Flight 93

Just a quick moment to mention that I just finished watching Flight 93 this evening. What a incredibly moving story this was. I knew I couldn't watch it without becoming very emotional. I just can't imagine how devastating that must have been for everyone. Actually I am pretty much speechless. Words cannot express my feelings about how brave and selfless these individuals were. Not just them, but the loved ones that are left behind to face the world without them. I do not know anyone that was/or had family members in any of the attacks of 9/11, but I think everyone will agree that those attacks left a whole in the hearts of all Americans.

We will never forget

WHY?

I use Firefox as my browser at home. Today I am at the library at school, wasting time until my class. I have a gap between work and class, and it makes no sense to drive home when I would just have to turn around and come back. This computer at school uses internet explorer, and let me tell you...my blog looks MUCH better on Firefox, so if your not using it you're missing out.

Can anyone tell me why there is such a difference? Why does the text on Firefox look completely different than the text on internet explorer, or why the "blogs I visit" section is all messed up?

Just curious, you know me...why??why???why????

I definately need to keep my day job. I'd go broke as an artist.

This is my week #4 entry for 52 Figments. This weeks prompt was...You just won an Oscar!! Knowing that millions of people around the world are watching you, who would you want to thank?

This is an attempt to draw a self portrait. Now remember I have NEVER had any art class except while in elementary school. Fortunately I have a real job, because I wouldn't bring home any bacon as an artist.

Washer finds

While doing laundry I don't mind finding the occasional treasure such as some coins or dollar bills at the bottom of the washer. What I do mind is finding the sticky pack of chewing gum that I missed while sorting through the laundry. Hey at least I didn't let it get into the dryer.

Get your pride in order

Yesterday the son of one of my girlfriends walked into my house along with my sons. He had been having a discussion with them on his way in about his suspensions from school. He walked past his mom while passing the kitchen and said, "Mom, haven't I been suspended three times so far this year?" He said this with such pride, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't help but say outloud, "Hey dude, that is nothing to be proud of." He didn't say another word and continued walking to my boys' room. He had actually interrupted my conversation with his mother, and I never did get the details as to why he had been suspended.

My boys know that if they were to ever get suspended I would probably blow a gasket. Oh, and if it even did happen, I better NOT catch them bragging about it.

What goes on in these kids heads nowadays? Why are they so proud of their irresponsibility?

DaDay.com

As I was listening to the radio today there was discussion about Daday.com. Since the Superbowl is here in Detroit this year, a group of individuals have taken it upon themselves to petition for a new national holiday. Their motto..."Play Sunday, Rest Monday" and "Why go in, when you can sleep in?" Their plan is to make the day after the Superbowl a national holiday, claiming that more people party on Superbowl Sunday than they do for New Year's Eve. So far they have more than 9,000 people that have put their name on the petition.

Make sure you take a peek at the excuses listed for calling off on the day after Superbowl.

Just a day...

I actually got out of the house a bit today, can you believe it???

First I went to a store to pick up a few things. I was standing in line when a woman called me over to another register that she opened. I walked over near the counter, but another woman was standing there so I said "excuse me." Now I said this in a very polite way, not rude at all. This woman said in response, "YOU'RE EXCUSED!" with attitude, although she never even turned around to look at me. Tell me, what makes people so rude towards others for absolutely no reason. Well, I am not normally one to back down to someone, but getting worked up over something so petty wasn't worth it to me. Although you don't want to know what I imagined saying back to her, but I didn't say a word, I just ignored her as if it didn't mean a thing. Just thinking of the way people can be towards complete strangers amazes me. I swear I was not rude in any way towards her, I guess that is what makes it so amazing to me.

Anyways, then I went home to fix a quick meal for the kids then off to class I went. This is my English class. It was another interesting night. I really do enjoy having someone with a great sense of humor. Although I did notice something tonight. He loves to call around the room and pick those that look as if they will die if he calls on them. I have learned how to avoid this. If you blurt out the answer several times during the class, he leaves you alone, thinking that you already have a clue what you are talking about.

Actually I did pretty well for someone that hasn't had an English class since 1993, yes I said 1993. I took English Composition I WAAAYYYYY back then. Living a complicated life caused me to wait just a few years before taking another one. Actually life is not nearly as complicated as it once was for me, maybe I just got use to it. Actually when I said I did well, I wasn't referring to my grammar, I know that needs work. We discussed the elements of fiction.

After class I helped a girl set up an email account in the library at school. Part of our assignments is working in groups and sending emails back and forth to each other. Then I went off to the grocery store to do some shopping. I miss the days when I use to do late night grocery shopping. Since I am usually in bed by nine each evening while I am working I rarely get to do this. There is a big difference between late night shopping and day time shopping. If I had my way I would never shop during the day ever again.

So okay, it wasn't a very interesting day, but hey...I did get out.

Priceless treasures

I know this isn't the best photograph in the world, but it is all I could do for now. This is one of the items I received from my grandmother while I was there last month. This is the original drawing and frame that my grandmother made of the Sacred Heart in March of 1933. She would have been just twelve years old.



I also received these two very old magazines. The Life magazine is from 1963, and the Liberty magazine was from 1937. I thought they were both pretty cool finds. She kept that one magazine for almost seventy years, amazing.

....and I thought I was a packrat.

A dog, an adoption and all his own

One with a dog, one to adopt and one to have a family of his own. This is the discussion I had yesterday with my son, Jason.

Actually these are my children's plans for their future:

Joey says, "No way!! I ain't having no kids, I'm gonnna have a dog."

Rona say, "There is no way I am going to give birth, I'm adopting my kids. Mom, you'll love them the same won't you?"

Jason is the only one of my children that plans to actually get married and have his own children.

So I have three different children, and three different plans. I'm curious to see how it all plays out for them, of course not that curious that I can't wait another ten or so years.

Annoying calls to get my money

As much as I need to get my butt into a gym, I am tired of the same gym calling me attempting to convince me that I should become a member. I keep telling them that I live too far away from their facility. She insisted that I had won a one month free membership. Sorry, but this still did not entice me. The thought of traveling thirty minutes from my home just spoils it for me.

I recently cancelled my membership at an AWESOME gym because of the distance. I was wasting money every month for membership fees at a gym that I never used. I loved the idea of going, but I guess the idea of driving there just turned me off. My work does provide me with a gym and health/fitness support, so I think that would probably be my best choice. Oh and guess what? It is free.

Now all I have to do is get back to work.

Postal mishaps

About a month ago I purchased a package of Breast Cancer Awareness stamps. As you probably already know the price of stamps have increase from thirty-seven cents to thirty-nine cents. These stamps were purchased at forty-five cents each. Of course with the extra going towards the "Fund the fight, find a cure."

Shortly after the increase I went into my local post office to purchase some two cent stamps to make up the difference. I took my envelopes that I intended to mail out up to the postal clerk, and asked for the extra stamps. She informed me that I had already paid extra for my stamps, and that I didn't need to put extra postage on the envelopes. She took my mail and out the door I went.

