Celebrities in the News

I don't know if it is because it is break, or because it has been a long, dreary day, but I could not come up with anything exciting to post about, so I am going with something simple. That is some celebrities that have been in the news lately! The first one that struck me as something interesting is the famous actor who plays the mean dad in the "Meet the Parents" movies, Robert De Niro. The actor cracked a joke towards Michelle Obama about possibly having a white first lady after the November elections. Even though it was taken the wrong way, De Niro stated that he meant no harm to anyone by saying what he said, especially not towards the first lady of the United States. He did formally apologize for what he said after her office stated that it was inexcusable and inappropriate. That is definitely one thing I would not like about being famous. If you say one thing that might offend just one person, it turns into a huge deal and suddenly your considered a racist. 
The next celebrity news I have seen recently is about country stars Lady Antebellum, also known as "Lady A" for short. These singers are going to put on a free concert for a school in Indiana that had recently been hit by a tornado. The cool thing about this story is that a rival school are the ones who got this concert to happen for this poor town that did not get left with very much after the storm passed. Many students stated that this kind gesture meant a lot to them. This concert is going to be put on during Henryville High School's prom. I find it very cool that a band is willing to put on a free concert when so many bands are not willing to do that because they feel they need more money than they already have. 
The last piece of news about a celebrity that caught my eye was that of Gene Simmons from the famous band KISS and Tommy Lee from Motley Crew talking trash on girl singers, Rihanna in particular. They bluntly stated that they are tired of girl singers going up there with all these dancers surrounding them as well as lip syncing a majority of their songs. They believe that no lip syncing should be allowed. They see it as dishonest and call it singing kareokee. To them they are being put out of business due to this, and they do not feel it is right since they believe that they have real talent. Lip syncing is something that I feel should not be allowed as well. If they are good enough to be that famous they should show it instead of faking it. 
Well, there is the news about celebrities I got for this week. I'm sure there are many more stories, some may be more interesting, but it is good to read up on some of it here and there every now and then even though it probably is not the most educational stuff to read.

I'm Officially an Aunt!

I don't know about anybody else, but my Spring Break started out with some awesome news. My brother and his wife had their first baby together on Saturday morning! His name is Hunter. and for being a newborn he is pretty adorable! It sounds rude, but most newborns are kind of weird looking at first. It could just be because he is my nephew, but he is a pretty good looking newborn. My brother and his wife had an extremely long night, and so did my parents. My brother and Stephanie, his wife, decided to go to the hospital at about 10:30 Friday night, and by about 11:00 they called my parents who drove an hour and a half to get to the hospital before little Hunter made his grand appearance. I got a phone call at about 2 in the morning, but did not feel like I needed to rush to the hospital since it is only about five minutes from our house. My parents only did because this is Stephanie's third baby, and I guess they tend to come out faster after one or two. I ended up going to the hospital at about 9 the next morning, and Hunter still hadn't arrived. When I got there my parents and I went and ate breakfast in the hospital cafeteria, then Daniel came and got my mom and me to go back and see Stephanie. While we were back there she was saying she was having pressure and it was time to push, so my mom and I left the room to go wait. At exactly 10 a.m. Hunter arrived to say hello to the world. We all joked with my brother about passing out, but he hung in there and made it through! By about 10:30 we all got to go back and meet little baby Hunter. My mom got to hold him first, and then I did. He did not cry the whole time up until it was time to get a bath. My brother took a video of him crying that is so cute. His little chin quivers every time he screams. 
Whenever they took  him back for a nap my mom, dad, and I decided to go eat lunch with Steven at this time since we could not really see the baby anyway. We went and got some Subway at the mall, then my mom and I shopped around for a little bit. We did not find much, but I did score a new pair of Nikes. They are really sweet shoes! After that we went back to the hospital. When we got back there Stephanie's other two kids were there. They are a bit hyper, but they are fun to be around. I ate snacks with her son and helped him color. Her daughter really wanted to hold Hunter. They let her hold him, but it was kind of scary because she is only five. I hung out at the hospital until about 6 when I decided it was probably time to go home and hang out with Steven. Tonight they are supposed to bring Hunter over so we can see him without six other people being around constantly. I am pretty excited to see my new nephew! I consider Stephanie's other kids my niece and nephew even though they aren't my brother's as well as Steven's nieces and nephews, but Hunter is the first real official one by blood. It is pretty exciting! I hope he likes me when he gets bigger!

Makeup

The other day I was driving to work when the people on the radio were discussing how much it costs certain celebrities to look good each month. The one person I heard discussed was Jennifer Aniston, most known for her role on the television show Friends as well as many, many other movies. They stated that it costs her $8000 a month to basically look good. What they meant by this is how much it costs her to buy things such as make-up. This number is ridiculous. It got me wondering why it costs them so much when it costs me so much less than that. It is just crazy to me. It also got me wondering how much the average woman spends on makeup as well. On this site I found it states that the average woman will spend up to $15000 on makeup in her lifetime between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five. It also broke it down by saying that each woman spends about $43 each time shes goes out and gets makeup, and that this happens about five times a year. Honestly, that seems high to me. That could just be because I do not wear all that much makeup. I wear mascara, foundation, and that powder that goes all over your face (I honestly don't know what to call it) on a regular basis. Occasionally I will wear eyeliner and eye shadow, but that is only occasionally. Each of these is approximately $5 each, so I assume I probably spend about $15 or maybe $20 every three months or so on makeup. The math of that is only about $80 or so a year, not $216, but that is just me. This video talks about how much it costs to buy all the makeup for someone's face. For those out there who feel you spend too much on makeup, this site compares the prices of makeup to help find the cheaper kind and where to buy it. I find it crazy that people will spend gobs of money on makeup, but that is probably just me being cheap. It also the fact that some people have the money to do that, and some don't. For those that do, spend freely! I hope some found this to be a bit interesting. 

