Alone Again... Naturally.

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I actually got some writing done yesterday. Can you believe it?

After, what seems like weeks and weeks of sick kids moaning around I found myself all alone in my house - finally some time to myself. Nice!

Then, 3pm rolled around and my house was again filled with chatter, homework ...and the Spawn of the Devil. All hell broke loose; my time was no longer my own. C'est la vie. It's my job. It's what I do.

It was not my intention to piss anyone off yesterday, or insult them with my blog entry... seems it just comes naturally to me some days. (Some would say all days).

As you can see, I'm roving the playground of my mind today. Or, ought that be Playground of My Mind, for all you old school people? Anyway, thoughts are shooting off in every direction.

Did I tell you Marci's in a play at her school? She's jazzed. She says she only has a small part and I tell her there are no small parts only small actors. I heard that when I was participating in my high school plays. Don't really understand what it means, but eh... I told her anyway. I think it's just what old people tell young people to try to boost their spirits.

Sophe's upset about that because she wanted to go caroling for cans with her choir the same night Marci has opening night. I really wish the schools would stop planning activities which collide on the calendar, making you choose one of your kids over the other. Sophe's choice, as it were, will have to be denied. I can't be in two places at once, nor can she be left at her school until Marci's play is over.

*Yawn! So tired.
So tired of politics, too. I see very clearly what's going on in what used to be my country - DIVIDE AND CONQUER ! I have friends who read everything from the Left and tell me I'm a nutty, misguided and uninformed, idiot for thinking this particular kind of change is bad; then friends on the Right who keep sending racist/religious bull$hit about Obama... and I find myself thinking - You know, if the liberal press would just be frickin' liberal about the TRUTH, and not try to spin it in Obama's/Socialists' favor, and the Right would just frickin' chill and not try to paint Obama as the anti-Christ or always try to paint a cross in the middle of their point, we may see what's really going on in our country. For how can you carry on a decent, calm conversation (watch the vid, please) with anyone who already KNOWS the facts and thinks you're an idiot? I'm just really glad Obama's getting a lot done for our country... every Wednesday night, it seems. The Right say it's a blatant waste of Americans money - people are starving in this country while the President is cordial and personally serving oatmeal cookies to people who can afford to buy oatmeal cookie factories. And the Left say it's the president showing a humble, non-pretentious good side - allowing the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to be opened to the ribble-rabble... just not you or me.  Soon we'll be forming our own conga line at the homeless shelters, while congress members and esteemed musical (rock stars) guests party down like there's no tomorrow at 1600.

Hrm... maybe they know something we don't. Mayhaps a huge meteoroid IS headed for our planet and no one wants to tell the chattering class.

Yep, not much going on here. Just trying to wake up and decide how to start my day. I have a really good start on one book, and about five in the mill half-way done. It seems that just when I get in the swing of things, life happens and I'm needed elsewhere. Egads!  I AM BORING. Please forgive.

I'll try to be more stimulation and thought-provoking (or maybe ire-provoking) tomorrow... or maybe later on today I'll take another stab at it. Just need to wake up first.

Coffee... where's my coffee?

In Joy & Enjoy

Happy Soldiers' Spouses' Day

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One of my Facebook "friends" left a message yesterday about how proud they were of our veterans (I concur) on Veterans' Day.  She went on to chastise x-spouses of veterans who did not "stick" with their soldiers through the thick of it. She said, and I quote:

"I want to commend all the spouses out there who hang through it all ( I DID TOO) and to those who did not Im ashamed of you!I love my country and my vets and I take my hat off to the vigilant wives that stand by their men in time of war!"


Um... yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh... Ashamed of me, you are?

HA!

Well, having many friends who are now x-spouses of active-duty military men...

Please allow a tangent for I have to interject here - the person who wrote that is the wife of a National Guard member (not to discount their service in even the tiniest bit) and wouldn't even begin to know the half of living the life of a active-duty military member who's gone 24/7, almost 365 days a year ~ deployed for OOW (operations other than war) as well as war ~ holding down the home front; taking care of the kids and the bills and the house and the problems and the accidents and the broken bones and broken hearts and broken cars and broken plumbing and the illnesses and the sicknesses and the puberty changes and the episodes and the incidents and the tears and the headaches and the growing pains and the birthdays and the holidays and the floods and the earthquakes and the ice storms and the snow storms and the school plays and the school dances and the school concerts and the school sports and the school awards and the school graduations and the school reprimands and the calls from the police and the calls from the hospital and the calls from the other wives who are at the end of their ropes with their own lists... *sigh

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

Living the life of a military spouse is like being a single parent, yet having (hopefully) a faithful, loving partner who appreciates all you do because s/he's away most of the time and can't pitch in.

