'The Tellings' SOB'S lol

OK, I've been asked to share some of the 'Tellings' (stories passed down from one generation to the next) Some of these will come with a warning....you see the Matriarch of the family... is a lil naughty, I can't even repeat some of her tellings in polite society! lol This woman rules over an Irish Clan of 75? Yes, that sounds about right.....7 kids, 18 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren and 1 great- great grandchild along with various in-laws thrown in for good measure lol

A story passed down from Uncle Steve.........decorated Nam Vet

My Father (being the oldest) and his next in line Brother Emmett were true SOB's....all the Sons of my Irish Grandparents served during the Viet Nam war...all 5 of her sons. Her baby, my Uncle Steve came back haunted and wounded from the ground battles in Viet Nam (Army) He was honorably discharged and sent home unable to walk.

Since his room was on the second floor, he slept on the couch until he regained full use of his legs. There was no air conditioning in that old house near the Taylor Street area of Chicago....so he could hear My Father and my Uncle Emmett stumbling home from the neighborhood bar every night where they both tried to wash away the memories of a bad childhood.

Many a time they snuck up on my Uncle Steve and threw firecrackers at him to watch him dive for cover.....very cruel I know! Or they would wait for him to fall asleep on the couch and scream incoming while they both made slow whistling sounds. Uncle Steve was the only one of her sons to have hand to hand combat in Viet Nam while the others served from a far.

Uncle Steve decided one night to exact his revenge on his menacing two older brothers.......He pretended to be sleeping on his couch/bed waiting for them to do their nightly ritual of having that last cigarette in almost a sleep state in one of the living room chairs. There were plenty of nights my Uncle Steve had to slowly lower himself on the floor and drag himself across the room to extinguish their cigarettes before they burned down the house in their drunken slumber.

This night while he pretended to sleep, they were true to form, lit their smoke and nodded off.....he quietly lowered himself to the floor and crawled across the room to them where he preceded to roll up the bottom cuffs of my Father's socks and then roll down my Father's socks then Uncle Steve scooted back and swung his crutch with all his might, across the shins of my Father...busting open both of them....my father barely moved. Then Uncle Steve rolled the socks back up, rolled the cuffs back down and watched as the blood soaked through them. Then he did the same to my Uncle Emmett.

The next morning both woke up unable to stand on their legs and required stitches. My Uncle never revealed his revenge to them......they just assumed they got their arses kicked at the local bar, or did it to each other on the way home from the bar. Both my Dad and my Uncle Emmett have passed on.......I'm sure they both know everything thing now! lmaoooooooo

 

I will post more of the 'tellings' from time to time....it will explain sooooo much of who I am! lol

Some of the 7 questions answered (series)

I've been tagged by the 'everything in 7 questions' tag thingy that has been going around......I was tagged a lot, but I kept putting it off and putting it off....writers block, dementia or was it just plain old demented?? it's hell getting old!

So here's my list of 7's....................

Seven Things I plan to do before I die:

Hmmmm, I seem to remember doing a journal entry on this a long time ago...I'm going to peek and see what is still left on that list to do  before I become a glitter and ash mix.......oh bad idea...never go back and read old entries...it's much like viewing yourself in pictures.....the cringe factor! lol so I'm winging it! lol

1) Art class......I am hoping there is a latent talent just waiting to spring forth under the guidance of a very patient and loving art teacher. I want to see if I can paint....any medium, I'm not that picky and if I can't paint with some kind of talent I can always go back to finger painting.......right?? lol

2) Hot Air Balloon ride.....they offer them out here in the Midwest, I want to take the sunrise ride with a glass of Mimosa and a basket full of croissants! Hubby and camera in hand of course! lol

3) I hope to have held and know well a great grandbaby or two before  I make a departure of this life and begin my next life....searching for Jim again. I have always felt this deep connection to this man, that I have known and loved him long before I met him.....he thinks I'm nuts, but then again can ya blame him?? lol

4) Vacation across the great pond and stay in an old castle.......hmmmm maybe another link to my past huh? I love the renaissance period, but I'm sure I would of detested the chamber pot! lol

5) Visit all the national monuments and wonders of America ...... I think I would be patient to even take this trip my automobile now ..... I'm mellowing in my old age and the thought of a country wide road trip isn't freaking the hell outta me so much anymore! lol

6) Live alone with just my Jim.......I know for most thisdoesn't compute, but you see we came together with children and then added more to our brood, and plus I still adore him after all this time so of course this would be on my list of 7 things to do before I die.....our children are spaced our first two are 19 and 22...then the stragglers are 13 and 14....so it seems we have raised two families over 2 decades and that's alot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...let me tell you! lol

7) I want to sit on a huge southern wrap around porch, preferably my own someday and spend  hours upon hours telling the stories of my heritage, that were passed down to me from my paternal grandmother......I want to pass the stories down so the next generations can pass along the 'tellings' We are a raucous, rowdy and sometimes raunchy bunch of Irish men and women and boy are there some good tellings that have been passed from one generation to the next! lol There was this time........lol

OK, Tomorrow's installment will be.......

Seven things I can do:

Weekend Assigment.....Sweet Home Chicago

   

                       "Blues Brothers"

kmh
2005

 

Although "My kind of town" Chicago doesn't have mountains with incredible vista's or miles and miles of ocean lined beaches one thing is unequivocally true.......we have the best damned food in all of America.....Chicago's style... Pizza the best! Chicago style hot dog....the best! Chicago's Italian beef sandwiches.....the best! Let's not forget Taylor Street Italian Ice on a hot summer night.

It really is a small melting pot of people on it's own....we have whole neighborhoods filled with sights, cultures and foods from all over the world. We have the Magnificent Mile to shop on, several beaches along Lake Michigan and we are fast becoming a mecca for movie industry. We have Second City comedy for which many of the "not ready for prime time players" got their first big break.

Wanna spend the night on the town trying to recapture your lost youth........Rush Street and Division! I spent the better part of my 17-23 years dancing the night away in all the night spots. The neighborhood I grew up had a view of the Sears Tower that always beckoned me to come and play and play I did....so many things that happened in those days, stays in those days....I have a reputation to uphold.....kinda lol!

What I loved most about growing up in the shadow of the "City with big shoulders" was it was only an hour drive in any direction..... north for the farmlands and a legal drinking age of 18 (at that time) or a quick trip to the open fields of Indiana, or the picturesque towns along the east shore of Lake Michigan in the state of Michigan or an hour east to the quaint towns along the Iowa border.....It is a very centralized big city and the options were many with the open roads and a tank of gas!

To read other people's takes on this great town join John Scalzi at Scalzi's Place

WANTED...dead or alive

OK, I am looking for the person responsible for inventing the 'snooze button.' He or she is not my friend! I never had the need to use my snooze button, or to psych myself out by setting the time on my clock 15 minutes ahead of the actual time. My DH husband is guilty on both accounts......Hmmmmm I wonder if any divorce papers state the reason for divorce as over excessive use of the snooze button? lol

This was the hardest thing to adjust to when I married this man of my fairy tale dreams.....the first couple of years I don't remember it bothering me as much, but then again I had 2 babies in under 11 months at that time, so I was already sleep deprived! loll There was a time where I had him agree to placing his alarm clock on the other side of the room, (this worked for years!) that way when the damned thing started beeping, he got up and stayed up! I was able to actually start sleeping through the one and only beeeeeeep!

