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What Women Really Want
2008-08-11 16:43:00
I was listening to the XM radio station Oprah and Friends the other day and Rabbi Shmuley was on telling men what it is that women want. Rabbi Shmuley said that he has encountered many men who come to him because their marriage is falling apart. The men feel that they give and give but that their wives are never satisfied. Rabbi Shmuley says that he can speak both man and woman so he is here to tell the men what women want.Rabbi Shmuley's advice was that women want to be the sun, the center of their man's world. He goes on to say that we are all a bit insecure about our looks. That we grow up being cute and told we are so cute and as we age and lose our beauty we become insecure. We need our man to show us that we are the most important and only thing he needs. I say BULL SHIT. To read or listen to Rabbi Shmuley go here.Here is my list of five things men should know about what a woman wants. I would love it if you would make a list, on your blog or in the comments.I wan...
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First day of Kindergarten
2008-08-07 15:43:00
I am sitting here in my home all by myself, watching Matlock. Can't wait to find out who done it. Yesterday was Lily's first day of kindergarten. Jeff took the rest of the week off from work except that today he had a meeting he couldn't miss. This is the first time I have been alone. So far no one has cried, we are working our way through this period of adjustment the best we can.Lily decided to get a hair cut, long hair has a lot more tangles than short hair.Tuesday morning I spent with Mandy at the DMV renewing her permit. Tuesday afternoon Jeff, Lily and I got to go to the school and meet Lily's teacher. The classroom was amazing, and Lily loved it there. We got a packet of papers to read. We had already gotten the class supply list, brought the supplies to the meet the teacher day, but in the new packet we got on Tuesday the teacher informed us we needed to get Lily a mat to take a nap on. I did not know this ahead of time and did not know how my bus riding daughter was goi...
More About: Parenting , Kindergarten

Christian the Lion
2008-08-05 13:44:00
Have you seen this video on YouTube? It makes me cry every time I see it. I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog.
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What is your Mental Age?
2008-08-05 13:32:00
Do you ever feel like your brain is not quite as agile as it used to be? Check out this fun Japanese test to see what is your mental age.The directions are in Japanese:1. Hit start button2. Wait for the 3...2....13. Click on the circles in order from the smallest number to the largest.Tell me your mental age in the comments.Click Here to Play the Game.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog.
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I need a nap
2008-08-01 13:16:00
Lily got me up at 5:45 A.M. this morning. Which is good, we are on our way to getting up everyday at 6 A.M. for school. Except that, tonight I have to take Mandy to a bookstore for a release party at midnight. That store is 45 minutes from our house. Of course there aren't any bookstores in my little town, drives me crazy.I hope I can get a nap in. Mandy thinks we should do our back to school shopping this evening when Jeff gets home. Dinner, shopping, maybe a movie, and then the book party. At least I know I can stay up for 36 hours before my brain stops working. Like when we moved here from Japan, missed our connection from Atlanta to Mississippi. We drove through the night because we were scheduled to close on our house in the morning. And we thought this was a good idea because of our pets. We wanted them to be able to run around in the big back yard as soon as possible instead of living in a cage at a hotel. That was a fun day.I forgot to mention yesterday that I am...
More About: Daily

Last Week of Summer Vacation
2008-07-31 15:16:00
I am not worried about how Lily will do at Kindergarten. She is very ready. The past six weeks of swim lessons has showed me that she is able to listen, follow directions, get along with others, speak up for herself, etc. I am also looking forward to having some time to myself. I have tons of plans. I think school is going to be a great thing for both of us. Except, I have been having nightmares. I dreamt that Lily got off the bus at school and no one was there. She began to cry. She was scared and alone. I wasn?t there for her and didn?t even know she needed me. Now I can?t seem to sleep anymore. I stay up too late. I don?t sleep when I go to bed. Being overly tired is also making me mean and short tempered. I am having a hard time dealing with everything, even though in my head I am certain there is nothing to worry about.I am supposed to be getting Lily up at 6 A.M. because she gets on the bus at 6:50 A.M. and I want to get her used to getting up at 6 now rather than la...
More About: Daily , Summer , Vacation , Week

Mama Mia
2008-07-28 22:06:00
My night out with the girls started with me arriving at the theater about five minutes before the movie was due to begin. I didn't know any of the other women coming and had no idea what they looked like. As I walked up, in the rain, to the ticket counter I was thinking I should have made a plan of where I would meet up with someone. I bought my ticket and looked around. I didn't see anyone familiar, I didn't see any group of women waiting together. I thought perhaps they would be waiting outside the door to the specific room which was showing Mama Mia.I went in and no one was standing at the door. I entered the theater and I didn't see anyone that I knew and no one waved to me. I looked around for a bit and didn't really know what to do so I found a seat and sat down. A few minutes later a lady I recognized entered. I think she is the general's wife, but I am not sure. I haven't been very active in the spouses group and I don't go to many functions. I know that she...
More About: Daily , Mama Mia

