Pizza.....

There really is not more a perfect food than pizza (other than bacon). You pile on all sorts of other nommy nom noms on top of the nommy thing and you have the perfect delivery system for the nommy nom noms on top of the nommy thing. You got all sorts of nommy things that you can pile on top of the pizza, customizing the nom-osity of the pizza to your own personal specifications and voila! Nomminess!
Guess what WE'RE having for dinner tonight?

Donut......

I like donuts. Krispie Creme if I can find them, but Dunkin' will do just fine. A simple tasty delicious treat that gives me a little happy in my tummy..... I know I should be eating things that are better for me and whatnot, but what can I say. I also like the junk too.

Donuts. It's what's for breakfast! :D

April fools day....

I plan on staying in the comforts of my room to avoid getting silly stringed by some random stranger or whatever on this day...
I hate it.... It's like a day where people are given carte blanche to do whatever they want and as if by some magic, they will be forgiven just by saying "APRIL FOOLS!" Pfft! Screw the fuck out of that!
If I should need to go out, I plan on going out fully armed to the teeth and I am going to try and avoid people whenever possible. I will wear my "Don't fuck with me!" face and stalk around and stomp in broody teenager fashion and I think all should be fine. I can't wait until tomorrow when we can be done with this nonsense.

Fast food......

I'm a fast food junkie. I am. I'll admit it. I love the Big Macs and the fries and the processed animal parts and the whatnot. All that stuff covered in questionable grease and sodium and other chemical whatever that I can't possibly pronounce sprinkled with a little bit of some mystery cancer causing ingredient on top....
It's not that I'm constantly at a fast food place nomming on the fast food or anything like that... I'll only ever feed it to my kids like MAYBE once a month and I might partake in a fast food morsel three or four times a month when no one's looking....
:sigh: I know it's not good for me and that I'd be better off NEVER eating it ever again and that it's disgusting and that it's made out of questionable things and could lead to all sorts of diseases like high cholesterol and cancer and junk and stuff, but I like it anyway and I'm keeping it. 100% of all people that eat food are going to die. Regardless of what they eat, they're gonna die. Life is short. I'd much rather live it and eat the things I want to than to limit myself because of whatever....

But it's MINE.....

I don't know what it is or even why it is, but there are times when your stuff looks better when it' becomes someone else's. I've had stuff that I didn't care too much about so I sold them on Ebay. I made some money and yay great..... It's some time later that I may see something that may be similar to the thing I sold and realize, maybe I DID kinda like it or want it.... And I experience a moment or two or more of seller's guilt.....  :(
I get over it quickly enough though. It really doesn't ever last long. It just that it happens and I think THAT'S what I find to be most annoying....

Mama! I wanna go to thkool!

My daughter, at age four, is so wanting to go to school. I have her home with me for another year to be my baby girl, but the reality is, all too soon, she will be jumping onto the school bus to go off on her first day of kindergarten. :sniffle:
It's kind of hard to imagine what it's going to be like with all of my babies in school. I've had at least one home with me for the last ten years and I have to say, it's really kind of a weird feeling that all too soon, All four of my children will be attending school. I really don't remember what it's like not to have a little one needing something from me at home during the mornings and early afternoons until the other kids came home from school.... I actually got really freaked out and had a mini anxiety attack over the whole idea of not having any of the children home during school hours and comforted myself by snuggling with my daughter for about two hours...... It was weird.
My daughter continues to tell me, almost every day, that she is ready for school and that she can't wait to go. She is excited about her first day of kindergarten some time down the road. In the meantime, she is still my squishy little baby and I get to keep her home with me....

Attention issues again....

It seems my attention issues have been kicking in again as I cannot seem to stay focused on tasks around the house again. It's not that I don't try to stay on task, it's just that I get so easily distracted from the task at hand and something else needs my attention, which I will end up being distracted from to go on to something else, leaving many things undone, which drives my OCD self up a wall. I can feel the two opposing sides battling it out as I flit about from task to task.... This is usually followed by a bout of insomnia, which is always such a fun time.... It ought to be a hoot..... Not to sound all Charlie Sheen-y, but if anyone ever tried my brain, they'd be all, "Whoa, can't handle it!" Here we go again! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

In theory.....

The point of a time out is to get the child in question to think about what it is that he or she did and maybe come to the conclusion that the action was bad and that they should regret what they did and apologize. In theory, that works....
When you are stubborn and end up with children who are just as stubborn as you.... Well, the theory kinda gets shot right the fuck out the window. But as a parent, I keep putting the child in question on a time out in the hopes that one of these days it FINALLY sinks in that the behavior will not be tolerated and that behavior ceases all together... Again, in theory, it should work..... :s

Woo hoo! Caffeine!

