Dragondreamer's Lair

State Sanctioned Bullying

2012-01-28T20:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I was hanging out watching some of the back episodes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition that had built up on my dvr. The oldest episode I had was the one about the Walker Family. This episode simply broke my heart and I was fighting tears the whole time. The Walker Family lost their 11 yr old, 6th grade son to suicide when the bullying he had suffered through finally stole the last of his fight, the last of his will to live. Part of the reason this episode hit me so strongly was the memories of when my oldest son dealt with bullying...at that very same age. Marty was bullied so badly that he told me "I'd rather die than go back there" referring to school.

As anyone who has been bullied knows, the things they say to you are designed to hurt you, to make you ashamed of who you are. Bullies call you names that make you feel less...less of a person, less worthy, less deserving. Bullies make you miserable.

Last night, I participated in the #Ashamed twitter ~~party~~ event designed to raise awareness about a horrible ad campaign going on down in Georgia. A group called Strong 4 Life formed with the intention of fighting childhood obesity. While the cause is noble, their method of fighting childhood obesity amounts to no more than state sanctioned bullying. Strong 4 Life plastered the Atlanta area with billboards featuring young kids. These billboards showed the kids with miserable expressions on their faces, closed off postures, and captions such as "Warning: It's Hard To Be A Little Girl If You're Not". The billboards don't promote healthy eating. The billboards don't promote exercise and outdoor fun. The billboards don't try and change the problem through education. These billboards shame the children for their size. These billboards BULLY. As the always brilliant and very beautiful Cecily said last night "If shame helped us lose weight, well, we'd all be VERY SKINNY."

Please join me and all the other wonderful people who were at the twitter event in letting Strong4Life know what you think of there state sanctioned bullying. If you're on twitter, send out a tweet to @Strong4Life and let them know what they should do instead of bullying these young kids about their weight. Use the hashtag #ashamed. Also, help fight against bullying in general, educate your children. Give them the tools to fight back against it. And, take a moment to support the Walker family and support their fight against bullying. Drop by the Stand Together website, click on the Get Your # button, print your number,take a picture with it, and load it on their site. As of right now, 165,756 standing together to fight bullying. Let's make that number grow.

Boo-beez

2012-01-27T06:53:00.004-05:00

There are stories in our past that we each try to forget. Stories we try to pretend never happened. But, for you my friends, cause I love you and want to make you laugh, I'm going to tell you one of those I can't believe it's happening to me stories.

A number of years ago, about a year after Vic and I moved into the first house we bought together (ya know, the house featured in HouseBuyingFucknuttery), we had finally bought the riding lawn mower I'd been lusting after. Don't judge...when you have over and acre to mow, it does strange things to your desires. It was such a sweet looking lawn mower...red and shiny and it had a cup holder.

Friday finally came and I was up on my lawn mower taking care of the yard. It was just amazing how much faster I could finish mowing the lawn. I hadn't been out there long enough to even get a sun burn and I'd already finished the flat area around the house and I was headed up the hill so I could mow the upper part of the yard. I had completed two laps around the upper part of the yard and I heard the engine of a large truck in the distance. As I started the third lap around the yard, I had to make a detour around the swing set.

That detour did me in.

See, this was the first time I had mowed the yard with my beautiful new riding mower. I didn't quite have a handle on the turn radius of that beautiful red machine. As I rounded the slide, I turned a bit too sharply and clipped the bottom corner of the slide.

No, I didn't tear the slide off the swing set. It was nothing that simple. The wheel of the lawn mower hooked on the bottom edge of the slide and lifted it up out of the ground. That wouldn't have been too bad except the local yellow jacket gang had used that slide to disguise the entrance to their gang headquarters. Yup, I tore open the entrance to an underground beehive. The gang swarmed and went up my pants leg and under my shirt. I threw that bitch into park, jumped off my shiny red machine, and went tearing across the yard shaking my pants leg and flapping my shirt wildly. As I got near the house, I pulled the shirt up over my head. I figured I was safe. We lived way out in the country. Our neighbors were at work. And, dammit, the desperate need to get the bees out of my clothes overrode any sense of modesty.

I was wrong. I wasn't safe. Remember that large truck motor I heard. It was the motor of the UPS truck. And, you'll never guess whose house he was coming to...mine. That day will go down in Cruz family history ads the day I stripped for the UPS man. I bet the UPS guy didn't know he was going to get his very own peep show when he came to work that day.

Harry Ha-Ha

2012-01-26T21:40:00.002-05:00

Since I tormented y'all with Voldemort themed erotica, I thought I'd share some truly funny Harry Potter things I found. Y'all remember Harry Plopper from The Simpsons Movie, right?

Well, I found a poster someone created using Harry Plopper's image...

And, while that gave me a good giggle, the video I found had me laughing so hard I was crying. I can either blame it on the fact that I was watching it at 2 am or I could simply admit I have the sense of humor of a 12 yr old boy. Give it a watch and tell me which reason you think wins out.

Do y'all have anything funny you've run across recently? I'd love a link.

Tales from the Dark Side

2012-01-26T07:41:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week, I opened the floor to any and all questions. I promised to answer anything asked and, since my brain is too addled by kid cooties to think straight, I decided today would be the day.

The first few questions come from Mrs. Gamgee from Hobbit-ish Thoughts and Ramblings...

What are some of the keepsakes you've kept from when your boys were small? I have the favorite rattles each of them used, a couple of night lights they've outgrown, and I have almost all their baby clothes. I plan to make little quilts out of the baby clothes and blankets I saved.
If you had to give up one, either fabric based crafting (quilting, sewing, crochet, etc) or cooking, which would you give up and why? Oh, I'd give up cooking, no question. First of all, my husband is a kick ass cook. Second, my crafting has saved my sanity on more than one occasion. It's a hella cheaper than therapy.
I've been craving a margarita lately, but since I can't have one, what kind will you have on my behalf? (if you don't like margaritas, what other grown up drink do you prefer?) I adore traditional frozen margaritas but I also love Piña Coladas.

The next few questions are from Bloggers for Hope...

I'd love to hear more about the books you like to read.... For me, the type of books I read are truly dependent on the mood I'm in. I can and will read just about anything. I've read amazing biographies about Walt Disney and Gene Roddenberry. I have a book high on my too read list that was written by a young man who has autism about what it's like to live with it. I adore scifi and fantasy (I use to read almost every Star Trek book out there). But, my biggest literary obsession are Romance books. I think the reason I love them so much is that there is almost always a Happily Ever After and they can fall into almost every genre...romance with fantasy, romance with mystery, romance with thriller.
and what kind of crafts do you like? I don't think I've met a craft I dislike. I tend to favor the fabric/fiber based ones like sewing, quilting, cross stitching, crocheting, knitting. That's why I really need to win the lottery...so I can sit around and craft all day. I'll pay someone else to clean my house and I'll craft the days away.
Do you have a favorite or one you'd love to do in the near future! I've never tried it but I'd love to make a Temari Ball someday.
Photo courtesy of Rainy Bay Arts

The last question is from Alana of Alana-isms...

How do you dye your hair? Where/how do you purchase purple dye, or create it on your own? I bleach it and color it with products from Manic Panic. I use the colors from their Amplified line because, even though the colors are still made with all natural ingredients, it lasts significantly longer. Last time, I went for a peacock look and used Ultra Violet and Atomic Turquoise. I desperately need to redo my hair. It currently has barely a trace of the color in it. What color do you think I should use this time?

Thanks for indulging me. If y'all have any other questions, fire away.

What The Fuck Wednesday: A Harry Potter Tribute (?)

2012-01-25T08:06:00.001-05:00

*BTW, the video below is relatively safe for public consumption. It doesn't go too far off the acceptable track.

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

Once something hits the big time, people start putting their own spin on it. It doesn't matter if it's a tv show, a movie, or a book, if it's big enough and popular enough, people spoof it, create tributes to it, or write FanFic about it. Honestly, I can understand loving something so much that you want it to "live" on past the original incarnation. What I'm not sure I can wrap my mind around is when someone takes a thoroughly unlovable character and writes FanFic that places them in an, ummmm, errrr, very "loving" situation. This next youTube video/TV show clip does just that. It's erotic FanFic about the most unlovable character I can think of, Voldemort, and, to add to the whole surreal nature, Ralph Fiennes, Lord Voldemort himself, is reading the FanFic. If that doesn't scream What The Fuck, I don't know what does.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and tell us about it. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

Tasty Tuesday: Lemon Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

2012-01-24T08:15:00.001-05:00

Since migraines and computers don't mix for me, I couldn't play with my computer yesterday afternoon. I decided to play in the kitchen instead. Luckily, my mom brought me a new cookbook Saturday and I found some inspiration there. The rest of my inspiration came from a Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf I pinned a short time ago.

Gabe and I played around in the kitchen and created a new family masterpiece. We ended up making a Lemon Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze.

Lemon Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

Cake Ingredients

5 eggs

3 cups flour

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup of butter

1 cup butter flavored shortening

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Glaze Ingredients

1/4 cup of butter

2 cups of powdered sugar

4 tablespoons lemon juice

To make the cake...

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar.
Once fully blended, continue mixing while adding eggs one at a time.
Continue mixing while adding flour a little at a time.
Add milk, lemon juice, baking soda, and salt. Mix at medium speed for at least 3 minutes once all ingredients have been added.
Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 275°.

Take special care to completely grease and flour all the crevices of the Bundt pan because cakes stick far too easily in these (look closely at the cake picture...that's what happens when a 6 yr old greases your pan for you).

Once you've pulled the cake out of the oven, you can make the glaze while it's cooling.
To make the glaze...

Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Reduce heat to low and stir in the sugar.
Keep stirring until mixture is smooth.
Add in lemon juice and stir until fully blended.
Remove from heat and drizzle over cake.

There will probably be enough glaze left that you can drizzle it over the individual slices as you serve them.

Enjoy!

Derailed by my body

2012-01-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

I had great intentions about writing a post about how things don't work out how you intended because of limitations your body (or your spouse's body) place on you but, weirdly enough, that post got derailed by my body. I have the beginnings of a migraine and, if I don't get off the computer soon, I will get sick. Migraines and the screen refresh rate do not play well together in my world.

Hopefully, I'll be back on later today. Until then, I'll go eat some candy hearts with Gabe. To entertain me when I get back, I have a few requests...

1) Do you like candy hearts? If so, what kind do you like the best? I like Brachs candy hearts the best.
2) If you don't like candy hearts, what is your favorite Easter candy?
3) Please go leave a question for me to answer on my last post.
4) Don't forget to sign up for my 2012 book challenge.

Welcome, welcome one and all...

2012-01-21T23:54:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all...welcome to ICLW at Dragondreamer's Lair. My name is Kristin and I'll be your hostess this week. I went through a major blogging slump in December and, while I'm back to blogging regularly, I'm hoping ICLW will be the kick in the ass I need to get back to commenting regularly.

I'm a daughter, a wife, a mother, and an infertility survivor. I've been pregnant 11 times and have 3 fabulous, maddening, smart-assed, intelligent, kind gentle, living boys. I tend to believe in the basic goodness of people but god help you if you prove yourself unworthy of that faith and trust. I will bend over backward to help family and friends but I'll gladly tell you to fuck off if you hurt someone I care about. I love crafts. In fact, I think I have crafting issues because I have enough crafting supplies ,to keep an army busy for a lifetime. I'm a voracious reader and a TV addict (thank God for DVRs). I'm a homebody who hates moving but I adore traveling. I'm a wanna be foodie and a home improvement DIYer with delusions of grandeur and no budget to support it. I'm a faithful Christian with a potty mouth worthy of a truck driver or a sailor or anyone else who curses a lot. I'm a very traditional person who also supports gay marriage and freedom of choice.

I'd love to get to know all of y'all better. So, please, tell me who you are! And, while you're at it, throw a few questions my way. I'll answer anything and everything.

Stuff I Made Recently

2012-01-20T23:32:00.000-05:00

Remember me telling you about Beanis and his trip to BlogHer? Well, my willingness to parade around BlogHer with a giant crocheted penis has paid dividends in more than one way. First, I got to meet all kinds of fabulous people thanks to Beanis. Second, I've had the chance to make some money. And, third, I've had the delightful opportunity to embarrass the crap out of my children.

I can feel the jealousy rolling off those of you with kids. I know...how lucky can I get to make a little cash and embarrass my kids at the same time. Yeah, you guessed it. I'm making more Beanises. I got an order in early December for a Beanis. That one went in the mail to the great white North (Canada) right before Christmas. Now, I'm working on my second commissioned Beanis. It's so much fun watching my boys (especially Marty) squirm and beg for it to disappear every time I bring our Beanis to work on him,

Since I know y'all have to be dying to see my last Beanis, here he is in all his glory...the Gay Pride Rainbow Beanis

I've also finished up a scarf for my niece Kayla.

From Drab To Fab

2012-01-19T22:56:00.000-05:00

Gabe, like most 6 year olds, is really rough on his clothes. These past 6 months or so, he's been especially rough on his shoes. He beat up the shoes that were bought at the beginning of the school year so badly that the soles have started peeling off. It's kind of sad because the rest of the shoe isn't in bad shape but he's messed up the toes so badly that there is no saving them. I was browsing online earlier today because I had a coupon for 30% off and then I remembered the cheap, plain jane white canvas sneakers I picked up on sale around the beginning of the school year. Well, I remembered the white canvas sneakers and my Stained by Sharpie markers - permanent markers designed specifically for fabric.

I took the sneakers from this...

to this...

My only complaint about the way they turned out was something that was entirely my fault. I found a cool technique using Sharpies and rubbing alcohol on pinterest and I tried to use it on the toes. I don't know if the thickness of the shoe canvas or the fact I was using the Stained markers made the difference but I didn't get the cool color effects this technique usually gives. I just ended up with a slightly blurry design on the toes of the sneakers. But, Gabe loves the sneakers and they were fun to make so I'm not worrying about them. In fact, I might have to get a pair of shoes in my size and decorate some for me.

What The Fuck Wednesday: the shittiest sweepstakes evah

2012-01-19T00:01:00.003-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday (published just after midnight to avoid breaking the anti-SOPA blackout) the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

Over the weekend, I was watching a program off the dvr with Vic and I guess we were just slow with the fast forward button or something because I saw part of a commercial that made me do a double take and then a triple take. Yeah, it's the commercial I embedded right below. Watch it if you dare...

When it was done running, I looked at Vic and said "I really want to call bullshit on that but it's a CBS Cares commercial and you remember what they ran back in December of '09. I think it might be real." Vic said I should google it and find out if it was real...damn, by now you'd think he would know better. This is what I found...a link to the CBS Cares Colonoscopy Sweepstakes. Yes, you read that right....a colonoscopy sweepstakes.

The first page of the website looks completely normal. Well, normal except for the look on Ozzy's face. After all, it makes sense to have Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne as your celebrity spokespeople for a colonoscopy sweepstakes (damn, I can't even type that without giggling) because Sharon fought and beat colon cancer. But, the second page, oh my gawd is the second page ever out there. I guess after the reaction CBS got to their pap smear ads back in '09, they decided they could run a real sweepstakes but it would be better not to be so serious about it all. I started giggling by the second paragraph on the second page but I totally lost it and was laughing so hard I couldn't talk when I read the paragraph about the day of the colonoscopy.

As the colonoscopy begins, you will be given a drug that will make you feel like you're at an early 70's Black Sabbath concert - but without the music. If the doctor starts to look like Ozzy, please report the side effect to him or the Prince of Darkness - whomever you see first.

Is that not one of the funniest things you've ever read?

Once I'd calmed down enough to talk, I started telling Vic all about it and why I was laughing. My dear demented husband laughed and said "Why don't you enter me. After all, I'm over 50 and need a colonoscopy." So, now I'm hoping fortune smiles on us and I get to spend time in a luxury hotel so my husband can take one up the ass because CBS Cares.

Is it wrong that I hope the answer to question 3 on the entry form

Ozzy Osbourne will assist the doctor during the colonoscopy.*

True False

is a big, resounding TRUE?

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and add your link through the Linky widget. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here...and, if you don't have a moment to tell us about, join in the fun anyway and enter someone you love in the colonoscopy sweepstakes.

Blackout at the Lair

2012-01-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

To learn more about what people are protesting, check out this article on BlogHer and the texts of SOPA and PIPA.

*the last line was inspired by a brilliant tweet by @erinbowbooks.

