What makes YOU so special??

I'm always thinking about random crap in my head; it's sometimes as if my mind just doesn't turn off. The other night I was thinking about my husband and I and our three kids. I'm sure that people have their own stereotypical ideas of what sort of people we are based on our tattoos, or our religion (or lack of), or because of the clothes we wear, or the music we listen to. People love to judge others and I'm sure a lot of people just assume that because of these things, we are probably bad parents or unfriendly people. I just want some of you who DO judge others based on their appearance or how they live their life just because it may be different than yours, to think about something.

How many of you teach your children manners, saying please and thank you, or excuse me? We do.
How many of you teach your children to be respectful and kind to others and NOT to make fun of others who may be different than you are? We do.
How many of you have received compliments from strangers telling you how well behaved your children are? We have!
How many of you dig out your last few dollar bills to drop in the Salvation Army kettle? We do, while those who have hundreds of spare dollars in their purse can't even be bothered to acknowledge that the kettle is there?
How many of you stop when you see someone on the side of the road to ask if they need help or to help them dig out of the snow they are stuck in, in the freezing cold? We do.
How many of you take time out of your day to go shovel the elderly neighbors' sidewalks even though you may have a million other things to do that day? We do.
How many of you take time to reach something in the store for someone who isn't as tall as you are? We do.
How many of you move out of the way to let others through or take time to say, "excuse me" and "I'm Sorry" if you accidently bump into someone? We do.

These are just a few things for some of you to think about. Before you judge someone that you don't know, why don't you take a good look in the mirror and ask what makes YOU so superior? Can you say that you help others? Can you say that you are a kind person?.. and honestly mean it?

Do you suffer from Physical Pain?

With the sinking economy these days, people are trying to save money whenever possible. One of the worse situations to be in is when you need a prescription but you don't have the money for it. The cost of some prescription medications are insane these days!

My mother has quite a few physical ailments at the moment and she is in a lot of pain every day. Her doctor prescribed her Tramadol but it is so expensive! Her insurance only covers office calls, not prescriptions.

I came across a website while doing some searching for her where you can buy Tramadol online. This website tells you which online licensed Pharmacies are the cheapest and the most reliable to use. You can even buy Tramadol without a prescription which I'm sure could be very helpful to those that are in pain but can't afford to get to the doctor just for a prescription!

In this day and age, we need all of the help we can get and there is nothing worse than having to suffer through pain just because you can't afford medication for it!

Doctor of Death? Pain Relief?

At this very minute, my husband's aunt is dying from cancer. She was diagnosed back in March of this year and it has all ready spread to other parts of her body. Chemo. Therapy is not working anymore; her liver is almost consumed by cancer now. She is on Morphine constantly and has developed ulcers from the Morphine causing her to throw up blood. She is literally just waiting to die. They didn't expect her to make it to Thanksgiving but some how she managed. The Morphine is not even helping and she is in constant pain, she's losing her sight, her hearing and can not talk very coherently.

Last month, my moms dog was diagnosed with Cancer. He was literally full of Cancer so she decided the best thing to do for him was to have him Euthanized to save him from going through so much pain.

So my question is, why is it the "right" thing to do when a person decides to have their animal Euthanized because the animal does not deserve to be in pain, however, it is illegal for a human to make that same decision? I'm sure most of you remember Dr. Kevorkian a.k.a. "Dr. Death" who participated in 120 assisted suicides. He went to prison for 8 years and still believe that people have the right to choose when they die!

Why shouldn't we have that right?? If we have some painful disease that is eventually going to kill us anyway, why shouldn't we be able to end our life now instead of waiting to suffer through days, months, even years of pain and torture just to die?? Who the Hell does the Government think they are to take that right away from us? It is OUR body, our blood, our organs, our skin, our brain, why shouldn't we have that right to choose when to die? Why is suicide illegal? As if this country is not overpopulated anyway why should we care if someone wants to end their life? Why should anyone else have the right to decide that for us?

Do you believe in assisted suicide? Yes or no.. and WHY?? I'm very curious!

Myspace vs. Facebook?

I keep reading headlines that say, "facebook is taking the place of myspace" blah, blah, blah. Ok, so I realize the majority of people on the internet have a myspace or facebook page or both. Maybe some of you are wondering what the difference between the two is. I know a lot of people who prefer facebook over myspace but I don't really understand why!?

I have had a myspace page for about 4 years now. I really like myspace because you are able to customize the layout to look however you want it to look. You can pretty much do whatever you want with Myspace. You can add music or photos or graphics anywhere on your page.

You can't really do anything like that on facebook apart from uploading photos. You can't do any sort of customizing with your page. You can't change the colors or fonts or design it the way that YOU like, your page looks like everyone else's page! You can add status updates and comment on other people's status messages but you can do that on myspace, too!

