Birthday Fun

I got this off of another blog and thought it looked like fun. I tag you if you want to do it.

1. go to wikipedia and type in your birthday, month and day only:

2. list 3 events that occurred on that day.

• a. 1957 - Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is integrated through the use of United States Army troops.
• b. 1976 - The rock band U2 forms at a meeting at drummer Larry Mullen's home.
• c. 2006 - The Louisiana Superdome reopens after 13 months of reconstruction due to Hurricane Katrina.

3. list 2 important birthdays. ( I couldnt pick just two...I liked them all!)

• a. 1952 - Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (d. 2004)
• b. 1969 - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress, who is married to:
• 1944 - Michael Douglas, American actor and producer (a married couple share the same birthday)
• c. 1961 - Heather Locklear, American actress and model

4. list 1 death.
1960 - Emily Post, American author & etiquette expert

5. list a holiday or observance.
Mozambique - Armed Forces Day.

Wow!

The Part of You That No One Sees

You are balanced, peaceful, and sincere. You're the type of person who goes along to get along. And you're definitely afraid of rocking the boat. Underneath it all, you fear your world falling apart. You'll put up with a situation that you don't like in fear of changing it. Disruptive and forceful people intimidate you - and sometimes exploit you.

What's the Part of You That No One Sees?

Shopping

Shopping with my daughter this weekend at the mall. (aka Hell)

Me trying to convince her:

"Its not the brand you wear, but how you wear the brand."

Kinda catchy of me huh??

No?

She didnt buy it either.

dang

Cellphone vs. the Bible

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cellphone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go...hmmm...where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing.

Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think, "Where are my priorities?

And there are no DROPPED CALLS!

Warranty

You know how things always seem to tear up after the warranty has expired? I have heard people often joke that there is a timing device set to keep things from going wrong until that time period is over. Well, I believe it. How else can you explain the fact that I have three bras from Victoria Secrets. Same kind, bought the same day, only difference is one is white, one of beige and one is black. So explain to me how did the underwires ALL come out them on the same wash day.

DNA

Howard K Stern is nuts if he thinks that baby is his.

She doesnt look like him.

She looks like Larry Birkhead's.

Lemme see a show of hands...

Who thinks Larry is the Daddy?

Ok, now those that think Howard is the Daddy?

Things Mom taught me

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.

"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.

"You better pray that will come out! of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.

"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.

" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .

"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT .

"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY .

"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .

"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.

"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA .

"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11 My mother taught me about WEATHER.

"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.

"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.

"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION .

"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.

"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world

who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.

"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.

"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE .

"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.

"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR .

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me"

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.

"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.

"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me about WISDOM.

"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE.

"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you

Making decisions

Isnt is amazing that as the day goes on, that we become more and more thankful for decisions that we made earlier in the day?

Oh how thankful I am that I chose to wear black panties today, considering I discovered that I have a hole in the crotch of my black pinstripes that I am wearing...or I guess I could take that a step further and be thankful that I am not going commando.

Scary

Guess what I watched Sunday night? The Omen. The original one. I had never seen it. I dont watch scary movies. I hate scary movies. My husband loves them though and he has got our daughter and one of her friends watching them. Daughter's friend will spend the night and they will sit up watching scary movies. They watched the remake on Saturday morning. I watched some it. I didnt think it was too bad. But they kept commenting on how much better the original was, so I told Hubby I'd like to see it too. It was ok. I dont like movies that mess with the devil and God.

Our cat has brought home his second baby snake. I will open the carport door and he will be laying on the carport, as proud as cab be with his "kill." The snake wasnt completely dead when I found him Saturday night, so I picked up the cat and put him in the house while I yelled for hubby to come take care of the snake. Needless to say the cat was not happy with me for taking his "kill" away from him. Then Sunday he brings a tiny little lizard home. How in the heck is he finding these little creatures? I am just worried that he will find momma soon or maybe she will find him!

Silence is Golden

When: Saturday afternoon, driving home after the basketball game
Where: backseat of my car
Who: Daughter and her two friends, B & C

B: Quit touching me C!

B: I mean it C! Stop!

B: If you touch me again, I am going to slap you!

*SMACK!*

~Silence~

B: "I told you I was going to slap you!"

C: "Is my face red?!?"

Daughter: "Yeah."

~Silence~

Thank you Brady

The other day I was reading a blog and the writer mentioned something about short posts and how she couldn’t read long, rambling posts. I have to apologize now for any readers, but I write long posts. I can’t help it. I ramble. I start out with one idea, then it triggers another and then another and so on and so forth. I kind of feel the opposite about long posts as opposed to short posts. I like reading long posts that tell a story. I am kind of sad sometimes when I see a short post. I guess I know then that there wont be much to read and that the fun will soon be over. I like for the moment to last.

UGH! This weekend was the annual "Spring Forward" for Daylight Savings time. I hate this time change. It’s nice in the afternoons, but it is hard in the mornings. I didn’t have a problem with losing an hour of sleep yesterday, but this morning it hit double hard. I guess it wasn’t just the losing on an hour, but that coupled with the fact that my daughter is home on Spring Break this week and hubby is still unemployed, everyone was in bed still sleeping! I WANTED to be in bed still sleeping too. I think I may take off a few days at the end of the week and stay home too. Plus, it was still dark outside at 7am. I can predict the future. Really. I can. I can see me going to bed early tonight.

You know I thought when we finally got a new PC at home that I could have all this time on the weekends to lounge around and record all of my thoughts. Somehow it hasn’t worked that way though. Dreams and reality are never the same, are they? Now that we have a PC at home, my daughter has become quite computer suave and she now spends more time on the computer than I do.

The kids at her school have a website that they all go to. They can leave messages on each other's "walls" and share pictures. You have to be accepted as a 'friend' before you can see or comment on someone's page. It identifies you by the school you are in, so I feel pretty comfortable in her being there. Plus, I have her password and it is tied to our family email account. I told her that she wasn’t going to have any accounts on the computer that I didn’t know the password to.

Saturday, hubby and I took daughter and two of her friends to the girls State Championship basketball game for their high school. The girls bought plain white tshirts and paint and made their own tshirts. They painted their school name on their face and wore their uniform skirts. When we were at a game a few weeks ago, I started talking to a lady sitting in front of me. Her kids didn’t go to either of the schools that were playing, they were just there watching the games. It was her, her husband and their two sons. I was talking back and forth to her, she had asked me a question about my daughter's school. We conversed about the school and some of kids playing, giving her a little bit of info on certain players, etc. One of the sons turned around to me and said, "What's the deal with them wearing kilts?" I laughed. He was referring to the uniform skirts that the girls wear. Aw, gotta love those school uniforms!

