Sum..Sum..Summer time…

Summer +’s: Never-ending sunshine, swimming ; sun-tans, walking through the creek with my beloved black Lab/mix; Off Deep Woods spray, gardening, fresh cut grass and breezy nights.

Summer –‘s: Girls are gone, endless days; date nights, humidity, arguments with the ex; too much sleep, and canceled vacation trips; unproductive days and too much quiet.

As July quickly approaches, I have nearly completed all of the above. Good and bad I’m afraid. I’m a creature of habit. I will be the first to admit all of my habits are not so good…and the good habits, I don’t do enough of. So in saying all of this…I Herby declare to (try) be more aggressive in achieving my goals and dreams too.

So far the summer is a bit different than the norm. Emily is home more. She decided to play high school soccer for one of the best and most competitive HS soccer teams in the state. Thus the summer warm-ups started early June!! Tryouts are not until Aug. I’m proud of her. I’m also pleased that her dad is being empathetic to her feelings and needs (at last)…as well as giving up a large portion of his summer visitation with her is groundbreaking when it comes to our history of visitation arrangements. It’s like something out a divorced family fairy tale…you know, where everybody gets what they want and nobody holds any grudges…(well not yet, anyway).

My little Madeline is at her Daddy’s without her big sis much of the summer. Which I thought would not be so great...for numerous reasons… but I was wrong. She seems to being enjoying herself…for which I’m eternally grateful. Nothing makes me happier then my girls holding their own--no matter what hand has been dealt their way. I should of known she’d be just fine. After all, she is the oldest when her big sis is not around. The oldest to four younger siblings…. she is marveling in this new found revelation…probably the good and bad sides of it too.

I realize I worry too much about everything. But now is the time to combine my worry with action.

A couple quotes from my calender companion for women…

Remember, the things, people, and experiences we have loved and left are good for us. We can see patterns, progress, regression, and stalemates—all manner of insights that give us a clearer picture of ourselves.
Summer is a good time to remember.

“Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”

-Erica Jong
*Have we been looking for someone to blame?

The Touch of the Master's Hand

It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
Hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three",
But, No,
From the room far back a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet,
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.
"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,
All battered with bourbon and gin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought By
the Touch of the Master's Hand.

Happy Fathers Day!
I love you!

Twilight: The good, bad & ugly...Fans of all ages...

Vampires....Twilight..It's been the subject in our house for months and months and months.

First my teenage daughter. I found her staying up all night just to finish one of the books!

Shortly after my easily distracted 11 year old started reading the series and fell in love with Edward, Bella and Jacob. I felt a duty to check it out...make sure its appropriate, that kinda thing. So I dug in.....deep. I was pleasantly surprised my the intriguing yet bitter sweet love story that kept me turning page after page...book after book. I found myself just as engrossed with Twilight as I'd been with Bridges Of Madison County and The Notebook.

Vampires aside I feel like my girls get the essence of the love story and that makes me happy.

My youngest began idolizing the actors who portrayed Edward and Bella in the motion picture Twilight. (Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart) My little one was reading all of the tidbits and viewing as many pictures she could find of Robert and Kristen. A little girl crush.

Unfortunately, the bad things I've always tried to shield my little girls from is staring them right in the face. Drugs. A photo of her idol smoking something from a pipe. Of course I told my girl that not everything written in magazines and posted online is the truth. I also reinforced my famous..."the truth will come out in the end..." However, I've heard nothing additional of these negative photo's. Did I miss the retraction?? Are the photo's real? Were they photo shopped? Is it true? I thought Kristen Stewart should of made some type of statement to her fans... Even just to say..."Its not true" As a parent I want that peace of mind for my girl. I want my child to see her idol defending themselves from slander...or facing the fire and admitting a mistake. The only thing keeping quiet does to the little girl fans is cast doubt. It leaves them questioning.."Is my idol trying to hide from a bad choice?" or worse..."I wanna be just like her"