Girlfriend Etiquette
2008-07-26 17:41:00
I have accepted an invitation from someone I do not know in my spouses group to attend the Mama Mia movie tonight. It was an open invitation to the whole group, so I am not sure how many will be going. We will be seeing the movie and then going to dinner. This makes three weekends in a row that I have gone to the movie theater while Jeff stays home with Lily. I am on a roll. Usually I am the one staying home because Jeff and Mandy love movies so much.I am feeling very brave to be meeting up with people I don't know for an outing. I must have gotten a cup full of self esteem from somewhere. Do you have trouble getting up the nerve to go to social functions where you don't know anyone? I think this is one of the things that causes me to have a hard time making friends when we move.I have made a ton of chatting buddies at the pool during Lily's lessons. I wonder if it is dumb if I ask for and hand out my phone number. A couple of the ladies have girls who are starting kind...
More About: Daily , Etiquette , Girlfriend

A little Ditty
2008-07-25 22:16:00
1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse2. Your significant other? Front porch reading a book with his fan!3. Your hair? I just cut my bangs again, I need to bleach it, the ends need a trim, but I love my hair cut, hope the next one turns out good too.4. Your daughter? Older one is napping, but should be getting ready for work. Younger one is watching cartoons.5. Your son? I always wanted a son, but we have decided to quit with two girls.6. Your favorite thing? My new car! And my computer. Not necessarily in that order.7. Your dream last night? I don't remember, I may have been beating people up.8. Your favorite drink? Coffee, with half n half and sugar!9. Your goal? To be kind.10. The room you?re in? Living Room11. Your church? is in my head12. Your fear? Harm happening to my husband or girls.13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here in Mississippi. I hope to be working.14. Where were you last night? Home. We ate a great dinner and watched some Netflix movies: Vantage Point a...
More About: Meme

Fair Skin in Mississippi
2008-07-25 15:08:00
The girls and I all have very fair skin. I have had a lot of sunburns in my life and try very hard not to burn my kids skin. We love to be outdoors and especially we love to swim. Yesterday, we forgot one of the cardinal rules of swimming and Lily and I both got sun burns.This is Lily's first sunburn. I have been doing a good job of keeping her skin safe. Everyday before swim lessons I apply her waterproof sunscreen 30 minutes before she gets in the water. I use SPF 15. When Mandy was a baby the Pediatrician recommended that we always use SPF 15. He said that using a higher number doesn't really offer that much more protection from the sun but does put a lot more chemicals into her blood stream. I only use sunscreen when we are going to be in the direct sun for more than 15 minutes between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. Yesterday, after swim lessons, Lily and I had a picnic lunch and then went back to the pool and swam together for a couple of hours. I forgot to reapply ...
More About: Daily , Skin , Mississippi , Fair

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series
2008-07-24 15:55:00
I have been re-reading Janet Evanovich's series about the character Stephanie Plum . There are fourteen books and I have been reading them one after the other starting at One for the Money. I am currently waiting for Hard Eight to arrive. I have convince Mandy to read them too. She loves them as much as I do and we are having a great time laughing our way through the books.Stephanie is a wonderful character. She is of course the main character of the books and she is torn between loving two men, Ranger and Joe Morelli. I love them both as well. Ranger is perfection. He has the body of a weight lifter and wears expensive all black clothes. He drives expensive cars and never makes mistakes. Everything about him is sexy and smoking hot. Joe is from Stephanie's neighborhood and has a hot Italian temper. They fight and make up, they have known one another their entire lives and seem inevitable. Yet, a part of Stephanie doesn't want to become her mother and marry Joe in a w...
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Southern Fried Musings
2008-07-22 14:34:00
It's not so hot here in the deep south, unless you go outside. Yesterday, we had a ton of errands and seemed to get only far away parking spaces. Living a sheltered life, from air conditioned house to air conditioned car, I had no idea it was hotter than an oven out there. We only have two weeks until school starts. The other day Jeff said something, I wasn't really listening, and it included bla, bla, bla eight years of marriage. I looked at him like he was crazy. Have I really been married eight years, seems like just yesterday. Actually he is exaggerating, it wont be eight years until November. Lily is five and starting kindergarten, Jeff and I have been married for nearly eight years, and our Mandy is just shy of 18. Didn't I just graduate from hight school last week? I really had this out of body moment of wondering where has all the time gone.Jeff asked me the other day if I still needed to have Saturday off. Seeing as I will be off all week while Lily is in scho...
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A World in Which Bad People Do Not Exist
2008-07-18 20:36:00
For those of you keeping track today is Friday and slide day at swim lessons. Last week Lily was disappointed that they only use the slide on every other Friday and was able to coerse her instructors into taking her down the slide. I was wondering if she would be as excited this week about going down the slide now that she really knows what it is like, to fly through the air and go completely under the water. The answer is YES, she was excited, and she loved it even more this time. She was the only one in her level one class who went down the slide on her own, instead of on her instructors lap. She was smiling/ laughing so hard that she got water in her mouth everytime she went down. She didn't swallow or choke, I guess she is learning. I have never seen a kid love swim lessons as much as Lily does.Now for my dilema and request for advice or thoughts. I am worried about the private parts talk. Lily having been cared for only by family thus far, we have never really seen a...
More About: Parenting , People , World , Exist