The other day I dropped some mail into my mailbox with these same stamps on them, with no extra postage. When I checked my mail later that day I received a little brown envelope in my mailbox with a letter from my postal carrier stating that I didn't have enough postage on my envelope so she added a two cent charge (which was suppose to go into this envelope). She also included a copy of my envelope with the postage stamp on it. I went along and inserted my two pennies into the little brown envelope, then I sent the copy of my envelope along with a little note from me explaining what was explained to me at the post office. BTW, I did think it was nice that she did add the postage for me and bill me instead of returning it back to me (it was a payment for a bill), but I felt the need to explain it to her. Obviously someone was mistaken, and if it was me I really do like to know.

Today I checked my mail and guess what I found? Yep, my two pennies and an apology from the carrier.

Time to shed some pounds

I haven't posted any pictures lately, so I thought I would give a more recent one. This one was from my trip to Florida last month. It is with my daughter. You can tell from my face how much weight I have gained since I have been off of work. I'm going to have to work on this.

That's my baby girl though, I sure do love her.

Things to accomplish today

Well today I HAVE to get some things accomplished. I have a lot of organizing that I need to do around this place. I'm trying to simplify things a bit around here. I have way too much stuff, and not nearly enough room for it all.

Also I want to make sure that I finish my first assignment for my English class. There are two things that I need to accomplish here. 1.) I have to read the short story The Lottery, and do the series of questions at the end. This isn't so complicated, but since I tend to go into too much detail, my answers could end up being rather long. 2.) I have to come up with a topic for a personal essay. Here is the criteria for this essay:

1. It has to be about a personal event
2. Must have a moral or lesson
3. Must be universal
4. Has to be about a single day
5. I do have a creative license (so I can pull a James Frey and spice it up a bit, hehe)
6. It must be 2 1/2 to 3 pages long.
7. It can't be too upsetting/offensive to others

I know this doesn't sound too difficult, but with all the events in my life, I can't seem to come up with a single one to use.

ahhh, I think I just thought of one. Most of my stories have a lot of history around them. The ones that I can tell that revolve around one day I doubt that I can make into 2 1/2 to 3 pages. This story does have a moral, can be universal, I can possibly be creative with it, but I might not even need to, and it is personal.

I won't tell the story, but just highlight what happened. About seven years ago I went to a bar with my sister and some friends. Late in the evening a handsome young man came over to buy me a drink. I let him, it was a shot of tequila. I had hardly drank most of that evening and the bar was ready to close, but I did have that drink. The guy tried to get me to go with him as I was leaving the bar. I wouldn't go, but instead I went to stay the night at my girlfriends house a few miles away. This was our plan, she was watching my children, and I was suppose to stay there afterwards, because I didn't want to drink and drive with my children. I was perfectly fine driving home, I was still fine as I walked into her house and for about five minutes had a conversation with her and her friend. In the middle of that conversation she said I just fell over, never even moved my feet. I totally blacked out, and have no memory of this at all. I just remember waking up the next morning with a fractured 5th metatarsal in my foot. OUCH. I can't be sure, but I would bet money that that guy had drugged me and expected me to go home with him. Luckily things worked out for me, besides the broken foot, but things could have been much worse for me. It could have hit me with him, and he could have taken me anyway. It could have hit me while I was driving and caused an accident. When I feel I could have hit my head on something, and I could have died. When I fell, I just fell forward and didn't try to stop my fall in anyway, that is why I broke my foot, because I fell forward without moving them. It was a totally weird experience, and one that I won't allow myself to be in again. NEVER, EVER let a stranger buy you a drink. If you do, have it order by the waitress, DON'T let him go and get it. I wish that when I went to the doctor the next day for my foot that I would have had him do some bloodwork to see what if there actually was something in my bloodstream, or was it just some kind of freaky thing?

I've been tagged

I have never been tagged before, but thanks to Maria I will be sharing a bit more about myself. I see she's going to make me think a bit today.

Four jobs I have had before:

1. Fast food store supervisor-This job was important to me because it helped me to develop my leadership skills. I had my own store within two years, 5 months of those two years I was on maternity leave for the twins. Another thing about this job that I liked was that it allowed me show others how to advance in their positions also.

2. Soldier/Surgical technician, United States Army-This job was very interesting. Exploring the human anatomy in this way is an experience that I am happy to have had. The only thing that I didn't like about this job is that I felt so isolated from everyone else. During surgery there are only a few people in the room with you, and the patient is usually under anesthetic, or just not interested in having conversation (if you know what I mean). The operating room is pretty much cut off from the rest of the hospital. I am a people person and I love to be surrounded by lots of people.

3. Wedding set-ups-This job didn't excite me, especially since at the time I had this job I had just left my husband (I wanted to yell at the bride, "ARE YOU CRAZY?). I did this job only for about 8 months while I went to college full time and worked this job part-time, but it didn't pay nearly enough to raise three kids. This was my job as I was recovering from my Depression.

4. Automotive assembler-This is my current job which I have held for almost 7 years. I work for one of the Big Three. This job allows me to financially support my family. It allows me to further my education. It allows me to have contact with many different types of individuals on a daily basis. It keeps me moving all day long (I can only imagine how big my butt would be if I had a job that I sat around all day long).

4 Movies you could watch over and over:

Many years ago I would have listed these, but as I have grown older it would be fine if I never watch them ever again. I can't think of any current favorites, but here are mine from YEARS ago.

1. Grease (I saw it like 13 times when I was a kid)

2. Pretty Woman (I think Richard Gere was so sexy in that movie)

3. Dirty Dancing

4.

4 Places you have lived:

Other than here in Michigan:

1. Fort Polk, Louisiana

2. Fort Hood, Texas

3. Fort Sam Houston, Texas

4. King Khalid Military City, Saudi Arabia

4 T.V. shows you love to watch:

Since I just had my satallite installed less than a week ago it is pretty difficult for me to answer this question, I'll give you the stations I tend to watch.

1. Law & Order-not sure why I like this show, but I do watch it often.

2. HGTV-I love these decorating shows, where they totally change someone's house.

3. Lifetime

4. Discovery Channel

4 Places you have been on vacation:

This is sad, but the only place I have been on vacation is.....

1. My parents house in Florida

2.

3.

4.

While I was in the military I realized that I hated living out of a suitcase. I am always single and when my kids have time off from school they are usually with their father, so rather than go on vacation alone I just don't go. Sad isn't it? I know. Over the past year though I have decided to change this way of thinking. I goal to be able to travel to Italy within the next 5 years, although I would love to go with someone.

4 Websites you visit daily:

Actually you will get the ONLY six that I visit DAILY:

1. Maria's

2. MindKibble

3. Donna's Mundane Little World

4. Zen and the Art of Dreaming

5. What's That Post?

6. Ali Edwards

4 of your favorite foods:

1. I Love sandwiches

2. Pizza

3. Chicken Florentine (just about anything with chicken breasts)

4. Mexican

4 Places you would rather be right now:

1. Italy

2.

3.

4.

I don't really mind being at home.

4 Bloggers you are tagging:

1. Donna

2. rgmb

3. Zataod

4.

The only other person that I would have tagged was Maria, but she did me I'll have to leave this blank.

Prayers for the coal miners

After the tragedy that hit a West Virginia coal mine a few weeks ago, now fear strikes family and friends of yet another West Virginia coal mining community. Two more coalminers are trapped inside of a mine because of a fire that erupted.

