Why aren't more news outlets carrying this?

The anti-war trope "Iraq had no WMDs" has always seemed wierd to me. I mean, Saddam USED these weapons on several occations, even on his own people. To say that he never had any is either naive or willfully obtuse.

Analysts are still decoding/translating/analysing documents captured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As more of the material is declassified, the anti-war position crumbles. Read this from the Investors' Business Daily. Saddam not only had a chemical/biological program but was close with the nuclear program. Since several thousand terrorists received training and safe-haven in Iraq, he had the delivery capability too.


UPDATE: More coverage from people smarter than myself
Dafydd ab Hugh: Saddam's WMD - the Company Strikes Back

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Grocery Shopping Fun

Grocery shopping has taken on a whole new dimension. I usually plan my week's menu in advance and buy everything I need in one fell swoop. Today that plan ran into a glitch. As I was reaching for necessary ingredients for some of my planned meals my stomach gave a large lurch and threatened to expel it's contents. Lovely.

So away went the list and I made my way through the store grabbing items that didn't make me feel like I was on a roller coaster. We'll be having pasta this week, soup, lasagna, Shells & Cheese, Fig Newtons... Pretty sad; I know. Oh, I forgot lunch- chicken pot pie. Honestly, the only time I eat chicken pot pie is when I'm pregnant. I remember eating so many of these when I was pregnant with Brenna.

Speaking of Brenna, she is currently eating her yogurt by hand. Yogurt Fingers, if you will. Obviously it is the easiest way and also the most fun as mommy makes a fuss. And I should probably interrupt before she puts it in her hair.

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Sooo, What Else Can I Eat?

Honestly, I feel like I am eating ALL. THE. TIME! The minute my stomach gets even a little empty I start to feel nauseous. Which, I must say, SUCKS!

I'm trying very hard to eat healthy food: apples, dried fruits & nuts, milk... Trying. Today I have had half a jumbo blueberry muffin, a wheat bagel with cream cheese, split a frozen fetticcini with Brenna and added chicken to it, had a couple of cookies with milk and an apple with peanut butter.

And I could eat more. I really, really could. I feel like I am gaining a ton of weight. Blah!

But now it's time to begin making dinner. Chicken Ruebens and Baked French Fries. YUM!

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Welcome!

Have a cookie... Chocolate chip... Fresh from the oven. Would you like cold milk to go with that? Or coffee? Just brewed.




We've had a slow week. We spent the weekend lounging around the house, me feeling nauseous with pregnancy, Doug fighting a cold that would develop into a sinus infection and Brenna caused destruction in her wake.

It seems that not only my cabinets but also my china hutch have a monster. A pink monster with fuzzy bunny feet.



Salad spinner! Not just for produce anymore!


Here she is standing on her cousin's toy truck with grandma's hand for balance.


Like I said, we haven't been doing much. But I hope you enjoyed the refreshments!

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Like Peas in a Pod

Yesterday my sister and I packed the Explorer with car seats and ventured down to visit our grandmother in south-west Iowa. Three seats was a tight fit and one of the doors had to be slammed with a bit of force. Luckily Jen has a two monitor DVD player so everyone could see The Incredibles and there wasn't much noise from the back seat.



Grandma, being reliable as only a grandmother can be, had dinner (lunch for all you non-farm folks) ready when we got there. Pot roast, scalloped corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, homemade pickles. Not to mention dessert- fudgy brownies and raspberry cheesecake. YUM!

And you see the kids all have blankets- on the way home they napped. Joy!

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The Week in Pictures

Back again with your weekly dose of Brenna.

Here we see Brenna "helping" Daddy shovel the sidewalk. This job took quite a while because she had to stop and wave at everyone who drove by.



And here is Brenna being paid for shoveling.



She has more money than mommy right now. I may have to ask her for a loan.



So, what do you do if you are 16 months old and woke mommy at 4am? Why, you empty the cupboards, of course!



Because you know that mommy is just counting the minutes until she can sleep and doesn't really care what you do just as long as you are quiet. Apparently baking cups are fun. Who knew?

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It Was Too Good to Last

Two days ago it was almost 65 degrees farenheit. And here is the view from my window today:



What you can't see are the teeny, tiny snow/sleet pellets that are falling steadily from the sky. The roads are icy, the wind is blowing and the predictions are for 3-5 inches of snowfall and a low of 2 degrees. TWO! {{shudder}}

Most of the local schools are closed and I know that Brenna will not be attending her playtime at the gymnastics school. She'll probably be in her PJs all day. And since Doug took the Explorer I won't be going anywhere any time soon.

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Happy Valentine's Day

Last night Doug asked me if I wanted to do anything tonight. Two thoughts immediately ran through my head:

1) Ummm, if you want to do anything on Valentine's Day you have to plan it weeks in advance. Duh.
2) No. I never have good experiences "out" on Valentine's Day. Restaurants are way too busy and service sucks.

