Wow. It's an opinion.

Dear author of the blog below (hereafter referred to as "Mr. High School"),
  Please know that your thoughts have stirred some fairly deep emotions within me and while I mean no disrespect to you, I have decided to stand up and make my feelings known.  These feelings appear to directly contradict yours, and while I do not apologize for my words, I do apologize if they upset you.  Then again, my mom always told me that no one can ever get in trouble for telling the truth.  Let the truth begin. 
Sincerely,
Kipp

The Blog post that started this whole shennanigan.

Have you ever read something so graphic from someone that you felt like you had to turn away?  Have you ever heard words so disturbing that you cringed at them?  Have you ever felt trapped in a right-wing, patriarchal, and oppressive situation? 

Well I felt one of those feelings almost every day of my high school career and it's taken me until now to realize why: some Christians are nuts. 

Please note: I am not calling Christianity nuts.  I am calling some religious followers a bit crazed. 

So in my browsing, I came accross a blog entry from someone that attended my high school.  (See the link above.)  A Christian high school.  And before you ask, no, I didn't know him very well. 

This is the same Christian school where when I was 13, they showed "The Silent Scream" in an assembly to deter us from abortion.  The same school where at age 14 I was asked to leave a Bible class by a teacher when I vocalized that I did not align with his beliefs on gay marriage.  The same school where a male teacher and coach could get his girlfriend pregnant and still have a job, as long as he married her before the baby was born.  However, it's also the same school that an unwed and pregnant female teacher's contract was not renewed because she was not marrying the father of the child.  Gee.  Double standards much? 

Forgive me if I seem just a bit put off by power hungry religious organizations, but at the moment I find that my experience with them shows that they are some of the absolutely the meanest, scariest, and downright flawed organizations around.  I'm not kidding when I tell you that I didn't have to rebel much against my parents because they weren't strict at all compared to what I dealt with just walking onto school grounds every day. 

So, Mr. High School has written a post about his view on gay marriage.  The post originated a year ago, and I'm just now stumbling on it and gagging right now.  The most insane statement to me is the line which states (hypothetically to him I believe) "If we aren't all created in the image of God equally then we are all unequal." 

Did I read that correctly?  Am I to believe my eyes?  So if a person doesn't believe in God, and therefore doesn't believe that we're made in His image, then we are unequal?  Believers are better than non-believers is what I boil that down to mean.  Why on earth would we (Christians) spread God's word then?  Wouldn't we want Christians to be an "exclusive" club?  We wouldn't want all of those lowly atheists and humanists to spoil the mix now, would we?  (I hope you all picked up on my sarcasm, because I was laying it on thicker than peanut butter there.)

Well, then Mr. High School goes and says it.  It blew my lid off when I was trying to understand what he was saying. 

"Things that are unequal should be treated unequally. I don't treat my friends the same way I treat my dog. In the same manner if someone put a gun to my head and made me choose the destruction of either my dog or a piece of paper I don't flip a coin to make my choice, I chose the paper because the dog has more value." 

So now Mr. High School has decided that non-believers are of less value than believers?  Then we're given the example that if a man were forced to choose something based upon value, he'd choose the item or being with the most value.  He'd pick his dog over a scrap of paper.  Logical.  But now do we say that a Christian must chose heterosexuals over homosexuals?  Christians over Muslims?  Are we really supposed to be ranking human beings? 

Side note: Those of you that know me also know that I treat my dog better than some human beings.  It's just a thing I do. 

So Mr. High School (and I'm using this phrase generally, and it applies to more than one person that I went to high school with) and everyone in general, I am less important to Christians because I live with a man that I am not married to.  I am less important to Christians because I sin every single day of my insane life.  I am less important to Christians because my friends have children and are not married.  I am less important to Christians because my friends are in committed and homosexual relationships.  I am less important to you than a scrap of paper. 

But it's okay, I am still important to Him.  And that's all that really matters folks. 

Where are they now?

Now, this isn't a bad episode on VH1.  This is an update of some of the things Mike & I have been up to with the help of friends and family. 

If you need to know what we started with, click here.

I have to start with the progress in the kitchen because it's so incredible.  Remember the ivory cupboards?  Well they're gone.  Remember the red walls?  Well they're almost gone. 

I guess before I started with the pictures I should have entered a disclaimer.  Oh well, better late than never.  DISCLAIMER: Our house is a mess.  You don't live here.  If it bothers you, tough.  It'll be clean after we finish ripping everything apart. 

Sorry for the really bright, over exposed part of the picture.  I just wanted you all to see the horrific red that's still left on the ceiling that is about to be KILLZ'd tomorrow.  And then, take note of the soft, buttery yellow on the walls and sigh with relief. 

I have to throw this one in here, the towel racks that drilled holes for, leveled, and mounted.  Move over Bob Villa. 

Then there's this little fiasco.  Yes, this is my desk for the time being.  Yikes.  It looks like a failblog photo waiting to happen. 

Now that's a failblog photo waiting to happen.  But wait, my only redeeming moment in this photo are the shoe racks that I assembled in the bottom of the left side of the closet. 

This I have to laugh at.  We don't have a kitchen at the moment, so this is what we have.  Pantry on the top shelf.  Cups and plates in the clear box.  Mini fridge in the bottom full of water, beer, gatorade, and paint brushes.  Yah, you read that right. 

Well hello new showerhead.  Mike's so handy.  I love it.

And last, but certainly not least.  For your viewing pleasure.  It's a door.  Not just any door.  But the door to the master bedroom.  You don't know how awkward it was to sleep in a room with no doors. 