This is the third year in a row that we have made it to the championship game. We have won the past two. This December, Coach Brady, the assistant coach to the girl’s team, died. When the playoffs started the girls had shirts made with his picture on the front and "Brady Bunch" on the back. This is the uniform that they chose to wear during their pre-game warm-ups.

It wasn't looking too good for us Saturday. We were struggling. At half we were only up by 1 point. Later in the third quarter, we losing by up to 10 points at one time. Our girls kept trying to shoot 3 pointers and they weren’t making it in. Finally we started a come back with 3 minutes left in the game and we ended up winning by 5.

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, one of the girls ran over to the sideline and grabbed one of the t-shirts. She ran to the center of the court and held up the t-shirt, showing his picture to the crowd. His parents were there. The team motioned for them to come down to the court and they did. The head coach and the girls hugged them and they accepted the trophy with the team. As his parents made their way to the court, the student section started chanting "Thank you Brady!" over and over. There was not a dry eye in the parent or student sections and there is not a doubt in any of our minds that we had an angel watching over us this Saturday afternoon. Thank you Brady.

Advice

If a dog was the teacher you would learn stuff like:

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.

Let others know when they've invaded your territory.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back in the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout ... run right back and make friends.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.

Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent,

sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about ourself.

Rule3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Proud big sis

I am making a big picture frame with a collage of pictures and I came across these pictures. This was me about 3yo. I was such a proud big sister! Notice my doll in the babyseat behind me on the couch. My mom said she couldnt hardly take my brother out of the bassinet or the seat with out me putting my doll in there. lol

I'm his Momma

Not really anything to write that is worth putting pen to paper, so to speak. We had a nice weekend at home, well kind of. Saturday we did venture out to the state championship final four playoffs. My daughter’s school was in the finals, the boys and the girls made it to the final four. The girls won their game and will be playing this weekend for the championship. The girls have won the state championship title for the past two years, so if we win, this will be three years in a row. The boy’s team lost though. Oh well, one out of two ain’t bad! Plus the boys made it to the state football championship this year, so we will let it slide if they cant make it in basketball too!

It was nice to get out, even though I don’t like basketball. But it looks like we will be going to a game out of town this weekend too. We took my daughter and her boyfriend last week, but he can’t go this weekend with us again. He has some type of church activity that he has to go to, so I think my daughter will end up asking one of her friends to go. My husband and I really like to go and participate in school activities. We like being ‘seen’ by the teachers. I feel as if they know I care about my child, they wont be so hesitant to ever approach me in the future should they feel concerned about something my daughter might be doing. I like to be an involved parent.

The past week I have been to three soccer games. I know nothing about soccer! My daughter’s boyfriend plays, so she and I have been going to watch him. Hubby went one night and then we all went out to eat afterwards. I know this is a tough age to ‘date’. They can’t really go anywhere together and are totally dependent on us allowing them time to spend together.

Work has been really busy. But that is good, business had slowed down, but with the springtime weather we have had, it has brought more people in. My hubby still doesn’t have a job. We are trying hard to not get discouraged. He has filled out a ton of applications. He has had a few interviews, so far nothing has worked out.

Today is my youngest son’s birthday. He is one today. It was a year ago that he was born in the shed. If you will remember, my ‘son’ is a cat. He had five brothers and sisters that were born the day before, early that morning. Momma cat went all afternoon and night, there were only four born. The next morning I went out to check on them and there was a fifth one! He was so tiny and lethargic and there was no doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t make it. But he did. He seemed so much younger and more dependent then the others though.

When they were about 3 weeks old and barely had their eyes open, their momma got sick. I took her to the vet and she had to have surgery. Because they had to give her medicine, she couldn’t feed the kittens anymore. I became their ‘momma’. I had to syringe feed a litter of five kittens, plus keep them separated from their momma or she would try to feed them. I have never heard anything as loud as a five hungry kittens crying! Lol

We put them in a plastic tub with a heating pad and a baby sound machine that makes the sounds of the womb. Now I have no idea if a kitten’s womb sounds like a human’s, but I figured the heartbeat sound would be soothing. It took us a few days to get down a pattern and a routine, but we did. And remarkably, all the kittens lived. The littlest one was the most dependent and I just felt like he ‘needed’ me more than the others, so that was the one we kept. That is my son. We still have his biological mother too.

My husband makes fun of him and me. The cat follows me all over the house. If I am in a room, the cat is too. He sleeps on me every night. And I am not talking about in the bed or close to me. Oh no. He sleeps ON me! He definitely knows who his momma is!

Baby Pictures

"I'm sleepy mom."

He was about 6 weeks old here.

Holding my breath

In regards to parenting and raising a child, have you ever heard the saying “As babies we can’t wait for them to learn to walk and talk, but then we spend the rest of our lives telling them to sit down and shut up.” Parenting comes in stages. The stage I am in now is one of the hardest. I have to sit back and let my daughter make mistakes so that she can learn from them. Learn from them and become a better person, a better adult. This is so much more delicate when it comes to lessons of the heart. As parents we want to protect out children from any and every thing that is harmful. And that includes the seen dangers as well as the unseen ones. Love, betrayal and heartbreak are unseen, unless of course you have been through it and therefore the signs are more evident.

Why are little girls so mean and spiteful, especially to each other? My daughter has a so-called ‘friend’ that is making a move on my daughter’s ‘boyfriend’. Of course the poor boy is almost flattered. He likes my daughter, but at his age he cant help but to a little bit aroused at the idea of two girls battling for his attention. And let me tell you, the kids have more ways of getting in touch with each other than we ever thought about. They get on computer sites and write messages to each other, they IM, they text and almost all of them have cell phones. So it is easy to be talking on the house phone to one while texting with your cell phone to another. But do kids think of things like that? No. Their minds and hearts are still innocent. I don’t want my bitterness or lack of trust to fall on her, but I don’t want to see her hurt either.

What I have to admire about this kid is that he has been pretty open and forthcoming with the moves this other girl has been putting on him. I took my daughter to watch him play in his soccer game the other night. Of course I took the opportunity to sit with his mother and fill her in on the soap opera drama of the junior high. This other little girl was being all buddy-buddy with my daughter and sitting by her. She was yelling encouraging words to my daughter’s bf. It was really quite a spectacle. His mother was just appalled at how ‘forward’ this girl was being right in front of my daughter. My daughter has a good soul and is full of self-confidence and she took it with a grain of salt.

Afterwards, I volunteered to take her bf home so that they could have some time to talk alone in the car. They included me in on the conversation. I told him what I thought. At one point he started to pout and say that everyone at school blamed him for what was going on, so my daughter told me to just turn up the radio. He objected loudly and said, “No! I like us talking!” I am sure it was some of his ego, after all we were talking ABOUT him, but I also felt very prideful in the fact that my daughter and her bf felt comfortable enough to discuss the current situation with me.

