I've Been Tagged

I got it by default really. Shimmy Mom had it up on her blog. She said "if you haven't done it and you are reading, you are now tagged". Cool, I've never been tagged, so here it goes.

So here are 7 random facts about me

1. I have given birth to 5 children, and have been pregnant a total of 9 times.

2. I live in a house that is almost 120 years old and I LOVE it. I think old houses have character and warmth in a way that a new home just doesn't have.

3. We have 2 cats, Ringo and Paul. At some point in my relationship with Jason, we have had all of The Beatles, in cat form, living in our home. George was an orange striped tabby. John was an all grey barn cat that had a mean streak. George (along with his compatriot Nathan) were left at a farm when we moved from one place to another (at least we didn't just shut them out of the house) and John ran away, and were all a little thankful for that. Ringo is an indoor only cat, and looks siamese, but he's actually a tabby, and Paul is an indoor/outdoor cat that is a grey and white tabby.

4. I am an overly optimistic person. My thinking is ALWAYS "It could be worse". I've actually lived through worse and I still thought that!

5. I dye my hair, a lot. Currently it is strawberry blonde with chunks of bright pink. I love to play around with my hair color. I have also shaved my head more than once. I have no real attachment to my hair. Oh wait, yes I do. I love my hair. I love how it feels, it's always so soft and silky. Thankfully, all the playing with color hasn't affected the texture of it.

6. I have the oldest and the youngest grand kids in my family. My oldest daughter will be 14 this year, my youngest child is 2 1/2. My mom has 13 grandchildren between those ages. 5 of them are mine. We would really really love another baby too.

7. Jason is my 2nd husband. He is my best friend, the love of my life. We even each other out like you only hear about in stories. I'm up when he's down. He's always a little on the melancholy side while I'm always on the sunny side. We met online, of all places. In his profile he stated how cool it would be to be able to tell his grandkids that he met their grandma online. We share so many of the same interests it's scary and we have so many different ones too. We are both artists, but express it differently. I can keep going on and on about him for forever and a day.

Now to do the onward tagging. Considering I read so many blogs (I do, just take a look at the list, and that isn't even the most updated list at that), I'm going to do this. If you haven't been tagged, you now have. Go on, it's fun!

Prayers and blessings and have a wonderful day everyone!

Something Bright and Cheery

Because I've been slacking as of late on the blogging, so sorry, but life happens, ya know, I'm going to post some pics of something bright and cheery and leave you on that note. I cut these from the plants in my front flower beds. Yes, they are STILL blooming, 2 days shy of October. I think they are lovely. This is also the first time this season that I thought to cut flowers and make a bouquet out of them. I've always just left them out front. Yes, it's a wine goblet and yes, it has holly painted on it. It was the right size, so I used it.

More Than a Month Later...

Well, it's been more than a month and I have TOTALLY slacked off until now. Well, not totally, but definately quite a bit. I have my weight consistently below 280, which is great. However, I haven't done any exercise or anything like that until now to do it. I've been eating less. Paying closer attention to when I am full. Trying to make sure I drink a lot more water and drink a lot less soda. That's it though.

Tonight was the first night I did concentrated exercise. Don't get me wrong. In the past month I have been trying a lot harder in a lot of aspects of my life. Doing more things myself, when before I would ask someone else to do it. Trying harder to get more housework done. Climbing up the stairs more frequently. Walking places. That kind of thing.

I have 2 videos that have 5 10 minute segments of exercise on them. They are designed so that the segments can be used individually or mixed and matched or all together as one long workout. I have one set that is Pilates and one that is Yoga. I did the yoga tonight. The 10 minute "beginner" yoga. Until I get back in the groove of doing yoga regularly (I used to) this will definately count for cardio too!

I want to get to the point where I am doing a pilates segement in the mornings, maybe up to 3 segments together even, and then a yoga sement, again eventually up to 3 segments together, at night. I'm not sure if I want to go for every day or not. I do think that once it becomes habit, I'll wind up doing it every day simply because it IS habit.

That is my next step. To make the exercise habit. My goal isn't to lose a ton of weight. OK, to most people it will be quite a bit of weight lost. However, I'm not shooting to be 135 or 140 pounds here. I'd like to see 200, or possibly 10 or 15 below that. I know I'd feel really good about what I have accomplished if I can do that, when I can do that.

I know that as I age, I will need to stay on top of my weight for the simple health reasons. There is so much that runs in my family, on both sides, that I can prevent just by being a healthier weight, and maintaining that weight. I also need to be a better role model for my kids. I want and need them to understand what HEALTHY is. Not as the media portrays it, but as life says it is. They need to see the work that it takes to be and remain healthy.