This is a man who used to have to get up at 2:00 a.m. in the morning for a 3:00 a.m. start, so you see why I didn't appreciate the snooze button. I'm the kind of person who has no worries all day long, but once I am up in the night, I worry about EVERYTHING! 4 hours of sleep a night was taking it's toll on my considering I was spending the last 4 hours of sleeping time worrying. Top that off with dealing with 2 babies and 2 school aged children, a house to run and taking care of my DH 84 year old grandmother who was suffering from Alzheimer's and who was a cancer and stroke survivor and all the doctor visits that entailed I needed my rest!.....Snooze button....my arch enemy for years! Die snooze button die! lol

Well, about 3 years ago, my DH stopped putting the alarm clock on the other side of the room, but by then I was capable of not hearing it go off several times while I slept, I guess I just got used to it. But lately and they say your body changes habits every 7 years, I am no longer able to sleep through all that beep - beeping! lol! LOVE the man, HATE the alarm clock! What's a girl to do?? Lol Well after pleading, poking and begging him to get up for about 20 minutes every morning, I have a confession to make.......I, yes me! have resorted to snapping his boxers! lol Every time his alarm goes beepbeep I pull back with all my might on the elastic waist of his boxers and S..N..A..P! lol

So far this method is working well for me (LOL!)......Life is good again and I am thankful! ;)

Doing the tag thingy....lol

I played along with the tag thingy too.....I'm in a bit of a slump creativity wise....I think I usually am at this time of the year. The object of this tag thing is go back into your archives.....all the way back to your 23rd entry, find the 5th sentence and post it.

My 23rd entry was about all the lives that were changed and all the lives that were lost that day on September 11, 2001. My 5th line was as follows..............

"It took living one day at a time to move on with my life, to live it for those that could no longer live theirs."

What a shame it would have been for me to give up and give into the  terror that almost swallowed me whole that day. I thought it shattered my happily ever after attitude, because I thought as long as I was on American soil, I would be safe from what so many people in other countries experience on a daily basis.....fear, terror, war, destruction, ect. Then it hit me....I had to keep living the American dream for all those that no longer could, with that little bit of purpose, I was able to have hope again, able to start living again, instead of being........ one of the walking wounded.

Monday Photo Shoot

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Outsourcing Pictures

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Give your camera to a child, friend, spouse or relative and have them shoot some pictures.

Some shots and stories are worth repeating.............

My son and my Husband along with all the other 'men in the family' take a fishing trip down to ReelFoot Lake in Tennessee every year. My son loves the camera almost as much as I do, so every once in a while I give him one of those disposable pictures to take along with him, and I am always awed by the way he views his world.

When they came back from the 'just the guys fishing trip' he couldn't wait to show me this shot.....he said, "That must be what the way to heaven must look like Mom!".......And I guess to a 13 year old boy who loves to spend time with his Dad outdoors, it sure does look like the way to Heaven!

To see more Monday Photo Shots click on John Scalzi's link.......

John Scalzi's Journal

'Weekend Update"

I finally was able to sneak away this past weekend and run off to the ranch for a day. I would love to spend more time out there, but the elder extended family members that actually live on the ranch are so miserable to each other, it makes for an uncomfortable visit. I have Maggie in the house telling me how horrible Jimmy (her Jimmy not my Jimmy) is to her and then I get out in the barn and I have to listen to how horrible of a person Maggie is to Jimmy while I'm held captive in the barn. Talking to each of them whether together or sperate as to this is why most of the family stays away is falling on very old, very deaf ears. They are both set in the their ways.

I have a couple of friends my age that are married and carry on the same way. They don't think how uncomfortable and tiring it is to constantly be subjected to their snipes back and forth to one another. I find this kind of behavior so disrespectful. Jim and I (my Jim) hardly ever fight even though we sometimes have opposite opinions of many things, some times STRONG opinions, But we would never disrespect each other and carry on like that in public. Being around our friends that do put each other through the ringer in public. takes me back to that trapped feeling when I was a child. That awful feeling that I got while listening to my parents fight growing up. Who wants to feel that again right?

While I was at the ranch I made my excuses of really wanting to get out with the horses, my great escape from bickering going on back and forth between Maggie and Jimmy. On the ranch they have quarter horses, miniature horses and shetland ponies and the chickens. I tried to fire off a few rounds with the cameras, but either I didn't have the patience or I had unwilling photo subjects. So I just put down my camera and picked up the pooper scoopers! lol I was only somewhat pleased with one of my photos......chasing the chickens.

                            

Someday I am going to find a horse that fits just right to me and then maybe I will ride more. I'm just to uncomfortable on the wider horses, being 5 foot nothing I don't have that long of a leg reach and I tend to cramp up quickly. Maybe I'm just getting old and rickety! lol! I had a better day camera wise with the yellow butterflies that were swarming around the outside of the barn then I did with the horses. The picture in the previous entry was the end result of chasing butterflies and giving up on chasing down the horses for baths! lol

Sunday was spent at a state park enjoying the dog training and fishing show. My girl friend who is an avid bow hunter was one of the guest speakers, so I came along for moral support. There were puppies for sale there, ( I wanted all of them of course!) They had a baby deer petting zoo, a settlers camp from the 1800s with children's games and animals hides for sale along with beef jerky spiced 1 million ways. Sunday was not a good camera day either and was only happy with one shot by the end of the day. This is one of the tents set up for the weekend in the settlersarea......baby this ain't no Hilton, so I ain't staying the night! lol

The Butterfly Dance

  

   kmh 2005

Sing......sing a song....lalalalla

I'm at odds with myself.......everyone who has ever heard my youngest daughter sing, has either asked for her autograph to save for when she hits it big time and they can sell it on eBay to buy that house they always wanted......or wants to be in her biography on VH1 before they were stars. I was always told it's just a matter of time for someone to hear her and she will be pursued by many a record label.

Well, it kinda has happened and even though I am thrilled for her, I am also afraid for her......"The Industry" is only out for itself and chews up and spits out sweet kids like her all the time. It's a major recording label and they are extremely interested in my 14 year old daughter. I have only agreed on a meeting, I have so many questions.....I want what is best for her....and if turning down a recording contract at the age of 14 is best for her then I am prepared to do it. As soon as I can offer more information on this, you can bet this very proud Momma will be shouting off the roof tops.........I can't even go there in my mind....driving around in traffic and hearing my baby singing to me through the radio........mind blowing huh??

If you are new to my journal you can hear Rachel sing in previous audio entries found in my "other journals" She can sing anything....country, pop, rock even flawless soprano..what a gift she has!

Wish us luck!

 

Just call me Smokey the Tupperware lady! lol

Last summer on a late afternoon driving to the lake.....I spotted a young man on the side of the road. When I got closer I saw smoke coming from the woods, it was the beginning of a small brush fire......the culprit? a cigarette carelessly tossed or flicked out of a passing vehicle. The young man was trying to call 911 to report this, but had no idea exactly where he was, he was just passing through and it's a fairly secluded road with houses that range in the upper 800K on one side and what is left of forever shrinking wild life preserve on the other side.

