Update and More Sadness

I appreciate all of you so very much. Your comments made me feel validated in my anger and a bit of comfort as well. We found another dog yesterday. He is a rescue. All is well with my Z monster. I will share more about this later.
My aunt died yesterday. I will be out of touch for a couple of days. She was a good woman. She was there through so much of my life. Her daughter is my best friend cousin, Becky. I easily spent as much time at Aunt Johnette's dinner table as at my Mom's. Well, maybe not quite, but I was probably there more than she would have liked. My heart is broken for Beck. I am numb at the experience of her death. I am going to be strong for my girl. Becky has always been the steel in my back bone and now I will try my best to be hers.

Mean Old Ladies and Sorrow

I cried all day yesterday. We had to take Callie back.
She was apparently 8 pounds over the weight limit that our neighborhood sets on dogs. It wouldn't have been an issue at all, but our neighbor called to complain 5 times before 8:30 in the morning on Monday.
Did she have any reason to complain? No. Callie was perfect. She was one of the best dogs ever. Perfectly housebroken, wonderfully behaved, and great with the kids. She stayed on a leash whenever she was outside. She never went in the woman's yard.
The woman just didn't want us to get away with something. That is the only thing that I can figure.
So, Callie is gone. She is back at her Foster Family. I hope that she finds another home soon. She is awesome, anyone out there looking for a dog? She is one of the best.
I feel awful. Super Z is broken hearted. We have to find a smaller dog soon or my son might wither away. I hope that another dog will make him feel a bit better. I hope that eventually my heart stops aching over the whole fiasco. I hope that Callie finds a forever home ASAP. I hope I can forgive my neighbor. I hope.

Haiku Friday

A four legged friend,

he has dreamed of her for years,

Meet Super Z's dog.

***

Well, it is finally happening. Tomorrow my babies will have their first pet. We are adopting Callie, a one year old Rat Terrier/Blue Heeler mix, from Jackson Friends of the Animal Shelter. I found her on line last night after Randy said that he loved Rat Terriers. As soon as I saw that sweet face and read that she was great with small children, I knew that she was the dog for us.

I almost couldn't believe it at first. Since I lost my peekapoo Tink O. Bell while I was pregnant with Z, I have been completely appalled by the idea of owning another pet. Losing Tink was like losing a family member. It was very hard on me. I couldn't imagine going through that again on purpose.

I am so excited that I am ready to reenter the world of pet owners. I am so excited that my children will get to experience the joy of animals. I can't wait to bring our newest family member home. I can't wait to meet Callie. Yay!!

Who woulda thunk it?

I got this from Lisa's page. It was pretty funny. As I am answering the questions, I am thinking "Of course that is the answer. How in the hell else would you say that??? What does this have to do with which accent I have??" LOL That shows you what I know.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The South That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.
The Midland
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Northeast
The West
Boston
North Central
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have">What American accent do you have? http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Project 365 (10/365)

What this face is trying to say is, "Dear God, please let it be Friday...now."

Thursday 13

Things That I Know Without a Doubt

1. I work better under pressure.
2. Randy loves me.
3. Food prepared with fresh ingredients taste better.
4. Mimosas should be served at every day time party.
5. Princess H is going to be a very difficult teenager.
6. Spending time with good friends is necessary for good health.
7. A good Mother talks and listens to her children.
8. Children need to be loved.
9. Laughter is important to any relationship.
10. You can destroy a relationship with a bad attitude.
11. Diet Pepsi is better than Diet coke.
12. My family will always be there for me.
13. I will be married to Randy for the rest of my life.

Project 365 (9/365)

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles. Charlie Chaplin

Wordless Wednesday - Unfairly Imprisoned

Project 365 (6,7,8/365)

The Wisdom of Super Z

- God is black. God is holding the earth and the sun and all the planets in his hand. His hand must be space...space is black...God is black.

-Hulks are real. They live on the other side of the planet along with all of the cartoon characters. (He got this tidbit of wisdom from a classmate.)

- Old people who don't have real teeth should not be able to talk. Babies without teeth can't talk...

- If you don't have a party, you do not age. ( He had his party this weekend...he is FINALLY 5)

- The people you love are your family.

- The people who love you are the people you love.

- If your power goes out you didn't pay your bill. You should walk around and flip every light switch in your house to make sure that you didn't pay your bill.

- Everyone that you know wants to know everything about you.

- If sisters are bad, you should take them back to the hospital.

- Babies should be able to crawl as soon as they are born.