Thank goodness for the power of caffeine! WOOT!

Fitness.....

As I get older, I have come to the realization that exercise isn't going to get me the same results as they used to, like, when I was in my teens and twenties. It's not to say that I am in sorry shape, but it takes a lot more work to maintain the level of fitness and keep on trying to improve on said fitness. I resolved to try and exercise more this year and try to get into a better routine of doing so, more frequently and more regularly... Yeah.... Easier said than done.
I remember being fit and toned. I remember it being as easy as a half an hour of actually exercising a few times a week. Beyond that, yeah.... That was the extent of my fitness routine. I'm not sure what happened.... Well, that's not entirely true..... Marriage that led to complacency and not caring too much about the way I looked, then sprinkle in four kids.... It takes its toll on a body.
So now, I actually have to work at this thing called exercise in order to keep at a reasonable fitness level that I find to be adequate and it hurts. Changing up the routine frequently and challenging myself and pushing myself is really making parts of me not like me too much. There are parts of me that are no longer on speaking terms with me, I have other parts who are just NOT my friends any more too..... :s
But I'll keep at it.... We'll see what happens....

What if there was no box?

I do my best to get my children to think differently and be people who can think outside of the box. I have always tried to nurture their creativity and imaginations so that they can use it to be people who can come up with bigger, better EVERYTHING. They are bright individuals and are learning very quickly that sometimes thinking outside of the box is very useful in their day to day lives. With that being said, it's VERY difficult to get them away from following the pop culture icons and ads they see on tv trying to steer them towards the next idea of what cool is, and the peer pressure that they must encounter at school and blah, blah, blah....
It's difficult to get them outside the box when all of their peers and everything that they are constantly bombarded with is so far inside the box. I think it's every parents' duty to get their children to start thinking for themselves. It's an unfortunate thing that most parents will enable the boxed behaviors by letting their children get sucked into the "mainstream" and allowing their children to become so cookie cutter. Blech....
My hopes for my children is that they grow up to be thinking individuals who can go far beyond mediocre and not be sheep, I want them to be able to see passed the bullshit and not get caught up in the petty and mundane and go far beyond, to create the trends, to be the ones that people look up to, worthy of their admiration. In the meantime, I have much work to do.

Couch-y poo!

There are just certain times, generally during those wicked PMS times of the month where the couch is my best damn friend. The couch and I have an understanding.... I sink into the couch to vege in front of the TV and eat my pint of <whatever the flavor of the hour ice cream it is> while flipping through the channels to find something appropriate to watch and cry about.... Lately, it's been My Fair Wedding with David Tutera. And finally I have my sweet Puppy Guts rubbing my feet or my tummy or snuggling with me and it makes for bad PMS to be not so bad.
It's not every month that I experience bad PMS or really bad cramps which I guess I'm thankful for. But when I do, I know that there's a place for me with my name on it and things will get a lot better.

Well, I can hear me!

I mumble when I speak sometimes. I also am not looking at My Lucky when I am mumbling to him. It also doesn't help that his hearing isn't as sharp as it used to be. It's pretty funny actually.
I'm not sure why I find it to be so amusing, I just do. And when I tell him that I can hear what I'm saying and I understand what it is that I'm trying to convey, he tells me that he didn't, he's sorry, what did I say? Which leads us straight into the silliness of my saying that he should just KNOW what it is that I'm thinking and blah.... It's quite entertaining and sometimes I do it on purpose because we always get in to the silliest of back and forth banters with this one. :sigh: I know.....

BLAAAAAh.....

Not motivated to do shit. So I'm going to not be doing any today. That is all.

Bedtime routines.....

With their time being spent in two different households, and their time with their dad being during the weekends and vacation days, it's hard to get the bedtime routines down solid. I mean, we go through all the same stuff at approximately the same time every night that I have them. The brushing of the teeth, the showers/ baths thing, jams, saying goodnight, calling their dad to say good night to him, getting tucked into bed and blah..... My daughter is probably the worst offender of the not following of bedtime routines. It's wretched. I get her back onto a pretty good schedule right about the time the kids go back to their dad's again and BAM! Back to square one..... :s
Oh well..... I'm sure it'll be different once she starts going to school. Until then, I'm just going to enjoy the extra snuggle time I get with her to coax her to go to sleep.