A Story for the Ages

2012-01-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

My friends, every once in a while you get the unique pleasure and privilege of being in on something amazing from the minute it starts. Every now and then you see a person start to chase their dream and you get to see it unfold in spectacular ways. once in a while, you get a front row seat to see someone's talent grow and blossom. Recently, I have been lucky enough to see a person I love, respect, and admire start to chase her dreams and have those dreams grow and flower into something amazing.

I'm talking about my dear friend Kir over at The Kir Corner. I have always enjoyed Kir's writing. She always had a gift for telling a story about her boys or her life and having it touch you or make you laugh. But, early last year, Kir started participating in some writing exercises, she started following the prompts offered in writers' groups, and she started writing about Kimmy and David. Who are Kimmy and David you ask? They are two of the central characters in a phenomenal story Kir has created. Each installation of the story of Kimmy and David engages you, entertains you, and leaves you wanting more.

It truly has been a unique privilege watching this story unfold from the very beginning. It's been equally amazing to watch Kir's talent as a writer explode over the last 10 months. She has created a story that is as good or better than many of the books I've read recently and she's done it following such a wide range of writing prompts. It takes some serious talent to create a cohesive story using the wide range of styles demanded by the prompts she's followed. I would love to see Kir spend the time expanding and editing this into book form. I think she'd have a winner on her hands.

Now, do yourself a favor. Head on over to Kir's Corner and spend a little time with Kimmy and David and all their friends. You can find most of the installments of the stories of Kimmy and David on their own page and you can find the final (so far...pleeeeeeeeaaaaasssssse write more) installment here. And y'all, if you read and like the stories of Kimmy and David, can you comment and let Kir know? I don't think my beautiful friend realizes just how good she really is.

The Daffodil Principle

2012-01-15T14:51:00.000-05:00

I first read this years ago and I have no clue who the original author was but it seemed like a truly appropriate story to share given the sudden loss of my brother-in-law, José.

The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into my daughter's house, I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," my daughter said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this." "Please turn around," I said sternly. "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed my daughter down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked. "Just one woman," my daughter answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home," she said, pointing to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modest, sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958"

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.

Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time - often just one baby-step at time - and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle...

Stop waiting.....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

So, work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and, dance like no one's watching.

"Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin."

Warring Emotions

2012-01-14T23:55:00.000-05:00

I had somehow let myself forget just how exhausting an emotionally charged situation can be. Silly me. Sitting here, hours after Jose's memorial service, I am totally and completely exhausted. I feel almost like I could go to bed and sleep for a week.

Today was both wonderful and terribly taxing at the same time. It was so hard for me to see my children and loved ones hurting but it was wonderful to trade stories with other people who love Jose the way we do. And, even though it was a sad occasion, it was truly fabulous to see so many family members again. Man, oh man, were there a lot of family members there. After the service, the family all went back to my mother-in-law's house and it was PACKED.

I wish I could find the right words to tell you how incredible and heartbreaking today was but I'm too damned tired to even think straight. I think the dissonance between these warring sets of feelings was a major factor in the exhaustion. Now, since I seem to be repeating over and over again how tired I am, I'm signing off for the night and going to bed.

Hasta la bye-bye.

Tomorrow We Say Goodbye

2012-01-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

I think we all hit a breaking point yesterday. Tempers were short. We argued and yelled and snapped and cried. It was not pretty but I think we all just needed to get it out of our systems because we were all in a much better frame of mind today.

Tomorrow is going to be another tough day. Tomorrow at 1 pm, we will be saying our final goodbyes to my brother-in-law, Jose Manuel Cruz. It will be the end of a very rough week and the beginning of figuring out how to adjust to our new normal.I am hoping I have it in me to stand up and speak during the funeral because I think it would do me a world of good and I think it would do the boys a world of good to hear me talk about their beloved uncle.

My sister Becky and Jennifer are both coming to the funeral with us. Having them there to support us will be good for the kids and will be good for both Vic and me. We truly have been blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family members to support us and, I count all of you among the friends that are supporting us. I have been overwhelmed with the love and support y'all have shown us here. If y'all can do me one more favor, it will mean the world to me. Please think of us and send your support or a prayer our way tomorrow. At 1 pm, we will be at Genesis United Methodist Church in Cary, NC remembering Jose and saying goodbye.

You can read his obituary on the Raleigh News And Observer website.

I've got to brag...

2012-01-12T23:47:00.000-05:00

I've got to brag about my oldest son, Marty. This semester, he was taking Algebra I plus (a class designed to reinforce your algebra knowledge before you take geometry). and algebra has been the bane of his existence up until now. Any other type of math, he has conquered without a problem but, like me, algebra has given him fits from day one. This semester he has worked his ass off. He has studied hard. And, he was able to complete his final exam without a problem and came out saying it was a lot easier than he expected. I am so proud of him.

Jose in Photos

2012-01-12T08:43:00.001-05:00

my favorite picture

What Cornfield Did They Come From?

2012-01-10T22:06:00.000-05:00

Years ago, when we still lived a few counties over (in Alamance county for those who know the area), we use to make the trip to Cary to visit with my Mother-in-law, father-in-law, and Jose at least once and often twice a month. When we'd arrive, *Jose would usually still be sleeping because of the schedule he kept. At the time, we only had Marty and Joey and after they spent a while with Grandma and Grandpa, they would start hounding them about where Uncle Jose was and when was he going to get up and can't we go up and see him.

Finally, around 3pm, my father-in-law would look at them and say, "It's about time he got up. Why don't you two go wake him up?" And, they'd be off like a shot. It sounded like a thundering herd of elephants going up those stairs and then they'd hit the bedroom door...bang, bang, bang..."UncleJose UncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJose..." After which, you'd here a noise, some response, something...but, heaven forbid he'd wait too long to respond with real words. They'd be at it again..."UncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJose UncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJose..." until he came out of the room and made his way downstairs. I don't think it ever took more than two rounds of "UncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJose
UncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJoseUncleJose..." to get him out of bed.

One particular afternoon, Jose was particularly tired and Marty and Joey were particularly loud and insistent. Once Jose made it downstairs, he was shaking his head. He looked at Vic and said, "Those kids of yours...**what cornfield did you get them from?" My husband just laughed and said, "What are you complaining about? We live with that every day."

I think from this day forth, in honor of Jose's memory, my children will be know as the Children of the Corn.

* Jose worked as a bail bondsman in addition to his full time job at Gregory Poole before his dystrophy got too bad.
**referring to Stephen King's Children of the Corn

In The Blink Of An Eye

2012-01-09T23:06:00.001-05:00

Just yesterday, my family and I were happily planning on a weekend trip to Georgia. My Grandfather's unit from WWII is having a plaque dedicated at the military history museum and the last living member of the crew is going to be there. My whole family (even Vic was off work), my parents, and my niece were going to make the trip together.

Today, we are planning my brother-in-law's funeral. This morning, 1/9/12, at 9:49 am, my brother-in-law, Jose, was pronounced dead. After an almost 30 year battle with Muscular Dystrophy, his body was finally worn out and the battle was done.

Jose was an amazing man who spent the past 30 years beating the odds. When he was diagnosed with MD at the age of 18, the doctors didn't expect him to live too long. Making it past his mid-twenties was considered a long shot. Well, Jose rarely did what was expected of him. So, he thumbed his nose at the doctors, worked his ass off, and lived to be 49 years old.

Jose was just like all the Cruz males and he had a warped, twisted sense of humor. He was always entertaining to be around and my boys absolutely adored him. He introduced Marty to the online Kill the Teletubbies and the Kill Barney games and he always listened to the stories and tales the kids had to share. But, the Jose my kids grew to know was not the same Jose I met almost 20 years ago. As his body grew weaker, his character and personality grew stronger. A number of years ago (10 years I think), Jose went on a trip that turned into a journey of faith and of personal growth. About a year after he went on that trip, I told him that I use to say I loved him because he was my brother, but now I could say I loved him because he was a person I genuinely enjoyed spending time with. This was the man my children grew to know and the man they will miss desperately.

This weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday evening, I was over at my mother-in-law's house so I could help Jose and Vic's mom. On Saturday, purely by chance, I had Marty with me for the almost 2 hours I was there and he got to hang out and talk with the uncle he adored. And, last night, I had all three kids with me. They showed off there Christmas goodies, chattered about music, and had a great time with Jose. I am so very thankful they got to spend that time with him even if it does add to the whole unreal feeling Jose's death has invoked...less than 24 hours ago we were talking to him, hanging out with him, and now he's gone.

If there is someone you love, someone important to you, that you haven't talked to or seen in a while, call them, visit them as soon as you can because it can all change in the blink of an eye.

Good bye Jose. We love you and will miss you terribly.

2011 Book Challenge Wrap Up and 2012 Sign Up

2012-01-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

2011 Book Challenge Wrap Up

Wooohooooo, it's only January 6th and I'm posting the yearly book challenge post. That's a hell of a lot better than last year's February 25th post.

Sadly, I didn't meet my reading goal for last year. I was shooting for 110 books last year and it was looking like I'd hit the goal without a problem. But, my time management skills went to hell in a handbasket when my friend Rys and her family moved in in September and I ended the year with 95 books. I hope the rest of y'all had a great year and did lots and lots of reading. I'd love for y'all to check in and tell me how many books you read.

And, the final bit of 2011 book challenge business, Alana of Alana-isms is the tote bag winner.

2012 Book Challenge Sign Up

It's time to sign up for the 2012 Book Challenge. Once again, sign up will be through Google Docs because it will compile the list and keep all the info handy for me. However, unlike last year, I won't promise to keep in touch via email over the course of the year because, obviously, I suck at that. So, here are the rules...

Please use this Google Docs form to sign up...comment if you like but sign up is through the form.
your goal can be as high or low as you feel comfortable with...the goal is to read more, not to beat everyone else
read, read, read
keep a running total
have fun
if it is under 50 pages or an audio book, it counts as HALF a book
anything over 50 pages counts as 1 BOOK no matter how long it is
textbooks, childrens books, ebooks all count
(thanks Jenn) rereading counts and any books read so far count
cookbooks count as a whole book if you actually read them (I mean really read...not just skim while looking for a recipe)

Once again, I want to say thanks to Jen J for Navigating the Waters of Infertility and Beyond again because she was the one that sparked my Book Challenge in 2009. This year, my reading goal is going to be 110 books.Hopefully, life will remain on an even keel and I can read to my heart's content.

At 42, I Am Enough

2012-01-05T23:46:00.001-05:00

Hi, my name is Kristin. My number is 42. My word is embrace. And, I am enough. I know, I know...these first few sentences seem kind of random and what the hell do they mean anyway. A few of my favorite people, Kir of The Kir Corner and Kim of Live from the 205 have introduced me to a few ideas that seem to be the perfect way to start the new year. Kir has written a number of posts about Just Be Enough...celebrating yourself instead of focusing on your flaws...and, Kim wrote about Curvy Girl's Reinventing The Resolution and One Word 365.

This year, I am 42 years old and I am determined to embrace myself, embrace my life, and celebrate the fact that I am enough! As I go through my day to day life, I will take time to celebrate what I have and try not to dwell on what's not there. I will spend time with my beautiful, wonderful kids and focus on how lucky I am to have them instead of pining for the ones I lost or who never made it here. I will embrace my crafty, creative side -celebrate what I can do - and not stress about my house not being perfect. I will remember to embrace my body, love it for what it is. I will take time to exercise and care for myself because I am worth the time and effort. I won't focus on weight or measurements. I will embrace health. I will write and paint and create. I will try new recipes, cook with my sons, and play board games with them. I will visit with friends, tell the important people in my life I love them, and take a moment to dance in the rain. I will do all these tings not because I need to better myself. I will do these things because I matter. I am enough. And, I am embracing myself and my life. Join me.

Pick a number...

Pick a word...

and

Thank you Kir and thank you Kim!

What The Fuck Wednesday: Wheelchairs Are Us

2012-01-04T22:59:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday, the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?" The management wants to thank you for your patience and understanding during our December break.

This week I want to tell you about some wheelchairs that caught my attention and definitely made me do a double take and had me saying "What the fuck" but in a good way. These wheelchairs caught my attention a long while ago (before I had even thought to do a What The Fuck Wednesday post but I'm featuring it today to celebrate the fact that Marty no longer needs a wheelchair to get around school. He is walking with a cane and has enough strength back to make it all around the campus of the huge ass high school he goes to.

So, back to the wheelchairs. We've all seen wheelchairs. Most of them are rather utilitarian. They allow people who can't walk for some reason to get from place to place. They do a job but they are nothing anyone dreams of having. But, these wheelchairs, these are the stuff of dreams and fantasies, stuff that make grown men drool and say I want that. The first chair is a chair it's maker named Lord Humongous...

Lord Humongous is a 22 mph going, all terrain traversing wheelchair. It's rigged with a seat from a Marine helicopter and, see that long, gun-like thing on the front, it's a FLAME THROWER...a freaking flame thrower.

The second fab chair is the Tank Chair from TC Mobility (psst...check here for all terrain pics)...

The tank chair is an all terrain wheelchair that lets you go just about ANYWHERE you want. This chair is so badass that one man has been told by British authorities that he can't take his chair onto public property because the government classifies it as a tank.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and add your link through the Linky widget. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

The Aunt Becky Meme (at least that's where I got it)

2012-01-02T16:05:00.002-05:00

1) What does Meme mean?
Something I should really stop doing but can't seem to help myself because it gives me an excuse to spew trivial shit about me

2) 2011 – Was it all you’d hoped it would be?
Yes and no...the last part of the year seemed to get sucked into a whirl of insanity and I'd really, truly like a year without a medical drama in it. That's not too much to ask, is it?

3) Did you watch the Royal Wedding?
Yup, I'm a total sucker for romance. And, most of the hats were killer, but one of the princesses (Beatrice or Eugenie) was wearing something that looked like a giant IUD on her head...

and some other poor lady was wearing (as Joan Rivers termed it) a giant blue vagina hat...

4) Where are your pants?
on my ass

5) Is Justin Bieber human or some sort of robot?
Is Justin Bieber even male? I think *Robot Chicken had it right when they said Justin Bieber was a young woman proud of herself and her alternative life style choices.

6) If you had only one thing to wish for this coming year, what would it be?
A wish...only one wish...I'll wish for a year free of ass kicking crises

7) Would you call yourself a “social media maven?”
Bwahahahahaha....nope.

8 ) If you had to take three things to a desert island (let’s assume you have ample food and water), what would they be?
my Nook - how I love thee
my iPod
a generator/charger that turns air into electricity

9) If you had the ability to banish certain offenses to an island where they would be rehabilitated into being okay again, what would those offenses be?
text speak used in real speech
anyone who types or says prolly instead of probably - it's only 2 freaking letters y'all
their, there, and they're mix ups

10) How do YOU think the air conditioner works?
it's a magical thing us mere mortals aren't meant to understand

11) Do you ACTUALLY think you can make money blogging?
Me...no...but the brilliant and kind aliens disguised as The Pioneer Woman, Dooce, and Jen from Cake Wrecks can.

12) There’s a lot of talk in the blog world about microblogging (The Tumblr, The Twitter, The Facebook) taking over traditional blogs. Do you think that’s the case?
Hell no...as Aunt Becky said "I think those of us stubborn enough to stick around will be here until they pry our keyboards from our cold, dead hands."

13) If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Don't worry so much about what everyone thinks of you. You grow up to be a kick ass, wonderful woman so screw them.

14) If you could’ve told yourself this time last year one thing, what would it be?
?!?.

15) If you could have one Super Power, what would it be?
teleportation - with travel costs eliminated, going to conferences and traveling would become far more affordable

16) If you could do one thing you can’t currently do, and do it well, what would it be?
Sing amazingly well - I have a great musical ear but all that lets me do is hear how off key my voice is.

17) What surprises you about yourself?
That I'm a stay at home mom and happy to be one...when I was young and clueless I always imagined having some high power career. This is way better.

18) What was your favorite blog post/tweet of the past year?
Shit, that requires thinking and I refuse to think today.

19) Do you REALLY think “Purple Should Be A Flavor?”
Damn straight it should be and, if Aunt Becky gets some of that purple vodka, that par-tay is on!

20) If you could make one outlandish wish for 2012, what would it be?
I want to win the lottery or find someone willing to finance my every whim without wanting anything in return.

*Yes, Robot Chicken is NOT politically correct and frequently can be offensive but it's also funny as hell.

If y'all had fun with this, play along and then head over to Aunt Becky's and link up.

Only 355 Days Until the World Ends

2012-01-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

That's right, here we are sitting at the end of the first day of 2012. My house smells divine from the big old pot of homemade turkey soup cooking on my stove.