I will admit that I would like to be a "hot mom". By today's distorted standards, thanks in a great part to the media (all media, print, t.v., movies) I will never be the skinny waif beautiful. I do want to instill in my children a true sense of beauty. That women are beautiful in a lot of different shapes and sizes. That curves are good and sexy and you can't have curves unless you go under the knife and have them falsely put there or you have fat on your body.

I'm a work in progress, I admit that much is true. I will always be a work in progress, that I also understand. Right now happens to be a heavier construction period than at other periods.

Prayers and Blessings everyone. I'm sorry I missed Thankful Thursday. Life has been a little hectic around here this week.

Why Do I Do the Thing That I Do

Why do I share what I do? All about James and my marriage and the financial issues we have and all of that? A lot of that is just me talking to myself. I know that other people read me. I get on average about 85 hits a week. So with figuring all the people I know reading this and me doing all my editing, that's still about 40 or so folks who I only know of through the internet. And I may not even "know" them. They may have found me through some unusal avenue like a Google search. The parts about James I share because I want to let others out there know, who have kids similar to him, or even very different, but still really needy in some way, that they aren't alone. They are not the only one who deals with it all, even though it feels like it some times.

James has been a real pill lately. The video game obsession seems to be worsening. Saturday was the culmination of a week of oddness. He totally freaked out because he was going to have to try a little harder to get the jelly out of the jar and put it on his sandwich. This lead to the usual "no one loves me" and "I'm just a slave to you" rants. This time he added "you are not preparing me for the world!" and "my life doesn't matter to you!".

I honestly am at a complete loss where these ideas come from. We don't have cable, or even local T.V. Everything he watches is on DVD, so I know what he is watching and things like that just aren't in there. This is paranoia from the deepest depths of somewhere unknown.

To top it all off, he told us he hears voices in his head. He said that he memorizes the voices of anyone who has ever talked to him. Then those people keep talking to him in his head. Sometimes he can make them say what he wants, or to stop talking, but not usually. I did a little bit of research, and schizophernia symptoms are quite a bit like what he is going through. Well crap.

I will be calling his therapist on Monday. I know he has an appointment with her this week. I think it is on Wednesday. I'm going to tell her what he said about the voices and hope that she may be able to make a little more sense of it all. James is in therapy so that, I'm hoping, he will at least acknowledge that everyone else has feelings and that he needs to take those in to consideration when dealing with people. Right now, he doesn't. However, his therapist seems to be at a loss as to what to do with James as much as Jason and I are. She can't even begin to get him to talk about feelings in general, let alone how they relate to other people.

Can you feel my frustration? My anger? My hurt? My worry? Most of all, my worry. When James was screaming at me, all I kept thinking was "I need to get out of here. I think I need to call my mom". I went out on the front porch and did just that. James just kept on screaming. You can send him to a different room, a different floor of the house, it won't matter at all, he'll keep screaming once he has started.

My mom suggested doing a spiritual cleansing. I talked to Mom before James told us about the voices. Once his "episodes" are all done, he's "normal" again. Willing to talk to us and that kind of thing. There is no telling when he will have an episode, nor what will set him off.

All of this is just saying "you aren't alone. I'm here going through all of this too." Maybe it will help someone just to know that the isolated feeling they have, especially when dealing with their special needs child isn't so isolated after all. There are others out here, in the big bad world, coping day to day too.

Prayers and blessings to you all. It's now 4:41 on Sunday morning and I have yet to go to bed. Izzy is awake, the little heathen. He has been for about an hour now. I was just getting ready to go TO bed when he got up. Now I'm waiting for him to either pass out or for Jason to get up so I can find some sleep. Katie Ann is coming over later today with her wedding dress and what not, and I want to be more awake than the walking comatose when she gets here. Odds are, it will be Jason getting up when I can go to bed, not Izzy falling asleep, the stinker. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend. Oh, and I updated the other blog. Added the 1st part of one story, and a rather short spur of the moment it just dawned on me so I had better write it down while I'm thinking of it story.

Thankful Thursday

Just a quick one while I am waiting for the time on my hair dye. I'm thankful Jason has a job. I'm thankful I have an understanding landlord. I'm thankful my van hasn't crashed and burned. I'm thankful that I keep waking up every morning.

Prayers and blessings all. I have a doosey of a political post for Friday brewing.

Hair Dye in My Ear

I know it's an odd title. Here's why I'm going with it. Tonight I decided to dye my hair. Now this is an occurance that is pretty regular. I do it about every 2 months or so, when the roots get a good inch or so showing. I don't always go back to the same combo of colors either. I like the change. I tend to favor a blondish red base with blonde highlights however. I do them at home as well. I don't see paying the salon price for it when I can do it as well from home.