- If you say something that he doesn't lke or agree with, you HAVE to be joking.

Project 365 (5/365)

Last Friday = Mother- in-law coming to town + much house cleaning + birthday party to put together for Sunday - rest + Working a 9 hour day + (Chaos * 2 (H&Z)) = Me whooped

Haiku Friday

My favorite time

is late in the evening

when life slows a bit

*

I have time to breathe

time to listen to you three

time to enjoy life

Project 365 (4/365)

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about. - Anonymous

Thursday 13 - Guest Post by Randy (the husband)

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am passing control of the blog over to Randy. I hope you all enjoy his very first post. Randy, you take it from here...By the way, I am Sweety. I am not sure if he knows my real name. It has always just been sweety. Happy Valentine's Day.

13 things I love about my sweety...

1.....I love the way she cooks.
2 I love the way she looks in the morning, the sweety only I get to see.
3 I love the way she cares for me when I am ill..
4 I love the way she keeps me warm.
5 I love the way she entertains me.
6 I love the way she mothers my children.
7 I love the way she brightens my life.
8 I love the way she lets me sleep in on weekends.
9 I love it that she doesn’t fight with me, she is just usually right.
10 I love the the pencil sharpener, her lil happy dance.
11 I love her long kisses.
12 I love it that she handles all the money ...and tells me that I have none.......but she does keep me supplied with toys.
13 I love everything about her......from her morning breath though the day to hearing her snore...it’s like the complete song of love.

Project 365 (3/365)

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. Mark Twain

Wordless Wednesday - Their Favorite Place

Sickness and Tornados and Spaghetti

Randy called me at work today waving the white flag. He was sick. He could not handle the children alone. I had to come home.
As I was leaving the office, to go pick Super Z up from school, I heard the news that a tornado had touched down in Brandon (The lovely town I call home.) There didn't seem to be too much damage. There were a few trees down and electricity and traffic lights were off in town.
After picking up Super Z and answering 8 million questions about tornados (no, they aren't green and no they don't have legs and yes, they can blow away bicycles) I headed to the CVS for medicine. If you want an adventure try shopping for medicine in a CVS with no electricity with a very loud and curious 5 year old.
"HEY MAN! WHY IS IT DARK IN HERE????!!!!! DID YOU PAY YOUR POWER BILL????"
"HEY GIRL! DID YOU KNOW THAT TORNADOS DON’T HAVE LEGS???"
"HEY! MY MOM PICKED ME UP BECAUSE MY DAD IS THROWED UP!!"
After teaching the cashier how to total up my purchase using a calculator (gasp) and finding the correct sequence of unblocked roads, we made our way home. Medicine was administered and I went back to working. It was a perfectly peaceful day. Except for the tornado...and Randy's death throws...and that Valentine box that I just finished making. (What kind of torture is that? Aren't they supposed to make those things at school? I am so uncrafty.)
Did I mention that I made spaghetti for supper? Apparently I don't hate it anymore. My relationship with spaghetti is more unstable than my relationship with my Mother. What is up with that? Is it normal to hate a food for years, love it suddenly, hate it again, and then love it again? Does that happen to anyone else?

Project 365 (2/365)

Guitar Hero - What You Should Know

I bought Guitar Hero III for Randy and Super Z Friday. It is their Valentine. I used our entire weekend budget to buy it. Was it worth it? Oh yeah. Randy and I have both already beat it on easy. But I have decided that there are a few things that would be buyers should know about this game before they buy it.

1. It is highly addictive...perhaps more addictive than crack. I am not sure about that, as I have never done crack.
2. It will make your fingers ache desperately and yet you will CONTINUE TO PLAY.
3. It will keep you up past your bed time.
4. It will destroy your marriage. You will get a divorce because the husband (whose gift it was) WILL NOT let you have your damn turn.
5. You will go crazy tring to do just ONE song at 100% accuracy.
6. You will lose track of current events.
7. You will have a sudden desire to purchase music that you had never even heard before you bought the game.
8. You will want to get a rock and roll tattoo just like your character...but hopefully you (I) won't.
9. You wil get up early on Sunday just so you can play without interruption.
10. You will think that a 5 star review makes you as cool as ZZ Top. This is not true.

