Sunny's blog of books, paranormal, recipes... whatever!

Puppy is sold!

2009-08-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Wow so that was fast :D
I just listed my puppy today with pet leeg
and within 4 hours of listing I had a buyer. And the ad was free. Doesn't get any better than that. So if you have a pet you need to sell I can say for sure that I recommend that site!

Lhasapoo For Sale

2009-08-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

We have a lhasapoo now up for sale. She is 2 years old and housetrained since she was a baby. This would be the perfect pet for someone that doesn't want to go throught the 'baby' stage of owning a pet. And she makes a great lap dog and will love to watch tv with you :D
If you are in the Virginia area and would like to learn more, please click on the link for all the details: Llasapoo 4 Sale

Update on Vaccine Reaction

2009-05-19T03:53:00.001-07:00

The doctor concluded that she just had been given too many shots at one time. She was given 5 that day. She said at that amount, anyone would have a reaction. The treatment: Benadryl and warm compresses. I did this yesterday and already the rashes are fading! amazing!

I worry about all the mercury in the shots still though. I hope that she doesn't develop autism or something. She's so smart I'd be really mad if that happens. I guess I just pray and hope for the best.

A Vaccine Reaction

2009-05-18T06:03:00.001-07:00

My daughter had to get her shots for kindergarten. A total of 5 separate shots. OUCH!!! 2 days after she received them, she began to develop a rash right at the injection site. I really didn't think a whole lot about it because she's never had a reaction before and just thought it would go away. A few days later, I noticed that it was bigger and now she also had a rash on her other leg (the other injection site) so then I really started to keep an eye on it. I traced around it like they say to do so you can see how much bigger it gets. Over one night, it had already grown well out of the circles I made, so I made an appointment. I don't know what the doctor will do about it or if there's even anything that can be done. Hopefully it's not a big deal. We'll see! I'll write again and let you know how it goes. She'll be seeing the doctor today.

~Dreaming~

2009-04-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

It's rare that I dream anymore. I don't know why, but that's just how it is. But when I have a dream, it often intrigues me. Especially the one I just had about 20 minutes ago...

I dreamed that I was at a daycare picking up my son. Everyone was nice, but everyone was busy getting the kids ready to leave.

I was talking to this one lady I believe she was supposed to be one of the teachers and she handed me his backpack and we were talking... I'm trying to remember about what but I can't... anyway I noticed she got easily agitated at me so I thought (okay, well if I start talking about Jesus and she freaks out I know she has a problem with a demon or the devil), so I screamed out, "JESUS!!!" at her, and she immediately changed her face into a snarl and started yelling at me... (sheesh just writing this I'm getting goosebumps) I was scared and startled by her reaction, but I held my ground, stood up tall, and started singing christian songs at her. she ended up on the floor on her back... just because of my singing and at the end of my dream I was standing over her, with my foot at her neck, still singing. I was victorious over evil I suppose is the only way I could interpret it. I woke up in the middle of tossing and turning and I was a bit scared and confused. I'm not used to winning over evil in my dreams. But I am proud of my subconscious self ;)
I've actually been feeling really low lately. One of those times in life where everything seems to go wrong and everyone is against you. In a weird way, I feel a little stronger after having this dream.

and in case you were wondering, I can't remember all of the songs I was singing at her because I sang like 4 or 5, but I remember the last one because it stuck in my head when I woke up. It was Matthew West's "the motions". and it's still stuck in my head.... wow, you know I never knew this whole song but after reading the lyrics just now I can see how it applies to my life right now. Amazing!
Here's the lyrics if you've never heard it before:

The Motions Lyrics
Artist(Band):Matthew West Review The Song

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

Sign the anti-Chris Brown Petition!

2009-02-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

Make your voice heard that you don't tolerate this kind of behavior or support it. I know I for one will never buy his music or Rhiannas for that matter because she had a chance to get out and she has taken him back.

As a former victim of domestic abuse, I know first hand the lies that are told. "I'll never do it again" conversations, the fake tears. Don't just sit back and allow him to get away with this, and let Rhianna know that you don't support her going back to him by not supporting them. Don't buy there music, and sign the petition. Thank you.

Sign the petition here: Anti-Chris Brown abuse

New Moon Giveaway

2009-02-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Twilight series inspires me so much, I'm always looking for new things to make that are unique for myself, family, and of course I love to share then with others too.

I have most recently created a pretty necklace inspired by New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, and decided to also make a keychain to go along with it. So awesome :D
I have these listed as a set rediculously cheap right now for a limited time on Ebay. You can see my newest creation here

Right now, it's listed for only $4.99 with free shipping! I offer it this cheap because I just enjoy making these items and really as long as I pay for my supplies, I'm a happy girl :D so check it out, and good luck!

~Save some money on inspirational books~

2009-02-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

whew* I finally just got done listing some more stuff on ebay. I tell ya what, that is tiring!

Now you have an opportunity to buy some of the books I have blogged about at really low prices from my private collection and of course I had to share those opportunities with my readers. click on the links to see the books :D
I'll list my favorites first:

23 Minutes in hell

The Day I Died

Making Your Marriage a Love Story

Woman Thou Art Loosed!

Confessions of a fasting housewife

The Secret to Navigating Lifes Storms

Thanks for looking! :D

Winnie the Pooh shirt 2T

2009-02-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make sure that all of my loyal readers knew before everyone else that I have put another shirt up for sale. this is the last one!