So tonight I'm dying my hair, yet again. It'll be different this time. I'm doing a blonde base with an unnatural colored highlight. Dark purple to be exact. I know, it's ODD. What brought it about is this. Earlier tonight (remember, I'm still on Monday, no matter what the header says) I was playing a game on Pogo.com called "Makeover Madness" where the customers come to your "salon" and hold up cards of the hairdo's they want from the ones scrolling at the bottom. Some of them are quite extreme, like shaving the head, and others are rather unnatural colors like bright blue and neon pink and green. I jokingly said to Jason, as he was bathing Izzy "I'm going to dye my hair pink." and Jayden said "I want pink hair too, I love pink!" Jason said "Um, OK".

That's my husband. His feeling on it is that it's my hair, do what I want with it. Which is great. I've had men dictate how they wanted my hair. I've even had them tell me I "couldn't" do certain things with my hair. I would then do exactly what they told me I "couldn't" only to the more extreme. To give an example, I was once told I "couldn't" cut my hair. I took the scissors and cut it off to the scalp. Jason doesn't care. He knows I'm the one that has to deal with it so it really doesn't matter what I do to it.

My plan was to go blonde and then do a purple or blue or pink highlight in it. However, with the blonde I have here in the house, it turned it more blondish red than blonde. The hair dye in the ear actually did take place. Tonight. Right in to the ear. Feels weird and is very hard to get out. So now I'm going to let the red sit for a couple of days and then go in search of a BLONDE blonde.

Wish me luck on diminishing the red. It's a natural undertone anyway, so making it hide is difficult on a good day. Maybe I won't be doing an "odd" color after all. I mean, what color goes with red? Black? Can we say Ewww. Purple is certainly out, at least for the moment. Red is rather redundant, and pink just doesn't make sense. There is the option of blue, however odds are it would come out looking purple and that brings us back to that option being out.

Prayers and blessings all. I wish you all good luck. And Sophie, I'll be reading your blog tomorrow, my internet was out this weekend. I'll send you along some questions and take it from there. K?

Executive Privelage for Pie

That is what Jason told Jayden today. He said "I am claiming executive privelage to have this pie because I want it. I'm like the President and Mommy is the Congress. I get Executive Privelage for cool stuff like pie when I want it, but when it comes to the important stuff, I can get the veto." He's right of coarse. There have been a lot of times when I have said "Hey let's go do this" and he has said "No" and I just looked at him and said "Yes, it's a good FAMILY THING to do so we are doing it" to which he always says "Ah Fuck" and goes along. More often than not, he enjoys himself while doing it. He may not want to do it to begin with, but he changes his tone as the event takes place. It helps that I do all of the driving.

I have no internet right now. Not really sure why. It worked yesterday before the tornado warning. I was about to say "before the storms" but it's been raining for about 3 days now, so that doesn't quite apply. Afterward, it didn't. I tried calling the toll free number, it said "you have to call back during business hours" even though it claims it is "24 hour support, 7 days a week".

I came to the library (it's how I'm putting up this post) to check email and I got a person on live chat. She said that as far as she can tell it's all good, which is what our computer is telling us, aside from the unable to get online thing, so we need to call back tomorrow morning to make sure that our bill is in good standing. UGH! It's odd though, because all of our other services, like voice mail, long distance, caller i.d. and call waiting, are still working fine as can be. So I'll be calling in the morning to hopefully straighten it all out.

I'm hoping that it isn't the modem. Then I'll be stuck waiting for a new one to get to us. Other than that, things are going as usual. I am hoping to find a few books on pioneer crafts to lead up to our trip out for the pioneer days event at the Nature Center. I'm also going to pick up a couple of books to read. I requested a couple of books to be sent to the branch that is closest to the house, they aren't here at the main one (the only one open on Sunday I think) and I don't want to drive around town looking for them.

Like I said, it has been raining for 3 days now. Three streets near my house are blocked off because of flooding. Hugely overflowing ponds all over the roads. It's pretty cool to look at and I know that I'm going to try to take some pics tomorrow, which I think is also supposed to be rather rainy. I believe this is our carry over from Hurricane Ike.

I was thinking the other day about I haven't outright asked the Powers That Be for a baby, a being born at full term thriving kicking and screaming bundle of joy baby. With my next candle ceremony, I do a renewal every full moon, I'll be asking for that formally. Maybe I just need to formally verbalize and internalize and externalize and just put out there that is what I want, what Jason and I both want.

Every day that Izzy is a handful, and at 2 1/2, that is basically EVERY day, we jokingly say "we want another WHY?" I know that is our hearts desire. What we feel is right for our family. The missing piece. Our family is awesome the way it is. Every day gets better. At night, as we lay in bed, we know something, someone, is missing.

