Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The "Race" May Be In The Past, But The Point Is Timeless

I realize the elections are past, but I found this and just had to share. It speaks for itself.



Sunday, March 29, 2009

I Don't Understand The Workings of A Boy Brain

Just a little background before the story. I am an ONLY child. My mother's side had predominately girls. When a boy happened to come, we all acted like ...what do I do with this? There are 7 1st cousin girls, and 3 boys. On my father's side, any boy was much younger or much older, so there was very little interaction.

OK, so God decided to bless me with 2 boys and 1 girl. When my first son came, I was terrified. The first thing that terrified me was the "plumbing"! Especially after circumcision. Praise the Lord my mom was here then, not that she knew a whole lot, but together, we got through that stage. He was also my first child to be breast fed. WHOLE new world there, too.

He was sweet and loving but had a horrible temper. Still does. But all this is beside the point. I am here to discuss the "workings of a boy brain".
Last night, my baby boy was drinking from his milk cup in my bed. I figured he would just go to sleep. Of course not...what a silly thought. He ends up stepping on the cup, popping the top off, and the milk streamed down to where I was sitting. I h
ave no clue this has happened until I felt COLD wet on my thigh. That is when I realized and I started yelling for my eldest son to come and help. I tell him to get a towel. My obedient boy runs to the bathroom and brings me back the towel his sister dried off with when she showered an hour ago. It is still damp. I tell him I can not sop up wet with a wet towel. So, I am expecting to get a dry towel. He comes back with a wetter towel. I am starting to lose it a bit as the milk is all over me and seeping into my MEMORY FOAM mattress top. I say, again , I don't need a wet towel. He comes back a third time with a dripping wet towel!!! AGHHHHH!
OK, mom's you know there comes moments in your parenting career when you kinda "lose" it. When you "blow your stack". This was my moment. I just could NOT understand why he would continually bring me a wet towel to soak up something wet.

I ask him, "When you clean up a pee spot from the puppy, you put a paper towel or napkin on it. Do you ever wet these before you try to clean it up?" He agreed that you didn't. But gave me NO explanation to why he kept bringing me wet towels. I needed one.
It was like he zoned in on the word "wet" and kept taking it out of context and thought that I was asking for a wet towel instead of me telling him not to bring me a wet towel. Lazy thinking? I just don't know. At some point, I thought that "common sense" would prevail...yes I know silly me.
I am hoping that I am going "get" the "workings of a boy brain"
because I have another one coming up the ranks. My daughter leaves me in 4 years and I will be left with these "boy brains"! Do they have a "Dummies" book for this?




Wednesday, March 25, 2009

April Fool's Day Share-a -Prank Program

There are not many days left to pull an awesome prank on someone you love. April Fool's day is one of the more "fun" holidays cause ya get to do "something" to "someone" and you don't get in trouble cause it is "April Fool's Day!" Ya got to love it, don't ya?!

If you have not read my post Pulling A Prank On Your Child - Evil or Genius? please do so. It will give a glimpse into my adoration for a great prank. But sadly, I am running out. I am NOT empty, just running out. I need YOU! And, I think we could help each other and many other people who suffer from "cannothinkofanyprank-tosis"

Please share some great pranks that we can pull on other non-suspecting people. I will be posting after April Fool's Day to see how you all did.

Here are a few of the ones I have in "storage".

Oreo cookies swap-er-roo! Get a package of Oreo or Oreo like cookies. Anything with a "white" filling. Scrape out the filling and replace it with.....? 1. cream cheese
2. sour cream
3. toothpaste
4. lotion

Lemony Mouthwash! Take either a fresh lemon or lemon juice and squirt it in the bottle of mouthwash. (make sure you have another bottle to replace or split it up between bottles.)

Cool Whip Wake Up! Make sure you cool whip is room temp or you will wake them up before you want to. Take some and place it some in their hands and either tickle their nose, or wake them up..and voila! Cool Whip Wake Up!

