Pampered Chef, Bumper Stickers and a Birthday

I hosted a Pampered Chef party for my friend Rafe's wife Kristi (this is her with her precious baby boy) today...and I took no pictures. I completely forgot. Between three babies getting into everything (and Charlotte falling and hitting her head), helping Kristi, being hypnotized by the beautiful, amazing and super-functional kitchen gadgets and toys and playing adoring Southern hostess, I just forgot all about my picture-taking promise to you all. Sorry. I can report, though, that we had a blast, and I feel like it went rather well. Hopefully, Kristi feels the same way. I linked her personal Pampered Chef website to her picture, so if you're interested in ordering something between today and Thursday when she closes the show, feel free to click there, put me in as the host and browse away. We would both really appreciate it.

Have you ever (and don't lie because I know that you have) been driving behind someone whose car is completely plastered with bumper stickers? Coexist (that one REALLY irks me), Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History, Obama '08 (suckers, haha), Visualize Whirled Peas (my mom's favorite) and my personal favorite, Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. I also like the one about, and I paraphrase, schools receiving all of the money they need while the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a new bomber. I digress...I usually wonder about these people who have multiple messages on the back of their vehicle. Here's what I've observed:

1. They're usually liberal hippies. Let's just be honest, here. There might be a "don't abort babies because it isn't nice" message somewhere, but usually the granola and dirty hair are evident from the vehicle, along with the quasi-Socialist, "everybody just get along, man" philosophy. Educated, conservative people don't feel the need to get their point across as they drive to and fro running errands because there is more to them than their views on a particular subject. I am very passionate about many things; so is my husband. That's why I have a blog - my passions and opinions are more appropriate here than on Adam's little blue Elantra as I drive to school, then to pick Charlotte up at daycare.



2. These "message cars" are rarely nice cars. Again, I'm just being honest. A vintage Volkswagon bus, yes. A silver 2006 Merecedes, no. Again, I think education and status plays a role here. And, of course, people with nicer cars don't feel very inclined to stick cheap, gaudy, hard-to-remove stickers onto something they selected with care and are still working to pay off. Any car from the 70's or 80's seems at home with those kinds of messages on it, but any vehicle much later than that being used a moving billboard for peace, love and harmony just seems like an anachronism.

Lastly, it's my dad's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Dad!!