Always Remembering
Today is October 15th,Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
Light a candle at 7pm, tonight and join us all in remembrance of those gone too soon.
Stop by Band Back Together’s Wall Of Remembrance and show some love and support for those who have lost.
Challenged. Things I LOVE about ME.
I like lists. Lists keep me sane. I am actually very happy going through life “flying by the seat of my pants” yet I still love lists. I make them about everything. Carry them around for years. Lists are my form in chaos. Lists are my light in the dark of night.
I don’t like me (all the time). Sometimes I am okay with me. Some days I feel good about myself. 2011 has been a year of discovery for me. A year of new discoveries, buried thoughts, and uncharted territories.
For all the reasons that C.Mom talks about here, I am challenged to complete this list. But I think it is something I need. Maybe everyone needs to do. As difficult as it seems, I am going to take a shot at the hardest list I have ever written. I hope it is a discovery of monumental proportions. I hope I believe it at the end of the next bad day. I hope it is true.
- I
wasam a great mom. Not just good. But truly great. The greatest mom I could be. - I am fun to be around. Not always funny, but sometimes witty and always sarcastic.
- “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” is something I truly believe in and practice. Simple but true.
- I am compassionate.
- I am creative.
- I am pretty intelligent for someone who never finished college.
- My glass is ALWAYS half full.
- I am comfortable mentally in my body (although not physically)
- I can find the silver lining in the most horrible situation.
- I am emotionally strong and a rock for my family (and no, Lord, that does not mean you can add more burden~acceptance isn’t a sign of needing more)
- I am loving
- I am faithful to those I love and will protect them to any extreme
- I am driven
- I thrive when challenged
- The color of my eyes
- My faith is strong
- I believe in people
- I believe in YOU….let’s storm the internet with things we love about ourselves…Join Ciao Mom and The Empress and love YOURSELF
So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness
As I keep saying, I have a bunch of stuff to post about. But then I never get to it. So I have decided to just throw a bunch of it into one post with bullets. So be it.
- I am going to be a Grandma again. Nannygoat is pregnant with her third. Due in September. A bit of a scare at the beginning, which I may or may not ever get around to posting about. In the meanwhile, it looks good now and we shall continue to perform the Snoopy Happy Dance.
- I am getting a horse. I wasn’t going to write about it until he got here, but then it kept getting delayed and people took my money to transport him and then didn’t do it. Bottom line, an extremely wonderful and giving woman whom I met online (!go figure!) gave me a horse. Like as in gifted to me. A new transporter (who has more of my money, lol) is picking him up this Monday. He should be here by Saturday (the 26th) and there is all kinds of THRILLING EXCITEMENT in my heart.
- I have health insurance. And tomorrow I am going to start using it to it’s fullest extent. There is some weird, not-normal stuff going on in my gut that is driving me insane and I can’t seem to function much after 2-3 in the afternoon. I mean serious exhaustion. Commence medical mystery solving at 9am tomorrow.
- RolyPoly is starting to walk. I am still stymied as to how how he grew this fast.
- It is almost March and I still want to post about Christmas and our post-Christmas trip to a cabin with snow. Maybe this year.
- I am dog-sitting Ladybug’s dog again while they make their annual trek to visit Utah. So far I have managed not to paralyze him this time; however, he randomly started pooping while he walks. He doesn’t seem to know he is doing it. Sigh.
- I am was learning to quilt. I want to finish it. And post about it. And share photos. I was going great and then…well see the medical mystery bullet above.
- Oh and there is the awesome post about our Valentine’s Day cruise to share. If only it would write itself.
- The more I bullets I create, the more I realize how much is missing from this journal of mine and I get really depressed that I didn’t share it immediately so as not to lose some of the thoughts and memories that I want to have memorialized here for myself.
- I better quit with the bullets now. Happy Friday.
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one
According to Feeding America, approximately 5.7 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the organization in any given week.
It was only a short time ago that I spent long, sleepless nights wondering where my next meal would come from. Not long ago that I depended upon the generosity and kindness of others when I was hungry. I will never forget that time and time cannot diminish the deep appreciation I have for the people who showed me a helping hand in my time of need.
I have pledged since that time, to help whenever and where ever I can. Just by participating in this program, $10 was donated to Feeding America on my behalf. I have the button up on the side of my blog, so anyone, anytime can click to learn more or help out. I have purchased boxes of food from my local Share program to give to those who need a helping hand. And I will share my voice here, when I can.
To raise awareness about the national issue of hunger, Hamburger Helper® has partnered with GRAMMY® Award-winning 
singer, songwriter and actor Tim McGraw to help Feeding America deliver millions of meals to local food banks through the Show Your Helping Hand™ campaign. Click here to view the PSA.
I’d like to invite you all to support the campaign by submitting codes from specially marked boxes of Hamburger Helper at www.showyourhelpinghand.com or by logging on to make a donation. Don’t think one code will make a difference? The 17 cents Hamburger Helper donates per code is enough for Feeding America to deliver one meal to a local food bank.
Share your voice and lend a helping hand in the fight against hunger and you could win a prize pack that includes a box of Hamburger Helper skillet meals, a Hamburger Helper foam “Helping Hand” and a copy of Tim McGraw’s Southern Voice CD.
