You probably know that every state in the country (minus Hawaii) saw snow over the last week and Georgia was no different. As a matter of fact, this is the most snow I've seen in years. We got about five inches where I live. If you're keeping count, this is our second snow this year, and this one is so much better than the last one. For one thing, I was prepared - had food in the house and was stocked up with books and movies and other things to do. Also, I'm not stuck inside with a nine week old puppy with a cold (my now fourteen week old puppy is probably healthier than I am). As a matter of fact, it seems as though I'm not stuck inside at all. The snow and ice on the roads melted yesterday and this afternoon it's supposed to be 47 degrees. However, we're supposed to get more snow tonight and into the morning. And finally, five inches beats one inch. As I always say, if we're gonna be forced to deal with it, it may as well go all out.
Anyway, given that I was stuck at my house for days last time, due to my steep road and driveway, I did try to get a few last minute errands in on Friday. Around 1:00, it started coming down really hard and I gave up on trying to find what I was looking for (the grocery shelves were empty, there was produce all over the floor, and people were literally fighting over ground chuck at one store), and headed home. Over the next few hours, I sat in my little unabomber cabin and watched as the woods turned into a winter wonderland. The dogs loved it! For all intents and purposes, I'm going to call this Sadie's first snow - she was just a little blob of fur the first time around - and she was running, hopping, leaping, and digging in it. Once I convinced Gabby to go out, she did the same. Yesterday, the three of us went out for about 45 minutes and played in the woods and I took some pictures...which is the reason for this post!
Absolutely nothing to do with snow but I was behind this car right before it snowed on Friday and the big "Sarah Palin 2012" sticker caught my eye. Nice. I was getting gas when it really started coming down.
My front yard and some fallen limbs, a couple of hours after it started.
Sadie in the snow...
And the Gabs...
The woods behind my house...
Same thing...I was trying to get the contrast of the super blue sky against the super white snow, but it didn't come out quite like I wanted.
The dogs playing in the snow (also a good view of Sadie's oddly short tail) Snow puppy. This is my driveway...
Here you can see how blue the sky was yesterday...can you spot Gabby? This is where we walk when I don't want to drive to the park. Just some snow on the pine trees with the sun shining through. After I took this one, I had "Georgia on My Mind" in my head for the rest of the day.
The dogs running up the stairs on Saturday morning (this was the first time they'd been out that day).
And finally, the dogs sniffing out some deer tracks. The further out in the woods we got, the more deer prints I saw in the snow. I love deer, wish I could have caught one in a picture.
Warning: this post contains strong opinions, rude language, and may offend you. But guess what? I don't really care.
Before I start on the commercial, let me just say this: I despise Tim Tebow. It's nothing personal. I'm sure he's a lovely guy, but as a Georgia Bulldog fan for my entire life and a former UGA student, hating Gators is in my blood. And hating that particular Florida Gator has been a favorite pasttime for the last few years for a lot of people - myself included - but that's not important. What is important is that thanks to a bunch of whiny-ass women who desperately need a job or a hobby, I'm being forced to defend Tebow and that's not cool. At all.
Unless you live under a rock, you've heard about the big "controversial" commercial Tebow and his mother shot for the Super Bowl. The commercial was created for Focus on the Family and in it, Tebow's mother, Pam, talks about how while she was pregnant, he almost "didn't make it into this world." We can dance around whether or not the commercial has anything to do with abortion and believe me, the media has, but for the sake of this post, I'm going to assume that yes, this was an advertisement that supports an anti-abortion agenda.
I don't have a problem with that. Sure, I'm personally anti-abortion and agree with said agenda, however, I also feel that everyone deserves a voice. I wouldn't have a problem if one of those fussy little feminist groups decided to fork over the cash for a pro-abortion Super Bowl ad, either. Here's the thing: CBS is a private company and it is my opinion that they can air what they want, when they want, as long as they aren't breaking any laws or some of those ridiculous government regulation rules. If Focus on the Family wants to pay several million for the spot, let them do it! Who cares? If NOW or some other group with a pro-abortion agenda wanted to, go for it!!! It's your money! And if CBS doesn't want to air both ads or one ad or the other, that's their prerogative. People can voice their opinions of that by no longer buying what CBS is selling. That's what's so fab about this country.
