smile!

Thesaurus Thursday

Just in case this is your first time by here on a Thesaurus Thursday, the "rules" of Thesaurus Thursday are as follows:

First and foremost, leave as many funny definitions for either word (or both) as you can think up in the comments!! The ones that make me laugh the hardest will be given the Silly Goose Award.


Next, if you know (or think you know) the true definitions without looking them up then be sure and leave those in the comments too!! All definitions that are correct (or close enough for government work and Mighty Mom) will win the Smarty Pants Award!
Awards will be given out in Saturday's post, so don't forget to come and see if you won!

This week's words are:

kachina or katcina or katchina

kampong or campong

Message in a Bottle

I was tagged again! thanks to Linda for this fun memessage.

"You are about to send a virtual Message In a Bottle across the Blog Ocean. Leave a message in the sand or on the bottle. Write anything you wish. Be a pirate or a poet. Serious or silly. Anonymous or not. What message would you like to send out to the universe?"

Here Are the Rules:

1. Compose a message to place in your virtual bottle.
2. Right click and SAVE the blank graphic below
3. Use a graphics program of your choice to place the message on this picture:


4. Post the Message In a Bottle meme and your creation on your blog along with these rules
5. Tag a minimum of 5 bloggers - or your entire blogroll - to do the same. Notify them of the tag.
Your virtual bottle will remain afloat in the blogosphere ocean for all blogernity (That's a Mimism for blog + eternity.)

In addition to those rules, you then need to head over to Mimi's Message in a Bottle Meme and add your site to the Mr. Linky list that she has while also leaving your blog's name and URL in a comment so that she knows you've completed the meme. She will then add it to the master list of message bottles. You can email mimiwrites2005 at yahoo.com if you have questions and , as always, participation is optional. Unless, of course, you have a problem with dungeons in which case I strongly suggest you do the darned thing and throw it back into the ocean of the blogosphere ... or something like that!

Here's my addition to the blogosphere:



And thanks to Diane J for doing that photoshop thingy that I will never figure out!

So, I am now tagging all my military/cop buddies. (cuz they have the best quotes!)
Subvet, Cookie, MilitaryDad, QuillofBill, Airbornedad, Airborne Poppa, Ballseye's Boomers

Love Love Love

Well, it seems that a lot of folks are posting marriage advice these days.

PenofJen

Penless Writer

Subvet

So I thought I'd put up my favorite advice on being/staying married. For the record, we've been married almost 9 years now.

Before we got married our pastor gave me what I consider the very best marriage advice ever.
She said that being "in love" (defined as the romance and fireworks stage) comes and goes like the tide. You have to have "love" (defined as the firm committment to each other and the relationship) to get you through the times when the tide is out.

I have learned that life is cyclical. "This too shall pass" is always true, for the good times and the bad times. The tide ALWAYS goes out. But it ALWAYS comes back in too. Our job is to hold onto our committment to each other and our promise to God while we wait for the tide to come back in. (This is a whole lot harder when you don't believe that you've made a promise to God by getting married hence the downfall of our nation...but that's another post.)

I learned early on in my marriage that getting along in the marriage is more important than him realizing I was right over a particular issue.

I also heard a lady say that marriage and parenthood were more about our holiness than our happiness. This is where we learn to give of ourselves in the way that Christ gave to us. This is where we learn what it means to love unconditionally and to sacrifice our desires for someone else's. It ain't about "being happy" all the time!

And now I'll put up a couple of songs that always go through my head these days when I think about marriage advice....don't ask me why. *scroll down for lyrics*





Misunderstood by Bon Jovi

Should I? Could I?
Have said the wrong things right a thousand times
If I could just rewind, I see it in my mind
If I could turn back time, you'd still be mine

You cried, I died
I should have shut my mouth, things headed south
As the words slipped off my tongue, they sounded dumb
If this old heart could talk, it'd say you're the one
I'm wasting time when I think about it

[Chorus:]
I should have drove all night, I would have run all the lights
I was misunderstood
I stumbled like my words, Did the best I could
Damn, misunderstood

Could I? Should I?
Apologize for sleeping on the couch that night
Staying out too late with all my friends
You found me passed out in the yard again

You cried, I tried
To stretch the truth, but didn't lie
It's not so bad when you think about it

[Chorus:]
I should have drove all night, I would have run all the lights
I was misunderstood
I stumbled like my words, did the best I could
Damn, misunderstood
Intentions good

[Guitar Solo]

It's you and I, just think about it...

[Chorus:]
I should have drove all night
I would have run all the lights
I was misunderstood
I stumbled like my words, did the best I could
I 'm hanging outside your door
I've been here before
Misunderstood

I stumbled like my words, did the best I could
Damn, misunderstood
Intentions good.


Love Song by Sara Bareilles


Head under water
And they tell me to breathe easy for a while
The breathing gets harder, even I know that
You made room for me but it's too soon to see
If I'm happy in your hands

I'm unusually hard to hold on to
Blank stares at blank pages
No easy way to say this
You mean well, but you make this hard on me
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you asked for it
'cause you need one, you see

I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you tell me it's
Make or breaking this
If you're on your way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If all you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better
Reason to write you a love song today

I learned the hard way
That they all say things you want to hear
And my heavy heart sinks deep down under you and
Your twisted words,
Your help just hurts
You are not what I thought you were
Hello to high and dry
Convinced me to please you
Made me think that I need this too
I'm trying to let you hear me as I am

I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you asked for it
'cause you need one, you see
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you tell me it's
Make or breaking this
If you're on your way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If all you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better
Reason to write you a love song today

Promise me that you'll leave the light on
To help me see with daylight, my guide, gone
'cause I believe there's a way you can love me
Because I say
I won't write you a love song
'cause you asked for it
'cause you need one, you see

I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you tell me it's make or breaking this
Is that why you wanted a love song
'cause you asked for it
'cause you need one, you see
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'cause you tell me it's make or breaking this
If you're on your way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If your heart is nowhere in it
I don't want it for a minute
Babe, I'll walk the seven seas when I believe that
There's a reason to
Write you a love song today

Sarah's Simple Sewing Secrets.