Project 365 (1/365)

I am a big fan of Secret Agent Mama. I mean secret agents are cool. Mamas are cool. People who spell mama M-A-M-A are cool. What is not to love here?
One of my favorite things on Secret Agent Mama's blog is project 365. For months now I have been marvelling at her many unique and wonderful self portraits. A few weeks ago the legend herself sugested that I might want to try Project 365 myself. I was a bit hesitant at first. I am no photog like the Secret Agent. But, I DO love taking pictures of myself. As a matter of fact, I am the only person allowed to take pictures of me.
After asking her if she was serious and if it was really okay for me to steal her Project, it is a go. You will be inundated with all sorts of self portraits over the next year. Hopefully a few of them will be one ninth as cool as any of Secret Agent Mama's.
The Project: To take a self portrait of some sort every day for the next 365 days. A picture does not HAVE to be posted every day, but a picture HAS to be posted for every day. Not all days will be pretty. Not all days will be fit to be shared with the world...but they will be shared nonetheless. Maybe on those days I will take pictures of my feet?

Fun Monday - You Can Call Me Al

Our host this week is The Crown Princess. I absolutely adore the assignment. Not only does it not require a camera or a scanner, but I get to share one of my absolute favorite things with you.

The assignment:

Music plays a vital role in most of our lives. It is everywhere. I want to hear the ONE song that is you. The song that whenever it is heard, you smile. I am not looking for the soundtrack of your life, just that one song. Your friends hear it and think of you. You can post the video, the lyrics, the wav file. However you want to post it is great.

I don't know if this song makes lots of people think of me. That is the only part that I am unsure of. I ran the assignment past Randy and asked him which song he thought I would pick...and he picked right. I think that is a good enough test. I love this song. I listen to this song so often that my kids love this song. If this song comes on in the grocery store I will dance and sing with abandon. My husband just loves this, I am sure. This song is me at my happiest most relaxed state. Enjoy.

Updates

- Super Z and the Devil

I talked to Mrs. Lee, Super Z’s teacher, a couple of weeks ago. She assured me that there has been no talk of the devil at his preschool. She says that they tell bible stories about Noah, Jonah, Jesus and such, but they never talk about the devil or Hell. I was very glad to hear that.
Of course, that left me stumped. I have no idea where he was getting his ideas. It had to be a seed that was planted somewhere. I have been looking at everyone that he talks to a little more closely.
The good news is that he seems to have gotten over it. He hasn’t woken up with nightmares in weeks and his questions these days are more likely to be about ducks and big school than the devil.

- My bank account drama

My money is back. My life savings has been returned to me. How sad is that…$874 is my life savings? I have my new debit card and have learned to fear ordering on the Internet.

- My Job

My boss/friend, Leigh is out on maternity leave and I am about ready to take a flying leap out of my window.

- The glass ceiling

Much to my surprise, it does exist. There are certain men at my job that have a problem respecting women. They seem to think that a woman isn’t worth listening to, unless she is an attorney, a department director, or their boss. That is pretty sad to me. I have worked with these men for years. My good ideas have been pretty consistent and important, if you ask me. Why is it like pulling teeth to get them to listen?

- Religion and politics

I have tried desperately to write several blog entries lately regarding both religion and politics. It has been very surprising how difficult this is for me. I have been hard wired somehow to not feel comfortable expressing my beliefs. How sad is that? I mean, I know what I believe…and I believe it rather strongly. But when it comes to sharing it with you guys (the world) it is just SO HARD. Why do you think this is?
Do you think it has anything to do with me growing up in the south? I am here to tell you that the close-mindedness thing is not just a bad wrap. The majority of southerners (not all, just most) tend to be very close- minded. There is only one way to think about things. And I assure you, I don’t think about ANYTHING the RIGHT way.
How do I get over this? Do I really want to? Why does this upset me so much?

Thurday 13 - Did you know?

1. Did you know that a person can live without food for almost a month but survive no longer than a week without water? Maybe that is why my water bill is so high?
2. Did you know that if you stack one million US $1 bills, it would be 361 ft high and weight exactly 1 ton? A million dollars' worth of $100 bills weighs only 22 lb.
3. Did you know that a few years ago, the New Castle Brewery in England brewed 1,000 bottles Tutankhamun Ale from a 3,200-year old recipe found in the sun temple of Queen Nefertiti of Eqypt? How freaking cool is that?
4. Did you know that although a diamond is the hardest natural substance on earth, if it is placed in an oven and the temperature is raised to about 763 degrees Celsius (1405 degrees Fahrenheit), that it it will simply vanish? I don't imagine that any of you will be testing this one at home...
5. Did you know that copyrights are not forever? Typically, a copyright lasts for 50 years past the natural life of the original author.
6. Did you know that all athletes competed in the nude in the ancient Olympics? I did know this. I just wanted to say nude. This is the only nude fact I could find.
7. Did you know that adult frogs are carnivorous? Apparently they will eat just about anything smaller than themselves, including insects, worms and even other frogs. I knew I hated frogs for a reason.
8. Did you know that your mouth produces 1 litre (1.8 pints) of saliva a day? Ummm gross.
9. Did you know that over the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialised nations has increased by 4 in.? I am a living extreme example. I am six inches taller than both of my parents.
10. Did you know that men loose about 40 hairs a day and women loose about 70 hairs a day? That just doesn't seem right...
11. Did you know that a newborn baby's head accounts for one-quarter of its weight?
12. Did you know that summer on Uranus lasts for 21 years? Winter does too.
13. Did you know that botanically speaking, the banana is a herb? I knew that the tomato was a fruit, but this is just craziness.