Now…do I think that this little boy will end up breaking my daughter’s heart?
Of course I do.
Do I sometimes get angry with him and want to slap the crap out of him?
Of course I do!
Do I want to tell my daughter to tell him to kiss her ass?
Yes!
Do I want to tell that other little girl what a little bitch she is being?
Most certainly!
Will I ever be able to do any of these things that I want?
No.
Not a one.
But what I can and will do is be there for my daughter to come to and cry on my shoulder. To hug her and tell her that it will be okay. This is the hardest part of parenting, watching them fall down and skin their knee, but knowing that they have to fall a few times before they can learn to walk. I just have to remind myself to breathe when I watch her start to stumble...

Crossing Paths

Do you ever wonder who would miss you if you died? I know that might seem morbid, but do you ever stop to wonder what kind of impact you have left on this world? Who’s path you might have crossed that would want to know that you had died? Do you wonder what they would say about you?

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.

And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.

And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men..

Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.

Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim
Just to show that I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.

Around the corner, yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Remember to always say what you mean. If you love someone, tell them. Don't be afraid to express yourself. Tell someone what they mean to you. Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late. Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today.

VI is right

I don’t have an excuse for not posting, but rather I haven’t wanted to post for the mere reason I don’t want to whine to you all. I want everything to be funny and good. I want to count my blessings, not my worries. I want to practice what I preach and I feel like I'm not.

Hubby is still unemployed. It is getting very discouraging. He has had interviews, but no offers. It is discouraging to hear "You are overqualified." No unemployment checks yet. Our country sucks in the fact that we will give money away to every dumbass that doesn’t want to work, but you get raked over the coals if you have worked for the past twenty something years and need a little assistance!

I found this weekend that my stepdad lost his job on Friday. Basically the same thing that happened to my husband. His company got bought out, so instead of waiting around for them to fire him, he quit.

This makes me worry about my mom. My mom has Lupus. She has had to start going to a kidney doctor. Her kidneys are starting to fail. She may have to have dialysis.

Hmmm...good news? My daughter's banquet was Friday night. She looked beautiful. I was very proud. My baby isn’t so much a baby anymore and mom's heart was breaking. While she was at her banquet, my hubby and I went to have some burgers and a pitcher of beer. That was good. Really good. I am glad we did that.

The difference

"The only difference between

yesterday and tomorrow

is today."

Mac...this one made me think of you. :-)

Whatever!!!

Well they wont have to worry about where to bury that poor Anna Nicole, by the time all the legalities are worked out, her poor body will be so decomposed that it wont be anything more than a pile of bones!!! After everyone appearing so hunky dory yesterday afternoon after the judge's decision, now her mom has gone a filed an appeal!!! Whatever!!!

And poor Britney Spears, do you really blame her for attacking the damn photographers with an umbrella? I don’t. Those people need to be outlawed. The paparazzi have gone waaaaaay too far in my opinion when it comes to invading people's personal space. But then again, I understand that these "stars" bring a lot of that on themselves too. When every thing is going good for them, they cant get their pictures in magazines enough, but when it goes bad, the freak out and don’t want their picture taken. Whatever!!!

Grey's Anatomy last week and this week! OMG!!! I can’t say anymore, Joie watches and she is a few weeks behind in episodes. Joie, you'll know what I mean when you get it to. When the episodes dealing with water start, hold your breath! lol

crap, crap, crap!!!

Don’t you hate it when you get to work and realize you forgot to do something really important before you left the house? Like put on deodorant? I am so glad its not like 100 degrees outside today and even happier that I can walk right next door to the drugstore! I got to work a few weeks ago and realized I had forgot to brush my teeth!! I have NEVER done that! So now I have deodorant along with my toothbrush and toothpaste in my desk at work.

Peeve #1

I would have to say that my biggest pet peeve is double standards. Or should I say that the people who believe in double standards are my biggest pet peeve? It infuriates me when I see someone behaving in a way that they think the rules or laws apply to everyone, but THEM!

I was sitting a stoplight this morning on my way to work and the light had just turned green. In the crossroad line of traffic, I noticed a van that had turned and was trying to speed its way through the parking lots in order to get ahead of me and the traffic that had just been realeased from the red light. I sped up just enough so that she couldn’t turn out in front of me. I wanted to honk and wave at her as I passed. Granted, she probably had no idea why I was gloating with pride as I passed her, but damn it sure felt good!

Volume

I saw this on my way to work this morning. I liked it.

"If you have trouble hearing God's voice, turn down the volume of the World's"

The Letter

Eileen asked if I wrote letters to my daughter. I hate to say that I don’t. I have given her cards with little things written in it. I take that back. I have written her letters. Every summer for the past five years she has gone to church camp. I have written her letters while she is at camp. She keeps them in a box under her bed.

That question reminded me about a letter my mom wrote me once.

My parents separated and divorced my senior year in high school. School had started that year and we were all still living in the same house. That year I was on the yearbook staff and we had to sell ads to local businesses. That meant that we were able to leave campus for a few hours during school. One day for some reason I stopped by my house. I noticed when I pulled up to the house that my mom’s car was gone. As I went in to the house, I noticed that our dog that stayed in the house was gone too. So I knew right away that 1) my mom wasn’t home and 2) she took the dog with her.

Now usually that was no big deal for a stay-at-home mom. She was always shopping or running errands and the dog loved to go in the car with her. But what caused my heart to sink to the bottom of stomach was when I turned the corner to walk in to my bedroom. There was an envelope lying on my bed with my name written across it in my mom’s handwriting. I almost threw up right there. I just knew that she gone. That she had had enough and left.

I opened the letter, reading it fast, scanning the words. I knew that mom had been going through a rough time. I have told you all before that my dad took her to the brink of a nervous breakdown. I tried so hard to be a good daughter. I think that is why I was such a “good girl” during my high school years. I knew my mom had enough to deal with my dad and she didn’t me to further add to her turmoil or embarrass her anymore than he already had or did.

In the letter, she thanked me for unloading the dishwasher the night before and putting the dishes away, all without her having to ask me to do it. I don’t even remember doing it. She went on to tell me how much she loved me and that I was her strength. But that was it. It was a thank you letter. She wasn’t leaving! She would be home when I came back later that afternoon!

It was just a few years ago that I told her how much that letter scared the crap out of me! She and I had a good laugh about it. I am glad that I can laugh about it because my heart still beats fast when I picture that letter lying on my bed.

I dont get it

I dont get it. WTF is wrong with Anna Nicole Smith's mom? Anna didnt want a damn thing to do with her when she was ALIVE, so why in the hell does her mom think she would want her to have anything to do with her (as in her mom deciding where to bury her) after death???

