Big Government = Big Problems

Republican or Democrat, Big Government is nothing but big problems. By Big Government, I mean that the Federal government has too much power. This is a problem because it means more government spending, which means more taxes. It also means that bureaucrats stick their noses in things making life more difficult.

It seems like with each new president, the government grows and so does its spending. The bigger it gets, the more it reaches into our pockets to support itself. The Big Government takes what we earn to run programs that we may not want and definitely what we do not need. The Government continues to take our rights to spend our own money how we want.

Instead of focusing on protecting citizens from outside threat, instead of protecting citizens' freedoms and rights, the government is taking tax money to limit our rights. Agencies such as the FDA, Welfare Programs, and sending money to foreign aid steals causes taxes to rise. This is how the Government steals our money and uses it for things the Government should not be focused on.

The Government does not need to run the Postal Service. This could be privatized. There are tons of these programs that could be run by private citizens. Tax money should not pay for welfare programs. Instead, non-profit or private agencies can raise money to help people in need. 

Besides spending money like crazy, Big Government wastes time and energy on efforts they do not need to be involved in. Big example is Gay Marriage. People should be able to marry whomever they want as long as it is a consenting relationship between two adults. The Federal Government should be focused on the basic protection of our rights and freedoms, and not focused on if Betty can marry Jennifer.

The agencies that see over medicine and food are my least favorite Big Government agencies at the time. Monsanto...look it up...google it. I'm not going into this monstrous Evil. I will discuss, however, how Big Government uses its agencies to stick its giant nose into my problems, limits my freedoms, and makes my life miserable. 

The Government does not need to be concerned with what types of surgery I want. Peyton Manning left the country to have surgery on his neck, but not all of us have the means to travel abroad and pay cash for surgery. I've heard of at least 3 procedures that could help my back pain. None of them are approved by the FDA, therefore they are not available to me.

I know people who could benefit from the use of Marijuana. It is not the Government's job to babysit us. If somebody wants to take the risk of using medicine or drugs, it should be their right! Sure, enforce driving under the influence. That protects other citizens. Other than that, it shouldn't be a Federal Government concern.

The Bigger the Government the less freedoms we have as citizens. The Federal Government needs to stop growing, and it needs to start shrinking!

Feather Halloween Wreath

This is a little late, but wanted to share:

I made this wreath one day that I was feeling creative the week before Halloween.
I just hot glued black feathers from the craft store onto a wire floral wreath frame. Then I hot glued some wiggly eyes on. Pretty simple!
I used hot glue because it was what I had and I know how to use it. No special reason. I did learn through this process why being tarred and feathered was such an awful punishment. I had feather bits stuck all over me.

Skeleton Wreath

So I got creative, sorta

I bought a couple of plastic skeletons from the dollar store, broke them apart and turned them into a wreath.

After breaking apart the skeletons, I simply rearranged the parts to create a circle. Then I used hot glue to stick the parts together.

I used a wire hanger from the dry cleaners to hang the wreath. I just hot glued the skeleton bits to a hanger that I rounded out in the shape of my wreath.

The project cost me $2!

A New Vision

Sooooo...there have been a couple things I've realized I need to change about me, or at least change my perception on.

1. I've done 20 years of Taekwondo mixed with some kickboxing, Hapkido, Karate and extreme martial-arts. I'm thinking that I need to tick that off the ol' bucket list. This is probably the hardest and most painful choice I have made. I have realized that I'm going to have to stop seeing myself as an injured martial-artist. It is making me depressed thinking about being a martial-artist who can no longer perform. Instead, I've decided that I'm just not going to think of myself as a martial-artist any longer. Time to hang up the belt and say that I've been there and done that. I will still throw some punches and kicks when I can, but my training days are over. Time to focus on something I CAN do.

Bowing out

2. Since April I have been trying to slim down. I've been using the number on the scale to determine my success. The problem that I have is that I LOVE to eat, but I HATE cardiovascular workouts. Being that I am very goal oriented, I have been stressing and upset that I can not reach my goal weight. Even while I was good about eating right and exercising, I never dropped those last 10 pounds. I stopped lifting weights as much as I used to thinking that it would help with my back, and that muscle weighs more than fat. The result was just a soft, squishy version of myself. I am NOT a skinny chick. It's time to hit the weights again. I'm putting on muscle now, and I feel much better. Now I have to find some clothes that fit.

Need muscles like his ;-)

3. I remember having the biggest crush on my uncle when I was about 5 years old. Don't worry, he's an uncle by marriage. Anyway, Uncle Danny is a farmer. My favorite vacations were spent on his farm. Not just because my Aunt and Uncle were some cool people, but the animals and being outside were always so much fun. I also remember that whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered that I wanted to be a farmer. Time passed, and when you grow up in the city, the idea of being a farmer isn't something that occurs to you.

Now that I've been propagating plants and growing stuff, I really enjoy creating gardens and more plants. I suck at growing vegetables, but other plants and trees I love. I don't think that I could have a whole farm, per se, but having my own tiny farm in my backyard is something I should focus on...for fun. It will be a nice release and escape for me to grow things. I also love animals. I want to find a way to either breed puppies, dog sit, or work for a vet.