It's a winnie the pooh super sleuths shirt. My daughter has one and it's her favorite shirt that she owns, this one is just not her size. It is a 2T, so if you have a daughter or someone you know that you would like to get it for, I'm letting you know it's available.

see it here:

Winnie the Pooh 2T girls shirt New with Tags

Thanks for looking-

Affordable Nightmare Before Christmas Shirt...

2009-02-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

We love nightmare before christmas! Everyone in our house has one and we happened to have one extra so we are providing it with free shipping on ebay.

if you'd like to take a look, click the link:

Nightmare Before Christmas Boys Shirt

Thanks for looking~

A cool craft for all you TWILIGHT fans

2009-02-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

As soon as I watched the movie, I fell in love and couldn't wait to read the books... all of them. And within a month's time, I had accomplished that, still feeling the hunger for more!

So I think I've finally found something for me to do that's fun and will appease me until the release the New Moon movie.

Bottle Cap Jewelry!

I wasn't sure if I even had the talent to attempt something like this, but nevertheless, I acquired some bottle caps, resin, photos, and chains to attempt this project.

I have to tell ya, I think I did pretty go for my first time. It really was pretty easy and so fun. and now I can just make a bunch of twilight fan stuff. as much as I want :D

I've made my sister a necklace with the cullen's crest on it. She is a big fan too, so without further ado, here is a picture of the cullens crest keychain I made:

let me know what you think!!!

I've caught the Twilight Bug... and it's bad!

2009-01-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

It all started when my 55 year old mother called me on the phone a few weeks ago to tell me that she went to the theater to see the movie Twilight with my 18 year old sister and she said she actually liked it. For a 55 year old to say they enjoyed a teen flick, wow, it must've been something I thought.

It was at that time I thought, I've gotta see this!

I ended up seeing the movie that weekend with a couple friends and just fell in love with the story and the characters. It was just so intriguing! Now that I had seen the movie, I wanted to read the book. There was parts of the movie that other people were laughing at that I was sitting there like... huh? cuz I didn't read the book so I didn't know what was going on inside the minds of the characters in certain scenes.

So I borrowed the book from my friend, read it in about 3 days, and I've never been this crazy about a book before in my life!!! Immediately after finishing reading Twilight, I started bidding on ebay for the other 3 books in the series, dying to know what happens next! But everyone else is so crazy about twilight as I am that everyone kept outbidding me, so I finally gave that up and went to the bookstore yesterday and bought New Moon and Eclipse. I'm on chapter 5 of New Moon and I'm really trying to take my time reading it and enjoy it but it's hard. it's just so good! and Stephenie Meyer is such a superb storyteller, she just makes you want to read more and more and more. :D

really, I hope she never stops writing.

Most Awesome Dance Created By 10 Year Old!

2009-01-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

I just love this choreography. So much in fact, that I'm trying to learn this dance right now. love it! I can't believe how good this girl is!
you gotta see it!

Elavil Free...

2008-11-11T19:23:00.000-08:00

I have been completely off Elavil now for quite a few weeks now. This was a difficult drug to get off and I don't know quite how I feel now. I can say that my muscle stiffness has returned, I grit my teeth more just like before, headaches are not all the time like before, but they progressively get worse by the end of the day and then I either tough it out or take 2 ibuprofen.

I'm not sure where I will go from here. I don't want to go back on Elavil since it makes you gain weight and also it's difficult to ween off. I'm not sure if anything else will work for me.

I'm pretty frustrated. Elavil makes me feel great, but I want to eat everything in sight and I don't think I have to tell ya that sometime that's gonna catch up with me!

Weening off Elavil

2008-10-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

In two words: NOT FUN!

I have been on elavil for 6 months now, and my doctor has wanted me to experiment with coming off it. So far it has proved to be quite difficult and if it wasn't for my strong will and determination, I would have put myself back on it several days ago. It's been 3 days for me being completely off of it. The first few days I was weening off it I started with cutting my pill in half, but it just felt like I was taking nothing. As soon as I started halfing my dose my headaches came back, irritabitity, shoulder muscle tightness, sensitivity to noise.

The only thing I am relieved about with the whole thing is that my uncontrollable hunger is finally going back to normal again. It's been a real struggle to maintain my weight or lose weight for that matter because Elavil makes you crave sweets like nobodys business and it shuts off the hunger switch in your brain that lets you know when you're full. I was never full!!!
So even though it seems that I am still having a problem with migraines, I am reluctant to go back to this drug now that I have gotten off it. I will probably see if they can put me on something different. I am somewhat afraid that the Elavil is the only drug that may work for my problem.
We'll see.

Britney Spears Womanizer Full Version hear it now!

2008-09-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

I gotta tell ya I actually really like it!
have a listen. Let me know what you think!

Awakened by a ghost?

2008-09-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

The other night I remember barely peeking open my eyes in our dark bedroom, beginning to awake in the middle of the night (which I never do) and I thought I saw something.... so I opened my eyes more and it was still there!

I saw a see through white, faceless figure that appeared to be about 6 feet or more tall, and even though it didn't have a face, I felt that it's eyes were fixed on me.

All I know was it scared the begebees out of me and I started tossing and turning, trying to scream but I didn't hear any sound come out.