The one thing I do like about facebook is all of the different apps., quizzes and games you can use. You can use an application without it slowing down your page like some myspace pages that have a lot of apps. used. I like the quizzes because I think they are fun when I'm bored, lol. Other than that though, I really don't know why everyone likes Facebook so much better? I've heard some people say that it's good to use it to find old classmates, which is true but you can do the same on myspace!

Maybe someone can explain it to me?? Which do YOU prefer, Myspace or Facebook?

Here are links to my personal pages. Feel free to add me but please leave me a note telling me that you got it from my blog. I normally look at people's pages when they request me and if I don't think we have much in common I may not add you! Sorry.
My Myspace
My Facebook

My New Blog.. Madam Sarcasm

Madam Sarcasm seemed the perfect name for my new blog! It's more of a personal blog where I talk about things going on in my life.. there really is no theme to it, I'm just writing about random things in it! I don't have a lot of time to write in it but I do what I can! If you would like to check it out here is the link Madam Sarcasm

An easy way to shop for clothing!

If you are like most women (including me) you love to shop! I really enjoy shopping online as I think it is a lot easier to browse different sections rather than have to walk from section to section and deal with other shoppers!

The other day I came across Patagonia! They have every kind of clothing you can possibly want! They have women's clothing, shoes, boots, sandals, backpacks..etc. They also have many items for men and children as well! They have many choices, colors and sizes to choose from.

One thing that I really like about Patagonia is that they use the highest quality fabrics and reassure you that the item you are buying is going to last for a long time. I really like that because I get tired of buying cheap clothing from the local retail store that only lasts a few months! They also give a percentage of their sales to grassroots environmental groups! Not only will you be getting quality long lasting clothing you will be helping out a good cause as well!

Before we know it, Christmas will be here! Why not start now and get some of your shopping done the easy way before avoiding the rush?

Do you like scary movies?

I was watching horror movie, can't think of what it was at the moment, but it made me stop and ask myself, why are horror movies soo predictable? I am an avid horror movie fan so don't get me wrong, I do love them but it's always the same thing happening in them! I'm sure you know what I'm meaning...

First of all, the victim is always running as fast as he can while the stalker is just taking his time walking but some how he ALWAYS seems to catch up with the victim! I guess he has a chance to catch up with the victim because undoubtedly while the victim is running and running he trips and falls. He then sits there for a minute grabbing his ankle and tries to "run" while dragging his leg behind him however by then, it's too late, the killer has found him!

If the victim is lucky he finds his way back to his car or someone else's car (who has somehow left the keys in the car). Yes! Safety!! All is well, right?? Doh! Until he goes to start the car and it wont turn over. Imagine that! It worked just fine when he was driving it earlier that day, now all of the sudden it wont start?? Giving the killer more time to catch up with him.

When you think about it, the killers really do get off easy. They can just take their time wandering through the woods because somehow the victim always seems to screw up and gives the killer time to catch him anyway! *teh*

A lot of horror movies are mundane and lack the ability to keep me on the edge of my seat! I like a horror movie that keeps my eyes glued to the screen! Something that has me wondering what's going to happen next. Oh and let's not forget, you always have to have the scantily clad girl running with her boobs flopping all over, too.

I really don't like many of the newer horror movies out these days. I'm just not interested in watching some trashy looking teenage girl running and screaming. Give me something interesting, something to keep my attention!!

Here is one of my favorite "newer" movies!


What are some of your favorites??

Do you stereotype people who smoke Marijuana?

Learn the facts and open your mind. It's not just the skater punk down the street who smokes pot. More people use Marijuana than you can imagine. If it is such a horrible drug do you think these people could function properly??

Bad kids or bad parents??

My oldest child is 5 years old, will turn 6 in early October. My husband and I do our best to teach our kids manners, to be respectful of us and others and to be nice to everyone. I have to say, I am really shocked when I see how some parents let their kids act!

There have been a few instances that have just happened in the last month that just make me shake my head and wonder what the Hell these parents are thinking??

The first one was last month when we took our children to the Neil Armstrong Space Museum. We were having a great time there until we were in the little theatre watching the 25 minute movie. This whole herd of children and two women came in and ofcourse, sat right behind us! The kids were being loud and disrespectful to everyone in the theatre. Talking in normal voices, kicking chairs.. etc. What did the women do? Not a freakin' thing! Just let them act how they were acting. We were glad when the movie was over and we could get away from these brats, or so we thought! At the end of the tour there is a little area for kids to play with different simulators and other fun things. These other kids were running around like monkeys that just broke out of the zoo!! Running and screaming every where. Pushing in front of other kids and adults! Our kids could not even enjoy the fun because of these little brats. Again, what were the mothers doing?? Just chit chatting with each other letting their kids run wild annoying every one else there! What were my kids doing?? Playing quietly however they kept stopping to watch these kids running all over the freakin' place! I made sure to say QUITE loudly to my children, "thank you for being good and not acting like these little brats". Both women looked at me but neither one had anything to say! We got out of there, hoping to escape again in the gift shop when guess who shows up? Yep, those brats again; running around the entire gift shop, pushing in front of other people, being loud and obnoxious. One kid was messing with the tv on the wall and the mother didn't even pay any attention until my husband said, "look at the kid messing with the TV and the parent's not even paying attention". She obviously heard my husband as she then looked up and tells the kid to get away from the TV. Ugh!

The second incident was a week or two later. My mother wanted to take the kids to get ice cream. We went to this little ice cream shop that has picnic tables outside. As soon as we sit down, this whole army of middle school age soft ball players comes in. Oh My God. They were sooo freakin loud we couldn't even hear each other talk! They were yelling and screaming and cussing.. not giving a crap about the other guests there who were trying to enjoy their evening and ice cream! What were the parents and coaches doing?? Not a damned thing.. just chit chatting with each other ignoring what all the kids were doing!

These are not the only times I've seen behavior like this. I can't count the times I have been in public and witnessed young children running around like animals while their parents do absolutely nothing about it! I'm sure once these kids get older these parents are going to wonder why their kid wont listen to them and is out of control! Well, duh!! If they act like this as children how do you think they are going to act as teenagers??

My husband is covered with tattoos and I have quite a few myself. I listen to metal music and have piercings, some times I dye my hair funky colors. I'm sure some people look at us and think that we are freaks or losers or whatever stereotype they may have in their mind about us. Not to toot my own horn but I think we are doing a damned good job raising our kids so far! Yes, ofcourse like any child, they do get crazy some times and do have their "bad" days but their bad days are far better than some other kids' good days! My kids are polite and respectful when out in public. They don't make fun of people or talk nasty to others. We have had strangers come up to us and tell us how well behaved our children are! I know some times I think MY kids are out of control and driving me crazy however after seeing the way other people's kids act, I am very proud of how my kids are. Hell, they are angels compared to some of these brats!

I really don't know what these parents are thinking when they let their kids act this way. Can't really blame the kids for it if they know they can get away with it! It's the parent's responsibility to teach their children right from wrong. My oldest will start kindergarten next month and I'm scared to death! I'm worried that he is going to pick up some of these bad habits and think that he can act that way at home. However, if he THINKS he can act that way at home he will quickly remember that mommy and daddy do not allow our kids to disrespect US or anyone else.

Yes to dress codes in school? or No?

A lot of schools seem to be implementing a dress code or school "uniform" policy. The high school I went to just implemented a dress code for this coming school year. Some of the rules include they can only wear khaki pants, no jeans, sweat pants or corduroy or cargo pants. Your shirts have to be polo type shirts with a collar and can only be white, black or the high school mascot shade of red! Shorts or skirts have to be knee length, pants have to be up around the waist with a belt unless there are no belt loops. Feet must be covered, no kind of sandals or dress shoes showing toes.

I read the article in the paper yesterday and it made me think about my high school days. When I was in high school (which was too many years ago to mention), I wore band t-shirts, jeans and combat boots most of the time. I was proud to be different, I guess it was part of my individuality!

I'm asking myself whether or not I think the dress code is a good idea. Things are different now than they were when I was in school. Thirteen year old girls dress like street whores. Gangsta's wear their pants below their butts so that everyone can see their nasty underwear (do they not realize how gross that is?? eww). There's also the "preppy" crowd, or whatever they are called these days, who just simply HAVE to wear name brand clothing and will make fun of those who can't afford the name brands.

I, myself, couldn't give a rat's ass about name brands. If I like it, I like it, doesn't matter if it's walmart brand or Gucci and I can certainly find better things to spend hundreds of dollars on besides a label name!

They say that other schools who use the same dress code have reported that their students are better behaved in classrooms. How true is it, though? Is it really because of a dress code? I mean, this is a public high school not a Catholic school!

How do we teach kids that it's ok to be yourself and to be different but yet everyone is expected to look the same? What about low income kids who can't afford to buy these types of clothing? Families that depended on hand me downs or getting clothing when on clearance? How are they supposed to afford it especially if they have more than one child? Helll, in about 10 years I will have THREE high school kids to buy for!

Will it cut down on the bullying?? Hmm, maybe but kids can always find SOMETHING to tease someone about.

My old school said that if it has good results this first year then they will implement it into the other schools, so I may end up dealing with this while my kids are in elementary. I'm still on the fence as to how I feel about it. Guess it would be nice to hear from someone who has kids that go to a school with this sort of dress code? What's everyone's opinion??

Michael Jackson.. enough with the jokes!

What in the world is going on with all of these celebrities dropping over dead?? The reaper normally takes 3 at a time, but now we are on number 5! (this is including the death of Billy Mays today).

Ofcourse, Michael Jackson is getting the most attention as his death was such a surprise and so unexpected. I have to say, I am a bit sad about his passing and I'm getting sick and tired of all of the jokes I've been getting online and through text messages. I think I got the stupid joke about melting him down into a toy so that little boys can play with him atleast 15 times!! Give it up, it's NOT funny!!

I actually kind of feel sad for Michael Jackson. He was never PROVEN to be a child molestor in a court of law however everyone just believes what they hear and label him a child molester.

The guy is a musical legend! I remember sitting in my friend Kellie's room when we were kids back in the 80's listening to the Thriller album. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. M.J. has influenced thousands maybe even millions of musicians throughout the world. Obviouslly he had some mental problems. None of us know what happened to him as a child. Obvious attempts to change his appearance just proves how insecure he was about himself. When he talked, he talked as if he was still that little child stuck inside of an adult body. I think Michael Jackson loved children and loved to make them happy. Is it wrong for a man to love children? If he was a woman I'm sure no one would consider her a child molester? After being accused and acquitted of child molestation he spent the rest of his years having to hide from the public as everyone felt it was THEIR duty to judge him with no evidence. I've received emails celebrating his death because,"child molester's get what they deserve". Not to mention the numerous jokes I received about his death.

The guy was obviously very insecure with himself and spent the last few years of his life being persecuted by people who know nothing about him. Remember, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.. and he was never proven guilty.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson.

Cute or Vandals?

These animals can be very destructive and dangerous. Would you have saved them??

... I would have!! :o)

New look?

Well I've straightened up the blog a little bit.. tried to tidy it up and make it look prettier! Yes, I love the color purple as if you can't already tell! haha. I know it could be better but I am happy with the way it looks now. I may work on a better logo when I get a chance.

Just want to mention that I used Blogger Buster for help with the codes! They were a huge help and I hope to do bigger and better things with all of my blogs with their help!

I will be posting more soon!

Under Construction for a bit!

Just to let everyone know I am going to be working on a new layout for this blog. This will be my first time attempting to play around with the layout codes so if you come here and find the page a bit crazy looking, just ignore it and come back another time! Wish me luck and if anyone is good at this stuff please let me know!! xo

You Potty Mouth!

Sometimes I just sit around and try to analyze the oddest things. Trying to sort out why something is this way or that way in my head. One thing that pops in my head a lot is, are you ready for this?? Curse words!

Cuss Words. Swear Words. Whatever way you want to describe them! Maybe I think about it more now that I have children and don't want them getting in trouble at school for saying one of these very naughty words!

What makes a word a "bad word"? How is sh*t any different than saying "poop"? Damn instead of "dang"? F**k instead of "screw"? As* instead of butt? Why is one word considered bad and another considered acceptable when they both mean the same thing?

WHO out there decides which words are bad and which words are ok? Why should children get punished for saying as* instead of butt? How exactly do we explain it to them? It really seems down right silly to me. They are just words for christ's sake! Why might I get banned from certain blogger rings or social sites just because I might say one of these expletives? Yet, it's perfectly acceptable for me to say poop, feces, butt, arse, sex, screw, heck... etc..?

Why are some people considered "dirty" and/or "bad people" because they say this word instead of that word?

Does anyone have an explanation for this? Curious minds want to know!

What are you paying for Gas?

Thought it would be interesting to hear what gas prices are in different places around the country! Leave a comment with your location and the price of gas today!

Currently, in northwest Ohio gas is $2.59 for unleaded gas. How high is it going to get?? Where do you think the highest price for gas is??

Gas Prices on the rise.. AGAIN??

The weather has finally turned for the better, the snow is GONE and the temperature is rising. What else is rising?? Gas prices, ofcourse! Now when everyone is feeling good, feeling healthy and ready to finally get out of the house, the gas prices shoot up. Isn't it bad enough that just about EVERYONE is laid off and out of work and now the gas prices go up?? Forget all of the people that want to go on vacations and have fun, what about the people searching for jobs? Now they can't even afford GAS to get to apply for a job or go to a job interview?? Every day more and more people are losing their jobs while the "big" people keep raising the prices on everything, not just gas and expect the country to still survive??

Obama, WHERE are you?? Your country is drowning while you are making assinine and somewhat offensive JOKES that I did not find funny at all, especially for a President to say. Stop the comedy act and take care of your country! People are suffering every day without jobs. People can't pay bills, people are losing their homes. What are you doing to help them?? How loud do us citizens have to scream before you help us?? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We are begging you for help so please, step up to the plate and show us that you CAN handle this job.. before it's too late!

Slowly making my way back!

Wow what a long past month it has been! We went to TN last month and had a blast! Ended up staying an extra day! We didn't want to come home. It's so beautiful there and everyone is so friendly! My husband is still trying to talk me into moving there.. eventually!! It is definitely something to think about!

A week after we came back from TN, we moved. That has been a never ending event! Been trying to get everything moved over here and get our old house emptied out and cleaned up. I think everything is finally moved and now maybe we can have some time to actually unpack! On top of all of that the hubs and I both have really bad sinus infections so we feel like crap! I've been missing blogging here.. just been a lack of time to do it! I will be back soon and already have my first rant planned.. has something do with gas prices.. and Obama, heh heh!!

Be back soon! xo

P.S. I know you missed me! :o)

Boo Hoo!!!

Soo, the other day I was looking through my stats when I noticed I had some traffic generated from a link that I hadn't seen before. I went to check it out and it was a blog that reviewed this very blog! However, it wasn't a very good one and I think I shall cry! *waaaah*..

Thought I would give my two cents back on the review. First of all, the review stated that this blog is boring and I need a better layout. Was also stated that I need to post more often. Hmm, well, first of all, this blog is more like a personal blog where I just post about any random thing that I feel like posting about, therefore, if you find it boring, I really don't care; don't read it!

I know the layout is a bit boring, just a plain old blogger blog, right?? I don't really have the time to mess around with designing a new layout for this or paying someone to do it for me. To be honest, I would rather have someone interested in my blog because of the content not because of the layout. Believe me, I've seen a lot of nice looking blogs with snoozers for posts! I've also seen some somewhat boring looking blogs with very interesting information throughout the blog. What's that old saying? Oh yes, I think it's something along the lines of "don't judge a book by its cover". Did I get that right?? *grins*

Yes, I would LOVE to be able to post more often! I would post every day if it was possible, but you see, I have three children aged 5 years and younger whom I have to take back and forth to school every day. I also work and am going to school myself. I'm lucky that I'm able to get dishes finished let alone blog every day! If you can give me 5 more hours in the day, maybe that would be possible! Not everyone has the pleasure of having enough free time to blog every day or every other day at that!

Anyway, I don't know why this blog reviewed me, but good or bad it still got me some new hits, so thanks a ton!!

On another note, well, sort of, leading from the "needing posts more often" thing, it may be awhile before I post here. Have a busy weekend coming up with Easter, then we are going to Tennessee next week for a week to visit my sister in law and her husband. I'm soo excited, I love road trips and we have so many fun things planned! Then we are moving the first week of May and I still have lots of packing to do. I will try to post here when I get a chance.. To those of you who are NOT bored with this here blog, thanks for sticking around!

P.S. Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm so depressed. Why is it then when you are young you can't WAIT for your birthday to get here? Then the older you get, the more depressing it is when it comes around?? Ack!

Looking for a new web browser?

I've been using Firefox for a few years now but for the last few months have been having many problems with it crashing. It's an every day thing when I'm working. It will just freeze up, say that it is "not responding" and I will have to shut it down and then restart firefox. I've gotten very frustrated with it and did some research on it and read a lot of other complaints about the same thing.

I read quite a few people mentioning the new Google Chrome (still in Beta stages) so I decided to test it out. Since it is still pretty new it does have a few glitches but for the most part, I like it! I can import all of my bookmarks from Firefox into it which makes the move a lot easier! The only problem I have with it is with my job. On the platform they use you have to click a button which brings up another small window. When I push the button in Google Chrome it does nothing. The new window wont pop up at all. I've tried messing around with everything, turning pop up blocker off.. etc., but nothing I do works. Other than that, I have had no problems with it! No matter how many tabs I have open it does not crash. I can work all day long without any crashes. I'm sorry Firefox but I think I may have to say goodbye! I can't handle the numerous crashes all day! I'm still using both for now as sometimes I still have to use Firefox for work to get that other window up but other than that I've been using Google Chrome for everything!

I despise Internet Explorer and refuse to use it, lol. I know a lot of people feel the same way! If you are looking for something new I definitely suggest checking out Google Chrome. Just do a search for it! Since it is pretty new they are constantly doing updates to it, so I'm hoping the little glitches wont take long to be fixed!

Do you enjoy shopping online

One thing I love to do is shop! I really don't know many women who don't like to shop! I do like going out to the stores once in awhile but hate dealing with other impatient and sometimes rude people. I much prefer to shop online so that I don't have to deal with the crowd and I can do it at my convenience even in my pjs if I want to!

One thing I do have a problem with sometimes is finding good deals on all products. Normally if I do a search online it just brings me the higher end stores that have paid for advertisement. I like shopping with smaller businesses and helping the little guy out not padding the pockets of big corporate businesses!

A friend of mine told me about shopwiki! When you search for a specific item it crawls through ALL of the websites on the web and gives you the best sites to buy these products from! The best sites are not always the ones who can afford to pay to be on the top! I have a few friends who are pregnant right now and I found quite a few things for them on here including:'

Babies and Toddlers

Nursery Furniture

Clothing for Boys

Clothing for Girls

Toys

and more!

Anything you want you can find here and their results are always relevant. It's a great place to find the best deals on what you are looking for!

Thank you!

I just wanted to thank whoever it was that recommended me to be interviewed at Bloginterviewer.com! I will be submitting my interview there soon and will post it here for people to vote on it and *hopefully* give me a thumbs up on it! .. I'm glad someone enjoys my blog!

Some people just have NO manners!

So, I take my kids to preschool and pick them up every day. The school is laid out so that there is a bus lane that comes right up in front of the doors which makes it easier as the teachers have to escort the kids to the bus since they are still so little. They have a parking lot for parents that bring their children to park in.