We rang in the New Year two separate times yesterday. My parents, the kids, Jennifer, and I went to First Night Raleigh for a couple of hours and watched the early acorn drop and fireworks. While we were there, we also listened to a great Scottish band from NC State, saw a whole crowd moving to an awesome drumline, watched a parade with a ton of funky costumes, and had some amazingly good coffee at Crema on Fayetteville St. After the acorn drop, we headed home for a late dinner and settled in to watch some Doctor Who until it was time for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. We rang in the New Year at midnight wearing our hats and 2012 glasses with flashing lights...even little Gabe made it until midnight. If y'all are really nice, I might show you just how ridiculous I looked with my flashing glasses over my real glasses.

Once we finally dragged our asses out of bed today, there were a lot of video games played by kids, a bit of obsessive free book downloading by me, and a trip to the local Y for Marty and me. Marty and I have been working out at the Y. Marty's doing a lot of walking at the indoor track because he's trying to build his leg strength back up and I can't ask him to go without going too. So, I've been riding the stationary bike. I'm really hoping to keep up the exercise regimen. My aim is to build my muscles back up and improve my general fitness. If there's any weight loss that goes with it, that would just be a bonus.

Hehe, I noticed something kind of funny when we got back from the Y. As sometimes happens in NC, my daffodils are very confused. We've had just enough warm days that my daffodils are all sprouting and I even have one that is starting to bloom. I kind of want to yell "Nooooo, go back underground. You don't know what you're doing. Those 70+ temps were A LIE."...because tonight it's going into the 30s and tomorrow night we'll be hitting the low 20s...but, then I think the neighbors might really wonder about my sanity if I'm yelling at flowers.

Well, enough of this rambling. I'm going to head off to read a bit and before I go to bed I need to pull the soup off the stove. What's going on in your life? Share with us please.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T23:59:00.004-05:00

Things I Learned In 2011

2011-12-31T02:47:00.000-05:00

2011 was a wild, stressful, fabulous, and wonderful year and I'm still trying to figure out how it's over.

I learned that a crocheted penis is one of the greatest ice breakers you can have with you at a conference for women. I heard "Oh My God, is that what I think it is? Can I take a picture?" more times than you can even imagine this past summer. I wonder if a crocheted boob would have the same impact...somehow I doubt it.
I learned I can indulge my crafting habit, make some money and embarrass my oldest son all at the same time. Yes, I've made more Beanises since then and people are actually paying me for them.
I've learned that someone very close to me is suffering from infertility and it makes me angry that I can't just snap my fingers or wiggle my nose and make it all better for her.
I learned that I have both more patience than I ever imagined and, at the same time, far less patience than I imagined. My dear friend Rys and her family shared our house for about 3 1/2 months after their house was totaled by the Hurricane Irene floods. I love them dearly. I would open my house again to them in a heartbeat if they needed it...but, man oh man am I glad to have my space back. Honestly, I don't know how the Sister Wives make it work so seamlessly over such a long time because it is tough having that many people from two families under the same roof.
I had it confirmed that my husband is a truly wonderful man. He didn't even blink when I talked to him about Rys and her family coming here and was truly amazing about having them here. I don't know many men who would willingly open their house for that extended period.
I realized again that my kids rock. Bedroom switches were put on hold, space was given up, and, for the most part, toys and possessions were shared and they welcomed Rys and her family into our house.
I've found out I absolutely adore my Nook. Yup, the Nook hits the top of my list for coolest pesents this year.
I've learned that while the process of filing your eBooks onto shelves or organizing them by genre, author, etc isn't that complicated, it becomes infinitely more complex when you load 330+ files/books at once and have to categorize all of them at once. It took me 3 days, use of my Nook and my computer, and I still have 9 books somewhere on my Nook that have avoided being put on a shelf.
I've learned that many editors do a ~~half-assed~~ no-assed job when it comes to editing books that are put out digitally. When an otherwise good book is interrupted by paragraphs that go from normal width and appearance to a tiny column that is so narrow that only THE or A is short enough to not be hyphenated, someone has NOT done there job.
I also learned that Calibre is a life saver for anyone who owns an eReader. When you've bought a bunch of books for your Kindle app and then you've received a Nook for Christmas, it allows you to change formats so YOUR books can continue to be used on your new eReader.
I've also found that Calibre saves you from the previously mentioned half-assed editing. It's a problem when you have a book named The Story of XYZ and some lazy assed so and so has embeded the file with the name Microsoft word File - T. That really becomes a problem when you have multiple files with that fucked up naming issue because that fucked up Microsoft Word name is what shows up when you unknowingly load the poorly named files onto your ereader. Then you have 10+ books that you can't tell the difference between until you run them through reformatting in Calibre.
I've really learned to love my hair this year and want to know if I should keep it purple when I dye it again or if I should pick another Manic Panic shade.
I've found out my middle son is turning into a huge football fan and a Steelers fan at that. He wants a Polmalu jersey...which is kind of appropriate with the hair Joey has.
I've learned that I still know more about computers than my children and that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
I've learned that my baby sister is a bit of a hard head and have to thank her for the Christmas miracle her hard-headedness brought about.
I've learned that I'm not quite as resigned to never having a fourth child as I thought I was. I was hit with a serious case of baby lust and caught up in a bad case of regrets and what ifs when I found out a friend who was pregnant with her youngest daughter when I was briefly pregnant with Eva just gave birth to her third child, a beautiful little boy. Feeling I thought were long behind me reared their ugly head.
I've learned that once again my husband has fallen on the crappy end of the medical odds and he is already dealing with diabetic neuropathy in his feet. Diabetes fucking SUCKS.
I've learned (or re-learned) that I am truly blessed to be surrounded by a fabulous family and wonderful friends. We have a roof over our heads, food in our fridge, clothes on our backs, and my husband has a steady job with great benefits. I am blessed.

I hope each and every one of you who take the time to stop by and read my blog realize just how important you are to me. While I do write for myself, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't pretty damned great to know there are people out there reading my words and caring about me. Y'all are fabulous. And, to my dear friends, the savvy women I treasure, my blogging and crafting sisters, I truly love each and every one of you. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas (or whichever holiday you recognize) and I hope 2012 brings you happiness and your heart's desire.

Late to the Game

2011-12-30T11:48:00.001-05:00

I've been out of touch the last (almost) two weeks and I have no excuse other than the fact that I got totally overwhelmed by holiday preparations, family stuff, and life in general. I promise that I thought a lot about blogging but that old, trite observation that the more you do something, the easier it gets is so true. After missing a few days of blogging, it seemed harder and harder to pick the pen back up.

While I was in my 2 week blogging funk, I missed an amazing post by my personal Queen of the blogosphere, Mel. In her Occupy Blog Street post, she talks about how 99% of the bloggers out there never get recognized for their work, their writing in any significant way. She implores us, the 99%, to

Occupy Blog Street. Sit down on your blog and write something today. Hit publish. Read everyone equally — mixing the 1% and 99% together to create a single entity. Ignore “best of” lists. Declare 2012 as the year of telling YOUR story and then tell it. (Though you may only get to December 21st because that’s when the world will officially end. We’ll all understand if you miss blogging those last few days of the year since none of us will be around to read those posts.)

Since I missed Mel's original post, I want to say here and now that I am that 99% and I have been guilty of worrying too much about the responses a post got or didn't get. I have worried too much about what kind of stats my blog had and why certain writers had more followers than me. 2012 will be my year. It will be a year of writing for myself, writing from my heart. I will do my level best to write every day and, if I miss a day or two, I will forgive myself and jump right on back into writing.

In an effort to expand my horizons and to truly mix the 1% and the 99%, I need help from each and every one of you. I need recommendations. I need names and links to posts of yours I might have missed out on and I need blog recommendations from you. Now, your personal posts don't have to be something overwhelmingly jaw dropping or inspirational. I just want it to be a post that means something to you (hint...any post on your blog). And, the blog recommendations...please point me to a favorite of yours. It could be a blog with 2 followers or more than 100. I promise I will check out each and every post and each and every blog you recommend.

Bring on the linkage!

20(ish) Questions - Christmas Style

2011-12-17T23:22:00.000-05:00

I am stealing this from Stacie, who stole it from Danifred, who in turn stole it from Rebecca. I think I'll also steal Stacie's idea and think of this as sharing instead of stealing!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I really prefer wrapping paper. I truly love carefully wrapping a present and doing fancy wraps with the ribbons.

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL...I honestly tried to talk myself into a pre-lit artificial tree a few years back and I just couldn't do it. I love the smell and feel of a real tree. I don't even mind cleaning up the needles after the holiday. I have too many memories tied to a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? We usually put up the tree between the 10th and 15th...not any earlier because it's a real tree.

4. When do you take the tree down? We take the tree down around January 7th. Epiphany (or the end of the 12 days of Christmas aka when the three wise men visited the baby Jesus) is always on January 6th and we leave our tree up until then.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, I love eggnog. I love it by itself. I love it in coffee. I also love it spiked...yum yum.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?My parents were always great at picking out gifts. I remember loving my Barbie Townhouse and the full set of the Black Stallion books I got.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I do. It's not my ideal set but I like it.

8. Hardest person to buy for? I honestly don't have anyone that is hard to buy for. Guess I'm lucky that way.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My sons are all easy to buy for.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail cards

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Dunno, I'm such a sappy sentimentalist that Something about every gift has made me smile.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I really love White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always mean to start early but I usually don't.

14. Ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? cookies and fudge and stuffing...just not together

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored everywhere and I really want some of the new LED lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I have a soft spot for all Christmas music...just not until Thanksgiving. One of my favorites is "Mary, did you know?"

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? depends on the year.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Sure can - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen...Rudolph cam later

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? an angel - beautiful, lacy, and lit

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? I get annoyed when the music and the decorations start in the beginning of November.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I have no theme. My tree is decorated with everything from imported Italian ornaments to paper ones made by the kids.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? if my Christmas fantasies came true, I would be the proud owner of a Kindle and either a smoking fast laptop or a tablet computer.

So, can I talk any of y'all into joining me in my Christmas ~~thievery~~ sharing? Pretty please.

Friday Night Leftovers: the oh crap there are only 8 shopping days left edition

2011-12-16T23:44:00.000-05:00

It's time for Friday Night Leftovers hosted by the fabulous Danifred of Sippy Cups Are Not For Starbucks...

I am so proud of Marty. He just got his second promotion in ROTC. He is seriously kicking ass.
We just got Marty's ROTC pictures back. He looks so grown up.

The creeping crud has invaded our house and it won't go away. There has been at least one sick kid at home every day for the past week and a half. Please dear God let us be better for Christmas.
My tree is up and it's gorgeous. I got an almost 10 foot tree for only $50 because I offered to talk about them on my blog. Post coming soon.
Gabe and T were in the Christmas concert at school the other night, Gabe was just thrilled beyond belief to get to perform in front of everyone.
Gabe is once again ahead of his brothers in one department. Because Gabe decided it was appropriate to go into the bathroom at school with his eyes closed, he managed to slam the door in on of his friend's faces. The poor kid got hit in the nose and Gabe had to go talk to the vice-principal. That makes 2 visits in less than half a school year.
I got to do lots of Christmas shopping today, including my shopping for the angel tree. I had so much fun and it truly put me in the Christmas spirit.

Head on over to Danifred's and check out the rest of the leftovers. Y'all have anything you want to share with us

My Turn To Give Back

2011-12-15T23:39:00.001-05:00

Y'all, I have been given the most fabulous opportunity to really spread the Christmas cheer. EdenFantasys is hosting a program called Eden Gives Back for a second year. The Eden Gives Back program asks the EdenFantasys community to raise money by either donating your gift cards or donating points (and EdenFantasys donated double the value of the point the community donated). They also asked a few lucky Eden community members to volunteer to go out and shop for charity with the money raised. EdenFantasys and the community they've built really are about more than sex toys.

Tomorrow, I get to go out and shop for two beautiful little babies who were listed on the local Salvation Army Angel Tree...Areceli who is only 1 yr old and Gabrielle who is also only 1. I am so excited because the incredible generosity of this community means that I get to fill those little girl's dressers with all kinds of pretty things and maybe make their parents' holidays a little easier. I will also be able to buy some toys which will fill the need for fun stuff to round out the donations of clothes. Ya know, honestly, I'm not sure what the best part of this experience will be for me...maybe it will be shopping for little girl's stuff after years of buying for my boys, spending someone else's money, or really getting to dive into the spirit of the season.

Seriously, y'all, if you haven't checked out EdenFantasys, give it a chance. Not only do they have all kinds of fab products, but the people that hang out there are pretty damned cool too.

If you are in a position to give back this season, what are you doing this year? Do you have a special tradition, a unique way to give back to the community you live in?

While I will receive a gift card from EdenFantasys, all opinions in this post are entirely my own.

The Secret Sperminator

2011-12-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

How would you feel if a newspaper came to you and told you your husband or partner had donated sperm to at least 9 couples and at least 3 of them were pregnant? Additionally, he had done this completely without your knowledge and didn't plan on telling you until after the children were born.

That is the situation facing Kathy Johnson, *"former Mrs. Alabama, a former director of the Alabama Broadband Initiative, a former director of Children First Foundation and director of the Alabama Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy." Mrs. Johnson's husband, Bill, a former top state official and Republican gubernatorial candidate in Alabama, has been working in New Zealand with the recovery effort from the deadly earthquake. While in New Zealand, Bill decided to pursue a desire to be a biological father, a desire he should have given up when he married a woman who had had a hysterectomy. Not only did Bill pursue this without his wife's knowledge but he pursued it without going through the rigorous screening processes in place in New Zealand's fertility clinics. He chose to go through online donor registries to meet women who wanted to get pregnant. Additionally, Bill compromise the very values he claimed to believe in during his campaign (values I don't share). Instead of holding tight to his anti-gay marriage stance, he donated to at least one lesbian couple.

Furthermore, Bill Johnson is now upset about the newspaper story dealing with his activities. He *"said publication of the story would make it difficult for him to stay in New Zealand. 'I've been trying to get my wife over here, my family over here ... so I can be around for these children,' Johnson said, according to the Herald." As if what he did wasn't bad enough, he had been trying to uproot his wife and family and move them to the other side of the world when he didn't even plan on telling them about the babies until after they were born. This secret sperminator is truly a scum sucking bottom feeder.

How would you react to something like this? Kathy Johnson has (so far) reacted with class and dignity. I think I might have gone for the cut his balls off response. Weigh in with your opinion.

Quote marked with a * are taken from a story on al.com
More information can be found in a Montgomery Advertiser article

For Shame: a major corporate fail

2011-12-12T13:30:00.001-05:00

Every once in a while, I read or hear a story that really disappoints me, that is really disheartening. Today was one of those days.

TLC has a new reality show called All-American Muslim. It follows the daily life of 5 Muslim American families and lets us get a peak inside their world. The families being followed offer a cross section of society...everyone from a couple of newly weds to a local football coach are featured on this show...and each family involved has said they are part of this show because they want the rest of America to know they are just like them. Basically, the show seeks to show the human face behind the religion and to remind the rest of America that Muslim and terrorist are not synonymous.

Sadly, a corporate powerhouse, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, has chosen to listen to an extreme conservative group called Florida Family Association who says that All-American Muslim is *"propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." Instead of standing by their professed all American values, Lowe's has pulled all their advertising from this show. They are trying to appease people by saying *"Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views," the statement said. "As a result we did pull our advertising on this program. We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance." If this was a program about being Jewish in America, no company would dare pull their advertising for fear of being labeled anti-semetic. How dare a corporation like Lowe's treat Muslims differently and hope to get away with it?

Grassroots movements are already starting against Lowe's. California state senator Ted Lieu has publicly stated he might call for a boycott or even pursue legislative action if Lowe's doesn't change there position. While I think legislative action isn't necessary, I do support a grassroots boycott. I for one will be driving across town to Home Depot until something changes.

Meanwhile, if you want to get a true picture of what it means to be a Muslim in America, check out the TLC show, watch this video

or check out any of these following websites...
Muslims in America: A Statistical Portrait
5 Myths about Muslims in America
The National Muslim -Christian Initiative
A Common Word Between Us and You

Weigh in with your opinion and tell me how you think people should handle this?

All quotes marked with a * were taken from an AP news article about this situation

Kristin vs. the tree

2011-12-09T00:08:00.004-05:00

This weekend, we'll be going out to get our Christmas tree. We always wait until at least the second week in December because I have to have a real tree. We tend to make a bit of a production of getting our tree. It's part of the whole Christmas celebration for us. A few years ago, we added a new element to our whole Christmas tree production. We started tying our tree to the wall. Yes, really...we tie the tree to the wall.