Some might say "Well, it's Katy. She isn't there all the time." I don't think that is it. In fact, I know that isn't it. We feel that when she is with us. I know that she is happy with Jenn. She is very much a part of our lives, as are of hers. She isn't here full time, but that is OK for all of us, all around.

Maybe it's my older daughter, Vyky. I aslo doubt that. Even though she isn't in our lives at all, I have an ache for her, but it is different. I know who she is, kind of. I imagine her, how she has grown. She is a real person.

The person that is missing is a mystery. A mist, a though, an idea. She/He is there, out there somewhere, just waiting to come home to us. I can feel her/him. Like a tickle on my mind, a caress on my heart. I can see a face, an outline of body. The hair and eye color aren't concrete. Nor is the name. Max I think. Though I'm not sure if that is a boy or a girl. And that changes too. However, the feeling that they are there, just waiting for us, for our home, for our lives, doesn't.

Well, I'm getting hungry, I have a roast in the crock pot at home, but I know that won't be ready for a few hours yet. I love having the slow cooked roast at the end of the day, it always turns out so flavorful and moist and tender. MMMMM. OK, that just made me HUNGRIER! So prayers and blessings all. Enjoy your full moon if you can see it, or just knowing it's there behind the clouds.

Jane Austen, Book Clubs, Presidential Elections, and the Electoral College

Yes, I know, it's a long ass title. Bear with me. This evening was movie night here in our house. It's been a rather rainy day. Not dreary really, though that is because I love the rain. It's always so crisp and clean and refreshing. I digress as usual. So I went to the Video Store and I also picked up stuff to make nachos. MMMMMM, nachos! The movies I got were Happily Never After, Harry Potter 5, I Am Legend, The Jane Austen Book Club, and 21. All of these are of interest because I or the kids have seen them in previews in our other movies. We watched 4 of the 5 tonight.

The kids watched Happily Never After, I caught bits and pieces of it while cooking up the stuff for the nachos. Then directly after they watched Harry Potter. Having read the book, I knew what to expect, and it was still a decent movie. I sent the kids to bed and Jason and I watched I Am Legend. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. It also reminds me a whole hell of a lot of Stephen King's "The Stand". That is is an awesome book, especially read in the full unabridge version. It's horridly long, and Jason on made it through the first 1/2, but it is SO worth it. I'd like to get the made for T.V. movie to have here at the house. That would be great as well.

Jason went to bed so I watched The Jane Austen Book Club. I will admit here and now that I have NEVER read anything by Jane Austen. What? Never? Nope, never. I have read Little Women, and Little Men, and all the ones that go with those. Louisa May Alcott, is that her name, the author? I've read a lot of classics, just for fun. I read The Scarlet Letter, Great Expectations, The Jungle, and Animal Farm over the summer before my freshman year of high school. Not for any real reason, just that I had always heard those titles referred back to, so I wanted to read them myself. I read Gone With the Wind during the school year. All 1800 pages of it. I wasn't kidding when I said I was a bibliophile. Anyone who reads required reading for fun, before it's even required, is a bit of a geek. I also refused to listen to anything but classical music, with a smidge of classic rock thrown in, all the way until I almost a sophomore in high school.

That right there is why I feel I have the qualifications to teach my children at home. I know that if I don't understand, I will read a book about it, and find someone who DOES know and I'll ask them to teach me, so I can teach the kids. My mind is like a seive. I know all kinds of odd facts and unusual information. I kick butt at Trivial Pursuit. All except the T.V./Movie and Sports stuff. I don't watch T.V and I won't watch a movie that doesn't interest me and I don't follow sports at all. I could be spending all that time sitting there reading a book.

So I'm going to read some Jane Austen. For those of you who have read her, where should I start. She only has 6 books, right? I am also doing a book club on the Four or More mommies. I guess our first book is going to be the one the guy wrote about having the worst dog in the world. I'm sorry, I don't remember the title right now, but when I go to request it from the library, I will.

Last night I was thinking about the election. I was also talking to my sister, and amazingly, our entire conversation did not revolve around her wedding. We came to the electoral college. How much of a very screwed up system it really is. How is it that only a fraction of the entire country are the ones to pick the new president? I understand that when it was first instituted, it was to make counting the votes easier. I also understand that the person with the electoral vote is not required to vote the way the state votes go. It is their vote and they can vote how they see fit. So how is it that my vote honestly counts, at least when it comes to the new president. Whomever holds that electoral vote, now they REALLY do count. And they count for A LOT.

