As you all know today was supposed to be my viewing of the wonderful BATMAN movie.
We tried to make it to the 12:20 showing but were  a few minutes  late. We bought tickets to the 12:50. The camera broke five minutes before it was supposed to come on. We went over to the 1:20  showing and waited for what felt like an eternity. (we’d already been there for an hour.)
 Finally the movie comes on. After 6 minutes, the screen cuts out. It comes back on. After 12 minutes, the screen cuts out. It comes back on. After 10 minutes, the screen cuts out. It does NOT come back on.
The line was with Joker  holding a mouth to the criminal’s mouth saying, “Why so serious? Maybe we should just CUT a smile into your fa*” (screen fades)

By that time everyone in the theater was so pissed off that the manager came in to talk to us.(most of us had been there for over an hour just waiting to get into a screening.) He not only offered us compensation for the film we were supposed to see, but additional tickets  for future movies. I can now see four free movies with my husband. However I still have NOT seen the Batman movie and I might just cry. We’re talking about trying to go again tonight or tomorrow morning.
*sighs* I even wore my Batman chucks for the occasion:

My birthday is on Wednesday. If I haven’t seen the movie by then, I think my body might physically shut down.
Meanwhile, the first  28 minutes of the movie rocked.

Day after day, he attended highschool with her. He sat behind her for two of her classes but she had no idea he was there. He slept through classes to pass the time till graduation.

Night after night, she prayed that God would send her someone to love.  She’s never been kissed and was greener than a Chiquita banana. She read cheesy comic books and manga with goofy love stories and imagined herself in the characters’ shoes.
 
Day after day, they passed each other in the hallways. He’d noticed her once in awhile but had never said anything of importance to her. After all, he’d been dating another girl for years. Finally, her heart was so heavy with loneliness that she prayed, “Lord, send him to me soon or take my heart from my chest. It hurts so badly and I hate feeling so broken.”
The next day in English, she turned around to borrow a pencil and there he was. Sleeping, of course, but angelic nonetheless. Since his eyes were cloesd, she allowed her eyes to fall steadily on him for too long.  Was he a new kid? Why hadn’t she noticed him before?  He stirred and noticed her gaze through his sleepy haze.
“Mmm buh.. uhm. I.. – er,  I borrow… pencil...”
“I don’t have one.”
A classmate tosed them both extra writing utencils. She turned her head around sharply, her face bright red, unable to breathe. When the bell rang, she didn’t speak to him. She was too petrified. Her friends met her after class to walk to their cars together- it was the end of the day.
“Why do you look so funny? Are you okay?”
“I think I’ve just met the man I’m going to marry.”
They stared  at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. Surely she was joking.
The next day  was Friday. Block scheduling meant no English class today. It was the last class of the day and most of her bewilderment had passed.  Until he walked into her Government class and sat down a row behind her, immediately placing his head down on the desk and closing his eyes.
“How the HELL did I miss this before? He’s in two of my classes and I’ve never noticed him before? He must be new.”
“Conejita?” her friend called to her. “AMANDA! Why are you spacing out? Your face is red. Are you checking him out?”
The girl blushed.
“You totally ARE! His name is Derek. Do you want me to introduce you  two? He’s in ROTC with me.“

 A week later, he’d ditched the other girl and had scheduled their first date.  It was nearly Christmas and the city had hung lights and displays across a one mile stretch by the riverside. He picked her up at 7 and took her there. It  was cheap, but magical. They talked like they’d known each other for years, not a single stretch of silence. After three dates, he held her hand in the movie theatre, sweating  like crazy and shaking from nerves. She almost giggled, he was so cute trying to clutch her hand with his wiggling, wet palms. He’d never known anyone like her before. He couldn’t pull the same old lines, the same old moves with her. She called him out every time he tried to put on a fake act. She was new, interesting and pure. He didn’t want to screw things up with this one.He wanted to do things right. By the end of the fifth date, he walked her to her porch and the air filled with tension. She knew he was going to kiss her.
“Holy crap, I’ve never been kissed before. What do I do?” Unfortunately, her words weren’t keeping inside her head. They bubbled up and flowed out of her mouth like ugly, hyperactive word vomit.
“I know one day you’re going to try to kiss me and I’ve never been kissed before and I don’t know how to do it, but it doesn’t mean there’s not an attraction it just means I’m inexperienced and I want to makesureyouknowthatI’mtotallyintoy-” He kissed her and pulled her so tight they were shaking together as one unit.