Nyaaaah!

I'm not sure how hand gestures came to be what they are, but there you have it. There are certainly universal ones that carry a meaning no matter where you go and whatever language you speak... Like the "I'm choking" one..... Then there's flipping the bird or the flicking out of fingertips under your chin. I mean, it's not exactly something you use in polite company.... It certainly does convey a certain message and it's considered quite rude. My whole issue is, who determined what is rude. I mean, what made them so fuckin' special that they got to pick and choose what was proper and what wasn't..... Whatever. I'm gonna keep my rude hand gestures and use them whenever I want and there ain't a damn thing anybody can do about it.

The lazy eye....

I never know where to look when I meet a person with a lazy eye. I never can tell which eye is looking where and I'm not sure which eye I'm supposed to be in line with. I don't want to seem rude or have them think that I noticed something wrong.....
Puppy Guts gave me some great advice regarding that.... Look at the person's nose. Direct eye contact is friggin' impossible, so stare at their nose....
Aha....

Exercising.....

I've vowed to do a bit more exercising in the New Year and it has proven to be quite a challenge. I've incorporated some new stuff in there and I have to tell ya, it hurts. Mostly because they're working things that I guess haven't been worked in a while. I must go up and down the stairs about a gojillion times a day. It happens. Things are always going on, but never on the same floor. Whatever. But with the new things I'm doing and leg and butt muscles screaming at me anyway, the stairs are proving to be quite a challenge. Keeping in shape during the colder months was a little more difficult because it's not as if I want to go take a walk in the cold. Sure we had plenty of nice days, but cold? No. Me no like.
So I stuck with indoor calisthenics and exercises and going full bore into them was my bad..... But being stubborn, I kept up with them anyway through the tears and the ouch. and those first few weeks were painful as all get out. I still feel the ouch from time to time.... That may be an age thing too. Crap.... I didn't realize that things aren't going to be as easy as when I was in my twenties..... Grrrr.......

Poker....

I'd never make a good poker player. I mean AT ALL. EVER...... I don't have a poker face because I'm always smiling when I have a "good hand" and I probably have more "tells" than any poker player on the face of the planet. I never know when to fold, I never know what cards to keep or what to throw away or trade in for new ones and I certainly don't know the "rules of conduct" at the table.... I never know when someone's bluffing or whatever and I certainly don't ever win. Meh.... Whatever. It's a card game and it bores me to tears.
A few years ago, there was actually a show dedicated to watching people play poker. They had commentators and everything, talking about the strategies and how skilled a player was and blah blah blah.... I nearly fell out of my seat laughing..... THAT is what we find to be entertaining? Good grief. They'll turn anything into a TV show....

YAY! GROUP HUG!

The group hug: There is something about the hugging within a group that brings together a closeness with people. It symbolizes a camaraderie or a bond of dissimilar people who just shared a common moment. It's a nice little moment shared by people... It's a warmth, a small little measure of humanity, a something.

It's a lot like that experiment done some time ago on a crowded subway train. One person started laughing for what appeared to be no reason. Within minutes, the whole compartment of people were laughing along with her. A whole bunch of stranger from all walks of life and here they were sharing a moment with each other and laughing together. Likely, they would never see each other again, but it would be an experience they may never forget. Certain things like this, certain moments, certain segment in our lives that seem so insignificant, but can mean so much at the same time. It seems such a shame that people don't take the time to see them or enjoy them or whatever more often.
A random thought really....

Happy birthday, Mini Doom!

My youngest and only daughter celebrates her fourth birthday today. Surely, she will be dressed up in her prettiest pink fluffy dress, her hair will be done up all princess pretty and she will don her sparkly pink jeweled tiara and wield her fairy princess wand of doom.
We will go to the store to pick up cake and ice cream and have a dinner consisting of her favorite foods (mac and cheese, kielbasa, corn....) and we will celebrate the princess' birthday in super mega princess-y style.
The drawback is going to be that every day will be her birthday for the next month and a half and she will expect the same royal treatment every day.... It's cute for the first few days.... But soon the luster wears off and the reality that it's no longer her birthday will come crashing down... :( Undoubtedly, she will pout and frump, but I know that I will easily be able to distract her with crayons and paper and a snack of hummus and chips.
It's hard to believe that the youngest of my brood is now four years old. I remember the shock of hearing that I was having a girl and I went into such denial because I did well with three little boys. Now, looking back, and looking forward, I can't imagine life without my little girl.... I love you my Baby Doll! Happy Birthday Squish! My little Mini Doom.... May you always be my little princess who's not afraid to tackle your brothers and throw down with the best of them.