I can't tell you how many cars passed without a care....maybe they thought the situation was under control...I am hoping that is the reason. I was running behind joining the rest of my family and friends at the lake because I was home washing, cutting, chopping fresh fruits to make a huge fruit salad and I had thrown it into my largest piece of Tupperware. While I was trying to relay to the young man and 911 just exactly where we were, I flipped my fruit salad off into the bush, at least the animals will benefit from that forced to litter moment and I began my 3rd time in my life as a make shift fire fighter! lol

Here I was, standing in a very large puddle about 30 feet from the area that was now starting to blaze, in my very favorite pair of summer sandals and capris, scooping up water, running into the woods and throwing water on the fire......don't ever under estimate the power of a woman with Tupperware! lol The area grew from just about a 12 inch by 12 inch area to about a 6 foot by 6 foot area in a matter of minutes, but me and my Tupperware bowl were getting the upper hand.......A man in a pick up truck who stopped and said he lived near by was getting a 5 gallon bucket out of his truck and was making his way to the small creek down the road when the fire department finally arrived at the scene. By then it was no longer flaming, just a lil smoke was still coming up from the area around a telephone poll that it spread to.

Did I get a thanks for being such a good citizen? no.....I was yelled at to get away from there before I got hurt! How could I have got hurt with my handy dandy Tupperware bowl there to protect me! lol although my puddle was shrinking! lol The young man with the phone took off when he heard the sirenscoming.....so I stayed behind to give a report, if needed. The man with the pick up truck...stopped by me on his way back to his truck and asked me if I was all right and he thanked me.

By the time I arrived at the lake, my sandals, shirt and capris where ruined, I had mud all over my arms and my legs and my Tupperware bowl was empty except for the drying mud.....Jim just looked at me as I muttered don't even ask! lol Since he knows me well enough and that I don't do anything without a good reason, he didn't push for an answer.

The reason I stated in an above paragraph that it was my 3rd attempt at fire fighting was because, the other two times I had to try and put out a fire when I was much younger.....my teens.....both times took place in my bedroom, one was with a candle that I forgot to extinguish before falling asleep for the night (this is the reason candles are not allowed in  my kids rooms today) and the other time it was my pajamas with me still in them! yikes! With my bedroom the fire department actually had to come and assist me! lol I also was treated for smoke inhalation as well as my sister who's room was across the hall from mine and with my pajama fire (again my fault playing with a butane lighter while on the phone) was just a flash fire, out as soon as it started but all the loops on my terry cloth jammies were gone, even though the material underneath didn't even have a scorch! I was a very lucky girl!

I heard it in a love song.......

Flash Back....... the 80's

Dianne Warren has written many a love song.....many of her songs although recorded by other recording artists make it quickly up the charts. This song was recorded by Taylor Dane of the 80's fame and many times it made me burst into tears during that time (the 80's) before Jim and I were married, during the times we spent more time apart then together. During that time I learned you can't hold onto to someone who is wanting to let go, you have to have faith that in letting go....... love will lead you back.

Saying good-bye is never an easy thing
But you never said, that you'd stay forever
So if you must go
Well, darlin’, I’ll set you free
But I know in time
That we'll be together
Oh, I won't try
To stop you now from leaving
Cause in my heart I know

(chorus)
Love will lead you back
Someday I just know that
Love will lead you back to my arms
Where you belong
I’m sure, sure as stars are shining
One day you will find me again
It won't be long
One of these days
Our love will lead you back

One of these nights
Well I’ll hear your voice again
You're gonna say, oh, how much you miss me
You walked out this door
But someday you'll walk back in
Oh, darling I know
Oh, I know this will be
Sometimes it takes, sometime out on your own now
To find your way back home

(repeat chorus)

But I won't try to stop you now from leaving
Cause in my heart I know...oh yeah

(repeat chorus)

Love will lead you back
Someday I just know that
Love will lead you back to my arms
It won't be long
One of these days
Our love will lead you back

And it did........Ü

Summer's Last Burst of Life

kmh 2005

Married life with Jell-o....finale

Flash back to my first year of marriage      (continued)

Click here to go to the first entry of this 2 part series~~~>

Married life with jell-o

1990-1991

My first year is also the time that I had to start fighting fairly too....no more big blows ups over frivolous things and no walking out the door saying over my shoulder "I don't need this!" I had to learn to get my point across then be still enough to allow him the same curtesy and then still make him think I was right! lol....it's a gift! what can I say? lol

It is also the year that I went from a 3 bathroom house to a 1 bathroom house....for most of you that is no big deal, but when you spend the next two years of your life pregnant, getting to the bathroom on time is a very big deal! When we finally did buy "our house to raise the kids in" I made sure we were back to a 3 bathroom house.......6 people, one house.....you do the math.....bathrooms are a very big deal! lol
And spending most of our first  year of marriage pregnant was not so wonderful, I didn't have morning sickness........I had morning, noon and night sickness...another reason more than one bathroom was not considered a luxury it was considered a necessity! The smell of everything made me run for the porcelain pot! lol I had lost almost 20 pounds my first 5 months of pregnancy.....that is not a good thing to do when were only 115 pounds to begin with and you were supposed to be putting on weight! But no worries.......I soon made up for what I lost and then some! lol

Doing everything my way from when I was a single pregnant woman and Mom with my first daughter and then having to now do everything as a couple was a small challenge for me too. I had very different ideas about everything from running my home and raising the kids, even trying to come up with baby names we both could agree on was difficult. As a single pregnant woman with my first child I didn't have to worry about that and even though it was so sweet to finally be doing life the way it was supposed to be done instead of relying on my own improvisational skills, I found it kinda frustrating too that I had conform to being a wife now. I couldn't come and go as I pleased....you have to be more courteous when you are married if you want that in return.

This first year I continued to work even though I didn't have the need to anymore, but I had a difficult time giving up my "own" income. By this time I was working for a national Real Estate firm as a Relocation Director and I wasn't sure I wanted to be a stay at home Mom. I was lucky enough to spend my first daughters entire year at home with her, then it was back into the work force. It wasn't until I conceived another child (the 4th to the mix) just shortly after our one year anniversary that decided to be that stay at home Mom.

That first year of marriage was life changing for sure, we had to learn how to balance each other out, plus parent the two kids we both brought into the marriage while making room for "Our" first child together. we had many obstacles to over come, but when you 'want' to be with someone....nothing can keep you from over coming them......not even the first wife! ;) lol

Barnstorming..... finale

kmh 2005

Barnstorming (2) in series

  

 

kmh 2005

Barnstorming! lol (1)

       

KMH 2005

 

There is an old farmstead that is one of my most favorite places to visit, I like to visit it at different times of the day for shadow effects and different times of the year for the effects that the seasons have on it. This is the peek of the big red barn......I will be posting different pictures and from different angles............. It really is a beauty!

A student of human behavior

I am a perpetual student of human behavior.......I can't help it, it's my nature. Sometimes I am happy and over joyed with what I witness and sometimes I am just appalled. 

RESPECT.......you can loose it faster than your virginity and it will be as long gone as what is left of Jimmy Hoffa.

Respect is not something someone can take away from you, it is only driven away by your own deeds. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how well liked you are or how good looking you are, do something mean and spiteful and you loose all respect...it's a terrible thing to waste.