After graduation, he joined the military. All was going to be great. Their hometown had a tiny little Air Force base and he put it on his dream list.
 
The military scoffed at his request and sent him across the world to Japan. Between his new life, new friends,new timezone and new freedoms, he found very little time to write or call. She felt rejected and tossed aside.
One night after almost a month of not hearing from him, he called. She cried and told him it was over. She didn’t expect he’d let her go, but he put up no fight at all. None. She was crushed. This wasn’t what she’d expected. Wasn’t he going to fight for her at all?

 Four years passed.  They wrote once every few months, but nothing phenomenal. He’d gone on several deployments and kept her photo by his heart  in every battle zone and her class ring around his dogtags.  She wrote him love letters that she never sent and hid his picture behind posters on her wall.  One day she went to a sappy movie, “The Notebook” with her best friend.
<– (best friend)
She’d bawled her way through it and realized she was letting her own love story get away from her.
So she emailed him at his last known email address. By luck, he hadn’t changed it.
“Dear Derek,
I’m writing this out of sheer stupidity.  I hope you know that these four years have been the hardest I’ve ever had to face. I don’t care if you have a girlfriend, or a wife, or children. I love you. I’ve loved no one but you for four years. My heart belongs to you and always has from the day I first saw you.  So whether you’re in a relationship or not- I’m yours until I die. I’m tired of trying to date to fill the void you left. No one is you and it’s not fair for me to expect them to be.  I know true love and now I can’t settle for anything less. I deserve true love or nothing at all. So I’ll wait until you’re ready and if I die waiting, then I’ve not wasted my love. It’s all gone right to where I wanted it to be. It’s all gone to you and always will.
Forever yours,
Amanda”

He didn’t write back.

Instead, he called. He was coming back to the US in two months to be stationed in Montana. If she still loved him then,  they could meet again in Texas before he went north. He flew into an airport 5 hours away.  She drove to meet him, unable to wait at home. The airport froze around her when he walked into the room and she threw herself into his arms. People were “awwww”ing all around them, but they couldn’t hear anything except each other’s beating heart.
 They talked for hours and hours, not sleeping all night or on the drive home the next day. He couldn’t stop staring at her face. Had her smile always been so brilliant? She blushed everytime she noticed him staring. A week later he’d asked for her hand in marriage. They were engaged for seven months and married.


Three years later, they have two beautiful children with a third on the way. Every morning when she wakes up, she kisses his forhead and stares at him incredulously.
“How does he belong to me? He’s still with me every morning when I wake up. I wonder if he’ll ever get tired and leave me?”
But he doesn’t. And he won’t. They’ve belonged together since the beginning of time and will die together.

                                                                That’s true love.

                                                              Don’t settle for less.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

So those of you who don’t know me in the world outside of Xanga would probably not have a clear idea of how much I love Batman. Sure, I post about it from time to time online, but collecting Batman comics and toys has been a hobby of mine for over 7 years now.  So when my buddy sent me this shirt for my birthday next week:

I can honestly say I squealed like a kid in a candy store.
 Shirt = Harley Quinn aka girlfriend to Joker.  A little known character but an all time classic.
So it’s killing me that I can’t see the new Batman movie for a few more days.  My brother went to the midnight premiere last night and I hate him for it.  Every theatre within 30 miles is sold out for the next two days and my Hubs is working the evening shift for the next three days.  I’ve tried to convince him we could make it to the 11:50 showing after work tonight but he didn’t fall for it.  Darn kids and their silly bedtimes.
 Enjoy my shirt! I’ll be wearing it in every picture you see me in from now until I die.

 So Friday will be a day of celebration  and sadness alltogether. The newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight comes out.

 However, I won’t be able to see it. Hubs isn’t off work until late late late at night, making my entire life’s purpose a waste.  If I can’t see Batman on his opening night, I might possibly become emo. 

My inlaws and I have been feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys over who’s better: Batman or Superman?

If you leave a comment with Batman being the obvious and correct victor, you will be heavily rewarded by God Himself for your pure genius.  If you leave a comment regarding the other guy, you’re in need of a lobotomy.