How do you get picked to be the holder of one of those votes? Who makes that choice? Who is to say that those holders of votes are pre-loaded one way or the other? Who polices that to make sure that isn't going to happen? Do the electoral vote holders actually vote twice? Once for their own vote and once for their vote for the state? Can they be two different votes if that is the case?

In this day and age of computers and new fangled information and all that, isn't it time to redo the electoral college. Does it really provide a viable function any longer? Wouldn't it be better to TRULY put the vote of the people back in to the power of the people?

Those are my ramblings for today. I know I'm late on my sexy new story for the other board, I'm sorry, I've been a bit busy taking care of house and home and all of that stuff. I'll work on it this weekend, I promise. Prayers and Blessings everyone and have a wonderful weekend, rain filled or sunny. I think we will making a trip to the museum.

I Got a Widget!

A What-it? A Widget! Anyway, scroll all the way to the bottom, it's fun to play with, I'll post it here just this once. It's a Jackson Pollack Widget. Just run the mouse arrow over it, it makes paint type splatters. Click to change the color, there is a very wide range, and use the space bar to erase. I will post a longer post at some point today, I promise. Until then, have fun with this! I found it over at katydidnot She is rather funny and worth the read!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful today my children have enough brains to speak their minds. While it may drive me absolutely BATTY it's still a WONDERFUL thing.

I'm thankful for my husband, even when he is cranky and a royal pain in the keister.

I'm thankful for the van that I own. Even though it's rather old and needs more work on it soon, that I'm hoping will patiently wait until the end of January when we get our income tax return, it's nice to have something to drive around town in instead of trying to make it to appointments and shopping by the bus with a gaggle of kids along for the ride.

I'm thankful my body works, for the most part, as I want it to and I'm able to perform most functions, with the exception of having more children it seems, and do them well when I choose.

I'm making this post short and I'll be posting a longer one tomorrow I think. Prayers and blessings everyone.

Oh, Sophie, I am still VERY interesed in doing the Great Interview. Am I interviewing you? Is that how it's going to work? Please let me know. Thanks.

Swimming at Sea, Searching

I don't know what I'm searching for. I'm searching for "myself" really, but what in the hell does that actually MEAN? Is it defined, or just experienced. Is it what I do, or how I live, or what I think? Am I defined by my politics, my religion, my life choices?

I'm a wife, a mother, a woman. I've always thought of myself as somewhat artistic and rather creative. I am a writer too. Writers are people who share, who want others to know what is going on with them, whether it's fiction or fact, it's all going on inside of them at that time.

Do my politics make me who I am? What about my religion, or lack thereof? I'm one of those people that I consider myself to be traditional in the aspect of my own family. However, when it comes to someone else's family, what goes on is up to them and who am I to tell them otherwise. After all, it's them that has to get up with daily, not me.

Who am I in reference to my children, my husband? What is Wife and Mom? How is it that they perceive me, and is it how I want to be preceived, remembered?

Jason told me tonight that he is happy that I am at home now. I make things run smoother around here, make things easier for him. That's great, I'm glad I can do that for him. Does that mean I shouldn't work ever again? So that I can keep things "easier" for my husband?

Who am I as a wife? How do be a strong woman without stepping on my husband's toes, making him feel like less of a man in the process? That's been my big concern lately. I want to be a "good wife". However, I have yet to figure out what the hell that exactly is. Is she someone who is modest and doting and catering and never challenging? Does she cook and clean with no complaint, popping out babies to his content? Is she one to sit back and allow her husband to shine, and ignore her needs and wants at the same time?

I don't agree with that. I can't be meek and modest and mild. It's just not in me to be that way. There is no way I can be doting and catering and never challenging either. If I think what you have said, or what you think, or how you behave is stupid, or I don't agree, I'm going to say it. Why keep it bottled up? That can only lead to resentment. I'm not looking for salvation through my husband. I'm not trying to find God through him either. If I want salvation, I'll go straight to the source on my own, thank you very much.

The cooking and cleaning with no complaint. I'll cook, and I'm working on the cleaning, however complaint comes with the territory. After all, no one really likes to clean. Unless you are one of those type A personalities. I'm not. Neither is Jason thankfully.

I know I want my husband to be happy. I want my children to grow up well rounded and to be "good" people, caring and thoughtful of others. I also want them to be successful in their own lives, in their own homes. Meaning I want them to make enough money to not live with me for the rest of their lives.

Jason tells me he is happy. Especially now that I'm home. I'm still up in the air about being home. I feel the need to be here, but I'm going to miss leaving, going to work, being out and away for a few hours a week. During that time at work, I was Jamie. I wasn't Mom or SweetHeart or Cook or Maid or Babysitter. I was Jamie, and it was nice.