It saddens me to see and meet people with such potential to be great or to make a difference in their world, then they do something that is just "so wrong" that no matter how brilliant they are, or how many things that they might of done good in their past, it is instantly erased when you loose the respect and credibility of your peers.  I know everybody has a bad day now and then, but....... how many bad days are you allowed before you or everyone else has realizes it's not the situation it is the person in the situation? Credibility is also quickly lost. And I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but a person that habitually causes harm instead of good, no longer has a place in my life. With love, trust is most important, but with humanity I think respect is.

I seem to be off in a tirade over something that has nothing to do with me, but obviously I felt passionate enough to journal about it, I think because this kind of adult behavior shocks me the most. I wonder how many people would cringe, and I mean just CRINGE if they ever saw a video tape of some of their behavior. Or how embarrassed they would be, if they witnessed their own child behaving in such a manner. We tell our kids to not sink to the level of their tormentors and bullies, but I have witnesses many parents do just that.....What is up with that? Sometimes all it takes is to see one person treating another person badly and it's a wake up call to me to 'Check myself' and my own behavior towards other people.

What I am not including in this is.... the younger generations, we all know that is the time bad judgment is often the culprit and at that time in a young persons life, IS the time to make mistakes and learn from them, but with the 30 something and older crowd, their time for bad choices should be few and far between. Maybe I just don't get it......maybe I am vastly different from my peers. I don't believe in deliberately going out and harming someone, mentally or physically just to make myself feel better. I would much rather do the work on myself in improving who I am then going around deliberately looking for faults in other peoples lives. I only comment on things that I have already addressed and fixed in my own personal growth.

Even as an adult I run across child "Bullies" who masquerade as adults and I wonder, what evil happened in their own upbringing that brought out the beast in them? That is truly my first reaction....it is only after they have trespassed against me so to speak, more than a couple of times, that I begin to stop pitying them and start ignoring them. I am not perfect.... sometimes I bite back, but it takes a lot to make do that......unless your messing with one of my kids of course.

It is easy to ignore mean, bitter people.........if they mean 'nothing' to me or my life, then their opinion of me means...... even less. They didn't make me and they certainly can't break me.....I am the only one who can take down myself and I try to live my life by doing nothing today that I might have to apologize for tomorrow. And for God sakes people........be better examples for you children! For one day you will get that wake up call and wonder what the hell happened!

Married life with Jello! lol

I have been experiencing severe writers block, I think I go through this at this time of the year, summer is over, kids are back in school and I have time to myself to go completely blank, I haven't been able to write and I haven't had the urge to touch my camera. I do things in cycles, this I learned about myself over the last few years. I've been bored and restless and I can't figure out what is coming next in my cycles....although I have been reading a lot again.

When I have writers block I am usually able to go to the boards and read other journals and get at least some inspiration, but I have been coming up empty on that.....until today. Kasey at The return of Kasey palooza  (<~~   link) blogged about a guacamole fight her and her boyfriend had at home over a game of scrabble, it triggered memories from my first year of marriage and one hell of a Jell-O fight! lol So I thought I would share of few memories of my year as a newlywed.

8/8/90 - 8/8/91     (flash back)

After the shock of finally being able to actually marry the man of my fairy tale dreams, this first few weeks were actually awkward! lol We had spent so much of our 4 and a half years coming and going in and out of each others lives that just staying at his house for more than a week felt funny. I felt many times like OK, it's late I should be going......lol....how weird was that! Many times I actually said, "I had to go home" and he would have to remind me that I was home! lol And I would reply "Oh yeah!" lol.... Now I wasn't all innocent and green, I had lived with Danny for a few years.......but being married was different....being married was wonderful!

Little did I know that I conceived our first child in the same month we were married.....for those that are sitting there doing the math.....she came almost 10 months after we were married....I know, his Mother pointed that out to me! lol This was also the year that Jim started the adoption proceedingswith my Daughter Amanda...she was 4 years old and he had been in our lives since she was just 9 weeks old. This definitely was a year of change and I loved it!

This is where our own food fight kicked in.....I craved Jello when I was pregnant with Rachel....all colors-all flavors, some in pretty parfaits some right out of the mold....but I always had Jell-O in the fridge, big bowls of it! I still don't know how the food fight started but there was jello everywhere! On the kitchen ceiling fan, being whirled to every adjoining room, on the dog, on the 4 year old Amanda, who by the way the dog was licking it off of. It was in my hair, my ears, my ugly maternity bra! lol It was down Jim's pants and shirt we were..... a delicious mess!   And who knew right after our One year anniversary came that we would have conceived yet another child....something about the loss of inhibitions under the Kentucky Moon on horseback and a mason jar of white lightening! lol....Both of our last two kids were conceived while visiting his family in Kentucky......Oops my bad! lol....You have no idea how glad I am that my In-laws don't have access to the Internet and my blog! lol

Well, this entry is getting longer than I anticipated so guess what?
Yup....continued! lol

Under the golden moon.....

This past Saturday night at the lake, we had an end of summer bash and it was fantastic! Some of the best times are when things are impromptu as was this little get together. The night was warm, the moon was just a sliver of gold in the sky and the lake water was refreshing after dancing on the beach all night.

We are an eclectic group of friends, whose music tastes run the gamut of all genres. But Saturday night a radio station was playing all dance music and we had a blast!  Mind you this 40 something crowd was hurting something fierce the next day, but it was soooo worth it! LOL! Since it was so warm and we all worked up a good sweat dancing, most of us also ended up in the lake several times fully clothed and some not so fully clothed just to cool down. It was one of those night were you couldn't think of another place you would rather be.....at least I couldn't.

The kids had a great time to, we rented one of those jumping things, so the younger kids were all over that.....while the teenagers looked at us adults, with eyes a rollin'! LOL.... like we have all lost our minds.....we all knew that someday when they were our age and something like music took them all back to their own youth they would be dancing fools too! LOL! That is one of the perks about being an adult.....we couldn't care less how crazy we looked, we were having a great time!

I am often taken aback when I discover someone has a preconceived notion about me such as being a prissy girl who doesn't like to get down and dirty (Not in that sense of the phrase........minds out of the gutter please! LOL) They think just because my hair is always done, my nails are always painted and I wear make up (light) from time to time that I don't like to just...let my hair and my guard down and have a good time.....  these are usually people that were not from my childhood or my wild teenage years and think of my as some kind of soccer Mom......and that just makes me laugh......I didn't care Saturday night that I was having a really good hair day and that I just jumped into the lake or that my make up was smudged or that I woke up with a lot of sand in my bed....sometimes you just have to have fun! lol

It was a great night to put your worries aside and just "be" again....it was a great way to end the summer with and to remember sometimes you just have to dance you cares away! lol So what I'm still paying for it Monday morning.......like I said earlier...."It was sooooo  worth it!" lol lol lol

Every day hero's.....

I know that if I am blessed with a long life, I will be that tiny, wrinkled woman with the shocking white hair who sits on her porch rocking to the memories in my mind.