Bedtime stories....

There's something to be said for real honesty in bedtime stories. Go the FUCK to Sleep is perhaps one of my favorites. I think it's important for children to get healthy doses of reality every day and from early in their lives. I haven't read this particular story to them and I don't think I'm gonna until they're a little bit older, but the idea behind this book is genius and so very true. I LOVE the version on youtube where Samuel L. Jackson reads it. Perfect really.
I think we grew up in a time where we were placated with UN-realities and were made to feel like everything was great and everything was cool and the world was safe and happy unicorns and magical rainbows and cute fluffy bunnies. Enabled, spoiled, selfish, self-centered, arrogant, conceited, overindulged, and unrealistic about our expectations and wanting instant gratification. We went out into the world and lo and behold, we got our pee pees slapped in the dirt.
I refuse to let that be the case with MY children so I feed them doses of REAL reality to them every day. I don't feel the need to sugar coat things because I think it'd hurt them more later on if they didn't know the truth from the get go. Failure is failure and they are expected to get up and try again. Mistakes are mistakes and they are expected to correct them and make it right. Wrong is wrong and the excuses don't fly and I will see them take responsibility for what's theirs. It will serve them better in life as they grow then doing the namby pamby routine that feeds the laziness to want to go down the path to mediocrity. I know that now.

Getchyer feet off the damn table!

It's not that I have too many pet peeves..... Well, yeah I do, but still, there's a ranking order to how much said pet peeve will annoy me. The one that tops off the list is when the kids ignore me. Despite telling them something or asking them to do something, I get ignored. HATE IT.
Another thing is feet up on the dinner table. My pop is SO very annoying with that. Despite the fact that I asked him NOT to do it, he insists on cutting his gnarly toe nails at the kitchen table with his feet up on it..... Ugh.... It did amuse me to no end when he nearly fell out of his chair trying to get his foot off the table after he was done though. Is it wrong that I was upset that he DIDN'T fall? Oh well.... Karma can keep that one too. I make no apologies.

Back to bed.....

Have you ever had one of those days where just the most odd series of events takes you from one moment to the next? I'm not sure whether I should find amusement in these kind of days or whether I should start screaming maniacally in the hopes that it is just a terrible dream and that perhaps I will wake from it.....
Whether it is caused by the A.D.D. and not being able to stay on one single strange task at a time leading me from one single strange task to multiple strange tasks that just go downhill from there or the fact that the single strange task requires other strange tasks to take place in order for the original strange task to be accomplished, I am not quite sure.
It usually involves a "favor" that my mom asks of me....... Ah.... That explains a lot. Never mind.... I've got my answer right there. There is definitely a reason why I will opt to go back to bed when my mom "asks for a favor".....

Internet forums.....

I have to say that internet forums are a great source of information sometimes. Knowledgeable people relaying information, perhaps answering a particular question that you or someone had brought about. Works out wonderfully. Other times...... Well, it's kinda the opposite. People posting half baked, cockamamie ideas or clips that make no sense, lack any logic or are just plain stupid.
Normal people who have half a brain will ignore such posts and move along. Then there are others. They mindlessly flock to it and believe everything that they see and read and rabid try to tear apart anyone who disagrees, even though they cannot back up or uphold any of the stuff that they are standing behind. I love starting arguments and trouble on stuff like that. I love throwing in logic and reason. I love throwing in actual facts. I also love seeing my direct attacks being deflected and avoided, further solidifying the weak and pointless arguments made by my weak minded counterparts. I love that the questions I pose asking them to support their feeble arguments get ignored despite the fact that I may pose them over and over and over again. The more times they get ignored, the more solid my arguments become. It's fabulous. I barely have to do anything at all to show how unsubstantiated the opposing claims are..... :sigh: I need to go find some other forums that might actually challenge me a bit more.... I need to keep the mind sharp and some of the forums I'm on are just making things too easy.

Can I get a minute??!??

It never fails. I can be sitting around doing nothing or trying to play with the kids who are less than interested in having me around or whatever, but the second I am engaged in something else, like being on the phone or sitting on the toilet, THAT'S when I am needed for something critical by one, some or all of the children.
I swear there is some kind of magical trip wire on the threshold of the bathroom that automatically triggers some kind of brain chemical in the kids that makes them remember something that they feel is critical that they feel I need to know right as I'm sitting on the can....  :sigh: Parenthood ROCKS!