I'm sure I'm still Jamie. However, I'm also all of those other things when I'm home. I'm searching for the balance of Jamie and all those others. How do I fill so many needs, so many shoes, and keep myself in the end. I don't want to be 52 and wake up and say "Hey, where the Hell am I and how the Hell did I get here?" and have it be in a negative way. I want to enjoy my life to the fullest, and grow and explore as each day goes by. When I'm 52, I don't know where I'll be, I don't know what I'll be doing, but I want to know that I enjoyed it all while I got there. I know there will be difficult times, I don't live in a Utopian world after all, however, for the sum of all of it's parts, I want life, my life that I am living, that I am sharing most directly with my children and husband, to be one of joy and fulfillment. One that I know will bring me a smile when I think of it.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Wish me luck on this journey. I'm sure I'm going to need it. Tomorrow there will be a new post on my other blog. Remember, don't go there unless you are OK with reading stuff in "adult situations".

Let's Talk About Sex.

Yeah, I did it again. It never is what you think it will be, is it? Though in this instance, it IS a bit like that. I have another blog. I've been trying to figure out how to write sex. I don't want bad Penthouse letter porn and I don't want cheesy bodice rippers either. I have abandoned my attempts lately. Not really sure why.

I changed over the other blog so that when you go to click on it, it will ask you if you want to continue because you may see some naughty things. OK, it doesn't say QUITE that. I believe the jist is "adult content". Wouldn't THIS blog be adult content too? Don't get yourself in a tizzy, because I'm rather certain it isn't. Not like the other one. Where is my other one? Do I have your curiosity peaked? Click on my name and it will take you to my profile, and it's listed there OR you can scroll down to the blog roll on the right, and it's called "A Serial Mommy's Muse". You never know what you might come across there. I don't have a stat counter on there right now, though I think I will be adding one. Not one that tells me how folks find me though, I'm just not THAT curious about it.

Back to the sex talk. Have you ever seen "Legends of the Fall"? As far as I know, it's Rated R. There is a scene, and if you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's the ONLY sex scene in the ENTIRE movie. Brad Pitt (when he was much younger, think just after Thelma and Louise came out) and super buff is having sex with the girl. I'm sorry, I have NO idea who the girl is, though she reminds me of Andie McDowell, though she isn't. The scene is NAUGHTY. No penis shots, no vagina shots, but that's it. There is NOTHING left to the imagination about what kind of shape these two people are in. And they DO IT, in all kinds of ways.

OK, do you understand now why I don't know the actress's name? When I picture it in my head, it's VERY firmly Brad Pitt, and some soft young thing. Sexy to me all the way around. Every time I see that scene, I want to go wake up Jason (because I'm usually watching that movie at night, after everyone has gone to bed, while doing some yarn work) and do those very things to him.

Most bloggers I have read don't talk about their sex lives. At least not in detail, I can appreciate that. Boundries, privacy, all that jive. The only one recently, that comes to mind is Miss Britt, oh and Citizen of the Month. Though her honking hubby and his talking penis aren't about sex really, more like the lead in to it.

Oh well. That imagery of Brad Pitt and the nameless Andie McDowell look alike actress stays with me frequently. It makes me sigh and smile and then go find Jason. You know what he thinks of that? It's not unlike looking at porn. That simple. Well I'm glad he sees it that way because "Sweetie, Honey, Darling Hubby, you were Brad Pitt tonight, at least kind of, Love you"

So I leave you on that. Prayers and Blessings everyone. Enjoy your imagery, and let it infuse your life. And like my good pal Forrest Gump said "It's like a box o' chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get". :-D

Stripping at Wal-Mart

Hehe, I got ya with the title, didn't I? I wonder how many people will come to read this blog just based on that title alone? Maybe I should start including words like sex, penis, vagina, ass, and lesbian and see how many hits I get. I don't use one of those trackers that figures out what words people used to find me, though it is an interesting idea.

So back to the title. There was some stripping going on at Wal-Mart tonight. OK, just for the record, I'm still on Friday night even though I KNOW the date says it's Saturday. That's just how I roll. That sounded kind of silly coming from me, but what ya gonna do?

I took a nap earlier tonight, and that's why it is now 4:21 in the morning and I'm no where near ready for bed. I went grocery shopping after waking, I left the house around 11. I brought Izzy with me. Why did I take my precocious ever so curious and mischieveious 2 year old out at 11 at night? Because that boy climbs out of bed, and out of his pack n play. I knew Jason wouldn't be able to stay awake with him until I got home, the whole being up since 5 in the morning thing and all. The olders were fine staying and watching movies. When I got home, they were in bed, so I'm assuming dear old Dad sent them to bed once the movie was done anyway.