I am angry with the whole "lack of" response by Twilight's, Kristen Stewart. Whether the pictures were fake or not-- be true to the fans, the little girls who want to grow up and be just like you. Stand your ground and put it to rest.


http://gossipteen.com/2008/11/26/twilight-scandal-kristen-stewart-smoking-pot-photos/

http://gossipteen.com/2009/05/25/busted-kristen-stewart-smoking-pot-in-italy-photos/

Sister Intuition

4/9/2009
I've been trying to reach my sister since our return trip from Pennsylvania last weekend. I left a message earlier this week and another with her husband last night. However, she has not returned my calls. I knew she started a new nursing job this week and I was dieing to find out how she liked it! So, on my ride to work this morning...I thought to myself...I'm gonna send her a harassing text to call her baby sister back already! I reached in my purse for my phone and saw I had missed a call just a few minutes before I grabbed it...(my cell is always on vibrate) Yes, it was my sister. It gave me the chills...
...I've heard of a mothers intuition and even the twin connection...but just ordinary siblings...just seems kind of unreal to me, considering the years of disconnect my sister and i have gone through. Mostly as a kid and teenager...we didn't become "friends" until she left home. Are we now in sync with each other?

My sister and I are just 12months 10days apart...so I'm guessing we must have some of the twin connection genes...fraternal twins of course...
As for my brother...thats a whole different story...

A Cowboy Named Bud

Just a "ha HA" email I recieved today...I'm posting it today for all my "Southern" Indiana...Kentucky and Tennessee friends.....you know who you are!

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote
mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes,
RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and
asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows
and calves you have in your herd, Will you
give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure,Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany .

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech,miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says,
"You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man,
"Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my
calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says,
"Okay, why not?"

"You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie,
"But how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required." answered the cowboy.

"You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.....

Now give me back my dog.

Home is where the doggy door is...

....a friend sent me this email today...

I can just hear the conversation between the dog & the deer
Dog: Hey little one what ya doin' all by yourself?
Deer: Well my mom was hit and killed by one of those big square things that roll really fast down the black strip.
Dog: So what ya gonna do?
Deer: I dunno, but I sure am hungry & scared!
Dog: Hey why don't ya just come home with me, my mom will feed ya!!!
Deer: Ok, so what's it like at your place?.......

A fawn followed this beagle home -- right through the doggie door --
In the Bittinger, MD area. The owner came home to find the visitor
had made himself right at home. This Hit the 6 o'clock news big time.

Calender Companion Quotes For Women

Housework-
"Maybe if you work hard enough, darling, you will never have to do housework."
"Yes, Mother."

---Do you know any woman, regardless of the help she has, that doesn't do some housework? -Don't fight it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT WE DO FOR "BEAUTY"
To be beautiful, the sixteenth-century woman wore a farthingale-a stiff petticoat or a hoop skirt under her dress. Whalebone, wire, or cane was used to maintain its shape. Supposedly it made the torso look "enticingly tiny." Queen Anne is reported to have worn one that was four feet wide.
---Not very good for sitting or going though doors--and forget running!!

thirty something...

Geesh...yesterday after work..as I was walking through the parking lot..I realized I'd forgotten where I parked my car!! I couldn't believe it! Especially after poking fun of so many for this very thing. There I was walking through the lot trying to stay focused and walk confidently...like I knew right where I was heading. In reality, I had zero recollection of where I parked that morning...much less even pulling into the parking lot.
What in the world is going on with my mind these days. One minute all my ducks are in a row..the next all the ponds are frozen! It must have something to do with being over thirty. I do not recall having any of these issues when I was in my twenty's.(unless I was pregnant)
I now must write most things down...unless they are issues I never intend to address again.
I still like dark nail polish and blond highlights. I don't know how I'd ever live without my brown lip liner and lip gloss. Sometimes I do step into the future and have a "french manicure" which I love...but it's very hard to keep up with. I love Facebook and The Twilight books. I've read Breaking Dawn three times! I'm addicted to word challenge...and I'm not very good.
Okay..it's Friday...evidently, I'm letting loose for the weekend...just like most people do. I've heard it called "Fridayitis" Have you ever noticed how incredibly happy people are on Friday? I can usually tell by a person's happiness on Friday...how terrible their Monday's going to be. I'm not saying that to be negative..but it's actually true. I discovered this about five years ago...when I was still in my twenty's...