Here is my rant: Are people seriously soo lazy that they PARK in the bus lane instead of parking in a parking spot a few feet away when they pick their kids up?? YES, they are! I mean, come onnnn people?? Because of these people being soo lazy and inconsiderate it means that the bus has to stop in the middle of the parking lot, which means the teachers and kids have to walk out to the parking lot to get on the bus. It also means that quite a few number of parking spaces are blocked so either people coming have to park 2 miles away OR people that are leaving are STUCK in their spot until the bus leaves! All of this inconvenience just because of a few lazy people, sometimes it's only ONE person that causes all of this mess! All because they could not be considerate to others and park in the damned parking spot! OMG, people just irritate the crap out of me sometimes! Do they really think they are THAT special that they get the privilege of parking right next to the door? Some people just need slapped!

That's my rant for the day and I'm sticking to it!!

Growing Old...

I've been thinking a lot about growing old. Most of my thoughts are inspired by my grandmother. Next month she will be 96 years old.

I was looking through an old photo album a few weeks ago and was awe struck with my grandmother's old photos. She was born in the year 1913. She grew up in the age of horse and buggies, doing farm work by hand. They did not have tv's, or inside bathrooms! I just can not fathom what it would be like to grow up in those days and live to see the year 2009! She has seen it all! She has seen many wars, the great depression (and now maybe the second one approaching?), the invention of the TV, computers, cell phones.. soo much technology! What must that be like for her? If only I could see through her eyes. If only I could see some of the great thousands of memories she must have in her head!

My grandmother could not have any children. Her and my grandfather tried many times but it always ended in a miscarriage. They adopted two childrein in the 1950's. My mom and her biological brother. My grandmother ended up being an "older mother", adopting my mom and uncle when she was close to 40 and they were only two and three years old. She was very strict with them, mainly my mother. She was raised to be "lady like" which means no playing, no laughing, no having fun. My mother was very close with her father but he had a stroke and passed away when she was 13 yrs old. My grandfather was taken before I even had the chance to meet him! To this day my grandmother talks about her husband as if he has only been gone a few months. I know she still misses him greatly.

After that happened, my mother and grandmother had a rough relationship which I wont delve into much here. When my mother got pregnant with me in her twenties, she was not married and this was a big no no to my grandmother. My mother had planned to give me up for adoption and told my grandmother that she had done so, when really she hadn't. At first my grandmother didn't want much to do with me and I was the hidden family secret. But that changed one day. My mother and grandmother and I (a baby) had gone out shopping. My mom ran into a store real quickly and when she came back out to the car my grandmother was cradling me in her arms. That was the start of a beautiful grandmother/grandchild relationship.

My grandmother ended up being like a second mother to me. I think she learned from her mistakes raising my mother and she was not as strict and serious with me as she was her own kids. My mom was a single mom and worked a lot. I went to various babysitters as a baby but had bad experiences with most of them. Finally, my grandmother agreed to watch me while my mother worked. I have many fond memories of staying at my grandmother's house. She lived in a big farm house out in the country. I have many memories of playing outside in her huge yard, or riding on the back of the trailer that she had hooked up to her tractor and riding back through the woods that she owned! I loved that! I have memories of going shopping with her or sitting and waiting for her to be finished at the beauty shop!

When I was 16 she decided that her house and land was too much for her to take care of so she sold everything and bought a small house just a few blocks from where we lived. In my early twenties I had lost my job and began to stay with her during the day to help her with cleaning and getting meals around as she began to get slower in her aging years. I remember how we would eat lunch and then take a long nap afterwards, oohh how I miss those naps!!!

When I started to work again she had to hire someone to come in and help her with the cleaning around her house.

In 2003 I became pregnant by my now husband. We were not married yet and I remember being terrified to tell my grandmother! When I finally told her, she told me how she was so disappointed in me and never thought that I would do something like that! I remember getting off of the phone and just crying my eyes out!

To my surprise she calmed down quite quickly and decided to love me anyway and not make the same mistake she did with my mother when she was pregnant! I was married later that year and was lucky to have her at my wedding even though she had to be in a wheelchair because she could not walk that far or stand so much but she made sure to be there for me!

Later that year I had my son. My mother brought her to the hospital to meet my now 5 year old son Irish. I remember the first time she held him she had tears in her eyes. Later that night my mom told me that on the way home from the hospital my grandma told her, "I never thought I would live to see her graduate and I did. Then I never thought I would live long enough to see her get married and I did. Then I never thought I would live to see her have a child.. now I have seen it all.".. This is something that I will always remember and hold close to my heart.

That same year, she made the difficult decision to give up her home and move into an assisted living home because it was getting very difficult for her to take care of herself and her home on her own. She was not happy with the decision but she knew it was her only option. She moved in and ended up enjoying it! She found a lot of her old friends there from years ago and made some great new friends! As these last few years have gone by, her friends began dwindling. All of her friends end up dying eventually. She had made a very good friend that lived next to her. They shared a lot of great experiences and became close immediately. She passed away last year. What must that be like to lose all of your friends and feel left alone? She only has one sister and one brother left, everyone else has gone on to eternity.