What I don't understand is why every pro-abortion/feminist organization in the country got their panties in a wad over it. Actually, I do understand it, because not only do they want to push their agendas, they don't think anyone else should have a voice and that's exactly what was proven over the last month. One would think that a feminist agenda would mean that a female could think for herself - that women could be anti-abortion if they choose and speak out against it if that's what they want. Just like I do and just like millions of others do. But no. Apparently myself and millions of other women aren't good women. The only good woman is a woman who does what groups like NOW tells them to do.Freedom of Speech? Ha!! Pro-Choice? HA HA HA HA HA HA. That's simply the label they hide under.
Case in Point: I Googled "Tebow Commercial" to get a video of it for this post and I just happened to click on one of the articles about it to see what it said. The article is at ChicagoNow.com and it's written by some chick named Cassandra Gaddo. She points out that Focus on the Family's motto is "Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life" and that the phase appears at the end of the commercial. She calls this the "'pro-family' = 'pro-life' association." She goes on to say,
"The idea that pro-choice is anti-family is old, false, and needs to go. Sixty percent of women who have abortions already have children. Sixty-six percent of those who don't already have children say that they plan to have children in the future. Women who seek abortions are daughters, girlfriends, mothers, wives. They make the choice because it is the best choice for themselves and their families."
WTF? She's the dingbat making the "family = life" association. That whole line of reasoning is one long-ass stretch because she has to find something wrong with it that's not "they don't think like me." She says, "The idea that pro-choice is anti-family is old, false, and needs to go." There, she's essentially telling the people at Focus on the Family how they should think. She's also saying her way is the only way and people who disagree shouldn't be able to influence others. The commercial didn't say abortion is bad. It simply pointed out that it's not the only answer. Again, I thought these groups were "pro-choice." And even then, it was so benign that if you didn't know any better, you'd probably just think it was some lame attempt to make Tebow the number one draft pick this year. (Hey, I wouldn't put it past CBS, given their commentary during this last year's Florida games.)
Gaddo goes on to point out that she is "all for free speech" but it's "not free unless everyone has access to it." Again that's what I don't get. Everyone doesn't have access to CBS. Focus on the Family wasn't given that 30 seconds for free. There are a million different venues to voice your opinion in this country and whatever pro-abortion group wants to attempt to get a commercial on TV is more than free to do so. Whether or not the company wants to air it is up to them. Even though it's part of a huge corporation, like it or not, CBS has a right to free speech as well. Oh wait, I forgot, all big corporations are bad. And not that it matters, but the reason most broadcasting companies probably wouldn't put a pro-abortion ad on TV is because they don't want to offend their viewers, most of whom are anti-abortion! (According to a Gallup Poll taken last year 51% of Americans consider themselves anti-abortion or pro-life compared to 42% who are not, and I'd be a million times willing to bet more feel that way, but that's a story for another time.)
Anyway, the icing on the cake came today when I was watching Megyn Kelly's new show on Fox News. She had a guest on, who even though the commercial has aired and the Super Bowl is long-over, now claims that the ad promoted domestic abuse against women because in the commercial, Tebow, the football player, "tackles" his mom while she's speaking as part of a joke. Mrs. Tebow goes on to joke about being tough. The guest was Shelby Knox, a blogger for Huff-Po and self-described "full time speaker and organizer working with progressive organizations to promote sex education, women’s rights, and youth empowerment" (yep, bet that one's a lot of fun). She even went on to say that a commercial featuring Betty White getting tackled while playing football promoted elder abuse!!! SERIOUSLY!!! Who doesn't see these things and realize they're jokes! They're funny!!! I don't think anyone who resides outside of a mental institution is going to watch the Tebow commercial and then say, "I feel like beating a bitch up tonight because that goofy kid tackled his mother!"