Shut It Already
2008-07-16 23:32:00
Many years ago in another life it seems I worked at a television station in order to support myself and my Mandy. I started as a secretary and advanced to Traffic Manager before getting married and moving to Italy to be with my dear not Italian husband (not that there is anything wrong with that). He is in the service.I was initially hired because the person who had this position prior to me had been promoted. She was able to spend a week training me. This was my first office job. Prior to this job I had been a dish washer at a pizza joint, a dish washer at Wendy's, a cashier at Payless, a cashier at Pay'N Save and an at home day care provider. I was so excited to be working as a secretary. I was being paid more than double minimum wage, I had health insurance and vacation. I felt like I had really arrived. During my training I discovered that my job was to sit around and gossip all day and answer the phone or type something up if the need arose. I was also to act very pu...
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Congratulations Jeff
2008-06-01 19:16:00
Jeff just found out that he passed his final comprehensive examination with distinction and now he has earned his Master's Degree in Military History of World War II. I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog.
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Would you blog for me?
2008-05-31 00:12:00
I will be on vacation next week anyone want to write a blog post for me while I am away? I can give you an email address, all you would need to do is write an email to that address and it would appear on my blog as a post. The subject of the email would be the title of the post. How cool is that? Anyone interested?I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog.
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Will You Paint My House
2008-05-30 16:40:00
Our home is mostly brick, but the painted bits appear to not have been painted since the house was built. We need to paint our house. First we had to decide if we were going to do it ourselves or if we are planning to hire someone to paint for us. We called every painter in the phone book to get estimates. Only one came out to our house. He is the only one who answered the phone. We left messages for the others and none returned our calls. The one who came out to our house gave us an estimate of $2650 which is about double what we thought. Crap.We tried to call all the other painters again and after two weeks of no one returning our calls we decided to go with the first guy, the one who actually came out to our house and did an estimate. I called him two weeks ago to give him the good news, dude you got the job. He said, I don't know when I will be able to do your house, let me call you back in a day or two to let you know. That is the last I heard from him.I think thi...
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Why did E.T.'s momma leave him all alone?
2008-05-29 14:51:00
A few days ago I tried to talk Lily into watching E.T. with me on the TV. Normally she does not like to watch anything unless it is a happy cartoon, like SpongeBob or Clifford. As the movie began I talked her through what was going on trying to get her interested. The first scene of the movie: E.T.'s mom and dad leave him behind. Followed by Eliot's mom leaving him home alone because he pretended to be sick. That was it for Lily and she decided she would rather go to bed than watch this movie and she promptly asked me to come and kiss her good night.Ever since then Lily has been asking me daily about those two scenes. Dozens of times per day she asks me, "why did E.T.'s mom and dad shut the door of the spaceship and leave him behind?" Or "why did Eliot's mom leave him home all by himself when he was sick?" I have tried to explain that movies are pretend. Funny how an alien from outer space she can believe that, but a mom leaving her kid, that is not realistic at all to...
More About: Daily , Leave , Momma