Today is my grandmother's birthday. I don't think having a V-Day birthday is quite as bad as a Christmas birthday, but it may be close. She was in town with my mom; they came by so grandma could see my new house and we went to lunch. After lunch we came back to my place and sang "Happy Birthday" over mini cupcakes.

Brenna and I spent the remainder of the afternoon delivering small heart-shaped cakes, mini cupcakes and champagne to my siblings homes as a suprise. I can "break in" to all but one so the goodies were waiting when they got home. (I had thought about posting photos but I'm no Meritt. I had a 16-month-old trying to climb up my leg as I was frosting the goodies. I'll just say that they weren't as pretty as I imagined they would be.)

As I've said many, many times Doug & I aren't gift-giving people. I just don't see the point of buying a gift because "someone" says you have to. I'd rather it be from the heart and spontaneous. So, he brought home flowers and I made a nice dinner for him of a fondue appetizer, filet mignon with a garlic-tomato sauce and couscous, and a small heart shaped cake for dessert.

And there you have it. The most "romantic" day of the year, Geek style.

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Drivel

Honestly, that's all I've got. It takes more energy than I have available to keep up with Brenna and take care of my daily "to do" list.

When I was pregnant with Brenna I was tired, but only in the evening. Bed at 7pm wasn't unheard of. Well, to be honest, falling asleep on Doug while we watched TV was what was actually happening, but you get my point.

When I was pregnant with Brenna I had only one experience with nausea and that was due to a very "large" man with a very bad odor problem so I figure I may have had the same reaction had I not been knocked up.

When I was pregnant with Brenna I could eat anything. Chinese? Yep. Mexican? Uh-huh. Indian? No problem. And I craved dried fruit and nuts.

This pregnancy is proving to be much different.

I am tired ALL THE TIME. I wake up tired. I move through my day like a zombie. I nap in the afternoon (when I can get Brenna to cooperate). I get to bed no later than 8:30pm. And I don't feel like I sleep well. I hate that.

So far I have experienced nausea every day. Not enough to actually vomit, thank goodness, but the kind that makes food look and smell repulsive. The kind that makes riding in the car a nightmare. The kind that makes laying down feel like you have the drunken spins.

Food is not my friend. Especially in the morning. Toast is my breakfast of choice. With tea. Or milk. Soda is out. So is anything fried. I'm not sure about spicy foods- I'm almost afraid to try. And fruit? Not a chance.

Ugh. It's almost bedtime.

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I Am a Bad Sister

I was thinking about today as my sister's birthday because our family is celebrating tonight. Not the case! Her birthday was Tuesday! I even called and wished her happy birthday! But did I post? Noooo.

Happy Birthday, Jen! Belated. But honestly, since I can't seem to get anything done in a timely manner did you expect this on your birthday?

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A must read

Functional Culture: A voice that should be heard. I think "he" speaks for more people than we know, definately more people than we hear about in the MSM.

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The Week in Pictures (ignore the dates- I either forget to set the camera or I set it wrong)

Brenna and I have had a very busy week. Here she is amazing daddy with her vast computer knowledge. She is the future of computers, people. The next Bill Gates.



Last Wednesday we visited my grandparent's (her greats) on their farm. Here is Brenna looking at the cows. See the cow waaayyyyy back there?



How many of you missed the BIG announcement last week? What? You didn't read my teeny, tiny post about the Iowa Blogger Bash? Look what you missed! The rabbit is dead!


Brenna scared the bejeezus out of me when I couldn't find her. All doors were closed, all gates were up... No Brenna to be found.

Turns out I have a monster in my cabinet!








And today... We played in the snow. Yep, snow in Iowa in February! Who knew!



Whoops! She fell down.


She finally gets to use her Christmas sled!


Chasing Toby!

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Nothing But Time

I'm home all day with nothing to do.

Except laundry, housekeeping, following Brenna on her whirlwood tour of destruction, cleaning said destruction, letting the dog in and out whenever he desires, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the inhabitiants, cleaning after each meal...

Today I also played campaign manager for Doug's senatorial dreams. I scheduled two meetings for him with people who are "in the know" and set up a "community round table" in one of the towns in the district. It's more of a "meet the candidate" type of event. Now I need to get fliers printed and do door knocking in that town so people will show up.

Anyone interested in helping? If you live close and have nothing going on the next couple of weekends let me know! Brenna is darn cute but she & I can't cover the entire area ourselves!

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Campaign Blog Back Up

Yea! My campaign blog is back up! Evidently when I upgraded my account status it knocked out the BLOG subdomain and it took the Monday morning team at my service provider to figure out how to get it back.

I promise to get more issue/policy posts up soon.

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The Bash is Tonight!

From Roth & Company PC: The blogger Bash is tonight!

Where: Raccoon River Brewing Company; 200 10th Street Des Moines, IA 50309
When: 7ish
And? They have WiFi, laptops welcome!

Doug will definately be there. My attendance depends on the lovely Brenna. She had her MMR/chickenpox shots a week ago and has run a fever yesterday & last night.

But, if I do come... No drinkies for me. I've got a bun in the oven.

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State of the Union

Go see my new post on the President's State of the Union Address!

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