How many times have you been around the 'old people' and you hear them reliving their lives? Some are still stuck in a long ago war, some are still stuck in a troubled past and some are doing nothing but bragging about the grandkids!  lol! Every generation can define themselves by a tragedy that happened in their life time. People can still remember where they were when the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King were killed, they can remember with clarity what they were doing when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

My generation will remember the space shuttle disasters, the High School killings, the Oklahoma City Bombing, September 11, 2001, the tsunami and Katrina. But we shouldn't loose sight of the greatness that has also been witnessed by this generation..... We have witnessed greatness indeed. And tragedy sparks compassion again for our fellow man, I know after watching the Fire men and Police men rushing into the Twin Towers, where people where trying to get out re-established the respect that I have for them. How many times did a fire truck or a police car rush past me in traffic with sirens blaring and lights flashing and I though it was an inconvenience to pull over so I just slowed down.....well, not anymore! I show respect and pull over and stop, their urgency to get where they are going far exceeds my own urgency.....I know that now.

Right now America is sporting a black eye given to us by the slowness of the response to our Katrina survivors, everybody seems to be blaming everybody else, all saying they were waiting for the 'go ahead' to lend a hand and give aid..........why didn't more people just act on their own? Why didn't more people say this waiting is crazy, and I'm going in? That is what the early responders did, they saw they were needed and they helped.

I for one, was lulled into a sense of false security after the post traumatic stress wore off after 9/11.......but know with what has happened to our fellow Americans down south, it has rocked my security all over again......are we any less vulnerable now?

Every day hero's are the true hero's here........these are the men and women that protect this country from the front line whether it be at war, at a fire, or at a disaster, these are my American Hero's! I would rather hear their stories of their bravery then hear one more politically correct speech given by a politician who has failed their countrymen. I think many of them  (politicians) sleep at night only because this is not an election year. Makes we wonder if it was their butt on the line, would the response time have been any faster? Just something to think about huh?

We are a great nation with many flaws, but our character comes through in times of need and right now, it's the every day Americans pitching in and helping out the other every day Americans, again we have seen that there is no North and South, no Black and White..... we are united again as a nation....One nation under God.

The only thing that saddens my heart is why must we always have to have a tragedy hit us, before we realize this is a brotherhood and every life counts?

Katrina...every lil bit helps!

 

This child of mine who by the way smoked the competition in a talent show and took 1st place with her rendition of the Dixie Chicks "Let Er' Rip" last weekend has finally found a cause to empty her closet and donate her beloved stuffed animal collection.........her cause? Hurricane Katrina Survivors.

I have been after her for years to please thin out the herd of stuffed animals that have taken over every inch of her room for the last 10 years (she is now 14) She has cried, begged and threw tantrums every time I have separated her from one or more of them, so  I stopped asking her to rid herself of a few. This child of mine has donated 3/4's of her stuffed animals along with 1/4 of her wardrobe to help the survivors of Katrina. I am so proud of her......I didn't even have to ask, she asked me if it was OK.

I shouldn't be so shocked over her compassion for others, after all this is a kid who donates her pony tails to 'Locks for Love' whenever her hair reaches the 10 inch marker. She has been doing this since she was 6 years old......It's a blessing that this child's beautiful golden blond hair grows at an unbelievable rate. The "Locks for Love" organization collect hair of any length but prefers at least 10 inches of hair to make real hair wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer treatments and other disorders and diseases.

Even when the children were little and they knew that Santa would be coming soon, I always asked for old toy donations from them to be given away to kids less fortunate......sometimes we donated to Salvation Army, Sometimes it was Goodwill and other times it was to local shelters......my kids were raised to be aware of those less fortunate. Rachel who is in High School this year is also trying to organize a benefit concert through school with a 'Kids talent show' with all proceeds and donated can goods (entry fee and donation) to go to help the Katrina victims. We are still waiting to hear back from them on this matter.

This Momma is so very proud of this baby of hers! If you would like to learn more about "Locks for Love" please use the link I provided below and if you would like to hear Rachel sing the song that won her 1st place last week....follow the link to a previous entry of her singing it.

 Locks of Love

Rachel singing "Let Er' Rip"

The seasons of me.......

           

The leaves are already starting to brown and fall from my beloved birch trees....I think because of the unusually dry summer I won't get much in the blaze of glory which happens in the fall when the leaves turn this incredible gold color before falling and blowing away in winds of fall.

At least I get to enjoy somewhat of an Indian summer here in the burbs of Chicago. We have temperatures in the 90's again for this weekend. Normally I would growl over temperatures in the 90's I'm not a fan of sweating without a purpose, but because I know sunny warm days will be coming to an end soon, I will relish this heat. Soon our heat index numbers will be replaced with wind chill factors and when it gets that cold I am often a prisoner in my own home. I am also not fond of bitter cold and frost bite. I flourish in the spring and fall months.....spring refreshes my spirit and fall refreshes my view of the world with splendid colors.

So far I do not feel the pull of winter coming, where my spirit tends to hibernate until spring.....maybe this year it won't be so bad. It seems I don't fall as deep into the abyss of winter with each passing year. Maybe because I am more keenly aware of its approach or maybe because I do not fight it and I let it wash over me quickly. It has been my constant winter companion for the last 11 years, so maybe we are just comfortable with each other by now.

It helped to realize that I too, just like the flowers of spring......I am a perennial.

Melancholy Momma

I finally have my older two daughters room, emptied and cleaned out, and even though I am looking forward to making it into a nice guest room and a room for me to escape to, I am not as happy as I thought I would be.  There will be no more little girl giggles escaping from under their door, late night kitchen raids, and no more Saturday Mornings with us all piled up in Mom and Dads bed for cartoons and conversations. They are both young women now......Melissa soon to be 23 and Amanda 19 and are both living out on their own now.

Gone are the posters on the walls, the loud music from behind closed doors, and the make-up and perfume bottle covered dressers with remnants of their childhood scattered here and there.  Gone are the late night rings of the telephone because their friends just had to speak to them on more time. Almost gone are my late night vigilant watches, from the living room window, waiting for car lights to hit the drive way at curfew. Even though they no longer live at home I am still restless at night around that time.

I know this is what every parent hopes for, independent children, but still the silence of their absence is deafening at times. I makes me look at our youngest daughter Rachel (14) who just started High School and I want to wrap her up in my arms and rock her like she was my baby again, loosing her to adulthood will be the most bittersweet...... she is the last of my wrapped in pink baby girls.

I'm not sure what it is, but their first four years of life crawl by at such a slow pace and you just can't wait to get them into Kindergarten and then the last four years of their youth, fly by faster than you can blink and you wish it would slow down just a little......and I only say a little because their teenage years can drive a Momma crazy! I know I have been through two of theirs already and the younger two are just at the cusp of their teenage years and they say a teenager has angst.......well, it ain't nothing compared to the angst of a Mother with teenagers! lol

My blessing in this is that none of my children have been as wild as I was and for that I am very thankful......but then again "Mini Me" is only 14......right?? lol lol lol

"Over Indulged" ......Syndrome? lol

Earlier in the week, while I lounged around in my jammies drinking green tea, I watched one of the early morning news programs. And while they where giving a quick once over on everything that was to be a topic on the show, they talked about an upcoming story that they were going to be running on the after effects of raising over indulged children...... It tweaked my curiosity so I stayed tuned.