Switching things are always fun....think of some you can do....regular Listerine/apple juice
salt/sugar, cola/root beer, sprite/seltzer water. The possibilities are endless!

So, please share yours, take mine, and let's have some fun April 1st. Don't forget, to keep track of what you did so you can share afterwards!


BA HA HA HA!
(my evil laugh)
Long Live April Fool's Day!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Facebook - The Worst Thing I could do?

"Hi, my name's Tonya"
"HI! TONYA"
"I'm a Facebook addict. I have been using for only 3 months now. I spread my addiction to others via Flairs, sending "What 80's Song are You" quizzes, and Super Poke Pet, Farm Town, myFarm, and Pet Society invitations. I also slip them some 'Smiles', 'Hugs', and 'Upstate NY Gifts'. I can't stop. I have even gotten my children involved so I can earn more money on my Poke Pet game!"




Do you or any one you know have these problems? GOOD! I am not the only one.
I have set up Facebook accounts for both of my kids. My daughter first because she found one of her homeschool friends were on there. It was a great way to chat because they rarely see each other. She immediately got into all the virtual pet applications and then went into "farming". Being that she loves farms and animals..she is in heaven.

My son just recently joined. He is the "flair" giver. I love it because the flairs he sends to people show his personality in a way I don't get to see. He is choosing on his OWN what to send. I find it so funny. He, of course, loves the pet and farming, as well. The only difference is that he keeps wanting to interact with everyone! If he sees a "friend" on, he is "chatting" with them in a second. He even does it to me and we are sitting across the room!

I really debated getting them on Facebook. But, after being on it myself, I see all the control I can have with it to give them a safe environment. I can control who sees them, which the most important part to me. We are sitting in the same room, so I can see what they are doing at all times. I have not come across an application I thought was bad. I am sure they are there..but we aren't looking for them nor do the people we are "friends" with. They always ask me "who is so and so..and can I be friends with them." There are some flair that are questionable, or don't fall in line with our beliefs. I kinda look at that like going to Wal-Mart or a mall. There are shirts there that say things I don't like, but we still "see" them. As long as we don't buy them and wear them is the important thing.

All in all it has been a very positive experience. They are having conversations, on their own, with relatives who live across country that they would never get to talk to. They get to share their beliefs and life choices through different things they show on their profile. I am encouraged by the way they are handling themselves and interacting with others.

The only downside is that they are now kicking ME off my laptop so they can get on Facebook! I need another computer!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Legislative Day - Lesson's Learned

Today was a very special day for two reasons. One, it was my dear friend's birthday.."Shout out to Adirondack Trina!" Two, it was Legislative Day. My daughter..."Shout out to Today, Shelby Says!", my friend, and I went to our state's capital for Legislative Day. For those of you who do not know what Legislative Day is, it is a day that I get to go and listen to speakers, senators, and assembly persons who believe in the same things I do: Jesus is the ONLY way, Pro-Life, Marriage between a man and a woman, etc. I guess you would call it Republican Conservatism's...but there were Democratic Senators there also, believing in the same thing.

I wanted to share a couple of things I learned today because I am hoping that they will inspire you the way they inspired me.
1. Politics and Faith - Many people want the representatives to keep their faith out of their politics. One speaker said today that their faith was their "Moral Compass" and what could be better than a belief in Jesus Christ and in God's Word (which USED to be THE "moral compass" of our founding fathers) to be his "moral compass"? I agree. I am a mom and I see the morality of our world going down, down, down. I want a representative who has morals, and what would be better than having God's morals!

2. We need to be PRAYING! How much time do you take to pray for your senators, assembly persons, governor, president, or our nation? How "bad" does it have to get until you do? One example a speaker gave was : When you have had your children taken away from you because you have been found to be" abusive parents" because you shared the gospel with them...will that be "bad" enough to pray?" ( paraphrasing) Boy did that get me thinking. Many Christians are just "sitting on their hands" instead of being prayer warriors and being BOLD! I don't mean bold as in "in your face", I mean bold as in not being afraid to share their view, opinion, or feelings on issues. So I ask my self..along with you...How "bad" does it have to get to be praying daily for people in office and our nation?