OK, this one's really simple cuz I have other things to discuss tonight.

when you pin 2 pieces of fabric together for sewing, aim the point of the pin toward the edge you are sewing. This way if you miss one and accidentally sew over a pin it will be the thinnest part of the pin and you have a better chance that the needle will slide over the pin, otherwise you will break your needle. Also, when you pin, you want the head of the pin (the ball) towards your left hand this will make it so that when you sit down to sew the pins will lay on top of the fabric in the machine and the fabric will lay flat. I usually pin about every 1-2 inches to keep things in place.

Hard Sells tick me off!!

So today we went for church directory pictures.....

I decided late last week that since this will be our first ever FAMILY PHOTO I would go ahead and get the boys dressy Easter outfits and get sister a new Easter dress (as she'll be too BIG for hers by Easter) and have our pic taken all dressed up.

Well that was my first problem.

Apparently, neither Walmart, nor Carter's, nor Oshkosh, nor Nautica, nor any other place I could get to quickly and easily sells DRESS CLOTHES FOR BOYS!!!

Subvet says "Why can't we just get a white dress shirt for each of them and slacks at Walmart and call it good?"

CAUSE WALMART DOESN'T SELL WHITE DRESS SHIRTS FOR BOYS OR DRESS SLACKS!

Now, this is nothing new, I've been griping about it ever since Sonshine was born over 4 years ago...just was particularly irksome as I went "all over hell's half acre" looking for dress clothes last night. (remember I live in the country and to go to Walmart is a 20 min drive one way...it was about 35 min to the other stores). I settled for matching polo shirts and khaki jeans that I ironed a crease in :-).

Well, we get there and (of course) trying to get 3 children (developmentally delayed) between 1 and 4 years of age to all sit still on that little table in a posed position and all look at the camera....and actually SMILE was an absolute circus. But we expected that. What I didn't expect was the hard sell I would get once our pics were ready to view.

OK, Olan Mills take note. I do NOT want some faked oil painting that will gather dust forever. I do NOT want an envelope full of 576 photos that will sit in a drawer gathering dust forever. And most importantly I DO NOT WANT MY FAMILY PHOTOS AIRBRUSHED!

I kid you not. I had to tell her 5 times NOT to "retouch" my pics. Yes, I know we have wrinkles, I happen to love every last one! I want a honest depiction of what we look like now to compare later in life...not some faked up celebrity ad. Whatever happened to just taking a picture...getting enough to send to the family and being done with it?

Next time, we go to Walmart! (although they have their own let me give you a pic that will cover the entire wall in your living room package issues too)

Well, afterward Subvet felt sorry for me and we went out as a (dressed up) family to dinner. Was our first time trying to take the hooligans out in public to eat and I have to say THEY DID WONDERFULLY!!! No fussing, no whining, no crying, no throwing food, no spills....we didn't even leave a mess on the floor! Simple miracles make me smile.

Now if I can just get over rocking out to Guns N Roses the other night...only to discover I was listening to a CLASSIC ROCK station!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sigh, bring on those wrinkledy pictures...I've earned them!

Another new blog

I waited for permission before putting up this link.

I am very proud to have gotten that permission.

Let me introduce you to airbornedad. His son is SPC Mark who is now safe and sound at Ft Bragg after way too many moons overseas fighting for us, he is a paratrooper.

Someone commented on Cookie's blog that the war video he and I (and others) posted wasn't real, it actually came from one of those stupid war-game computer things that I detest. I researched myself and yes, it does look like it's a fake.

But, unfortunately, this war is NOT a fake and good soldiers are dying.

I would like for each of you to read a soldier's story about a day at war. Told in his own words.

thanks to airbornedad for the permission to tell others his son's story. Thanks to SPC Mark for defending me.

Spotlighting a new blog

Well, folks,

I'm not out there looking for new blogs to read. Really I'm not. I like my little circle of friends and it takes me about 3-4 hours to go down my favs list as it is...but I do try and go visit all new commentors here and every now and again a new commentor on another blog will catch my eye.

I happened to come across Airborne Poppa's comments a couple of times hither and yon and thought he was a cool guy. So last night (at work no less) I finally made it around to his blog. Mark 1:11

I found there seven of the most moving, well written posts I've come across lately. And I encourage y'all to take a few mins and go read his blog. My favorite of his posts is "You have a son" (take a tissue).

Besides, in a comment on Subvet's blog he said "Subvet, you don't have a chance, Mighty Mom has you covered on the net and on the home front."

Now you know flattery is a Mighty powerful tool!! ;-)

And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Mark 1:11

Tiny Talk Tuesday

TINY TALK TUESDAY is once again upon us. Go see Mary at Not Before 7 to see more of this fun event.


Alas, Mightymom's Memory Misplaces Munchkin Moments..............

Sonshine said something that cracked me up....now I'm having a hard time remembering what it was we were talking about.



Well, this isn't an exact quote but it's in the neighborhood.

Mom, "Did you have a good supper?"

Sonshine, "YEEES"

Mom, "Was it yummy?"

Sonshine, "YEES, I am eating yummy stuff, like Daddy!"

(Daddy is very important around here....we put on our own clothes like Daddy, we wear big boy underwear like Daddy, we poop in the potty like Daddy, and apparently we eat like Daddy too!)

WORD VERIFICATION

I have had to enable the word verification feature. Sorry to those of you who are irritated by this (as I am) but I have had to delete 2 comments in the last week containing only links without profiles and I do not want any of my regular readers to mistakenly click on a link in a comment thread.

If this does not keep the trolls at bay then I will enable comment moderation.

Sorry for the inconvience folks....guess I finally came up on someone's radar out there.

THIS POST WILL STAY AT THE TOP FOR A BIT, SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW POSTS.

You're Invited

This adorable little princess is my cousin's daughter. If any of you in the area are interested, come on down! Enlarge the picture for all details. I'll answer questions as they come up :-)

Adding a name to the soldier prayer list

PFC Kody Anderson

This name comes to me from Airborne Poppa, it is the name of his son's "battle buddy". This young man is currently overseas fighting and his father recently passed away.

God bless him and his family.
Amen.

Thesaurus Thursday Winners

Sorry this is so late, I was working on it last night then my internet connection got dropped and I decided my hubby looked way to comfortable asleep in there to be alone....

Well, we have 2 winners today!! They each one both categories!!
Congrats Ladies.

Silly Goose Winners:


Diane J
Peruke - A musical style akin to baroque, but of a less gentrified style, heard mostly in the slums and ghettos.

Usage: "Hey, D'Montay, crank us up some peruke on yo' ra-didi-0!"



Linda
Squill - a small storm, not quite a squall


Smarty Pants Winners:


Linda
Peruke - believe it or not, I know this one from having read way too many period romances - it's another word for a man's wig like the ones that they wore during the time of Louis the XIV.

Diane J
Hmm...I know what squill is (are??).
It's a spring flowering bulb.


Official Definitions:


squill - 1 the bulb of the sea onion, Urginea maritima of the lily family, cut ito thin slices and dried; used esp. as an expectorant 2 the plant itself 3 any related plant of the genus Scilla






peruke - a man's wig of the 17th and 18th centurids, ussu powedered and gathered at the back o th eneck with a ribbon; periwig.

American Pie

This is a song that has fascinated me for years.
Thanks to Cookie for digging up this very informative video

An Honor

Well, Gator-boy injured my knee. Somehow or another he slammed into my feet while I had my legs crossed one too many times...or flopped over on my dangling foot one too many times...or something. My knee has been bothering me for about a month now. I noticed that it didn't hurt while I was at work and attributed that to my wearing support hose.

SO, this lead me to be at Walmart at 8AM Saturday (yesterday) to buy a knee support to wear at home.

In the aisle with the supports was a soldier in uniform. All I could tell you was he was wearing Army fatigues as I tried not to stare at him for details (soldiers are people too you know).

This soldier came up behind me as I was checking out.

So, I did something that is very hard for me to do.

I turned around and spoke to him.

Then I screwed up all my courage (I'm rather shy), held out my hand and said "God Bless you sir." And I meant it with all my heart. It occured to me on the way home...he could be dead in a year....dead for my freedom.

It was an honor to shake a soldier's hand and I'm so glad I took the 10 seconds to do it. Next time I see a soldier out and about I will make sure I shake their hand too.

And here's a couple of videos I got from Cookie ....
Just to remind you how real this war is. This taken from a C-130 Gunship during an attack by insurgents on British troops...

the good guys are flashing...bad guys are solid white

Show and Tell

OK, for Sarah's Simple Sewing Secrets I told you how I changed a jumper I'd bought from Hallowe'en to Winter....so....

Here it is.



This is so very easy to do.

Maybe I'll tell different ways to applique one day?? (or not, you tell me)

Guns in Schools

Subvet and I have been discussing this for some time. Now a blogging friend (and NY cop) has weighed in on the subject!

All we are doing by creating gun-free zones is painting a big red bull-eye on the building!!

Our Write In Candidate!

Jungle Mom for President!!




Read her platform!! It makes a lot of sense!!!

Thesaurus Thursday

Wow, It's already Thursday night again...ummmm make that Friday morning....

I've had a very nice day off, I kept the kids so Subvet could make his Knights of Columbus meeting. Then, once they were in bed I argued with a few companies because they wanted to charge me a returned check fee for the checks that I called them and told them had been canceled due to our mail getting stolen....then they wanted to charge me a returned payment fee cause the electronic payment I used wasn't transferred to the new checking account like the bank said it would be "automatically"...and of course all of this means the payments are late so those lovely people decided to charge me a late fee. I kid you not folks, 1 credit card had a balance of 18.22 at the end of Jan and now it's 115...JUST BECAUSE OF FEES!! We don't use the damn thing. OH, yeah, we don't have checks on the new account yet so I have to pay all these fees with another electronic payment....so I get to pay an electronic payment fee too!! *sigh*

Diana asked where I got the answers to the Fairy Tale Pop Quiz. I took 2 years of Pre-Med in college then switched to Pre-Nursing. So I had the basic courses already done before the switch, but still needed to be a full time student so I got to take some classes that were just fun to me. I took 2 classes just becaus I liked the teachers and I took a family development class just for grins. It was cool and one of the class presentations I did was on where fairy tales came from. I researched several, hunting up origins and meanings to all kinds of rhymes and tales. Most of them I've forgotten, but the story behind Ring around the Rosey stuck with me. I also have a 2 Vol set of Children's stories from around the world that my mom got when I was a kid and it has the "original" Cinderella version. When Sonshine was a baby my mom bought a set of Beatrix Potter books that had the original stories in it. I've thrown them all away as I hated them. She seriously needed a better editor. The stories are long and tedious with no moral and very little plot (even for a kid's book) in addition to antiquated language that I don't always understand (pinafores) the characters frequently behaved in a manner that I didn't agree with (such as lying about the kids misbehaving) so that stuck in my mind too. And Goonight Moon was the first book that Sonshine could quote so it's permanently planted in memory. So, this time around, I'd have to say that I found this stuff in my feeble brain. I've often made the comment that my head is full of useless information....

Pinky, remember the grade school taunts?? Well, I'm crazier than you are!! Am So!! Actually Sugars is pulling Gator's hair, and for the most part he lets her. So does Sonshine. Go figure. The boys absolutely dote on this girl. We had to take away all the Lincoln Logs because we kept finding the really short ones in her playpen, brothers wanted her to have "something" to play with!

MammyT, I'm getting there, I'm getting there!!

So, before MammyT goes into anticipatory convulsions over there.....

Our words this week are:
peruke
squill

Just in case this is your first time by here on a Thesaurus Thursday, the "rules" of Thesaurus Thursday are as follows:

First and foremost, leave as many funny definitions for either word (or both) as you can think up in the comments!! The ones that make me laugh the hardest will be given the Silly Goose Award.


Next, if you know (or think you know) the true definitions without looking them up then be sure and leave those in the comments too!! All definitions that are correct (or close enough for government work and Mighty Mom) will win the Smarty Pants Award!
Awards will be given out in Saturday's post, so don't forget to come and see if you won!

Fairy Tale Answers!!

1) yes, Cinderella came from sweeping out the chimney which is why that song cracks me up as her name WASN'T pretty!