And this woman is Daniel's grandmother. He is Anna Nicole's dead son that died in September. He is buried in the Bahamas, where Anna Nicole's lover says she wanted to be buried, next to her son. So my real question here is, as a grandmother and a mother, how could this woman NOT want her daughter to be buried next to her grandson?!?!?

I have heard that she wants Anna Nicole to be buried in Texas, is that right? But I have heard no mention of whether she wants Daniel's body to moved also or if she is going to leave him in the Bahamas. (update 12:37: I read this here: "....wants to take Smith's body to Texas to be buried in the family plot, and to exhume Daniel's body and re-bury him in Texas.") Does she not realize that where Anna Nicole is buried has nothing to do with making ammends to her daughter? I just dont get it.

If anything, this is a perfect example to us that are living that we should strive each day to make ammends to those that we have hurt or maybe forgive those that have hurt us, because we might not be here tomorrow to do it. I bet lawyer's offices are jsut swarming with people who realize now how important it is to have a will in place and most importantly make sure it is kept up to date.

Promise Me

I was at Eileen's reading this post and it made me think about something.

When my daughter was little, I worked with this young girl, Holly. She had never been married and didn't have any children. I would tell her stories about my daughter and the cute things she was doing. I guess my daughter must have been about three. Holly would laugh at my stories, asking me everyday about my daughter and what cute and funny things she had done the night before. Holly commented one day about how much I talked about my daughter, how much I loved her and that it showed.

People I work with comment about what a jovial person I am, usually laughing, smiling and making jokes, but suddenly the smile was gone. I just froze. I stopped laughing, looked directly at Holly and asked her to make me a promise. She was caught off guard, and she stopped smiling. She knew I was being very serious. I asked her to promise me that if anything ever happened to me that she would make sure and tell my daughter how much I talked about her, how much she made me laugh and how much I loved her.

I also told Holly that I wanted her to tell my daughter about me, to tell her what kind of person I was. To tell my daughter that I was a genuinely happy person, that I laughed a lot and made jokes. Suddenly, I was scared that if something happened to me that my daughter wouldn’t KNOW me; that she wouldn’t know what kind of person I was and how I lived.

I still get tears in my eyes remembering that day and the wave of emotions that came crashing over me and flooded my heart at that exact moment. Of course it made Holly cry and she told me not to talk that way. But she promised me that she would do what I asked. Thank goodness, Holly never had to fulfill that promise.

What I see

Guess who this is? This is my daughter. What? You cant see her face? Well me either, this is how I see her 90% of the time....texting on her phone! lol

Burned out

I am so burned out on my job right now I dont know what to do. I dont want a new job. I have been here almost 15 years. I get 4 weeks vacation. But I have got to find something that I LIKE about my job besides a paycheck.

Update: 4:26pm
I am running out of here at 5pm! This has been the longest day. It is 'supposed' to be a national holiday in the US. It is President's Day. I actually work for a company this is considered a government agency, but yet we are working today. We have hardly had any customers, not enough to justify the payroll and utility bills that was spent today. Most of the other businesses I deal with on a daily basis are closed. It is so aggrevating.

I am making tacos for dinner tonight. Yummy! I have to get lettuce and tomatoes on my way home. I think I am going to get stuff to make cheese dip too. I am getting hungry now. Hurry up 5pm!

Weekend in review

I didnt get to play around on the computer as much as I had hoped I would this weekend. But the little that I did get to, was great! I love the big monitor and how fast everything downloads. My daughter was out of town most of the weekend, so every time I went to do something on the computer, here comes hubby, wanting my attention. I swear, they are just overgrown kids, but worse sometimes. After daughter got home late Sunday night, she came in to my bedroom as I was lying in bed reading and she said, "I LOVE the new computer!" I smiled and thought, "Great. Now I'll never get to use it."

So? What's everyone's opinion on Britney's new hairstyle? Has she finally gone of the deep end? Is it a cry for help or just a publicity stunt? What I cant believe and couldn have never imagined is that K-Fed is actually looking an angel compared to her now.

We watched two movies this weekend. The first one was one that has been out awhile, but we had never seen it, "The Wedding Crashers". I had hoped it would be funny, but it wasnt. Not to me. I thought it was really slow in the beginning. Well now that I think about, the whole thing was slow! Then we watched "Little Miss Sunshine". I thought that it was really cute.

The irony of life

This weekend my husband and I were talking and I said, "You know what's so bad about you being home and unemployed?" Quizically he looked at me and said, "Being home and unemployed?" I said, "Well, besides that. For once you have all this time at home to do all the home repairs we talk about needing to do, but we dont the income to do it." Awwwww....the irony of life!

Sorry, I apologize

Ok, as you can see or maybe you can't, who the hell knows anymore, I have switched to Beta Blogger. The sad thing is it wasn't because I WANTED to. I was forced to! So please forgive over the next few days as I play and try new colors and new templates.

Not only is this all new to me, they have totally screwed up my sign on. I try and sign in with the "new" one and it tells me that I dont have the right password, so then I go the old blogger and try and sign in, then it takes me to the new one and tells me to sign in, so I do, using the EXACT same password that I JUST used and it wouldnt take, but it takes it this time!!! WTH?!?!?! And it wont accept either password on sign on when I go and try to make comments. I am completely confused.

I will hopefully get a chance to play around and work on it this weekend since I am now the proud owner of a new home PC! This is what my computer is, except I got a 19" monitor for the exact same price. We got a good deal. Hopefully I'll see you around this weekend sometime.

Is it me?

The Window Shopper Random Gentle Love Dreamer (RGLDf) Loving, hopeful, open. Likely to carry on an romance from afar. You are The Window Shopper. You take love as opportunities come, which can lead to a high-anxiety, but high-flying romantic life. You're a genuinely sweet person, not saccharine at all, so it's likely that the relationships you have had and will have will be happy ones. You've had a fair amount of love experience for your age, and there'll be much more to come.

Part of why we know this is that, of all female types, you are the most prone to sudden, ferocious crushes. Your results indicate that you're especially capable of obsessing over a guy you just met. Obviously, passion like this makes for an intense existence. It can also make for soul-destroying letdowns.

Your ideal match is someone who'll love you back with equal fire, and someone you've grown to love slowly. A self-involved or pessimistic man is especially bad. Though you're drawn to them, avoid artists at all costs.


BEWARE: The Hornivore

CONSIDER: The Gentleman, The Loverboy, The Boy Next Door

Your exact opposite: The Stiletto Deliberate Brutal Sex Master Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

Conversation Hearts '07

You know the converstaion heart candies that come out for Valentine's Day. Well I had an idea this morning as I looked at these. They have come up with the new "Fax Me" and "Call me", so I came up with an idea! They need to make one that says "Blog Me" or it would be better if they could somehow fit "Blog about me" on one.