My prayers go out to everyone, and I hope that everyone gets out safely.

Many years ago my grandfather worked in those West Virginia coal mines. I can only imagine what it is like to work inside of one.

My Personality Type

Mindkibble has again caused me to seek out another site. This one has to do with blood type & personality types.

This is what it says for my Personality Type, A-

You Have A Type A- Personality

A- You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

This is what it says for my bloodtype, A

Type A:
While outwardly calm, they have such high standards (perfectionists) that they tend to be balls of nerves on the inside. Type A's are the most artistic of the blood groups. They can be shy, are conscientious, trustworthy, and sensitive.

Best Traits: Conservative, reserved, patient, punctual, perfectionist and good with plants.
Worst Traits: Introverted, obsessive, stubborn, self conscious, and uptight.

I don't consider myself shy, or introverted. I wouldn't call myself self-conscious, and not always uptight, and I certainly AM NOT good with plants.

Edit: When I took a psychology class at school a few years ago these were the results. I have an ENFJ personality type.

It's all good!

I had my first class this term tonight (English 120). I think this class is going to be a blast. The teacher is sooooo hilarious. He has a story to go with everything.

Then I came home and I've been watching some VH1 I LOVE THE 90's on the television. This show cracks me up.

Not much else to talk about tonight.

Selective memories

You'll have to excuse me, but since I haven't had a lot of adult conversations lately, all I have to talk about is my conversations with my kids.

A little bit ago I was reading a post from MindKibble, which lead me to another article in National Geographic about "Bog Men." Just as I was finishing the article my daughter walked in from her half day of school. She sat down and read the article, then a similar article (about hair gel); this is when our conversation began.

daughter: "Mom, you know those guys with the white wigs? Well they only took a bath like once a month, and they wore those wigs and like hid it very well."

mom: "Where did you learn about that?"

daughter: "They had a play at school last year, you know with professionals, not kids. It was about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and they told us that."

mom: "Oh, so is the fact that they only bathed once a month the only thing you learned out of that?"

daughter: "NO"

Of course, she couldn't come up with one other thing about him. Isn't it strange how certain things just stick out in our mind, and other things we just can't seem to remember, like the important stuff. Hey, but we remember how often he bathed.

Mom, that sounds like you

My daughter insisted that I listen to this band and give her my opinion. We certainly have different taste in music.

The band I believe is called Panic! At the Disco (something like that), and one of the songs were "I write sins not tragedies." As we were sitting here listening to the song, there is a part that says "haven't you ever heard of closing the God damn door." She says "mom that sounds like you." I looked at her and said, "I don't say God damn."

It is true though I am forever yelling at them to close the door. Like they have a tribe of Indians following them in. It drives me crazy.

Like I said we have different taste in music.

Week #3

Here is my entry for 52 Figments #3.

Imagine have a conversation with yourself 20 years from now.
What question would you ask?

Did I ever find TRUE love?

Why I don't need television

Since it has been so long since I have been able to just sit and watch a bit of television, I think about my reasons for not having satellite in the first place. All day the television sits on, not with me actually watching anything, but catching bits and pieces of whatever is on throughout the day.

Yesterday though I grabbed the remote, and started scanning through the guide. I came upon a familiar station, and an "ahhh" managed to fall from my mouth, followed by a long sigh, then the word "Lifetime." My daughter just looked at me and shook her head. Women and our obession with Lifetime television, she hasn't quite figured it out yet.

Today, with remote in hand, I turned the channel from the cartoons that the kids spend watching before heading off to school to my familiar station once again. I watched (on and off of course) a movie called "The Killer Within."

I happened to notice a small detail in the movie. The lawyer who's wife died (the rich lawyer I might add) had a lamp on his desk exactly like the one I have on mine. This goes to show how "real" television shows are not. This lamp I purchased at Wal-mart, although it is a nice looking lamp, I am sure that it was quite inexpensive. There is no way that the woman in that movie (that spends $600 on a bottle of perfume) would allow a $20 lamp from Wal-mart to sit anywhere in her home.

I really need to stop watching television again.

Finally Mail

I can't believe it. My comments from my blog are finally arriving, in full force. I swear at least 20 just showed up in my mailbox today that were written several days ago. It must have been something with Blogger because all the mail I am receiving is only from this blog. I know what you're thinking, but I swear I didn't alter anything today, it did it all on its on.

52 Figments #3

Week #3 for 52 Figments is:

Imagine having a conversation with yourself 20 years from now. What question do you ask?

Wow, what an awesome question to ponder!

If you've learned anything from me from reading my posts, you might be able to guess my answer. Since one of my biggest fears is dying old alone, I would have to say my question would be....Did I ever find my true love?

I'll work on creating a page for it, and post it as soon as I have it completed.

52 Figments

I am taking a new online class, 52 Figments. I have discussed this in a recent post, well at least I have expressed my interest in it.

The first week, we have to think of a theme for 2006. Mine was "LIFE is your canvas, no one can PAINT it but YOU!

The second week we had to answer this question: All expenses are paid and your safety is guaranteed...where in the world do you want to go?

The picture above is my second week entry....How did you guess it was Rome, Italy?

Edit: Okay, so this brings up a good question. Where would YOU want to go??? Now remember I have an obsession with Italy and the Reniassance, IT says ANYWHERE, all expenses paid and safety guaranteed.

Rome, Italy

I know I've said this before, but I find the Renaissance Art & Italian architecture just beautiful. As I was browsing through some websites this evening I came across a site for Rome, Italy. This site had some great photos of Rome, one of the pictures I placed on my Desktop. I love it, it is of the Trevi Fountain, in Rome, Italy.

Service calls NEVER go as planned

If you can't tell I'm bored today, so I feel the need to pass along little statements that my kids are making today.

The satellite guy is here, on the roof:

Boys: "Mom, Santa is here, on the roof, and I think he has a drill"

Of course they know it isn't Santa, but this is their sense of humor. They are excited today, I have deprived them satellite service for many years. To them this is Christmas morning.

Actually the appointment I made for this morning was suppose to be a surprise. I thought the kids would be in school while it was installed. Then my plan was to have them walk threw the door as I was sitting there with me feet propped up on the ottomen watching some show on the tube. Of course my plan failed when I realized that today is a holiday, so they are home with me for the day.

The technician was suppose to be here between 8-12 am. At about 11 am the company called to say that they had to switch me to another tech because of problems and that he would be here by 1 pm. At 1:30 pm, I called the company because I had to run up to my daughter's school, she had to drop off some paperwork. The woman on the phone called the tech to see what was going on. She came back to inform me that he ran into some complications at the job that he was at and that he would be here at 3:00. So I ran up to the school real quick, and 3:30 the tech finally ended up at my doorstep.

Why is it that service calls never seem to go as planned?

Back When

One of the blogs that I read regularly, Donna's Mundane Little World, had a post titled "Us Kids" by Uncle Tom that I enjoyed reading. It reminded me of the song "Back When" by Tim McGraw. For those of you that don't know the song here are the lyrics. Also make sure that you check out that post on Donna's blog.