2) In the version I was referring to they cut off parts of their feet, one cut off a slice of her heel and the other loped off her big toe.

3)bubonic plague, the sores were called "roseys" and when the disease progressed a ring would form around the sores. Posey (the flower) was considered a treatment for the sores. "ashes ashes" came from cremating the bodies of the dead. "We all fall down" as in drop dead. Kinda makes you rethink singing the song huh?

4)In the original version of the story by Beatrix Potter Mrs Twitchit was so mad when she found her kittens without clothes and dirty that she gave them all a bath, spanked them and sent them upstairs, then when her friends came over (the reason for the clothes in the first place) she told the friends that her kittens were sick and couldn't come down to tea. (ie, she lied).

5) "a bowl full of mush and a quiet old lady who is whispering 'hush' " which Subvet and I do daily....sometimes not quite in a whisper ;-)

Thanks for all the answers folks, this was fun.

SCROLL DOWN

There are several new posts.....please scroll down and see today's Tiny Talk and try your hand at my pop quiz!

Thanks.

Sarah's Simple Sewing Secrets.

OK, anyone out there bought a dress or shirt with a design on the front that was only good for one month?

I did.

I was newly pregnant (my excuse) with Gator-boy and saw these cute denim jumpers with fall embroidery on the front at WalMart. So I went searching through the back of the rack and found a size bigger than I was at the moment and threw it in the basket.

Now, I like fall decoration, leaves, pumpkins, cornucopias and the like. I really don't like Hallowe'en decorations, witches, bats, spiders and such. Can you see where this is going yet??

YUP, apparantly on that rack there were several different styles of decorated jumpers and the one I got home with was Hallowe'en to the max.

Well, I wore it for the month of October, then thought "now what?" I mean the thing still fit and it was the only dress that did. I don't have money to go buy a bunch of maternity clothes and hadn't yet discovered the great treasure trove of borrowed maternity clothes that was to come for my last pregnancy.

So, I took my favorite winter fabric which has snowmen on it and made a huge stocking which I then applique'ed ontop of all that Hallowe'en embroidery. Heeheehee. Now I have a jumper that I still wear from Nov through Feb. Much more use than that old Hallowe'en stuff ever got!

So, who's afraid of the big word "applique"?? I was for the longest time!!

Here's the scoop. All it means is sewing one thing on top of another. As in you are applying one piece of fabric to another piece. If you have a big section of fabric and lay a smaller section on top of it, then sew in place you have just completed an applique. Doesn't matter how you sew it on, there are many ways of doing that. Most mending of clothing is done by applique, think of sewing a patch on a sleeve elbow or the knee of pants, or sewing on a piece of fabric to cover a tear in a comforter or quilt. Sewn a patch on a uniform? Sewn a design on a shirt? All is applique.

My tip to you this week is, when you're tired of a design on a piece of clothing that still fits well, or the design has faded, find something you love to cover it up with. We, as a nation, waste too much money on perfectly good clothing.

For Show and Tell I'll put up pics of the jumper I changed from Hallowe'en to Winter.

The next big word that scares me is decoupage............

Sew a little smile into your day today.

Fairy Tale Pop Quiz.....

Dear Sonshine started singing the theme song to Cinderella last night. He did such a good job that I (in the other room) thought he was watching the show..only to find the TV off.

Now, that song starts with "Cinderella....you're as lovely as your name...." which got me to laughing. And brought about today's pop quiz.

1) How did Cinderella get her name?
2) In the (older versions) story, what lengths did the two step-sisters go to in order for the glass slipper to fit?
3) What did the rhyme "Ring Around the Rosey" refer to?
4) In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, what did Mrs Twitchit do when she found her kittens without clothes?
5) What is the Little Old Lady in Goodnight Moon doing?

Tiny Talk Tuesday

TINY TALK TUESDAY is once again upon us. Go see Mary at Not Before 7 to see more of this fun event.


I've thought long and hard about this for this week, and I have no idea how best to explain this situation.

See, Gator-boy talks to us a lot. But not in any language we can understand. He will walk up to you and in all seriousness look you straight in the eye and talk. Then will say "OK?" and walk off. We've decided to sign him up for ESL classes, but they don't give them in Gatorese. It comes to mind tonight because 2 different times today people who aren't usually around him actually thought he was telling them something and expected me to translate. Sorry, I don't speak Gatorese. Do you??



This kid marches to the beat of a different drummer....anyone recognize his drumstick/baton and hat/drum???



And, just to be fair I'll put in a video of Sugars "talking" to the phone....

Sending you over yonder.

OK, be sure and scroll all the way down as there are several new posts up tonight.

But, before you do that.

Go and visit InfantryDad.

His son is PFC Matthew Rider.

"Matt is at FOB Normandy, Mugdadiya.
He has been a gunner on a Stryker, but I'm not sure what he's doing lately. Still on the Stryker is all I know." says Infantry Dad in a recent comment.

I will warn you the pictures in his post are REAL.

You may need a tissue.

8,000 more or less!

Well, big hugs and congrats to my TWO winners!! The actual number 8,000 was me believe it or not so I'm gonna give my big hugs to Diane J. number 7,999 and Bumblevee, number 8,001.

So, Bumblevee asked me how I know who is what number hit. This is the information given to the blogowner by sitemeter. This is me. I used myself cause I don't want to tell more than necessary about my readers and because my DSL goes through Dallas which isn't where I actually live, so I can post this and still feel safe that no one will be knocking on my door from blog-land.


Domain Name swbell.net ? (Network)
IP Address 6.95.4.# (SBC Internet Services)
ISP SBC Internet Services
Location Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Texas
City : Dallas
Lat/Long : 32, -96 (Map)

Language English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System Microsoft WinNT
Browser Internet Explorer 7.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor Resolution : 1440 x 900
Color Depth : 32 bits

Time of Visit Feb 18 2008 12:56:00 am
Last Page View Feb 18 2008 1:37:29 am
Visit Length 41 minutes 29 seconds
Page Views 5
Referring URL http://www.blogger.c...=4945540383960735594
Visit Entry Page http://texassiren.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://texassiren.blogspot.com/
Out Click Site Meter
http://www.sitemeter...sp?site=s37mightymom
Time Zone UTC-6:00
Visitor's Time Feb 18 2008 12:56:00 am
Visit Number 8,000


I can take this info and match times to comments left along with what I know about folk to figure out who's who. I know that bumblevee lives in Canada and her out click page was the post a comment page. Then I look and see her comment voila! She's number 8,001.