Internet porn......

The discovery of internet porn has got to be something of a shock to people...
My pop, being ancient, and having just recently discovered the magic of computers and the internet,  has been busted many a time surfing through the porn sites and stuff.... Blech.... It's funny seeing the look on his face when he gets busted though....

I find it so funny that you can google just about anything that you can possibly think of. Any combination of random words and lo and behold, eventually, some porn something will pop up.... It's funny and very disturbing at the same time. I mean there has to be a market for this kind of stuff in order for it to be popping up, right?

You can type in cookie dough or strawberry PopTart or something as harmless as fluffy bunny, but eventually, it happens. Something that ought NOT to pop up, pops up..... :shudder: no wonder the world is going to hell......

Um........ No.

There are some questions that don't really require the thought that you pretend to put into them. The answer is VERY apparent and clear and obvious, but we feel the need to pretend to think about it anyway....
This is especially true when the kids ask for something...

Child: Mommy? Can I have a box of chocolate?
Me: Um....... No.

or

Child: Mommy? Can you buy me <some expensive toy that they don't need that I can't afford anyway>?
Me: Um........ No.

Or the instances with random people...
Some random person: So, can I call you some time?
Me: Um....... No.

or

Some person I don't like: We should do this again!
Me: Um....... No.

I probably use "Um....... No." about twenty to thirty times a day because of the random questions that pop up like just last night when my daughter asked if we could have cupcakes for dinner. Yeah. She got the standard answer. Um....... No.

Leap year....

I've always wondered about leap year babies.... It must suck to celebrate their birthdays for real every four years..... Then the other times, what.... They're celebrated on the 28th or the first? But it's really not the day is it..... I never really understood why we had leap year anyway. Once every four years we add an extra day to the year because what now? And for it to be universal all over the world.... I'm sure that there is some kind of important super duper reason why leap year happens and stuff and I'm sure that I may have heard the reason on more than one occasion, but..... Well, it didn't stick. Oh well. I guess the reason wasn't that important anyway. I just know that we got an extra day in February. Yippee! :eye roll:

How quickly the time goes.....

Seven years ago today, my third son was born, a joyful and wonderful day. Happy birthday to my little guy. So smart and so handsome. I'm so very proud of you! My hopes for you are that you grow to be strong and proud and upright. To grow into the great man I know you  can become.
It's hard to believe that the day you were born, we weathered a blizzard in the hospital, just the two of us. You may or may not remember the words I whispered to you. They may still lay in your subconscious mind somewhere (I know they are...), but know that I meant every word. :)
I love you to the moon and back my Boo Boo. Happy Birthday!

Negative people.....

My parents are probably the worst people, that, at the moment, I have to put up with in my life. They are negative and terrible and constantly berate and annoy me to the utmost extreme.

(Oh, but Mia.... They can't be that bad! They're your parents! They love you and want to do what's best for you!)

Well, when your father's nickname for you is "stupid worthless animal" and you are told on a daily basis that you would be doing the world a favor by dying and your mother says and does nothing to stop the behavior, and instead enables and even encourages it by making excuses for the ornery old git and throws in a jab or two herself JUST to get the cranky bastard onto another tirade of insults? I am thinking that the relationship there is not a healthy one and staying away from that would be wise and best for saving your sanity.

I spent far too long inside a box being told that what I did, who I was, what I was trying to do was never good enough, not enough, and that it was all doomed to fail. In looking back and having stopped listening to those people, I have seen that I have come a long way, having accomplished much in my own special way and that I am worth a lot more than what these people treated me or continue to treat me like.
Brick by brick, I've let issues go and stone by stone, I've started to let go of the people in my life who I know are holding me back. I let go of the grudges, I let go of the anger, I let go of the hate and then I am able to let go of the person all together. The processes are slow going, and sometimes it can be quite emotional, but in the end, it's quite liberating. So I keep moving forward.

Sharing.....

I was never really good at sharing. Actually, it was a concept that I failed miserably at in preschool. All the time..... My first words were "NO!" and "MINE!" I kind of rock like that.

So......