"Back When"

Don't you remember
The fizz in a pepper
Peanuts in a bottle
At ten, two and four
A fried bologna sandwich
with mayo and tomato
Sittin ' around the table
don't happen much anymore

We got too complicated
It's all way over-rated
I like the old and out-dated
way of life

Back when a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack's what you were doing
when you were cracking jokes
Back when a screw was a screw
the wind was all that blew
And when you said I'm down with that
well it meant you had the flu
I miss back when
I miss back when
I miss back when

I love my records
Black, shiny vinyl
clicks and pops
and white noise
Man they sounded fine
I had my favorite stations
The ones that played them all
country, soul and rock-and-roll
What happened to those times?

I'm readin' Street Slang For Dummies
Cause they put pop in my country
I want more for my money
The way it was back then

Back when a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack's what you were doing
when you were cracking jokes
Back when a screw was a screw
the wind was all that blew
And when you said I'm down with that
well it meant you had the flu
I miss back when
I miss back when
I miss back when

Give me a flat top for strumming
I want the whole world to be humming
Just keep it coming
The way it was back then

Back when a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack's what you were doing
when you were cracking jokes
Back when a screw was a screw
The wind was all that blew
And when you said I'm down with that
Well it meant you had the flu
I miss back when
I miss back when
I miss back when

Declaring her Independence for 1.2 seconds

My daughter was making cookies this afternoon. She did it by herself, but with a little bit of guidance from me. She was making the cookies about twice the size of what they should have been. I told her to make them smaller, she insisted that I do it for her. I did on the first batch, the second one she was on her own.

Daughter: "Mom, I don't care what you say about how big these cookies are, I'm going to make them my way, can you just come in here and look at them?" All in one sentence.

She declares her independence, then calls for mom to come to the rescue.

Blog This!

After all this time I have never realized that I could write a post by clicking on the "Blog This!" at the top of my blog. I always seem to take the long route when I do things, nobody ever told me there was a shortcut, GEEZ. I guess that is what I get for not asking the right questions.

My cell phone-back in use!!!

I knew there was a reason I didn't run out and buy a new charger for my cell phone. I have been without a cell phone for over a week, but I did not lose hope that I would eventually find my extra charger (that has never been used). My patience has paid off, I'VE FOUND IT!

I can't figure it out. It seems like almost every time that I have a layoff from work I end up somehow messing up my phone. I rarely have a phone that survives more than a year. I am not so rough on them that they look as if a dog used it for a playtoy, but something always seem to happen to them. I have been know to drop them in toilets. Once I had one on my hip and a friend of mine walked by and kind of hit me on my side, and my phone flew across the concert floor. Broken into two separate pieces (it was a flip phone), only held together by one partially severed wire. He felt so bad, I knew it was an accident so I made him think that I was already planning on getting a new one. Now I don't wear my phone on me at all, it usually stays inside of my purse.

The one I have currently is a replacement for one that just started smoking one day I believe in October. It is a video/camera phone, which in my opinion was just a waste of my money since I NEVER use it.

It's good to have it back though, I've missed it. Now my dinner dates that are late can call me and let me know. *smile*

Needing some new ideas for dinner?

I picked up The Detroit News and Free Press about a week ago, and I am just getting around to reading it. I like to look at the mini magazines Parade or USA Weekend that they have inside. While I was browsing through the USA Weekend I came across the food section titled "Please Pass the...Blog?" They compiled a list of their favorite food sites, which I thought might be interesting to check out. If you're interested here they are:

• Thefoodsection.com
• Accidentalhedonist.com
• Chocolateand zucchini.com
• Toomanychefs.com
• Obsessionwithfood.com
• Sliceny.com
• Orangette.blogspot.com

Check them out if you like. This works for me, let someone else check out the sites and keep from spending hours searching. I have found lately that I don't really browse for many new sites.

Saving a stamp from extinction

With the increase of the postage rate from 37 cents to 39 cents the Purple Heart stamp is in danger of becoming obsolete.

Veterans groups and Sen. Hillary Clinton are trying to save it.

The Purple Heart is awarded to U.S. soldiers wounded or killed in action. My father is a Purple Heart recipient, and I am all for keeping it out of extinction.

They started selling the stamps two months after the U.S. invasion into Iraq. With our troops still over there risking their lives I don't see why we shouldn't continue the stamp in honor of them.

Me, the garbage picker.

I have become a garbage picker in my own home. The boys finally cleaned out their room today. They managed to get rid of a bunch of stuff that they grew out of, like stuffed animals, etc. I can't seem to throw the stuff away, I gather all of it up and make a trip to Goodwill for donation. I can't see it going in the garbage when it is still good stuff, when I know that some little kid that doesn't have as much might end up with it. Much better than ending up buried in some stinky landfill somewhere. My daughter did the same thing, she handed me a bunch of stuff to go into the trash, when I said "Are you crazy? Some little kid might like that." She tried to tell me that she is a kid and knows that other kids won't want it. Okay, well maybe not another thirteen year old, but an eight year old probably would. GEEZ!!

FINALLY!!!

It's a miracle, I finally fixed whatever was wrong with my blog. It wouldn't allow me to create any new post, so I had to start over totally from scratch. Now I'll have to add my flickr pics again, but I'll do that another time. I'm just glad to have that over with.

Blogger comments???

Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble with their Blogger? I am not getting emails letting me know that I have a new comment on my blog. This has been going on for a little while, at least a week. I looked into my comments section and my email address has not been removed. I just can't seem to figure out what is going on. I use to get them regularly, and I didn't change anything. This started way before I decided to alter my design.

BTW, I think I like to pink background better, what do you think?

Mr. & Ms. Fill in the blank

My kids friends call me Rhonda. This feels a bit weird to me, but I haven't corrected them.

I've had this conversation with my kids before, but had it again last night with my daughter.

"You know kids should address adults as Mr/Ms _____. It's not proper to address your friends parents by their first name unless they tell you to."

"I know mom, you've told me this before. That's why I don't call them anything. When I want to tell them something I just talk and hope that they know I'm talking to them."

Attempting to escape from my life of semi-seclusion

Today I have a house full of kids, actually my boys stayed the night over their house last night, and they all decided to come over here this morning. My three, my niece, my nephew (but he is 18 so he doesn't really count) and three of the neighbor kids. This isn't exactly as bad as it sounds. They are pretty good kids, and they keep my boys busy. I was attempting to get some things accomplished around here, but I think I'll wait just a bit.

Last night I met their mother. She seems to be pretty nice, she came over to check on her kids. I have said that I have pretty much isolated myself from neighbors since I moved here a few years ago, but the truth is that I miss having a local friendship with another woman. My girlfriends all live a ways away from me, so it is sometimes difficult for us to get together.

I am horrible with names, so I have already forgotten hers, but I know she has good kids. I don't mind them being around. For a while now the girls have been coming around to visit my boys. I always thought they were cute little girls. I just found out yesterday that they are also twins. Well not the girls, but the boy and one of the girls. Being fraternal it is hard to tell, it is much easier with mine since they are identical. It's kind of cool though, twins playing with twins.

