Pretty much....Ben Stein is right on the money.

I finally was able to watch the movie Expelled, put together by Ben Stein. It is powerful. I greatly admire Ben Stein for standing up for what he believes in through this documentary even though he will be persecuted for it.

In the movie, Ben interviews scientists who have lost their jobs (some have even been blacklisted) for merely suggesting that the origin of species may have come about through Intelligent Design (ID). Many of these dogmatic evolutionists are atheist and think ID immediately means that we are talking about Creationism (which isn't always the case) and talking about God is unintelligent and a waste of time. (In fact, any explanation, even aliens, is somewhat acceptable to them--just not God. I ask you: is this intelligent??) Ben says he thought science was all about asking questions. ANY question. He points out the oppression by modern day evolutionists who want to tell us what and how to think. It turns out this not just about science, this is about freedom. I totally support Ben in promoting freedom of speech and freedom to study REAL science again. If scientists were allowed (how sad that they have to be "allowed") to take things from a different point of view, we could gain more knowledge and help more people fight diseases and solve problems. Why can't we ask? Why are we being told what to think?? I thought science was all about thinking outside the box. Evolutionists only want us to think inside their box. They don't like the idea of their imperfect theory being challenged. Why are they afraid of the challenge?? Why are we giving these "men in high places" so much power?

If you feel so inclined check out the movie at REDBOX for only a dollar! Ben also shares a website: click here. Sign the petition if you feel so inclined. ;)

ALSO, check out this video about Traditional Marriage. (see below). It is awesome! Very FAIR and very clear. AND our friend Danny Frost wrote a great essay on the same subject: click here.

For all of my sewing enthusiasts out there....

Check out this dress!! (The link is at the end of the post). This is a Halloween Costume. Can you believe it!?!? This is a quote from Kathleen's blogpost about it: "With all the man hours I put into the gown itself, not withstanding the fabric, I would say this gown is worth $500....if my time was worth $15 an hour." And get this: She is giving it away. I don't think I could be that generous if I had put in the time. You can enter to win until this Friday, the 24th.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

And I thought that I would never make this BLUNDER...

Okay, so in the somewhat recent past I had an occasion to meet with a bunch of friends. It was under very joyous circumstances. I was in an overly good mood and then I made a really STUPID mistake. I asked a friend if his beautiful wife (fortunately she wasn't around at the time) was pregnant........

She was not.

OH! how I wanted to crawl up in a hole and DIE!!!! OH! how I told myself I would never do this!!! She didn't even really look pregnant. I was just too happy and too thoughtless....actually the thought of, "Why not ask? Everyone is getting pregnant! What a happy world!" came across my mind. BAD, Bad, bad.

So then, I was blog surfing last night and found their blog!! All those guilty feelings came rushing back. Does anyone have a wall that I can beat my head against, and chant STUPID, Stupid, stupid???? I'm afraid to even show my face on their blog......

So once again I rededicate myself to my maxim: Never ask unless she looks like she is having her baby TOMMOROW. And even then, pray and ponder about asking if she is pregnant.

Even More Quirks--just when you thought that Meridy girl couldn't get any quirkier

Rachey tagged me. She finished my quirky tag, and then got tagged again, and filled it out. I thought I would rise to the occasion like Rachey and fill it out again. It turned out to be not so hard (I just haven't been able to get to posting it). I'm pretty quirky as it turns out.

Okay, here are the rules for this tag:1: Each player starts with 8 random habits/facts about themselves.2: People who are tagged need to write a post on their blog about their eight things and post these rules.3: At the end of the post you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names

1) I love the smell of bread dough. It feels homey and comforting and speaks of good things to come, like dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pizza, etc... I like how my bread machine has a "peep hole" and a "smell hole". That way you can get the fresh scent of doughy goodness. I stand there and take a few whiffs.

2)Wet paper is gross. I've never liked paper mache.

3)I don't like stickers. I don't like it when my children wear stickers. It is irrational. Stickers make me feel uncomfortable. Actually I don't mind stickers that go directly onto another piece of paper. That's fine. But I HATE it when stickers get stuck to a table and then you have to get them wet to get them off--yuck. Wet paper. Shudder shudder. (But don't worry about giving my children stickers. They like them. I'll get over it. ;))

4)I think that fancy sports cars with too much flame detail are marred. I like sleek cars. A car should be fast because it is fast. It shouldn't need any help from flames to make it look fast. I get a little too sad when I see an over-done flame job. But people should be able to do a flame job without answering to me. After all it is their car not mine. ;)

5)I do not like cucumbers or mushrooms but I LOVE some cucumber and mushroom sauces.

6)When I am reading I squeeze my lower lip together during tense parts.

7)I move my wedding ring back and forth over my knuckle when I am nervous or bored. I've almost lost it a few times.