To enter, leave a comment telling me how you can spread the news and share this campaign with others. For an extra entry, tweet “Show your Helping Hand for a chance to win Tim McGraw’s new CD http://bit.ly/flmw7d” and leave a separate comment with the tweet link. For two extra entries, grab the Feeding America button from the side of my blog (with the link) and place it on your blog, leaving me a separate comment with a link to your blog.
EDIT: Contest ends Wednesday January 5th December 29th (extended due to lack of entries), midnight PST. Prize pack and information were provided to me by Hamburger Helper through MyBlogSpark.
and the winner is….Erinn. Congratulations!
As we gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing
Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness,
universal to all ages and all faiths.
At whatever straws we must grasp,
there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings. ~ J. Robert Moskin
I am more thankful than I could ever express in words. I can only begin to touch the edge of it here.
I am thankful for my children, my husband and my family. For babies and toddlers and teens. For the tears and laughter that remind me I am alive. For the grace to carry on. For the faith that lifts me up. For kindness given and received. For hugs and toothless smiles. For cats and dogs, flowers and trees, sunrises and sunsets.
Today, I am thankful for another day to celebrate life and love with the ones I care the most about.
Have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving.
Me and My Miracle: BFFs 4ever!
~ The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him. ~ Pablo Casals
Ladybug’s first ever parent teacher conference was today. She is doing very well in her special class and exceptional in reading. I am amazed 
daily by the accomplishments of this beautiful child. She has come so far since that day after she was born. She is my fighter, my power house, my faith and one of the best things in my life. A pint-sized miracle. Since the day they told us she would die, from the moment they said to let her go–that there was too much brain damage; she has amazed the world and surprised every one. The teacher shared an assignment Ladybug did. The kid had to write a story. Any story about any thing they wanted. They were trying to gauge how the children put together sentences, since they haven’t done much of that in kindergarten so far. I’ve never seen her write sentences, only her name and letters. The teacher showed Nanny the story. It said:
“I love my grandma. She is my best friend.”
And it had a drawing of she and I in zebra pajamas.
I love you too, baby. More than you even know yet.
Does any one know where I can get zebra pajamas?
Only Happy Tears
This song is just so beautiful…when Dolly’s voice joins in on the chorus if give me goose bumps. The lyrics are so uplifting and lovely, I shared them below the video. Happy Sunday.
When I get where I’m going
on the far side of the sky.
The first thing that I’m gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly.
I’m gonna land beside a lion,
and run my fingers through his mane.
Or I might find out what it’s like
To ride a drop of rain
Yeah when I get where I’m going,
there’ll be only happy tears.
I will shed the sins and struggles,
I have carried all these years.
And I’ll leave my heart wide open,
I will love and have no fear.
Yeah when I get where I’m going,
Don’t cry for me down here.
I’m gonna walk with my grandaddy,
and he’ll match me step for step,
and I’ll tell him how I missed him,
every minute since he left.
Then I’ll hug his neck.
So much pain and so much darkness,
in this world we stumble through.
All these questions, I can’t answer,
so much work to do.
But when I get where I’m going,
and I see my Maker’s face.
I’ll stand forever in the light,
of His amazing grace.
Yeah when I get where I’m going,
Yeah when I get where I’m going,
there’ll be only happy tears.
Hallelujah!
I will love and have no fear.
When I get where I’m going.
Yeah when I get where I’m going.
Look Underneath The Breast, To The Heart
Being born into the female club, is an honor and joy, but can also be a burden. Sure we can have kids and men can’t, but 
we can also get certain cancers men can’t. So today I wanted to talk about breasts (not that men can’t get breast cancer, but I want to talk about breasts today). Even though it’s not October, we need to think about curing breast cancer every.single.day. Sometimes talking about breasts makes readers uncomfortable, but I can tell you having a biopsy is uncomfortable, getting a cancer diagnosis is uncomfortable and having a mastectomy is uncomfortable (I held my grandmother’s hand while she went through all of those things). So not only do I know of this discomfort personally, I also live life as if I am carrying a little a time bomb. All three of my last mammograms showed ‘something suspicious’. Every time, an ultrasound shows it is just the same watery, benign (annoying) cyst. But what about my mom, my aunts, my daughters? Genetically some of us are now at higher risk, it’s like living with a hidden stalker always wondering where or if it will rear its ugly head.
So I like to participate in things that raise awareness, and, more importantly, money for the cure. The cure is out there and we need to find it and tell cancer to get lost. So this year I am a participant in Bewb Fest 10. Lotus is donating *ALL* her BH Ad Revenue for July to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Which means the more page loads: the more MONEY. So not only I am participating but I am sending YOU THERE. Directly to the page! A lot of my online friends are my age and a little conservative and the sound of this may make you uncomfortable. But many of my readers are young and, shall we say, less inhibited. BE NOT AFRAID, all the photos in the contest are tasteful. So I ask that you go over and vote for your top three. (Why yes, there is a contest! And prizes. AND YES I WANT TO WIN!!). You can vote (FOR ME) as many times as you want (the more times you visit the page, the more revenue is raised and the more money is donated). Although the contestants are listed alphabetically, their photos are anonymous. BUT, I am going to give you some hints so you can vote for me! 1) My photo is probably considered the least racy/sexy of them all. 2) When you see my photo the color ORANGE will be prominent. 3) And lastly, you may be able to see the reins of a horse in my hands. Okay, enough hints. I think you should be able to figure it out. Head on over to Bewb Fest 10 have fun, vote, raise money and awareness!
Find the Vixen
For Realz
Spread The Frenzy
Barked Back