HOWEVER... I can name five close friends (military spouses) off the top of my head whose lives have been shattered because while they are holding down the home front, "standing by their men," their "men" are holding someone else in their arms. Or, a lot of someone elses... and that's just in this past year.

So... instead of saying, "Fine, Ms. High-and-Mighty. I hope to hell your husband doesn't ever cheat on you so you don't have to pull a Hillary and "stand by yer man" or eat your words..." I'll take the higher road and say this:

I know there's no Soldiers' Spouses' Day - but there ought to be.

There ought to be a day in which we celebrate the spouses of our United States Armed Forces who take care of EVERYTHING on the home front so their soldiers can keep us safe and free and not worry about what's going on at home.

To spouses who have ever "served" this country in that way (even if you no longer are serving) even for a short time, I have this to say:

For all the sacrifices your soldier gives/gave to our country ~ one of which also gave you a half-life of marriage but a double dose of parenting ~ you, soldier's spouse, sacrifice too:
-  Weekly date night with your spouse (Something Michelle Obama will never have to do)
-  Monthly date night with your spouse
-  Any date with your spouse which isn't military related
-  Having someone to sit with you at most, if not all, school or kid-related functions
-  Having someone to sit with you on the couch and snuggle
-  Solely dealing with most, if not all, problems which arise...
-  Pretending to be brave so your soldier doesn't worry as much
-  Biting your tongue until it bleeds
-  Relocating every few years and having to start over with work/friends/schools and a new home
-  Leaving old friends and family behind
-  Trying to make new friends out of strangers
-  Learning a new post/town/country all by yourself because you get dropped there while he gets sent away
...and many, many more.

For all the tears you shed in fear (when you hear your soldier's unit just came under attack, or he just rolled his deuce-and-a-half), in panic (when you can't get a hold of anyone in the rear), in frustration (when the calls to your soldier won't go through and when they do, you have to deal with the satellite delay or annoying echo; or the kids won't behave; or there's more month than money), in resignation (because you don't know how much more you can take but you're willing to try just one more day) and in love (because, really, that's why you do it, right? Certainly not for the recognition, because there isn't any.)... or on that rare but heart-stopping occasion when you hear of your soldier's injury or death, or the death of his love for you ~ I honor you this day, the 12th of November.

A day I proclaim Soldiers' Spouses' Day.

I'll never be ashamed of you. You have my undying gratitude and respect.

Thank you for your service to our country and to your soldier ~ for how ever long you held/hold that torch high. I wish you strength to continue, and if need be, strength to know when to lay the torch down.

(And, if anyone else ever says they're ashamed of you, just keep in mind the immortal words of John Wayne, who said, "Don't let the bastards get you down.")

In Joy & Enjoy

A Tribute to Heroes

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Navajo Code Talkers, an elite WWII Marine unit, in NYC Veterans Day parade for 1st time 
By ULA ILNYTZKY
Associated Press Writer
(AP) 01:33:14 PM (ET), Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (NEW YORK)


The famed Navajo Code Talkers, the elite Marine unit whose unbreakable code stymied the Japanese in World War II, fear their legacy will die with them.


Only about 50 of the 400 Code Talkers are believed to be still alive, most living in the Navajo Nation reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Many are frail or ill, with little time left to tell the world about their wartime contribution.


But on Wednesday, 13 of the Code Talkers, some using canes, a few in wheelchairs, arrived in New York City to participate for the first time in the nation's largest Veterans Day parade.


The young Navajo Marines, using secret Navajo language-encrypted military terms, helped the U.S. prevail at Iwo Jima and other World War II Pacific battles, serving in every Marine assault in the South Pacific between 1942-1945. Military commanders said the code, transmitted verbally by radio, helped save countless American lives and bring a speedier end to the war in the Pacific theater.


They were sworn to secrecy about their code, so complex that even other Navajo Marines couldn't decipher it. Used to transmit secret tactical messages via radio or telephone, the code remained unbroken and classified for decades because of its potential postwar use.