The mother and I are in similar situations. Both of us are single parents raising a handful of children, she has four, and I of course have my three. Well actually she is separated from her husband, whereas I left mine eight or nine years ago. We talked for about two hours last night about our lives.

I'm interested to see if I let this develops into a friendship or not. I know I have tried to keep myself from being overhelmed by friends in my homelife. I find it hard to get things accomplished when I spend too much time hanging out with friends in the neighborhood, but I miss the days of backyard bar-b-ques and just hanging out with good friends.

Another year older

Birthday celebrations....aren't always the most exciting. Mine have never really been. I think that is partially because of my birthday following so closely behind Christmas.

The only mail I received yesterday was from my phone company. Wanting to thank me for adding a new service to my line.

My mom & nephew called to wish me a Happy Birthday, they always remember....they are sweethearts. As usual though my father didn't bother to say a word to me.

My kids always remember and try their best to make it special for me. They managed to hold out on giving me my presents until my actual birthday this year. They bought me some scrapbook supplies while they were with their father. The clock/butterfly stamp in the upper corner of this post was part of it. They also included some metal words from Making Memories, some Vellum "Quote Stacks" (home & family), and an embossing stamp pad. Along with all that, they got me this great card.





I did go out with my girlfriends for dinner, but we went out to celebrate one of their graduation from college. I didn't have the heart to bring up the fact that it was my birthday on her day. We did have a great time. They were the ones to make the plans, I just went along with whatever they decided. First we had planned it for 6 pm, but they called me the day before to change it to 4, which was fine with me. So I get to the restaurant about ten minutes to 4, and of course as usual I am the first one there. About a quarter after 4 I am sitting there wondering what is keeping them so long, then I realize who these two are. These girls are NEVER on time!! So I figured I'll at least get started and order an appetizer, spinach & artichoke dip with tortilla chips. Okay, now it's past 4:30 and I have pretty much devoured the dip. I'm beginning to wonder if I had been stood up by my girlfriends. Unfortunately my phone is out of order. Ever since last week I haven't been able to get it to charge. So I am not able to call them and check up on them, or them call me. So I still sit, wondering if I should just go ahead and order dinner and eat by myself or continue to wait. I decided to give it a little bit longer. Then what do you know, about 4:45 I see them pull into the parking lot. GEEZ, what am I going to do with these girls. They make the plans and I am the only one to make it even remotely close to the set time, like I said these girls are NEVER on time.

I had been sitting at the bar, so we moved over to a booth. We had good food, good conversation and lots of laughs. I found at that they rescheduled because one of them wanted to be home to watch the game, the Pistons & Spurs. Both of them are HUGE Pistons fans. It didn't take much, all it took was one drink to get the truth out of her, lol.

At one point I got up to go the the restroom. When I came back I wasn't paying much attention and I tried to sit down at the wrong table. They both realized what I was about to do, but went ahead and let me do it. You should have seen my reaction when I realized it. I looked terrified, my girlfriends couldn't stop laughing. They kept imitating me. Ha, ha, they are so funny.

After three hours of sitting there I finally headed home. It ended up not being such a bad birthday after all. Thanks!

Detroit Auto Show

Trying to make it to the North American International Auto Show 2006 this weekend. My boys LOVE cars. Rona of course wants nothing to do with it, but the boys are all for it. I'll try to take some pictures while I am there and post them.

Living my own personal Hell!

Okay, back to Depression. I guess it all began back in 1997, but I didn't seek treatment until Memorial Day weekend 1998.

Basically what lead up to the Depression was that I was overworked, and my marriage was failing. I don't think that my relationship failing with husband was really the problem, I think the idea of failing was it. I had questioned for years about how I felt about him, but I couldn't determine if I really loved him, or was it just habit. It was habit. I don't think I'm real big on change, I like to do the same things over and over. Like always going to the same couple of restaurants, eating the same thing off of each menu. Now when someone takes me some place different, I do have a nice time and enjoy it, but I usually don't make those changes myself.

So slowly over the course of about eight months I started to fall apart. My walls came slowly crumbling down around me, or so it felt at the time. I cried all the time, for no apparent reason. I lost 30 pounds without even noticing. I didn't even realize that I wasn't eating. When I admitted myself to the hospital they did a complete physical on me, and noticed that my keytones were pretty low, such as with someone that had an eating disorder. When they approached me about it I said, "Do I look like someone that has an eating disorder?" Which is an idiotic thing to say, since I know that you don't have to be qrotesquely skinny to have an eating disorder. To me though, in my mind I wasn't starving myself. Although I was starving myself I just didn't realize it.

All I wanted to do was go to sleep. I had trouble sleeping through the night, but I tried to do it all the time. Sleeping was better than being awake and having to deal with the nightmare I thought I was living.

During this time my husband and I didn't live together but still considered ourselves in a relationship. Work was becoming more and more stressful. I wasn't able to hire more employees because of some psychological evaluation that prospective employees had to pass, but nobody was. At the same time I had to fire employees, with nobody to replace them. My district supervisor had to have a spotless record and wouldn't allow any overtime. I was putting in major hours to make up for the lack of employees. I remember once working 4 shifts straight, because I could not abandon my employees, and at the time I couldn't get myself to go over my districts head to demand overtime hours. I have learned from that. Saving overtime hours is not worth having my life collapse around me. I remember the last night I worked before walking out. I was working on my 3 shift for my day, my superiors were there and complaining about nobody coming to work, that they had to be there. I had been going through this for months without complaining, so I walked up to them and said "I'm leaving, I'm making an appointment with my doctor tomorrow, I'll bring you documentation" and left. Their months dropped. I went on two weeks stress leave, but before going back other stuff with my ex pushed me further over the deep end, and that is when I admitted myself. That company was a great company, and I had actually taken two months off because of the depression after my walkout and received 100% pay before I actually decided that I wouldn't go back. Like a year later they hired me back again. I know it doesn't sound like it, but they were really there for me when I needed them to be, except for this time, and I didn't speak up (like I said I have learned).

So let me push forward to the day of admittance. The kids and I were in Ohio visiting their father. I was already off of work for my stress leave. I can't remember exactly what it was that caused it on this particular day. I don't necessarily remember any fight, but I do remember that I couldn't get the thought of suicide out of my head. I kept thinking about it over and over in my head. I kept trying to fight it, but it wouldn't go away. The most important thing for me was my children, I didn't want them to go without a mother, but still I was having trouble shaking the feeling of taking my own life. This was the moment that I knew I had to do something, because I knew that if I didn't do anything soon, that I would come to a point where my children didn't matter. That I would begin to think that they would be better off without me. This hit me hard. So I told my husband to watch the kids that I was going for a walk. I walked up the street and into the nearest emergency room, and up to the receptionist and told her "I'm in depression, I need help." From there I was taken into a room, where I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed for what seemed like forever. Finally they came in and of course I had to volunteerily admit myself, but they didn't have a phychiatrist on staff at those hours, so they had to transport me to another hospital about 20 minutes away. I told the hospital staff to call my husband and let him know that I was admitted. Of course they failed to do this, and hours later my family was frantically calling hospitals and police to find out what happened to me. It took hours of them searching to find me. The hosptial never contacted my family.