 Superman is clearly an illegal alien and needs to be called out.  I hereby put my foot down that it’s unnacceptable. The menace goes around  with his egomaniacal  air, trying to “rescue” people. Well, where was Superman when the flood hit Indiana? On vacation?  Yeah. That’s right inlaws. Your precious Superman didn’t  save you, did he?

BATMAN, on the other hand, works mercilessly  as a superhero, and still manages to contribute to the community and charitable events as his alter ego.

 Years ago, they actually produced a  crossover comic where the two battled. Supe had gone evil and Batman had to apply the smackdown to bring him back to his senses.

 Now if you’re going to vote, don’t give me the same old dribble about Superman being immortal- he’s not.  

 In random news, I found a four leaf clover today! Hooray for me!

                       BATMAN RULES!                          

*EDIT*

Alright, Alright…. I was told that my Batman stance was too strong for you “superior Superman lovers” to respond. You may leave a comment without fear of bursting into flame.

As some of you know, we’re pregnant with squirmer number three. I told most of you that I was hoping for twins but today we got to look at my womb. Only one little tiny heart in there. We weren’t getting a clear reading on the tiny little heartbeat so we have to go back in two weeks to make sure everything’s okay in there.  By my calculations, the baby’s birth will happen around the first week of March.

 Ever the pro-life activist, I will continue posting weekly updates on the baby’s growth. If you’re been with me for either of the past two babys, you know the drill.  I’ll continue to gripe about politics and make fun of the dummies in the news, but once a month you’ll get a picture of my growing belly and every week, you can read the updates on how the baby is growing.

 Just for everyone’s information, the doctors add two weeks onto your conception date. So although Derek’s been home for 4 weeks, we’re considered 6 weeks along.  Derek raised an eyebrow at me when I first told him about it. No hanky panky, I promised him and the doctor set him straight this morning at our apointment.

Your first baby update:

6 Weeks

His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.
1 month photo

It’s always a sad thing to post my first, second and third month pictures. It’s like a sad fairwell to my nice, tiny belly.  However, the purpose of the first few months of photos is to show that while you might not notice on the exterior, there IS a baby growing inside. (not just a blob of cells)

Enjoy!

Weekend hiatus is officially over. We drove to the inlaw’s house in Indiana. As most of you are aware, they’d suffered from the midwest flooding: (blog here.) May I just begin by saying that insurance companies suck. (except for USAA. They are my <3) Out of almost 90k in damage, the insurance company is offering 60k. Makes you wonder why you’ve paid your bill so faithfully for all the years you’ve owned your house, huh?

This weekend  we went to the Indy Zoo!

  We touched sharks,

 waved to swimming polar bears,

got mooned by a monkey,

made obnoxious noises to the elephants,

  and made fun of an Emu kid with a goofy hairdo. (My grandma totally will not get that joke.)

We befriended a duck who turned out to be a mugger and nabbed Caity’s hat.

And then we got offered candy be a very nice stranger, but politely declined.

When we left the zoo, my mother in law decided since we’d been in Texas for Cait’s birthday, she’d throw a party for her now. So we had cake (complete with Caity fingers)

and got a new bubble machine. (300 bubbles a MINUTE BABY!)

Also, I’ve added a new feature to my blog: approximately every thirtieth visit, you’ll be serenaded with a Michael Bolton tune. It’s just because I love you.

That’s your weekend report. Stay classy, San Diego.

                                           
No, this is not a picture I photo-shopped.  From FoxNews.com:
   Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesdayfor saying Barack Obama is “talking down to black people” during whatJackson thought was a private conversation before a FOX News interviewSunday.

  Jackson was speaking to a fellow guest atthe time about Obama’s speeches in black churches and his support forfaith-based charities. Jackson added before going live, “I want to cuthis nuts off.” His microphone picked up the remarks.

Awesome. Pure awesome.

Let me set a scenario for you.
Scenario 1) There’s a really successful football team. They’ve been called world champions and their game play is superb. Their coach has made his share of mistakes but their last eight seasons  have gone undefeated. The world over recognizes them as the best team. However, a few of their fans  have rallied together and decided they don’t like the mistakes the coach has made and believe it has put dirt on the entire team’s name. They want a new man leading the team. So they scan the stadium full of people to find a well dressed man. They ask his opinion  of the whole thing and he eloquently  tells them he has no experience in football and knows next to nothing about the game except that he’s bored with it and believes it should change. Now, half the audience is so dazzled by the way this man speaks, that they look past his inexperience and hoist him on their shoulders, leading him to the coach’s place on the field. The other half of the stadium stands there with their jaws on the floor wondering, “What the hell are they doing? They’re gonna destroy our winning team!”