A number of years ago, before Gabe was born, we were setting up our Christmas tree. We had this phenomenal tree, about 9 ft tall and super full, and we had a nice, new big tree stand to put it up in. Vic and I had managed to get that big mother up in the stand and we were letting it stand so the branches could settle open. We had filled the stand with water and I finally had a chance to sit down at the computer.

Well, I didn't get to sit down very long. In less than 15 minutes, I heard a shriek from the living room. As I rounded the corner I saw Marty clinging desperately to a branch of the tree. He's leaning back and the tree is leaning way over. I don't know how the hell he kept that tree from hitting the ground, but he did. However, whatever he did to tip the tree emptied at least a gallon of water from the stand onto the ground. It was such a mess. With help from Vic, we got the tree re-situated in the stand. It was once again secure...or so I thought.

Later in the day, it was time to decorate our behemoth. We had almost all of our ornaments on...the Sesame Street ornaments, my imported Italian glass ornaments, the ornaments we got on our honeymoon. The tree was looking truly gorgeous. All that was left was for Marty to hang the Grinch ornament. Now, Marty has a unique tradition with that Grinch ornament. In his mind, it's an ornament so it HAD to go on the tree but it was that mean old Grinch so it needed to be hidden. The problem that year was the way Marty decided to get the Grinch into the inside of the tree. Marty decided to go under the tree and come up on the inside of the tree in order to hang the Grinch in his hiding place. Wanna know how that worked out? *Not too good. Marty went up, the tree went over, and then, the tree hit the ground. All the ornaments save the Grinch were already on the tree and the tree was on the fucking ground. I had horrific visions of broken ornaments and having to undecorate the tree to be able to resecure it in the stand. I think there were only two things that saved Marty's life at that moment...1) only two ornaments broke and neither broken one was special in any way and 2) despite the screws from the tree stand biting deep into the tree when it fell, all it took to get it standing straight and tall again was to rotate the tree a little and tighten the screws again.

At that point, I decided enough was enough. I was going to fix it so that damned tree couldn't ever go over again. I marched out to the van and got the twine that had secured the tree to the top of the van. Then, I went up the hill to our shed and found my drill and to eye bolts. I hauled my trusty two step metal step stool out of it's corner and put those damned eye bolts into the wall studs. I was standing on the top step of my step stool with the twine tied to one eye bolt. I leaned forward a little bit to wrap the twine around the truck and, that's when it happened. As I was leaning out (just a little mind you), I felt my foot slip. I think my foot must have been a little damp from my trip outdoors to get the tools because I sure as hell wasn't leaning far enough to account for the fall. The foot slipped, the knee loudly popped, and I hit the floor in the one small area I could hit without banging my head. My knee popped so loudly that I thought I had broken it again.

So, there I was, lying on the floor in an immense amount of pain and the damned tree wasn't even tied to the wall yet. A trip to the **ER in an ambulance assured me that my knee wasn't broken. A smart husband made sure the tree was secured to the eye bolts in the wall before I got home. And, the tree stayed upright for the rest of the Christmas season. I think that while the tree may have won the battle, I definitely won the war. To this day, our trees get tied to the wall before even one ornament goes on it. I even learned two very important lessons that day...1) step stools are evil bastards that ambush you when your feet are wet, and 2) the tree never wins.

So y'all, your assignment is to share one ridiculous holiday story with me. Maybe something that makes me feel not so alone in my klutziness. Spill it!

A Day Which Will Live In Infamy

2011-12-07T23:22:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that I have some awesome What The Fuck Wednesday material, I won't be running it today. It just seemed wrong to be laughing at idiocy on a day when some of the last heroes of the Greatest Generation are gathering for the last time.

Today was the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many of our brave men lost their lives that day and the lucky ones who survived have had the National Pearl Harbor Survivors Association to be a part of. Not only does this December mark the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, it also marks the end of the National Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. Since the 7,000 to 8,000 Pearl Harbor survivors are old enough that travel is a big issue, the National organization is disbanding. I just want to take a moment to offer a final salute to the men, the warriors, the generation that did so much for us.

Marco Garcia/AP Photo

Tasty Tuesday: Happy Happy Birthday!

2011-12-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

To celebrate my birthday, I decided that I'd share the birthday cakes I made for T and Gabe's party this past weekend. Gabe specifically requested a Draclea (Dracula in Gabe speak) cake and T asked fora Princess's castle cake.

Both these cakes were made with the chocolate cake recipe from last Tuesday. They were absolutely delicious. If you try out the recipe, let me know what you think?

In Which I Made An Ass of Myself

2011-12-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

I didn't have a very good afternoon. You know those cheesy motivational posters that tell you to be the best you that you can be. Well, I definitely wasn't the best Kristin I could be this afternoon. We've had a few things go wrong lately (my van isn't behaving and Vic's also needs a repair & a few other stressful things) and I let it all get to me. Marty and I ended up arguing over me helping him with math (which hasn't happened in ages) and then my mom called. She was returning Gabe's phone call and, when they were done chatting, she got me on the phone. She offered to go to Marty's appointment with me later this week and, instead of being grateful that she wanted to help out, I got snarly and snippy because I assumed she was offering to come because she didn't think I could advocate for my son.

Once we got through dinner and the kids were settled in watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, I called my mom back to apologize. That's when I really started to feel like shit. I could hear the tears in my mom's voice and it made me want to cry myself. My mom truly only wanted to help because she was worried about the car situation and worried because I was so tired. My mom was also hurting because of the physical therapy she went through earlier today and that brought emotions to the forefront. I apologized and apologized again.We had a great conversation and I had her laughing by the end...but, I still feel like shit for reacting the way I did. So I decided I had to apologize publicly.

I love you mom and I'm sorry. I know you only were trying to help. I never want to make you cry.

The Crash After The Sugar High

2011-12-03T22:23:00.001-05:00

Oh my God am I ever tired. Today was the dual birthday party for T and Gabe. So, in the past few days we have busted ass cleaning the house and getting ready for the party. I also baked and decorated two kick ass cakes...a princess palace cake and a Draclea (Gabe speak for Dracula) cake.

We had a houseful today. Counting our children, there were 18 children here for the party. There were also 7 adults from the family and 5 (I think) guest parents. It was loud, crazy, wild, and wonderful. They bounced on the trampoline, had sword battles, beat the crap out of a pinata, and ate tons of cake. The look on T's face when all the kids were singing happy birthday to her and Gabe was just priceless. She looked thrilled beyond belief. And Gabe had a blast. Some of his favorite people from school and some of the favorite adults in his life were able to be here.

I took a bunch of pictures but haven't had a chance to edit any of them. I'll try to have them to show y'all in the next day or two. Right now, I'm going to crawl off to bed and get some much needed rest. I am tired.

Happy Birthday my Gabriel

2011-12-02T19:17:00.000-05:00

My dearest darling Gabriel,

I can't begin to express how much joy I experience being your mommy. The simple fact that you exist, that we actually got to bring you home, is a miracle that stuns me to my very core.

You are such a sweet, funny kid with an incredibly infectious laugh. Sometimes, I see people smile just because they hear you laughing. You truly have a wicked sense of humor which, like most boys, has a tendency to veer towards gross, body humor. I think you must have learned that from your brothers.

I am also incredibly impressed by the intelligence I see you demonstrate. You may only be in kindergarten but you can already count to 100 and more. You also know that 5+5 = 10 and 6+4 = 10. I got the biggest kick tonight listening to you explain to the older kids that there is a difference between wants and needs and that electronics are a want (although I think I'm awfully dependent on the internet).

I LOVE that you seem to be developing a geeky streak and you made me so very proud when you walked into the room a month or so ago, glanced at the TV, and said "Are you watching Dr. Who?" How cool is it that you recognize one of my favorite shows already?

I am so lucky that I get to volunteer in your kindergarten class this year. It has been beyond awesome watching you learn and grow and develop socially. And, I truly love getting to eat lunch with you once a week. I know someday it won't be cool to have mom around but, right now, you seem to love it and I'm loving the time we have together.

Happy 6th Birthday my beautiful, wonderful, miracle boy! You are the love of my life.

Love, Mom

What The Fuck Wednesday: Brothels

2011-11-30T23:02:00.000-05:00

If you can't read it due to the crappy picture quality, it says Brothels: The Ins and Outs. I mean it's not as far out as some of the other things I've feature but this program title evoked the proper level of What the Fucknuttery.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and add your link through the Linky widget. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

Get started on Christmas...

2011-11-30T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all, in addition to my Mr.Popper's Penguins giveaway, there is another fabulous giveaway you MUST ~~NOT~~ enter. Check ‘n Go and Creating Motherhood have teamed up and have a $500 gift card up for grabs. This giveaway will make one of Dresden's readers (me,me,me,me,me,me,me) a very happy person. So, go enter the $500 gift card giveaway (just don't win because I need to win).

Tasty Tuesday: World's Best Chocolate Cake

2011-11-29T22:33:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all...I have to share this recipe with you. I found a recipe a while back and tweaked it here and there to come up with this...

World's Best Chocolate Cake
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/3 cups ~~boiling~~ super hot water

Honestly, the original recipe looked like it would be super finicky. It had you mixing things one at a time and using different bowls. It was a pain in the ass. Just for giggles, I decided to try the dump it all in a bowl and mix it method. Guess what? It worked. The cake was so moist and delicious. It turned out perfectly. Bake in two greased and floured 9 in pans at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Sorry I don't have any pictures. I'll be using this recipe for Gabe and T's cakes for this weekend and I'll be sure to get pictures then.

Perfect Moment Monday: Happy Anniversary

2011-11-28T21:49:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Perfect Moment Monday sponsored by Lori over at Write Mind Open Heart. Lori says that "Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between."

A week ago Saturday, Vic and I went out on a date. We actually got to go out and celebrate our anniversary. Now, for many people, this might not seem remarkable but with Vic's work schedule and the kid's schedules, it's a rare occasion that the money to go out and the time to go out actually coincide. We both got cleaned up...


excuse the goofy smile and closed eyes...my camera sucked and this was the best picture I got

Then, we headed out for the night. We headed to The Hibernian and had a nice relaxing dinner. It was such a pleasant change of pace to not have to worry about feeding the kids or telling them to stop bugging each other. We both had a delicious dinner and I even had a drink.

An Orange Creamsicle with Peach Schnapps,
Whipped Cream Vodka, OJ, and Milk

Since Rys and her husband were watching the kids, we didn't have to worry about hurrying home. We were able to just hang out together after dinner. We went and wandered through a few stores, checked out a few places we'd been meaning to see, and truly got to enjoy each other's company. It was a rare pleasure and a truly perfect moment.

Go check out the other perfect moments at this month's Perfect Moment Monday on Write Mind Open Heart.

Today, I am Thankful

2011-11-27T21:40:00.000-05:00

Last night, I found myself getting short tempered and frustrated. It wasn't anything anyone had done. It just seemed like every time I settled down, I would get called by Marty to help him to the bathroom or help him get something or just something. We are almost a month into this medical issue with Marty and, while he is slowly getting better, he still can't fully move around by himself. To put it bluntly, I am frustrated and tired and a little bitty part of me is scared. I am ready for life to go back to normal. I am ready to have three healthy, active boys. I am ready for all three boys to go running through the house. And, a little part of me is scared that things won't ever get back to normal. I am ready for this to be done.

I can't put the blame for my frustration on Marty. He has dealt with this better than almost any 14 year old I know. Hell, I don't think I could have dealt as well as he has with this when I was 14. Marty has been mostly cheerful. He is doing everything he can to fulfill his responsibilities. He is even wearing his uniform on the designated day for ROTC. I guess my frustration is really a manifestation of my worry for Marty.

And, then today, I got smacked in the face by reality and I truly felt like shit for giving in to my frustration for even a minute. See, today, we went to church. We attended the contemporary service like we almost always do. And, a few rows ahead of us, a lovely family was sitting. I've talked to them a time or two and know they are good people and they have charming children. This family has a beautiful little girl who will never walk on her own. I don't know the specifics of the little girl's disability. but I know she will never walk without her walker and I get the impression that she has other problems that will prevent her from ever living independently. Seeing this lovely little girl reminded me that some children will never have a chance of recovering from a disability. Now, this doesn't mean they can't live a happy and fulfilled life. It just means they don't even have a chance to live without a disability. Marty is likely to recover completely. The odds are better than good that he will be 100% fine. So, I need to get off the pity train, suck it up, and do whatever I can to help Marty and help him recover. At least, he has that chance. Today, I am thankful for that chance.

Mr. Popper's Penguins DVD Giveaway

2011-11-26T22:09:00.001-05:00

I know there are a lot of you out there who are disturbingly organized and plan way, way ahead and that means you're already ready for Christmas. For the rest of us normal people, I have a great giveaway for you. Y'all, it's time to enter to win a copy of the fabulously funny movie, Mr. Popper's Penguins,

and a super cool Popper's Penguins ice cube tray.

These would be really great family gifts or even stocking stuffers depending on your family's preferences. I already told y'all how much my entire family loved the movie but I have to admit I am really excited about the ice cube tray. I'm not planning on making ice cubes though. I found out that you can use the ice cube trays and similar candy molds to make your own shaped crayons. The only rub is that you can't use the ice cube trays for ice or the candy molds for candy after making crayons in them. If you gather up all the broken pieces parts of crayons and put them in the molds, you can then microwave them and melt the crayons into the shapes (click here to find complete instructions). You can either make solid colored crayons or multi-hued crayons. I can't wait to make some penguin crayons. They're going to be so cute.

Mr. Popper's Penguins becomes available on DVD on Dec. 6th, my birthday, and I thought I'd celebrate by ending my giveaway on that day. All you have to do is click the read more like and enter through the Rafflecopter form. And, just because I love crafty ideas and using things in unintended ways (like the ice trays and candy molds), I'll give you 4 entries if you comment and tell me your favorite crafty repurposing of a household object.

Friday Night Leftovers: a post Thanksgiving edition

2011-11-25T23:04:00.001-05:00

It's time for Friday Night Leftovers hosted by the fabulous Danifred of Sippy Cups Are Not For Starbucks...

I discovered Pinterest on a holiday is a very, very dangerous place to be. I've gained 7 boards and almost 300 pins since we last talked.
Thanks to Pinterest I now know exactly why I love Betty White. It's this quote..."Why do people say grow some balls? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina. Those things take a pounding."
The other thing I found that I loved was a picture of the Kardashian girls on Kim's wedding day with the caption...Kim Kardashian made $17 million off her wedding, divorced 72 days later, and they're worried about gays ruining the sanctity of marriage?
When Vic and I went out for our anniversary last weekend, we went to a great little Irish restaurant called The Hibernian. Can anyone explain to me why an Irish restaurant has a Toucan as their symbol? Seriously, click on the link and see.
One week and counting until the double birthday party. That's right, Gabe and T are having their parties together. Please pray for good weather and no more than half the kids showing up.
Shit...only one week. I have to get my ass in gear and get the presents done.
The Mr. Popper's Penguins giveaway will go up tomorrow (Saturday). Make sure you stop by to enter.
Saturday is the last day to enter my EdenFantasys giveaway. Don't miss out. There are 2 gift cards up for grabs.
A good friend has a second interview on Monday for what seems to be a great job. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for him.

Head on over to Danifred's and check out the rest of the leftovers. Y'all have anything you want to share with us?

T.O.O. T.I.R.E.D. T.O. T.H.I.N.K.

2011-11-24T23:30:00.001-05:00

Honestly y'all, I had a wonderful day and I had planned a wonderful post but I'm too tired to think. I'll be back tomorrow with a coherent thought or two.

Thanksgiving Eve

2011-11-23T21:48:00.056-05:00

Sorry, there's no What The Fuck Wednesday today. I was too busy and simply forgot it was Wednesday. I mean some part of me knew it was Wednesday because it's the day before Thanksgiving but I forgot I was suppose to be posting What The Fuck Wednesday.

******************************

I'm tired, my feet hurt, and, every time I bend over, my lower back calls me names. But, these are all good things because it means I am almost 100% prepared for Thanksgiving. The smells of sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, and caramel apple crunch pie are wafting through the house. The turkey is going in the oven before I go to bed tonight and we'll wake up to the smells of turkey and stuffing filling the house. Tomorrow, we will finish up the few things that need finishing and we'll watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

There are so many things I have to be thankful for this year.