Small gestures

"Rise and shine Valentine!" is what I said to my daughter as I woke her up this morning. She pulled the covers up over her head and told me to hush. Aside from her less than sunny diposition this morning, I have had a good Valentine's Day so far.

The first thing I do every morning when I get up is make coffee. This morning, sitting beside the coffee pot was a card and small box of candy. When I say 'small', I mean 4 piece candy small, but it was the thought that counts, right? Plus, given the fact that hubby is unemployed at this time, I would have killed him if he had spent any more money on candy! I had already presented him with his card and I also got him some "roses", a Guns N Roses Greatest Hits CD. My hubby is an 80's music freak! You can pretty much ask him who sang any song from the 80's and he will know it.

A few summers ago we went on a vacation to Florida for a week with another couple and their daughter. That was the 'game' of the trip, to try and find a song that hubs didnt know who sang it. We would be sitting on the beach and there would be a song on the radio and the other guy would shout, "Ok! Who sings this?!" You could hear the smugness in his voice. Then a short while later hubs would reply and then you could hear a heavy sigh from the other guy. For Christmas this year I wanted to get him the 80's Rock Trival Pursuit game, but for some reason I didnt. I need to remember that as a gift when his birthday comes around this year. I dont know who he would play it with though, but I am sure he would enjoy reading the questions.

On my desk at work this morning was a box of candy and small plastic cup of candy. The box of candy is from one of the guys in our office. He bought all of the women one that work for him. There are three of us that all help this certain group of guys. The cup is from the office manager. And as I look out my office door now, I see the annual tradition that the men in our office do. They purchase red roses and then gather as a group and distribute them to all of the women in the office. It is really sweet.

Milestones

In regards to my post and the comments below, I saw a sign in the drycleaners the other day that said: "We will be more than happy to serve you as soon as you hang up." I wish more places would adopt that policy.

Last night was a milestone in my daughter’s life. She and I went shopping for her first Valentine’s Day gift to give to a boy. She is still “seeing” the same boy she has been since before Christmas. He is a cute kid.

He came over to our house Saturday to watch a movie and hang out for a few hours. He has come over a few times before, but my husband has always been at work. Now that hubs isn’t working, he was home this time. Hubs is very apprehensive about his daughter “dating”. It’s not necessarily the boy in general, but the fact that this ‘boy’ likes his little girl. Hubs sat out in the living room with us watching the movie for a while, then he got up and went to our bedroom to watch a basketball game. I went to the bedroom and the first thing my husband said was, “Does she have to lay all over him like THAT?!” I looked at him with a confused look on my face and said, “Like WHAT?!”

At one point this boyis on one end of the couch and our daughter was at the other, but she had her feet propped up on his knees. Later on, she sat beside him, linking her arm through his and put her head on his shoulder. I just laughed. My husband said, “Well I can see that you aren’t going to have ANY boundaries! You aren’t going to leave them out there by themselves ARE you?!?” I am not exaggerating when I say that I can stand in our bedroom doorway and look directly to the couch in the living room. So I went back to the living room and proceeded to tell them that if they heard Hubs coming, then they had best part a little. My daughter looked at me and said, “Dad needs to learn to chill a little bit!” I just smiled.

Later they made cupcakes together in the kitchen. I stayed in there with them just to make sure my kitchen was destroyed. It was fun. I took a bunch of pictures of them. Of course neither one of them would look at me, so they are all ‘action’ shots of them mixing and pouring. That is one of the things that she is giving him for Valentine’s Day, a little photo album with those pictures in it. He is going over tomorrow night (his mom is bringing him) to pick up my daughter, then they are going out to eat and then to his house to exchange Valentine’s. They are going out to eat early before the restaurants are packed. His mom is going to drop them off and then pick them up. My daughter is nervous about it just being the two of them together while they eat. She is like, “What are we going to talk about?!” I told her I wonder the same thing every time her daddy and I go out to eat.

Blood boiling mad

I know that I am getting older and bitchier as every day passes. I love it when things happen to me that remind me of that fact. Take last night for example.

I used to love to go Wal-Mart when I was younger, but then again, Wal-Mart was better then too. Now I go to Wal-Mart on a “have to” only basis. I had made a purchase there for my daughter, whom I refuse now to ever purchase anything for unless she is standing with in an arm’s length away from me. I don’t care if it is just a pair of socks; she has to be there.

Last night she and I ventured in to Hell (aka Wal-Mart) to return an item that she did not want. The line was incredibly long, of course, it is Wal-Mart after all. I was already in a foul mood because my daughter and I had been at each in the car. So the long line was just another rung in my emotional ladder for the night. I stood and glared at as many employees as I possibly could. At one point I think steam actually came out of my ears. But the breaking point came when the person in line behind makes a call on his cell phone.

On his “walkie talkie” cell phone.

Not only can I hear him practically screaming while cursing in to his phone, which is just a few feet behind my head, I get to hear the damn “beep” every time he releases the button from speaking and then the “beep” again as the person’s conversation on the other end of the phone is played out in public for everyone to hear!

My daughter could see my blood was starting to boil with every damn “beep”. The lady in front of me started talking to me and casting glances back to him. He keep talking and talking and talking, never, not once, taking in to consideration the people around him. I saw a lot of people walking around on their cell phones, but each one politely had it to the side of their heads, over their ears.

I am getting irate just thinking of it now actually. Why are some people so rude?? Seriously. I dont understand why people act like that.

My Dear Husband

"The company's been sold and we are going to go in a different direction. Usually when a manager is let go, we ask them to leave that day, but since you haven't done anything wrong we would like for you to stay for another two weeks."

Update: I KNEW this was coming...
8:30 am, Friday 2/9/07, phone call from hubby...

"How would you feel about me going to RN school?"

Oh God...not again...

Too Weird

Anna Nicole Smith is dead.

Her 20-year-old son died in September, just a few days after she gave birth to her daughter, now she's dead at 39.

Joe commented on his blog the other day wondering if the world had gone mad, then I read this in the news today. I would say this guy deserves to die the same way, but that would actually be too humane for him.

So what!

I am sick and tired about hearing about this woman. I mean, so what if she is a freakin astronaut, she is only human afterall! Damn! They act like she is supposed to be void of any type of emotion or feelings. She had some type of a "relationship" with this guy, then got jealous of another woman. Big deal! Move along with the news. Now, granted, driving 900 miles with an adult diaper on so she could stalk the other woman is a tad bit extreme. And I am not saying that I dont think she was 110% wrong in what she did, but so much of the ordeal is being made being she is an astronaut! Who cares?!?! If this was say a teacher, do you think there would be this publicity on it? Again, I ask, whats the big deal with her being an astronaut? Personally, I think you have to be a little screwed up in the head to begin with to be one of those!

