Saturday Night Live....

Correction to An Eye Opener...

An Anonymous commenter (which we do not normally allow on our blog) brought to our attention that I have the wrote 'author' in this post. It seems that while this message has been sent around by email, it has been changed from it's original writer. The original writer is in fact Craig R Smith, and the link to HIS article can be found at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53028 I apologize for the error in my post and for not fully researching my topic before posting about it....

The Krumwiede Six

PS, please sign your name when leaving a comment anonymously please, we do not allow anonymous comments on the blog because of past problems. Thank you

An emotional cross roads...(a little deep for some)

For years, I have been listening to people talk about being pro-life, pro-choice, pro-abortion. Being me and who I am, I have never thought it was my right to make a choice for someone else what he/she should do... In high school I always talked about how I was pro-choice. My grandmother (a devote Catholic) said that once I became a mother, I would feel different....when my first child was born I didn't feel any different about my 'feelings' on the subject, in fact the birth of our first child made me an even greater advocate for being pro-choice....nor after the birth of my other children did my feelings change of it...I was proud to be pro-choice. In fact my son actually has a t-shirt that says "Now that I'm safe, I'm pro-choice".

But lately I have been reexamining my feelings on this subject... I don't know where I stand 'almost'... I mean the mother in me wants to scream from the mountains tops that they are killing babies, the feminist in me wants to scream "no one should tell another person what to do with their body'.... but it all comes back to that innocent baby... a baby who if placed for adoption would easily have a wonderful and happy home, with loving parents (and possibly siblings). When Chad and I suffered through multiple miscarriages, I mourned those children...they were MY CHILDREN...I was crushed every time that our pregnancy ended...to the point that Chad and I didn't even want to try any longer...the pain was just too great. Month after month it would be the same, joy, excitement and then a few weeks later the grief, the anger, the pain...oh my goodness the pain.

Another thing that I don't understand though is that IF life begins at conception, then why can a hospital tell a mother/father/family that if their child is born prior to a certain gestation, or under a certain weight that there is nothing they can do for that child.... People lose children every day because of these types of 'rulings'... where are the pro-life activists there?!?! You don't seem them picketing the Level III NICUs saying "Let that baby live"....

So that my friends, is your food for thought....

An Eye opener....from Jay Leno

No matter what your political convictions are this is eye opener. Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see....

'As most of you know I am not a President Bush fan, nor have I ever been, but this is not about Bush, it is about us, as Americans, and it seems to hit the mark. The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right? The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started think ing, 'What are we so unhappy about?' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year? Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough either. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames, thus saving you, your family, and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90% of teenagers own cell phones and computers. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67% of you folks unhappy. Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.
I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an eco nomy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander-in- chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take alook around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about it......are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the 'Media' told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day. Make no mistake about it.The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. ;The y didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ' 'general' discharge, an other-than-honorable' discharge or,worst case scenario, a'dishonorable' discharge after a few days in the brig. So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news.Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way......Insane! ;Tur n off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as country. There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.' 'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, 'Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'' Jay Leno

Reason to Believe

Choose to Unite

American Prayer...

Another damn recall...

Thanks to a friend to a friend today, I was informed that Brody's crib has been recalled. Thankfully as of this point there have been no injuries reported. BUT... this is going to add some stress to a week/weekend that didn't need any help as now we have to take down Brody's crib, return it to the store and hopefully find another one.... ARGH!!!

Why WOMEN need to vote...

THIS IS MOVING. MANY OF US DON'T KNOW THE WHOLE STORY...LET'S NOT FORGET...... WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTEThis is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

(Lucy Burns)

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic'. They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
(Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, xactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels'. It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party, remember to vote.

HISTORY IS BEING MADE!!!

Today I am wearing a shirt that says "If you Don't Stand Behind Our Troops, please feel free to stand in FRONT of them".... this of course brought some serious 'razzing' from some family members who do not support Barack Obama and his running to be the next President of the USA.

So this post is to clarify something that I think alot of people have trouble understanding....I DO in fact support our troops. They are after all just doing their job...it is a job that they signed up for and get paid to do, BUT what I do not support is the reason we went into the current situation and how it has been handled from the very beginning.... SO please know that I support our troops... I just think their 'boss' is in need of having his head examined...

Sesame Street Live 2008

We took the kids to see Sesame Street Live 2008 today at the Civic Center. EVERYONE had a blast...even my mom. The kids and us want to thank my mom for the wonderful time that we had as not only was it her idea to take the kids, but she also purchased everyones tickets...so THANK YOU MOM/GRANDMA!!!

Fall/Winter Tastefully Simple Open House

Hey there guys! Please joing me for my Fall/Winter Open House tomorrow night (9/11). It will be held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Room 113, which is in the basement, from 6PM-9PM.

Please join me and be able to taste some of the wonderful samples for the Fall/Winter line. Don't forget to check your calendars before you come so that you can book your party :)

Please remember viewers of our blog that we do not publish any Anonymous comments on our blog. You need to be a registered user of blogger or we need to know who you are.

Thank you-
The Krumwiede Six

Say my name....

Community Organizer

People keep commenting on how Obama prides himself on the fact that he is a 'community organizer'... he is getting flake left and right because he lists this as one of things that would make him a better president.... A friend of a family member made a WONDERFUL comment that I heard about today.....


"Jesus was a community organizer....Pontius Pilot was a govenor"....

Olympic Gymnastics...and now...for the flip flop round off... oh wait..Nope..just the Republicans and THEIR news media

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth. Some examples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate. ___ Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.


Oh...yea and of course since I am copying several other things from Heather's blog.... Jon's show says it BEST!!!

Brody is 9 Months old

Brody has officially been 'out' longer than he has been 'in'... Time sure if flying with this lil guys. ALMOST makes me want another one, but then of course I go and break up a fight between TWO 2-year olds and I am snapped right back into reality :) He is ALMOST crawling...well honestly it is like the opposite of an army crawl. He gets up on all fours and scoots his little legs as close as he can to his hands and then launches himself forward.... Chad says that this is Brody's being against authority and 'the man'... LOL It is going too fast, but we are loving every single second of it!!

Weather shock!!

This past weekend we were in 90+ degree weather while we were in the Twin Cities visiting. In fact yesterday when we were in Fargo it was 101. Well today lets just say, its a good thing that I picked up jeans for the kids while in the Twin Cities because it is COLD!!!!

It is currently 50 degrees and there is certainly a chill in the air!!!

Gotta love ND weather :) Today we will use the heat (not really) and tomorrow we will probably be back to using the a/c!!

I DID IT!!!!

and survived!!!

I ran/walked my first 10K this past Sunday as part of the Nike+ Human race. I didn't go as fast or run as much as I had planned/hoped but I am going to 'blame' it on the fact that I *kindof* helped clean out my inlaws garage and also had a junk filled fast food lunch of DQ prior to doing it... oh yea...and it was hotter than **** because I did my run in the Twin Cities. I did find a lot of nice scenery that I didn't know about before though....

So here's hoping I can continue and keep it up... now if I could just get the weight to disappear I'd be even happier :)