Garbledy Goo
2008-05-28 13:22:00
Monday was my 39th birthday. I had a really great day. My family conspired together to treat me like a princess. They went all out, it was very sweet.Lily made me a card. She used construction paper, scissors, and glue to make me a collage type card. Not only did she present the card to me first thing when I awoke after a lovely sleep in, she kept presenting it to me all day long. She would say, it is time for me to give you your card. She would go and find the card and present it to me. I would make a huge deal about the card and she was satisfied. She is learning how to get the attention she needs in positive ways. I am learning how to withdraw attention for negative behavior and lavish it for great behavior. She will make me go see her room 20 times when she has cleaned it. Each time I make a huge deal and we are both happy. I am thinking back to this time last year and all the behavior problems. While she is still not a peaceful child she is much better.This mornin...
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Someone Smack That Bully
2008-05-25 16:36:00
Yesterday at work, a customer was very rude to Mandy. Mandy is seventeen and works as a cashier at a local grocery store. She was working away and between customers she turned to ask her manager a question. Her manager was in the middle of something so Mandy paused for the merest of moments to try and get her manager's attention and the next customer in line became irate.He started to scream at her. He leaned over the counter and got into her face to tell her how rude she is. As she checked him out he became louder and meaner, telling her what an awful rude person she is. He paid and told her he was going to find her manager and tell everyone how rude she is. He walked screamed to everyone in the store how rude Mandy is. And then he left. The entire time the floor manager never came over to help Mandy or the customer. I hate this grocery store.Mandy was in shock at first but after two more customers she started to cry and had to ask her manager to allow her to go to the b...
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Last Day of 11th Grade
2008-05-24 19:13:00
Yesterday was Mandy's last day of the 11th grade. She only had one final exam left and was done with school a little before 10AM. Lily and I picked her up and swooped her off to a fun filled day. The three girls in the family off on an adventure.We started at the bookstore. For some reason there are no bookstores in my immediate area, I have to drive about 45 minutes to find one. But, in the area of the bookstore is a lot of other cool things. We ended up seeing one of Lily's friends at the bookstore. We three had such a fun time, they have a little kids area with a train, yeah. After the bookstore we went across the street to a Chick Fillet. I have never eaten there before, they also had a kids play area. Mandy and I brought our books and after eating we read while Lily played. Lily wouldn't eat the chicken. I was wise enough to get her fruit instead of waffle fries? and so she ate some of that. Mandy having a mouth full of braces enjoyed the chicken nuggets and small cut up pie...
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Indiana Jones
2008-05-23 15:13:00
We went and saw the latest Indiana Jones movie last night, it was fantastic. Jeff and I had a date night. It is so nice to sometimes spend time with him just the two of us. The movie theater is near his work. I drove to his work with a change of clothes. We drove to the theater together in his car. When he took me back to my car and we drove home it was difficult not to have a bit of a drag race. But, I fell back and let him lead. Still it would have been fun to smoke him. I liked the movie very much. A great date movie. I can't help but wonder if the younger generation will like it also? It was very much geared toward me and my generation. I guess we will see. Be sure to see it in the theater, you won't be sorry.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog.
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I taught Lily to read
2008-05-21 19:01:00
Lily learned her letters back when she was two. She has always been interested in letters and numbers and figuring things out. Playing with flashcards and reading books are two of her favorite things. After she learned all her letters, she could recognize upper and lower case we moved on to learning a word or two that started with each letter. We used flash cards that have a picture on one side and a letter on the other side. We read books about the alphabet that show words that start with different letters. When Mandy was growing up Dr. Seuss's ABCs was one of her favorite books, Lily not so much. She prefers those search books where you have to look for all the things that start with each letter. One day Lily decided we were going to go through the alphabet and say something that started with each letter. We started with a, a is for apple. Then we moved on to b, a is for apple - b is for banana. All the way through the entire alphabet. This was before she turned four. ...
More About: Parenting , Read , Lily

My Degree Path
2008-05-21 15:25:00
I have decided to continue on my current path. Meaning I am going to continue to pursue my degree in Computer and Information Science at the University of Maryland University College. I spent Monday applying for a federal grant. It took me all day. Lily was not allowed to watch cartoons due to bad behavior the previous week, so trying to spend a day on the computer was a nightmare. I finally got it all done, only to be told, no money for you. But, if you want to be a teacher we will give you oodles of money.I thought maybe that was a sign and I really do want to be a teacher. I can imagine myself as a teacher. So I looked into transferring to a local school, majoring in math licensure, which is the correct path to being a teacher in Mississippi. Turns out I would have three years of school, instead of one, left to complete that degree. That is three years going a little more than full time. I basically had only a few classes that I have taken that could be applied toward t...
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Garage Sale Fun
2008-05-18 15:45:00
We have been enjoying all of the lovely spring garage sales. It is a lovely way to spend the weekend. First you get up early and go out and find a lot of cool stuff to buy. Then you spend the rest of the weekend trying to find a way to incorporate these things into your home. I have rearranged all my rooms and cupboards and I feel like I have a whole new house. All for about a $100 over the course of two weekends. We got two new book cases last weekend. One is gorgeous, taller than me, dark wood, crown molding on the top, looks gorgeous in my living room. I had to rearrange all the furniture several times to find a way to make it work. Now it is sitting in a corner with nothing on the shelves. Big and empty, I am thinking it is very zen, a big empty bookcase.  Yesterday was the motherload of garage sales. We bought things at six different garage sales. We seriously spent hours driving around following signs and even getting tips from other garage salers. I end...
More About: Garage , Daily , Sale

