What doesn't kill you

Makes you stronger...or in my case gives me really good focus.  For reasons I can't get into I can't go into detail about what happened in my life.  Suffice it to say I know what I need to do now for my kids & for myself professionally.  With much more focus and a plan I can begin to get my life back on track.  First step is getting my name legally changed to include the maiden name I dropped when I got married.  Second step is gathering information to build a case proving mental disorder.  Third is getting this class done & interviewing for a position so I can finish this master's degree.  


After all the stress of the last few days had Zombie Apocalypse dreams last night.  Found it truly hilarious that the people causing all my stress were wiped out immediately in the dream.


Nothing can break you unless you let it.  

Suggestions please

This post is actually me being lazy instead of DMing several friends on Twitter.  Well, I'm still going to DM you guys, but all the info is right here on the blog instead of typing it each time.  So technically, still being lazy.


I'm working an idea for that lovely little story I'm plugging away at & needed a bit of input.  Main character is a first year college student who's just discovered she's a bit different from everyone she knows.  She's fairly introverted, very smart, and of Italian & Native American descent.  Looking at three different tarot decks to use for her character (yes, the deck will be in the story) and dunno which to go with.  Please have a look & let me know what you think.


The Fairy Tale Tarot
http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738708669


Tarot for Hip Witches
http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738713915


The Hidden Path
http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738710709


You can just reply through Twitter if you don't want to comment at the blog.  Thanks guys!

Alterna-names!

I got this idea from the gorgeous ladies over at Mommyland Rants.  Mentioning your kidlets on any type of social media is a catch 22 if you're talking to people who don't actually KNOW you.  After getting really tired of typing age and sex to refer to each child, I'm giving them alternate names.  Cuz it's shorter & easier, and still protects their privacy :)


So first off we have Bess, my 8 year old daughter who is being given the name of Disney's Art Talent fairy.  Bess is an artist herself (may actually post some of her work from time to time) and if any little girl were a fairy, it would be her.


Secondly we have Lightning, so named for his love of Cars.  He's three years old and has a scar on his chest from the open heart surgery he had at one week old.  So Lightning works for that, as well.  


Lastly there's Daredevil, my little 22 month old son who thinks he can do anything his older brother can.  And I do mean anything.  Will probably shorten this to Dare just to save character space on Twitter.


When I'm on Facebook I will probably just use their real names because most of the people I have friended on Facebook I've actually met in the real world.  And if I friended you there and haven't actually "met" you, consider yourself lucky :)


Oh and one other.  Anytime I refer to the Borg Queen...that's my mother-outlaw.  Because she is EVILE.  


So there you have it - I'll reference this entry anytime I get queries on who the heck I'm talking about on Twitter.  Who knows, maybe I'll come up with alterna-names for other people.  

Bedtime Prayer

Raising kidlets is a lot of work.  Let me repeat that.  Raising kiddos is a Gargantuan amount of work.  And usually something like a bedtime prayer is cake because you just pass down the ones you learned as a kid to your own kids.  Except, that the prayers I learned don't really work anymore.  Because I was raised Catholic, but once I moved out on my own and began exploring my spirituality I realized Christianity and I weren't a good fit.  I love many Christians, and have several Christian friends who are able to accept that I'm not.  And now I'm going off on a tangent.

Back to the original subject of this blog.  My oldest child has always had a problem with anxiety - she had a full blown panic attack at age 2.  So I began wracking my brain to come up with a prayer for her (and my other children) that would help her settle down at night and not make me grit my teeth while saying it.  The one I kept coming back to from my own childhood began with the lines - Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  So after much brainstorming I wrote my own bedtime prayer for my children.  I'm sharing it because there may be other parents who want to find a bedtime prayer for their kiddos, but don't want to use the standard Christian prayers.  If you don't like it, please be respectful and don't leave nasty comments.

Tonight on my sleep-lit ride
I pray the Gods to be my guide
If from slumber I should not awake
To the Summerlands I will make
Lady light my hearth tonight
Lord please drive away my frights
With this rhyme I ask of thee
As I will, So Mote It Be

New *still in progress* story

Okay so I'd like a bit of feedback on this pretty please.  It's going to be a slow-going piece of work, but hopefully it will go somewhere.  Having fun just sitting down and writing something again....it has been YEARS people.  The kids can suck the time right out of you, and with me going to school as well it's hard to find time for fun stuff like writing and scrapbooking.  Oh well, enjoy and tell me what you think :)

