Beautiful USA

I hope you truly enjoy hanging out with your family because if you don’t,this summer is going to be pure torture for you.I don’t know about you guys but where I live,gas is slowly creeping up to about $3 per gallon.

Simply put,to the average person that means you either:
a)Spend a huge chunk of your pay cheque on gas just to go out OR
b)Save your money and hang out more at home with your family

The latter is a much smarter and easier option.Let me suggest a few things..
-Introduce game night.Play scrabble,snakes and ladders etc…all those fun games that help you relax and reconnect.
-Have movie night.Grab some cheap popcorn,a cool drink and borrow some movies from your local library.
-Speaking of libraries,why not check out some of the books and magazines they have?
-Cook together.Have a cook-out on your back porch.
-Take a walk together in your neighborhood.

I could go on and on but come on,get creative and just remember,at the end of the day its the memories you create with the people you love that count,so even just sitting around trading funny stories from past family holidays is a good way to reconnect with each other.

Now if you absolutely must go out,first do a search for free events in your local neighborhood and then consider getting a bus or train pass to cut down costs..the upside to this is if you live in a crowded city like Atlanta,you wont have to worry about finding and paying for parking!

Its 3:28 am and the question on my mind is a rather odd one: Is Kate Gosselin the most hated woman in America?

For the two of you that have absolutely no idea who Kate Gosselin is,she’s the Kate in Jon & Kate Plus 8.If you still have no clue what I’m talking about,google it.

I used to be a huge,huge fan of Jon & Kate Plus 8 before the tabloid circus around them started.And I have to say I actually enjoyed watching the kids grow up before my eyes and just eagerly waiting for Kate to break down (yes,I know I’m sad) and for Jon to actually step up to the plate and be the man of the house (like that Duggar guy with a million kids.Again here if you have no clue what I’m talking about google it or order TLC the next time you’re negotiating with your cable service provider.Seriously).

Anyway,the last few months have not been a good time to be Kate Gosselin.Us Weekly has single handledly taken it upon itself to bring this woman down by all possible means.Whatever Kate Gosselin did to someone at Us Weekly magazine must have been so bad that the magazine has been running on average at least one or two negative stories about her on their website daily and in their magazine for the past few weeks and ofcourse other sleazy tabloids have followed suit.First there was “news” (and I use that term very loosely) of her hubby’s affair,then her alleged affair with her body guard,then how demanding she is,then she spanked her kid…you get the idea.The negative stories just don’t seem to end.And if you think Us Weekly is being mean to Kate Gosselin,you need to read the comments some people write.Its amazing how bold,venomous and insensitive people get when they are hiding behind the anonymity of a computer screen.

I have to admit,I didn’t like Kate Gosselin when I started watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 because she seemed so controlling and frankly she came across as a total bitch.But the more I watched,the more she grew on me.It takes ALOT to raise 8 kids.I’m surprised she’s still sane actually.She’s the perfect example of why we shouldn’t judge people until we walk a mile in their shoes,so to speak.I know my little dude is a handful at times so I can’t even begin imagining what it would be like to have 8 little people running around demanding my attention 24/7/365.I know almost everyone views Jon as the “poor guy who gets bossed around by his mean wife” but I don’t feel sorry for him.Not one bit.Parenting is hard work and the way things usually go is once kids come into the picture,one person always assumes the head disciplinarian role and in most cases,thats the wife.Kate Gosselin is only guilty of one thing here (and tonnes of mothers are guilty of this too by the way) and that is forgetting that Jon is her hubby and not one of the kids.

I stopped watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 after all the tabloid crap started because honestly the tabloids spoiled the show for me although I will be tuning in tonight for their “special announcement”.There is speculation that the couple is divorcing.I don’t know how true that is but I am a big believer in personal happiness and if divorce makes them happy,then by all means go for it.Happy people make good parents and like both Kate and Jon Gosselin would say,at the end of the day its all about the kids and those kids deserve two happy,healthy parents.

For now,I’m not on Team Kate Gosselin or Team Jon Gosselin.I am on Team Gosselin Kids.

I was chatting with someone this morning and the conversation turned to Donté Stallworth..he’s the NFL receiver who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter and only got sentenced to 30 days in jail plus he paid some cash to the deceased person’s family…more on that later.

So let me get this straight,Michael Vick bankrolled dog fights and he lost everything and this guy killed someone because he was stupid enough to drink and drive and he gets just 30 days and still has his career?I understand the NFL has suspended him but Vick was let go.He lost all his endorsement deals and is now allegedly doing a $10/hour construction job.And all he did was get involved in dog fights.Now before PETA and you animal lovers get on my case,I need you to remember that this is my blog and I can say whatever I want and in my opinion dogs are way at the bottom of the scale versus human beings.What Vick did was stupid,what Donte did was even worse.And yet look at the sentence Donte got.

Anyway,so Donte paid the victim’s family which leads me to my question to you — how much is a life worth?According to the person I was chatting with this morning,a life is determined by how much a person was earning per year multiplied by how long this person was expected to have lived..so lets say the victim Donte killed earned $20,000 a year and he was going to live to be 98 years old,that means Donte would have to pay his family $1,960,000 plus pain and suffering.If that argument doesn’t make sense to you,don’t worry…it didn’t make sense to me either.I don’t know how much a life is worth but I sure would love to know how much he paid the family and how they came up with that figure.

I was wondering how long it would take PETA to issue some kind of ridiculous statement after video of President Obama killing a fly start making the rounds on the internet and it didn’t take them long.According to the Associated Press:

“The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he’s bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

“PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

“We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals,” PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. ‘We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals.’”

Seriously…the economy is in a mess,we have people dying every single day in Iraq,we have REAL issues to worry about and discuss and PETA is freakin’ worried about a fly??Are you kidding me?Seriously PETA?Seriously?Someone at PETA needs to get a life.Seriously.

And just for the record,I believe in killing flies.And mosquitoes.And roaches.And bees.And rats.

And I don’t care if PETA ever finds out.