to take a 5 gallon bucket of Kilz to cover up that pink paint if we have to shift gears … )

I can’t put the second coat on for another two hours and rather than stay up until 2 in the morning (including wait and paint time), I am hitting the hay and starting fresh in the a.m.  See you on the flip side!

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 5 Comments

Doing a Little Updatin’ Around Here …

My girl is on the precipice of teen-hood.  Of course, I doubt she sees it that way … it’s an adventure!  It’s exciting!  It’s “Mommy, get a grip … I’ll be okay!”

(Fortunately, she promised me that no matter how old she gets, she will always call me “Mommy.”  I don’t know why, but I do not want to be called “Mama” or “Mom.”   Maybe it’s because those are MY mother’s names and I want to be “special”?)

Anyway, we’re doing some room shuffling around here.  A few weeks ago I sold shutters to a couple here in town who own a furniture store.  We negotiated a deal where they got a discount on their shutters and I got an equal discount on some mattress sets that we needed.  My girl is downsizing from a double bed to a twin so that she’ll have more room.  Since we’re moving her into the smaller bedroom so AJ and I can share the larger one as an office (for him) and scrapbooking spot (for me), we decided to go ahead and bite the bullet — paint her “new” room before we put all the furniture back in.  She knew EXACTLY what she wanted. 

I suppose you can detect a “surfer” theme here?  AJ’s taken her out a few times to try out her surfboard and she’s doing pretty well.  So rather than red with a horse theme (what I expected), she threw me a curve ball when she requested this!  We went to Lowe’s to pick up a couple of gallons of paint after I picked her up Sunday afternoon from church camp (She was gone for four days — that was really weird!  I’m not sure if she enjoyed it, as she is really a little homebody, but it was good for her to stretch her wings and try something new.)

Here are the colors she picked.  The first color is on three walls, and the second color is on the fourth wall:


Cuban Orchid (Valspar)


Fuchsia Flock (Olympic)

I can tell you, NEITHER of these paint chips do the VIBRANCY of her selections justice.  It is some BRIGHT in that bedroom.  But it is perfectly girly, perfectly teen-ish, perfectly tropical surfer girl.  And when the walls are good and dry, we’ll move it all back in, I’ll find the vintage reproduction surf posters I used to decorate for AJ’s 40th birthday three years ago and I think MY surfer girl will be very happy.

I hope so … because that pink is going to be a bear to cover up if we ever change the color of the room … and we just may never do that.  (I hate to paint.  This is truly me loving my girl.)   

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 2 Comments

Is there a specific epithet, slang term or curse word that you absolutely cannot stand?

I dislike it greatly when the “N” word is used.  I ESPECIALLY  dislike it when it is used by a  certain segment of the African-American population.  Why is it okay for them (you know, the hip hop rap crowd) to use that word, but if someone else (i.e., not of color) uses it, they are crucified as a racist?  An ugly word is an ugly word and I don’t think it should be okay for one group of people to use it and others to be criticized for using the same word. 

On the same front, I do not mind the “B” word when it is used as a verb (meaning to complain about something), but I do not like it when used as an insult (duh!) … Why do some teenagers think it’s so cute to call each other that?  “She’s my b****!”  So crude. 

P.S. — Hey, Gill – I refrained from using the “H” word while answering this question!  LOL

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 6 Comments

Since when did internet access become a right …

and not a privilege?  I honestly don’t know why I continue to be shocked or surprised by stories like the one below.  This child is the same age as my daughter, and I can’t imagine Jami pulling a stunt like this.  She doesn’t even have the “worldly” knowledge to know that such things are possible, as ridiculous as they may be.  I think if she did know there were children out there pulling stunts like this, she would probably have a similar reaction to this story as I did.  For the most part, she has a pretty sensible head on her shoulders, although I do see the glimmerings of a teenager every once in a while.  Sigh.

Court overturns father’s grounding of 12-year-old

Wed Jun 18, 2:08 PM ET

A Canadian court has lifted a 12-year-old girl’s grounding, overturning
her father’s punishment for disobeying his orders to stay off the
Internet, his lawyer said Wednesday.

The girl had taken her father to Quebec Superior Court after he
refused to allow her to go on a school trip for chatting on websites he
tried to block, and then posting “inappropriate” pictures of herself
online using a friend’s computer.

The father’s lawyer Kim Beaudoin said the disciplinary measures
were for the girl’s “own protection” and is appealing the ruling.

“She’s a child,” Beaudoin told AFP. “At her age, children test their limits and it’s up to their parents to set boundaries.”

“I started an appeal of the decision today to reestablish parental
authority, and to ensure that this case doesn’t set a precedent,” she
said. Otherwise, said Beaudoin, “parents are going to be walking on egg
shells from now on.”

“I think most children respect their parents and would never go so
far as to take them to court, but it’s clear that some would and we
have to ask ourselves how far this will go.”

According to court documents, the girl’s Internet transgression was
just the latest in a string of broken house rules. Even so, Justice
Suzanne Tessier found her punishment too severe.

Beaudoin noted the girl used a court-appointed lawyer in her
parents’ 10-year custody dispute to launch her landmark case against
dear old dad.

Posted on by Laura Jinkins · 1 Comment

A Dozen Shots that Describe Me (Random Shots from Various Flickr Users)

Links to the original photographers provided below:

1. The Photographer, 2. Spaghetti in Tomato Cream Sauce, 3. Alvin Yellowjackets vs. Baytown Sterling Rangers, 5A Region 3 Quarterfinals, North Shore H.S., Houston, Texas 2008.05.08, 4. wham:a different corner, 5. KAP at Dunnotar, Scotland, 6. Project 365 #2, 7. Boat, 8. Supermarket Fantasy (Blue Bell Ice Cream), 9. Authors 1, 10. Our Family Portrait…of Papa,Mama & Baby!, 11. Frazzled, 12. Christnas at Seesa’s 2007

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Here’s how you play:

Type your answer to each of the questions
below in into Flickr search.
Using only the first page, choose an image.
Copy and paste each of the URL’s into the
mosaic maker over at FD’s Flickr Toys.

The questions were:
1. What is your first name? (Laura)
2. What is your favorite food? (Spaghetti)
3. What high school did you attend? (Alvin
High School)
4. What is your favorite color? (Blue)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Mel
Gibson)
6. Favorite drink? (Diet Dr. Pepper)
7. Dream vacation? (Italy)
8. Favorite dessert? (Blue Bell Ice Cream)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
(Author)
10. What do you love most in life?
(Family)
11. One word to describe you. (Frazzled)
12. Your Flickr name (txmom2jamigirl – I
had to scavenge this somewhat
“nondescript” shot from my own
collection because I have most of my photos
on friends and family only status …)