It looks like I will be getting a home computer with in the next few days. yeah!!! I hope that with the arrival of a new computer also comes my creativity to start to post again. I dont have anything exciting or new going on in my life like the rest of the group does, hell I dont even have an exciting past to write about!

Speaking of pasts, I did get an email from first love from high school. We still email some. He recently moved back in state, about three hours away. He emailed to tell me that he is going to be visiting his old college, about 30 minutes from me, with a buddy this weekend. He emailed me to see if I wanted to get together and have lunch on Saturday. I declined. I would love to see him, but since I have been so sick recently, I just dont feel like I have the energy to. I am regretting saying no, but I know when Saturday morning rolls around and I dont feel good, I will be glad I said no. I would have so much to do before then anyway...hair cut, color, tan, lose about 10 pounds. See? Too much to do in just a few days.

Can I have your attention?

Earlier when I was cleaning out my purse I came across a pair of miss-matched earrings. They have been in there for about two weeks. Shows you how often I clean my purse out. Anyway, remember the night that my hubby and I went out to eat on our anniversary? Well I had taken off the earrings that I had worn to work that day and on our way out the door, I just reached in my jewelry box and grabbed a pair to put on. We got to the restaurant and were sitting there talking for a few minutes. While we were talking, I reached up to touch my earrings. I realized that they felt different from each other, so I took them out to see. Sure enough, I had grabbed two different ones. I asked my hubby why he didn’t say tell me, considering he was sitting directly across from me, talking to me the whole time. He said he didn’t notice. Goes to show you how much attention men pay to us women. And it's not like I have long hair that they hid in, my hair is short. Oh well. I thought it was funny. Oh and sorry, my earrings arent the super-sexy porn star kind like Joie wears. :)

Up to You

"God determines who walks into your life. It's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go."

Seeking the lost

OK, so I asked about long lost blogger Sam and got a response. But has anyone heard from Manslut? His blog disappeared too. And has anyone heard from Wild Cat? She hasnt posted in awhile. Just curious.

If only

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER

~ by Erma Bombeck
(Written after she found out she was incurably ill.)

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's" and more "I'm sorry's."

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it ... live it and never give it back.

STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!

Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what . Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.

Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with, and what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally.

Turkey's done!

You know the little red popout temperature/timer thingys on turkeys? They popout and tell you when the turkey is cooked? Well anyway, that is what my ears feel like they are going to do, popout the side of my head.

Last week it was a stomach virus. This week its a cold. Last night on the way home from work, my left ear stopped up. It wouldnt unclog with any amount of yawning or holding my nose and blowing out. So I took a bunch of medicine and went to bed by 8pm last night. I figured it would clear itself during the night, ya know...the ole' "ignore it and it will surely get better" routine? Well it didnt work this time. So I broke down and went to the doctor. I have an ear infection. I am currently awaiting my prescription of antibotics to be filled. I hate being sick. I have too much to do to be sick.

Little Things

I may have an old, small house, but I have a roof to keep the rain off my head. I have walls to block the wind. I have windows to keep the bugs out. I have doors to close to keep out animals and criminals.

I may only have a bedframe, but I have a mattress to sleep on to keep me off the ground and a pillow to put my head on and blankets to keep me warm.

I may have a small, five year old car, but I have transportation and it has AC and heat. I know what it is like to drive around in summer heat of 100 degrees or more in a car with no AC, so I am thankful for my car.

I may have only had a sandwich for dinner, but my stomach was full and I didnt have to go to bed hungry.

I may not have the latest styles of clothes on today, but I had a closet of clothes to pick from this morning and I have socks and shoes on my feet so I dont have to walk around barefoot.

None

"If someone speaks bad of you, live so that none believe it."

Everything Changes

Weekend came and went. Nothing exciting to report. Friday night was our anniversary, so me and hubby decided to go out to eat while our daughter was at the movie. I had decided that I wanted a big ole' greasy cheeseburger. I guess after being sick for the past week, my appetite was coming back.
We decided on this place not too far from our house. We have been there a lot before and I was so excited for my burger and my onion rings! We ordered and waited. While we were waiting, we noticed that the service wasnt as good as it usually was. But then we got our food and it was horrible. I was so disappointed. Gone were my homemade onion rings and my thick, juicy burgers. I felt so ripped off. I could have stayed home and made a better burger than what I was served. My husband said he wants a re-do for our anniversary dinner. I agree.

17 Years Ago Today

I went from Miss to Mrs.

My husband once said this song made him think of us.

First "Love"

I haven’t really had much to talk about, so therefore I haven’t posted in awhile. I hope the feeling of emptiness goes away when I get a new PC at the end of the month. Then again, I have found that I don’t need to spend as much time on the computer as I thought I did. Plus I will have a teenage daughter to fight over the computer with. I have to schedule and reserve time to use the house phone as it is now.

My daughter has her first “boyfriend”. She is 13 and he is 14, but they are two grades apart in school because of how their birthdays fall. He will be 15 this fall, with her turning 14 two months later. She has had to endure a lot of lack from the kids of school because he is older. My first serious boyfriend was two grades ahead of me. I was in the 9th grade and it was at my 14th birthday party that we actually started a relationship that lasted until my senior year in high school.

I am fine with my daughter being a normal teenage girl, but her father (aka my husband) is having a much harder time with it. I feel as if I am on one end of the parenting spectrum and he is on the other. Our daughter is a good kid. Always has been, at least so far. I know that we are just now approaching the tumultuous teenage years, but I will continue to trust her until she gives me a reason not to. This is how I was raised, with respect and trust.

My husband however tells me to get my head out of the clouds, that just because I wasn’t ‘bad’, doesn’t mean she isn’t going to try to be. He keeps trying to rule with this iron clad fist, the “because I said so, I am your father” mentality. I keep telling him that he is just going to push her away.

Before Christmas, she would watch tv and talk on the phone in our bedroom because she didn’t have a tv in her room, but she got one for Christmas. This was mainly because of me. I was the one that had no where to go when I wanted to be alone. Well now she stays in her room, watching tv, talking on the home phone and texting on her cell phone. Her dad gets mad because she is in her room all the time. I just don’t think he understands the life of a teenage girl. I told him that my dad used to tease me about being ‘holed’ up in my room and often referring to my room as “the cave”.

My poor daughter has even had to endure the other kids in her grade teasing her and calling her names because her boyfriend is ‘older’. He is a good kid. I like him. He has been to our house and she has been to his, knowing of course that a parent is going to be home. I took her, him and one of my daughter’s friends out to eat and to the mall one day. She went to his house last night to have dinner. His grandmother was in town and wanted to meet my daughter.

