Gingerbread Party Part 2

And here is the end result! A big mess and very cute houses!!! Thanks to the Bateman's and Rich's for making the evening so fun!

Christmas At the Hartman's

Hungry?

I just finished reading a really interesting book - The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins. It was recommended by my BFF Stephenie Meyer (okay, so Stephenie Meyer doesn't actually know who I am--I wish! Then I could tell her to FINISH Midnight Sun...anyway, she recommended this book on her website site, so I decided to read it). It is really good! Think back to high school english...did you ever read the short stories, The Most Dangerous Game or The Lottery? The book is kind of a cross between the two. Let me know what you think if you read it!

2 down...68 to go

Poor Ry. Long gone are the days of sleeping in until 5:15 am. He started his Trauma rotation yesterday, and that means the next 10 weeks are going to be a little crazy!!! He now is getting up every morning 3:45 am. Yikes...that is 5 hours earlier than me. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if he got off at 1:45 pm...you know, a typical 8 hour day...but since it normally isn't until 7 or 8 pm (or even later), it makes for a rough rotation. Well, only 68 days to go...but who's counting :)

Just a Dream

This isn't new...but I just recently heard it. It is pretty good!!! Carrie sang it on the CMA awards last night.

give THANKS

For the last 10 weeks, Ry has been working at the VA hospital. This rotation is great in terms of his schedule - for the most part, his weekends are free! :) And in free, I mean free in the Ortho world...Ry would say, "Working a few hours Saturday and Sunday morning is practically not working, therefore it's a day off!" Yeah, I don't get it either...surgeons live in this warped world if you ask me...anyway...

Because he had some "days off" Ry's mom came for a visit as well, which was a treat for us!!! It was a great weekend, 2 movies (Nights of Rodanthe - 3 thumbs down!; Eagle Eye - 3 thumbs UP), dinner at Margot's and PF Chang's, shopping, and a fantastic craft project :)

Here are some of our fun supplies!

It may look like he is thinking, "Why is Heather making me do this?"

But he actually loves my projects!

Fall Back

Last weekend Ryan's dad and grandma came for a visit. The weather was perfect, and it was just the right time to see the beautiful fall leaves. We took most of these pictures along the Natchez Trace Parkway Sunday afternoon. It is always lots of fun to have family out. Thanks for a great weekend!

We took this on our Riverwalk Walk!

Beaumont, Texas

Ryan and I spent a quick weekend in Texas visitng my brother and his family. They have a beautiful home and 6 awesome kids, plus a new puppy and a cat! During the 30 hours we were there (way too short btw) we had a birthday, a swim meet, 2 soccer games, and dinner at Tokyo's at 10:00pm (ironically we were the only party with kids! :). Thanks for a great weekend! Love you!

Great new tunes!!!

Love These Gals!

If Obama Wins...

Our Tax System Explained in Beer!
By: David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill
for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way
we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite
happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw
them a curve.
'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going
to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.'
Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our
taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would
still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How
could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would
get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man
and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his
beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to
reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he
proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing
(100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first
four continued to drink for free. But once outside the
restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,' declared the sixth
man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved
a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!!'
'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get
$10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the
breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We
didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!!!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next
night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine
sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to
pay the bill, they discovered something important.
They didn't have enough money between all of them for even
half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college
professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay
the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they
just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start
drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat
friendlier.