$6.55 per hour....Are you Kidding me?

So, today Governor Schwartenegger signed the executive order reducing state workers pay to just $6.55 per hour which is the federal minimum wage standard. Thankfully, this does not affect us, but still....are you freaking kidding me?

1. How are families supposed to survive on this when they have been living their lives based on their current wage? How are they going to pay their mortgage that they were approved for based on their actual wage?

2. How on earth can the State of CA require employers within the state to pay the California State minumum
wage, but the Governor can pay the state employees less?

3. Why are the residents of the state and the employees who are actually doing their jobs taking the brunt of the problem and having to live with the consequences of what the Governor and the legislatures are not doing.

4. While the State Legislatures have not been paid since July 1st, maybe since it is their doing that a budget has not been passed, maybe for every 30 days that goes by they lose the previous months paycheck? They are the ones not doing their jobs.

5. In the end, this is going to cost the state more by not paying the state workers, since their pay will be retroactive and they will eventually get paid, but those checks are going to be crazy huge! By the time these families get their money though, the damage may already be done.

6. I hope State Controller John Chiang sticks to his guns and refuses to honor the Governors Executive order and continue to pay state workers as they are due.

Okay, so I am not very politically minded and don't claim to know it all when it comes to politics and the financial runnings of a state, but give me a break. This is crazy.

Oh, by the way....$6.55 an hour works out to be $1048.oo a month.....before taxes!

A lighter post to follow......

A Busy Week....and No Photos.

WOW! It's only Wednesday...well almost Thursday and I am exhausted from our busy week. We have gotten so much accomplished around here, but still have tons more to do. I've been on a cleaning frenzy for some strange reason. I have scrubbed every floor (except the wood floors) in our house. Mops just really don't cut it, I had to do it the old fashioned way. I must say I feel quite accomplished at the moment. Cleaned out the bedrooms and the bathrooms, The kitchen is on my hit list for tomorrow. We've gotten the oil changed on the car, done the necessary shopping and acquired some new furniture. Yay! The big tasks are still on my "to do" list......my closet which is overstuffed to the gills, and my scraproom another overstuffed space. I'm not sure if I'm ready to part with anything in there yet though...hmmmmmm. We've had countless appointments this week, which includes therapies for Little J, a routine visit to his neurologist (who I have to say that I just adore!). She is one special Doctor. She really has a true passion for her profession, and a passion for her patients. She is soooo good to Little J! Thank you so much to Dr. H, for sending us to her!

Other good news we got today, we finally got the final payment approval for some much needed equipment for Little J. We went through lots to get it approved by our insurance company and now Little J's case manager has notified us that the other portion not covered by our insurance has also been approved for payment! Yay!!! We will hopefully soon have the equipment at home to make Little J safer, and make our lives easier. Things get rough when your little one cannot walk yet, but grows like a crazy weed! :D

Princess J is feeling better as well. She's got all her spunk (that's what we're calling her princess attitude these days) back!

Princess J has been deprived

How did I miss these? How did Princess J not get her first pair of high heels from her mommy before she was 6 months old. I hope she doesn't hate me forever and that she knows I had no intention of depriving her.

You all know, had I seen these, she would have had to have a pair. I think Grandma Libbi would have gotten her a few pairs too. These are too funny!

For those of you with little princesses in the 0-6 month range, you can check them out here at heelarious.

The Dollar!

So, let me see how well I can explain this.....

Princess J has been a bit grumpy for the last couple of days, so I sort of knew she would be coming down with something.

Tonight, she has a runny nose and a slight temperature. We gave her a little bit of tylenol, because she was on the fussy/grumpy side and it was almost time for bed.

You wouldn't know she wasn't feeling well by these photos though. Everynight, part of her routine to go to bed is she watches Little Bill on Noggin. She loves this show! No matter where she is, when she hears the music for this show she makes a beeline for the television. Anyway, tonight we sat her in her little toddler chair to watch Little Bill. At the beginning of each show, they show the title and Little Bill and some of the other characters say the title of the show. Tonight, the first episode was "The Dollar" As Little Bill says "The Dollar", he lifts up his arms. As Princess J is watching the opening and he is lifting his arms up saying "The Dollar" she copies him! OMG, it was so funny and I was so lucky that I was actually trying to get shots of her not feeling well, because what came next was so stinkin' cute. So, then as the story goes along, Little Bill finds the dollar, and he picks it up and says "A Dollar!" and then starts singing "I found a dollar...I found a dollar" and Princess J is holding her hands up like Little Bill again (photo 1). So, then, I start holding my hands up and saying "The Dollar!" and she starts cracking up and holds up her arms....I swear this went on for like 5 minutes. It was so adorable!!

So anyway, I am totally in love with these photos of her tonight! Even if she is a bit on the cranky side. :D

{SCRAPPIN'}

All Created for Picture Me Perfect Garage Girl projects. I've actually been scrapping, but just have had a hard time getting the stuff posted. Hopefully over the weekend I c

an get the rest of them up on the ol' blogity.

Who Knew......

So, walking through Sisters, Oregon the night before the quilt show with my Mother-in-law I saw this adorable little outfit in the window of an adorable little store. We went in, and I could have gone compeletly nuts in the store with stuff for Princess J, myself, a nd all the artsy stuff in my heart. As most of you know, Princess J is not hurting for a new outfit or anything, but this one was just too cute, and so different. Well, I couldn't bring myself to buy it that night, but my Mother-in-law said I should have the lady hold it until the next day to be sure. It was the last one in her size. After drooling over all the cute things in this store, we headed over to have dinner. After a yummy and somewhat strong Margarita, I had convinced myself that I probably would not get the outfit for her. That night, I kept thinking about this cute little outfit. So, the next day, by the time we got back to that store, I was sure she would have put it back out and sold it, and now I had to have it.......I had thought of a cute scrapbook layout for it. I didn't tell anyone that, and when we got to the store and it was still there, my Mother-in-law said that Princess J had to have that outfit. My Mother-in-law doesn't say that about clothes for Princess J very often..LOL. So, as you can see, we got the outfit.

So, here is where the "who knew" part comes in.....Who knew that such a cute little outfit could be eco friendly (it's made out of bamboo), good for sensitive skin, since it's a natural fiber and ultra hip, since according to Coolspotters this line is a favorite of none other than Angelina Jolie.

Here is the link to Kicky Pants if you want to take a look!

This Little Boy......

is a little hero. I admire this little kid so much and I find that each and every day he teaches me something about myself and about others. In this little boy is bottled the secret to happiness. Every single day this little boy wakes up with a laugh and a smile. I have never been able to call him Mr. Grump or Crabby Pants.....not ever. His life can be hard though, there are many things he struggles with and many things that others take for granted that he tries with all his might to accomplish.

G and I feel so blessed to have this little boy in our lives, but it doesn't come without it's difficulties and heartaches.

When most people meet Little J, they immediately fall in love with those beautiful blue eyes and that amazing and pure joyful laugh and smile.

Tonight, I was just thinking about how rough the journey with a special needs child can be, but also about how lucky I am to have such a pure, joyful and incredible presence in my life. Little J has taught me more about faith and how to have it, to appreciate the little things.....because even little things can be huge, what's important and what really matters, who my friends really are, that you really can have friends in the world that you've never even met in person, and that no matter how rough things are going for you, you can still be there and make a difference in someone elses life. Most of all Little J makes me want to always strive to be a better person.

Little J is my little hero, because he has a never ending inner strength that keeps him working and trying to acheive new goals. He never gives up. He is definately full of pure joy, he always sees the best in others, he lights up a room with that joyful from the bottom of his soul smile and laugh, he is full of complete unconditional love.

Back From Vacation!

So, I am way to tired to blog and I have so much to blog about now. I also got tagged on Krista's blog, so I'll have to share that as well in the next few days. Just thought I would share my favorite photo from our vacation! This was actually the last day of our vacation and the kiddos were having so much fun playing in the sprinklers at Grandma's house.

More photos and longer update coming soon!

Just Like Mommy!

Long time no blog...sorry about that. Things have been crazy (what else is new) here and on occasion I've been a bit lazy too. I've been meaning to post this photo for a few days now. Grandma Libbi made Princess J this book, and the other night she fell asleep looking at it.....mommy reads every night before she goes to bed and this happens to her quite often! LOL!

Today, Princess J had her 15 month check up! She currently weighs 22 lbs. Her head is 19 inches round and she is 30 inches tall. She's doing really well. Dr. says that her skills are at about the 18mos level! Wow! After our experience with Little J, we are watching her development very closely. We are very fortunate to have a dr. who understands our concerns and our nervousness about this and spends time with us and goes over all of our questions. She didn't get any shots today....mommy chickened out of them today! LOL! Actually, we are getting ready to go on a little adventure soon and I didn't want to risk her having a reaction to the 15mos. vaccinations like Little J did. He ended up in the ER and was sick most of the week were were gone right after his 15mos shots. He had a 104 temperature and tylenol or motrin was not bringing it down. He got very lethargic and we ended up taking him to the ER where they ran every test in the book to try and explain his fever to no avail. A few days later he was fine. Our home pediatrican felt that it was probably a reaction to the vaccine he had gotten since it was still within the 7 day time period for that to happen It wasn't anything serious or anything that would change our mind about getting Princess J shots, we just didn't want to take the chance of it happening on our adventure. She'll be getting her 15 mos shots in the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully we'll (meaning me and Princess J) be able to update the ol' blog while on adventure. We will be updating and posting photos when we can!