Apparently the 20 something crowds, who were over indulged as children are experiencing what they now are calling a 'Let Down Period.' I guess is starts to happen when they have to start relying on themselves to find their own ways on making themselves happy. How come this came as a shock to them? The only thing I ever over indulged my children with...... was love, even though the community that I live in believes in more is better and excess is GREAT!

What ever happened to giving gifts at appropriate times and appropriate ages? Or having a child 'earn' them. What is a child who was given a flat screen TV (for their room), a computer in their room, a phone line in their room, a cell phone, all before the age of 12 with a promise of a brand new car at 16 and body piercing going to expect upon High School graduation? I am not saying that we do not have these things in the house for our children to use, but they are not in their individual rooms.

How can you know what your child is watching, or what web site your child is visiting or who they are speaking with through IM's if they are locked away up in their rooms, out of your view? The cell phone I can see, because I want to be able to get in touch with my children whenever they leave the house, I want them to be able to keep in touch with me also, so for the younger two lil ones of ours, they only get the cell phone when they are out of my home and out of my site. The older two were given cell phones when they, Yes! they bought their own cars, that is a security issue.

As far as piercing and hair color, they were not a big issue with me, but not until they were 16 and piercing their tongues was NOT an option! I felt as long as they dressed with respect to their bodies, I didn't care what color hair they had, but not until at least sophomore year. Phone lines in their rooms were not installed until they hit high school either.

So I can see why these over indulged children that are now young adults are having a hard time wondering what happened, there are no more quick highs anymore, the pampering has stopped but for a few, who I am sure that some time down the line the parents of those children will see the error of their ways, when that child is 30 something and still living at home, or living somewhere with the assistance of Mom and Dad's money.

Boy am I glad I raised my children the same way my Parents raised me..........you want it? you earn it!

Monarch Moment

kmh
2005

There's another blogger out there by the name of Kristina.....her blog's name is "Sometimes I think." On Monday mornings she does a "Monday Morning Question" where she asks a question which is open for everyone to participate. This Mondays question was.......

What would you like to do before you die?

My answer would be to be able to hold and possible know well, a great grand baby or two. It is a simple wish that I hope to be able to accomplish!

If you would like to participate in this Monday Morning Question just visit Kristina's blog and leave a link to your own journal. Below is a link to her journal.

http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink/entries/970

A sincere question answered.....

Comment Added
A comment has been posted to the Journal:
I shaved my legs for this?
Monday Photo Shoot......End of Summer
Comment from: ashleekr
"Is your life as perfect as you always seem to portray it?"
 

I really had to put alot of thought into that question so I could give you a very sincere answer. My life is far from being the perfect life but it is perfect for me, if that makes any sense. Because in a perfect life I would have had the perfect childhood and my childhood was far from perfect. I spent most of it trying to become invisable when my Father was drunk and then trying to be visable at times when he wasn't. I fought hard not to believe what my tormenter, my brother told me all my life that I was worthless and stupid and that is all I would ever be and that I deserved nothing......It's a good thing I never believed him. I now know he was actually revealing how he felt about himself, he just didn't want to be alone in his pain.

In a perfect life I would not have to watch my two youngest struggle to be 'Normal' and be accepted. They both have disorders that will only hold them back during learning and childhood, but with the right medications and therapies the disorders are  barely noticable. But that doesn't help them with not being exactly like their friends. I wouldn't have had to watch my other child struggle with the school years either, just because she didn't look rail thin like the majority of girls did.......I wouldn't have to watch our oldest daughter struggle with what she had to bare witness to with the break up of her parents marriage, I am speaking about my step daughter.......she is finding it hard to trust in the happily ever after part of being in love and engaged.....she's is afraid that she won't be allowed a happily ever after even though she sees how strong my marrriage is to her father.

I try to always live a positive life now as an adult, so I very rarely let things hold me down or hold me back. It's not that I don't blog about the difficult times because I do, it's just that I have more blessings then troubles to write about and in that I am very fortunate and I have the grace to be thankful for it too. Raising my children is another check and balance act for me too....They are such wonderful kids, but disappoint me at times too......I hold nothing back in my journal......you get my life as it happens and sometimes in flash  backs.

My life is perfect in a way that suites me, but may not be perfect for someone else......I married a man who adores me and also understands that putting our marriage above even ourselves and our sometimes selfish ways is what makes it work. I believe in being happy with what is in front of me, always appreciating what we have instead of the have nots. I do envy other people, but not because of what they have, but because of what they are capable of doing............like painting, and music and such.

I think what I pride myself most on is my honesty......what you see is what you get, life has not allows been easy for me, most of the damage was what I  had caused myself with the exception of a few others. We all fall down or get kicked down from time to time, it's how fast you pick yourself up that matters. I have changed the things that I could have and have accepted what I cannot change and that has brought tremendous peace to my life now.

If you search my archives, you will find the not so perfect times written there too. Life's lessons are meant to be learned then shared with others, we give and take from each others strengths and weaknesses...... after all, we are here to hold each other up.

Monday Photo Shoot......End of Summer

     

 

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Last Summer Moments

Master of the Blog.....John Scalzi's journal...By the way

Today is Labor Day, the "final" day of summer (summer ends officially on September 21st, with the autumn equinox, but come on, we all know this is it), so let's commemorate it in picture:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Get one last shot of summer fun.

This is summers..... last blaze of glory......beautiful golden sunsets will soon be replaced by the gray that permeates the skies of winter and the only time spent on the lake will be under layers and layers of warm clothing to catch the fish that eluded you all summer long.  The wonderful smells of BBQ will be replaced by the smell of wood built to warm your hands and feet. Gone will be the cold beer on tap and tropical drinks with fruit and pretty little umbrellas, to be replaced with hot chocolate in a thermos with a touch of Peppermint schnapps for the adults.

The boats will all be pulled from the water and the slips will remain empty awaiting for the thaw of the following spring. We will all be given the briefest 'God' like experience of walking on water even if it's frozen 6 inches thick. The only true rays of sunshine will be from the children young and old, trying to find their balance on an ice skating blade. Each child unrecognizable under the many layers of warm and colorful clothing.

The conversations of the weather will be reversed from how hot it is to how cold it is, while we reflect times spent together under the endless summer sky....... then to fast forwarding our thinking of the next upcoming summer season, when life will consist of BBB's, sun tan lotion and lazy days on the water all over again.

 

Circle of Life

                                               

I was unaware that we were granted the pleasure of having another Red Tail Hawk Fledgling (almost grown) until it was too late.  The photo above was from another time..... another baby, but yesterday with heavy heart we found the remains of another beautiful baby laying in our side yard, the coyotes had found it sometime during the night. Even the circle of life can leave the heart heavy.  The fledglings are on the ground for a couple of weeks while they learn how to survive on their own. The Parents still take care of the basic food needs, as they encourage them to start fending for themselves slowly.

Last night I came home a lil earlier from the lake then the rest of my family and as usual the only thing worth watching was on PBS. They were doing a documentary of the Red Tale Hawks of 5th Avenue in New York City. There is a male who is graced with the name of "Pale Male" He has fathered over 23 chicks and is on to his 4th mate. I do not know what happened to number 1 or 2 but 3 had died as the result of eating a poisoned pigeon. Red Tail Hawks are natures way of keeping down the population of pigeons but because pigeons are so abundant, especially in the big cities.......people who are not fans of them..... poison them, and unfortunately which ever animal chooses to feast on the dead pigeon, they themselves become victims of the poison.

