No not physically moving. I am moving my blog. I have found that Wordpress has more of what I need in regards to what I want to add to my blog and how I want it to look. You can find me at:
I hope to see you there!
I had another post all prepared for today but a more important topic came up. I read about this over at IzzyMom first. I will include the links that she did as well. The fact that some people with big mouths or big influence think that breastfeeding is obscene is obscene in itself. They think that breastfeeding mothers should not be doing this in public. I'm sorry, are they supposed to stay locked in a cage at home till they wean their child? They are mothers for crying out loud!!! We already have a kazillion things to do, all at the same time I might add, now we have to deal with morons like this?
*Clears throat* "Excuse me, would all morons please line up to apply for the job of "Mom" to see exactly what it is like. Oh yeah, we're gonna stick a kid to your boob ever 2-4 hours for 20 minutes. You still need to finish everything on your to-do list while doing this. Good Luck."
Apparently Facebook(read more here) and Myspace are jumping on the bandwagon calling pictures of mothers breastfeeding obscene! WTF? I have seen more obscene profile pics of people on these sites! They are pulling pictures of mothers breastfeeding off peoples profiles. And in some cases shutting down their account without notice and refusing to reinstate it. Saying that the pictures went against their "terms".
The fact that they have deemed breastfeeding, something that is healthy for both mother and baby "obscene" is just ridiculous. But to top it off, they allow pro-anorexia groups, and don't deem them "obscene". Oh yeah sure, nurturing a baby in public, totally heinous. Girls and women starving themselves and puking their guts out? Let's slap that all over the place. According to David Wescott there are currently 350 pro-anorexia groups on Facebook. Why is it that Facebook wants to support unhealthy lifestyles yet ban the healthy ones?
Mojo of a Mama has a great post on this topic. It is a must read, including the comments. These are some ladies that have their heads on straight. The fact is, that American society has sexualized womens breasts so much that people (other than mothers) cannot see them as anything other than sexual. When in fact they were meant for breastfeeding!
Pundit Mom really says it! "The message that's being sent is clear and it's not a good one -- breasts in their natural state must not be seen in public, but breasts for entertainment, especially "enhanced" ones -- AWESOME!".
We want our daughters to grow up with good self esteem and for our sons to respect women but how can they when all around them are messages such as this? That women in their natural form are not to be respected? They need to be tweaked and silicone to be worth anything? If society has it's way we are all going to end up on some WT talk show crying our eyes out about why our pre-teen daughters are such disrespectful hoochies. Eugh.
I'm gonna head on over to Facebook and post all these links on my page. I may even dig up some pictures just to irk them off. It may not be very progressive, but it will make me feel better!
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More Great Bloggers who Agree:
Cattails:Adventures of a Very Bad Cat
Thank you Izzy for bringing this topic to light for many of us!!!
Dear Mayor of Seattle (whoever you are, I'd look it up, but to be honest, I don't really care to),
I am not going to start out with any polite openings or political statements. There will be no sugar coating, pillow fluffing or boo-boo kissing. I'm going to rip the band aid off. This letter will go on to explain why I think driving in your city just plain sucks!
I am not sure who designed the layout of your one way, unlabeled, criss crossing, narrow streets. But whoever he was, is/was dumber than a rock. In my opinion Seattle should be completely demoslished (a satisfying explosion will do), steam rolled and re-designed. I have lived in cities surrounding Seattle for the last 20 years (before I could even drive) and have better luck maneuvering cities that I have never visited before, than I do Seattle.
Everytime I come to your crappily laid out city, I get lost. I'm not driving blind either. This includes map in hand and directions! How is one supposed to turn onto 5th Avenue when there is no sign stating 5th Avenue? Are you trying to save money by not labeling the streets on every corner? Or perhaps this is some conspiracy? Get people lost, they will need to stop for gas, therefore contributing to the income of your city? Thanks, but I'll go back to the East Side and pay an extra buck a gallon for gas there. At least I'll be able to find a gas station.
Not only are your streets not marked, they are narrow. Narrow, one way and four lanes wide. My mini-van lacks the finesse it takes to drive the streets of Seattle without hoarding 1.25 lanes. I'm pretty sure the honking I'm hearing is not directed at my "Honk if You Love Seattle" bumper sticker. The nicest thing I can say about the traffic lanes? Four linebackers could run up them side by side and not bump into each other. Four line backers that aren't drunk that is.
Let us now bask in the glory of your freeway on ramps. I have lost count of the on ramps I have found by being lost in Seattle. On ramps that were unmarked (imagine that). My favorite one being the time I was driving downhill (hills in Seattle? No way!), get halfway through an intersection and see a right turn (hidden from the rest of the world by magical bushes) that drops down into some unseen street. But yet it still looked promising, and there was no one in the lane next to me so I yanked the car in that direction. This on ramp seriously looked like an entrance into the vehicle secret garden. At the time I was too glad to be on the freeway to care how spooky it actually looked.
And what, may I ask, is the point of the one way streets? If I wanted an adventure, I'd turn on my nintendo and pop in a game. Not drive to Seattle. A person has to go two blocks out of their way to go around the corner! Again, is there a gas conspiracy I missed the memo on?
It's no wonder you're pleasant residents are so in love with their car horns. Your residents communicate with each other using their horns more than their cell phones. I imagine their mechanics are very pleased with that extra little bit of residual income from horn replacements. But who can blame them. If I lived in a city with streets that had the characteristics yours do, I'd be enjoying conversing with my horn too. Beep. Beep.
My last concern is your parking. Or lack of it. Apparently you do not have enough citizens crammed (beep. beep.)onto your 4 lane, narrow, one way streets, you need to build more buildings in place of where parkings lots existed. So not only does one get lost when braving an adventure into your city. One cannot find a spot to park to text nasty messages to her husband, who is in a meeting trying not to get the giggles over the situation, declaring her frustration and exclaiming that Seattle needs a makeover.
In conclusion, I think you can see now why I detest having to make a trip into your blurgeoning city. I understand that you probably have a fancy driver who takes you where ever you want to go. If that is the case, get out of the back seat and drive. After you are frustrated, lost and practically in tears. Give your driver a raise. Then buy some heavy duty explosives. I'm going to go see what I can do about getting all the extra exhaust I was forced to suck in on my most recent trip removed from my body.
Sincerely,
Frustrated, Never will be a Seattle Citizen.
P.S. The Grid System. It's a good thing!
Quite the controversial title isn't it? Well, you can imagine my shock when that phrase sprouted from my 4 year olds mouth! Before I begin the actual story I want to say that we do NOT raise our kids to be racist. Exactly the opposite, everyone is equal in this house and outside of it. Here goes the story behind the lovely phrase...
We were at the dance studio (as usual, where else would we be?), waiting for the older two to finish up their classes. One of the older girls that dances there (and happens to have a better tan) walks in and we start talking. She sits down in a chair next to where I am standing just as I pick up my loquacious 4 year old. I said to him "Don't kick her in the head, she may take you outside and beat you up!". Now obviously the beating up part is a joke, he likes to play any game where violence is involved, he is a boy with an older brother! She starts joking around with him, and he did not like that he didn't have the advantage in this situation so that's when he made his statement.
My mouth fell open, how could he say such a thing?!! I was absolutely aghast! Now in my head, I know that he says stuff like this because he is only 4, inexperienced at life, and lets face it, kids that age are painfully blunt. But I am still standing there, mouth gaping and catching flies. After I regained partial use of my wits I gave him a small pop on the mouth and told him that he could not say things like that. They weren't nice and would hurt peoples feelings. Not to mention that it is extremely rude, socially uncalled for and you just don't do it! I included everyone is the same no matter what color their skin is and that he shouldn't make generalizations like that.
During the chastisement of my 4 year old, the gal he had said it to had rushed off to the studio next door. I walked my little trouble maker over there and he apologized. Amazingly enough without crying and wallowing in my legs which I thought was quite an accomplishment. After which I tried to explain to her how blunt yet harmless 4 year kids are and that he didn't mean anything by it. But seriously, how do you explain the nature of a 4 year old to a 16 year old and expect them to understand? I felt I would have had better success frying an egg on a sidewalk in winter.
All was said and done, he really didn't mean any harm even though as his parent you are still completely mortified. I think one day he is going to give me whiplash or make me break my neck from snapping it in his direction. He has always been the one that gets your attention in the worst way. My mom claims that he acts that way because he is the baby. I always reply with, he's the baby because he acts like that. If he would have been the first, there would have been no more!
P.S. Please don't send me hate mail, lol.
This day is one that will live in American History and American Hearts. It was a day of such shock and horror at what we saw on our televisions and in person. I still feel numb and yet incredibly sick at the same time when I think about it. A terrorist attack on American soil. It seemed like such an unfathomable possiblity at the time. Even with Pearl Harbor, and other such incidences in our past. They are so few and far between that we forget that the possiblity still exists.
I was still in bed, just waking up. My husband was on the computer looking at the news, he said "A plane crashed into the WTC." I sat up and looked at him, "What do you mean a plane crashed into the WTC?" The though that it was a small jet was running through my mind. The news clip wasn't really giving a lot of details, it had apparenlty just happened and he had logged on just in time to see the first headline.
We turned on the television, by this time my daughter had crawled into bed with me. My mom was scurrying around downstairs getting breakfast ready, we yelled down for her to turn on her television. We watched the papers falling, people crying and bleeding. The firefighters, police officers and others sworn to uphold justice in our country in complete dissaray. Our unsung heroes.
We continued to watch in horror as a second plane crashed into the second tower. What did this mean? No one had any idea why this had happened. Americans banded together as never before to help one another. Complete strangers leaning on one another. Any source of comfort was welcome, even if just an encouraging smile from across the debris strewn street. The streets all over America were silent. In awe of the tragedy that had just assaulted our homeland.
Today we remember those we love as well as those we never knew. We remember the scar on the NYC skyline where the towers once stood. It still hurts to watch older movies, that show the skyline with the towers. Not one American alive that day will be the same person before they were before the first plane hit. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. We are perhaps more compassionate, more caring toward the neighbor we don't understand, we smile more at strangers passing us on the street. We are more united, stronger Americans.
We will not stand for homeland terrorism. Or any terrorism for that matter. Everyone deserves to be free.
So we went camping this last weekend.
The trip to the campsite was uneventful, except for the raccoon conversation.
O: I wanna do Raccoons.
Hubby: You wanna do Raccoons?
O: Yep
H: How do you do Raccoons?
O: I want to hunt them. With sticks. And whip them. And then have RACCOON CHICKEN!!!!!
So according to the 4yo, when you go camping, you whip raccoons. With sticks. And make raccoon chicken. How and what raccoon chicken is....I'll leave that to his inner thoughts.
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Our second night of camping we did however get to see raccoons. Well, my husband and I did. The kids gave up the fight and sacked out about an hour before they tromped their way into camp. They being, mom and her 3 babies. We were sitting up waiting for the fire to die out, which was the only light in our camp at the time. We heard a rustling in the bushes about 3 feet away from us. My husband jumps up to turn the lantern on. (The latern that could light up the world if given the chance). So they opted for a much darker entry, over by the car, where coincidentally the dog had spilled his food earlier. Mmmm, breakfast.
At this point my husband and I start in talking like raccoons, because this is what adults do when left to their own devices when out camping late at night. Remarks of:
You're not going to eat that because it's on the ground?
Well if you're just gonna leave it there I think I'll just take care of that for you.
What? I'm a raccoon, we don't have Starbucks!
I'm just trying to work here!
And then when the babies start fighting, Mommm! He's stealing my garbage!!!
P.S. Where was the dog during all this? In the tent with the kids, either so asleep he couldn't hear the ruckus, or too scared to make a peep!
Yes I know the phrase just looks and sounds wrong. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying guys are unkept beasts. It's just odd to see them in a Beauty Salon. Much less teenage boys. That is really the topic of the day. I went in on Monday to get my hair foiled and cut. About half-way through my 2 1/2 hour beautification process, a teenage gal walks in, followed by two teenage boys. At this point they are rather quiet, they stay for a few minutes, then after the object of their affection starts getting her hair attended to, they leave.
They come back maybe 30 minutes later, with food no less. And commence the process of "hanging out". As if they were at home with the football game on. And since they have had 30 minutes to bask in each others testosterone fest unsupervised by female influence, they are more vocal. And not in a particularly intelligent way.
Rose, who is cutting my hair by now, and I are joking about how dedicated they are to this young thing to stay in a beauty salon and watch her hair be frosted, when the guys sit in the dryer chairs. They are absolutely amazed by this contraption. You would think it was going to start flipping burgers and serve them drinks while they sat there. Comments of "Whoa this is weird" and "what does this thing do" can be heard from the other side of the wall.
At this point in time they realize that they can turn the dryers on and flip the headpiece down. So of course they do so. And then sit under it. Again, more comments. "This is kinda warm" and "Does this blonde my hair?". At this point I am really hoping I have more to look forward to with my two boys than this, lol.
My hair is now finished and looking uber chic if I do say so myself. And thankfully I can now spare my remaining brain cells the "girl impressing" conversation. There are just some things that happen during the day that you're brain sits there open-mouthed unable to process. And this was one of them. Mental drooling ftw.
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On another note I do have to share what happened with my hair. You already know I got it foiled and cut. I also decided in the middle of all this that I wanted some blue streaks in my bangs. Which I got and really loved. The next day however when I took my shower some of my blue bled onto the neighoring blonde strands and made them a lovely turquoise. Who would have thought?! But that's not all. This morning when I washed my hair, I pulled my hands out to rinse only to discover blue suds on them. Oh boy. I continue with my rinse, condition, rinse. Get out of the shower as quick as possible to asess the damage. As it starts drying I can see that I have some blonde, lots of turquoise and the original 2 blue streaks in my bangs. Hmm. Now what do I do?
I rolled with it. Dry and style as usual. I'll stop by the hair salon and see what they say later. For now I kind of like the turquoise, it's interesting. And I'm all about interesting. Take the kids to the bus stop. Where my neighbor comments on the turquoise. Oh! I'm not the only one who likes it, eh? Nice! Take my husband to work, then go to my kids school to drop off a letter to the office where all the ladies in the office huddle around me wanting to know what I did to my hair. They like it too! At this point I comment that I was thinking of getting another blue streak on the left side to even it out, but they think it's good this way, lol. I'll just file this hair mis-hap under "Happy Mistake". Lol! Maybe I'll add a picture later to show off my turquoise hair some more, hehehe.
No I'm not listening to Willie Nelson, lol. The phrase popped into my head and sounded good enough to jot down.
We went looking for cars yesterday in lovely 75 degree, so muggy you stick to everything weather. After the second car lot we stopped. Lol. We are so motivated. Shopping for cars is generally exhausting enough. Throw in the 4 and 6 year old, plus that weather, and you're getting more whine than cheese. Not a great feeling. So to remedy the situation, we went shopping for camping gear....
That's right, I said camping gear. We are going to load up the troops( the dog gets to go too, woot) this weekend. Kill the shocks on our mini-van, drive XX amount of miles and sleep in the glorious outdoors. And also to geocache, the best hobby every! This should make for some good writing material *makes mental note to bring a notebook*.
Highlight of the day: School starts tomorrow!!! My daughter has decided she is too old for us to walk her to her class the first day of school (/cry). But we can still walk our 6 year old. When we went to the back to school BBQ the other night, he thought that was the first day of school. He picked out his desk, plopped himself down, and stared at the teacher waiting for her to teach! Rofl! He is very excited to start school ya think? Friday is my 4yo's first day of school. I will get 2 1/2 glorious hours to myself that day! Well, I say to myself, but in reality I have a meeting about Girl Scout stuff I need to go to. But still, it's adults only so chances are I won't wear part of my lunch!
Announcement: Congratulations to John and Chelsea Orvella (my daughters Uncle and Aunt) on the birth of their first baby. Little baby Grae!!
What is it about a woman being in labor that everyone feels the need to flock to the hospital and get a front row seat? I realize the imminent cute baby (that honestly won't be cute for a few more weeks) is exciting. But that is all anyone ever thinks about. God forbid you should think about the poor mother whose body is revolting against her trying to force this small being that has tortured her insides for the last 9 months out. Why the rant you ask? Am I pregnant? No. My favorite phrase when someone asks me if my husband and I are going to bring anymore tax deductions into this world is "Not only has that ship sailed. It's been sunk. Forever.".
Again, so why the rant. My ex-husbands sister-in-law is currently in the process of bringing forth her first child. And yes I will agree that this is a momentous occasion. But really, when you are in labor you do not need an audience. No one is going to fall over dead if they don't get to see the baby while it is still covered in womb goo (as I lovingly call it).
Not only are you being poked and prodded by every stranger employed by your hospital of choice (when I was born the lady in the room next door had her baby delivered by the janitor. ew.). Every family member within a 50 mile radius of the hospital feels an obligation to be there, whether you have met them or not. Being poked and prodded, very uncomfortable and wearing a gown that displays your derrier like a fashion display on 5th Avenue, you aren't exactly in the mood to entertain. Tea and crumpets anyone?
On this note, I will recount bit and pieces of my first child's birth. Or the aftermath at least. I will spare you the details of the horrid nurses and what not. (Note this was before they monitored every person coming in and out of the maternity ward. And had the forethought to ask you if you wanted to allow people to visit you) After my daughter was born(3 am on the dot), her dad and his parents arrive about 2 hours later. Ooohs and ahhs all around even though her head was more pointed than those creatures on Star Trek or whatever that space show was. As beautiful as my daughter is now, she was not a cute newborn. That evening as I am still in the hospital of hell with all the joys of post-partum nurses and the overhead buzz every 2 hours of "nurse the baby!!" while trying to sleep. My daughters father's family visits again. Only this time, it is her father (1), his brother (2), his brother's girlfriend(3), his parents (4 and 5), his aunt (6) his aunts son (7), my parents (8 and 9), my grandparents (10 and 11). All those people including me and my daughter add up to 13 people in my hospital room. I cannot vent enough about how inappropriate it was for his brother to bring his girlfriend (whom I had met only once). And his aunt (who showed up without calling first) that brought her son (who I had never met before).
Everyone is passing the baby around with no thought to the fact that, hello, I have had this tiny person inside of me for 9 months where no one could take her away and they are passing her around as if I should have no cares in the world about it. Then the nurse comes in (why do they do that when you have visitors?) and wants to do her "check". So what does everyone do? THEY TAKE THE BABY OUTSIDE!!! Where I cannot see her at all! And are so engrossed in their conversation they don't notice the nurse leave. So here I am, panicking because no one is coming back in with MY baby.
I was so glad when I got to go home. I was very thankful for the lock on the front door and caller ID. But alas, here I am running a fever, new baby, everything hurts and I am on-call for the next 18 years with a newborn, and someone knocks on my door. Big kudos to my friend that lived upstairs from me, who in her thoughtfullness told a friend of ours that I hadn't seen since high school, that I had come home with my baby and she should come visit me. What are people thinking?!!
I will say that I did learn a lesson from all this. When I was pregnant with my second child I laid down some laws, lol. #1, do not call anyone but our parents till we are home from the hospital, and tell them they are not to call anyone till we are home from the hospital. (Note: My mother in law could not control herself on this and his cousin, who again I had met 1 time, just had to come for a visit).
I will end my ranting now. I am sure you are tired of hearing it. I think we may have to go look at cars for my husband today. Doesn't that sound exciting?
I changed my url for my blog. You may or may not have noticed that you were redirected. Most likely you didn't, but it's still a neat feature (no matter how stupid it sounds) to point out. I do not know how long they will actually redirect for me and you. So just in case you may want to change your marker.
Do as I say, move your mouse to the upper left corner of your screen. Click "Favorites".
Click "Add to Favorites".
Click "Okay".
Good for you! You saved me to your favorites and told the world that you like fun gals!
Yes, I know, I invested at least an hours worth of sarcasm into those last 30 seconds. But hey it made me feel better. If you insist on being difficult and having the actual URL typed out for you. It is
I will be adding an updater soon if you are interested in having a 3rd party harass you whenever I update. Thanks for tuning in and see you next post!