3. All life is precious. I have always believed this, but today....oh my. The key note speaker was the defense attorney for Terri Shiavo. Do you remember her? Do you remember how the COURT ruled to kill her by a slow, painful death of starvation? Not many people were there in the last days and hours of Terri's life, but he was. He explained how there was a POLICE OFFICER in Terri's hospice room with STRICT orders from the courts to arrest Terri's mom if she gave her ice chips...she couldn't even wipe her daughter's brow. I can NOT imagine watching my child go through this, and having some COURT rule to KILL her in front of my eyes, and be helpless to stop it. By the way, in case you didn't know, the judge that ruled to have her put to death, NEVER stepped ONE foot into her hospice room to meet her, see her, talk with her. If you were going to make this landmark ruling, don't you think you would have done that? I will be honest and tell you I had to leave the room. I could NOT take the details of her final hours. I was already so emotional, empathizing with Terri's mother. I just couldn't listen to anymore. I stepped out until he was finished those details.

There was another speaker, a college student who went around the country posing as a 13 year-old pregnant girl. She would go into planned parenthood and explain to them that she was pregnant by her "31 year-old-boyfriend". Law requires you report this to the police as it is rape. She is rigged up with a hidden microphone and camera. We watched as the nurse told her to LIE about her age and LIE about the age of the "boyfriend" so she wouldn't have to report it. Of course, Planned Parenthood fired these people and covered it up as quickly as possible. Kudos to her for exposing this #1 Abortion Providing Clinic in our country. Life...it is too precious. I believe life starts at conception....THE END!

I walked away from my state's capitol feeling renewed, educated, apprehensive, and sad. I am renewed in my commitment to my prayer life. Prayer is a powerful tool and God is just waiting to hear from me. I need to cry out to Him and pray for our nation, the unborn, and the "moral compasses" of our leaders. I was certainly educated on the STUPID bills that are trying to be passed in our congress , what they entail, and how I can let my representative know that I DO NOT want them. I am apprehensive of our future. Many, many things have changed with this past presidential election. I am apprehensive of his "moral compass". Many pro-life bans will be overturned. How long will God keep His wrath from us? I am saddened for all those lives lost. I am saddened for the girl that is scared and doesn't know where to turn because she is pregnant and terminates the life of her child. I am saddened for Terri Shiavo's family and all those that have been "murdered" in the same way.

I realize that this post is a bit heavy for my usual light heartiness. But I must be BOLD and I encourage you to be BOLD, too!

P.S. both Adirondack Trina and Today, Shelby Says wrote about Legislative Day, too. Check out their experiences.

Friday, March 13, 2009

St. Baldrick's 2009-March 21st

I know what you are thinking, "St. Baldrick's 2009?" St. Baldrick's Foundation is a wonderful foundation that raises money for children's cancer research. Their slogan is: "Shaving the way to conquer kid's cancer!" This is a legitimate foundation whose mission is to "raise awareness and funds to cure kid's cancer by supporting cancer research and fellowship." Now before you stop reading...please rethink it. Take a look at what a fellow blogger is doing:

sbbutton

Jay, from the blog Halftime Lessons is a part of this wonderful "shaving" on March 21st. He is trying to raise money for this awesome cause. No cancer is "good", but when an innocent child get's cancer and their life is cut so short by this horrible disease, it is the "worst" cancer. I wanted to share an excerpt from this blog about last year's fund raiser:

" Last year as we all gathered to shave our heads in empathy outside the medical center, our organizer motioned for us all to look up at the windows where the children on the oncology ward were standing and waving at us...one female doctor from the hospital was so moved by what was going on outside that she came out, walked to the front of the line, and asked us to shave every bit of the beautiful long auburn hair running down the length of her back. People cried, and laughed, and cheered, and gave everything they could to help try to stop one more child from having to go through a terrible ordeal.