I have a fabulous husband who loves me beyond reason. How many men do you know who would welcome another family into his house without knowing how long it would need to be for?
I have 3 amazing boys (check out my proud mommy moment over at The Kir Corner) and they are all doing well in school.
Marty is getting better slowly but surely.
I've gotten to spend tons of time with one of my best friends, a sister by choice.
We have 10 people living in our house and, for the most part, everyone is getting along. Sure, there are moments we all drive each other crazy but, for the most part, we are living together as one large family.
I got to go to BlogHer with 2 of my other sisters by choice.
My mom is recovering incredibly well from her shoulder replacement. She's already far out stripping the predictions for her recovery.
I have the most amazing group of bloggy friends in the universe...women who love and laugh and live together despite being separated by hundreds if not thousands of miles.
I have my thugette.

I truly could go on and on but all I really want to say is thank you. Thank you for coming back here time and time again. Thank you for making me believe I can really write. Thank you for your love and support.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

My Secret Girl Crush

2011-11-22T20:26:00.007-05:00

When you blog about your family, there seem to be certain days you are almost obliged to blog about...birthdays, anniversaries, blogoversaries, and more. Monday was one of those days for me, my 17th wedding anniversary. I had really intended to write about my husband today but then I read something about Michelle Obama (thanks Reader's Digest) and decided I had to write about that instead. After all, my husband knows how madly in love with him I am...one blog post wouldn't make a difference. Sometimes, you just have to break protocol and write to the mood of the moment.

I know many of you have been reading this blog for a while and you know that I was solidly in Obama's camp during the last election. I have been sorely disappointed by many things that have happened during this administration but one thing I haven't been disappointed or disillusioned about is the character of the Obamas. I may disagree with many of their political actions but I truly admire them as people...and I kind of have a girl crush on Michelle Obama. She's smart, savvy, has a truly amazing sense of style, and supports causes that are near and dear to my heart. I love that she is such a strong supporter of military families. I absolutely LOVE that she shows girls and women that it's ok to be strong, opinionated, and independent and still be deeply in love with your partner.

I think my all time favorite quote from Michelle Obama has nothing to do with politics. Back in 2009, she was interviewed for Glamour magazine and she was talking about picking a partner. Mrs. Obama said

"Cute's good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it's, Who are you as a person? That's the advice I would give to women: Don't look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. Look at how the guy treats his mother and what he says about women. How he acts with children he doesn't know. And more important, how does he treat you? You should never feel less than."

That really and truly says it all.I got lucky and found that all in one package...the heart, the soul, the charmer, and the looks (I love you Vic).

Who do you admire? Tell us a little about why they earned your admiration.

Popping In For The Holidays

2011-11-21T21:16:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the folks at 20th Century Fox and ThinkJam, there was a Mr.Popper's Penguins viewing party at my house this weekend. The movie follows Jim Carrey's Mr. Popper as he inherits 6 penguins. As Mr. Popper gets to know the penguins, chaos that ensues, his life seems to fall apart, and Mr. Popper ultimately learns some important life lessons.. Oh hell, I don't know why I'm summarizing it, I'm sure y'all have seen the trailers for this movie and have a clue as to the basic story.

If you haven't seen the movie, what y'all may not know is that Jim Carrey is pure comedic gold in this movie and that the adults will enjoy the movie as much as the kids do. Sure, the kiddos will laugh at a whole different series of jokes than the adults do but there are jokes for EVERYONE. Thanks to Jim Carrey's comedic abilities, the story and it's lessons never get too heavy handed. Mr. Popper's Penguins is definitely worth the watch.

BTW, 20th Century Fox has also put out some penguin themed activity sheets that your kids might like. Hell, who am I kidding? I had fun with the activity sheets. Yeah, I have to confess. I drew a penguin and conquered the maze. My kids have been swamped with school work and, while Joey did have me print out copies of the activity sheets for him, I don't think they'll get a chance to do them until Thanksgiving break. If you need a break from the holiday hubbub, click on each of the activity sheets below and it will take you to a large, printable copy.

PS...once you click on the pic of the activity sheet and your computer opens the larger pic in a new window, click on the pic in the new window to enlarge it to it's maximum sise.

PPS...tune in later this week for a Mr. Popper giveaway.

My Latest, Greatest Obsession

2011-11-20T22:02:00.001-05:00

When I fall for something, I tend to fall completely head over heels. My latest, greatest obsession is Pinterest. I posted once before about Pinterest and what a delightful time suck it is and my time lost there has just gotten worse. I've gone from 23 boards and 100+ pins to 34 boards and over 800 pins...but, man oh man have I found some cool shit.

I found this gorgeous necklace...

laughed my ass off at the pure silliness of this...

decided I really need to make my own flavored marshmallows...

developed a strange obsession with making my own fake geodes...

decided I really, really need to get this bookshelf closet door for my bedroom closet...

and discovered the fabulous geekiness of Goodnight iPad...

What cool or interesting or fabulously geeky things have you run across recently?

Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree (GIVEAWAY)

2011-11-19T23:50:00.001-05:00

"Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me
I've been an awful good girl
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight"

While a sable under the tree isn't likely, I've come up with a list of equally fun and pretty romantic things that Santa could slip under my tree. Tonight,Vic and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. Sure, it was a few days early but you have to seize the moment to escape the kids when it presents itself. And, since it was a romantic outing, I started thinking...wouldn't it be nice if I got something from Santa that would give a little boost to our love life? I think someone must have been listening because I came home to find an EdenFantasys email in my inbox.

While EdenFantasys does sell sex toys, it was like someone was catering to me with all the products mentioned in the latest email. EdenFantasys is now carrying a line of beauty and body products, makeup, sexy holiday outfits, and even club wear. I was especially enticed by some of the massage kits. The first item that caught my eye was the Sweet Heart chocolate box sensual kit...

Doesn't that look divine? That box looks like a high end box of delicious chocolate and the creme brulee massage cream sounds amazing.

For you heathens that don't like chocolate (yeah, I can't believe it either, but they do exist), EdenFantasys has the Sweet Heart strawberry box sensual kit...

The strawberry box is just as beautiful as the chocolate box and I think they would be fabulous in tandem.

I also wouldn't mind seeing the Earthly delights gift set. It offers you massage oils and honey dust in a variety of flavors - almond, honey, and mint.

This fabulous kit comes in a really cool decorative tin. It might just work well to story some of your sex toys when you are done using the kit.

Now y'all, it wouldn't be very nice of me to talk about all these goodies I want to see under my tree without sharing the wealth with you. In celebration of the holiday spirit, I'm giving away not just one but two EdenFantasys gift cards...one for $55 and one for $25.

Disclaimer: I was given the two gift card in return for writing this post. Any and all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Friday Night Leftovers:Too Much Stuff Going On

2011-11-18T23:08:00.001-05:00

It's time for Friday Night Leftovers hosted by the fabulous Danifred of Sippy Cups Are Not For Starbucks...

Rys and I were creating our Thanksgiving menu. We'll be having Turkey, Smoked Ham, Apple/Sausage/Walnut stuffing, Mashed potatoes, a savory sweet potato dish, green bean casserole, glazed carrots, homemade cranberry sauce, croissants, pumpkin pie, caramel apple crunch pie, and Swedish coffee cake
We are also planning a dual birthday party for Gabe and Rys's youngest daughter on the first weekend in December.
Luckily, neither Gabe or T want to invite their whole class.
However, between the two of them we have an invitation list of about 24 kids.
Please, please pray that the weather is good and only half the kids show up.
Joey is getting ready to take a trip with his cub scout pack. They are going to spend the night on the USS Yorktown down in South Carolina. My dad is taking Joey on his trip because it is scheduled for the same weekend as Gabe's party.
I think I might have got myself put in charge of compiling the school's student directory. God bless google docs and how easy it makes it.
Bionic Grandma is already far outstripping the recovery her docs expected. Her damaged muscle is regrowing and she's regained a great range of motion.
My parents found out the Hurricane Irene did some serious damage to their roof...mostly water damage. Luckily, their insurance company is covering the complete repair. Unfortunately, they will be getting an entire new roof and new ceiling in 4 out of the 5 major rooms in the house.
I have two exceptionally cool giveaways in the works. Make sure you check back for news on them.
PLEASE do me a favor and stop by my Thursday post and wish my son, Joey, a Happy Belated Birthday. It would mean a lot if you took the time.

Head on over to Danifred's and check out the rest of the leftovers. Y'all have anything you want to share with us?

Happy 11th Birthday Joey (belated due to posting errors)

2011-11-17T22:10:00.024-05:00

I feel bad because this post was suppose to go live on Tuesday but I screwed up and saved as a draft vs. saving and posting. Can y'all help me out by wishing Joey a belated happy birthday?

Dear Joey,

I can't begin to tell you how lucky I am to be your mom and how proud I am of the young man you are growing into. You are such a funny, imaginative kid and I love that you are developing a real interest in sci-fi (beyond your understandable passion for Star Wars). It is so very cool that I can share things like Dr. Who and Star Trek with you. It thrills me to my geeky core that I can sit and discuss the theories behind these shows with you and it's a real give and take discussion, not just you humoring mom and her nonsense.

I truly love that I am seeing your passion for learning grow and expand this year. I'm thrilled that you are getting such good grades in school but, more than that, I am thrilled to see how hard you are working at it. Anyone blessed with the right genetics can be smart but it takes someone special to really work at it. I hope to see that drive and determination continue to flourish in the years to come.

And, Joey, the thing I think I love the most about you is that underneath that goofy, funny exterior there is a truly kind and gentle soul. You treat others with kindness and respect and you are so loving and protective with your little brother. While I don't have a crystal ball that lets me see who and what you become in the future, I can tell you that I have no doubt I will be proud of the man you become.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy.

Love, Mom

What The Fuck Wednesday: PETA vs. Mario

2011-11-16T19:18:00.001-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday, the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

See that cute little picture of Mario over to the left? According to PETA, that cute little Mario is the current root of all eeeeeeevil in PETA's campaign against wearing fur. PETA has launched an anti-Mario campaign to correspond with the release of Super MarioLand 3D because, according to PETA, Mario wearing a Tanooki suit to gain powers promotes the wearing of fur and the killing and skinning of Tanukis for their fur. I guess when you have an agenda like PETA, it doesn't matter that Mario has been wearing the Tanooki suit since the late 80s/early 90s. It also really doesn't matter that one of the programmers of the original Mario game with this suit (Super Mario Brothers 3) was quoted in a widely publicized interview that the reason they featured the Tanooki suit as a way for Mario to get his powers because they wanted to bring attention to the plight of the Tanuki. I guess it also doesn't matter that Mario has been stomping on the poor beleaguered turtles for longer than he's been wearing a Tanooki suit (thanks for the point Jeff Bakalar). All that matters is that PETA needs something to demonize to promote their agenda.

PETA has even gone as far as producing a flash game on a page called Mario Kills Tanooki and this game lets you play as a skinned Tanuki trying to reclaim it's pelt. I'm not giving you the link because I truly don't want to boost the sites traffic in any way but here's a screen shot of it.

Seriously, what the fuck is this world coming to when this much time and energy is wasted on what a cute little cartoon character wears?

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and add your link through the Linky widget. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

The Birds and The Bees

2011-11-15T22:37:00.002-05:00

You haven't quite lived as a mom until you get to go to your yearly GYN visit and have your exam with a screaming baby/toddler sprawled across your chest and you haven't quite lived as a parent until your child comes home from middle school and asks you what teabagging is. Before you ask, yes, I have experienced both.

Thanks to life conspiring against me and (I sometimes think) careful planning by my husband, I've gotten stuck with giving the talk to both our oldest sons. In both cases, little things the kids had said lead me to believe it was necessary to give them the facts pronto. In one case, we were on the puberty roller coaster and it was hell. In the other case, my son made a comment about a girl bumping into him being like her trying to have sex with him. Kid A needed to know why his mood was all over the place and why he was being such a royal pain in the ass and Kid B needed to know what sex was and why we don't compare bumping to sex.

It's kind of funny. Even though we knew there was a *deadline for giving our kids the talk, both our older boys got the talk at a different time. M has always seemed so much older, sort of an old soul and he had such a rough go of it with puberty that he got the talk in 4th grade when he was almost 10. J has always seemed more or a free spirit, not immature but younger than M seemed at the same age, which is why he didn't get the talk until recently...just shy of his 11th birthday. With each kid, the talk was personalized. I gave them both the basic details of puberty and how it happens. I also gave them the bare bones detail of how sex happens and babies are made. M got more details because he always wants and needs more details no matter what we are talking about. I think I was talking to M for over an hour. J got the bare bones details and the whole conversation in about 10 minutes. The one thing I made absolutely sure to tell each of them is that if they ever had any questions, no matter what they wanted to know about, they could ask me. I told them I would answer anything and, if I didn't know the answer, we would find it together. I also told them if they asked something I didn't think they really wanted to know that I would ask them if they were sure they wanted that answer...but, that if they pushed the issue, I would tell them.

So far, this approach seems to have worked pretty well. I've answered all kinds of questions and they both seem to be comfortable asking me things. I just never quite anticipated my open, any question will be answered approach would lead to me looking up tea-bagging on urbandictionary.com. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that life will conspire against me and I'll have to give Gabe the talk too? And, why am I more scared about what Gabe will ask me than anything either of the other two have ever come up with?

*Sex ed is taught in the second half of 5th grade and we never want our children to first hear the details about puberty and sex in school. We both feel that's something they need to learn at home.

WDD: Help Beat The Bitch

2011-11-14T22:28:00.002-05:00

6 years ago today, I was hugely pregnant with my miracle baby, a baby it had taken us many years and many losses to get to. A little less than 5 1/2 years ago today, our lives had changed in more than one way. That precious, amazing miracle was almost 4 months old and my husband was a newly diagnosed diabetic. To be honest, I'm not sure which event has changed our life more.

Prior to his diagnosis, Vic was in better health than he had been in a long while. He had lost almost 80 pounds. His blood pressure was fabulous. His cholesterol was at a level most athletes would be envious of. And, then came that *little phone call. "Mrs. Cruz, your husband's blood work came back and we need him to give us a call. His blood sugar is over 350." I don't have to tell you that is a phone call no one, let alone a hormonal, nursing mother, wants to get.

We both have a medical background. We've both been trained in advanced life support. We both know that while diabetes is a manageable disease, it can also wreak havoc with a person's life and health. From day one, Vic's diabetes was never easy to manage. Dietary changes helped some but not much. Each new combo of meds worked for a while but not for very long. Like most medical issues in our life, Vic's diabetes was outside the normal progression of the disease.

See, Vic was diagnosed with what is typically called Type II or (use to be called) Adult Onset Diabetes. If you talk to any expert in the disease, they will tell you that if a Type II diabetic lives long enough, they will eventually convert to an insulin dependent diabetic. The human body, when constantly exposed to medicines, can build up a tolerance to them. Depending on your unique biochemistry, it may take months or it may take years. Some people with Type II diabetes will hit on a medication combination and it will work for years and years. Others, like my husband, seem to be lucky enough to go through this at an accelerated pace. In the space of 3 years, Vic went from being newly diagnosed to his body saying "Fuck it all. You don't use the insulin I produce...well, I just won't produce it at all."

Because of the level of insulin resistance Vic started with, the insulin doses he takes are big enough to drop an elephant in it's tracks. And, those levels of insulin have a sneaky, nasty side effect. High insulin doses can and often do cause weight gain and that weight gain can cause the diabetes to be harder to control...rinse, lather, and repeat. Diabetes is a true and royal bitch...and, it's a bitch I want to see put down.

******************************

Today is World Diabetes Day. It's a day to educate, raise awareness, and hopefully help fight for a cure. While most of us don't have the necessary degrees to do the research to find a cure, each and every one of us can help raise money to fight this bitch of a disease. If you have a moment, click on over to my friend Jen's blog. Jen's the mom to an amazing little girl named Lizzie and Lizzie is trying to raise $1000 to help fight juvenile diabetes. Lizzie is only $74 from her goal and nothing would make me happier than to see her make it. Not only would it bring a smile to the face of a friend, but it would be a step towards ending this bitch of a disease.

A Few Nuggets Short of a Happy Meal

2011-11-13T21:33:00.001-05:00

There are days I seriously wonder about the intelligence and general mental competence of our dog Jack. Well, it's not really his intelligence I wonder about but he definitely makes me shake my head at him on a frequent basis. Imagine a dog stuck permanently in his teenage years and you have Jack.

