Momversation Monday: Gay Marriage: Where Do You Stand?

Hi everyone!! I'm back with Momversation Mondays! Hard to do them when you have little to no access to the Internet, but I'm back!

Today's topic is a great one for those who have been watching the news on California's Proposition 8 overturn earlier in the month.
Passed in November '08 with a 53.4 percent margin, the ballot banned same sex unions in the state. On August 4th it was ruled unconstitutional.

I've stood on the issue and still stand to this day on giving rights for same sex couples to be married. Why?
I ask you why not? If I was married to a woman how does that hurt your marriage?

Lets separate church and state here.  I'm not going to talk about the religious views of gay marriage, but I will say this:
One thing that people need to know under that law no religion will be required to change it's religious policies with regards to same sex couples and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs. So now that the religious aspect is out of the way for me let's move on to the state part of the topic:

Same sex couples are looking for the same rights as heterosexual couples, as well as the benefits that come with marriage.
Some of these benefits are:

• veteran's disability
• medicaid
• income tax deduction, credits, rate exemption and estimates
• joint parenting rights, such as access to children's school records
• family visitation rights for spouses such as to visit a spouse in a hospital or prison
• next-of-kin status for emergency medical decisions or filing wrongful death claims
• custodial rights to children, shared property, child support and alimony after divorce
• tax free transfer of property between spouses
• Court notice of probate proceedings
• Domestic violence protection orders
• Funeral and bereavement leave
• JOINT ADOPTION and FOSTER CARE
• Joint tax filing
• INSURANCE licenses, coverage, eligibility and benefits organization of mutual benefits society
• Legal status with step-children
• Permission to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse, including burial or cremation
• Rights of survivorship of custodial trust
• Right to change surname upon marriage
• Right to inherit property
• Spousal privilege in court cases (the marital confidences privilege and the spousal testimonial privilege)
• The right to many of ex- or late spouse's benefits including Social Security pension, veteran's pension, survivor benefits and more.

I'm a big supporter of adoption and having gay marriage will ensure that same-sex couple would be able to adopt jointly and be able to have custodial rights to those said children is important! If something were to happen to a same sex partner, those rights of custody and to inherit joint property would not be valid in a court of law.  I've mention this before about a gay man being kicked out of his partner's hospital room because under the law his next of kin status and rights to be in the room do not exist in his state. Is that even right to you?

How would you feel if those rights would be taken away from you?

It seems crazy to me that in 2010 those civil rights are not given to all humans. 

Let me know what you think!

Meet The New Loves Of My Life

If you are mom you probably have your uniform that you turn to on a daily basis. You know what I mean!

T-shirt, PJ bottoms, the pony tail hairstyle and flip flops or sneakers. If you are like me a bathrobe is in that uniform...

So I decided that it was time to get rid of my hoodies and baggy pants!

And I decided to start with my shoes! Why? I love shoes!

AND something you might not know about me. They are my first pair of heels! OK, I have had heels before but I never had a thin heel, they have always been that chunky heel, or what I like to call them the "Spice Girl Heel".

I picked up an nice wedged heel, a cute dress up shoe and boots that are going to look awesome with a pair of skinny jeans! Hopefully I'll be able to go shopping...

I still need to pick up so stuff for the kids and myself and only have a couple of days left here BOO! Oh and my hair! A MUST before Cpl. Mayhem returns!!

For now I'm going to enjoy my new shoes!

SOOOO Tired Of Waiting!

I don't know about you but I'm tired of waiting for Cpl. Mayhem come home for his vacation.

Yes, I'm not looking forward to his return home permanently yet. Once event at a time! I was counting down the days to his homecoming but I got too anxious and annoyed on how long I was waiting. Breaking events down really helps speed the process along.

We first were looking forward to school ending. Then visiting the grandparents in Panama, and now our return home.

Still waiting though!

UGH!!

Chicky Says The Funniest Things!

While on video chat with Cpl. Mayhem the kids were having a great time waving and pointing at daddy.
Half way through our conversation and said "Daddy! Chocolate milk!"
I asked her again and she repeated, "Daddy, chocolate milk".
We both looked confused at her and I told her "hunny Daddy can't have your chocolate milk."
Rather upset that I didn't understand right away she pointed at her father and said, "Daddy had chocolate milk, look at his face", motioning to her upper lip trying to get her dad to wipe his face.
I start to laugh. With the delay my husband asks what he missed and I tell him:
"Cpl. Mayhem, your daughter wants to know if you had chocolate milk because of your mustache!"

My Top 10 Similarities Of Dogs and Kids

1. They never listen when they are called
2. They need to be trained to do the same behaviour over and over again- potty training for both
3. Most of the time you have to reward them for their good behaviour 
4. They LOVE playing with the toilet or water in general
5. They are WAY too loud
6. They are so cute when they are babies! (Not that they aren't when they are older it's that "puppy phase" that gets everyone)
7. They love to play catch
8. They have multiple personalities- they can be shy then go crazy in 2.5 seconds
9. They are curious about EVERYTHING!
10. They have energy for days!

Ducky Loses A Tooth

He's growing up!

Ducky lost his first tooth!

I believe it started the day before with some ribs we were eating, it must have helped loosen the tooth. Let me also bring up how excited I was that my Ducky has been eating more than cheese sandwiches!
The next day all Ducky could talk about was that tooth. Playing with it and everything, no matter how many times we told him to leave it alone he wouldn't leave it the tooth alone!

Finally by dinner Ducky couldn't eat his sandwich my dad made him, the poor thing kept crying cause it hurt so much. After trying to get him to use his back teeth to chew the tooth finally came out.

Of course we had to document Chicky's set!

Our next mission was to get the tooth ready for the Tooth Fairy. Dad got a box for his tooth and we placed it there for easier access for the Tooth Fairy.

Next we did the ceremonial placing of the matchbox under the pillow.

It was a big event that night! No one wanted to go to sleep and they kept looking under the pillow to see if it was still there.

The morning was full of excitement when Ducky woke up to find the five coins he asked for!

I'm just happy the first tooth is finally out. Let me tell you I was an emotional basket case when it did though. My dad sure had a good laugh!!

Later days!

Wordless Wednesday~ Beach Day!

Beach Day!

Sunday was a great day for the beach!

At first it was a little cloudy and raining a bit but once we got to the beach it was really nice!

Ducky eating calamari!

We started out beach day with lunch at the restaurant right on the beach. It reminded me of when we lived in Brazil. My sisters and I would go play on the beach then come in for fresh calamari and cokes!

Chicky eating calamari

Both Ducky and Chicky ate calamari and liked it!! I KNOW! Who was a happy mom! OK if we told them it was squid, they may not have eaten it. They gobbled it up like it was going out of style. The Ducky pointed out that it looked like octopus, we agreed that it did and continued to eat his "chicken".

We had a little company with the cat who was hovering around my mom's head.

I think he might want some fish!

After a great meal of fresh fish and grilled chicken, we walked around the beach looking for shells.

Gotta love grandparents

I think she found some!

Ducky helping Chicky find her own stick

The sun did eventually come out and the kids found some amazing shells and once we filled out little container Chicky found a much better place to put her treasures!

A great day was had by all!!

We did leave a message for Cpl. Mayhem: