Strange, isn't it?

When I first started blogging, I couldn't get enough of it. Blogging daily, I think I even did two posts in one day once. But, now, its just a same thing every day.... I mean we have growing anticipation for so many things... Particularly the wedding. But we're not going to discuss that now. There are many reasons for blogging. Blogging can be to keep family members far away up-to-date on the local happenings in your life. Or it can be about frugal/smarter living. For some, its about expressing themselves, sometimes rather pessimistically. But some aren't about that at all... Blogging, for me is about teaching you, about inspiring you, about making you want something more than anything. Its like all the Miss America candidates say: "World Peace".... I want WORLD WIDE Peace. Do You? Today, I want to touch on the subject of....

Ah How I've Missed Thee....

I haven't written for a while so I thought I'd share a quick blip before I go off to finish packing for this weekend's rendezvous... >Blip< (Sorry, couldn't help myself) At any rate. Many of you know me personally, and those of you who truly know me know I have a bit of thing for rhyming words... I'm not talking about Dr. Seuss, although I was a huge fan of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish... I am talking about poetry... While I've never really had the patience to write an ode, or a sonnet, and I haven't quite mastered a decent haiku, there are some that I've written recently about some troubling experiences that I'd like to share with you... Many of you have read them before but they bear repeating.... They are two separate poems, both are based on my experiences, but at a time when another person I love was experiencing very similar things. I know that my main fans have already read them, but here goes:

Dive into the Delve of the Lily

Most of you know me, unless you are my random German fan, of whom I'd like to get to know more about... Anyway, this blog isn't really a full on writing escapade, more like a list of random facts about me. Some of which you may know, others you may not. Its just a fun, quirky bit of information about me. I'm not going to give you much to go on as a summary here, so you will just have to continue reading.

Welcome to Story Hour! Today: Proving Myself To... Myself?

My family is full of exes, halves and steps. My dad's mom: divorced before my dad was ten, remarried and they had my aunt. My cousin: divorced twice. My mom: divorced and remarried. My dad: divorced and remarried, bringing a step and two half brothers into my life. These things happen, kids know when it should. But that doesn't mean its any easier, no matter the age or situation. The worst part about being a "child of divorce" is that your perception of several things is skewed. You think differently about love mainly.You have no concept of forever anymore when you are a C.o.D. The typical response of a child who has just learned of their parents divorce is there is no typical response. The response is dependent of past experiences, the maturity of the child, occasionally the age of the child, and the way the divorce has taken place. My response was different than my brother's response.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Do you know the song these lyrics belong to?

♫The struggles I'm facing, The chances I'm taking, Sometimes might knock me down, But no, I'm not breaking... 'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna wanna make it move, Always gonna be a uphill battle, Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose...♫

What about this song?

♫And who do you think you are? Running 'round leaving scars, Collecting your jars of hearts, And tearing love apart. You're gonna catch a cold, From the ice inside your soul, So don't come back for me... I've grown too strong, To ever fall back in your arms...♫

And how about this one?

♫I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone, I ain't gonna do you wrong because I don't wanna....Now, I get tired, but I keep on tryin', Runnin' out of foolin', I ain't lyin...♫

One Hot Mess

Have you ever seen Dear John?  I know that it might not be the most accurate of accounts, I'm aware that its kind of cheesy. It saddens me, because I know that fighting for your country is a little easier when you have someone waiting for you back home. But when something happens, and you don't have that support system its so much harder. Dear John brings me to tears every time I watch it, it gets me every time. I know what happens, but that doesn't make it easier. I am not sure whether I would consider myself fortunate that Nate isn't a military guy, but I know that I am not strong enough to go through what so many spouses go through. I wouldn't be able to go days without hearing his voice, weeks without seeing him, sometimes months without knowing he's safe. I watched Dear John tonight, again, and as I'm pouring out tears (the particular points that get me are, when he's reading the letter to his dad and when he takes the bullet out of his friend's plate just before he is shot in his shoulder) I realize this relatively huge weakness of mine. I know many military personnel, some have gone overseas others have not, but they know that's a risk they're going to have to take.

Welcome to Story Hour! Today: How Daisy Came To Be

Background

Well, I don't want to have to be the one to give you the sex talk but when two puppies are really (umm what's the politically correct way of saying this) erotically charged, they do the dirty. Approximately 56 to 72 days1 later, voila! Puppy time! Now in Daisy's case they "erotically charged" breeds were a Miniature Beagle and a Shetland Sheepdog. The remainder of her litter were longer-haired similar to that of the Shetland Sheepdog. She was the runt of the litter, and the only one with such distinct Beagle features. Daisy was born in 2008, on approximately February 14th. Since the owners could not care for the puppies they took Daisy and her siblings to a nearby "kill" animal shelter in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, some 480 miles away from our town. For those of you who know anything about "kill" shelters, we are lucky we got her.