Creepy and effective, the surprise confrontation is a great way to deal with some people. It seems that most people need to prepare for confrontations both mentally and psychologically. It's nice to be able to ambush and SURPRISE them with a confrontation they weren't expecting.
I'm getting very good at keeping the poker face these days. Still couldn't play poker to save my life, but as far as springing surprise "confrontations", I'm getting better.
As I keep on going through and sorting through the crap in my life, there are certain things that I am still having a hard time resolving because of the fact that I am still missing something somewhere. Whether it is an explanation of sorts or whatever the case is, a key piece is missing from it in order for me to be able to let that thing go. There are certainly instances that I may never get to resolve an issue 100% and it's up to me to resolve things as much as I can on my own and accept the fact that sometimes, shit happens and learn to let it go despite the irresolute nature of the situation, but I digress. Some times, there just isn't a way to "logic and facts" a person who remains illogical and irrational. Doesn't mean I won't try, say what I need to and move on.

Swing and a hit!

I don't like personal space invasion perpetrated by strangers or people I don't like. Of course, there are those who know this about me and will do it anyway because they know that I feel all violated and stuff and it's a great way for them to annoy me.  I've found a way to deal with it.
SPAZ OUT. Swing around with an elbow or whatever and done. A VERY nice personal space bubble can easily be created in a very short amount of time if you are marked as one who is going to swing.
If I have to be around people, I might as well make it a sport and make the rules my own, especially if I have to deal with people.... :s

Bringin' the Mama Bear.......

There are very few things that are more frightening than a woman who has gone into "mama bear mode" over her children. I know that I have been guilty of this from time to time. The way things are going, it's hard not to want to get involved.
A parent is supposed to be their child's biggest advocate and when the cubs come and say they need help because they have a problem, THIS mama is ready for battle.
Many a time have I had to storm the schools, the playground, the houses of the kids who perpetrated some wrong unto mine. I ALWAYS mean business and I let it be known. It's probably the reason why the schools hate me and parents keep a wary eye out when I'm around. :sigh:
Oh well. My priority is my kids. I don't need friends. I have all the ones I need.

Parenting blunder?

So, my four kids were running around downstairs playing, making all the "pew, pew, pew!" and "kaboom!" noises. My three year old daughter says to my 13 year old son, "Kelly! I made you assplode!" 

Kelly: Abby, do you mean 'explode'.
Abby: Essplode?
Kelly: Uh-huh... ASSplode is what happens when you have diarrhea!

Is it wrong that I laughed?

Being the eldest....

I suppose being the eldest has GOT to suck sometimes.... The "If it fits, it ships" rule doesn't count when it's younger siblings you're trying to shove into the box.
I'm the youngest and I suppose I had it easy. Although it was kind of cold living in the shadow of someone who my parents thought was the perfect daughter and the ideal and someone I should strive to be. Of course, I had my own ideas.....
My eldest, being close to 14, lives with three younger siblings whom he "needs to set an example for" and I can tell sometimes that it gets to be a real downer for him. Although I try to let him do his thing, I am still his mother and cannot be his friend all the time. I still hold the title of "Parent" and I do have to act accordingly. Slowly but surely, we have been coming to more and more of an agreement and although we have a rough patches, things are going on swimmingly. I suppose it could be a lot worse, as I have seen and met some of his classmates and if they were mine, I'd beat the snot out of them and send them to military school the way they acted and treated other people. I guess I'm lucky in that respect.
My boy also treats his siblings quite well and although he gets annoyed with them and gets angry, he's actually quite good to them and so I have no complaints there either. I suppose things could be a lot worse.
Considering what his life has been like for the last few years and the different changes that he himself has gone through, he's turning out to truly be someone that I am quite proud of. He still has his moments, but I have to say, he is one VERY cool kid.

RAWR!

My sweet little "mini me" daughter is now on this "I'm a big scary monster!" kick. It's hard to take seriously, but you have to pretend that you're frightened or she gets very upset. Her tiny little self stomping around all monster-y and "RAWR!"-ing is almost too cute, but it's not because she's trying to be scary.....
It's so cute! Don't tell her I said that!

How did you manage that????

Kids can get themselves into the most DAMNEDEST of situations.... Sometimes I wait around for the explanation. Other times, the situation is just SO beyond explanation that I really end up not wanting to have heard the explanation. Being the parent, however, requires me to have to ask, "What the heck happened here?"
I have probably unstuck my children's heads from more things than humanly possible (as I don't really know what possesses a child to stick their heads into things), gotten unstuck a hand, a foot or something else from other places (as I have no clue as to why they would stick them in there in the first place) and have re-combobulated and reoriented my children from various situations that defy the simplistic explanations (Um.... It just happened) that they try to give. :sigh: Momhood...... I'm gonna start taking pictures of their "situations"..... I think it'd make a great family photo album one day.....

Sunlight.....