"We were never told that our code was never decoded" or given identities of the original 29 Navajos who created it, said Keith Little, 85, who joined the Marines at 17 and remembers crouching in a bomb crater amid heavy fire on Iwo Jima.


"It was all covered by secrecy. We were constantly told not to talk about it," said Little. The Code Talkers felt compelled to honor their secrecy orders, even after the code was declassified in 1968.


The oldest of the 13 living Code Talkers is 92, and the group includes one of the original 29. Many Code Talkers who served in the war were young farmers and sheepherders who had never been away from home.


"The code did a lot of damage to the enemy," said Samuel Tom Holiday, 85, of Kayenta, Ariz., who also is joining the parade. He was a 20-year-old Code Talker when he and two other Marines went behind enemy lines on Iwo Jima to locate a Japanese artillery unit advancing on American forces.


Once the unit was located, Holiday transmitted a coded message to Marine artillery, which fired a big shell at the Japanese. After the Marine rifleman proclaimed it "right on target," Holiday messaged "Right on Target" to a Navajo Code Talker in Marine artillery.


Though the Code Talkers transmitted information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications, they did not know at the time how those messages figured in the greater battle strategy.


Today "there's a certain elation about" knowing how much their work affected the outcome of the war, said Little, who runs a family ranch in Crystal, N.M., on the Navajo Nation.


Before the code, the Japanese intercepted and sabotaged U.S. military communications at an alarming rate because they had expert English translators. American forces then devised ever more complicated codes, but that increased the time - sometimes hours -  for sending and decoding them.


The code, based on the ancient Navajo language, changed that. In the first 48 hours of the battle of Iwo Jima, six Code Talkers worked nonstop, transmitting and receiving more than 800 messages about troop movement and enemy fire - none deciphered by the Japanese. What confounded the enemy most was that Code Talkers could use distinctly different words for exactly the same message.


Recognition from the U.S. government and awareness of the Code Talkers - even within the Navajo community - has been slow to come. It wasn't until 2000 that the Congressional Gold Medal was bestowed on the survivors of the original 29 Code Talkers and silver medals on the rest.


The 2002 film "Windtalkers," starring Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater as two Marines assigned to protect Code Talkers in Saipan, helped shed further light on the group.


At least five of the Code Talkers died just this year, creating an urgency for the Navajo Code Talkers Foundation to create a museum in their honor in New Mexico, near the Navajo capital of Window Rock, Ariz. It is slated to open sometime in 2012.


Yvonne Murphy, a foundation board member and daughter of Code Talker Raymond R. Smith Sr., who died seven years ago, did not hear of the Code Talkers until she was 16.


"I saw this outfit lying on the bed ... a Marine gold-colored shirt," she said, the uniform of the Code Talkers, laid out with some Navajo jewelry. But it wasn't until she was in her 30s, "that I was able to grasp the whole concept," added Murphy, 45.


The Code Talkers coming to New York this week hope to highlight their efforts and funding needs for the museum.


On Tuesday, they attended a ceremony aboard the USS Intrepid, a World War II warship, to commemorate the 234th anniversary of the Marine Corps.


Their "contribution has been unheralded and virtually unknown to the American public," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, a former Marine colonel, said before the ceremony. "It's long overdue that their story be told."


Later in the day, the Code Talkers planned to visit ground zero.


"A lot more Marines would be dead right now," if not for the Code Talkers, said parade chairman Patrick Gualtieri.


"Our language was used to help win the war," Holiday said.


"After we're all gone, there will be no one to tell the story."

On the Net:

United War Veterans Council of NYC: http://www.unitedwarveterans.org

Navajo Code Talkers official site: http://www.navajocodetalkers.org

Have you hugged (or thanked) a Veteran today?

In Joy & Enjoy

I have a question for you.

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If you are a certain way, and you pretty much have a "live and let live" attitude, but you do what you can to help your friends and family, is it okay for you to be taken advantage of by your friends and family because you are that way?

A situation has come up in my life where I'm at a crossroads. I am truly confused.

Let's take a drunk. Say you're married to an alcoholic who is ruining your life; spending all your money, crashing all your cars; putting you and your children in danger. The solution is clear, right? You leave him because you know it'll only get worse and he's a big boy who made his own bed. Problem solved. You can lead a horse to water but you can't get your old man to stop drinking. Bleh. His problem. Not yours.

