It's my right

There's a lot of talk in this great country of ours about our rights. We have the right of free speech and the right to religious freedom, etc. There are those who take these "rights" out of context and abuse them and claim as "rights" things that are not what was intended. However, I do think that as an American, I should have the RIGHT to watch NFL football on regular TV. I am becoming progressively more irritated at the NFL infringing on my right to view games that are not played on Sunday. According to the Constitution or the Declaration of Independance (I believe it is that latter! I am showing my ignorance. GCC would not be proud.), I have the right to the pursuit of happiness. That pursuit involves being able to watch as many football games as possible between the months of August and January. I am very perturbed that as a "standard" cable customer, I now cannot watch Monday Night Football. On top of that, I am no where close to being able to watch the NFL Network games, which require satellite cable. What is up with this?? Why should I be forced to shell out at least a hundred bucks a month just to watch what is REALLY the national sport. In my mind, it overtook baseball a long time ago. An entirely separate issue. But, we middle class football lovers need to unite and let the NFL know that this is not acceptable! They are infinging on our right to watch football. Class action lawsuit, anyone?

9 months

Nadia is officially crawling. She was doing the army crawl right 2 days before her 9 month birthday, and then suddenly, she could just do it. She was all over the house on Sunday while i was trying to watch the Steeler game. She babbles a lot and loves to say "da da da da" over and over. I really thought she was going to say "dog" the other day, but just more "da da." She still sleeps with us, which is a major issue that I'm determined to fix over Christmas break. She still nurses throughout the night, as well. I wish she would eat more other food, but she seems really content to stick with the boob juice. Most other food gets met with a slap off the highchair or slapping the spoon away. She's also started this super cute squinched up smily face. I can't wait to get a picture. It's like she knows she's super cute when she does this.
There's been some talk on some other mommy blogs I read about how much to get your kid for Christmas. M. and I need to have more conversation about this probably next year. I think I'd like to keep it somewhat simple. These year, we got her a wooden activity box thingy and some desparately needed new clothes. That's it. I was just over at my mom's yesterday while my mom made her Christmas stocking. All of our stockings have been homemade, so I wanted Nadia's to be too. Hope my mom appreciates the sentiment, since I don't know the first thing about a sewing machine...

Lawn Ornaments

Am I the only one that gets weirded out by the giant ballon lawn ornaments that are all the craze these days? I mean, they look somewhat okay at night when they're all blown up and grinning at you... That is if you happen to like giant polar bears, santa's, snowmen, etc. staring you down from the sides of the road. However, the part that really freaks me out is the morning drive to work. It's like a Wizard of Oz witch killing every morning. These sad puddles of melted plastic Christmas characters lay in blobs on everyone's lawns. It's depressing. Worse yet are the blow up ones that stay inflated, but that people can't manage to stake down properly. They end up lopsided or crooked or with their heads down, like someone drove by with a machine gun. Ugh. I just hate them. Can you not make due with some lights and a couple wreaths?

Tagged - Christmas Getting to Know You

Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends!
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate - made with real milk. I am really not sure if I've ever had Egg Nog though. Just sounds gross.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? This is our first year worrying about Santa. Growing up, it depended on how big the gift was. Bikes and what not did not get wrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored on tree, white on house
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No... where do you even get Mistletoe?
5. When do you put your decorations up? Ack! I'm terrible. They're still not up. I'd say I average mid-December. I'm just too darn lazy.
6. Favorite dish? We love Christmas brunch. My mom almost canceled this year because of N. and I freaked out.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child. All the kids sleeping in the same room so we could attack the stash together in the morning.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I always knew. Rumor is one of my older cousins told me. I just remember "pretending" for my little sister.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, with my extended family that celebrates on Christmas Eve
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Odd assortment of ornaments from all over the place. A total hodgepodge and I love it that way.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Hmm, I like the first snow of the year, but after that, I'm over it. It's just too much of a pain.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but haven't gone in years.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? M. got me a camera a couple years ago that really got me more interested in taking pictures.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family and food
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Chocolate Chip Cookies
16. What tops your tree? Usually an Angel. Not anything specific or traditional
17. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night, Hark how the bells (don't know if that's the actual title) and Handel's Messiah- Halalujah Chorus
18. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum, I guess. Not a real big fan though...