As sweet and kind and patient as he is, he is also scattered and spazzy and sometimes doesn't seem to have a clue. Tonight, he had one of those moment. We had let the dogs out and, as seems to be their MO, they started barking a short while later...let me in,let me in. Well, wouldn't you know it but about 10 minutes after that, Jack came over to me, dancing around like a visit outdoors was necessary, and demanded to go back out. So, after some bitching about his indecisiveness, I got up to let him out. Normally, all it takes when he's like that is for me to ask him "Do you want to go out?" and he is off like a shot to the back door. Not this time. He took off but then he stopped about halfway there. I kept walking and tried to get him to go out but he just kept giving me the "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about" look. As soon as I gave up and came back in to the living room to sit down, Jack started the dance and whine, I must go out routine. This time he really did go out but I came back in muttering about the damn dog being a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal or a few bricks shy of a load. Marty heard me and was vastly amused and that got me thinking.
What is your favorite funny way of saying someone is clueless?

So far I've come up with...

a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal
a few cokes short of a six pack
a few brick shy of a load
a few ways short of a bulb

Another Saturday Night

2011-11-12T23:14:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all, I am beat but for a good reason this time. We had Joey's birthday party today and it went off without a hitch but I'm exhausted. Since I am once again without the mental power to write, I'll leave you with a song.

Friday Night Leftovers: the crazy, busy edition

2011-11-11T23:35:00.001-05:00

Today was a much better than yesterday evening was. Nothing's really different except maybe I have had a teensy bit more sleep. However, while today was better, it was also kick ass busy. We spent the better part of the afternoon cracking our proverbial whips and getting our ~~slaves~~ errrrr, children to clean the messes they made in the den and backyard. Then, I spent the rest of the evening taking Joey to Tae Kwon Do and baking his cake. So, there hasn't been a lot of time for writing. But, I can always make time for some Friday Night Leftovers hosted by the fabulous Danifred of Sippy Cups Are Not For Starbucks...

16 years ago, we were nearing our 1st wedding anniversary. We had been married in a civil ceremony. 16 years ago today, we got married again in a church ceremony.
Happy Church Anniversary honey. I'd marry you again today and every day for the next 100 years. You are my heart and soul and I don't know what i would do without you.
Marty's legs still aren't working right but there has been a very slow but steady improvement.
Bionic Grandma is also doing extremely well. She has already exceeded the range of motion the doctor thought she would regain after her shoulder replacement.
My van, despite having all three engine seals replaced, is still puffing smoke. My guess is a smaller leak that was covered up by the deluge of the seal going. So, she has been renamed. My van is no longer the Manatee. She is henceforth known as Puff the Magic dragon.
All three of my boys got great report cards the first quarter. I am so proud of them.
Eek, I was finally forced to give Joey "the talk". Something he said led me to believe he didn't know exactly what he was talking about and I cornered him on the way home from TKD. There's nothing quite like giving "the talk" when you are driving down the road at 45 mph.

Head on over to Danifred's and check out the rest of the leftovers. Y'all have anything you want to share with us?

The Well Is Empty

2011-11-10T23:55:00.000-05:00

I'm kind of at a loss for words and topics to write about today. That's why this post is so late. I think I've finally reached my saturation level and I'm feeling kind of down. It's stupid to feel like this now. Marty is actually showing some improvement. We're staring a three day weekend in the face. We're having Joey's birthday party this weekend. Everything is actually going pretty well. But, I am just wrung out. I'm exhausted, physically wrung out, emotionally spent. Between worrying about Marty and everything that's entailed, my functional brain power is zilch. Anyone have any suggestions for topics they'd like me to cover?

What The Fuck Wednesday: The Waffle House Index

2011-11-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday, the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

Last week, we talked about the Waffle House Terror Plot and I thought nothing but nothing involving the Waffle House could ever top that. I was wrong. Rys's husband told me about the FEMA Waffle House Index. I seriously thought he was bullshitting me when he told me that FEMA judges the severity of a disaster by the condition of the local Waffle Houses so I googled it. I found a Wall Street Journal article detailing it. I found a Huffington Post article detailing it. But, best of all, I found a Colbert Report video talking about it.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

This is seriously about the most fucked up thing I've heard in a long time...basing the severity of a disaster even partially on the condition of the Waffle Houses.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and add your link through the Linky widget. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

Rode Hard And Put Away Wet

2011-11-08T23:17:00.000-05:00

My tired goes bone deep. I feel like I could go to bed and sleep for a week. *Who knew two days back in high school could be so rough?

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I spent yesterday and today at school with Marty, pushing him from class to class since his legs aren't working right. While going back to high school wasn't my first choice for a fun way to spend these days, I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was so cool to get an inside look at Marty's school. I saw girls dressed to the nines in heels I would die for. I saw a young lady wearing a Carolina Hurricanes jersey with her hijab. We shared the elevator with the nicest young man and his service dog. I also saw the loud mouths, the kids with their pants hanging off their asses, and the requisite pregnant teen. We had more doors held for us than not and Marty's friends showed a lot of care and concern over what was going on. And, although I'm sure it exists, I didn't see anyone getting shunned or made fun of. There wasn't a clear cut popular table in the cafeteria. Overall, it struck me as a good school to be at.

The kids in Marty's classes were generally well mannered and about the worst you could say about them is that some of them talked to much in class. I don't know if that has to do with the fact that he is in honors classes and his electives aren't fluff classes and how much of it's luck of the draw but, whatever the reason, I'm glad to see it. And, it was fun seeing him joking around and talking to his friends at lunch. They seem like a really nice group of kids. Now, that isn't saying the school is perfect. I heard a teacher calling for an administrator to come to her class because a student was out of control. I also heard a student smart off to a teacher in a way that made my jaw hit the floor. I know it happened when I was in school but I never would have thought about talking to a teacher that way.

Tomorrow, my high school adventure is over. Marty's first period teacher has arranged for kids to get him to and from class and lunch. Although I'm glad I got this peak into Marty's world, I am really glad my days become mine again. Well, all my days except Wednesday become mine again. **On Wednesdays, I get sent back to kindergarten for 4 hours. I guess I need to learn to count correctly.

*In reality, I think the root cause of my exhaustion is part physical and a big part mental. Helping your son walk anywhere around the house and helping him get up into his loft when his legs don't work right is exhausting. The rest of the exhaustion is firmly rooted in me barely containing my overwhelming need to panic about what's happening to Marty physically.

**I volunteer in Gabe's class for 4 hours every Wednesday.

It's All In The Bag

2011-11-07T18:50:00.001-05:00

Remember when I told y'all about the tote bags I was making fr my mom to sell at her church Christmas Bazaar? Well, I finally got the pictures edited and I can show them to y'all. I stumbled across the idea of these bags made out of jeans a while ago and dressed them up a bit for the holidays. All the bags are fully lined with Christmas fabric and the straps are denim on one side and Christmas fabric on the other. I love the little embroidered details and fancy stitching and I especially love that I didn't have to do any of it. I just bought all the jeans with bling on them from the local Goodwill store.

Do you love this idea as much as I do?

*I don't know why the colors are off in the second to last picture. The last picture shows the true color of that bag.

Back to High School

2011-11-06T23:28:00.000-05:00

Ladies and germs, tomorrow I am doing something I never, ever thought I would do. Tomorrow, I am going back to high school. Marty is still battling the side effects of his drug (allergy medicine) reaction and he can't walk by himself. So, the current plan is for me to borrow the wheel chair the school keeps around and I will be pushing Marty from class to class. Won't that be fun?

Seriously, as much as that isn't my choice of a fun way to spend the day, I am so thankful I'm in the position to go spend the day so he can get to class and I am so very thankful that I have Rys here to handle drop off for the elementary school crowd. Keep me in your thoughts tomorrow and wish me luck. I have a funny feeling I'm going to need it.

So y'all, have you found yourself doing anything you never thought you'd do again? If so, spill it so I won't feel so alone.

Was it the mushrooms speaking?

2011-11-05T21:40:00.001-05:00

Earlier this afternoon, Jennifer and I ran to the store to pick up a few things and Gabe decided to tag along. He turned on the cute and talked us into getting him a soda. As we were leaving the store, this conversation took place...

Gabe: Why do all sodas taste the same?
Me & Jennifer: They don't all taste the same.
Gabe: Hmmmm, yeah, this root beer tastes like mushrooms.
Me: laughing my ass off
Me: It doesn't taste like mushrooms.
Gabe: Yeah, it does. They put mushrooms in it.
Jennifer & Me: still laughing
Me: You need to tell daddy this when we get home.
Gabe: Nooooooooooo...
Me: Ok, I'll tell daddy.
Gabe:...Noooooooo, it's a secret.
Me: Why's it a secret?
Gabe: It just is. But, they put mushrooms in it.

What makes it all funnier is that Gabe hates mushrooms...and the fact that the whole time he's saying this I keep wondering what kind of psychedelic mushrooms he was drinking.

What kind of weird shit have your kids or anyone in your life said lately?

I'm Going Crazy

2011-11-04T23:25:00.004-05:00

OMG, I just realized that I only have a week until Joey's party. I was going to blog but now I think I need to clean.

Bullets Flying

2011-11-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

or It's been a long, long day

Halloween day was wet, cold, and rainy...YUCK.
This worked out well for the kids. Because people weren't expecting a lot of kids due to the weather, our children all came home with a truly absurd amount of candy.
I think the conservative assessment was between 10 and 12 gallons of candy.
We had sick kids. Well, one bonafide sickie and 3 of the other five were sniffling.
My long day actually started Monday night. I'd been up late working on some tote bags I had promised my mom I would make. I was ready to go to bed and Marty woke up hurting.
He was having what I thought was deep muscle pain up near his left shoulder. Instead of getting into bed and getting a semi-acceptable night of sleep, I was up for a long time with him.
Marty and two of the other snifflers were home from school on Tuesday.
Turned out that the doc (saw her on Tuesday) thought it was chostochondritis or inflammation of the cartilage in that area. Said with anti-inflammatories, it should start getting better ASAP but recovery period could be anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks. Oh Joy
On Tuesday night, Marty started experiencing muscle weakness in his legs and the arm (on the side with the chostochondritis) was having muscle spasms. He was home again on Wednesday.
I was up really late again trying to finish up the tote bags.
On an up note, Rys and I were chaperones on the 5th grade field trip to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. We had a blast.
I came home from the field trip and went to work finishing the last tote bag.
I finished it just as my aunt rang the doorbell (she was stopping by to pick up the bags on the way to visit my mom).
Marty's muscle issues still weren't better on Wednesday so I called and got him an appointment today. Our doc checked him out and decided he needed an MRI.
Most of me knew that he would be ok but a small part of me spent the afternoon panicking about what the MRI would find.
Marty's MRI was 100% normal but his doc (thank God) picked up on the fact that his allergy medicine (chlortrimeton) has one extremely rare side effect that would account for the muscle issues he was experiencing. In a tiny fraction of chronic or long term users of chlortrimeton, dyskinesias can be caused (tremors or difficulty in performing voluntary muscle movements). Hopefully, discontinuing the chlortrimeton will completely clear up these issues.
Once again, weird medical shit has happened to my family.
A plus that happened this week is that I think I truly have made it in the blogging world. I got some pain in the ass responses in the comments of my last What The Fuck Wednesday post.

Sorry for the lack of true coherence in this post. I'm just too tired to try and be witty or creative.

What The Fuck Wednesday: The Waffle House Terror Plot

2011-11-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday, the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

What a difference a week makes. Last week, I had my What The Fuck Wednesday post written 3 days early. It was ready and waiting and set to auto post. This week, not so much. Luckily, the nightly news came to the rescue. I was sitting here half asleep (2 nights of 3 1/2 hours of sleep will do that to you) and I looked up to see the headline Waffle House Terror Plot plastered over this picture...

What makes it even more mind boggling is that 4 senior citizens were planning a terror attack involving home brewed ricin sprayed over the street to kill a large number of people in order to "Save The Constitution". The sheer insanity of the plot and the reasoning that makes them think this fucknuttery will save the Constitution combined with the ridonkulous nature of the location makes this the biggest "What The Fuck" moment of my week. I was laughing and horrified all at the same time.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and put the link in the comments. I'll add the links to the post through Sunday evening. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

NABLOPOMO

2011-11-01T23:58:00.004-05:00

This is just a holder post because I'm swamped making some bags for my mom to sell at a church Christmas bazaar. I'll have a real post for y'all tomorrow.

I Call Bullshit on Mississippi Proposition 26

2011-10-29T23:53:00.001-05:00

The raving right wingers are at it again. Over in Mississippi, they are trying to pass Proposition 26. Proposition 26, otherwise known as the Personhood Amendment, would grant the status of human life to embryos.

This would mean almost all abortions would be illegal. If you had an abortion, you would be a murderer.

This means if you undergo fertility treatments and discard extra embryos in Mississippi, you would be a murderer.

In the ALI community, we all know people who have undergone IVF after IVF and, despite numerous transfers, not a single embryo has stuck.

Fertilized embryo equals the POTENTIAL for human life. It is NOT the same thing as a living breathing human being.

Please y'all, spread the word on this fucknuttery. If you live in Mississippi, fight to have this voted down. The vote isn't until Nov. 8th. There is still time to stop this bullshit from becoming law.

* A HUGE thanks and shout out to Monica Mingo for making me aware of this insanity.

**PS...I don't want to turn this into a huge debate about when life begins. I just truly believe this is an individual decision that we all must wrestle with and the government has NO RIGHT to tell us how to handle it.

What The Fuck Wednesday: Shatner Sings?

2011-10-26T10:13:00.062-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday, the prime location to read about products, items, and events that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

Last Friday night, I was on my way to the high school to pick Marty up from the football game and I was listening to the radio. I heard about something I just KNEW I had to check out and, OH MY GAWD, I couldn't stop laughing except when I stopped to say What The Fuck? May I present this weeks What The Fuck Wednesday item...

William Shatner *Singing Bohemian Rhapsody

I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my face. I think this is a brilliant piece of fucknuttery...pure GOLD humor! My What The Fuck reaction was made even worse when I stumbled across this Billboard piece that announced that "William Shatner boldly goes where he never has before ... to ... No. ... 1 ... on ... a ... Billboard ... albums ... chart!" And, then inspiration struck. We're going to help Mr. Shatner pick the songs for his next album. I think we should start a twitter campaign. We are going to campaign for Shatner to cover the songs we pick. Our hashtag will be #songsShatnershouldsing I've decided it would be pure comedic gold to have Shatner cover Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back. So, join me in the campaign and tweet about this.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and put the link in the comments. I'll add the links to the post through Sunday evening. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

Wistfulgirl's World: What The F**k Wednesday

I need your help, PLEASE!

2011-10-23T14:46:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all, I need some help and input from all of you. I am trying to pick out what post to submit to Mel's Creme de la Creme and I am stuck. I have narrowed it down to 3 posts but, I'm open to suggestions if you think another post is better. Here are the three posts I've narrowed it down to...

1) The Power of Our Love - I feel this captures the spirit of our community in a fabulous fashion.

2) Things I Believe In - This post captures a lot of who I am.

3) V is for Victor - This post is sweet and special and very dear to my heart but I'm not sure it's my best.

Which post would you pick?

The Bionic Grandma Update

2011-10-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who offered up their thoughts and prayers for my mom yesterday. My mom's surgery went smoothly although it took a full hour longer than it was suppose to...the damage was that bad. My mom's surgeon said she had sheared the ball off the bone. The ball had perforated her bicep and was resting right up against the axial nerve which explains the extreme amount of pain she was in. Her surgeon couldn't believe with that amount of damage and pain that my mom had stopped taking the vicodin they gave her and had only been taking ibuprofen for the pain. He also said that he doesn't think there is any nerve damage and he thinks she will regain most of the function. I personally think she is strong enough and stubborn enough to regain full use (just to prove him wrong). My mom has a prescription for 6 weeks in a sling to give her bionic shoulder time to fully integrate with her body and then she will need heavy duty physical therapy (18 months) to regain strength and range of motion.Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers. I'd appreciate continued prayers for her recover

Home of the Bionic Grandma

2011-10-20T20:58:00.000-05:00

You know that old saying that age is just a state of mind. Well, my mom found out last Friday that her mind and her body have a serious disagreement about her age.

My mom is the principal of a small private school for kids with Asperger's. Last Friday, one of her teachers brought in a balance board (the kind that is sometimes used for physical therapy) and the kids were playing on it during PE. Well, my mom being my mom, she had to jump up on it too. When she first got on the balance board, she was facing to the right and was balancing like a pro. The teacher who brought it in commented on how impressed she was, dais she hadn't managed to stay on a single time. Well, my mom shifted to face left and lost her balance. She went shoulder first into the hard packed soil they were over. My mom ended up with a bunch of spider web fractures radiating out from the joint.