Say you're married to an abusive partner. That's a bit harder because you don't want anyone to know you've put up with the abuse so long that it's become an issue. Two types of abuse are typical in any relationship - physical and mental/emotional. Physical abuse ought to be a no-brainer. Get the hell out of Dodge. Just like the line in Judy Blume's novel, Forever - "You can never go back to just holding hands" (I may have murdered that line - but that's the gist). Once hit, you can't ever pretend you weren't... and if the fists fly once, they'll most certainly fly easier the second time, and the third, and the fourth... I wish it were that easy to sever the ties that bind and gag. It's not. If you're in a physically abusive relationship - get the hell out. Nothing says "love" like a fist to the face. Think of your best friend. Would you sit by and watch her get beat up whenever Mr. Man feels like he needs to prove he's a man(iac)? No. You'd tell her to get the hell out. Be your own best friend. Tell yourself to get the hell out.

Most of the time the mental/emotional abuse sneaks up on you. At first, he tells you how wonderful, intelligent and lovable you are... then, as time goes by his words aren't so snuggly. "You'd be much more lovable and wonderful if you only just..." and you find your intelligence is now in question.
Fast-forward, and the next thing you're hearing is, "Why won't you listen to me? I'm only telling you this for your own good. You sound like white-trash when you say that. You look like an idiot when you do that." and the next thing you know, you stupidly are bending over backwards, forwards and all-wards trying to contort yourself into this little box he put you and wants you to remain:
Don't look too smart, or you'll humiliate him.
Don't look too dumb, or you'll embarrass him.
Don't look too handy, or you'll emasculate him.
Don't look too helpless, or you'll frustrate him.
Why? Because once upon a time he said you were wonderful and intelligent and lovable, and if he's wrong now, then he was wrong then... which makes you un-wonderful, un-intelligent and un-lovable... and who would want to be with anyone who was any of those things?
Your heart is tied in knots. Your head is tied in knots. Your innards are tied in knots. But the only knot you can untie to ease this pain is the knot you tied in marriage.
To do that, you have to admit you were wrong, and it isn't until death do you part - but rather the death of love.
And you're left with the realization you don't know what love is, was or ever will  be.
The marriage knot is untied, but the other knots hold strong... for a long time all because you once believed a man who lied and told you he thought you were wonderful, intelligent and lovable.
Next time, my advice is skip it and marry the guy who already can't stand you. You'll be 'way ahead of the game.

Say you're married to a megalomaniac whom you love dearly. Would you stand by watching his psycho-ness take over your life because you think he's as great as he does? I mean, really. Think about it. He's not actually hurting anyone by believing he's the all-powerful Wizard of Odd, is he? So you stroke his ego and probably stick with him because it's something you can live with. We're all a little psycho anyway.

But what if we're discussing family members?  People you really have no choice in severing the knot or using the apron strings to make a noose and hang someone... albeit someone who deserves it. :o)
It's just not done.
"But he's your father!"
"But she's your mother!"
"But they're your (fill in the blank)!"

I think I lost my train of thought. Let me read back to see where I was headed.
Oh, yeah. Now I remember.
Thanks for your patience.

Say you've pretty much been screwed over by a certain family member all your life and now comes the time that family member needs your help.
Do you forget the pain your family member (we'll call him Mr. X)... do you forget the pain Mr. X put you through all the previous years and help Mr. X out? I mean, really - you're a kind and generous person - at least you try to be. If Ms. Y came to you asking for help you'd probably help, right? But it's Mr. X, and Mr. X has never lifted a pinky to help you in the past, unless there was something in it for him - and you'd better believe there was ALWAYS something in it for him.

Mr. X just takes and takes and takes.
And you give and give and give.

Is it your fault? Are you enabling Mr. X's behavior? Are you to blame? Mr. X doesn't just take from you, you know?

I was always taught two wrongs don't make a right.
Ought you change who you are to "punish" their actions? Who gives you permission to punish anyone?
"The more you help him out, the more he'll take advantage of you."
Well - at what point is the onus on him? At which point ought one look at him and say to you, "You're doing the right thing by being true to your nature. He's an ass and will always be an ass. Shame on him."

But instead - I hear, "Shame on you - it's your fault he continues to use you in such a manner. You ALLOW it."

There has to be a happy medium - a place where I can be me and yet not "allow" people to take advantage of me. I haven't found it yet.
I feel we are all responsible for our own actions. I can't tell you to not walk on me any more than I can tell you to not look at me. I can't tell you what not to do or do at all. Nor should I.
If I can wake up in the morning knowing I've acted and not reacted to events in my life, then I can feel a bit secure in the knowledge I'm growing as a person. I can't always say I've done that to my best ability.
Unfortunately, many times I react to others.
I'm working on it.

However, YOU are responsible for how you treat me, just as I am responsible for how I treat you.
If you feel I need my spirit broken - for whatever reason, therefore you decide to break it ... for my own good... then shame on you. It's not my fault you feel the need to break me because I have spirit (any more than it's a girl's fault for being date-raped because she had a vagina).

All of my relationships have ended after I'd taken that last straw and my (camel)back broke. The thing about that last straw - no one knows it's the last one until it's proven itself to be the LAST ONE. Too late. Game over. No overtime in this particular ballpark.

Unfortunately, when you speak of family - there's always overtime and the ballpark never closes.

So, what does one soul do for another soul - family or not? Strive to:
Be Kind?
Be Courteous?
Be Decent?
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you?

What do you think? Am I being an enabler or just being myself? Or, are the two one in the same?

In Joy & Enjoy.

Bleh... again

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Jo came home from school yesterday complaining of a headache. I gave her some Tylenol.

About two hours after dining on Bagel Bites, she said she was freezing. I checked her temp. 100.5F - Since I'd just recently given her Tylenol, I put her to bed with an ice-pack (after begging her to soak in a tepid bath ... It really can be annoying in some cases when your kids start to develop a mind of their own and think they know better - although I suppose it is better than the alternative. Rather than fighting with a sick child, I conceded.) and a cup of hot tea.

By bedtime, she was moaning, saying she felt as if she was going to throw up. Then, she did a little bit - more dry than not.
I finally got her in the tub. She felt better and went on to bed.

At a little after 2am, I was awakened by screaming/moaning: "Maaawwwwwwmmmm! I can't feel my legs!"
Scared the be-jesus out of me.

I barely got her to the bathroom before she started heaving mucus. (I know, TMI!) Her nose was stuffed; her throat was sore; her head ached and the fever was back.  I gave her some Mucinex Cold medicine to help with her sinuses, and finally got her to lay on the couch. After checking her throat - which looked normal, I figured the pain was caused by her sinuses draining down her throat while she slept.
She moaned all night long. And, she could feel her legs - they were just numb.

Bleh.
Not much sleep for anyone over 5 ft. tall in our house last night.

This morning I let her sleep, but woke Jack up for school.  We started doing our morning ritual when I heard that wonderful sound emitting from the bathroom. She was at it again.
I walked in. She looked up, sheepishly and with a wan smile said, "I think I just lost the bagel bites."

I couldn't have agreed more.

Heh - tangent. I called the school to report her absence, and since she'd missed three days two weeks ago - which really put her behind, I asked if there was anything I could do? Would she be okay?  (In my mind, I was clear to the receptionist at the school I was speaking entirely of her grades/missed school, etc.)
The response I received: "Oh, yes, Sweetie. She's gonna be fine. Just give her lots of liquids and make sure she gets plenty of rest."
Uh... yeah... hehehe. Sure thing, Sweetie. Why didn't I think of that?
I'll do just that, Dear.
hehehe. I must be wicked tired, as I found that to be extremely funny. And, I didn't have the energy to clarify.
The lady on the phone sounded all of 24 - just about half my age... Suga' Pie, Honey Bunch.

Jo's currently sleeping on the couch, moaning in her dreams... still hot with fever, a huge headache and a bucket by her side.
Didn't we just do this a couple of weeks ago?

Cross your fingers that Jack doesn't get sick again, too.
*sigh
This roller coaster of life doesn't ever stop (until you're dead), does it?

In Joy & Enjoy

(I think the Blog Title link - just click on it - is a new one by Michael Tolcher. Diggin' it. Hope you do, too.)

I love my dotters' senses of humor

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I gotta tell you - they can be hell-arious at times.

Case and point: This morning, as I was nose-deep in correspondence and writing - as I am wont to be (you're welcome Danna & Peanut - they cringe when I use the word "wont") - Jo walked up to my vacant, breathing, typing corpse. She was already late in leaving, so, as the good mother I am, I had already dismissed her presence in my working mind. (Jo out the door - check! Jack getting up and dressed - check!)

Let me be as clear as our President - I had already fed, watered and dressed her (not literally 'me' as she is almost 12, but oversaw the project like any good supervisor), ensured her backpack was tidy and packed her a healthy, peanut butter-laden lunch... and was merely anticipating the screen door hitting her arse on her way out.

Being fully engrossed in my works, I barely noticed she was talking until I heard her voice over the "crowd noise" of my life - and much like a hiker emerging from the mist, my mind broke through the haze of thought (although it took a moment to register she was speaking... and another moment to register she was speaking to me... and yet another moment to register what words she was speaking):

"So, what'dya think?"
...pause
"Good idea?"
...pause, then mumble...
"All righty, then... Glad we had this talk."

Cracked me up.
So, of course I immediately made a note to blog about it today.  She rolled her eyes (with a huge smile - or was that a smirk? - on her face) as she opened the door, leading Devil Spawn (our neighbor - keep up, people) out, chuckled and said:
"Oh, great! Now she's gonna blog about THIS!"

hehehe.

Love my kids. All of them. You have NO idea. (...and I just realized I have no idea what she was trying to tell me. I wonder if it was important. hrm...)

In Joy & Enjoy

You learn something new every day

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...at least, you hope you do.

As you may or may not know, I've had issues with Anne... Anne Onymous.  Come to find out, she's a troll of sorts.

Been doing some research this morning, and did you know there are basically two types of blog stalkers acknowledged by professional bloggers?
Nope. Neither did I.
But I'll share what I've learned so far summed up nicely in a blog post from Mary Brandel:

Trolls 


Essentially, a troll is a person who posts with the intent to insult and provoke others, [Derek] Wood  explains. The goal is to disrupt the normal traffic of a discussion group beyond repair. "A group is considered to be cohesively destroyed when two-thirds to three-quarters of the messages are a result of [trolls'] comments," Wood explains. They often target new users, who are more likely to take offense, hence the term "troll" (as in "trolling" for newbies).


Many trolls are characterized by having an excess of free time and are probably lonely and seeking attention, Wood says. "They often see their own self-worth in relation to how much reaction they can provoke," he says.


Woods categorizes trolls in the following ways:


Spamming troll: Posts to many newsgroups with the same verbatim post.
Kooks: A regular member of a forum who habitually drops comments that have no basis on the topic or even in reality.
Flamer: Does not contribute to the group except by making inflammatory comments.
Hit-and-runner: Stops in, make one or two posts and move on.
Psycho trolls: Has a psychological need to feel good by making others feel bad.

Most of the allergy nuts from AllergyMom(-chausen's-by-email-address-disorder).com fall into either the flamer, hit-and-runner and psycho categories, if you ask me.  They stopped by only long enough to get pi$sed off at my nutty words and then moved on. Again - just my opinion. I have no proof.

Then there's this type of Blog Stalker:

Cyberstalkers 


Cyberstalkers can also assume many different forms, according to Wood, although they're basically characterized by a continuing pattern of communication  ... the recipient considers to be offensive. Other common traits of cyberstalkers are malice, premeditation, [excessive blog monitoring], repetition, distress to the victim, an obsession on the part of the stalker, seeking of revenge, threats that make victims fear for their physical safety and disregarded warnings to stop.


As with trolls, there are several different types of cyberstalkers, according to Wood:


Intimate partner: The most common type of stalker, this is usually a man who has had a history of controlling and emotional abuse during a relationship.
Delusional stalkers: This type of stalker builds an entire relationship with the victim in his or her mind, whether any prior contact has taken place or not. Such stalkers are likely to have a major mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or erotomania, which means they believe the victim is in love with them. The typical delusional stalker is unmarried, socially immature and a loner who is unable to sustain close relationships with others.
Vengeful stalker. This type of person is angry with the victim due to some real or imagined insult or injury. Some of these stalkers are psychopaths -- a person affected with an antisocial personality disorder -- who have no conscience or remorse. They may have paranoid delusions, often feeling that they themselves are victims and are striving to get even.