They are making their Valentine’s Day plans. It’s cute. He wants to take her out to eat. He even asked to speak to me on the phone one night and then asked me what she likes eat. They daughter has a cheerleading banquet to attend at the end of February. She asked him to be her date. She and I have picked out her dress. He has gone to be fitted for his tux.

I just hope that husband learns to loosen up and enjoy this time in our daughter’s life before he completely pushes her away and she doesn’t want to share anything with him.

So what do you think? Am I being naïve and too trusting?

Coffee?

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

“If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was the coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups..........Enjoy your coffee!

“The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

I'm mad and hungry

I am mad at my husband. I wont answer his phone calls. I hope he knows how mad I am. I don’t want to talk to him.

I made my daughter’s lunch today for school. It looked so good that I made myself one too. I had already ate half of it by 11am this morning. What is it you ask? It was a bologna sandwich with mustard on wheat bread, white cheddar cheese nips, purple grapes and an apple.

Words of Wisdom

This place looks familiar. I think I have been here before. Wow, I tell ya, nothing like being sick to make you be excited about getting to go to work! lol I woke up Sunday morning recapping what I had the night before. I was home Monday and Tuesday too. I am feeling much better now though. I missed reading your blogs while I was out.

I love to read the marqees that churches put up. I tell myself all the time that I am going to remember them, but I never do. I have a friend who writes them down and has a long list of them that she adds to and saves on her computer. I need to do that, but my problem is I can never find a piece of paper to write on quick enough while I am driving down the road.

While I was out at lunch today I did see this one and kept saying it over and over as I fumbled through my purse searching for a pen, with the only sense of touch, not taking my eyes off the road and then quickly grabbed the receipt of an item I had just bought and jotted it down. I thought it was a simple statement, but yet spoke loudly.

"Use things and love people."

And then that triggered my memory and I remembered another one that I had read recently that I wanted to remember also.

"Making a living is not the same as making a life."

Wrapped Up in My Daughter

I never had braces, but yet I have straight teeth. I could have had braces though, but my parents opted for orthodontic surgery. I instead had four permanent teeth pulled, two on top and two on bottom. I have a small mouth and there was not enough room in my mouth for all of the teeth, with out crowding of course. Because of this, I have always had an innate fear of dentists, but I have a wonderful dentist now. I love going to him. Granted he is younger and very cute, so I don’t mind him looking into my eyes while I sit there with my mouth open.

Well, unfortunately my daughter inherited my mouth problems. At the age of 13 she has already been through one round of braces and had two permanent teeth pulled. She is such a trooper. I am so proud of her. She has a really bad under bite; her bottom jaw sticks out further than her top jaw. Her jaws don’t match up. It is like she got one jaw from dad and one from mom. I feel sorry for her, she can’t bite anything because her teeth don’t come together to bite down and tear. We have to cut up most everything she eats.

A month ago the orthodontist put an “appliance” in the roof of her mouth. It goes from side to side and is attached with brackets around her teeth. There is a keyhole, a tiny pin sized hole in the middle of the bracket where a “key” fits. For 28 days we have to put the key in the hole and turn it. As we turn the key every night, it slowly pushes and expands her upper jaw apart, eventually causing a gap in between her two front teeth. Once they have widened her jaw, she will have to have braces again.

We are also in the process of charting her growth to see when she has gone through her growth spurt. Most girls’ bones stop growing when they are around 16. Most under bites are corrected with headgear, but my daughter’s is so severe that headgear wouldn’t help. So instead, when has stopped growing, she will have to have surgery. They will have to break her jaw, reset it and then wire her mouth shut until it is set. It is very rare that the condition is that bad. What is ironic is that my best friend in high school also had to have this same procedure done, so I was already familiar with it and not SO alarmed at the idea of having it done. I know it works.

I have been at my job for 15 years and I have carried insurance for all of that time. We have medical and dental insurance. Orthodontics are only covered up to $1,000, well of course all of that is gone by now. The surgery that is required / recommended for my daughter will be considered “cosmetic” and therefore NOT covered by insurance. We will be required to pay for it out of our own pockets if we want it done, even though like I said, my daughter can’t bite. Also, because of the structure of her jawbones, she cant breathe through her nose properly or comfortably. She has to breath through her mouth, especially at night and this causes her to snore.

I am a citizen of the United States. I have never committed a crime. I have a legal social security number. I work 40 hours a week. I carry full medical insurance, but I can’t get any medical assistance for this. But yet, if I snuck in to this country as an illegal immigrant and had a child, the child that is born here illegally would receive free medical benefits. So why does that child get paid for with out contributing? Can someone please explain this to me or help me understand how this is fair.

My daughter often requests to listen to a Garth Brooks' CD that I have. She likes the song "Wrapped Up in You". One day I looked at her and I said, "I could dedicate this song to you from me!" She smiled. So I want to dedicate this song to my beautiful, brave daughter. She is a hero to me in more ways than she will ever know.

No ice please

It is supposed to get really, really cold here this weekend. They are saying that certain parts of the state are supposed to get ice. Not snow. Ice. I hate ice. We had a really bad icestorm in 2000, about two weeks before Christmas. We lost our power. We tried to sleep in the house the first night. All three of us piled in to one bed, me, hubby and daughter. We wore clothes and piled blankets on the bed. There were so many that the weight of the blankets made it impossible to move. But then again, who wanted to move, we were frozen in place! Our faces were freezing. It was so cold that ice formed on the inside of the sliding glass doors. We took the food from our refrigerator and freezer, put it in coolers and moved it outside on the deck. No problem with it staying frozen out there!

We stayed with friends the next night. We just figured it would be for another day or two. We never dreamed it be for a week. It was Christmas break and the kids were out of school and I was on vacation. My visions of staying home cooking, baking, shopping and wrapping Christmas presents all went out the window quickly. During that week, I ended up getting a stomach virus while we were at our friends' house. Needless to say, that was the worst vacation time I have ever had.

My Day

“One of those days” all week
Ever have one of those days when it doesn’t matter what you say, how you say it or who you say it to, it’s not the right thing? Feels like I have had that kind of day all week now.

Satisfying a Craving
Sorry Sam, but I had a craving today that I just had to satisfy. I broke down and had a cheeseburger and french fries! It was so good too. I dont feel the least bit of guilt from it. I dont eat a lot of fast foods. Even someone in the breakroom said "I never see you eating fast food!"

War of the Words
If I never hear the names Donald Trump or Rosie O'Donnell, it wont be soon enough for me! I dont get it. She can make fun of him for his hair, or the lack there of and the way he chooses to style it, but yet if he makes fun of her for her weight, then all hell breaks loose? Isnt that being a hypocrite?

Guilt Shopping
Yesterday was the first Monday I have worked since before Christmas. This will be my first full week of work since then too. And then guess what? I am off this next Monday! Yep, its a holiday. Yeah!