For more mind blowing (albeit useless information) click here. Have a great Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday - Us minus 25 years

Fun Monday

Our Host: Tiggerlane, The Neophyte Blogger

Our challenge: Have you heard of The Bucket List? Well, that's what I want from you! Make a list of things you want to do before you die. It must be at least five items - and you can make it as long as you desire. Photos are optional. And let's hear about some of the wackiest, most bizarre to-do's on your Bucket List!

This is a great challenge. I mean everybody has this list, right? Way to go Tiggerlane.I figure that I will be editing this post for days to come. Every time that I think of something, I am going to add it to the list. Have a great Monday!

Things I Want to do Before I Die

1. See my children grow up.
2. Visit Europe.
3. Smoke a cigarette at Jim Morrison's grave. (No, I don't smoke.)
4. Finish writing a book.
5. Have at least one thing published.
6. Be married for at least 50 years.
7. Learn how to quilt.
8. Spend a summer by a lake.
9. See a president in office who inspires me.
10. Learn more about everything.
11. Wear a size that only has one digit.
12. Wear a red dress that makes people stare...in a good way.
13. Paint.
14. Go to Disney World with my whole family.
15. Spend the night in a castle.
16. Live in a house with solar panals.
17. Drink wine with my dinner every night for a year.
18. Go to a Willie Nelson concert.
19. Go on a vacation with my friends to New York.
20. Not have to worry about money.
21. Ride in a hot air balloon.
22. Drive Route 66 with Randy.
23. Go on a honeymoon.
24. Spend a winter in a place with snow.
25. See my children become readers.
26. Swim under a waterfall.
27. Go sailing.
28. Get high in Amsterdam.
29. Go skinny dipping in a crystal clear lake with my husband.
30. Find a religion that works for me.
31. Read the COMPLETED Fire and Ice Series by George RR Martin.
32. See my children become passionate about something.
33. Chart my geneology.
34. Visit Stone Henge.
35. Go on a vacation with just my girls. (girl friends, daughtter, sister, mama, neice.)
36. Travel alone with each of my children.
37. See a 3-D chalk drawing on a sidewalk.
38. Go white water rafting.
39. Go on a cruise.
40. Convice my mother that I am right about something...anything.
41. Lose an argument with my husband, for his sake, He deserves one win.
42. Ride in a helicopter.
43. Learn to dance.
    

To be continued....

Drifting back

If I believed in karma, I would say that we had done something really hideous recently. But I don't. I guess if I had to say what I do believe, it would be that sometimes you get a string of bad luck and sometimes you get a string of good luck.
This week, we were inclined to believe that we were running alongside the string of bad luck.
After someone stole my debit card number and had a blast internet shopping with my money, the electricity went out at my house and burnt up the hard drive in my main computer.
At first I was like, "Waht the hell??" I was feeling Randy's outrage and indignation. He was right, life was out to get us.
And then I did this thing I do. It is probably one of the better aspects of who I am. I stepped back. I had peace. What difference does a computer make? We lived before we ever had one, let alone 3. The money will come back. And hey! We had actually managed to save enough money so that we had enough to get by even after being taken for $800 bucks. That is awesome. Yay for us.
There are people in the world who lost children this week, people who found out they have cancer, people who lost everything that they owned in a house fire. I don't think our string of bad luck could even be considered bad when you look at it in this light.
So, I feel better. I am drifting back into who I am, which is a generally upbeat person with two lovely healthy children and a good marraige, a person who hasn't had a member of her immeadiate family die since she was 6 years old, a person with a family that loves her unconditionally, a person who is strong and happy and loved. Me.
So as far as people who want to take my hard earned money and computers that want to fry at the slightest provacation...screw em. They don't really matter to me.