How do you reason with people who think this way? It's nuts!!! If these people spent as much time focused on their own lives as they do worrying about those of others, they might actually realize why those of us who are conservatives and libertarians are the way we are. We pay our own way, we think for ourselves and we don't whine like a bunch of schoolgirls when something doesn't go our way. Get a freaking life. Seriously.
Oh and here's the worst commercial in the world ever for your viewing pleasure. If you're offended by it, maybe you're the one who needs to be residing in a mental institution. Unless of course, you're simply a fellow UGA fan (or any other SEC team).
Last year, one of my goals was to read at least 50 books and list each one here with a short review. Unfortunately, life got in the way and that never happened. I think I read, at most, fifteen. This year, I'm hoping that will change as I'm starting to discover more authors I enjoy and I'm also working on writing some of my own fiction (reading always motivates me to write). Anyway, I'm not going to keep a list, I don't think, but I will update when I read something noteworthy. For what it's worth, I suck at book reviews.
At some point last year, I was at my parents' house and my mom had a copy of Vanish by Tess Gerritsen laying around. I took it just for the heck of it but didn't read it until this last December when I found myself bored and in need of a book. Well, I loved it! So, last week, when I headed out to the bookstore, I bought six books, three of which were written by Gerritsen and this last week, I read The Bone Garden. It's one of the best books I've read in a while and I have to say, it's been a long time since I've read a book in less than a week.
My favorite books are generally my favorites because I can connect to the characters in some way. If I finish a book and realize I'm sad because it seems like I'm losing an old friend, to me, it's a good book. Plot is important, too, but it is definitely secondary. With The Bone Garden, I definitely found myself attached to some of the characters
The book goes back and forth between the past (about 75% of it takes place in the 19th century) and the present. Admittedly, the modern part of the story was a bit cheesy and I never really looked forward to those chapters (aside from the end when they put everything together, but at that point, you kind of already have it figured out). Gerritsen is a doctor turned romance author turned mystery writer; the modern parts definitely reminded me of a romance novel and I'm not a big romance reader. Anyway, the characters in the historical part (one of which was Oliver Wendell Holmes) were just so authentic and appealing to me. So much so that some of the goofy parts at the end of the modern story weren't so bad because of it. And as I mentioned, I am not a big fan of lots of cheesy romance in books and movies, but the romantic storyline in the historical part of this book was just subtle enough that it was charming to me. Also, I've never been a big reader of historical fiction, but this has maybe inspired me to do some more. It was definitely interesting. The book is very graphic in terms of death and medical procedures (dissections and grave-robbing to be exact) that it admittedly got to be a bit much. I'm not squeamish, but sitting at home, reading such graphic details about death over and over, hours on end, can be a bit depressing. At least to me.
Overall, The Bone Garden was one of the best books I've read in a while. On a scale of one to ten, with one being so bad I can't get past the first chapter and ten being my favorite book of all time (which happens to be The Little Friend by Donna Tartt), I'd give this book anywhere from seven and a half to an eight. It seems to have gotten a lot of bad reviews, which I'm hoping means the rest of Gerritsen books are even better.
The other book I've read so far this year is Sleeping Beauty by Phillip Margolin. I can't remember where or why I got it, but I did, and again, read it out of boredom. It was definitely a page-turner. Lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing, which is something else I always love about a book. There's nothing worse than figuring out the mystery about halfway through. And apparently, he writes a lot of legal stuff, which is something I'm really fascinated with. Anyway, two of the books I bought during last week's bookstore run were by Margolin. The sixth one is by Laura Lippman. I'll report back if I get around to reading them!
I was getting gas when it really started coming down.
The woods behind my house...
Same thing...I was trying to get the contrast of the super blue sky against the super white snow, but it didn't come out quite like I wanted.
Snow puppy.
Just some snow on the pine trees with the sun shining through. After I took this one, I had "Georgia on My Mind" in my head for the rest of the day.
And finally, the dogs sniffing out some deer tracks. The further out in the woods we got, the more deer prints I saw in the snow. I love deer, wish I could have caught one in a picture.