Spring Break Has Begun!

So as many of you know, Spring Break has officially begun for most! The wonderful break began for me Wednesday night after my night class since I only have class two days a week. It is pretty nice! Some think that only having class two days a week makes break not as worth it, but that is totally wrong. Even though I only have class two days a week, I am also in online classes which puts my homework amount very high for each week. At least during Spring Break I will only have to worry about work, and not work and homework. This is somewhat true, but then again this year it's not, because I will be gone on a cruise the week after Spring Break which leaves me responsible with doing that weeks' homework over break. That week I will be free from homework as well as work! I can not wait! It is going to be such a relief. I imagine it will also be a blast. I have never been on a cruise before, but I have high expectations for it. From what I hear they are a really good time. I hope everyone else is excited as I am about break! We are having the perfect weather for it too. I say that now, but watch it rain all week of break so nobody can truly enjoy it as much as if the weather was lovely out like it has been the past few days. This weather makes me glad to be put out in lawn and garden during my time spent at my job. This blog is somewhat short, but all I have left to say is enjoy your break everybody!

National Defense Authorization Act

Many of us realize that the threat of terrorism is an issue facing the United States, but is it as big of a deal as the government likes to put on? Recently President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act which basically gives the United States military authorization to arrest and detain anybody suspected of terrorism in the United States. It expands the power of the federal government to fight this War on Terror we have been fighting for far too long. This includes the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists without any type of trial. I find the signing of this bill to be somewhat ignorant on behalf of President Obama. He clearly stated in the article above that he has serious "reservations" about the bill, yet he signed it anyway. I'm sorry but if I have doubts about doing something, especially something that is a big deal, I am not going to do it. For example, if I'm considering buy a new car, but something seems fishy about it, I am not going to go buy it anyway until whatever is wrong with it is fixed.
According to this article the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, has three main functions. The first is to authorize the government to indefinitely imprison someone without any type of charge or trial. The second thing this law would do is to mandate the military detention of certain citizens of the United States who would be outside of military control if not for this law including those civilians detained in the United States. The last function of the NDAA is to transfer to the Department of Defense authorities and responsibilities that are now held by the Department of Justice. I do disagree with this bill, but there are some that are all for it such as Senator Lindsey Graham who feels the law just says for the first time that our homeland is part of the battlefield of this War on Terror, and that people will be arrested and detained without a charge or trial. This news clip somewhat helps explain more what the NDAA is and what is does. I'm sure there are some people out there who completely agree with the NDAA, and that is okay, but to me this is a very wrong thing. It is not right to detain anyone without any kind of charge for doing so. I have also always been raised to believe that everyone has the right to a fair and speedy trial or however that saying goes, so denying someone the right to a trial seems unamerican to me.

Bogged Down

My goodness these past few weeks have been heavy. Going from school to work to a home that needs cleaned constantly to homework to having a life is tough. It is also something that has wearing me out so much lately. I am currently enrolled in seventeen hours here at Missouri Southern. I have never had a problem carrying this load before since I have always worked and attended school, but this semester has definitely been a challenge. It seems I have had more homework than ever, which is basically all the time. Every single class I am in aside from this one consists of reading an entire chapter out of the text book for the class, taking a quiz over it, and answering discussion questions about that particular chapter. That does not seem like a big deal, but when you have four different chapters to read that are each at least twenty pages long, not to mention boring considering they are text book chapters, tends to add up to a decent amount of time. I am also working at least thirty hours a week at my job. This is an area that could possibly be cut down a bit to make extended room for homework, but then again there are bills to pay and food to be bought. I am thankful that I like my job a majority of the time. The people I work with are fun to be around which is nice. I can see how working with people that are not nice or easy to get along with would make working at that place a not so fun experience. It also stays pretty busy at work, Lowe's, considering the damage that still needs fixed on buildings and homes here in Joplin. 
Being in my own house is also something new and a change for me. I have always lived with my parents or in the dorms at school up until this semester. I got married in January to Steven, and we rent a cute little one bedroom house. Somehow this little house is always a mess that needs picked up all the time. I guess I can't complain too much since it is small, I am just not used to having be the one picking up all the time. I now understand why my mom freaks out and feels the need to clean my parents house from top to bottom whenever they are expecting company! The dorms were also not a big deal when it came to cleaning since there was two of us responsible for a little bitty room. Making room for friends and family is the biggest struggle in front of me right now. I am definitely not used to all my friends and family being at least thirty minutes away except for my brother who lives here as well. I hate that I do not have time to spend with my friends and family since I either work or go to school everyday. I hardly have time to even see my brother when we live in the same town because he has to work at least sixty hours a week as well to support him and his wife. They are expecting a baby any day now so that is exciting! I really miss my friends and parents, but that is probably something I will get used to in time. I do not mean to complain since that is basically all this blog is about, but I need a break so bad! Thank goodness Spring Break is a short couple weeks away! I don't know about anybody else, but I am definitely excited for that.