Now at almost 96 years of age her mind is still sharp as a tack although everything else is going down hill. She has some sort of blood infection in her leg that can be very painful. She can only walk with a walker and she mostly rides around on a scooter. Her eyes are going very bad. She has a very hard time seeing now. She is now ready to go. She has made comments that she doesn't know why she has to be here for SOO long. Just a few weeks ago she was trying to hang up a calendar. She couldn't get it and she slammed it down on her desk and said, "life just isn't worth living anymore". She makes comments about how she is not much use to anyone anymore. It really hurts me to hear these comments but then I try to understand it from her point of view. Living for almost 96 years! Her body is giving out. She is in pain. She doesn't enjoy life anymore. The only thing that can put a smile on her face are my children! Her face lights up every time she sees them.

We know that we could get that call any day telling us that she is gone. We hope that we are prepared for it but I also know how hard it is going to hit me. It will be a relief in one way to know that she is ready to go and that she has led a very FULL life. Maybe it will just be my selfishness not wanting her to leave? I know that day is coming and I know how hard it is going to be. She is already making plans for her funeral. She already has the minister picked out and just last week she told my mom what songs she wants to have played. What must it be like to plan your own funeral? What must it be like to know that you can go to sleep and may not wake up in the morning? Maybe she is looking forward to that day?

Last year I got a tattoo in her honor. She has always loved and collected hummingbirds. She loved watching them outside and she loved to collect figurines of them. The tattoo is of a hummingbird and it has the words "grandmother" and then her name. It is on my chest so that she will always be close to my heart. Eventually, when I have the money I plan on getting a tattoo for my mother on the other side and then my maiden name written above both.

Snobby Bloggers!

Soo, a few weeks ago I joined Entrecard. It's a great way to get traffic to your blog! How it works, in simple terms, is you get credit for clicking on other blogs. You can use your credits to buy advertisement placement on other blogs. The blog owner can decide whether they will allow your ad on their blog or not. It's pretty simple. I'm not here to really advertise Entrecard, I'm here to rant about snobby bloggers!

I went to quite a few animal related blogs and attempted to use my credits to buy ads on some of those blogs. Two of them rejected me saying that this blog was "not relevant" to theirs. Hmm, not relevant? Let's see... I post about my pets and animals throughout this blog. I have ads for petfinder on here and also a few links to the ASPCA website! I'm also currently going to school to be a Veterinary Technician! Hmm, but I guess your blog is just too good for me! Well, you know what.. SCREW YOU! I will use my credits to advertise on better blogs!

Heh, I just got over the stomach flu.. today is the first day I'm feeling good, but feeling a bit slap happy, weeeeeeeeeee!! Soo, that's my rant for today.. More to come!

The horrible Economy

I have to say, the economy is really beginning to scare me. More and more people are losing their jobs. Less and less businesses are hiring. People that have been at their jobs for 15+ years are being told that they are just not needed anymore. These people lose the only job they may have ever had only to find out that they can't find a job anywhere else! Unemployment rates have skyrocketed. Unemployment benefits are far lower than what their paychecks were. Something is better than nothing but it's hard to be able to survive on HALF of what you were making! Now the government is cutting back on funding for assistance. Utilities are becoming less lenient with their customers. Prices for everything have shot up. The price of food is ridiculous! The only thing that helps is that gas prices have gone back down. $1.80 a gallon is a lot better than $4.00 a gallon!

How are people supposed to survive when they can't find a job? Can't afford rent? Food? Utilities? I just heard on the news yesterday that even animal shelters are reporting an increase in surrendered animals because pet owners can't even afford to feed their beloved pets. A lot of people are going to end up homeless because of this. I'm going to school right now trying to better myself but now I'm scared that I wont even be able to find a job in my field!

How is this country going to get out of this economic crisis? Why is our government more worried about helping people in OTHER countries than helping US?? I heard on the news a few days ago that they are expecting the economy to turn around by the end of the year. It's only January. What are people supposed to do for the rest of the 11 months?? I truly do hope that Obama follows through with his promises. We need a change but we need it NOW.

I also feel that a lot of businesses are taking advantage of people by raising prices. The company my mother works for has had two price increases in the past year. The owner was quoted as saying, "we don't NEED to raise our prices.. but why not if we can get away with it?". Just another case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer!

So What Inauguration!

I'm really surprised at how many bloggers can not come up with anything better to write about than the freakin' inauguration the other day! I was doing some blog surfing and blog after blog was about the inauguration. Isn't it bad enough that it was all over the tv.. allll freakin day looong?? From the time I woke up until the 11:00pm news that is all I heard about! The video's of all the people crying, "our first black president".. blah, blah, blah. Hey, he's HALF black, half white! I can call him WHITE, too can't I? I'm not making this a racial thing but it's getting really freakin' annoying!