8) I don't like to leave books, movies, stories, or songs unfinished. Whenever a song ends abruptly, on purpose, I always feel I need to sing the last missing note and/or word out loud. I just found out that Ellie does it too. This is especially quirky because I leave all sorts of other things unfinished all over the place: cleaning, sewing, birthday cards, etc....This will sometimes drive me nuts, but not enough to change. ---Actually on a side note I figured out something about the birthday cards. I make personalized birthday cards for immediate family. I realized that I am afraid of failure so I don't get on top of it fast enough. The second line of every birthday card is something to the effect of, "Sorry this is so late..." The fact that I can't get on top of it is driving me nuts.

Fanfare for the Common Man

I've had cause recently to reflect on how awesome you all are. All of you (and yes I mean you, the person reading this blog right now) have, at one point or another in my life, helped me in some way. I could list every single person on my blogroll (and countless people not on my blogroll who are friends, family, and ward members) and say something specific that you have done to help me. I will refrain for lack of time. I will however list a few general things. You have: tended my children, smiled at me, listened to me, shared a kind word, taught me how to be a better mom (Yes, Angie you are one of those! You are a great mom! I'm completely serious.), taught me in Relief Society, taught me new skills, taught my children, made me a meal, helped with projects I am working on, been a good example......you get the idea. You all have helped me and other people in your lives. You have been true representatives of Jesus Christ. Give yourselves a giant pat on the back! Are you pattng??? Good.

What spurred this on? (It's sad that it had to be spurred on...so if you ever doubt my affection/apperciation/adoration just come back reread this post, and make sure you pat yourself on the back). I mentioned in passing to my friend Sheri the other night, when she was babysitting my children, that I still had to make cinnamon rolls and I hoped I had enough time because they had to be made for the next morning. When Nate and I got back from dinner with some friends, not only had Sheri babysat my kids, she had made me homemade bread dough to turn into cinnamon rolls. I felt so pleasantly surprised! I felt so loved because of her act of unasked for kindness.`This led me to think of all of you and how wonderful you are!

Nate has also been especially nice to me. He fixed my vacuum. He let me get an nice new faucet (our old one was discusting and difficult to clean) and he installed it almost entirely by himself. It's so cool because you can pull it out and use it to spray big dishes in the sink. I'm so happy with it!
Last night, Nate commented on how "tomorrow is a good day for sleeping in". So when he was gone this morning, I was surprised. Then I remembered that Nate often likes to go play ping pong on Tuesday mornings when he can. It was fine for the first few hours because the kids where being good. They even let me sleep in a little. But that last hour and half was difficult. When Nate finally walked through the door I said, "I hope you were having fun wherever you were!" (Yes, I was a little bit grouchy. Even though I knew he deserved a fun break playing ping pong). Then I noticed that Nate had a bag from the grocery store and it's contents seemed a bit atypical. Nate told me I should take a look. And so I did. This is what I found:CHOCOLATE!! A variety of delicous and fancy chocolate. AND....a card even! Yes, I felt very humbled. I told Nate that he could go to ping pong anytime he wished (in hopes that it will bring home more chocolate!!!!)

Spookyish

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The music is mostly by Buckethead. I thought it fit the slide show motif, if not the slides themselves.

Waffle Maker Ham and Cheese Quesadilla???

Many of you know that we use our waffle maker to make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Above is pictured our latest creation. Sounds interesting doesn't it? Well, it not only is interesting, it is delicious. Here is what you do:

Get a tortilla and put it on your waffle maker (don't turn on waffle maker yet). Put your favorite lunch meat on half of tortilla. Then your favorite cheese (we used pepper jack this time.) Now sprinkle on chopped green onion and chopped green pepper. Close waffle maker and turn it on. When the waffle maker indicates it is done, retrieve tortilla, open up tortilla (caution will be hot :) ), and insert fresh chopped tomato and avocado. (Cilantro at this point would be delicious too.) Enjoy!

Now my friends, surely after reading this post and many of our others, you must be thinking to yourselves: "Wow. These Meridy and Nate people are strange." The question is: are we really strange or are we brilliant? (The answer is: YES!) Do we merely appear strange because we only post about life's oddities, when in actual fact we are basically normal? Or is our "strangeness" merely an inventive and useful outlook on life? Well I thought I would clear up some of these questions, in regard to this post at least. Let's begin our question and answer session about Waffle Iron Sandwiches:

Q: Why do you do this? (As in: why use a waffle iron to make grilled sandwiches as opposed to a frying pan?)
A: Frankly it's easier this way and has two major benefits that are worth mentioning. 1) The waffle iron cooks on both sides of the sandwich at the same time, thus removing the need to flip the the sandwich over. I am exceedingly bad at flipping. All the inner contents end up all over the place when I do. 2) You can turn on the waffle maker and walk away. When you come back your sandwich is not burned. However, I can't take the credit for actually coming up with the idea of waffle sandwiches myself. Nate did it first. He grew up with a sandwhich maker at his mom's and we didn't have one. So he improvised. I was taken aback at first but as the benefits listed above show, it was good idea.