At the other hospital they took me up to the psychward, because I was suicidal they had me on suicidal watch. This put me in an area with some of their more severe mental cases. I was glad when they let me go to a less restricted area. After my husband found out where I was they transferred his call into my room. I remember he couldn't find the car keys, so he was mad and thought that I purposely hid them so he couldn't find them. Boy did that get me upset, why would I do something like that? I was so upset I started hyperventilating and the nurse made me hang up on him, she then gave me some drugs to knock me out. Come to find out, my little niece was with us, and you know how babies like to play with keys, she dropped them into the trash can. I couldn't believe I was going through all of this and he had to accuse me of that. I know he had some issues with me admitting myself. He thought it was crazy for me to do that. A few years later he became severely depressed, and I think then he had a better understanding of why I did what I did. It really wasn't that bad being in there. Although still all I wanted to do was sleep, but they make you get up and particpate in activities.

My recovery:

So I spent five days in the hospital. They had me on Paxil, Buspar, and one other that I had them take me off of because it had sedatives and I didn't need to be knocked out, I still had 3 kids to raise. The drugs worked for me though, because within a few weeks I felt completely normal again. That feeling I had of being a filing cabinet in complete chaos, became completely organized. Before I was such a mess I couldn't make a decision if my life depended on it, and at that moment I knew exactly what I had to do with my life. I needed to quite my job, and leave my husband. It was a pretty drastic thing to do at the time, but I have no regrets. Life is so much better now. Although life is still not easy for me, we all have days when we feel a bit overwhelmed, but never can I imagine going back to what life was like for me at that time. I was pretty poor for those months following these changes. I gave up everything. It took me almost a year to get the job that I now have, which I am grateful for. My relationship with my ex-husband is better, although we don't always agree with our ideas of parenting, but most of the time things are fine with us.

End Note:

Depression IS a horrible thing for anyone to have to go through. Even those individuals that you feel would never end up like that do. It can strike at any time, and anyone. To feel that your life is so worthless is a terrible thing to have to face. If Depression falls upon you, do the right thing, GET HELP FAST. Don't be afraid, or embarrassed, you are NOT the only one. The statistics for Depression are extremely high. Don't feel that you can get through it yourself, don't try to be tough. GET HELP and stop living in your own personal Hell! LIFE IS WORTH LIVING!

Some creative fun

Via Ali's blog I came across a new blog, Superhero Journal, which took me to another blog, Swirly Girl. Swirly Girl has created a sort of artistic journal where each week she adds a new prompt. It is a creative exercise called "52 figments" which takes you into a world of thinking about your biggest dreams during this year. By asking "what if" questions, and allowing you to respond creatively any way that you wish. They don't have to come true, or even be possible, it's your dream to create.

Check it out it sounds fun.

Depression

A post on Mindkibble's blog about post-partum depression took me into a discussion about my history with depression, not post-partum, but still depression. I highlighted the story on her blog, but I said that I would get more detailed on mine since it is such a long story. I'll get to that in a bit, right now I am off to run some errands. I've been meaning to write about this for some time, but knowing how long the post will be I have been putting it off. I guess today would be a good day to get it done.

How I spent my 12 Bucks!

I am not one too proud to keep myself from saving some big cash by buying books second hand. I totally recommend seeking out your local library to see if they have a book store, or annual book sales. The books at the book store are not old library books, they are donated books. I must say that a majority of them are like new too. The book sale starts Friday, but I went to their store the other day and came across some great buys. Well at least I think they are I haven't read them yet. They all look as if I just bought them from Barnes & Nobel, brand new.

This is how I spent my $12:

I like John Grisham so I picked up a few of his.

Bleachers-hardcover
A Painted House-hardcover
The Summons-paperback
The Testament-paperback

Others are:

The Simple Truth-David Baldacci-paperback
Memnoch The Devil-Anne Rice-hardcover
Merrick-Anne Rice-hardcover

The Anne Rice books are not exactly for me, I picked them up for my 13 year old daughter, but before I actually give them to her I would like to know if there is anything in there that she probably shouldn't read. She likes vampire stories, and isn't Anne Rick the Queen of Vampire stories? My daughter is a pretty advanced reader, so I am sure that she would be able to read it. She tested 97% nationally for her reading in her grade level, and has advanced reading classes at school. I don't read these type of books, so I am not sure about its content. They were only $1 each, so I picked them up just in case.

Trading Up-Candace Bushnell-hardcover (this doesn't seem like my type of book, but someone recommended Sex and the City by this author, so I picked it up just in case).

The Dive from Clausen's Pier-Ann Packer-paperback (recommended by the bookclub)
Midwives-Bojalian-paperback (recommended by the bookclub)

Atonement-Ian McEwan-paperback (not recommended, but I have seen this book over and over again, so I figured there must be something about it).

So 11 like new books for $12, not too bad. Okay, I do realize that if I would have just gotten them from the library I would have saved 100%, but whenever I get books from the library I usually end up returning them late. I don't want to feel pressured to read anything.

Conversations with the kids

Several years ago I remember having trouble with my kids not brushing their teeth in the morning. I wasn't there to get them off to school, a babysitter was with them, so I guess they thought they could get away with it.

I would come home from work and inspect their teeth. The first question out of my mouth was always, "did you brush your teeth this morning?" Of course they always did answer honestly. This one time in particular, we were actually driving in the car. I'm not sure why but Joey wasn't with us, it was just Jason, Rona and myself. So I asked my usual question about their teeth, and got the usual response "no."

Okay, I could see I was going to have to resort to some desperate measures here. I turned to look at Jason, and with a serious tone in my voice I said, "Do you know what happens when you don't brush your teeth?"

"No, I don't."

"Well, your teeth turn green and then they fall out."

He gives that some thought then he said, "I thought they turn yellow."

"Oh they do, first they turn yellow, then they turn green, then they fall out. See Jason, yours are already falling out." Oh my, you should have seen the look on his face, I knew I had him there.

Then Rona says, "MOM, those are his baby teeth they are suppose to fall out."

Man!! Rona spoils all of my fun. If she wouldn't of spoiled it, I would have had him convinced, and he would have started brushing his teeth twenty times a day without me even asking.

Not sure what made me think of that this morning, but I have to laugh every time I think of his expression when I told him that. I loved those days when the kids believed everything I'd say.

Here's another crazy conversation that I remember with my kids when they were younger. Another time they mixed up their words. I can't remember exactly what word they intended to use, but the word that came out was "cannibal".

Joey's face became distorted from his look of confusion, "what is cannibal?"

"Well, that is when one person eats another person."

"Mom, are you a cannibal?"

"Baby, when was the last time you saw me eat someone for lunch?"

Life is good

Ali Edwards post this evening was about "Delight in Life." She created a inspirational piece for her bathroom with this theme. I like that, I think this will be my goal for 2006, to Delight in Life.

Life is good today, I found an old friend of mine that I haven't seen in 18 years. I am looking forward to seeing him hopefully soon. He is from Oklahoma, and he will be coming up north in a few weeks for business. I've missed him.

