I'm not the only one...

...who looked past the opening ceremony to see the evil behind it. This is a quote from an article by Senator Fred Thompson about the sticky international situations that the next president will inherit.

Who wasn’t impressed by the sea of Chinese performers, smiling and perfectly synchronized at the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics, demonstrating to the world their discipline and “organizational skills”? Or their ability to present to TV viewers beautiful fireworks displays that don’t really exist? What isn’t an illusion is that China is engaged in a rapid military buildup, the extent of which we do not know. With hundreds of missiles pointed toward Taiwan, experts say China is developing the capability to take Taiwan before the U. S. has the ability to respond.

On a lighter note...

I used my Home Haircuts for Dummies kit to cut Mason's hair for the second time the other day. The first time I did it a few weeks ago, my friend Tabi (who is actually trained to cut hair) had to help me finish. I think it looks pretty good. There was a minimal amount of blood shed and only one almost-bald spot, so I'm declaring success.

The second picture is an example of what I get when I say, "Hug your brother and smile."

We had our first Chuck E. Cheese's experience today, and it was super fun! I think the key is going on a weekday afternoon when most responsible citizens are at work. Mason was obsessed with winning tickets to buy cheap little toys and candy. Carter was happy just wandering around watching the action. He spent half the time sitting in the Barney car. He didn't like it when I put a token in to make the car move. He just wanted to hang with Barney in his cool, purple ride.

Kinda' Cool...Kinda' Scary

Mason and I watched a recording of the Olympics opening ceremony this morning. Mason liked the fireworks. I thought it was:

Artistically very cool - The lighted drums were awesome, although Matt Lauer said they had to tell the drummers to smile more because they were scaring people. The costumes, music, choreography, fireworks, etc. were stunning.

Politically very scary - Did anyone else get a bit of a chill watching the Chinese soldiers take the flag from the children and goose-step Nazi-style up to the podium? If they put that much time and effort into a ceremony, how much more would they devote to a war. They're not exactly our best friends, you know.

Realistically very deceptive - The point of the show was to impress the world with the wonders of the "New China." Do they actually expect us to believe that they don't enforce mandatory abortions or abandon baby girls anymore? They don't persecute Christians and imprison people for their religious beliefs? They don't violate the basic human rights of their citizens every day for the good of the state? I read two Yahoo articles by AP writers that both lamented the measures the Chinese government has taken for the past three years to rid Beijing of anything that is "imperfect," like street vendors and unattractive housing. Once again, a reminder of Hitler's ideals (a Utopian world for the so-called Aryan Race).

So why are our athletes there? And why was Bush making small talk with Putin at the opening ceremony, pretending like he doesn't know Russia is at war with one of our allies? I really like gymnastics, but I don't think I'll be tuning in to watch this year.

Weekly Update

I think I can safely invest in a food processor. We really like the "deceptive" recipes. The only problem is that the recipes themselves are very labor intensive, even without the pureeing step. I'll definitely have to use some of my freezer cooking skills - doubling the recipe and freezing half - because I can't spend all day in the kitchen every day. You should have seen the mountain of dishes in my sink yesterday! (The macaroni and cheese was worth it, though.) One thing I'm excited about is the Sneaky Chef book that Kathi sent to me the other day. It has quick fixes for boxed and canned food, like Spaghettios. Maybe it won't take an hour to make lunch if I can just add sweet potato puree to a can of Spaghettios.

Carter is becoming quite the little musician. He has a song for everything. When a bus pulled up next to us at the stop light yesterday, he broke into a rousing version of The Wheels on the Bus. He also sings the Rachel Lampa song that I've been working on to sing in church. I have to get that one on video - it's adorable! Oh...and he's added a few things to his bedtime prayer. He now thanks God for pizza, Pull-Ups, and Wal Mart.

Mason is getting to be a really good reader. The only problem is that he can read the names of the TV shows on our DVR list. "Why did you record Days of our Lives, Mom?" Oh well. I guess he was bound to discover my soap habit sooner or later. He also loves for me to read to him. We finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and part of The Horse and His Boy (not easy for me to read aloud because I hate fantasy - but he seems to like it). We were reading a Junie B. Jones book last night that had the word "pasketti" in it. Mason broke into a giggling fit because Junie called her favorite food pasketti. "It's not pasketti," he said emphatically, "it's BA-sketti!" He was so sure of himself, I didn't have the heart to correct him. Someday he'll have spaghetti on a spelling list and he'll figure it out.