Scenario 2) There’s a leading business, well noted for it’s success. It has leading world class technology. Unlike other businesses, when the CEO of this company hears of smaller business who are suffering or in need of money or supplies, they don’t hesitate to send aide.  They have a long and extensive hiring process  to work in their building and this upsets alot of people who don’t wish to go through the process. So they sneak in  and steal from the free vending machines intended for the employees. (The vending machines are supplemented by a few cents from each employees’ paycheck.) They take supplies from the first aid kits leaving almost nothing when a hired employee needs it.  Suddenly, a man outside the large corporate building says it’s time for a change. The man says, “How dare you keep non-employees outside of your building.  All of the rest of us who work at other jobs should be able to come into your building and take your supplies that you pay for! It’s time for a change.” The man outside the building requests to be hired as the new CEO. He’s had very few dealings with  the business and his  friends frequently talk poorly about the  business, saying “Godd*mn the business!” People outside the business lift this man onto the nearest soapbox, cheering his name and the “change” he stands for.

  Now tell me, how much sense does this make? If you don’t know who you want to vote for yet, consider letting America go down the drain. These are the ideas that Obama supports and we ARE the world champion football team. We have the greatest technology and hand out unlimited benefits to smaller third world countries like the big business. Are we perfect? No.  But we’re the best damn country in the world.  We are a giving country, a technologically advanced country, we have the best military in the whole damn world and the best  land for opportunity ever recorded in history. And yet, some man in a fancy suit wants to come in and “CHANGE” all of that. Well damnit, it’s not right. You might not like McCain, but at least he’s proud of the country he lives in. I didn’t want to vote for McCain, but at least a vote for him is a vote AGAINST Obama. 

Think about it. Stop listening to how *well* Obama speaks and start listening to *what* he’s saying.

**EDIT**

Edlives fixed us a video via his website of the actual nut cutting event.

http://www.brainfriednetwork.com/test8.html

I laughed my butt off.

Disclaimer: There are facts, proven and sited in this article. If you are a liberal, you probably won’t like those facts because I haven’t twisted them for you.

 Thousands of people  showed up to listen to Obama speak and what he told them was that John McCain  is against old people and natural disaster victims. The crowd, dazzled by his glittering smile and pretty tie gasped in amazement. Oh my, how can this be? We can’t have someone in the White House who doesn’t like old people or natural disaster victims. I’m gonna vote for Obama because he hasn’t told us he’s against puppies or kittens.  I like puppies and kittens.

 How the hell did Senator Obama come to this conclusion? Well, John McCain visited the flooded midwest to lend support to those  in hard times right now.  Obama, not to be outdone, also  had visited the midwest but told everyone he cames across that John McCain  voted against flood control. 
“I’m sure they appreciated the sentiment,(of McCain’s visit) but they probably would have
appreciated it even more if Sen. McCain hadn’t opposed legislation to
fund levees and flood control programs, which he considers pork.”
 Funny how Obama forgot to mention that he too voted against  flood control programs.  Sneaky, eh? McCain didn’t vote in the final vote of the  2007 Water Resources Development Act, a $23 billion bill that funded levee and flood control programs. However, he did voice his opinion that he opposed the  bill in it’s current
state saying that it needed to be amended before it was passed.  Obama voted against an amendment, sponsored by Feingold and
co-sponsored by McCain and others, that would have established a
commission to prioritize water projects with flood control at the top
of the list.

As far as the old people comment is concerned, I only caught the last sentence of that part of his speech so I’m not sure what the whole statement was about. (it was on the radio today.) Probably a tax break that McCain is proposing. Tax breaks would be wonderful for us. (the working masses.) However, it would be the opposite of the raise in taxes Obama has supported to fund more government based healthcare projects. (Which primarily benefit the elderly and illegal immigrants.)
Now I’m definitely not saying that McCain is my ideal candidate, or even my first choice. (I still scream Huckabee FTW! However, Obama is my anti-candidate. He is against literally everything that I support and I’m against just about everything that he supports.