One

            Looking around the scene looked vaguely familiar.  I’d seen this somewhere before, but couldn’t recall where.  The dusty yard with house built into it, an outbuilding, and some livestock.  Chain link fencing surrounded the place and it seemed as though the family who lived here lived with their livestock.  It was a fairly peaceful, if dry and dusty scene.  Then everything changed.  The bull that had been docilely taking feed from the young man feeding him turned and planted one of his horns into the man’s arm.  Screaming ensued and I automatically reached for my cell phone to call 911.  The poor man had managed to get away from the bull, which was rustled into what looked like its pen.  Blood was seeping onto his shirt from the wound and I could tell he would at the very least lose the arm if help didn’t arrive soon.  “911 what is your emergency?” asked the calm voice on the other end of my phone.  “A man has been injured by a bull and he is bleeding pretty badly.  Someone needs to get out here and tend to him.”  “Yes ma’am we can dispatch someone immediately.  What is your current location?”  Suddenly I realized I had no idea where I was.  I looked around and began to panic as I realized I couldn’t give a location to the emergency people.  Was I in Lancaster?  Or Alamogordo?  And why didn’t I know where I was?  As I began babbling to the lady on the other end of the phone that I didn’t know where I was, everything began to fade.  I opened my eyes to my darkened bedroom and thought,  It was only a dream?  But it felt so REAL.  After taking a few deep breaths I settled back down to sleep.  It took awhile, but I did get back to sleep.  Saturday morning was there to greet me when next I woke.

            As is my usual morning habit on the weekends, I stayed in bed as long as my stomach could stand it.  When it became apparent that food must be eaten I pushed my blankets out of the way and climbed into daylight.  My older sister Tess is already in the kitchen having finished her own breakfast and doing the older sister thing of cleaning up.  “Wow, must have been some night for you,” she observed with raised brows. 

            “Had a really weird dream,” I mumbled as I poured orange juice into a glass.  “Couldn’t tell where I was, but it looked like either Lancaster or Alamogordo.  And you know how much I loved those places.  And some dude got poked by his pet bull….it was just weird all the way around.”  I lean against the kitchen counter and notice that Tess is now staring at me.  “What?”

            She sets down the dish towel she was using and leans on the center island.  “I did some work online this morning and came across this article on a guy who was injured by his domesticated bull.  It was a freak accident and nobody could tell what set the bull off.  But the really strange thing was there were two 911 calls when it happened.  One was made by a family member who came out and saw the man bleeding.  The other they couldn’t trace, but they had a recording of it and the girl on the other line couldn’t tell where she was….”

            I take a deep breath and set my juice down.  “Wait a minute.  Are you telling me my dream wasn’t a dream?  That I was actually there and made a phone call and all that?  How is that even possible?”  The weirdness of the morning is really beginning to get to me and my stomach is now churning.  I’ll be lucky to get anything beyond the OJ into it now.

            Tess took a deep breath.  “Well you always have been a little….odd -talking to animals and all that when you were little.  I never really thought anything about it until I got into school and saw the other kids didn’t do that kind of thing.  And Mom always was taking you aside and telling you what not to do in front of other people.  Maybe you should talk to her about it.  She has more of an idea than I do about the bizarre stuff you do.”  She gives me a teasing smile and a hug before saying, “I’m off for work.  Let me know what Mom says about the whole thing.”

            Well this is great, I think as I try to process something while it’s still way too early for my brain to process.  Having not even been awake for an hour, this was proving to be one of the more eventful days in my life.

Nifty Stuff for Cold/Flu Season

Since we're now in the middle of the most evil time of the year (cold/flu season) it is almost a requirement to purchase a humidifier.  We've tried many humidifiers over the years and some of the crap out almost immediately.  Crane makes Ultrasonic humidifiers in the shape of animals which I held out on at first because they're a bit more expensive than your basic humidifier.  I finally broke down and bought one for the boys' room.  It.  Is.  Awesome.  This thing has outlasted the other humidifiers I bought for the kids, plus it has an automatic shut off when it runs out of water.  It makes it super easy for me to stumble into the room in the middle of the night and assess if it needs a refill - red light is on it needs water, green light is on it doesn't need water.  There are also mineral filters available for these things that fit inside the tank - they're a great buy also.  Each filter lasts about 40 refills of the tank.  If you have kidlets you should really check these out - they're worth the money!

http://www.crane-usa.com/adorable-animals.html

1-21-2011

So this is just the first attempt at a blog I've done.  Still setting up the account at this point.  I think I'm going to upload stuff I've found that is nifty, stuff that really isn't nifty, fun stuff, and some writing stuff when I get around to it.  So...lots of stuff.  Eventually.  For now I'm just setting up.