Every year people flock to Central Park in New York City to watch the mated pair and their offspring. It is becoming somewhat of a festival......a hawk festival and I can understand the reason why. When you live in or near a big metropolitan area, the only time you get exposed to any kind of wild life is at the local zoo, so when you are blessed with the smallest of window of the animals in the wild,  it is something to rejoice in.......something to be in awe of.

I spent most of my growing up years right outside of Chicago's city limits and I would get excited over a wild rabbit crossing my path, now that I have a family of my own, we chose to move even farther away from the city were at least we have lots of greenery and wild life. I have had the honor of seeing Deer, Coyotes, Red Foxes, Owls Hawks, Raccoons and Opossums frolicking through our yards. My kids know this to always be a special and privileged honor to watch them in the wild. The joy in getting just a small peek into their lives always leaves me in awe, and the natural order of survival has to be respected just as much........ Even though it pains my heart when I bare witness to it.

Meet Thelma and Louise!

 

Are they not the cutest asses.......errr, I mean burro's you have every seen? These two are by far my most favorite animals at the Ranch. I was going to go take a ride out to the Ranch today but going to the Lake won out. So I'm off to find my family and my fishing pole and do a whole lotta nothing! lol

Tomorrow Rachel is singing in town at an end of the summer festival......I have been on her to make another AOL Audio entry of her singing, but so far the moody lil teenager is winning out! lol  If anyone is interested in hearing what this gifted chilk sounds like..........go to my side bar and under 'Other Journals' at the bottom is a link to an old entry where I highlighted some of her performances.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Shakespeare...on being 40 something! lol

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tottered weed of small worth held:
Then being asked where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,
To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer, "This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,"
Proving his beauty by succession thine.
   This were to be new made when thou art old,
   And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.
                                                              Shakespeare

 

WHOA! Shakespeare dude! Kinda rough on the 40 something generation don't ya think? And what is up with the 'deep trenches"  line......it's called moisturizer! And deep sunken eyes? Well, so would you if you had a house full of teenagers on a sleep over night! lol

*.....You are here.

 

Oh how I wish this picture came with a 'You Are Here Star" and that how I wish even harder it was.....true!

 

Sometimes the more familiar we become with something the more we take it for grant it. While driving home the other night, I had the two youngest, lil ones with me and we all shared out loud how we still wished we were in our special place up in the North Woods.  I know no one would blame me after viewing how beautiful it is up there.

But would I still find it soooo charming and beautiful if it become my everyday existence. Would I still take the time every night to gaze up at the night sky and listen to the loons on the lake? Would I appreciate the tall pines trees and their branches peeking down on me every morning when I opened my eyes? Would I no longer find napping in the afternoon with my Husband soothing and thrilling at the same time?

I know right now I take most things for grant it, like electricity and running water and a drink from the tap, not to mention the safe roof over my head every night. I'm sure the Gulf Coast survivors would not take any of this for grant it now, even though they probably did just that.... a week or so ago.

I don't want my everyday life to jade me to the point of not seeing all the beauty that is in my world right now. I know where my children are and other family members, I have a house to clean, a street to walk not swim or paddle down......I know where my next meal is coming from and where I will be finding safe haven tonight while I rest my fortunate head.

Again, I have had my eyes opened up for me in the face of this devastation that is taking place less then 1100 miles south of me....Shame on me for taking some but not all of it for grant it.

Tragedy and suffering has a way of opening your eyes, tugging at your heart and I hope by now....opening your wallets. We are a great Nation with many flaws, but our true colors come through in times of great needs.....United we stood when 'Man" tried to take down New York City.....United we must stand in the face of what "Mother Nature" has dealt us. Terrorism and most natural disasters comes with out warning, Hurrican's come with a few days notice, maybe from now on people will take heed when told told to evacute the next city.....especially since it seems we can manage to get aid all around the world faster than we were able to get that same aid.... on our own soil.

A catagory 4 hurrican should never be under estimated by the goverment or the people.......but like I theorized up above, when one gets used to something, by it being in their everyday existance or every hurrican season existance.......we tend to become laxed in the way we view things and laxed with our own concerns.

So what do you do for a living?

Most of my entries are fresh from head, by that I mean I sit down and type away and that is how I come up with an entry almost everyday. My topics are as random as my thoughts. There are plenty of days where I sit at my computer (usually first thing in the morning) and can only come up with one word......"DUH!" Those are the days I can't put a thought together let alone a sentence or a paragraph with correct punctuation.

Then there are those days where that is all I can do, now trying to do this and write it all down as soon as it pops into my head is where the real challenge begins. Those are the days where I can write 6 or 7 entries and store them for later when the 'DUH! DAY" shows up again.......this is just one of those stories written sometime ago and saved I guess....... until now.

Usually when I am at a social gathering I try and meet as many new people as I can. I am not shy (most days) so conversing comes easy to me. Usually one of the first few questions that comes up is.....what people do for a living......so many occupations come with stigmatism's.....some good.......some very bad.........(think divorce lawyer! lol) This occupation will be mentioned again further down in the entry.

I am a Doctor........Hmmmmmm noble occupation, there to help the sick but also thoughts of high income, long hours and malpractice insurance tops the list of analogies.

I am an Exotic Dancer........PUHLEEZE how is dancing around in pasties and a thong swinging from a pole EXOTIC? I would only consider this exotic if maybe it was a primate or something, but lets do give the girls some props...... after all they are doing all this in high heels and that is a feat in itself! Or should I h have spelled that "FEET" for a few laughs? lol

I am a Zoologist.........Lucky Duck! Who among us didn't want to work at the Zoo growing up? Now I consider this a glamorous kinda job unless your job consists of following the Elephants around with a shovel and a bucket. But all and all still a fascinating job!

I am an Actor/Actress..........OK unless I know your name off the top of my head this really means you are a waiter/waitress...but if I do know the name and the face I think.....HollyWood, over paid, paparazzi, looses their anonymity as fast as they loose their morals and lives in a house I can only dream about owning.

I am a Rocket Scientist............OVER ACHIEVER! lol That Job title  alone, just reeks of prestige and brains! You could even be a rocket scientist who wears pasties and a thong and you will still get the respect the job commands! lol

I am a Lawyer..........good versus evil.......It's only a good thing if you are on the winning side other wise your known as the devil incarnate. Lowest of the lows.....even doing it in high heels can't help you! lol

I am a Mortician............NEXT! is all I can say............NEXT! I mean yes it's a quiet job and the stress level must be somewhere near zero but......yikesssss! Not too many kids say they want to be a mortician when they grow up and if they did, I think the parents would think a trip to the  therapist was in  order! lol

I am a Stay at Home Mother........this job gets less respect than the exotic dancer....because everyone feels as least she is earning an income! But when did choosing to stay home and raise the children you brought into this world become a less than noble job? It is by far one of the most stressful, under appreciated job out there. At least when you work outside of the house you get a break away from home and family....as a stay at home Goddess, I mean Mom.....it's a 24/7 kinda job........no breaks unless your own Mother comes and stays a few days!