Q:Why don't you just go buy one of those nifty sandwich makers, designed to actually make grilled cheese sandwiches?
A: Why bother when the waffle iron does such a good job and we have another one waiting in the pantry to use when this one gets broken? And actually, Nate prefers the waffle iron to the sandwich maker as it creates a finer crispyness. Also, the sandwich maker makes one huge pocket with uneven cooking as a result.

Q:How do you make waffles?
A: We don't make waffles.........But if we did we would just use the same waffle iron or the new waffle iron in the pantry.

Q: Doesn't using the waffle iron confuse your kids?
A: Well yes it does. Ellie was playing with toy food at Grammy's house once and she found a plastic waffle. She said, very excitedly, "Look Mom!! Hammy and Cheese!" (She calls grilled ham and cheese, hammy and cheese. When she just want cheese she says, "Mom I want hammy and cheese with no hammy.)

Q: How did you come up with the crazy combination pictured above?
A: Nate did. Once we were out of bread but had tortillas and Ellie wanted hammy and cheese. This time we happened to have lots of green onion and bell peppers that needed to get eaten. I added the tomatoes and avocado because that needed to get eaten too, and I thought it would be delicious. Which it was. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

Tagged by Shella (Read me. I'm somewhat funny. ;))

Shella is being so nice and is going to respond to my tag, and so in turn I respond to her. This one is threes:

3 Names you go by:
1)"Meridy"
2)"Mer"
3)"Mommy, I'm talking to you!! "

3 Restaurants I love:
1)Panera
2)Mandarin Chinese Buffet
3)Wingers

3 Trips I plan on this year
Okay I'm totally cheating on this one--it will be slightly more interesting--so I am saying trips I plan on the rest of 2008 and through 2009
1) Utah--to see family for the holidays
2) DISNEYLAND!! on my birthday (Jan 31). You get in free on your birthday in 2009!!!!! ONLY me and Nate. No kids. I only feel slightly bad for them. ;)
3) Boulder City, Nevada--yes it is only 30min away.....but it counts!....it has to because I'm not going anywhere else that I know of.....

3 Things you want badly
1) I can't help but say this again: Nate to graduate!!!!!! :) He's doing such a good job sticking it out and going to school.
2) I want a self cleaning house. Or for at least Ellie to learn to clean, and Nathan too, and me for that matter.....
3) Cute material and lots of time to sew it into things.

3 Pets you have had:
Such a sad subject for me. All my pets have died tragic deaths......
1) Tiger the turtle: He dehydrated to death.
2) Hermit crabs: I think they also dehydrated to death.....
3) I can' think of another one....if we had it, it probably died. Tragically.

3 Things you did yesterday:
1)Went to Cedar to see my family.
2) Watched Conference.
3) Went shopping with the girls durring the Priesthood Session.

3 Things I ate today:
1) Cereal
2) Homemade rolls (& cinnamon rolls)
3) Meat, potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot thingy.
Thanks again Cheryl! Lunch was delicious.

3 Fears:
1) That someone will steal Will because he is so charming.
2) That Will will run out into the street.
3) That the economy will suffer because people's fear of it crashing will make it suffer. (Hang on to the positive and the economy will get better faster).

3 Things I plan on doing today:
Seeing that it is 10pm.....
1)Keep enjoying my awesome play list for a tiny, little, tinsy bit longer. Man it sounds sooo good! (see it below ;) ) At times like these I realize how much I love music.
2)Doing what I should be doing and putting my kids to bed. Eventually. In my defense, they did sleep on the way home in the car.
3)Talking to Nate.

3 Favorite Holidays:
1)Christmas
2)Thanksgiving
3)The First Day of SPRING. Spring. As in when it is finally 80 degrees or higher. Yes it is a holiday. And it makes me terribly happy.

3 Favorite Beverages:
1)MILK!! (see my previous post about it.)
2) Milkshakes
3) Water---only thing that quenches my thirst.

And in my Dream.....

So I had this really cool dream. I dreamed that I had another baby, all natural, with very little pain involved, and a super easy recovery. The baby was a boy and I saw his face. He didn't look like Ellie or Will and I was trying to figure it out. Then I woke up, probably to feed Will and fell back to sleep. Well as you know from the previous post, people around here like to wake me up and so I had many dreams. During my dreams throughout the night and in the morning, I kept thinking about my first dream. I kept saying, "Man! I wish that dream was real. It be so easy..." When I finally woke up for real, "Darn! I wish that dream was real! I'd be all set." Seriously. Why couldn't I just wake up and have a new baby with so little effort. If only we could make dreams reality......

Oh! and don't worry....I am NOT pregnant.