Hrm... Things that make you say...

The best advice they gave - DFTT! You'll have to read the article if you don't understand what that means. I had to.

In the meantime, I'll continue to blog. You continue to read (please) and all the Anne Onymouses ... or is that Onymice?... of the web may continue to get their panties in a knot over the things I've said here.  Their choice - water ya gonna do?  Ask them to get their oars out of your boat?
Nope.
You say, "Good for you!!" & "Bless yer heart!!"

In Joy & Enjoy

p(m)s. Please to give a shout-out to my eldest and her beau today. It's their anniversary. YAY! Happy Anniversary, Diana & Derek!

I'm drained

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What a week leading up to Halloween. (Wo)Man, I tell you! I wish I were a father. All I'd have to do for Halloween is... well, nothing, I suppose, 'cept eat the candy - like any other holiday. Just show up and my job would be done.

So many times in life you ask someone - anyone, really - for just some kind consideration and they blow you off; disregard your request/wishes and do what they damned-well please. Why is that?

Bleh.

So... Halloween is over, (yay!) and so is the bustle of getting costumes just right for just one night. Kinda like Thanksgiving Dinner.

Is it something only a loving mother would do? Or, is it just something only a loving mother takes the time and effort to do?  Or, cares enough to try to get it right - make her kids proud/happy?  More like tasked to do because no one else can be bothered.

But truthfully, I can't wait until my kids grow out of trick or treating. I told Jo when she turns 13 there'll be no more knocking it for her.

That's next year. Her last year of tricking people out of their treats. She put in her order tonight for a gypsy fortune teller costume for next year... gotta get on that, I suppose. Or not - as it'll more than likely change ten times by then.

Did I mention? Jo's so loaded down with homework this year.  I feel for her. I really do. She's having issues with Math/Algebra. She received an instructional DVD on that very subject from one of our favorite friends (who actually cares about her/her grades and wants to help in a constructive manner) ...I suppose s/he could've just told her how greatly displeased s/he is Jo's gotten straight 'C's this quarter by ringing her up, then ringing her out as she's brain deep in (word) problems of her own.

Maybe it'd help if the idiot sphincter(s) who continue to call or come over would respect the "please don't call or come over during the week night as Jo and Jack have tons of homework and you're doing more harm than good" request. But... NOooooooooo... What's good for "the one"... is ultimately all that matters, I suppose.  And, since the constant callers are immature children... whatcha gonna do? You're not their mother so you can't tell them what not to do. You can't boss them around or demand compliance.  You can't punish them. Your only option is to ask "please" once more and hope that maybe they'll think of someone other than themselves for a change. Maybe when they grow up they'll catch a clue... someday. And, in the meantime, perhaps they'll decide to pester the girls on the weekends instead, when time doesn't much matter.

I suppose the weekend is the ultimate (free) play time for them, though... Too busy to call my girls when they're too busy to call my girls. *sigh

Why is it the other kids don't seem to have as much to do? How do they find the time to call or come knocking at our door at night? Do they just not do it (their own work, that is)?
I don't know.
It's a mystery.

I do know I may have to turn off the phone in the afternoon/evening if the inconsiderate interruptions continue. It's my job as a mother to ensure they have Halloween Costumes that are just right, enough candy in their stockings at Christmas, enough food in their bellies, enough sleep at night, enough roof over their heads, enough clothes on their bods, enough time to do their homework .. and to ensure they're being treated with enough courtesy & respect daily, even if they are just little dudettes.

Hey, it's what I do.
I don't just Show Up. I actually bake and bring the cake! (...and a knife with which to cut it... and plates, napkins, forks for everyone... and maybe something cold to drink... and ... )

Motherhood - if it were easy everyone would be doing it.

In Joy & Enjoy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

.
BOO!

Did I scare you?
No?

Maybe these two will:

In Joy & Enjoy your Halloween.

Fair's Fair, Right?

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Yes. You're right. I'm cheating again by embedding a vid.
I'm a bit busy with Halloween Costumes, kids' school stuff and my own work. I haven't been able to write much here on my blog. However, I'm posting this gem for your consumption. It's quite interesting and gives me a bit of hope. If only. If only. If only.
How can we make them implement it?


link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq84hO_CFlI

In Joy & Enjoy