Calender Companion Quotes for Women...

This Christmas, my Mom got me a desk calender for my office at work. It's a "daily quotes" calender....the kind you rip the pages off everyday. However, the quotes are specifically for women! I've gotta tell ya..some mornings I really laugh out loud at some of them...and other mornings I could easily cry..(but not at work) So, I'm thinking every Wednesday I will post a few of the funny quotes for my blogger friends to enjoy!

What We Do for "Beauty"

Did you know that some women have had their floating ribs removed in order to have smaller waists? They walk among us as we speak.

Volunteering

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." -Anaïs Nin
*We have the courage to make tough decisions. We have the courage to stand up for others.
Do we have the courage to say
"I'm tired"? "I need time off"? "I don't want to do that"?
*******************************************
"NO" I say it all day long without hesitation- both professionally and personally. It appears to come out with such ease…
No, you can’t go.
No, you have to do your homework first...
No you can't go there after school again...
No, we are not buying that...
...even at work...
No, the documents were not correct...No, the policy reads...blah..blah...
Of course the substance of the questions, ultimately determine whether or not our answer will be yes or no. I apparently have one exception to that rule-Volunteering- my weakest link to the word "No". What in the world is wrong with me?? Volunteering is a completely different story for many of us busy moms and dads.... whether it be a charity, kids school or special ministry. Why do we feel it necessary to take on so much? I've been pondering all of my volunteering as the year came to a close and have decided that I think it is going to be okay to say, "No." I find that when I allow myself to "No," then it creates space for the very real and authentic "yeses." I have more energy when I do things from that place, and not one of obligation or guilt. What about you? Will you say No, this year?

Happy New Year…Resolutions…

A year coming to an end. A time for new beginnings. Certainly a good time for reflecting. Looking back at the "old” year that has just come to an end. A time to take a deep breath and exhale …EXHALE... Letting go....putting to past all that we have seen, learned, loved and lived through…until it becomes a memory. Hopes of keeping some old habits in the past year and of course starting some great new ones!!
Closing a chapter. Time for a new book. A New Year of 365 pages to live.
Of course I have my new wall calender for 2009...however it has yet to be placed on the wall...but it will be soon. Our large calender that really belongs on a desk..but it's nice to have the big blocks to write on..and erase....especially if the girls get the urge to write down their plans...(instead of telling me on the way to school the same day they need to bring a snack for the class...or at 10pm the night before)For the most part the girls are quick to fill in their birthdays only---...I've gotten most of January filled with basketball games and orthodontist appointments.... Emily's braces should be coming off this year...and I'm assuming just in time for Maddy to start the whole agonizing process!!
Emily starts High School in the Fall...I should be so lucky...blessed is more like it...she has many goals...she is very determined and works very hard. In my opinion of course, she is the nicest girl her age, I've ever seen or remember for that matter!...So the New Year will be bitter sweet for my little Emmy Kate...She will be closing a chapter of her youth only to start one of the most unforgettable times in her life. I'll be watching her too closely...
Madeline starts Middle School this Fall...she is most like her Daddy...eager for the year to come to an end...ready for something new...start "fresh" so to speak... On the other hand...she seems to of inherited some of the traits I possessed during my middle school days...so I will be watching her too closely as well..
Have you ever noticed how you can pass on all the advice and experience in the world to your children but...in the end..the only thing that really seems to absorb..is to let them learn from their own experiences? Sure we can talk to them until we're blue in the face...but rarely does that work... Personally, I found that listening is the way for me to truly hear what is going on in their never ending complicated adolescent minds. However, keeping my mouth closed...giving my two cents...is a whole different matter!
Happy New Year!!!