My husband woke at that time and said, " what happened? you're okay, you're okay", I was crying. I felt very strange after that. I asked him what I did. He said I was screaming. That startled me and confused me even more because I know I didn't scream, or I didn't hear it anyway. There was no way I could sleep like that so I got up at that point.

When my husband woke up in the morning he asked me what I saw and I told him. I said I didn't understand because it was WHITE. I've never believed that there were actual "white" ghosts. I've only seen black figures before so to me this didn't make sense.

Well, my husband then told me that his dad used to see white ones, usually before someone died.

I did a google search that day and found out all sorts of stories about these white figures I never knew anything about. I hope no one is about to die.

I Had a Dream...

2008-08-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Sounds profound, doesn't it?
Well that's what I thought the other night when I had this dream. At the time, I didn't realize it was a dream. It felt like it had really happened, until I was driving around town and I adjusted my rear view mirror and realized it wasn't broken! and it never was broken. See, the night before I had a dream that I was trying to adjust the mirror but it had broken off and was just hanging, so when I realized it was a dream that the mirror was broken, it just hit me like a ton of bricks and I was so happy!

I think anyone will tell you that dreaming of something like a rear view mirror is symbolic of looking back to your past. In my dream it had been broken... in the present, which to me I feel means that the past is done with and I am living in the now.

Thank God! For so long my past has bound me and I really feel this was a sign that it is behind me now, and I had the dream to put things to rest and to encourage me, and that it did!

Hollywoodprofiles.com thieves

2008-07-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to find that after telling them a thing or two about what I thought about their shady company, they discreetly put my money back in my bank account. So now I'm happy, but want everyone to know what they really are before they make the same mistake I did.

It started with receiving an e-mail (junkmail) which I clicked on in curiosity and it took me to a no risk sign up page. 100% satisfaction guarantee (lol!)

I filled it out and then it directs you to a page to give them your credit card information for only $1.95 for membership to their site. Sounded like a good deal, so I did it. I've spent more money on mocha's at starbucks after all.

I signed up and didn't give it another thought. I have several profiles on the internet, most of them are free so didn't think this was a big deal or any different at all until..... I saw my bank statement 14 days later where they charged me $50.00!!!
for what??? I never got anything for $50.00. So after spending hours and hours and days trying to get a person on the phone for this company, I finally get a hold of someone that was very cocky and wouldn't even cancel my membership!!! She ended up hanging up on me after waiting on hold for an hour even waiting for someone to pick up. Boy then I was mad. So I called back, waited on hold forever again, and tried it all over again. I was very nice but told her that what she was saying didn't make sense. She again agrued with me about canceling my membership and the fact that they have to charge me $50.00 for nothing because they can. I finally talked this one into cancelling my account, but why did that have to be debated? I'm confused? I'm sure it has something to do with, ... oh I dunno, money maybe?
But she told me I didn't qualify for a refund because you have to do it within 14 days. I said "well isn't this day 14???" and so we argued about that for a while and finally gave up on the poor girl and hung up.

So I thought I would call back AGAIN and just talk to a manager or supervisor. I talked to a guy named Mike who seemed smug and proud of his cheating company. I said I just need to talk to a supervisor or manager please. He asked me what the problem was, so for the 3rd time, I told the problem. Then he said he couldn't help me. I said again, I just need to talk to a manager. He told me that I didn't qualify to talk to a manager. LOL! qualify. I laughed. I've never heard of having to qualify to talk to a manager LOL! So I told him if he was gonna steal my $50 bucks I think that's bought me the right to speak to a manager! he still said no, so I told him how his company was a bunch of thieves and he hung up on me. LOL.

In the end though, they gave me my money back because they knew I was right. Hollywoodprofiles.com are thieves. Beware and I hope I prevent someone else from making the same mistake that I did signing up with them in the first place.

Can Financial troubles actually make you closer?

2008-07-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

I know my husband loves me, but there are some things that I have chosen to keep from him (financially speaking), thinking that if I told him he would just be mad at me and I'm sure a lot of you if you are honest have done the same at one point or another.

I stay at home all day and so I am on the internet a lot. I came acrossed this site www.hollywoodprofiles.com through an e-mail sent to me that offered free membership to help find casting calls. Well, why not? is what I thought. I do have my own agent but I have quite a few profiles out there to get my face shown more so why not one more? so I went to their site, where then they said it would be $1.95 for the whole membership to their site. Well, I didn't think $1.95 was much, so without telling my husband I went ahead and did it! I actually never ended up going back to that site, until....

I get an e-mail saying that they are going to automatically take $50.00 out of my account!!!

There is no where on their shady website that says you will EVER pay any more than the $1.95, but I suppose the $1.95 was a bait so they could steal a larger sum of money.

So I tried to go to the site to cancel my membership... there IS no where to cancel. I try to e-mail them, but the e-mails are apparently FAKE.

So I did some research on the company and found they had several complaints, and at that point realized I was a victim of fraud. Great.

I checked with the Better Business Bureau and this company has an unsatisfactory rating. not only that, but their business hides under a number of different names so they can continue to take money from your account month by month. Since I had already heard the horror stories, I went ahead and cancel my bank card so they COULDN'T take money out.