You can see I've been online for awhile here, I am writing up a bunch of posts so I can quickly post throughout the week as I am working Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri nights this week. And I really want you folks to keep coming by to visit me :-)....

So, BIG HUGS to Diane and Bumblevee!! Thanks for reading my drivel!

A little funny for your day

Mrs. Donovan was walking down O'Connell Street in Dublin when she met up with Father McNamara.

The Father said, 'Top o' the mornin' to ye! Aren't ye Mrs. Donovan and didn't I marry ye and yer husband two years ago?'

She replied, 'Aye, that ye did, Father.'

The Father asked, 'And be there any wee little ones yet?'

She replied, 'No, not yet, Father.'

The Father said, 'Well now, I'm going to Rome next week and I'll light a candle for ye and yer husband.'

She replied, 'Oh, thank ye, Father.'

They then parted ways.

Some years later they met again.

The Father asked, 'Well now, Mrs. Donovan, how are ye these days?'

She replied, 'Oh, very well, Father!'

The Father asked, 'And tell me, have ye any wee ones yet?'

She replied, 'Oh yes, Father! Three sets of twins and 4 singles, 10 in all!'

The Father said, 'That's wonderful! How is yer loving husband doing?'

She replied, 'E's gone to Rome to blow out yer candle.'



Ummmm, I think Subvet can relate....... ;-)

Lucky Number 8,000

Well, according to sitemeter, which has been in place the longest....I am at visit number 7,997....

So, the big question is, who's going to be number 8,000????

What shall I do for lucky number 8,000??

We shall have to see won't we?

YeeHaw!

Linda at Are We There Yet? Seems to think I make her day! Here's what she said: "Mighty Mom at My Wonderful Life because there's another talented woman who juggles home, work, and her blog with a sense of humor and adventure."

Now, that's just cool. Thanks Linda!

Wow, now comes the hard part....who makes my day?? Well, every time I see a comment it makes my day. Everytime I get a new red dot on my map over yonder it makes my day. My kids make my day. My hubby makes my day, especially when he says things like "Go To Bed, Now! You're sounding fried. It's your day off, go sleep as long as you want, I won't wake you up and will keep the noise level down to a dull roar." As he did when I got home from church with all 3 hooligans/hooliganette today. So, I going to give this award to my hubby, Subvet. He has a great blog, Blowin San #1 but hasn't posted much here lately....maybe we can convince him that he's missed and needs to get back to posting instead of just lurking :-) Please go and weigh in on his latest post...it's a killer one!

It's Saturday.

Well now, I wanted to see my videos again so I clicked on them and youtube said they were no longer available....I went to youtube and there they are, plain as day so I have no idea what that's all about.

I'm glad that all of you enjoyed that little tip. Keep practicing it and you'll get it down. Also, start with a larger eye/needle to learn.

Usually I read through the dictionary to get my Theasaurus Thursday words, but Subvet had printed off an essay written by a priest for me to read and there were several words I didn't know in it so I used 2 for this week. Seems that y'all are "smarter" than I am so I won't be doing that again ;-)




I'm giving all of you the smarty pants award and Linda gets the Silly Goose Award for one very silly definition!




For the record, the "official" definitions are as follows:

surfeit - 1 excess; an excessive amount. 2 excess or overindulgence in eating or drinking. 3 an uncomfortably full feeling due to excessive eating or drinking 4 general disgust caused by excess or satiety 5 to supply or feed to excess or satiety; satiate 6 to indulge in something as food or drink, to excess.

exegetical is a form of the word exegesis - critical explanation or interpretation, esp of Scripture.

So there you have it!

I missed Show and Tell this week, I'll try to get it together next week. I may have to write all my regular posts ahead of time and then just post through the week or something, we'll see...but my hits dropped way off yesterday and I think it's because there wasn't something fabulous for you to see huh? I had to call in sick last night cause my allergies/cold/whatever was just too bad to cope with. Glad I did cause I slept right through till 2AM! :-) Then I was able to give Subvet a little time off this morning, we stay at home parents know that sometimes you just have to GET AWAY FROM THOSE KIDS!! He went to the library and hung out for a couple of hours. We're very thrill seeking folks round here, let me tell you. Before we had kids we could spend HOURS in either a library or a Barnes N Nobles!

So, tonight's burning question.

What's your favorite way to spend alone time??

Have a good weekend, I'll be around lurking......

Thesaurus Thursday

I'm at work,...can't stay online too long or will get in trouble.

New words are
surfeit

exegetical.

Please see last week's Thesaurus Thursday post for "the scoop" if you're not familiar with our game.

Sorry so brief, I'll be back on Saturday for Winners and chitchat.

video tutorial for SSSS

WOW!!

after weeks with very few comments on this post I've finally found something y'all want!! wooohoooo!!

OK, Subvet video-taped me threading a needle, twice. Then he said "That's it!!??!! That's how you thread a needle????!!! That's so easy a blind man could do it!!! Here, let me try."

So you have a video of me doing it then a video of him doing it. His hands are much larger than mine so he adapted it to fit him and got it easily. As they say, the proof's in the pudding.






I grabbed my embordery thread and needle out of my current cross stitch project so this is a huge needle with a big eye, which is very good to start practicing this technique, but it's harder to get all 3 strands of floss threaded so I'd recommend just trying one to start with.

Now, the key to this is practice--LOTS. And teach your hands how to do it without looking. Like learning to type without looking at the keyboard, it just takes patience and repitition.

I want to thank Subvet for being a terrific sport!! You saw the first time he tried to thread a needle "my way" and he did a great job! He can hand sew and do basic mending, but hasn't sewn anything in at least 10 years that I know of.

Sarah's Simple Sewing Secrets.

How to thread a needle with your eyes shut.

Or more accurately, How to thread a needle without looking for the tiny hole.
Yup, it's true. It takes practice but it can be done. And it's darned useful cuz the first thing that most sewers have a hard time with is threading the needle as the eyesight declines.

So, here's what you do. I'll try to get hubby to take a pic during the day to add to this post, it might help. But for now use your imagination and act this out with me.

I must start with a disclaimer. I thread needles left-handed. Always have. There are several things I do south/pawed even though I am right-handed and this is one of them so you may need to reverse the hands.

OK, here we go.

Lay in front of you a needle with a medium hole and a length of thread. Black is good to start with as it is more easily seen.

Hold up both hands.

Pick up the needle in your "right" (non-dominant) hand. Turn the needle so that you can not see the hole, or any part of the hole. Hold with thumb and index finger, bracing with middle finger if needle is long. Hold firmly, you don't want it to shift or turn on you.

Pick up the thread with your "left" (dominant) hand. Hold between thumb and index finger very close to the end. about 1/4 to 3/8 in from end. lick end of thread to stiffen. If there are straggling pieces of thread then cut the end clean. It helps to cut the end of the thread at an angle (about 45 degrees) so there is a point on the top. Again, hold the thread firmly.

Now, lay the middle finger of your "left" hand on top of the index finger of your "right" hand. and the ring finger of your "left" hand on top of the middle finger of your "right" hand. Press the two hands together at the overlapping fingers firmly so that both hands will move as a unit. This is the trick. My hands tend to shake periodically, but I hardly ever have trouble threading needles because when they're resting firmly on each other then if they shake, they do so in unison and it doesn't mess up me finding the hole that I'm not looking at.

Move ONLY your thumb and index finger of the "left" hand forward, putting the thread through the hole in the needle.

Here's a couple of pointers.

Almost all needles have the hole at the very top of the needle so aim your thread just barely below the tip of the needle.

Be sure that you can not see any part of the hole when you look straight at the needle, this will ensure that the hole is directly in front of the thread you are holding.

If you want to look at the hole at first to practice, do not turn the needle to see it, rather turn both hands so that the placement does not change.

Practice doing this many times. You want to teach the placement to your hands till it feels like second nature.

NO MORE SQUINTING!!

Again, I'll try to get a video of me threading a needle put up later in the week so check back.

Sew a little love in your world this week!
Sarah.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

TINY TALK TUESDAY is once again upon us. Go see Mary at Not Before 7 to see more of this fun event.

Gator-boy, "cup please, cup please"

Mom, "here you go."

Gator takes cup, takes a drink then turns cup (with straw) upside down to watch the water run out the straw onto the floor.

Mom, "NO!! NO!!"

Gator hands Mom cup, says "all done" and walks away.

YIKES! This kid's gonna give me grey hair!!

Hooray! I Lost!!

Not something you see very often, but in this case it's true!

As of today we are 1 month into our race to lose 50lbs. And I have thus far lost 5.4lbs. Wooohoo!!!

It helps that I've gone back to work cuz I try every work night to spend one of my 15min breaks walking the premises. That more than any other change has helped for sure!!

Other aspects of life in our house aren't going so well, MDs keep screwing up requests for referrals or prescriptions, we have checks "bouncing" because we had to change the checking accounts that I'm trying to keep up with...while waiting for new checks, Oh, and the refrigerator has decided to stay in "defrost mode"...thereby keeping our frozen food at 40 and our refrigerated food at 60.


BUT! We have a large extra freezer outside we moved everything into and with my first paycheck that came last friday we can actually afford to get the fridge fixed.
And, most importantly, my children are safe, happy, healthy, and well cared for. Which is more than my dear friend Linda can say. Now, some of you wonderful friends expressed some concern about the validity of this post and whether it was wise for me to herald what could be a false claim.

I want to THANK YOU very sincerely from the bottom of my heart for being so concerned about me!!

If it were not for the fact that I do know Linda and know that she'll actually get whatever is raised, I would never have posted Maggie's plea for money on her behalf. This situation is painfully real, if you want more information then I recommend reading through the comments on my last post "A Friend in Need." as Linda tells her story in her own words there.


Now, I know that you've been waiting with bated breath for the winners of Thesaurus Thursday!! I apologize for being so late getting this out as I worked Fri, Sat, and Sun nights and was wiped out during the days.





Our Silly Goose Winners are
Diane J.
Kalathos - noun. A Greek word for callus.

Stephanie
Mizzle--that's a muzzle for those micro-dogs: mini-chihuahuas, mini-yorkies, etc.




Our Smarty Pants Winner is
bumblevee
mizzle..... this is a combination of mist and fine drizzle...

The official definitions are
Kalathos - n a fruit basket having a conventionalized shape of a lily, used in ancient Greek and Roman art as a symbol of fertility. Often calathus.

Mizzle - v.i. 1) to rain in fine drops; drizzle; mist. -n 2) a misty drizzle.

A Friend in Need

So, a show of hands please, who knows Linda of Are We There Yet?

She's written in her blog about how she's down lately so I emailed her to see if there was anything I could do to help. She sent me this link.

Once I read it and cried my eyes out for my friend so far away I copied and pasted the entire post here. All the links go back to Ms Maggie Moo's blog where you can find the button to donate and help this mother fight for her child.

Linda, I love you dearly and am praying fervently for your victory in this fight for your dear daughter. You're a wonderful mom. God Bless, Sarah.


Home
***AFTER READING THIS POST, PLEASE CONSIDER COPYING IT AND POSTING IT ON YOUR BLOG-THE MORE EXPOSURE THIS GETS, THE BETTER***

She tries to sleep, but she can’t-the noises coming from the only bedroom in the trailer are too loud, too embarrassing. Rolling over she faces the wall and hopes that her father will finish what he’s doing and that her step-mother won’t make any more noise.





She’s living every teenage girl’s nightmare.

It’s bad enough that she was torn from her friends in Kentucky-but living here, in this cramped, dirty trailer with no privacy and no indoor shower is the icing on the cake. Fitting in at school was out of the question-her father made sure of that by not allowing her to socialize outside of class & eventually, she woke up one morning knowing that she would no longer walk the halls of freedom, but instead would be taught in the very trailer she slept in.

It’s probably for the best, she thinks-if anyone ever found out that they make me wear hand me down underwear I’d be the laughing stock of the state anyway…


She wishes she could move home-to her real home-with her mother and sister in Connecticut. There she would be nurtured and cared for, and allowed to be a teenager…allowed to have opinions and ideas and to cut her hair the way she likes it.


But she knows she can’t. He’s making sure of that too…




Jamie wants to come home.



Many of you know Linda from Are We There Yet? And perhaps you know that she has two daughters, Amanda and Jamie. Amanda lives with Linda here in CT and Jamie lives in Florida with her father and his wife.


Life for Jamie is not going well.


Jamie is living a lonely life in a cramped, dirty trailer with guardians who won’t allow her to be an individual. She is not allowed to have friends. She can’t choose her own music or movies and she can’t even cut her hair. She has to shower in a common area of a camp ground because her “home” doesn’t have a shower.




She is homeschooled by her stepmother-a woman who is not qualified to take on such a task and Jamie is, for sure, behind other kids her age academically. No doubt, she will also fall behind socially as well.

Though Jamie has expressed to her father that she wants to move to Connecticut to live with her mother, he will not allow it. His reasoning is that Linda is not a good mother.

His reasoning is bull shit.

When Jamie visits, it is easy to see that she flourishes. Her smile is bright and it’s clear that being allowed to smile and laugh and to be a little quirky is the reason. Anyone who reads Linda’s blog knows that she is a caring and attentive mother who strives to give both of her children what they deserve.

The man that Jamie and Amanda call Dad is not a good man. He remarried and is completely wrapped up in his new marriage and does not care what happens to Jamie. If he believes that Linda is a bad mother because Amanda has blue hair, then I wonder what he would say if she were to cast her daughter out of her life simply because she was a little different…

Of course, Linda would never do that-but he did. Amanda lived with her father at one time, and was sent back to live with Linda because she didn’t “fit in” to the family he wanted to create. He no longer speaks to her. Now tell me, how can a man who disowns one daughter ever be a better parent than one who loves unconditionally?

He can’t.

And that’s why Jamie needs to come home.

Being a single mother who makes “too much money” (read: she makes over the poverty level) Linda does not qualify for financial assistance for legal aid, and therefore is having trouble getting a lawyer’s attention. In CT, courts consider a custody award as subject to change until the child involved grows up, and in most states proof of a "change in circumstances" may overturn an earlier award. This flexibility is intended to allow for the correction of poor or outdated decisions.


Jamie has vocalized to both parents that she wishes to move. Her dad has vocalized that it will never happen. Linda made a promise to Jamie that she would do anything in her power to get here home.

But she needs our help.

On my sidebar I have posted a magic button-this magic button allows you to donate to the Get Jamie Home Legal Fund. The faster you click, the faster you will help change the life of one little girl who very much needs a new life.

Please help. We’ve seen in the past that every penny helps…even if you can only donate $5, please consider doing it.






Jamie needs to come home.

Thesaurus Thursday

What a nightmare!! Last week our mail was stolen out of our mailbox and scattered up and down the street, both the incoming (can you say credit card offers?) and outgoing (can you say checks with account numbers??) with at least one envelope opened and the check missing. So, I've been spending quite a bit of time on the phone to various people closing our checking account and opening a new one, paying the bills that needed to be paid and putting a fraud alert on our credit reports so if anyone tries to open a line of credit the agency will call the number I gave it for verification first.

So, laughter being the best medicine. Let's see what we can do with our game this week:


Just in case this is your first time by here on a Thesaurus Thursday, the "rules" of Thesaurus Thursday are as follows:

First and foremost, leave as many funny definitions for either word (or both) as you can think up in the comments!! The ones that make me laugh the hardest will be given the Silly Goose Award.


Next, if you know (or think you know) the true definitions without looking them up then be sure and leave those in the comments too!! All definitions that are correct (or close enough for government work and Mighty Mom) will win the Smarty Pants Award!



Our words for this week are:

kalathos

mizzle

Awards will be given out in Saturday's post, so don't forget to come and see if you won!

Sarah's Simple Sewing Secrets.

Here's a quick one, when you need to sew two pieces of fabric together and they're supposed to be the same size but ~~uh-hum~~ aren't, pin the ends together, pin in the middle of the longer one to the middle of the shorter one, then pin in middle of each unpinned section. Keep doing this till you've got pins regularly down the length. Then put the side that is longer on the bottom and sew. Your machine's "feed dogs" will ease in the excess fabric evenly and you will have minimal puckering. :-) --trust me, I'm a master at this one!!--

Birthday??

This cracks me up as my daughter shares my birthday!

Your Birthdate: March 2

You're so intuitive, it's like you have a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense. You connect with others freely and easily - and you tend to have many best friends. Warm and caring, it's hard for you to close your heart to anyone. Affection is like air for you - you need to give and receive it to survive. Your strength: Your universal compassion Your weakness: Your unpredictable mood swings Your power color: Mauve Your power symbol: Butterfly Your power month: February

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Tiny Talk Tuesday

TINY TALK TUESDAY is once again upon us. Go see Mary at Not Before 7 to see more of this fun event.

* heard through the closed door as I "slept" yesterday *

Daddy, "Your dresser drawers are a NO TOUCH! Do you understand me??!!"

Sonshine, "Yes Ma'am."




Mom, snicker, snicker, snicker.

things that help.

well, it usually helps if you type in your password before you hit enter!

I can not tell you how many times I have typed in my username in various places then just hit enter. GEE!

I thank you all for your responses to my worker safety post. I caught the head of the facility/security Mon morning after my shift and had a heart to heart with him. I told him in no uncertain terms that if my hubby didn't feel I was safe he was gonna make me quit.

He said that once JCoH comes by and gives the hospital the official accredidation and Medicare # then he would be hiring a security guard to be there probably from 3-11pm. Then the facility would be locked down, no one in, period. I asked him about the family member. He said there was a policy written by "nursing" (my Director and a corporate RN) that visiting hours end at 8pm and if anyone calls wanting us to answer the door we were perfectly right to tell them we couldn't as visiting hours were over, per hospital policy. :-) So no more of that nonsense while I'm on duty!! About the nurse call alarm he said that all our outside doors now have audible/visual alarms and if any of them was to go off then I should call 911, but he would "prefer" I check out a nurse call light before calling as it was just faulty wiring....but he also understood that I had no way of knowing there was faulty wiring in the system before the light went off and he said his priority was keeping staff and patients safe so to do as I saw fit...