I would honestly believe at this point that anyone with eyes could see how detrimental to our wallets Obama will be. With all of the tax increases, how are we going to afford anything?  McCain wants to  give tax breaks and has proposed multiple, environmentally friendly ideas to increase our oil supply while lowering our gas prices. Obama has publicly scoffed at these proposals and  has yet to come  up with a single idea to lower gas prices. In fact, one of the tax increases he has proposed would put a 23 cent higher tax on every gallon of gas you purchase. Where are all the taxi drivers? Where are all the commuters? Where is anyone who drives anything? Are they all so dazzled by Obama’s  shiny words that they can’t see their hand in front of their faces? 

What a schmuck, what a two-faced liar. How jelly headed do people have to be to seriously fall for this guy?
 You want facts from Obama? You won’t get them.  Although I’m certain he likes puppies and kittens.

Political information posted here was taken from a non-partisan site: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/21/obama-hits-mccain-on-help-for-cities-levees/

This song was pretty influential in my current situation. I heard it in church this morning. Then I realized it wasn’t terribly hard to play on the guitar. (HOORAY!) So me and my bad self decided to try it. I’m still a baby guitarist so don’t be brutal or I’ll kick you in the teeth.

I hope if any of you are having stressful times,  you think about the words.
(remember to turn off the music player at the bottom!)

My dear dear, hilarious friend Avenuetothereal (the artist formerly known as AmandasBiggestFan) has reopened my eyes to another fact of why America is the greatest farcing country in the world. Aside from our kick ass military men and women, our freedom for all who come here and the fact that we let all (even the dumbasses) have freedom of speech (except the Christians)…. The other reason America is awesome:
 We birthed CHUCK NORRIS! Oh yeah.

 Okay,  I’m sorry about  the confusing  nature of the post yesterday. We didn’t want to post anything online until we’d had the chance to tell our immediate family.Now that both of our  parents know, I don’t mind posting the issue here. It’s nothing bad, it just kinda confuses my plans for the next few years.

                                                    We’re pregnant.

So by now, there will be no question about our religious preferences. It’s pretty darn obvious we’re Catholic.  But that’s what happens when a husband comes back from deployment.  He waits till his wife is asleep and  put’s a baby in through his wife’s bellybutton because he doesn’t believe she’s been busy enough for the past six months without him. So he gives her extra work to make up for all the time he was gone. The military totally supports this occurance because they  see thousands of extra babies born 9 months after each deployment returns and they don’t do anything to stop it. That’s proof.

  The reason I’m so concerned/worried/stressed/trying to give it to God is  because we’re getting out of the military in five months. We’ll be moving back to my hometown, we’ll have no health insurance, no jobs, nothing. A little nerve wracking, yes.  As James3_1 said, “You can’t fully trust in God sometimes until he’s taken away all of your assurances.”   I know  things will work out and I’m confident in our ability to provide for our family, it’ll just be a little stressful until that door opens for us.  I’m very excited about a new baby, but all we had planned doesn’t include baby number three.  So for the past few days, we’ve been in the works to renegotiate all we had planned.

                   The thing that kills me is the reaction I’ve gotten from some family members.
They seem dissappointed.  This killed me to hear their words. (something about irresponsible and population control.) I was well aware of the inconvenient timing of this baby and the poor insurance situation we’d gotten ourselves into. But when our own flesh and blood responds almost negatively to a precious new life, I get upset. I was too proud to let one of them hear me cry so I waited until I was off the phone. Blame it on my budding pregnant hormones, but it really cut me deep. Population control is garbage. I’m a genius and my husband is gorgeous so I’m all about  procreating. We’re financially responsible, loving parents who have taught our children right from wrong. We have no debts of any sort and don’t put a drain on society or government handouts. How is that irresponsible? *sighs* I don’t know why I’m justifying myself here.  I don’t think they even read my xanga  on a frequent basis.

So that’s the spot we’ve  found ourselves in. What’s ironic is I didn’t even know I was pregnant when I wrote that abortion post the other day.
- I’m not in a convenient time in my life to have a third baby
- I’m certainly still busy enough with my eight month old son and my two year old daughter
- I’m about to have to find/start a new job in five months
- I’m sick and tired of kid cartoons. 
I STILL disagree with abortion. See how stubborn I am?

Much love to you all.