I'm a Politician..........sneaky rat bass turds! I find it hard to believe anybody that would choose politics as a profession does it merely from the bottom of their heart........there is ALWAYS a hidden agenda.......even if it's just to step up to their next position in the politicians guide book on how to succeed in business on the backs of your constituents.

OK.....My little social gathering is over and everybody has gone home for the night.....Well, at the very least I made a few new connections that I will be following up on........the Zoologist and the Stay at Home Mom of course........she made a killer bean dip! lol lol lol

Doctor said.......Momma said Ü

OK, Back from the Orthopedic Surgeons office.....He said, "It's broke!" OK, Tell this Momma something that I didn't already know! lol Because of lil Jimmy's age (13.....God help me!) it will heal in a matter of two weeks.......just two weeks?? And did he have to say that in front of the boy?? I could have embellished it when I told Little Jimmy, something along the lines of.......Doctor said, "Your out for the season and to maybe take up swimming instead!" Of course I wouldn't let him be a high diver or anything! lol  ( Oh!.... Hadonfield ..... I know I have to  let him take his lumps...he's a boy and it will make him stronger..... But I don't wanna watch him get the lumps! lol)

Well, back to what the Doctor said.......Two week follow up appointment with new x-rays....as long as Jimmy follows the Doctors advice about "NO SPORTS WHAT SO EVER" he will heal fine....if he is half as stubborn as his Daddy and plays threw it, he might run the risk of having to have surgery and have pins added to his list of injuries........week one of foot ball practice..............football practice (1) Lil Jimmy (Zero)..........Momma needs a therapy!

Jimmy now knows that this is serious, He can't even practice his Archery and that will kill him for sure........he planned on Hunting this fall with Dad, good news though it won't prohibit his fishing! He of course had to prove that to me last night in the front yard with casting and reeling and trying to snag his sister and a few of her "hot" girl friends as he put it........BOYS/MEN.... the things they think up when trying to impress a girl.......it's a wonder they get dates at all at that age.....not that he's dating at 13......Momma told him, "Girls are even more dangerous than football buddy!"  lol lol lol

Happy Thread....Collections

     

Last year when I was 'new" and when I started my blog, I often was disappointed with the 'turn' the boards would take from time to time, So I had started what I called "Happy Threads" So I wanted to do another one.....anyone who wants to participate can...leave a link to your entry in the comment area and please stop and view others.

Happy Thread.....Write about something you collect....When you started it, what attracted you to collecting it, is it out of control, or do you still want more! lol and photo's are always a bonus!

I collect 'Black Amethyst' AKA Depression glass, AKA Carnivol glass.

 

It looks like black glass but when held up to the light it shows that is is actually dark purple. I found my first piece 10 years ago when I was at an antique shop in Door County Wisconsin and I have been collecting it ever since. I like the unusual pieces and they have to be very old, from what I understand it is the least mass produced depression glass, so finding it is indeed rare, but I love the hunt!  I shop antique stores and malls, yard sales, flea markets and eBay! So far I have two favorite pieces..one is of a butterfly that has a rainbow effect on it as it sits on its black amethyst stand and the other piece is from the 'art deco' period with a naked woman coming up out of the surf......I know true Auquarian! lol

 

You can either leave a link to your journal entry in my comment section or find the post of the  journaling boards and leave you link there for other's to view!

 

  Close up of how it looks (unlit from behind)

 

 Close up (lit from behind)

More on "Momma's Intuition"

In response to my friend..... Psychfun (<~~~link) who left this comment for me in my 'Mother's Intuition' entry.... "Who told you it was not broken...dad???? I ask because my father stats are such that we know go to dad & if he says you are fine you go to the ER! Ha!"   (This young woman cracks me up all the time! lol)

Oh you know it! lol There was another time when Lil Jimmy was almost 4 years old, my Mother's Intuition didn't let me down. I was planing my first serious formal dinner party at the house.....I had spent the previous few days 'power cleaning' the whole house and planning the formal dinner (standing rib roast). Everything was going smoothly (too smoothly, I should have know better!) and it was about half an hour before my guests were to arrive. I had dinner planned at 8:00 p.m. with cocktails and Hors D' Oeuvres at 7:00 p.m. Jimmy was already bathed and in his new superman pajamas and was down in the family room pestering his older sister. I was going to let him stay up until my guests arrived then put the little ones down for the night.

His Superman pajamas came with flying red cape and this lil guys thought he would give it a try, I will never get the whole story of what happened because between Jimmy and Amanda there has always been conflicting stories of what really happened. All I do know for sure is that he was standing on the back of the couch (Big NO-NO!) and decided to test his cape and landed with a thud on the floor of the family room. Now mind you the Family Room is located on the lowest level of my home with nothing but concrete foundation under the carpet and padding. I heard the blood curdling scream 2 floors up and came running!
Well, Little Superman didn't fly he more or less crashed and burned and I could tell even though he looked perfectly fine with no blood, bruising or swelling 'something was wrong' Something told me .......collarbone.....it screamed it, although he did say that is the area,  where is 'Owie' was located.

Now my guests are arriving and I am having a battle royale with DH, He says, "He's fine! If his collar bone was broken I would know it, I had mine broken when I was 8 years old!' and proceeds to grab the boy and give his collar bones a once over. I see the tiniest wince of pain and I know something is wrong with my baby!  So I get oh so close to DH's face and whisper, "If you don't take us to the ER right now, I will drive us there ourselves!"  Let's just say my dinner party was a huge success even though my Husband and I were not in attendance! lol......The guests came and saw and ate till their hearts content and kept an eye on my other 3 children.

The x-ray tech comes in with the slides and proceeds to hand them to the doctor and I ask if I can view them at this time too.......she say's, "Unless you have been schooled on x-ray reading you won't be able to tell where the fracture is" PUHLEAZZZE! Back light switch gets turned on and I point to right where I see the fracture! She says, "How did you know" DUH! "I AM HIS MOTHER!" OK, not so scientific but something's don't need to be, they just are! lol Now this is were I now turn my glare on DH and tell him, "TOLD YA SO" A mother just knows these things.......and he really thought he was going to win that battle over the ER trip? PUHLEAZZZZZE! lol

Now with lil Jimmy's current injury, I iced it down as soon as he came home and Ibuprofen him to death, but I still knew a trip to the X-ray machine was going to be in order, I let DH talk me into waiting until morning where he guaranteed me the swelling would be gone and just a small bruise would remain, after all it was just a lil sprain......WRONG! lol I don't think I will be consulting him anymore on our children's little mishaps from now on......I will listen to my own "Momma's Intuition" and do the ER trips all by myself. Now don't get me wrong I am very good in a crisis, it's not that I can't handle watching what they do to my children in the ER (4 kids only a handful of trips.....all but 2 trips were lil Jimmy (read more about him in my sidebar)...Blessings!) but it is after it is all over that I fall to pieces...strong when I need to be but, look out for those relief tears! lol! That is what I usually bring hubby along for......the drive back home with me a weeping and a hugging and a weeping and a hugging! lol

Jimmy is 13 years old now......so public displays of affection between him and his Momma are no longer 'public' but the little boy in there still needs his Momma when no one else is looking! lol Something about a Momma and her little boy!     I'll update what the Orthopedic Surgeon has to say later today after our consultation.

Must get ......B U B B L E  W R A P!!!!!!!