He agreed with me that we no longer live in a safe world and we must be pro- rather than re- active. I actually think that the world was never safe and we've just lost the fantasy..but that's just me.

To Glenn's comment. It's a private hospital, and I really have no desire to go to work armed. But it does get people's attention about how strongly I feel about my safety to start such a discussion. So far as barricading myself in a place with a weapon. Well, we have several rooms that you have to know a combination code to enter, the med room being one. And in the med room we have these lovely little things called syringes with needles. All sizes. Should someone get close enough to me I could kill them quickly and easily with an empty syringe. (air embolism) So I'm not too worried about self protection on the floor. Actually, when the other nurse and I went downstairs to check out that call light I took a big old syringe and my ball-point pen with me. I still remember waaaaaaaaay back to my self-defense class in college of all the useful things you can do with a ball-point.


Onto gardening, I water the bed everytime there's a freeze warning and they're fine. I haven't yet lost them to frost. Funny thing happened last year though. Remember all the rain we had?? Well the day after my hyacinths bloomed we had this big windstorm that blew off all the blooms :( then it rained forever. The stalk and leaves kept on growing...and growing. I wish I'd taken a picture. I kid you not, by the time I cut the things back the stalk was 2.5 feet long and the leaves 2 feet. This for a bulb that's only supposed to be about 6-8inches tall. I don't know if that'll do em in or not, I'm waiting to see if they come back. The tulip leaves got enormous too. It was really weird!! If I'd been blogging back then it would have been a post to remember!

Thesaurus Thursday Winners

Our winner of the Silly Goose Award this week is:

MammyT said...
oubliette (oo-blee-yet') A noun. An East Indian word for 'a female elephant driver'. 'Oublieeee', with the second syllable held out as long as possible, is the call used to round up the elephant herd for transport. When feminism gained a foothold in rural parts of India and women began competing for careers in elephant driving, they were nicknamed 'oubliettes' by their male counterparts who used it as a derogatory term.


The real definitions are:
oubliette - n a secret dungeon wih an opening only in the ceiling.

pursy - 1) short winded, esp from fatness, 2) fat or obese, 3) vain about one's wealth; purse-proud.

Show and Tell

Well, I've read on several blogs laments about how much snow some of you good folks are getting. I sure do feel bad for you. So bad that for show and tell tonight I'm going to post pics of what my little flower bed looked like yesterday.




This is an Easter Lily that I bought as a flowering potted plant in 03 and stuck in the ground.....




Here you can see the daffodils and tulips I bought as potted plants 2 years ago as well as the iris that I transplanted from the back yard last summer. They weren't blooming back there as a) they didn't get much sun in the stupid places the previous owner of this house put them and b) my husband kept mowing them down when he would "weed" the beds. Sometime over the next few weeks I'll get out there and clear all that clover that grows wild in my beds.

I'm hoping that my hyacinths will show up here in the next month too!

I love bulbs but have never had any luck buying dry bulbs in bulk. I don't know if I plant them too deep or upside down or what but they never come up. I do much better with the potted plants...as you can see. :-)

Don't forget to play Thesaurus Thursday!

worker safety.

On my first day or two of work I asked my Director of Nursing if I could bring my (legal) gun to work to keep in my (locked) locker. He nearly peed his pants. Guess me carrying a gun didn't fit with his impression of me. There are no signs posted anywhere in this hosp that it's "gun free" so I thought it was a fair question.

Later, during hosp orientation I asked the guy in charge of the facility including security if it was a gun free zone. He said yes, but they didn't have the signs up yet.

Here's what happened last night.

We have 2 floors, each with 25 patient rooms. After 8pm the front doors are locked and EVERYONE except me, 1 other RN and the 5 patients leaves. There is no security guard, although one is promised to be obtained at some point in the future.

All the patients and us nurses are on the second floor. At about 9pm a call light starts going off ON THE FIRST FLOOR.

Here's a quandry. There's not supposed to be anyone down there to set off the alarm, we're both female, we're not to leave the patients unattended. What do we do?

Well, we couldn't ignore the damn thing as it's LOUD and OBNOXIOUS and we had a long night ahead of us. So, we both go downstairs to check on the call light as neither wanted to go alone. We didn't see anyone or anything amiss and were able to fix the light.

Then at 9:30pm we get a call from a "family member" saying they were downstairs at the door and wanted to be let in to visit. Linda, the other nurse, goes down and lets them in and all was well for the rest of the night.

I ask my supervisor the next morning what to do about this sort of thing and when visiting hours end, she says "We always just let em in.....they're supposed to be getting a system where you can see on the computer who's at the door...."
That'll do me a whole lot of good as I don't know the pts' family members by sight.

Tomorrow I'm going to call my DON and try and pin him down on a) security, b) posted visiting hours. Then I'll get in touch with that guy in charge of facility maintenance and give him a piece of my mind.

Hubby and I have been talking for some time now about how "gun free zones" are really just great big bull's eyes for those wanting to do harm.

Where do these people go shooting? Malls, Schools, Churches. Who is to say that hospitals aren't next?

Now, here's a video that I got from Cookie on this topic, I found it rather illuminating.

For Subvet

I heard this song last night at work, and it reminded me so much of Subvet that I just had to post it, dedicated to him.

I just spent over an hour scouring through all 118 videos to this song on youtube and while this is not my favorite audio version of the song it has some fantastic pics. So sit back and enjoy!

The Great Debate Continues...again

heeheehee. Step mom came through, and we got a box of old pics sent to us from the clean out of my MILs trailer. So, here you go,

First up is me at age 4 (same age as Sonshine) with my first true love.








Next is Subvet and his younger brother, they are the same distance apart in age as Sonshine and Gator and in this pic are almost exactly the same ages as my boys are right now.



For a pic of both my boys together go here.