This will be the second year I do this...last year I personally raised over $1600, and our venue, one of hundreds, raised over $60,000. And yes, today I am here to ask your help." ( to read the complete post, click "Last year")

Now, if all that isn't wonderful enough, Halftime Lessons is having a contest! For every $5 (and seriously, what is $5!) you donate, your name will be put in a drawing. Grand prize #1 is YOUR blog name written on his head! A button made of that photo and linked to your blog and displayed on THEIR blog for 3 months! So really good advertising there! There are many , many prizes from a custom, handmade necklace, to $20 in scratch offs, to St. Baldrick's T-shirts.

Please remember it is for not only a good cause...but an AWESOME cause. There aren't many days left. Please go support Jay and the "kids".

(picture taken from St. Baldrick's Foundation website)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Jelly Belly jelly beans & $10,000 Contest

Jelly Belly Shop
Just wanted to give a "Heads UP" to all the Jelly Belly jelly bean fans...new and old! They have some new flavors and a $10,000 Contest! Go check out the post at my site Our Alphabet Soup for the details. Sweet tooth...you will be satisfied!

Monday, March 9, 2009

What is your Theme Song?

I was over at NightOwl Mama's place. She had a post "What's Your Theme Song?" I loved the idea. So, I am bringing it over to share with you all.

My theme song is by Mercy Me, "Keep Singing" I have had a rough couple of years with my mom having to be taken away from our home and put into a "Respiratory Rehabilitation Center". I was pregnant for my third child during all of the beginning of this. I am an only child and she and I are very close. Life still had to go on. And If I am very honest, I will tell you how lost I feel without her. I still visit her once a week. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive one way, but it is so worth it. Without God, I would be so much worse. I know He has carried me often.

I thought Bart Millard, the writer of this song and lead singer for Mercy Me, had snuck into my head.
Truth is some days being a mom, wife, daughter, teacher, cook, maid and referee can get overwhelming....but you got to keep singing.

I tried to put the video in my comment to NightOwl Mama's post, but it won't let me. If you leave a comment, and share your theme song, and put the link to your song, I will put your video on this post with your name attached to it.
Thanks again to NightOwl Mama for a great idea! I can't wait to see all your songs!

Tonya's Theme Song- "Keep Singing" by Mercy Me





Shelby's Theme Song- "Set The World On Fire" by Nicole Brit




Brenda's Theme Song- "Unwell" by Matchbox Twenty




NightOwlMama's Theme Song- "Baby, You're My Destiny by Jim Brickman and Christina Aguilera




Trina's Theme Song-"I Know Who Holds Tomorrow" by George Younce and Larry Ford




Roger's Theme Song- "If Tomorrow Never Comes" by Garth Brooks

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Ultrasound "Water Torture Test"

I had to go have an ultrasound done today. I am experiencing some unusual pain and I am sure they are checking for any cysts and such. My appointment was for 2 pm. The "directions" tell you to drink 32 fluid ounces an hour before your appointment. OK. So here is out how it went for me.

I drank my 32 fl.oz actually on the way to the appointment. I sign in and sit. I am pretty impressed with myself because I am 10 minutes early. I want a band to parade by , balloons and confetti. This is a miracle. So I sit. And I sit. At about 2:15, I am feeling quite "full". Not only do I feel like I have to go #1, I also am getting twinges of #2. I am in sooooo much trouble.

I go up to the window around 2:20 and try to whisper to the "lady behind the glass window" so the two people that just HAD to sit by this window would not hear. I explain my situation and ask if they are running behind. Stupid question because of course they are! OK then, "lady behind the glass window", what am I suppose to do? Not taking this ultrasound is out of the question. They go and ask "someone behind another set of glass windows". While I am waiting, I say, "They should use this" ultrasound water torture" on terrorists." Everyone in the little room agreed and shared how they "couldn't be able to hold it if it was them". Real encouraging.