Advice Requested
2008-05-14 16:41:00
I am trying to make a difficult decision. Perhaps you would like to weigh in with your infinite wisdom. . .Having been a stay at home mom for the past few years we have to watch our money, not like when I was a single mom but still. There are so many things I would love to have. Like a pool, minivan, trip to Lake Tahoe. In August Lily is starting school and I am trying to figure out what I will do with my free time.Option one: I change my major and become a math teacher. There is a local college very close to my house, reasonable rates that offers a degree to become a high school or junior high school math teacher. This has really always been my dream. As a child I always thought I would become a math teacher. I often tutor in math and have had success and enjoyed it very much. There is a real need for math teachers and schools located near my home. However, the pay in Mississippi for teachers is under 30 K per year to start and after 30 years experience the max one can ea...
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Spring Cleaning Away the Blues
2008-05-08 15:28:00
We have been having an annoying week. Little things that ad up to be big things. Things like forgetting to take the garbage can to the curb, or waiting at the rental house for a plumber and Lily getting infested by a thousand fleas, or dropping big messy things all over the kitchen, or catching a cold, washing all mine and Lily's new cute summer clothes with a crayon, etc. It was all getting to be a bit of a pull my hair out frustration.Yesterday, I decided to redo my bedroom. It took me all day, with all the heavy scooting of furniture and dusting and vacuuming. Nothing like having a head cold and inducing an allergy attach by stirring up all the dust behind the furniture and in all the books. I think all the nose running was probably helpful. I had run out of allergy medicine and didn't have any cold medicine and was not feeling up to leaving the house. So instead of taking medicine and resting I cleaned out all the dust bunnies from my room.I was pretty exhausted at the end of ...
More About: Daily , Blues , Cleaning , Spring

A New Bed
2008-05-04 17:59:00
Lily is nearly five and we finally moved her into a twin bed. I bought her a crib that converts into a toddler bed and then into a double bed when she was born. I converted it into a toddler bed and she has been sleeping in that for a couple of years now. But, the toddler bed is the same size as a crib, just missing one side and lower to the ground for easy access. Lily got too big. She hates change so much that we put the move off as long as we could. Lately she has been sleeping on the floor more than in her toddler bed so I thought it might be time for the move. We talked about it for a week. We made a date to change the bed. At first she was very upset but settled into the idea over the course of the week. The day before the big day we bought a new bedding set, Lily told me she wanted rainbow and we found a beautiful set with multicolored pinstripes. Lily loved it. The colors also look nice with her purple walls. Most of the time when I let Lily pick something it doe...
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What is Wrong with Foster Care in America
2008-04-30 16:20:00
My biological mother is mentally handicapped and it was determined that she not able to provide for herself and therefore received/ receives social security checks. Her parents were planning to keep her at home with them throughout her life. But, she got pregnant with my older brother.My grandparents chose to buy her and her now husband a home, furnish the home etc, so they could raise their baby. The baby was born into the toilet because my mother did not know she was in labor. So begun her journey into motherhood. Three and a half years later I was born, in a bed, she still didn?t get the concept of going to the hospital but at least this time she stayed in the bed. My brother was taken away from my parents when he was five after a few weeks of kindergarten the neglect was so apparent that the state intervened. They left the baby, me, because there wasn?t proof of neglect. My parents chose to sell the house and move into a two bedroom apartment. They rented out my bedroom ...
More About: America , Parenting , Care , Wrong , Foster Care

Thanks for hearing me dear
2008-04-28 15:39:00
Yesterday, Jeff took care of Lily for me all day long. It was a nice break for me. She has been very diffiucult since I registered her for Kindergarten. Lily is not a person who enjoys change and the anticipation of this change is causing her to act horribly. The entire week was filled with screaming crying fits. Sunday was no different, she was horrid to her dad all day. He was so furious. My sweet husband almost never loses his cool but yesterday he was more frustrated than I have ever seen him. I couldn't help but think, yeah. I am so glad that he gets what I am going through on a daily basis. When he comes home from work and asks how was your day, now he understands when I tell him it was a bad, very bad day. That is all that matters, that I feel understood. Now I am back in the trenches getting Lily through this difficult time. My theory is patience, routine, firm boundaries, and so much fun she forgets to be bad. It is a lot easier for me to go through the daily g...
More About: Parenting , Hearing