My mom is scheduled for surgery this Friday. Her doctor says their is a slim chance he can reconstruct the shoulder but, until he opens her shoulder, he can't properly evaluate if their is sufficient blood flow to support the bone healing. The strong likelihood is that my mom is going to have a new shoulder put it. If that happens, my mom will hereafter be known as The Bionic Grandma.

Can y'all say a prayer for my mom or keep her in your thoughts or whatever? Either way the surgery goes, she's in for a long recovery.

What The Fuck Wednesday: Feminine Products Edition

2011-10-19T21:53:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to What The Fuck Wednesday, the prime location to read about products and items that make your head snap around and your mouth utter the phrase "What the fuck is that?"

Earlier this week, I was at Tae Kwon Do with Joey. Sadly, I had forgotten my book and was reduced to reading US Weekly. I got all the way through the magazine and, except for the normal heinous celebrity outfits they highlighted, I hadn't seen anything that remarkable. Then, I saw the last page. It contained a full page spread for U by Kotex...

because, obviously every woman cares what color applicator she shoves up her hoohah. I had to see if this was the worst of it, so I typed the url into the browser and, sadly (or, for the sake of WTF Wednesday, gladly), the fucknuttery went much farther than just colored applicators. There's the Tween Line which says "Period preparation gets colorful patterns and tween attitude in the U by Kotex Tween* combo pack."

The adult pad lines come in FreeStyle, Boho, and Poptimistic designs.

And, not only are the tampon applicators colored but there are colorful wrappers...

The PunkGlam line

The Color Prints line

Somehow, I am deeply disturbed by the need to decorate feminine hygiene products.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and put the link in the comments. I'll add the links to the post through Sunday evening. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

Tasty Tuesday: Personal Pizzas

2011-10-18T10:54:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all. From past posts here, I'm sure y'all have figured out that my kids love pizza. Well, the other night, I had everything to make pizza but I didn't feel like making dough. I needed to get the food in the oven quickly and making dough would have eaten up too much time. So, I started thinking and I remembered I had a whole pack of tortillas. Now, a tortilla would make a nice thin crust but, if you heated them normally, the tortilla would be too floppy to support the pizza. But, there is an easy fix. You simply lightly brown the tortilla in a frying pan.

*Personal Pizzas
1 to 2 tortillas per person
a few tablespoons of oil
pizza toppings of choice (I used sausage & sauteed onions and mushrooms)
a batch of super easy and delicious pizza sauce
shredded mozzarella

Heat oil in frying pan over medium high heat. One at a time, put a tortilla in the pan and heat until it begins to crisp. Make sure you heat both sides. If the tortilla starts to develop bubbles, puncture them with a knife.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place crisped tortillas directly onto cooking sheet.
Add toppings, be sure not to pile too high or even the crispy tortilla won't hold up to it.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.

These were a huge hit with the kids because they each got their own pizza. I hope you enjoy this twist on homemade pizza

*Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.

And Then They Came For Me

2011-10-17T09:10:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday, I had a date with my oldest son. Marty asked me to go with him to see a drama production at Cary High School. They were putting on a production of And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank. Honestly, going in, I was a bit skeptical as to how good of a job a bunch of high school students could do with this weighty a subject. I was floored by the production. I honestly don't know if a professional troop could have done a better job. The scene and the mood was set from the moment we stepped through the doors. There was a string quartet (I think) playing the most haunting music in the lobby and there were posters featuring articles and stories about the Holocaust for you to look at before the play started. From the moment the lights dimmed until the last actor exited the stage, not a word was uttered by the audience. The audience seemed to be holding it's collective breath in stunned silence due to the power of the story. These young people truly immersed themselves in the rolls they were asked to play and you could believe every emotion they conveyed. In fact, the young man playing one of the SS guards had a quote in the playbill that made me want to cry for him. I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the playbill in front of me but he said that when they were blocking the play, he came up with some of the stage direction for his character. He, with the blessing of the director, added certain stage directions because he felt it would portray the character more effectively and that he was deeply ashamed of the things he had done in the name of the character. It felt (to me) like he was afraid to say he was just doing it for the roll because it echoed too closely to the Nazis refrain of "I was just following orders." I wish I could tell this young man that he did nothing to be ashamed of because, without his powerful portrayal, the play would have been seriously lacking something in its message. I'd also like to say that while I think all the actors and actresses did a truly amazing job, I have to applaud the courage of the young man and young women who stepped into the rolls of the Nazis. It couldn't have been easy to agree to portray such an epitome of evil but, a story this powerful needs to have the evil that dominated that time shown because, without it, the story won't carry the same weight.

If you ever get a chance, please, please go see this show. And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank reminds you of the very human face that should be remembered when talking about the Holocaust. It reminds you that this was something that really happened not just something in the history books. And, in reminding you of that, it breaks your heart more than just a little. But, the heartbreak is good because when we remember history, especially tragic, devastating history, we are less likely to repeat it.

A Breath of Fresh Air

2011-10-16T10:49:00.003-05:00

After the emotion and remembrance of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day, I feel the need for something a little lighter and more uplifting today. Rys showed me this fabulous video yesterday. The video features the residents of the Clark Retirement Community in Grand Rapids Michigan lib dubbing Michael Buble’s cover of the 1965 hit song “Feelin’ Good.” After you watch the video (and please, please watch it), you can read the story about hos the video came to be at mlive.com.

Have you run across any uplifting or just plain FUN videos lately?

Forever In My Heart, Never In My Arms

2011-10-15T12:14:00.000-05:00

Today, October 15th, is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Today, I remember 8 little beings I never got to meet...8 babies my husband and I created in love...8 babies who never drew a breath.

9/9/94 pregnancy ended at about 8 weeks, D&C
12/8/99 miscarriage confirmed at about 5 weeks. They called it a chemical pregnancy but I fucking hate that term.
11/11/02 loss confirmed at 10+ weeks, D&C
2/12/03 loss between 5 and 6 weeks
4/15/03 loss confirmed at about 11 weeks, D&C
11/24/03 loss between 5 and 6 weeks
6/17/04 had been on progesterone suppositories, saw heartbeat and fetal pole at 6 weeks; our little girl, Eva, dies at 8 weeks; found out at 9 weeks; D&C one day later
1/13/05 loss at about 5 week

Many of my friends have lost babies too. If you have a baby you would like remembered, Aunt Becky and Band Back Together are hosting Walls of Remembrance. Click on either or both of those links and have your babies added. Even if you haven't lost a baby, please join us in remembering these little ones who never got a chance to really live...

As Aunt Becky said so eloquently,

Dona nobis pacem.
(give us peace) Lord, give us peace.

Friday Night Leftovers: the truly random edition

2011-10-14T17:59:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Friday Night Leftovers hosted by the fabulous Danifred of Sippy Cups Are Not For Starbucks...

I am seriously jonesing for the new Kitchenaid 10th Anniversary Cook For The Cure Raspberry Ice Stand Mixer.
I would have no room for it (even if I currently had the money for it) and would have to get on the laundry room renovation I have planned stat.
That renovation ain't happening anytime soon.
I spent 4 hours volunteering in Gabe's classroom 2 days ago. Budget cuts mean our little school lost all their kindergarten aids. This means Gabe's teacher has 20 kids including 2 partially mainstreamed special ed kids and one child who speaks NO English. Teaching 5 yr olds is like herding cats. You can NOT teach that many 5 yr olds without help. Going in once a week is the least I can do.
I think my dog Jolie has SADD or Selective Attention Deficit Disorder. It's also known as the I'm old and don't give a shit disorder.
I forgot to say that Marty is kicking serious azz in ROTC. He got his first two ribbons, his first promotion, was asked to join the drill team, and got a 100% on his inspection when Area Manager came to do his annual unit inspection.
Marty is on his way to Sugar Mountain, NC and Camp LutherRock with his church youth group. They are going hiking, doing a ropes course, and having camp fires. I hope he has a wonderful time.
Rys and I were totally freaking out Marty last night when we were singing songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and doing the Time Warp.
I'm making denim tote bags out of old jeans. I went to Goodwill and bought jeans with the most embroidery and bling I could find. The bags are turning out sooooooo cute.
The fabulous Jenn over at Mamahood.org is giving away a $50 EdenFantasys gift card. Head on over and enter to win.

Head on over to Danifred's and check out the rest of the leftovers. Y'all have anything you want to share with us?

What The Fuck Wednesday: The Shoe Whore Edition

2011-10-12T22:10:00.001-05:00

Y'all know I have a serious weakness for shoes. I love heels, boots, cute flats - anything cute, hot, or something that just speaks to me. I even occasionally will develop a yen for an unusual or unconventional shoe like the Vincente Rey heels at Boutique-Atelier. My dear friend Mrs. Gamgee from Hobbitt-ish Thoughts and Ramblings knows of my weakness and sent me an email featuring the shoes of Kobi Levi, an Israeli shoe designer. Levi's shoes definitely fit the unconventional category. Most of the shoes in the email just made me shake my head, a few were pretty cool, and one, well, one made me say " What The Fuck". It was his pump titled Blow...

If you look closely at the shoes, you can see the top of the heel is a woman's ass and the heel itself is made of her legs. Of course, given the name of the shoe, she is on her knees and the red around the toe represents her open mouth.

When I headed over to Levi's web site, I found one other shoe that evoked the same "What The Fuck" response. These are his XXX Pumps...

The top of the heel is the woman and the stacked heel, well, it represents a stacked man. A true what the FUCK moment.

If you've found a what the fuck Wednesday worthy moment, throw up a post and put the link in the comments. I'll add the links to the post through Sunday evening. If you don't want to post, share your What The Fuck moment here.

Happy Blogoversary To Me

2011-10-10T22:46:00.002-05:00

Holy shit y'all...in only about 14 minutes or so (on the 11th), I will have been blogging for 7 years. 7 YEARS. Wow. Looking back at where I was then and where I am today just blows my mind. Back then, we were in the throes of repeat pregnancy loss and I was wondering if I'd ever have my third child. Now, that little miracle is in kindergarten and shows no fear in tackling anything the world throws at him. I was so lucky and blessed to find a solution to my infertility issues and I've been so blessed to have all of you go on this journey with me.

I wish I had a more profound or moving post to celebrate this 7th blogoversary but, honestly, I've been too busy and too tired to come up with something deeper and more meaningful. Let me tell y'all something...trying to manage a group of 5 year olds at a pumpkin patch is like herding cats. It's a hella bunch of work, you don't get very far, and you end up exhausted...hence, no deep and meaningful post. Instead, I'd like you to comment here and tell me something about you and me...maybe how you found my blog, why you keep coming back, stories you've heard about me, something you've always wondered about me. It would mean the world to me.

in a very off key voice
Happy Blogoversary 2 Me
Happy Blogoversary 2 Me
Happy 7 yrs 2 Me
Happy Blogoversary 2 Me

Guarding The Healer

2011-10-09T14:17:00.000-05:00

If you are a fan of Stephen King or Dean Koontz, you MUST pick up a copy of Guarding The Healer. Guarding The Healer is the phenomenal Indie published freshman novel of Gabriel Beyers, an up and coming author.

Guarding The Healer is a classic tale of good vs. evil that spans the suspense and horror genre. Guarding The Healer tells the story of Silas Walker, a young man who develops healing powers, and the angels and demons that always seem to be around him. Healer grabs you from the first chapter and, despite knowing the basics of the story from book description, there are twists and turns and surprises throughout the book.

Despite writing a book containing many supernatural occurrences, Mr. Beyers manages to populate his novel with characters that are very realistic and who are quite easy to identify with. When you sit down to read, you'll find yourself saying "Just a few more pages" again and again because you feel a genuine need to find out what happens to Silas and his friends. Mr. Beyers manages to tell a truly engaging and wonderful story with a surprising and completely satisfying ending.I can't wait to read the next book Gabriel Beyers publishes.

PS...Hurry over to Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Smashwords and pick up a digital copy of Guarding The Healer for only 99cents. This price is only good through Halloween.

*I received a free copy of the book to review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

The Icecapades: Video Game Version

2011-10-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Due to an unfortunate chain of events, I'm hijacking the Lair today. We've had a nasty stomach bug swarm the house, with a second victim (Joey) down for the count today. Yesterday was Gabe's turn. For Kristin, this has meant a lot of night duty and midnight laundry (you know, the unexpected kind...) and has taken a toll on her. Since today is a half day at school, she's been banished to catch some Zzz's before the rambunctious 4 + Marty return home early this afternoon.

And so...On With The Show!

The musical Rock of Ages is running at a local venue. It's a tribute type play to the metal-era of the 80s. As a child/teen from this time, I'm not sure how I feel about this. Most of me just wants to laugh. Then again, I was also a child from the 70s whose parents owned every ABBA album ever made, and even though I found Mamma Mia to be ridiculous at its release, the creative team really pulled it off amazingly well.

But anyway, it got me thinking. What area of entertainment had yet to be exploited as some type of stage show? Then it hit me: Video Games on Ice. Kids from a fairly wide age range would clamor to see it, brought by their nostalgic parents who remember begging their parents for an Atari system. We controlled little 'paddles' to keep the digital 'ball' in play: when it was vertical it was called 'Tennis', but horizontally it was PONG.

But anyway, the more I though about it seemed to work. It has all of the elements of success:

Built in story with rivalry? Check! Flamboyant costumes? Check! Fantasy like scenery? Check! Action? Check! Iconic music? Check! Kid friendly? Check! Because let's face it, you can't get bloody on the ice unless it's a hockey game. And it works with a large array of games to choose from...giving it many runs! That's YEARS of entertainment! It's like Disney on Ice...featuring each film at least once, or a bunch and all the princesses come out at the end for a royal medley. Except in this version, it might look like Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

What video game would you like to see featured first?

Spooktacular Fun

2011-10-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

The weather this past week has made me so happy. I LOVE Fall...the cool crisp weather, the nights starting to come earlier, pumpkins, deep rich jewel tones. I also love Fall because it signals the coming of the holidays. One of these days I'll have the time and energy to decorate for all the holidays the way I want to...even for Halloween. I have grand plans of setting up a grave yard complete with the SkyMall zombie and this super cool motion sensing talking figure of Death. Of course, at the rate I'm going, I will be able to play the role of an old decrepit graveyard resident by the time I get around to this.

The funny thing is that this obsession with Halloween has been around since I was in elementary school. My sisters, friends, and I use to set up our very own haunted house in my bedroom. Even though the entire haunted house was in my room, we still managed to have multiple levels of haunted house. I had a lovely closet with a sliding door that doubled as an elevator between the floors of the haunted house. We just had to convince our friends to stay in the closet long enough to redress the haunted house set. My extremely patient parents put up with us hijacking kitchen goods to create the bowl of intestines and the container of eyeballs. I'm pretty sure I remember us raiding the bathroom supplies to create containers of slime (shampoo works great for that). We did this on more than one occasion and my parents always let us. It was cheesy, not very scary, and a hell of a lot of fun.

I'd love it if you shared a childhood holiday memory with me. What was your favorite holiday? How did you make it special? Was it as thoroughly ridiculous as what my sisters and I did for Halloween?

A Miracle Happened

2011-10-04T23:30:00.000-05:00

Just the other day, a miracle happened. It was mid afternoon on a weekend, normally a loud and crazy time...especially with *5 kids in the house. But, on this afternoon, it was silent. All 5 kids were happy and SILENT. I know any of you with kids in your life are clamoring to know how we possibly achieved this miraculous state. Well, earlier that day, a box arrived at our house. It was a box from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment containing the two brand new Goosebumps videos - Attack of the Mutant and Ghost Beach. These two videos had 5 kids between the ages of 5 and 10 completely quiet and enraptured for over

an hour. The Goosebumps videos were just spooky enough to give the kids a thrill but not so spooky that anyone had a nightmare. It was a win-win situation. The kids were happy and entertained. We had peace and quiet. All in all, I'd recommend these videos to anyone with children in the 5 to about 12 age range.

*Marty was at a friend's house.
**These videos were given to me in by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment in exchange for reviewing them. All opinions expressed are entirely mine.

I think I forgot to take time to breathe

2011-10-03T23:08:00.000-05:00

I do. I really think I've forgotten to take time to breathe and to blog. I knew my life would get busier once I had a kid in high school and I knew having Rys and her family here would make life busier. I just didn't comprehend how busy life would get. My driving has more than doubled with Marty in high school. Not only do I have kids in two schools now but Marty has drill team (ROTC) practice and Shore Patrol (ROTC at football games) and other school events and OMG is it ever crazy.