Dates, Books & Twin Studies

The kids are gone, I am able to spend my time any way that I wish, and guess what??? I have to wake up at 6:30 and can't manage to go back to sleep. I know that doesn't sound too incredibly early for some, but when my kids are gone I fantasize about the idea of sleeping late. It never seems to happen, and this drives me crazy, although I did stay up until about eleven last night. Hootie hoot....the kids are gone and I turn into a party girl. Okay, well I wasn't exactly a party girl, I was just sitting here alone, but I still managed to have a good time.

Actually a kind of funny thing happened. I was sitting here last night typing my last post when I received an IM from someone that I use to date about five years ago. Well it wasn't exactly him, it was his eleven year old daughter. I have never met her, but she asked me if her father asked me out on a date would I go. Wow, this is kind of different. I wasn't sure if she knew who I was, or if she just got on her dad's screenname and just picked someone. She told me that her dad was handsome, and I told her that I knew that because I use to date him. She said she knew that, because he talks about me all the time, and has a picture of me that she has seen. Wow, we have hardly spoken in the past five years. Not for any particular reason, are paths just have not crossed.

Well I guess I should give a little background here. His name is Wayne. I actually met him at a bar five years ago. Yes, at a bar, I know I don't go to bars much, but this was an exception. My girlfriends took me out for my birthday. So I met him on my birthday five years ago. We dated for a little while, not very long, and for the life of me I cannot recall why we stopped dating. I have an idea why, but I can't be sure. When I met him I was actually rebounding from a breakup, that I was not really over. I am sure that probably had something to do with it, but I can't be for certain. He was a really sweet guy, so I doubt that he really did anything to upset me. I guess it was just wrong timing.

So back to last night. The daughter eventually convinced me to call him, so I did. He was surprised, and yes, we are having a date this week. We haven't figure out exactly when yet, but we will. You know the funny thing is that my birthday is this week. Kind of funny how things work out, huh?

So that was my night, now lets talk about my morning....

Like I said I woke up at 6:30 am. I opened the fridge and grab me some of that left over pizza. Yes... the one with sausage & jalapenos, yes.... I ate it this morning, and it was still yummy.

Then I decided to get on the computer. Last night I requested some recommendations on some fictional books to read, and thanks to Donna I now have a few to check out. She suggested a site for a book club that also gives some recommendations. This was perfect, thanks.

Last night I said that I didn't read fiction so I didn't know anything about titles/authors in that category. It kind of sounded as if I never read any fictional novels, but that is not the case. I have read some, but it is not nearly as often as I would like to admit.

Right now I am reading Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen, which I am enjoying. The book club had some discussions about authors David Sadaris, and Augusten Burroughs. I have read books by both of these authors, Naked and Running with Scissors. Actually Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Demin, by David Sadaris is a book sitting on my shelf waiting to be red. Naked had me cracking up it was so funny to me, but I can understand that it might not be for everyone. They discussed The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. This book I purchased and took to work to try to read, which is impossible, but someone asked to borrow it so I let them. That book went through like five other people before it got back to me, then I gave it to my mother so that she could read it. Everyone loved it, but unfortunately I now don't have a copy to read myself. Guess I'll have to pick it up again. Although I did read Tuesdays with Morrie, now this book I zoomed through and it made me cry, and actually made me think deeply about my life and about the importance of people in my life. I have given this book away as gifts, a great book. Mitch Albom is a sports writer here in Detroit, even though I don't get into sports sometimes I read his column just because. The DaVinci Code, now who hasn't read that book? I found that book to be a page turner, I loved it. I lent that book out to many people, and it still hasn't found its way back to me as of yet.

Okay, one more book to discuss that will take me on to something else. Years ago I read I Know This Much is True, by Wally Lamb. I thought this book was great. Shortly after that I came across his other book, Shes Come Undone. Which is another book on my shelf that I have intended to get to, but haven't yet. Maybe I'll read that during my time off of work. Anyways, I Know This Much is True is about identical twins. One twin narrates the story, the other twin is schiztophrenic. I won't go into the details of the book, but I loved the story. Having identical twins myself possibly made the story even that much more interesting to me. GREAT BOOK.

So as I promised this takes me onto something else, something about my twins. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail. A letter from the Department of Community Health, and Michigan State University. They are writing because my sons are possible candidates for a study of eating, mood, and hormone relationships in identical and fraternal twins. It states "it is an investigation of the relationship between these characteristics and how genes and the environment influence the development of attitudes and behaviors." Some people might find it offensive for someone to probe into their lives, but I find it very interesting.

Let me quote some of the sections in their newsletter:

Why use Twin Studies?

Twins are an invaluable resource for the fields of both medicine and psychology. Twin study findings have been influential in detecting and treating various diseases and psychological disorders. Twin studies allow researchers to examine the role of genes in the develpment of a trait or disorder.........Results from twin studies may suggest that a particular trait or disorder has a genetic component, but this does not provide information about the location of this gene or genes. Nevertheless, twin designs and methods are extremely useful for understanding the extent to which psychological and medical disorders, as well as behaviors and traits, are influenced by genetic factors. This information can then be used to develp better ways to prevent and treat disorders and maladaptive behaviors.

Our Current Twin Studies

We are currently conducting four twins studies at MSU. The first study includes same-sex and opposite-sex male and female twin pairs and examines genetic and environmental influences on personality characteristics and behavioral adjustments.

The second study focuses on the relationship between mood, hormones and eating attitues and behaviors. Participants in this study include same-sex female twins who complete questionnaires and provide a small blood sample from a finger prick.

The third study uses adolescent twins to assess the relationship between hormones and behavior during puberty and determine whether these relationships are genetically influenced. The mothers of the twins are also assessed in order to obtain more detailed information about the twins during their pubertal development.

The final study is examining relationships between changes in hormone levels and changes in behaviors across the menstrual cycle. This study will help determine whether hormones influence behavior and if associations between hormones and behavior are due to shared genetic effects.

Not sure how things will work out, but I'm interested in seeing how it does. I think I'll respond and see what the details are.

Alone

Well here I sit....relaxing....enjoying my evening of peace and quiet at home. I dropped my children off last night to spend the weekend with their father. As much as I love my children, every once in a while I do love a little time to myself.

So this is what I am up to....I slept in to 8 am this morning. Then took off to the library, then did some much needed shopping since I had absolutely no toilet paper or trash bags. Well that shopping trip for just a few things turned into more than I expected, as usual. Can you ever walk into the store and just get exactly what you need? Some may be disciplined like that, but it is rare for me. I decided to pick up a few older movies that I know I have seen before, but were worth seeing again. These were A Few Good Men, and Internal Affairs. Actually I am typing this while I am watching the first movie. You know the movie...with Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. I love watching military flicks, but some times it makes me miss it.

So here I sit enjoying my movie, my peace & quiet and my Jet's pizza (sausage & jalapeno). This is rare for me also, since normally I give up my favorites for the kid's favorites. Man, when the guy dropped it off for me, while I was paying all I could smell was the delicious aroma of hot jalapenos right through the box. Heaven!

Not only are my children gone, but my 18 year old nephew is staying with his mother this weekend. So I am completely alone. Tomorrow...is another day....tonight is my night to enjoy myself.

Book suggestions???