Come up with something interesting to write about! Something that you can't watch on every TV channel or every website that you go to! Write something unique.. not the same old crap repeated over and over.. and over. Blah. Believe me, as soon as I see Obama's picture on a blog I click right off of it. Enough already people! I do hope that he follows through with all of his promises, but what president has??

Ohio winter and stupid people!

I grew up in Ohio and have hated winter time ever since I can remember! Well, ok, I guess I liked it as a child because it meant snow days off from school! Now as an adult we don't get snow days, but I guess I can't complain too much since I work from home and don't have to go out in this crap.

I had to cancel a few plans because of the weather. It's difficult to plan things ahead of time in Ohio or any area where there is a lot of snow because you never know when the snow will decide to fall! I hate winter because it's cold and miserable! You have to put on 5 layers of clothing just to go outdoors and if you have children you have to get them all bundled up in coats, hats, gloves, boots! You can't do much outdoors because it's too cold. If you want to go play in the snow you really can't stay outside long because it's cold and wet in the snow! The windows in the house have to be shut and locked so that means you are stuck inside with stale air all of the time.. no wonderful fresh air to breathe in!

Driving.. well, you would think that most people would know how to drive in the snow here in Ohio. Some people still drive like idiots in the ice and snow. They think because they have a fancy car they can still drive fast on the snow and ice or if they have a big SUV that means they can drive normally on the ice?? Hmm, you would be surprised how many cars we have seen off the side of the road in the ditch! Now, don't get me wrong, there are instances where the roads are soo bad that no matter how slow you are going you can still lose control. Believe me, it's happened to me before... but the people that take no precautions on the ice and snow deserve it to be honest! Oh and let's not forget the idiots that decide to stay right on your bumper despite the ice and the snow, knowing FULL well that if you start to slide they are going to run right into me and they wont be able to stop in time! DUH!

So, anyway.. last month we got a huge ice storm which was just HORRIBLE! You couldn't hardly walk on the ice let alone DRIVE on it.. or STOP on it for that matter! It lasted for days and days, too but it eventually did melt.

Then a week ago it snowed.. and it snowed.. and it snowed.. Snowed for like 4 days non stop. The snow just kept piling up and piling up. We had so much snow that we almost couldn't get our front screen door open because the snow was THAT high! The kids loved playing in it though and so did the dog! The snow is here but now the temperature is horribly low (-8 last time I checked) and the wind chills are supposed to get down to between -20 and -30 tonight. My kids don't understand that it is just TOO cold to play out in the snow today! Also, our idiot neighbors have 2 dogs that they keep caged up in this tiny little fenced in kennel. They have ONE little igloo dog house for them, but that's all of the shelter they get! I never see them get any attention from their owners and they never get to run or have any kind of exercise. They leave them outdoors 24/7. The other night they were barking and howling all night.. poor things probably thought they were going to freeze to death!!! They seem to be fine today despite the frigid temperatures but I still think it's awful! Why get animals if you are going to just abandon them in the freezing cold like that to freeze to death?? UGH!

So that's my rant.. WINTER .. and stupid pet owners!... Ooh and a little slide show of the snowy weather!

Tattoo Discrimination

Kind of ironic, after I wrote my last post on being positive for 2009 we find out that my husband got turned down for a manager spot at his job.. because of his tattoos!! The area manager was really pushing to get my husband a manager spot. Was very happy with his work and thought he would make a great manager. The head honcho came down last week to meet with my husband. Told him that he really, really liked his work ethic. He has a very friendly, outgoing personality and has a way of motivating people to follow the rules! Sounded good, right??

The next day he gets told that he was turned down for the position because of his tattoos. Soo, I guess work ethic and responsibility don't mean jack schitt if you have tattoos? I guess my husband busting his ass every day, always being there on time, coming in on his days off to help out when they need it.. all of that didn't mean anything. The ink on his skin is what matters the most!

I can not believe that in the year of 2009 people are still THIS freaking ignorant and judgmental! Don't we teach children NOT to judge others by what they look like?? I know I will always try to instill that into my children. Why is it that adults can't practice what they preach?

Instead of having someone who has a good work ethic and knows how to do his job RIGHT they would rather have some other fucktard run everything the wrong way! Someone that doesn't follow rules, someone who lies their way through everything? Welcome to corporate america! We don't care how good of a worker you are.. it's the outside that counts!

I normally don't curse so much in my posts but this has really pissed me off. My husband has been through a lot with jobs. He has really been trying hard to get somewhere, trying to do what he needs to do to move up the ladder just to get pushed back down because people still stereotype anyone who has tattoos?? Wake up people!! The color of your skin does not define WHO you are! White, black, brown or multiple ink colors! It's all just color! Blah!

OH and while Im here.. Ive made a Squidoo lense for this blog! Check it out here: RANTS SQUIDOO