I digress, but don't I always? I went over and picked up MF Jenn, and off to Wal-Mart we went. There is beauty in shopping so late. Fewer people shopping, and they are stocking then, so if it isn't out, there is always someone close by that you can have go check for you to see if they do have it. I have $200 to spend on food, and spend it I shall. That money will get us enough food to last about 2 weeks, thankfully. We'll just have to top off a little next week, with water, soda, bread, that kind of thing.

I remembered to bring my canvas bags, the ones that the cashiers dread seeing. I use them because I have 4 kids and I feel that just by having those kids, that's enough damage to the environment, you know, heating the house and driving them all over and stuff like that. When Jenn and I shop, we go through the entire store. By the way, I forgot the tomato paste and the mayo. That's what I get for not writing out a complete list. Again, I digress. We start over in the General Merchandise and work our way to the Groceries, more often than not. I needed cat litter anyway. I picked up a couple of tiny, but very nice smelling candles. Jenn needed yarn for the blankets she is making for Christmas gifts.

I was just at Wal-Mart yesterday. I didn't look for little boy belts though. So I needed to look for those for Izzy, and size 3T pants. I want them that big so that I know he will have room to grow in them. However, as he has no butt to hold them up, they will fall down because Izzy is not a chunker, he's a heavy big boy, but fat isn't what he is made of, so he NEEDS a belt on too big pants. We are looking at toddler boy clothes and Jenn asks if she can buy Izzy a "Cars" shirt.

Keep in mind, more often than not, I won't buy characters anything for the kids. On the rarest of rare occassions one of the kids can convince me to get them a Transformer this or a Princess that. This goes for clothes and bedding. Toys don't apply to this sweeping rule.

Yesterday, I bought Izzy a pair of "Cars" slippers. I tell Jenn that it's all right, I'm not the one buying it. I don't buy characters because kids outgrow them so quickly, and it's harder to do hand me downs with an out of date character on the front. Izzy is all geeked and keeps pointing at the shirts and saying "Cars, Cars, Cars". I think Jenn was impressed that he was talking at all.

Izzy CAN talk, he just doesn't. I don't know why he doesn't, he just chooses not to. I guess he feels he has nothing to really contribute, what with everyone else talking constantly it seems. Izzy pointed to a grey long sleeve shirt with Lightning McQueen plastered over the front.

We finish up our shopping, which takes about an hour more. Speedy shoppers we are not. We take our time, often going up and down each row or backtracking through 1/2 the department to find what we want. We manage to get all of our stuff in to one cart, so at least we didn't buy out the store.

I get all checked out, stuff shoved in to canvas bags and all of that. As Jenn is checking out, she tells the cashier, Leanne, to just hand the shirt to Izzy. Jenn then continues with the paying process. Izzy takes the hanger out of the shirt and hands it to me. He then starts the attempt of taking off his hoody so that he can put on his "Cars" shirt. Feeling sympathy for the boy, and knowing that at that ripe age of 2 he WON'T let it lay to rest, I strip his hoody and shirt off of him. Jenn looks over and sees a half naked boy where once a fully clothed one sat before. I take the tag off of the shirt and put his new, much loved shirt on him. The entire time, Izzy is saying "Cars, Cars, Cars" and signing "Thank You".

Did that catch you? That Izzy signs? Well, being the strong willed (read STUBBORN) child that he is and his utmost refusal to communicate with us, we have been teaching him basic signs. He can sign Please, Thank You, Bath, Eat, Mommy, Daddy, Cheese, Potato Chip, More, and Done. Maybe a couple of others that I'm not thinking of at the moment. With prompting, he can put two or more signs together in a basic sentence and he has started to SAY the word along with the sign.

This is how we wound up "Stripping at Wal-Mart". I told Jenn I would blog the moment because it's pretty funny. Also, I would catch a lot of traffic just on the title. HAHA! I jokingly said I would go and do it myself, the stripping. It'd be like the really cheap show that didn't have a cover charge. But please tip me. Or just tip me over and roll me out!

I know I missed Thankful Thursday. Thursday we went to Jason's folks for dinner, so the preperations before then made things get rather hectic around here and we didn't get home til almost 11. I'll catch back up next week, that there is a promise.

Prayers and Blessings, and have a wonderful weekend.

Well Crap

Unfortunately, my mind has been made up about the new President, at least who I'd like to take that job. Why unfortunately? Because I was really hoping to have some more time to really take the time to look at them all and think on it. And what did it was not the candidates for the job, but the candidates for the 2nd in command. More accurately, the candidate for the 2nd in command for McCain.

