Barak Obama made a visit to Rolla today in a tour of a few rural Missouri cities to try and change some red counties to blue. We went to see the show and what all may or may not be going on around the visit.
The newspaper is reporting that a presidential candidate has never made a stop in Rolla before so this is a big opportunity for us. Yesterday people stood in line for hours in the 90+ degree heat to get tickets for the town hall. I wasn't quite up for that yesterday. I was interested but the boys wouldn't be...Instead of watching the speech the boys and I (and our babysitter too) went down to the area of town where he would be speaking to see what we could see.
The anti-abortion picketers were out - that was the first thing that we noticed and the fact that we would get really close and find a parking spot very easily. Believe it or not, we seemed to know most of the people holding signs. (Yes, it is a small town.) I was really surprised at the extreme lack of people hanging around though! We were there 30 minutes before he was scheduled to arrive and there were only a few people milling about on the streets. We weren't being shooed away either.
We didn't see Obama...his buses pulled to a back entrance of the building and he was whisked into the building. Of the 6 other people around us trying to catch a glimpse, one said that they saw him put on a jacket and was girded by police officers walking in a door 10 feet from the bus. No waving or greeting people...but really there weren't very many people to greet! We saw a ton of press though!
There were about 8 different stands selling different Barack Obama stuff - t-shirts, buttons, bears - near the public entrance. Everyone was getting checked by a metal detector that had a ticket before they could enter. One poor lady had a ticket and portable oxygen and they wouldn't let her in because you weren't allowed to bring in a bag!
We listened to his stump speech on the radio. He said it was a town hall, but he talked for an hour and then took questions for 15 minutes. Seems a lot like a corporate meeting than a town hall:) Unfortunately the visit wasn't as big of a deal for the town that I thought it would be. I was hoping that there would be some more hype and more fanfare. Instead it was three big buses and about 9 other vehicles pulling into town. He was prepped well because he at least pronounced the name of the town correctly. Clarie McCaskill has been by his side a bunch so I'm sure her aides were there to help with that!
We did look at a TV van for a few minutes - I guess that I could count that as a field trip for school! Unfortunately the engineers weren't interested in talking about anything that we were seeing though they didn't seem to mind us watching. We did see a clip of Obama getting on the bus at the last stop and talking about John McCain (based on a question).
That's my view of our presidential hopeful visit. No hand shaking or waves or anything...just a big black plain bus that was watching CNN on a huge flat screen as they came into town. The end result for me was not what he was after - he didn't secure my vote in November.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Grandma's Angels
Here was one fun toy from Christmas in July...
Yes, my parents did in fact purchase cap guns for all of their grandchildren!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Chinese Lesson today
Today's Chinese lesson is all about naming relative's titles. So, if you happen to see my boys this weekend, you'll have to ask them your relation to them in Chinese...It may help to figure it out in English first :)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Such a busy month
I've been thinking about blogging all month, but haven't taken the time to sit down and do it. No great wisdom and deep thought.
Last week was a great week though very very busy! I had a chance to help in the kitchen at Camp David of the Ozarks for three days. This camp is for boys and girls who have a parent in prison. It's the 5th year for this camp but the first time that I have had a chance to volunteer. My hubby has done some construction work there so I was familiar with the location - about 8 miles outside of town.
It was wonderful that my boys got to go along as well. They have "Green Team" staff that volunteer to take care of children of those volunteering. So, I volunteered and my boys got some camp experience as well. Boy were they tuckered out! They got to do camp things though not at the same time as the campers. The family who runs the place have a son who is in-between my boys and so they had a great time together! (He has a bunch of sisters so he doesn't feel like he gets too much boy playing time!) On Tuesday, even though they played all day (we got up at 6am to get there), they wanted to go fishing after dinner. I was happy to do my regular job on Wednesday and not do long hours again, but am very admirable of those who did cook 5 days in a row and did all of the planning!
What I learned from the week is that I worry about small stuff too much. These kids have gone through way too much for not even being a teenager yet! I get on my boys because I want them to use the hose in the grass and not on the driveway. Talking with one of the boys gave me a greater perspective this week which I really needed.
Last week was a great week though very very busy! I had a chance to help in the kitchen at Camp David of the Ozarks for three days. This camp is for boys and girls who have a parent in prison. It's the 5th year for this camp but the first time that I have had a chance to volunteer. My hubby has done some construction work there so I was familiar with the location - about 8 miles outside of town.
It was wonderful that my boys got to go along as well. They have "Green Team" staff that volunteer to take care of children of those volunteering. So, I volunteered and my boys got some camp experience as well. Boy were they tuckered out! They got to do camp things though not at the same time as the campers. The family who runs the place have a son who is in-between my boys and so they had a great time together! (He has a bunch of sisters so he doesn't feel like he gets too much boy playing time!) On Tuesday, even though they played all day (we got up at 6am to get there), they wanted to go fishing after dinner. I was happy to do my regular job on Wednesday and not do long hours again, but am very admirable of those who did cook 5 days in a row and did all of the planning!
What I learned from the week is that I worry about small stuff too much. These kids have gone through way too much for not even being a teenager yet! I get on my boys because I want them to use the hose in the grass and not on the driveway. Talking with one of the boys gave me a greater perspective this week which I really needed.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tofu trial number 2
About 6 years after my first attempt at tofu, I got the courage to try again tonight.
A little background on try number 1 - I think it's the only meal that I have every prepared in our 9 years of marriage that my husband would not eat. So I've been a little gun shy about trying again. Honestly I've not been that huge of a fan of the stuff but I know that it's good for us (me especially for the protein). P.F. Chang's makes an awesome vegetarian lettuce wrap with little tofu cubes that both of us really like so I knew that it can taste good.
Today I tried again and all four of us ate it with stir-fry. My wonderful husband's response was that it was astonishingly better than the last time that I tried. He preferred to have it in the stir-fry as compared to sans any protein source but not as much as he would like chicken. It was definitely a complement since he rarely gets any other form of protein in his stir-fry beyond shrimp.
What did I do? I got extra firm tofu. I drained the liquid and then squeezed out more moisture between two towels with a plate and heavy canned veggies on top. I made it into small cubes (about 1cm cubes - the size of a Miquon 1 block) and fried them in peanut oil and soy sauce. I'll do it again sometime.
A little background on try number 1 - I think it's the only meal that I have every prepared in our 9 years of marriage that my husband would not eat. So I've been a little gun shy about trying again. Honestly I've not been that huge of a fan of the stuff but I know that it's good for us (me especially for the protein). P.F. Chang's makes an awesome vegetarian lettuce wrap with little tofu cubes that both of us really like so I knew that it can taste good.
Today I tried again and all four of us ate it with stir-fry. My wonderful husband's response was that it was astonishingly better than the last time that I tried. He preferred to have it in the stir-fry as compared to sans any protein source but not as much as he would like chicken. It was definitely a complement since he rarely gets any other form of protein in his stir-fry beyond shrimp.
What did I do? I got extra firm tofu. I drained the liquid and then squeezed out more moisture between two towels with a plate and heavy canned veggies on top. I made it into small cubes (about 1cm cubes - the size of a Miquon 1 block) and fried them in peanut oil and soy sauce. I'll do it again sometime.
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