The point is, the $1.95 quickly became $50.00 without my knowledge, but I still felt guilty for buying into it in the first place, so I didn't want to tell my husband and just wanted to fix it on my own. My husband was initially upset because I wouldn't tell him what was wrong.

Well, I don't like to keep things from him, nor do I think it's the right thing to do, but I was already under a lot of stress trying to fix the problem and didn't feel I could handle anymore stress if he were to be upset with me.

So when I finally calmed down enough, I told him what had happened, thinking he would be very upset with me. Instead he told me it was okay and that he was just sorry I didn't feel like I could come to him with something like that and hugged me. I was just so grateful and relieved that he didn't blame me I just cried and told him I was sorry. I felt so much better and so much closer to him after I got that off my chest it was amazing to me. I always try to avoid conflict but I suppose if you have a loving partner, it will only make you stronger.

THE CREEPY

2008-07-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

I've know for quite some time now that for some reason, my husband and his family are more 'in tune' to paranormal.

My husband talked about a time when he was a child when he felt someone or something drag him under his bed. He has seen dark shadows walking acrossed his house, and so has his father.

I've never seen anything at all like that, but then again, I don't want to either! It scares the daylights out of me! But I have had some experiences that are similar to some of his that make you really think.

for instance, he was about 17 when he got appendicitis and was in the hospital, and while his mother prayed over him to stop the tremendous pain he was in, he said that he saw a black cat jump off of him, and the pain was gone and he passed out.

I thought his story was interesting because I had an experience when I was pregnant with my second child, where I woke up startled in the middle of the night because I saw a black cat jump ON me. I thought it was just a dream or something and didn't think anymore of it, but when I woke up the next day, I became really ill for the next 7 days. I was losing weight, I couldn't eat anything or even hold down water, and had to be admitted into the hospital. To this day I believe what I saw that night had something to do with my illness.

I began thinking of these instances again lately because I was walking through the living room and my husband said, "whoa, what was that?!" and I was like... "what?" and he said he saw a black cat jump off of the tv. I was scared because I don't take these things lightly, and so tried to pass it off and just told him his eyes are playing tricks on him. I think we do that a lot because of fear. Pretend like it isn't there. But we can fight against it by simply praying, and those things must flee. They may come back, but for the time you can get them to leave.

Universal Healthcare-Healthcare for EVERYONE!

2008-06-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

So as you know, I've recently watched the movie, "Sicko", an eye opening movie by Michael Moore which talks about our corrupt healthcare system, and most importantly how we, the people can fix it.

I found a website where you can sign a petition to get this bill passed called HR 676
which is (in a nutshell) guaranteed healthcare benefits for everyone in the entire country. No more private insurers, no more going bankrupt because of your medical bills!

We can't just continue to sit back and wait for others to take action. Take a stand and we can all make this happen~

Please at least take a look at it and I hope that you will sign. I just did. Just click on the link below:

HR 676 Sign the Petition

Sicko Movie Review

2008-06-25T04:37:00.000-07:00

I watched this movie last night and already want to watch it again! I found it to be a startling eye opener, one that should be seen by everyone. I cried a lot through the movie for the people that died because they were denied their life saving treatments from the insurance companies because for example, cancer treatment was not a "medical necessity". There is even a C-Span clip of a woman who was a Medical Reviewer for Humana admitting that she had probably killed several people for the sake of profit and she just couldn't do it anymore and was compelled to admit her mistakes on television.

Not only that, but Michael Moore sends you to a few different countries where people don't have to worry about whether they can afford their medical treatments or not. Places where medical care and pharmaceutacals are FREE. After watching the movie, I wanted to move to those places. The people were happy and lived longer than us Americans.

I also recommend watching the special features for even more heart wrenching stories and more countries with free healthcare.

please, watch the trailer and go rent or buy this important movie:

I give this movie 10 out of 10, a must see.

IRON MAN: Movie Review

2008-06-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just saw this movie last night in theaters and thought it was FANTASTIC! This is the latest movie in the Marvel series about a rich man, Mr. Stark, that is head of a weapons company. While on a promotional trip overseas, he gets captured by terrorists that try and force him to make the ultimate weapon of destruction for them.

Of course, Mr. Stark has other plans which in the end lead him to his destiny of becoming Iron Man.

there's some twists that I wouldn't have expected but it make the movie so intense!

If you watch this movie, don't forget to see the special scene after the credits roll, you'll get a sneak peek at what to expect for the sequal.

This is a movie not to be missed! I give it 11 out of 10 for being beyond awesome!
A must see!

Semi-Pro Movie Review

2008-06-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is the latest movie starring Will Farrell, which is usually one of my favorite actors.

It's about a basketball team that is about to be eluminated because, well basically, they suck. So they step up their game to win their spot in the NBA with few funny moments.

Quite frankly, I thought the previews for this movie was funnier than the movie itself and I felt it was a waste of my time to see it.

I give this movie 1 out of 10 rating for failure to make me laugh and I don't recommend it.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets~

2008-05-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

This movie was just released on DVD and is of course the Sequal to the first National Treasure.
It's Rated PG and about 2 hours long.
Me and my family watched this movie last night and I thought it was great! I think this one is actually better than the first, although I sat through it at one point when "the president" came into the picture and was just like... yea, that wouldn't happen!
It was still quite enjoyable and I caught myself on a few occasions screaming along with the actors with all the dangerous suspense!
It will have you on the edge of your seat!
I give this movie 10/10!

Watch the trailer here:

Pain at the Pump Growing Worse

2008-05-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

I, along with the rest of the country have been complaining that our little cars, like my Ford Focus which is good on gas mileage, have been paying $30.00 for a full tank of gas, opposed to the late 90's-2000 paying .99 cents per gallon and filling up a full tank for $10.00.

Well, this morning I've reached a milestone. With the soaring prices, I have been putting off filling up, but finally decided to today, knowing it will only get worse and a full tank TODAY cost me a whopping $40.00. And that is in a small car. I can't imagine the pain that it is putting people through with bigger gas hogs, although I bet they contimplate selling every day. One things for sure, we're making history.

Headline of the day: Gas Prices Climbing With No End in Sight

What a comforting though~

Kill With Me

2008-05-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

As you know from my previous post, I have watched the movie untraceable and did a review on it in a previous post.

Well, I was just sitting around being bored, when I thought about trying to see if there was a website called Killwithme.com, which there is! much to my surprise!

But it is AWESOME! it is based off the movie and its not scary, though it did creep me out :) it lets you be an agent and try to figure out how to shut down his website using clues to figure out the username and password.

Click ENTER and it will ask you a question: Answer honestly when you go there: www.killwithme.com
and then an FBI box will appear on the bottom right of the screen, click it and it explaines everything from there! it's sooo cool, check it out!

Movie Review: Untraceable

2008-05-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

My Review:

Overall, I would say that this was a good movie, but you won't like it if you don't like to see graphic content like people's skin burning off, etc. The movie is VERY graphic in the torture of the victims in this movie, but the storyline was really good.

Summary:

This is a movie about the section of the FBI that deal with people on the internet that give you viruses to get your information off your computer, how they catch them, etc. They find a particular website that streams live murders and they start their investigation, which proves harder than they imagined.
can't really tell you much more without giving away the movie, so go rent it! :)

watch the trailer:

Migraine Triggers and what to avoid

2008-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

These are just a list of things that can cause migraines, so if you have them, it's best to try to avoid these thing:

1. missing meals
2. irregular meals
3. cigarette smoke
4. perfumes
5. bright lights
6. sunlight
7. stress
8. Depression
9. Prolonged concentration
10.birth control pills

My doctor also told me not to eat:
bananas
Pizza
Aspertame
Yogurt
Hot Dogs
Chocolate
Chinese food
...among other things.

How to tell if you have migraines

2008-05-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

I know before I was diagnosed, I didn't link two and two together, and for others like me that may be young and/ or uneducated on the topic, I have decided to post a list of things that may help you to know whether you may have them or not so you can better talk to your doctor about it.

First of all, if you are taking more than 2 over the counter pain medications per week, you have a problem and you should definitely see your doctor. I was taking over the counter meds for 3 years straight. It wasn't until all OTC medications seemed to stop working for me that I sought a doctor's help (by this time, I was at the end of my rope).

Migraine without Aura Symptoms: *

1. At least 5 headaches that fulfill criteria in #2 and #4
2. Headache lasting 4 to 72 hours (untreated or unsuccessfully treated)
3. Headache has at least 2 of the following characteristics:
a. unilateral location
b. pulsating pain
c. moderate or severe intensity (prohibits daily activity)
d. aggravation by or causing avoidance of routine physical activity

4. During headache, at least one of the following occurs:
a. Nausea and/or vomiting
b. Photophobia and phonophobia (sensitive to sunlight and/or noise)

5. At least one of the following is present:
a. History and physical and neurological examinations do suggest such disorder, but it is ruled out by appropriate investigations.
b. History and/or physical and/or neurologic examinations do suggest such disorder, but it is ruled out by appropriate investications.
c. Such disorder is present, but migraine attacks do not occur for the first time in close temporal relation to the disorder.

(*Adapted from Headache Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society, 2004)

If you do have these symptoms as I did, please see your doctor as soon as possible. This isn't pain that you can handle on your own.

Diagnosed with migraines

2008-04-28T02:27:00.000-07:00

After dealing with headache pains on my own for the last 3 years, I finally went to the doctor because I had used all the over the counter medications out there and all of them stopped working.

I expected them to just prescribe me prescription pain killer and had no idea that at my age that it would be anything like migraines. I was pretty suprised. I thought this happened only to older people. I am 27, and now I will be on Elavil the doctor said "indefinitely".

This came as a huge blow to someone who doesn't like taking medication all the time. Especially being forced to. Elavil has been working beautifully and I've felt normal again. Something I haven't felt in about... 3 years!

My symptoms were:
getting dizzy very easily, motion sickness in the car especially turning corners (and they didn't have to be sharp), pretty much complete loss of energy, no muscle strength, my short term memory was lost; SEVERAL times a day I would go downstairs and forget why I went there; I would talk on the phone and couldn't think of words I was trying to say and it was embarassing so I stopped calling my family, I was irritable, my eyes would flinch just putting the dishes in the dishwasher because sound was sensitive to me, my eyes were sensitive to the sun but I never thought it was a big deal because I had sunglasses, I had headaches starting from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning, so bad that often I would cry.

Never did I realize that ALL of my symptoms were interconnected. That they were the source of one problem, but apparently they are. My doctor told me that I am pretty textbook migraine sufferer.

It took them 2 months to get me on any kind of medication. You have to see a specialist for this problem, and it took a whole of 2 months to even get in to see one. It was an agonizing 2 months since the OTC painkillers had lost their effect on me.

When they did finally start me on Elavil 10mg 1 tablet at bedtime, I had no pain after day 1 of taking it! not only that, but after taking it now for 30 days, I've also noticed that my other symptoms have subsided as well. I have a lot of my short term memory back, I'm not sensitive to noise anymore, I'm happy, I'm active, I was able to start exercising again, I'm not irritable anymore. It's been a big relief. I feel normal!

Now in order to feel normal, I'll have to take this the rest of my life, but it's worth it.

%Earth Day 2008%

2008-04-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Today is Earth Day and although I strive to celebrate it every day, today is a great day for us all to join together to make a real difference in our beautiful earth.

There are many simple things we can do today, and every day and it is growing easier and easier to do them since they are coming out now with tons of eco-friendly products.

just some ideas of what you could do to celebrate the day:

1. Pick up the litter in your neighborhood.

2. Use reusable cups for all of your drinks.

3. Use reusable eco friendly grocery bags.

4. Ride the Metro to work (if you have one in your area, or a bus, or even carpool)

5. Plant a new tree or some flowers with your family or friends.

6. Educate your children on the importance of caring for the Earth.

If you will be in the Washington, D.C. area today, there is a whole list of events going on for Earth Day, and you can check them out here.

I've heard many common misconceptions lately that "this is an observance of a religion, etc" and people can say as they please, but isn't it just the mere fact that who is going to want to live here in the future if we have trashed our planet. We only have one and regardless whether you worship the earth or not, we should respect that it is a fragile thing and it wouldn't take much to ruin it.

Then where will we live?

Missing Heroes?

2008-04-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

I know I am!
I got addicted to the NBC show Heroes from the very first episode and since Season 2 was cut short for various reasons, I have especially been suffering.

But there are a few thing that we can do in the meantime until we wait for our favorite heroes to return this fall.

1. Go to the NBC website and watch the first 5 episodes of Season 2.

2. Read the untold story of Hiro and Charlie in the Heroes Novel, "Saving Charlie"

I rented this book from my local library (so exited that they had it I scared the librarian when I screamed for joy!)
and that was a few days ago and I am already half way through it! You get to find out all the details of what happened when Hiro teleported and left Ando by himself in the diner, and what took him so long to come back. it's awesome. A must read if you're a heroe's fan like me :)

3. Check out the Graphic Novel, it's awesome! Available where most books are sold

I got to take a peek at this one in the bookstore Borders and the stories are quite short, brilliant pictures, and it does fill in little gaps from the show. $30

Come hear me Sing!

2008-04-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not awesome, k?
but I do like singing so I tried this.
Tell me your thoughts. I will take constructive critisizm but don't be too mean :P
just click on the link below to hear~

Someday I Will Understand

My Latest Dream

2008-04-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Last night, I had a dream that me and my whole family died together. I don't know how it happened, but I just know we had died and were in the afterlife (which in my dream was just wandering around earth in another dimension with other dead people).

There was a book with a portal in it and through it you could transport wherever you wanted to go. We took too long to decide, so the book closed and the portal was gone, but then so was my husband!

So then I was scared, and alone, as a see through dead person... and then I woke up.

Allright, so I was interested to know what my dream may mean, so I ran across this website and this is a little of what it said:

dreams about death signify much needed change in our lives. Such dreams typically herald symbolic rather than literal death. In this way, death dreams let us know that some part of the self needs to be radically reworked, whether it be one's attitudes, emotions, or relationships. Quote from experiencefestival.com

I'm not sure this explanation satisfied me so I did some more searching, but have come to a dead end really. All I can say is that I have already been trying to give myself an overhaul and change a lot of things in my life, and gain control back since it was not long ago I felt I had lost control. But now that I am stabalizing, I'm not sure how this explanation would apply to me.

Thoughts anyone?

Outta This World!

2008-04-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to go on a field trip as a family, sponsored by the L.I.F.T program our school takes part in, and I think it is just fantastic. I just have never heard of it! Do other schools offer this program?

The bus drove 4 buses filled with families and children to the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., and here are a few pictures from our voyage:

Outside of the Air and Space Museum

my son posing in front of the first space shuttle, the "Enterprise" Why did they name it the Enterprise? Surprisingly enough, our tour guide informed us that The ship was to be named with a "C", like Columbia, etc, but the folks over at the show Star Trek called NASA and insisted that the first space ship to go in to space should be called the Enterprise, NASA agreed and they had the name changed

These are photos of a ship that was actually used in the movie "Close Encounters", how cool is that?!

April Fools Pranks :)

2008-04-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

April fool of the day:

If you need an idea, here is one easy thing you can do to fool that special someone in your family.
The basic idea is that you go into say, your husbands underwear drawer, sew them all together with one or two stitches, and then watch as he tries to figure out what is going on and try to get the strings out!