Since I have the next two months off of work I was thinking that I could make some time for some reading. I read often, but I usually read non-fiction. I was hoping to take some time to dive into some fictional stories. Does anyone have any suggestions on some good stories to pick up?

Actually my local library has a gigantic book sale next weekend. You can pick up paperbacks for a quarter and hard covers for fifty cents. I am always ready for a good deal!!! There is quite a selection too. They have this sale three times per year, and I try to attend each time.

So....since I am not so familiar with fictional books or good fictional writers, I would love to have a list of ones to look for while I am there next weekend. Feel free to give me your suggestions. I don't mind love stories, but I am not one for romance novels though.

Com'on baby do the locomotion

I seem to do a lot of reflecting back on my past. I like to remember all of the good times, to cherish them. Today was one of those days. I was talking to a friend of mine at work and he brought up the band Grand Funk, remember them?

Every time this band is brought up it brings back memories of dancing in the livingroom with my mother when I was in elementary school. We use to line up and dance around the room like a train. You know the song...."everybodies doing the locomotion, com'on baby do the locomotion." That is one of my fondest memories with my mother. We had so much fun doing that. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

So if you have kids, make sure to dance with them, because they love to do it. I know my kids remember me dancing with them when they were younger. I use to pick them up and twirl around the living room with them. They had such a blast with that. The next one couldn't wait for me to pick him or her up. Of course now they are getting older and all I would do is embarass them, but oh the memories will last forever with me.

Pregnant for 46 years???

Last week I was watching Discovery/Health channel about a woman that had been pregant for 46 years. Wow, can you imagine that? The story was sad, yet fascinating at the same time. I wish I could remember all of the details of the story but I can't, so I'll give the few that I actually do remember.

I believe the woman was in her sixties when they found the baby. The woman actually knew all along that she was pregnant. Fortysix years earlier she went into the hospital during her pregnancy, I believe for stomach pains. While she was there, she could hear the screams of another pregnant woman in another room. This woman ended up dying during her delivery. This frightened the woman so she left the hospital.

I believe that shortly after this her baby stopped moving. She just thought that her baby was sleeping that is why it stopped moving. I am not sure why it never occured to her prior to her hosptial visit 46 years later that she should seek medical attention.

Eventually when she did go to the doctor years later and they examined her they were amazed at what they found. I am sure that the last thing you would expect to find in a 60+ year old woman is a baby.

The woman was carrying a stone baby, or lithopedian. This happens when a fetus dies during an ectopic pregnancy. The baby is too large to be reabsorbed by the body. This caused the body to surround the fetus with calcium. I guess this is the way the body reacts when it can't reject the fetus, its way of protecting itself. The fetus then solidifies and that is how you get the name stone baby.

Could you imagine having that inside of your body for 46 years? I am not sure how old the fetus was when it died, but from the looks for it, it seemed pretty big. This just amazes me, I found the story to be very fascinating.

Home Sweet Home

Well I am just getting back from my trip. It feels kind of weird being home, even though I was only gone for two weeks. Nice in a way though, even though I will miss everyone. I probably should have come back yesterday, because now I feel rushed. I have to go back to work tomorrow morning and the kids back to school. I can't say that anybody is ready for that.

New Year's Day

This is a picture of my daughter and grandmother taken today. This is the last time I saw her before my trip home tomorrow, and yes I did cry. I know she is really going to miss us also. I am making a New Year's Resolution to write her at least one letter every week. I know she will like that.

Hey, that thing got a hemi??

Isn't she beautiful?? This was my ride down here in Florida. I was getting kind of use to driving her.

My grandmother picked her up a couple of weeks ago. My grandmother is something else. One day my father was taking her to the eye doctor, after getting out of the car she noticed a silver car near her loaded with chrome. She turns to my father and says "hey Bobby, what kind of car is that?" He tells her that it is the 300c. My grandfather retired from Chrysler many years ago. She then told him, "well I want you to take me down to the Chrysler dealership and I'm gonna get one.

Within the next two days she was down to the dealer and ordered her one. She told me about it on the phone. She said, "Rhonda, I told them that if they couldn't get me one just like that one I saw then I wasn't going to take it. It's got a hemi, I don't need that, but I had to take it to get all the chrome." This sounds just like my grandmother and something that I admire about her. She is determined to get what she wants. The funny thing about this story is that my grandmother being 85 years old, does not even drive. She hasn't driven in years, she buys the car and it sits at my parents house. Which was great for me considering that I flew down. I didn't mind breaking it in for her.

She only has one problem with the car. My grandmother has difficulty getting around, especially in and out of vehicles. She likes to go out to eat, and goes weekly to get her hair and nails done, so she gets out often. Her last car, which was a 300M had handles in the front passenger seat which made it easier for her to get in and out of the car. Unfortunately the 300c doesn't have them, but they do have them in the back seats. This of course upsets her, and she has informed me that she has written a letter to Chrysler headquarters to complain, and that she also plans on calling after the first of the year. She has a valid point, and a great suggestion. Hopefully there is a way that she can have one installed to help accomodate her. Other than that, she loves the new car.

I gotta love my grandmother!!!

Edit: I spoke with someone about the handles and they said that the car came with an option for side passenger airbags, which is what my grandmother got. She said that she wanted a car just like the one, she didn't realize that she could have opted to not have it put in. The side airbags run along the section of the car where the handle would have been placed, because of this there is no way to mount the handle there. Too bad she didn't know this ahead of time. Lesson learned, make sure you know exactly what you are purchasing before you make the purchase.

Christmas journal #31

Trying to play catch up here. This was a pretty quick one. The sparkle is with the paper, which has silver stars. Also I used silver emblossing powder to make the snowflakes.

Script reads:

Life is a
canvas,
no one can
Paint it
but
You.


This year at the stroke
of midnight I welcomed the
New Year in my
Dreams!

I am usually sound asleep when the New Year comes. This year the kids woke me up when the ball dropped to wish me a Happy New Year and give me hugs & kisses. Even though I can't manage to stay awake, what a nice way to welcome the New Year, with love from my kids.

Christmas journal #30

We were suppose to reflect back on 2005.

Script reads:

Reflections of 2005

Not much has happened in 2005, but there are a few things that made 2005 extra special for me.

• Less time working allowed me to spend more quality time on myself and with my children.
• Finding my grandmother's treasure chest of old photos allowed me to reflect on family history.

Both of these were very important for me in 2005. These helped me to work towards one of my goals for 2005, which was trying to have a better understanding of who I am and where I would like to go with my life. I can't say that I have figured everything out, not sure if that is even possible, but I have come closer this year.

I hope you have accomplished some of your goals for 2005.

Christmas journal #28

This project was to list the things that are only around at Christmastime that I enjoy.

1. Poinsettia-every year I have to get myself one of these flowers. It makes my Christmas decorations more complete.

2. Holiday music-well the only time that I find myself listening to Christmas music is at this time of the year. I enjoy listening to it very much.

3. Decorations-I cannot have a Christmas without being surrounded by holiday decorations. It makes the world around me so magical.

4. Family-it seems lately that this is the only time that I get to visit certain members of my family, and this I am grateful for.

5. Feast-who doesn't love to sit down to a delicious Christmas dinner? I know I do.