My family on my Aunt and Uncles farm...I'm the little girl

So those are the 3 things I am changing my views on. It's time to do things that I can do and that make me happy.

Scrapbooking

In my quest to find a creative outlet I gave scrapbooking a go around.  Um, that was a big, expensive mistake.

First, I have no artistic creativity, so my layouts pretty much sucked.

Second, I am not able to draw or cut a straight line to save my life. I used straight edges, rulers, and all sorts of cutting equipment. Somehow, all my cuts were crooked. I tell people that I was being creative and wanted rhombuses and curvy sides, and not plain old squares or rectangles.

Third, I got annoyed that there were so few pictures on each page.

I ruined so many pictures and lots of paper trying to scrapbook. I wasted money and time to create some ugly craziness. In the end, I gave up and just started sticking as many pictures as I could fit onto one page. That actually turned out better than some of the "fancy" pages that I tried.

In the end, I learned that I will just stick to photo albums. I still envy all of you that can scrapbook really well, but I'll leave that to y'all!

One of my "fancier" pages.

Facet Nerve Block

Last Friday I had a Facet Nerve Block to help with my back pain. This was another injection into the joint spaces in my spine. My pain management doctor does this under general anesthesia. The hardest part of the procedure for me is the IV for the anesthesia medicine. I hate needles!

This was my 5th injection. I've had several different types of injections, but until this last one the injections have all been in my Lumbar spine. Usually it is L4, L5 and even S1. This time, however, the doctor decided to try a higher spot. They did the injection at the bottom of the Thoracic area.

For the first time I felt immediate relief! The pain was not 100% gone, but the pain area was lessened. Normally I wake up from the injections feeling the same as before, so this is a very positive thing. But as the local anesthesia wore off I was in a lot of pain! Different pain, though. Sore and throbbing pain. But with some ice, heat and rest that all went away.

Today I was back in the gym. I still have extreme pain in the lower back, but it seemed to be concentrated to that one area. Bending over still hurts, but I feel more mobile today.

This makes me feel like this new pain doctor is onto something! Fingers are definetly crossed!!!!

Is Religion Evil?

Before you get your panties in a wad, I don't mean this as an insult or an attack on any particular religion. I am not saying that if you are religious that you are evil. I am talking about the big picture. These are just my thoughts, and if you would like to share your thoughts, please do so.

Let me start by saying that I am spiritual, I am not an atheist, but I question churches, temples, mosques...I dislike organized religion. I am not going to get into my particular beliefs this time, though.

In my experience, both personal and educational, I have seen religions of all sorts do a lot of judging and causing a lot of hate. I know, I sound like I am judging here, but I am not trying to. I am just telling you what I have experienced. I don't care what you believe in, as long as you are a moral and nice person.

Back to religion causing hate, I am reminded that many religions have killed or condemned because others had different beliefs. There is the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) and the Christian Crusades. There are the Nazis and the Muslims that have committed hate crimes and started wars against the Jews. Now I know a lot of the Israeli wars has more to do with land than religion, but there is still hate based on what each of them believe.

Christians are great about hating other Christians. It is the reason that I am not fond of organized religion. Historically, Catholics and non-catholics have fought each other. Even today I hear Baptists and other Protestants say that Catholics are not really Christians. This really really bugs me. HELLO! The whole Catholic religion is based on Jesus! DUH!

But it's not all Catholic versus non-Catholic. Many of the colonist who came to America were trying to escape the condemnation of the churches in Europe. Whether they were escaping Catholic churches, tyrannical theocratic kings, or just wanting to start their own churches, they were trying to escape other Christians telling them they were doing it wrong.

I have personally experienced religious prosecution while I was growing up. I went to Methodist churches growing up. While I believed that I worshiped the same God and the same Jesus as the Baptists in my small town, I was often told I was going to hell by the Baptists. I remember being pulled out of my private Baptist school when I came home and told my parents that I learned they were going to hell because they did not go to the Baptist church. Later I lost friends when their parents found out I did not attend a Baptist church. Those friends were no longer allowed to play with me.

But Christian's are not the only religion that fights among itself. The Muslims are always fighting (often in a more deadlier way) about who is worshiping right. Sunni and Shia Muslims originally fought over political rights (who should be able to rule based on the descendants of Muhammed), but the differences eventually turned religious as well.

In a smaller perspective, I look at the United States. It was founded on religious freedom and separation of church and state. Our forefathers saw what churches and theocracies could do to a nation, and they didn't want to repeat it. Yet it seems that some Christians really want to have religion be a part of government...as long as it is their religion. There are Christians who believe gays are wrong to be gay, and so gay marriage should be banned. Okay, fine, believe what you want, but it should NOT be a part of our government. Same goes for abortion, it's a personal thing, not a government thing. Keep church and state separated like it should be. Another favorite is when certain Christians want religion in public schools, yet when other religions want to express their beliefs at school, it is wrong. This is why we need to keep anything government controlled separated from religion.

I personally think that you should have spiritual beliefs, and if that leads you to an organized religion GREAT. I am not saying ALL people who go to church or other places of worship are evil. I am just saying that it seems to me organized religion causes a lot of bad.