Now if only the master bathroom had doors. 

But here, one of my favorite parts of all.  New sink.  New countertop.  New color.  Recessed lighting above.  (I'm gloating.  Be jealous.  I love this part of the house and Mike's letting me have it as a dressing area.) 

Wait a minute, he wants me to have it so that all of my stuff stays there and out of his way in the bathroom.  He's not letting me have the dressing area.  He wants me to have the dressing area so the girly stuff stays out of his way!?!  Oh well.  Either way I'm happy! 

Love you all! 

Mike and Kipp

Nothing House Related

Don't get too excited, this isn't house related at all.  It's family related. 

Every year on my birthday I get a little teary eyed.  You see, on my 18th birthday my entire family went to dinner to celebrate.  Parents, Aunt, Uncle, Gramma, Grampa, Cousin.  You see we aren't a big family, but we only come together about once every month or two to celebrate something.  On my 18th birthday I of course recieved presents, but there was one in particular that was special. 

My grandfather gave me his mother's wedding ring.  He said that she had instructed him to give it to his first granddaughter (me) on her 21st birthday.  For some reason, he said he had to give it to me early. 

Just a side note about this ring.  It's not big and gaudy.  It's not monstrous and shiny.  It's simple.  It's a platinum band with five tasteful diamonds set flush into the setting.  It's perfect.  I can honestly say that if I were to design a ring, I think I would design something that looks extremely like this one. 

So back to that night.  We finished up dinner.  We all headed on our way.  That was a Sunday night.  On Wednesday night I went out with some friends to celebrate being 18 and when I came home on Thursday morning I found out that my grandfather had passed away. 

The way I understand it is that my Grampa had gone to the hospital for some sort of normal tests and on Wednesday evening he sent my Gramma home and told her that he'd see her in the morning and not to worry.  He'd had her cancel an eye surgery he was supposed to have and was really not happy about all of the tests that were being run on him.  To me it seems that his final decision was to send everyone home so that no one was worried and he went to the big golf course in the sky that evening to play endless rounds with the Big Man. 

It's really hard for me to think that he knew he was dying and he didn't seem scared or alarmed in any way.  He was very matter-of-fact about everything.  He had given me the ring because he didn't think he'd make it to see me turn 21.  He had even sent my Gramma home because he didn't want her to worry about him being in the hospital. 

I miss his kind heart.  I miss the sound of him shuffling his feet in the kitchen.  I miss the whistle of his hearing aids.  I miss his general addiction to ice cream and cookies.  I miss how he always told he loved me and how proud of me he was.  I miss his hugs and the way that he always wore suspenders and carried a hankercheif.  I miss his smell. 

So here it is, my birthday again.  And we'll all be at that same restaraunt where we were 8 years ago.  The family has changed a bit since then (we've added a few great men to the mix) but Grampa's 5 girls are all still around and as Austin said "we're doing just fine." 

Top Ten Reasons I know I'm Growing Up

10.  My body doesn't recover from injury, alcohol consumption, or other things quite as quickly as it used to. 
9.  My friends and family used to seem so far away when they were in other cities.  Now they're in other states and even other countries, and they're still far away. 
8.  I used to avoid my parents like the plague.  Now I don't know what I'd do without them. 
7.  A 9" deep Kohler sink and a 5/8 HP In-Sink-Er-Ator garbage disposal with a 4 year warranty makes me happier than most things in the world could. 
6.  My primary job used to be going to school and working was part-time.  Now I have a primary job and as a creative outlet I go to school part-time. 
5.  My time used to be spent trying to ride my bicycle as fast as I could.  Now I try to ride my Vespa as safely as I can. 
4.  Most of the guys in my Prom or Homecoming pictures have now been married, been divorced, or are balding. 
3.  I used to splurge and buy Bud Light for a fun Friday night. Now Bud Light is all I can afford.

2.  I now know the difference between busy friends and bad friends. 
1.  I used to spend my free time doing homework, but now I spend it doing housework.

Reflections

Yesterday, I felt like the punk you see in front of you.  Bad hair.  Missing teeth.  Awkward sweater. 

A lot has changed since this picture was taken, and a lot hasn't.  I am still odd.  I still have chubby cheeks.  The double chin that you see here had disappeared for a while, but it's beginning to rear its ugly head again. 

But now I realize that I've begun to take responsibility for myself.  I've begun to build a life.  That life includes some of the most amazing people in the world, and without them I would be nothing but a lonely, nerdy, shell of myself. 

Thank you mom and dad for letting me wierd.  And thank you, friends, for turning this wierd little child into someone who is feeling pretty fulfilled at the moment. 

We Are Surrounded!

Some of you may have been following this on Facebook or my Twitter, but I thought I'd update you as to what I've found around our new house!  It's so exciting! 

For Mike I've located the following:

• Costco, 2.8 miles away
• In N Out, 1.2 mile away
• Home Depot, 2.8 miles away
• Jack in the Box, 0.3 miles away

For myself, I've compiled the following list:

• Michael's, 1.6 miles away
• Trader Joe's, 4.4 miles away
• Living Spaces, 3.7 miles away
• Souplantation, 1.3 miles away

So if you're ever in the area of Rancho Cucamonga, you may spot us at some of our favorite eating places as well as shopping places!  It's just so sad that there isn't a Scrap N Yap out here.  I do love that place. 

By the way, if you've got any recommendations for grocery stores or other places to grub at then please, LET US KNOW!  We need local insight!