My daughter will be out of school too, so it wont be quite as relaxing as I had hoped it might be. But on the bright side, the 15th is payday, so I am sure that she and I can find somewhere to go shopping and maybe have lunch.

Of course she expects to get everything she wants. Her taste is much more expensive than mine. She wants the name brands. I want the bargains. My mother often has to remind me that I was the same way as a teenager. I disagree though. Me? Like my daughter? Never! Although I do remember her commenting to me as a teenager that I had "champagne taste on a beer budget."

When my daughter and I go shopping together and I get something and she doesnt, she gets mad. She will pout and ask me, "Why do YOU get something and I don't?!" I know it shouldn't, but it makes me feel guilty, so I usually end up not getting myself anything or I will go back later when she is not with me and get it. Why do kids have such a way with making us parents feel guilty? I deserve to buy myself things, afterall, I AM the one that works!

My Sister

Growing up I was the oldest of two kids. I have a younger brother. My parents were married for over 20 years before they divorced. They divorced when I was a senior in high school. My dad elected for some 'extra curricular activities' outside of the marriage. Apparently this was not the first time, but this was the first time I was old enough to see the toil that it took on my mother. I told her that both she and I could move out or I was going to, but I was not going to stand by and idly watch my father grind her down emotionally and mentally.

Now I knew that my father wasn’t a saint. Sadly I had figured out on my own that this wasn’t the first time he had messed around on my mom. I often joked that knowing my father, I probably had brothers and sisters I didn’t know existed.

Imagine my shock, but yet not, when one day when my dad called and said, “Do you remember me telling you that you might have a sister?” Excuse me. A what? Nope dad. Don’t think you ever mentioned that one to me. “Well you have an older sister and she has contacted me.”

So I found out at the age of 25 that I was not the oldest child in the family. I had an older sister. She is 3 years older than me. Her mom and dad went to the same high school. My dad was older, so he had graduated and went off to college. When he found out that my sister’s mother was pregnant, he offered the obligatory marriage proposal. She declined. Thus stating, that the child was not his and for him not to worry about it. Joyfully relieved, my father skipped back to college. I am sure in his teenage heart he knew that the child WAS his, but yet he opted to ignore the obvious. I mean, heck, he was off the hook, right? My sister’s grandmother proceeded to pack up her pregnant daughter and move off to another town. I was told that upon my sister’s birth, my grandparents drove to the town where she was born to peek at her through the nursery window. I was told when they saw her, they knew she was dad’s child based upon her features. In the meantime, my dad met and married my mom.

My sister and I are close now, well not very close, but close enough I guess. She lives in a town about 30 miles from me. We look alike in the face, but she is taller than me and more slender. In fact when she was pregnant, her face was a little fuller and I think we looked more alike then.

When I first found out about her we corresponded through letters. She sent me pictures of her through the years growing up. There was one picture of her that I swear could have been of me. More so than we look alike, we think alike.

I meet my sister for the first time in December 1993. We had not even known each other a year before my birthday rolled around in the fall of 1994. We talked, but we weren’t that close. On my birthday, I got a pretty bouquet of fall flowers from her. There was a card that said, “Thinking of you!” I thought it was a little strange that it said "Thinking of you" instead of "Happy Birthday", but it didn't matter. I called her to thank say thank you. She told me that I had been on her mind all day and that she just couldn’t stop thinking about me. I laughed. I thought that she was being sarcastic and making a joke since it was my birthday. I said, “Well I guess so since it IS my birthday today!” Silence. She didn’t say anything, then she said, “Are you serious? It is? I had NO idea.”

A Cat Story

I just got this email forwarded to me. I know there are a few others with cats around here besides me, so I thought you would appreciate this. I am still laughing!

You Don't Have To Own A Cat To Appreciate This One!

We were dressed and ready to go out for the New Years Eve Party. We turned on a night light, turned the answering machine on, covered our pet parakeet and put the cat in the backyard. We phoned the local cab company and requested a taxi. The taxi arrived and we opened the front door to leave the house. The cat we put out in the yard, scoots back into the house. We didn't want the cat shut in the house because she always tries to eat the bird.

My wife goes out to the taxi, while I went inside to get the cat. The cat runs upstairs, with me in hot pursuit. Waiting in the cab, my wife doesn't want the driver to know that the house will be empty for the night. So, she explains to the taxi driver that I will be out soon, "He's just going upstairs to say goodbye to my mother."

A few minutes later, I get into the cab. "Sorry I took so long," I said,as we drove away. "That stupid bitch was hiding under the bed. Had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off, so I grabbed her by the neck. Then, I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it worked! I hauled her fat ass downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!"

The cab driver hit a parked car.

Stress

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "the absolute weight doesn't matter." It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. And that's the way it is with stress management.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.

So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!

Halleluiah!

My daughter goes back to school tomorrow!!!

*Doing a happy dance!*

I have decided after some time off and then returning to work, that working is actually bad for my health. I think I better stay at home all the time. I wonder if I could get a doctor's note for that?

Thought provoking

An email I received from a class that I go to.

"As the new year begins, we're going to discuss the motivating factor that drives your life. Everyone is driven by something. What motivates you? Think about that question today and we'll discuss our motivations and what drives us to be who we are in life."

I am curious to see what your responses are, because honestly? I was kind of stumped.

Of course I guess one thing that motivates me is money. I hate to say that, but its true. Don’t we all want money so that we can pay our bills and buy groceries.... ok come on, .... pay our internet providers and buy computers?!?!?

Of course another thing that motivates me is my family. I want to do things and be something for my husband and daughter. And still even at the age of 37, I want to do things that make my mom and dad proud. I hope I don’t ever disappoint them. I don’t want to on purpose at least.

These are the first things that popped in to my head. I know there are more and not everyone thinks like I do, thank goodness. There has to be more. This is where you come in. Tell me what you thought of.

Love is a great motivator. The love of our families. The love of our friends. The love of our country. The love of life. I cant say the love of money, because the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money, but the love of it. So can we say that the love of something motivates us? I dont "love" money, but I love being comfortable. Money pays the bills and provides me with the way I live.

Wow, I am confusing myself with all these deep thoughts! I better stop now before my head explodes. lol

I'm here, but where are you?

Happy New Year!

Wow. It feels like a ghost town around here. I havent got through all of my blogs yet, but so far it looks as if Joie, Sleepless and VI are the only ones to keep up. It looks like most of us dropped out on Dec. 21, 2006.

I have missed reading and writing. I guess you all can tell that I didnt get a new computer for Christmas. I did get a digital camera though. So once I get the computer I can be ready to download, print and post pics.

So? What is everyone's New Year resolutions? I am not much on them, but I did make one this year and that is to be better prepared for Christmas 2007, unlike 2006!