typographical error

a couple of weeks ago jake and i filled out updated voter registration cards with our new address.  we actually got into a tiff the morning i was going to mail them because we were both rushed and i was trying to get him to sign his and he was distracted.  i gave up and left the cards sitting on the table and when i got home that evening they were gone.  

last week as i was sorting the mail into "mine" and "his" piles, i saw that we'd received our new cards.  i dropped jake's card into his pile and didn't think any more of it.

then yesterday afternoon i happened across jake's card again.  i glanced at it and in the "political affiliation" box i saw, "REP."

i was completely taken aback.  was this why he mailed his own registration card that morning?  why did he change his political affiliation?  and why did he feel like he had to hide it from me?  and most importantly for the love of all that is good and right in the world how did i end up married to a republican?

i debated about whether to ask him about it for all of forty-five seconds because i'm impulsive and i can't keep my mouth shut.  

"jake?  can i ask you something?" 

he gives me the, Crap, Here We Go look.

"did you change your political affiliation to republican?"

"no.  why?"

i showed him the card and he was baffled.  i was relieved.  a short phone call to the county election board and we had it all straightened out.  a typographical error on their part.  [aside: or was it? wink wink from the only state in the country where every single county went mccain.]

but the whole situation made me think: why was i so deeply disturbed when i saw the new voter registration card?  i felt downright betrayed, and why?  jake has a right to affiliate with whatever political party he pleases.  it doesn't define him.  i still love him.  my family has existed peacefully for generations in a deeply bipartisan household - we are democrats and libertarians and republicans, baptists and catholics and unitarians, hurricanes and sooners and cowboys.  and that's just my immediate family.

and what difference did it make if he was misregistered, anyway?  it would just screw up a few useless statistical polls, and he'd only be eligible to vote in the republican primary.

then it occurred to me - would it be such a bad thing if only democrats voted in the republican primary, and only republicans voted in the democratic primary?  what a unifying experience, being responsible for choosing the other party's candidates.  we'd end up with elected officials who, ideologically, would be much closer to the nation as  whole, rather than espousing views on behalf of only this party or that party.  they'd have to pander equally to all of us.  it would be, in mathematical terms, an election based on mean and not mode.  an averaging event.

maybe i'll start a grassroots campaign, then, to have all my democratic friends register as republicans and start really messing with the republican primaries.  

but then democrats will just start voting for the republican candidates and vice versa, and the whole exercise will have been pointless.  it's interesting to think about, though.

hillary clinton - REP - 2016.

guess whose first word was "mama?"

i knew this kid was smart.

they can't be trusted

i found these mysterious photographs on my camera this week.

i have no idea who took them.  do you?

in the background here you can see the lovely blue wall (NO MORE!) covered with paint swatches (i went with the one on the far left, even though i really wanted the one on the far right).

air shot:

i wonder how many items of dress-up clothes autumn can get onto her person at one time?

now for the interpretive dance portion of this post:

perhaps she's a matador?

hey you! there! sitting at your computer!

too bad i wasn't around to tell jake he was using the wrong lens and all of his pictures would be out of focus.

I AM ALL THAT IS MAN!

(ten cool points to the first person who can name that movie without googling it.)

neat freak in training

autumn has a drawer in the kitchen dedicated to all of her stuff. paper plates, pink paper birthday napkins, bendy straws, and plastic cups, all accessible to her so she can make her own snack or pour herself a drink.

last weekend (in the middle of playing dress-up - note the renaissance faire dress sewn by jake's mom) she decided to "organize" her drawer while i was cleaning the kitchen. she set all the cups upright and carefully placed a straw in each one.



it was so cute that i almost hated to ask her to close the drawer. she quickly realized her error and laid all the cups down.

she's such a sweetie.

i can has biter biscuit?

o hai.  i has a biter biscuit.


you want some, sis?


nooooes i dropped it!

thanks, matt

a friend said, of my post about work a few days ago, the following:

"Never name the well you will not drink from." 
-Bedouin Saying

so true, right?

blog hosting

i am seriously considering moving this blog to a new host because of all of the hassle it is to post pictures.  i think it must be because i'm on a mac, but formatting pictures on blogger is an enormous hassle and it never turns out right.

anyone have any suggestions for a mac - and - jpeg - friendly host?  i hate to change addresses, but i'd love to get someplace permanent and workable, even if i have to pay to have it hosted.