I got this tip from family fun.com
for more tips and April fool's tricks, go here: Family Fun

Purex Natural Elements Laundry Soap: Review

2008-03-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

I was so exited when I saw this item last time I went shopping, but of course afraid to look at the price. Most items that are eco friendly are higher priced, but I was surprised to see that this item is the same price as the stuff I usually buy and in the same size bottle! So exiting! It's a no brainer for me and I bought it right away! I can help save the environment without it breaking the bank! Very cool! And the bottle is prettier I think :)

So I tried it out for the first time this week and I have to say I am more than pleased! It gets my clothes just as clean as before and smell just as clean. This is what I'll be using from now on for sure.

You should be able to find this product at Wal-Mart in the detergent isle, but if you can't find it there or just want to see what it looks like, just go here, and you can also get a free sample of it too!

Green Works by Clorox:My personal Review

2008-03-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

This year, I have really realized how important it is that we take as good of care as we can of this Earth that God created for us.

He intrusted us with this planet that we litter on, put harmful products in the ozone, etc. How do you think that he feels about that?

I don't see anyone else stepping up saying, "hey, lets just trash this one and just build another one in 6 days"... this is the only Earth we have and I personally have felt a real responsibility for it that I have never felt before, and have started to read more up on what I can do, little affordable changes to help save our beautiful planet.

In case you haven't noticed, next time you go shopping, just scan the shelves and see if you don't notice they are coming out with everything now that is natural and more eco friendly.

Last time I went shopping, I was surprised and happy to see that they have come out with dish detergent that is natural. This product was in a smaller box than your Cascade or whatever else you usually buy and was also about $1 more.

I even saw toilet paper made out of recycled paper!

But today I'm going to talk about a product called Green Works. Clorox makes it, and I have used it several times now and am pretty satisfied. It cleans well, has a pleasant scent and is available in all-purpose cleaner (my favorite) If you cannot find it at your local wal-mart, you can get some here.

For tougher spots like on my stovetop, I just spray it with the green works spray and let it sit for a few minutes, and clean something else while I'm waiting and I've had no problems wiping up any mess with it. I have not noticed any residue either. Everything looks clean when I am through with it. The other great thing is that I have a puppy and this is totally safe to use around pets. One of the ingredients to give you an idea is Coconut.

Just know that as long as everyone does little things to help, it will without a doubt add up to a lot.

Happy St. Pat's Day!!!!

2008-03-17T03:19:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year when everything is green for a day, so of course it should be fun for everyone.

I came acrossed this site that has plenty of St. Pat's day activities to keep you and your kids busy. This site has nice pictures for everything so you can see what the end product is suppposed to look like for the crafts, but they also have ideas for games you can play and fun things to make to snack on.
You can check out the site by clicking here

A Collaberation of ART

2008-03-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

This is a picture that my husband drew and my 6 year old colored it in. I just thought it was a perfect blend of talents.

Blastoise (Pokemon) Art

2008-03-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I am just a proud mommy, but I sure was impressed when my 6 year old drew a picture of the Pokemon, Blastoise. I had to look at it twice to realize that he actually had drawn it himself! I can't draw near that good myself!

Course, I am no artist, never have been, but it looks like he has taken after his father and has great artistic talent already. What do you think?

the above picture is one that my son colored from a coloring page

this is a picture that my son drew himself

What my 6 year old will look like at 100...

2008-03-10T02:50:00.000-07:00

I just thought this was so funny!
My 6 year old did this paper at school and when asked to draw what he would look like when he turns 100, did he draw a grey haired old man?
No!
he drew this:

... I asked him to explain it to me just in case I was misinterpreting the picture, but sure enough, he told me that he would be a ghost in a graveyard!

I've been Tagged!

2008-03-04T03:49:00.000-08:00

Allrighty, so I've been tagged by my friend Given55 ,

So here are 7 weird things about me

1. No one knows my natural haircolor (and I think my mom has forgotten!)

2. When I talk, I sometimes mix pig latin, with a little French, and English.

3. I eat my food a certain way. I look at all the edges first, and then pick my favorite one to start with. I eat corners first.

4. I am scared to death of wasps! One time when I was about 10, I was so scared that this wasp was chasing me that I ran into the house and left my 5 year old sister outside to fend for herself! (course my mom yelled at me and I cautiously let her in)

5. I got my first grey hair at 21 years old (I pulled it out!)

6. I love to sing country songs when my 3 year old is throwing a tantrum!

7. I had a dream last night that I was posessed!

Here are the rules for those of you getting the next tag:

Here Are The Rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

I am passing this tag onto:
Sonya
India's Mom
Beth
Project 100 animals
Kenny's Diary
Joy
PrinCeSS

thanks for playing! :)

vacation pics!

2008-03-03T03:19:00.001-08:00

We have returned! here are just a few of the many pictures we took along the way:

The Morning of Day 1 of Vacation

A long, cold walk to the Washington Monument

We saw a pigeon site seeing too!

The White house (view from path to Washington Monument)

View from the Metro Train (my first time riding!)

WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial and Reflection Pool

Me in front of the Spy Museum

Geese droppings along the reflection pool (they don't clean that up?)

Showin my mad skills at bowling!

Notice to my Readers:

2008-02-22T07:02:00.001-08:00

We are officially on vacation until March 3rd
Please feel free to view my prior posts, there are some great ones there, and I will see you all when I return!

Thanks for reading! I'll be posting some pictures up of our trip when we return.

Thousands of Free Graphics @ KwikMySpaceComments.com

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T02:18:00.000-08:00

A Poem By Me:

Thank you for love,
that I could never earn
All I do is clean the house
and let the dinner burn.