After a few moments, a tech comes over and tells me to just let "a little" out. I laugh and say..are you kidding? When the "raging river" starts to flow, I am not sure I have a "Dam" strong enough to stop it. I thank them and sit back down. Yeah, that made it better! PRAISE THE LORD no one was there drinking some water or slurping on a soda...I may have fainted.

I can no longer take it. Sweat is starting to form on my brow. I tell my daughter that I am going to try the "little bit " approach. The tech's exact words were "just count to 20 and then stop." So as I am walking to the restroom, I am thinking, OK...how fast do I count? What if I count to slow? What if I count to fast? At this point the pressure and pain is so bad, I am wondering if I can even remember how to count to 20. My next dilemma is how I am going to do "one " and not the "other". All this worry is too much.

I reach the rest room and am concentrating on "everything" and I did it! I counted to 20, I only did "one" and I felt relief. God is so merciful! I am praising Him and being so happy that I got through this and just knew they were going to call me as soon as I sat back down in the waiting room.

Ten minutes goes by and I am off to the restroom for another "little bit". Praising God on the way out. Ten minutes later, repeated. I sit back down and then they finally call my name. I think I scared everyone with how loudly, joyously, and quickly I said "I'm here!"

Finally I get in the dark room and lay down...with my knees up. It hurts too much to put my legs straight because, guess what? My bladder is full to the "rim" again. She tells me I have to put them down and I proceed to administer a death grip on the sides of the "bed". Then she starts pressing. As she is doing this, she gives me even more great news. They are going to have to do an "internal ultrasound", too. Oh yeah!

The pain was so bad, and she was being as gentle as she could, but I broke and was literally crying. Finally, she told me that she was done and I could go empty my bladder. EUPHORIA!!!
We proceed with the "internal ultrasound" and she tells me, "Your bladder is still so full I can't see anything." OK, I just left the bathroom 10 seconds ago. Do I have the fastest filling bladder on the East Coast? Do I need to inform Guinness Book of World Records and get published? She takes pictures of what she can and then tells me to empty again.
EUPHORIA!!
I come back out and she says the same thing..."too full". She again does her best and informs me that we will try this one more time.
EUPHORIA!!
Hop back up on the "bed" and she could see! Two minutes into taking the pictures she has been waiting for, she tells me she has to hurry because my bladder is filling up again. Oh my word!
Why can't I be this productive with house work? In the end, guess what she finds?
She finds nothing...no cysts...or tumors on anything.(PTL!) She told me I was going to have my period very soon though. I am surprised she didn't tell me that my bladder grew to the size of an elephant's head!
She told me that I did not qualify for Guinness Book of World Records...but I am still going to check it out!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Praying With Your Kids!

Please indulge me! I will set up a video of the day widget...but till then....enjoy this.
I seriously had to watch it 3 times cause I was laughing so hard I couldn't see the screen, only hear it. My kids said they never saw me laugh so hard. I almost wet my pants!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

St. Patty's Day is Coming Soon!


Shop Irish - Jewelry


St. Patrick's Day is coming soon and maybe you are struggling with finding a gift. Shop Irish.com has awesome products. I am sure you could find what you are looking for here!

I love St. Patrick's Day for two reasons: I am Irish! I LOVE emerald green. I have a Super Poke Pet on Face Book...can I get a "YEA, FOR POK
E PETS!!" They have St. Patrick's Day items. I have an EMERALD ROOM! My dream room! I hope my St. Patrick's Piggie will take you there.


Here are some of the products from ShopIrish.Com.




Green Sequined Baseball Hat


Women's Personalized Grandma etc Claddagh Design Sweatshirt


Baby Irish Diva Onesie


Irish Scream Hot Sauce


Shamrock Bouquet Stained Glass Window


Only for Leprechauns Figurine