My dear sweet Puppy Guts still has such an aversion to sunlight. His lily white ass (having worked midnights for so long) has grown so sensitive that he gets sunburn when he goes outside in the sun for even just an hour, even during the winter. His day glow whiteness even glows in the dark when he's running around in just his shorts. It's kind of amusing...... I love you Puppy Guts! :mwah: XOXOX

Time OUT!!

Time outs have their place in child rearing, but not when their rooms are all decked out with a laptop that has internet and a TV with a dvd player and blah...
Pfft.... If time outs were like THAT, I'd do everything in my power to be on time out all the time!
We have what is called the time out chair. It's a comfy enough chair in a room lacking in any kind of visual stimulus that may distract a child from the task at hand, which is to think about what they did. It works out for the most part I guess, but it's in talking over the events that led them to the time out zone that makes the difference. Just because a child is put into the time out... well, it doesn't end there. As a parent, it is important to discuss with the child WHY he or she was put into time out and discuss all the reasons why the behavior was improper and how the behavior will not be tolerated. It's hard sometimes because I think we expect too much from our children. But in order to raise resilient and upstanding children to become resilient and upstanding adults, it takes that little bit more and we should expect just a little bit more. I really don't see the harm in raising the bar just a little bit each time so that eventually, the children will start doing it for themselves. Not too lofty, but never settling for mediocre but trying to seek out something a little bit better each time.
Child rearing ain't for the weak of heart or mind, but I can guarantee that it's worth every effort you put in. For them and for you. I hope mine will see that some day..... In the meantime, I play the role of the bad guy who doles out time outs.... :s

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dearest Puppy Guts,
Happy Valentine's day to you! I wish I had the words to express to you just how much you mean to me. How much you've made such a difference in my life for the better. How comfortable I am in telling you everything and sharing intimate details of my life past, present, and future. How much I cherish the time we spend together and knowing full well how much I am missed when we are apart.
I love the way you lift my spirits when I am feeling down, how just the sound of your voice makes me feel like I'm home safe, how much laughing with you can be such an uplifting experience. The way you know just what to say or how the way you look at me can mean so much more than words alone could convey at some times. The way that one look speaks volumes and means so much more than the words that could be spoken in that moment could mean. The way you know just when to say the words and know just when not to.
When I'm with you, it feels like all is right in the world and everything in the universe is right where it's supposed to be and the way you make me feel like I'm right where I'm supposed to be.  I love those moments when regardless of what's going on around us, there's that brief fleeting moment when it's just you and I alone in the universe and I have peace. I feel like it is something of a gift every time you tell me you love me. The things we have, the things we do, the things we share, the things we hope, dream and are working to achieve. I can't imagine having anyone else at my side as we move forward. It's an amazing feeling not to have to think, "This is it??!?? This is the best I'm going to get?" when clearly, you give me all and every day gets better and better.
I can only hope that I will be able to show you in this lifetime that you are all these things to me and so much more. I know that I'm the one who calls you "Lucky", but somehow I think that I'm the lucky one.
I love you with everything that I am, with every fiber of my being. Thank you for being mine. Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me being me. You mean the world to me. Always.... XOXOX

Shared stupid witnessing.....

There are certain times when I am quite thankful that I am not the sole person witnessing somebody's fail because all the witnesses can commiserate together or laugh out loud together and woe in the fact that we share the planet with these people.....
It's hard to imagine sometimes just how much stupidity there is in the world until you actually witness some of it in real life.  I mean RIGHT THERE, up close and personal. It's really rather depressing if you ask me. Being able to share the experience with someone else sometimes makes it easier because at least then you KNOW that there is someone else who's thinking the same thing as you. Then there's like a "phew" moment because at least you're not crazy thinking that it's a scary thing....
Ugh..... Hell..... Hand basket..... And they're all being driven by the stupid.......

What the fuck is the deal with internet arguments??!??

What the fuck is the deal with internet arguments? Heated debates with nameless/ faceless people that get totally out of control..... And of course, there are times that I totally get sucked into them and find myself getting equally revved up over whatever issue we're debating/ arguing about. Then when I get fed up and walk away, I wonder what the fuck it was that got me so heated up to begin with.

Some of the ones that get me are the religion arguments, law enforcement basher posts and random misinformed stupidity that turns viral because sheep repost thinking it sounds good, when in fact, they have no idea what they're supporting or even talking about because of the half cocked natures in which they jump on board with a random and stupid idea. I try to be as non biased as possible and try to base my arguments on facts rather than emotions and rationale instead of my feelings about what's being debated about. What I hate is posing a logical question about a person beliefs or the stand they took and it getting deflected and avoided all together. I love posing the same question over and over on the same thread and having people see how often the question gets deflected too..... It sort of stands to prove my point and makes the opposing argument look rather weak when I can lay out facts and logical explanation rather than the standard, "BECAUSE I SAID SO!"