Rys and I are kicking ass with the house purging/cleaning/organizing which also sadly takes time away from breathing and blogging. But, we've thrown away 5 large garbage bags and have donated 7 large garbage bags worth of stuff. I promise that, although my house was cluttered, it wasn't gross. I am just floored at how many broken toys there have been and ho much little crap the kids had crammed into corners.

On top of all that, Rys, my husband, and I have all been fighting off the cold from hell. We are all still sniffling and congested. You know it's bad when two grown women do a happy dance because they walked into the drug store and found all the cold meds on sale for buy one, get one free.

And, omg, the kids are growing. Gabe has his first loose tooth and is eating non-stop. I think he's going to grow a foot over night. Marty looks so grown up in his uniform. And, Joey is on the Science Olympiad team at school.

Life is crazy and exhausting and wonderful. Hopefully, I'll be back regularly soon.

The Many Styles of Victor Cruz

2011-10-02T15:07:00.001-05:00

The other night, I was in the bathroom giving Gabe a bath and Vic came into the bedroom to change his shirt. Right after he pulled the old shirt off I looked out and cracked up. T-shirt removal did a serious job on Vic's hair. See, my husband has decided that he needs to grow his hair out. I think he's having flashbacks to the 70s and earlier.


I call this the Nick Nolte mug shot look.

I was so amused by the first hair disaster that I broke out the brush and started playing with Vic's hair. I must say he was an extremely good sport and I was very amused by it all. Here are the many styles of Victor Cruz (with his permission)...

This is the Flock of Seagulls look.

The Sumo top knot


Sumo top knot side view.

But, then I decided the Sumo top knot was missing something. Hmmmm, what could it need? I think it needs chop sticks.

I'm still trying to convince him to wear the chopsticks to work. So, which hairstyle do you think is best for laughs?

Only 85 Days Left

2011-09-30T19:14:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm turning into one of those obnoxious people who start reminding you how many days there are until Christmas months in advance. Actually, I'm giving myself a kick in the ass because I am resolved to get Christmas cards addressed and mailed out this year. I use to be so good about mailing cards out and I loved, loved getting cards in the mail from all over the world. I really loved covering a wall or a door in those cards. But kids happened and I became a slackard and it has been a few years since I've managed to send out the cards I wanted to send. This year is going to be different. This year, thanks to Tiny Prints, I'm actually going to send cards out again.

So, I spent today browsing through the fabulous selection of customizable Christmas cards at Tiny Prints. There are so many beautiful cards. I lost myself for hours looking at the cards and playing with the personalization features. These were two of my favorite cards...

But, in the end, I went for fun and funky instead of sweet and beautiful. I selected a card called Big Photo and started playing. I was trying to recreate a card I had years and years ago. This is what I've picked...

I've heard nothing but good things about Tiny Prints and their products. I've also been super impressed with how easy it was to modify a design to your liking.

*I was offered 50 free Christmas Cards in return for writing a post promoting their Christmas Card line. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

To All My Fellow Geeks

2011-09-29T23:05:00.005-05:00

Congrats to Matt who won with his comment (#9) I follow you on Twitter @poorisaquality2

I have the coolest thing to tell you about. Y'all know that Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment just released Star Wars the Complete Saga on a 9 disc Blu-ray collection, right? Well, they did and, if y'all are good little geeks, you've probably already rushed out to buy your own copy of the Star Wars the Complete Saga collection for yourselves.

What you probably don't know is that General Mills Big G cereal has produced 3 collectable cereal boxes with truly fab Star Wars good vs. evil pics on the back of these boxes. If you put the pics on the boxes side by side, you get a panoramic picture. I think I might have to cut them out and mount them on a piece of mounting board...might make a good present for my own little Star Wars freak. These collectible boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios®, Cinnamon Toast Crunch®, and Lucky Charms® are available exclusively at your local Wal-Mart.

Now, the lovely people at MyBlogSpark and General Mills arranged for me to get these three yummy boxes of cereal (with the FAB Star Wars pictures on them) and a $25 Wal-Mart gift card. Let me tell you, I'm not sure what was a bigger hit in my house...the HUGE boxes of yummy cereal or the Star Wars pictures on the boxes. Best of all, I get to pass on the same prize pack to y'all. That's right...one lucky reader of Dragondreamer's Lair is going to get the three collectible boxes and a $25 Wal-Mart gift card too.Here's how you can enter...

Leave a comment telling me your favorite character or moment from all of Star Wars. (REQUIRED)
Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you did this and your twitter name. (2 entries)
Follow General Mills on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you did this and your twitter name. (2 entries)
Follow Wal-Mart on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you did this and your twitter name. (2 entries)
Follow me through Google Friends Connect and leave a comment telling me you did it (and your GFC name if different). (2 entries)
Like Dragondreamer's Lair on Facebook and leave a comment with your facebook name letting me know you did this. (3 entries)
Tweet the following: Win 3 Star Wars themed boxes of cereal & a $25 @Walmart gift card from @GeneralMills, @dragondream, #MyBlogSpark http://bit.ly/oP7WCX You may tweet once a day for (1 entry). Come back and comment with a link to your tweet.

The giveaway starts RIGHT NOW and ends at 11:59 pm on 10/7/11. Remember, 1 comment for each entry and make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. Spread the word and good luck.

Disclosure: The cereal, gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

What The Fuck Wednesday: Dental Devices Edition

2011-09-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the second edition of What The Fuck Wednesday. When I started this last week, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to find something every week. I vastly underestimated just how screwed up people are. I could post almost everyday and not run out of material. Today's What The Fuck moment comes to you courtesy of the teen pop sensation (or eeeevil minion, depending on who you talk to), Justin Bieber.

When Rys and I were in the drug store stocking up on cold fighting drugs, she found the Justin Bieber singing toothbrush.

Somehow, the idea of Justin Bieber's voice emanating from my toothbrush disturbs me. What have you found this week that makes you say What The Fuck? If you post about it, sign in with the linky below.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive...answers that is

2011-09-27T23:06:00.001-05:00

Jessica of Too Many Fish To Fry
asked...

If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have five books, what would they be? The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon, one of the Harry Potter books, Bitten by Kelley Armstrong, The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
And: what's the best place you've ever visited? I think it's a toss up between Venice and the big island of Hawaii. I'd love to go back and see Venice with adult eyes but, the sheer natural beauty of the big island of Hawaii is hard to beat.

Mrs. Gamgee of Hobbit-ish Thoughts and Ramblings asked...

If Vic were in the doghouse for something, and he brought you flowers as a way of trying to get back into your good graces, what kind of flowers would he bring you? And would they actually be flowers you like? Honestly, I don't hold a grudge. If Vic says I'm sorry, that's all it takes to get out of the doghouse. However, I'm a sucker for sweet smelling roses.
And along the same vein, what has been the most romantic gesture that Vic has ever made? Once, in passing, I mentioned how much I would like to have a family bible. That year, he searched one out and found me the most gorgeous family bible and it has space to enter everyone's info.

Lavender Luz of Write Mind, Open Heart said...

How about the old Babwa Wawa question: If you were a tree, which tree would you be? a dogwood

Quiet Dreams of Dreaming of Quiet Places wants to know...

How did you get your name? Is there a story? My mom and her sister both had the first and middle initials K. A. My parents picked the Scandinavian spelling of Kristin (in instead of en) because my mom's heritage is Scandinavian and I share my aunt's middle name.

Barb of Fertility Challenged in Florida asked...

How would you describe your fun times with each child? With Marty - cooking together or just hanging out and shooting the shit; With Joey - I love camping with him or doing something artistic; With Gabe - playing a game or reading to/with him

St. Elsewhere of My Lady of the Lantern asked...

Who is that person in world history you would like to meet? Margaret Thatcher - she was such a smart, strong, powerful woman
Is there someone in your family you totally dislike and why? (Family - cousins, uncles, aunts or such) Yes there is. The person is not a blood relative and they are a two-faced, hypocritical bitch/bastard who has accused me of being willing to work my husband into an early grave.
Between Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi who would you be more excited to meet? probably the Dalai Lama

Ms. Dreamer of The Dreamer and the Realist said...

When did you decide that you didn't give a shit any more and started dying your hair fun colours? Do you get shit because of it? When I turned 40, I decided I needed to celebrate that fabulous milestone and decided to dye my hair purple. There are a few family members who are a bit bemused at the whole thing but, over all, I receive more compliments on my hair/appearance when it's dyed funky, fun colors than when it's normal.

Well, I had fun. Hope you enjoyed the weird random tidbits I shared. We'll have to do it again soon.

Perfect Moment Monday: it's a full house

2011-09-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the return of Perfect Moment Monday sponsored by Lori over at Write Mind Open Heart. Perfect Moment Monday was on hiatus over the summer and I am so glad it is back. Lori says that "Perfect Moment Monday is more about noticing a perfect moment than about creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between."

My house is crammed to the gills. Our 1700 sq ft house is currently sheltering 9 people. There hasn't been a major fight between the kids. As a general rule, kids are playing nicely and cooperating well. The laundry has been kept up to date. The dishes are done. And, my house is getting cleaner instead of dirtier. We've thrown away 2 large garbage bags of stuff and donated 6 large garbage bags of stuff to charity. But, most perfectly, I am getting to spend tons of time with one of my sisters by choice, the wonderful, fabulous Rys of Confessions of a Clutter Queen.

Go check out the other perfect moments at this week's Perfect Moment Monday on Write Mind Open Heart.

Head to IndieBizChicks to win

2011-09-26T13:28:00.000-05:00

IndieBizChicks.com has partnered with CashierLive.com to give away a $500 gift card. Only a few hours left to enter.

“I’m posting this to enter a contest offered by Cashier Live, a point of sale software company, at Indie Biz Chicks. Enter to win here!”

The Knees Have It

2011-09-25T18:37:00.000-05:00

In between our bouts of sniffing and sneezing and coughing and hacking, Rys and I have been kicking butt in the house cleaning department. One of the rooms we tackled was the den/playroom. There were a lot of toys that weren't being played with anymore and a bunch or broken ones mixed in too. We still have a bunch to do in the den but we have already donated 3 garbage bags of toys and threw away one other bag. I ran across a few things that brought back memories and made me wonder all at the same time.

See, back in August of 2001, Vic blew his left knee out. It was destroyed and required multiple surgeries to even make it functional. These multiple surgeries left a scar about 8 inches long on Vic's knee. Around this same time, Marty discovered Power Rangers and all the figurines and toys that went with them. Marty went through a stage where his Power Rangers were turning into casualties of war and the funny thing is that they all had the same injury.

See, you have 3 Power Rangers missing their left legs and on spare left leg missing a Power Ranger. Do you sense a theme here? Vic destroys his left knee and, shortly thereafter, Marty starts destroying the left legs of Power Rangers. All in all, it makes me seriously wonder about my oldest son's sanity and outlook on life.

Have you ever had things/toys get broken or destroyed in a weird manner?

Inspire from Amsterdam Giveaway

2011-09-24T22:38:00.004-05:00

Congrats to Tillie from A Nuttier Life for winning the contest!

with comment number 35 (excluding my responses)

Hey y'all, I've got something really cool to offer you. Amsterdam Printing is giving me the opportunity to offer you 50 of their most popular promotional pens, the Inspire pen, worth almost $150. What is so incredibly cool about these pens is that you can personalize them with not one, not two, not even three, but with five lines of text. The Inspire Pens are available in 8 different barrel colors and two ink colors. These pens would be a fabulous way to promote your company, your non-profit, your website, or even for a birthday party.

The giveaway starts right now and ends at 11:59 pm on October 1st and is open to US residents only. The winner will be notified via email and announced on my blog on Oct. 2nd. Here's how you enter...

Leave a comment telling me what you want to promote on your pens. (REQUIRED)
Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you did this and your twitter name. (2 entries)
Follow Amsterdam Printing on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you did this and your twitter name. (2 entries)
Follow me through Google Friends Connect and leave a comment telling me you did it (and your GFC name if different). (2 entries)
Like Dragondreamer's Lair on Facebook and leave a comment with your facebook name letting me know you did this. (3 entries)
Tweet the following: Win 50 personalized Inspire pens from @AmsterdamPrint and @dragondream valued at almost $150 http://bit.ly/oRr2wy #giveaway ends 10/1/11 You may tweet once a day for (1 entry). Come back and comment with a link to your tweet.

Remember, 1 comment for each entry and make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. Spread the word and good luck.

Care Factor = Zero

2011-09-22T22:31:00.000-05:00

I am sick. I have my son's cold and it is about 100 times worse in me than it was in him. It SUCKS. My body hurts. My sinuses ache. It's an effort to do anything. Being sick has reduced my care factor to zero...no, less than zero. Marty was taking a shower and twice it sounded like he slipped and hit the sliding door. Rys looked at me and said, "What's he doing?" My response was a heartfelt "I don't know and, as long as he doesn't come crashing through the door, I don't care." Rys responded, "So what you're saying is you don't care what happens as long as you don't have to drive him to the ER." "Pretty much," I said..."and, if he goes to the ER, he better get admitted because I don't want to pay that damned $250 copay." Care factor = zero. She LAUGHED at me...said I was funny when I was sick.

What The Fuck Wednesday: Car Edition

2011-09-21T21:11:00.003-05:00

Have you ever had a moment when you see something that makes you and everyone around you say "What The Fuck?" Rys and I had one of those moments today. We had stopped by the kids' school to drop something off and, as we turned the van to leave the parking lot, we saw something and looked at each other and said "What the fuck?" Literally, I said "What the fuck?" and then we followed what we saw until we could get a picture.

What was it we saw? It was a car...

a car with what appeared to be Yves St. Laurent wall paper or wrapping paper wrapped around it's lower half

see, it really is the Yves St. Laurent symbol

and, to really drive home the what the fuck moment, the car had humongous chrome rims. My God, it was even blue on blue...all that cheap decoration and no visual punch to be had.

What have you seen lately that made you say "What the fuck?"

A Deeper Look

2011-09-20T00:18:00.000-05:00

Last month during ICLW, I opened the floor to questions. Sadly, only one person took me up on the offer. Happily though, it was the brilliant and wonderful Mrs. Gamgee from Hobbit-ish Thoughts and Ramblings who asked the questions. Strap yourselves in, the wild ride begins now...

1 - Were your boys named after people in your family or did you choose their names for other reasons? a) My oldest was named after my husband and my grandpa...Victor Martin. We actually picked his middle name first (my grandpa's name). My grandpa was a man beyond compare and I felt a need to include his name in my son's name. My husband and I couldn't agree on a first name for the longest while. Names I liked, he didn't and vice versa. We finally decided to give him my husband's first name. Since he has the same initials as his dad, we call him by his middle name.
b) My second son was named after my father (his middle name) and my father-in-law...Joseph Sigifredo.
c) My youngest son is Gabriel Michael. Those names belong to no one in my immediate family. I just knew, in my heart, my soul, that those were the names that belonged to him. When I told my husband, he initially expressed reservation. I looked at him and said "I really believe those names came from God and I'm not going to argue. If you want to, you take it up with the man upstairs."
2 - What do you consider to be your geekiest guilty pleasure? Ummmm, I wear my geekdom proudly so it's hard to think of a geeky guilty pleasure. I guess the closest I get to a geeky guilty pleasure is my deep and undying love of sci-fi television. I've probably seen close to 90% of all the Star Trek series (the original, Next Gen, Deep Space 9, Voyager, and Enterprise). I've seen and own every single Babylon 5 episode. I watched both versions of Battlestar Galactica. I adore Warehouse 13 and Eureka. I'm going to end this list before I start waxing poetic about something.
3 - What is your least favourite food that you end up cooking anyway because your family likes it? Hmmm, I have to admit, it's my tastes that tend to be catered to. For example, we didn't buy peas until very recently. When I was little, I hated peas with a passion. I was known to line them up on the little ledge under the table to avoid eating them. Since I hated them, my hubby didn't buy or cook them. I recently rediscovered peas and found out that frozen peas were pretty damned good.
4 - Have your kids ever come across your 'toys'? How did/would you handle the situation? Luckily, my kids have yet to discover my toy drawer. I imagine that once I got past the initial embarassment, I would tell the older ones that the toys were adult toys and leave it at that. Once they were out of the room, I would promptly find a new hiding place. If it was Gabe, I'd give him a fluff answer and immediately find a new hiding place.
5 - If you ever popped over for a drink, should I have beer, wine, or coolers in the fridge for you?I would never turn down a Guinness Stout or a Sam Adams. I also love a good bottle of almost dry white wine.

So, once again I make the offer...ASK ME ANYTHING...personal, trivia, literally anything.