I thought Bush was extreme in his religiosity (yep, it's a real word). However, Palin is worse. She has stated that the Iraq war is "a task that is from God". Um, yeah. Oh, and the whole 17 year old daughter being 5 months pg thing. Shit happens, I get that. If her daughter had been taught more than just abstinence, maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't find herself knocked up at a tender age. And she is getting married. I'm not stupid. I was a 17 year old knocked up kid once. I know that girl is feeling extreme pressure from all around her, her family ESPECIALLY, about what she should do. You can NOT tell me with a straight face and an honest answer that that girl has NOT been influenced to marry the boy that got her pregnant. It's the "right" thing after all, isn't it?

So there you have it, I've thrown my towel in with Obama. I liked him anyway. The more I paid attention to what he was saying, and how he was going about it, I liked him. I'll be sad when someone kills him, it will REALLY suck when that happens.

Now I'm going to start getting stalked by the Secret Service. The thing is, I'm not making a threat. It's the facts. He will be the first President that isn't a WASP through and through. Kennedy was Catholic and look what they did to him. And Lincoln let all the slaves go free. This country has enough crazy folks in it that there will be someone who tries it, I guarentee it. It won't be me. Though it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't someone from my home state.

So my point is this. Palin is letting her religion run her politics. That means she is not someone I am willing to vote for. I like being able to believe as I please. I also TOTALLY disagree with the Iraq war. We shouldn't be there, that simple. Task from God my ass, just like the Crusades were?

Tomorrow is Thankful Thursday and we'll have a happier lighter tone to it all. Prayers and Blessings all.

Made From Scratch

Later today I'll post pics of our home made pretzels. We made them last night, around 10 at night. One thing I have learned about having James and Jayden help me cook, I need to double check to make sure all of the ingredients are put IN to the bowl. I'm pretty sure we forgot the sugar in the recipe. They came out tasting all right, like biscuits, I expected them to be a bit sweeter, hence the belief that we forgot the sugar. We will also be attempting mini popovers later today, and for dinner I am going to try out a potato and mini sausage recipe. To me, the popovers look like sweet fruitless muffins, one of the main ingredients is honey, so we'll see how those turn out.

Brandi over at Mountain Morning is giving away another book. She sure does like to do that! The book is all about things HOMEMADE! I'll be trying to do a lot more of that in the coming weeks and months.

Jason and I have talked and we decided that it would be best for our family right now for me to, once again, take up the mantle of full time stay at home mommy. Jason worries that I may go insane, hell, I'm already there! All kidding aside, I can set up a night a week to run away, either with MF Jenn or to the library or something like that.

This will free up my schedule to allow for scouts for James on Mondays, and trips to Muskegon for Katy, and all sorts of things like that. Oh, and one of Jason's fav things, me cooking home made dinners. And him not being left with the kids by himself, especially now that I'm watching Allen and Jessi three times a week for pay while Jack and Christina's schedules over lap. I need to ask permission from them if I can post pics including their kids here on my blog (not my kids, so I'm not going to assume it's all right, though I think it should be, as no last names are used and other identifying things are kept out of the limelight).

On Thursday we are going to my in-law's for dinner. Why? Well, Jason really wants to go down and spend some time with them. That's why. That sums it all up right there, the whole ball of wax. I can understand that desire, though I usually don't share in it with my own famly. I'm not really sure why that is, but it's just how it goes around here.

Jason is still working on the pieces for our giant map of the U.S. I've gottent through Maine in my flash cards of the state maps for James, and I've completed the state name/capitol ones and Jayden's sight words. James sees his ped tomorrow (we overslept by A LOT for the appt that was this past week, so it was rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon) for a med check. James is happier without taking the Strattera, however the Super Hyper Mode is going to drive me absolutely batty, I tell you! I want to talk to her and see if there are other med options available, or if we can try a lower dose and taking it in the mornings again. I don't want to supress his personality, but I do want him to be able to sit still for longer than 15 seconds. Tonight I told him to go to bed at 11:20 because I was DONE. I just couldn't handle the CONSTANT activity anymore. UGH.

Izzy has his Early On teacher at 11 in the morning. Once he is old enough to go in to the classroom situation, I *think* I will be taking him out of the public school system. He has to be 3 then, and I will see how he is progressing at that point.

I'm thinking this is all for this post right now. It's going on 2:30 in the morning and I'm getting pretty tired. I need to wash dishes tomorrow, try to get my tomatoes replanted (still working on that project), clean up the living/dining rooms, and find my ball of yarn that Izzy hid on me. I'm working on a great blanket that will make a wonderful gift, except Izzy picked up the ball, with the needles stuck in it, and carted it off somewhere. That boy is more and more mischevious as the days go by.

Prayers and blessings and have a wonderful day.