So off I go to cause some trouble somewhere and watch the sparks fly while I enjoy a nice cup of coffee. This ought to be a hoot!

STILL trying......

In my never ending quest to try and take over the world, um.... you know.... still....
Well, it's an on and off thing. The more I see what's going on in the world outside my four walls, (locally and globally), the more I think that world domination by me would be a super fantastic thing. Obviously, my idea of idealizing the world is different from others' ideas, but none the less.... My ideas would be a lot better than what we have happening now. I am still aware of the fact that no one should have that kind of power too. Ruling the world? Come on. On the flip side of that, I would make such changes that would shake up the system of things that we have going right now and the bologna rule would apply. Keep throwing bologna against the wall and eventually, something sticks. I mean, with that kind of power too, eventually, the ruler of the world would get over thrown, no doubt. But by the time that happens, changes would already be in place and maybe something positive would have come from it, until the next person came along and added to or subtracted from it. A constantly changing set of laws and junk stuff until eventually that falls to pieces and everything needs to be razed to the ground and reconstructed from scratch once again.
Ahhhhhh..... World domination needs to be mine. I'm telling you. The world would be a better place.... For me, anyway......

EW......No.

I'm not exactly a looker, but I'm also not one of those people you would shield your children's eyes from and go screaming while running away either. I just don't get men who do the "Hey baby!" routines.... Ew.
I wonder if it ever works for these guys? I mean, honestly? How desperate a woman must be to respond positively to that..... Ugh. Still, I don't really understand the male psyche in that regard. Boys are so stupid and icky! :s

Some people....

Most people I come across, I can have a conversation with and whatever. I function. Some of those people, I will become friends with and we hang out and whatever too. Then there are those whom I've come across that their mere presence alone will raise the hairs on the back of my neck and make me want to be a little less than cordial. I can't always put my finger on why I feel that way, but it's something and it happens. I don't know why. I've been trying to reason out with myself whether it's polite to just tell a person, "It's not me, it's you..." or just kind of grin and grit my teeth and bear it. I've gone either way and have tried both, depending on the person I was dealing with, but still. I would think it more polite to let a person know exactly what you thought of them up front and move along then having to deal with someone you really don't want to be around (unless you HAVE to). It probably makes things easier for a person that you don't know too well that you don't really dig on their groove from the get go before they invest any kind of anything in you and they can move along too. I probably give these things way more thought than I really should, which is very typical of me and I suppose "par for the course", but just another nugget rattling around inside my head.

If you're gonna do it.....

If you're going to do something, it should be done right. This is a principle that should be applied across the board. Whether it is a job, a task, a chore or whether it is having fun, playing, living, fighting, loving. It should be flat out balls to the wall.
The battles that we fight in life should especially be this way. I'm not talking about the little things. I am talking about the BATTLES that we have to deal with in life.
Life sometimes brings about hardships and woes that seem daunting in task and hopeless. That is when it is most important to put on the big girl panties and hike up the pants and bring the fight to a whole new level and fight to win.
I have been faced with some harsh blows over the last couple of years, but it seems that I have muscled through them and although they didn't end ideally, I still came out on top. And it would seem that there are a few more battles left for my on the plate before I go onto the next plateful of shit I have to deal with. So, the dawning of a new day and some issues to resolve. Bull by the horns and yada yada. :cracks neck and stretches: I'm ready.

Revenge....

Exacted revenge is only really satisfying for like the first fifteen minutes, then the novelty sort of wears off.... At least that's my opinion. I think the amusement comes more in the planning and plotting of someone's downfall than anything else. I mean, once it's done, it's done and that's it. No more anything. It reached it's peak and fizzles out. It's not to say that I won't keep my plans of revenge on the shelf to be brought out at a later date.....

Lazy TV days.....

Yes.... I too suffer from the occasional lazy TV days. A water bottle or two, a bag of some sort of junk food and remote, dressed in jams and a bathrobe, fuzzy slippers and fluffy blanket of doom. Vege-d out on the couch for an all day marathon of couch potato-ing. I usually get sucked into a marathon of some show that I had never even heard of and it goes south from there. :sigh: I need to find a new hobby.....