Welcome to Story Hour! Today: Why April Sucks Part II

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WARNING THE FOLLOWING POST MIGHT GET GRAPHIC & DISTURBING

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Fast Forward to 2009 (or rewind depending on how you look at it)

On April 8th, I found out that I was pregnant with a home pregnancy test. At that time, I happened to be behind on my medical bills. It happened to work out that I had the money to pay them up even though I'm sure I had been planning on spending that money on. Anyway, I went online the next night and paid it up. After that I went to the store and got a card. In my family, when a monkey (of any kind) is given out when a person is expecting. The only card with a monkey on it happened to be a birthday card. At the end of the card I signed it with a congrats! (She was very pregnant at the time.) and put "Know any good OB doctors?" It took her a minute to catch on, but she was so excited when she did.The next morning, I called the doctors office, after ensuring the balance had been paid in full they revealed that they required a blood test to prove the pregnancy before they will schedule the initial appointment.

Are You My Mother?

Remember the story by  P. D. Eastman, Are You My Mother? Are You My Mother? is about a hatchling bird. His mother, thinking her egg will stay in her nest where she left it, leaves her egg alone and flies off to find food. The baby chick hatches. He does not understand where his mother is so he goes to look for her. In his search, he asks a kitten, a hen, a dog, and a cow if they are his mother. They each say, "No."

Then he sees an old car, which cannot be his mother for sure. In desperation, the hatchling calls out to a boat and a plane, and at last, convinced he has found his mother, he climbs onto the teeth of an enormous power shovel. A loud "SNORT" belches from its exhaust stack, prompting the bird to utter the immortal line, "You are not my mother! You are a SNORT!" But as it shudders and grinds into motion he cannot escape. "I want my mother!" he shouts.

But at this climactic moment, his fate is suddenly reversed. The shovel drops him back in his nest, just as his mother is returning home, and the two are reunited, much to their delight, and the baby bird tells his mother about the adventure he had looking for her.1

Love what you do, and it will never be work

When I was in high school, I learned sports weren't my cup of tea. No hand-eye coordination in this department. I like playing sports, but definitely not in any sort of team. In fact, I always hated team-orientated stuff, all the way back to middle (maybe around elementary). Its not because I was doing all the work. Quite the opposite. I knew that because it was a group grade, I didn't have to do anything. If the other members of my groups wanted a good grade, they would do all the work. Unfortunately that all went down the drain when seventh grade came around and I started making best friends that were very similar in nature to myself. And as it would just so happen, in many of my classes. So we'd get group projects, I'd be in a group with my friends. Well, guess what? Somebody had to do the work.... Doesn't mean we did the work right away. Ha. No, not at all.

Welcome to Story Hour! Today: Like Sh!t, Sex Happens

Freedom is all about choices, right? The right to choose: religion, words, worship, a speedy trial with jurors, fair punishment for crimes, and other things of similar nature.

Even when considering God, you have the right to choose whether or not you accept Him to be an active participant in your life, or if you believe the stories in the book of His word. Its up to you. A 100% in its entirety. So if the United States government and the Almighty creator give you those freedoms to choose, why in the hell would anyone else feel that they can deprive you of them?

The Independent Sacrifice

Last night, as I watched the first fireworks of the year, I thought about sacrifices. Not about freedom, Declaration of Independence, or John Hancock and the other Founding Fathers. I know its a strange thing to think about on such a independent holiday but, logically it makes sense to think about the sacrifices people have made over the years. Families torn apart by death, fathers missing children being born, ladies missing their best friends weddings, but even way back when from the beginning the Founders, they sacrificed stability. They decided to forgo knowing who's laws (besides God's law) to follow and having that constant supply. They sacrificed their current (somewhat) well-being for what they had hoped would be for the better.

Satisfaction Not Guarenteed?

Funny thing about satisfaction: it doesn't seem to exist. Whenever we say we want something, and then we get it, we suddenly want something else. Think about it. Its -10 degrees out, we want it to warm up. So it does, suddenly its too hot. We are an indecisive people. If its not a 100% perfect, we gripe and complain. If it is a 100% perfect, to the tee, we gripe because we weren't expecting it to go that way. And then the public wants to know why God leaves prayers unanswered. Its because what it comes down to, what we ask for we don't always necessarily want. Have you ever seen the movie Bedazzled? In it the main character, Elliot, is tempted by the devil with everything ever wanted... but in the end (SPOILER ALERT) he decides he's content with the way life is. And in turn, because he wishes someone else happiness it voids out the contract he'd signed in exchange for his soul. So the morale of the story? If everyone else wished for other peoples happiness maybe the world would finally be satisfied.

Welcome to Story Hour! Today: Why April Sucks Part I

For many years April has not been a good month. Nothing good ever seems to happen in for me or Nathan in April.

When I was fifteen years old, I was headed home from school on the school bus, when the driver (and my brother and myself) happened to notice that my parents were sitting at the end of the road. None of us quite knew what was going on. So the driver continued to take us home. Now my parents had not been living together for a few days (maybe even a couple weeks) at that point, so this was quite confusing. So when we got into our house, I called my dad's cell phone. I remember him telling me "Its nothing to worry about, we're just talking on mutual ground. Just do your homework." Now I remember that I was doing Geometry that day and (as any normal person can tell you, math=headache) so I took off my relatively new, and somewhat strong, glasses... Not ten seconds later, the house phone rang, it was my dad again. "Lock all the doors. She's coming your way."

My bad.

 Unfortunately tonight's blog has been suspended due to social activity in the writing zone. Please tune in tomorrow for short excerpt. Sorry for the inconvenience.