I try to do my best,
this you must know
cuz you're always so gracious
even when I blow it.

You're the best person I have seen
you never lose your cool
Instead you just watch me
be the worst that I can be.

Love sees through it all,
So I suppose I'm trying to say
Thank you for loving me,
In your forgiving way.

(Written for my husband of 4 years; thanks for putting up with me.

MySpace Comments & MySpace Layouts

Bizzare Dream...

2008-02-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

I am a christian, so this dream was especially weird for me. I dreamed I was using a pendulum to find something (cant remember what) but it was trying to move towards the object and someone was trying to interupt it and so I was getting really angry... and then I woke up.

Just weird. :)

I try to find meaning in dreams like this, but I am not sure at all what this could mean, if anything.

Just thought this was awesome :)

2008-01-29T12:49:00.001-08:00

I came acrossed this graphic while trying to find my friends some cool comments and I just couldn't resist but share it with everyone :) I know guys probably won't care about it but come on, it's cool!

MySpace Comments

If you want to be friends with me as well, just click here and sign up! We get paid to be friends here and of course it's free to sign up :)

Yuwie:Invite friends, hang out, Get paid!

I really hope to see ya there, it's loads of fun!

What is this mythical creature?

2008-01-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

My husband drew this and said that this is what I would look like if I were a certain mythical creature... I don't remember what he said it was called, though I think it starts with an "M". Do you know?

Fantasy Dolphin

2008-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture my husband drew for me, because I LOVE dolphins! Isn't it beautiful?

Snowing in D.C.

2008-01-18T04:18:00.000-08:00

These are just some pics of the snowfall from yesterday.
The snowflakes were huge!!! And we are expecting another wintery go round this Saturday.

Maybe Ben 10?

2008-01-17T03:52:00.000-08:00

Has anyone heard of Ben 10?
My husband drew this picture last night and really was just drawing whatever, and my son said it was Ben 10.
what do you think?

"The Bunnyman"

2008-01-16T06:51:00.001-08:00

There is a little of a back story as to the origin of this drawing my husband did.
I was discussing with him the legend of the bunnyman that I read in a book called, "Weird U.S." (which is awesome by the way!) and I guess through subliminal messaging, my husband just started to draw bunny ears on his drawing!

I noticed and said, "Oh, is that the bunnyman?" and he said, " ha! I didn't even realize why I was doing that!"

A Joke?

2008-01-16T06:41:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and glanced at the notice board we have in our room, and noticed there was something new added to it.

Here's what it said:

The preacher said, "Lord, without you we are but dust...", it was then that my friend looked at me and asked, "What is butt dust?"

Without knowing why my husband wrote that up there, its funny, but is it a joke? Has anyone heard of this? or maybe it was a dream he had and wrote down before he went to work.

Who knows, but it's funny :)

I had the funniest dream!

2008-01-11T05:29:00.000-08:00

I found my dream I had last night so funny, I actually woke up laughing!

So here it goes:

I dreamed that I was driving on a highway in Missouri (that does not exist) and If you go the wrong way (as I did) you end up in the Meremac River.

So I said, "WEEEEEEEE!" as we got tossed by the hurricane type waves and at the end of the swimming trip we lost our raft (where did that come frome?) So my husband went back to get it while I swam to shore.

It was some kind of resort with lots of people buzzing about. Me and my husband walked up to this cellar type door to have some fun. You had to open the door by figuring out a code on an ATM machine type lock system (weird!) It took me a couple times, and then the door finally opened.

I saw waitresses walking around with drinks, all sorts of different fun things going on, like they were having a gladiators type tournament ( I believe this was in my dream because of the commercial I saw the day before with hulk hogan!)
This place had hot tubs, etc.

I said I needed to use the restroom first, so I started searching for a bathroom and noticed the Men's bathroom was labeled "Retards" (ha haha! I think this is because I had called my husband a retard that night when he was being silly) and the ladies bathroom was labeled "Chocolate" (I think this may be because I have been on a diet this week, and am depriving myself of my favorite food group)

So I walked through Subway (yes, this cellar had a subway too!) and I walked right by John Stamos from Full House! (ha ha ha! I'm pretty sure he was there because the day before I was looking up where the stars are now from full house, of course he was one of them on the internet)

And then I woke up... laughing!
I've never had a dream like that where I knew pretty absolutely why so many silly things were in my dream. Usually my dreams don't make any sense at all and I cannot ever relate them to the day before, so this was really fun to know what everything stood for.

So what are your thoughts!?

What is a lasapoo??? and more information

2008-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

My husband recently bought me a lasapoo. It's an adorable new breed that is a cross between a lasa apso, and a miniature poodle.

They are cute and lovable, and a really great lap puppy. Mine (her name is Princess) will sit with me and actually watch tv! it's so funny and cute :)

Ours has been trained to be an indoor dog, and it took me about 3 months to completely potty train her for a litter box. She was first trained with kitty litter which worked really well, but I found it extremely messy, so we slowly switched her to actual doggy pellets called "yesterdays news", its pellets that they have made out of newspaper. you put it in a litter box and oila! The puppies love it! it's cheaper for some reason too!

I never heard of anyone training a dog to go in a litter box but it's great because now if it's cold outside, I don't have to make her go out to go potty :)

These little cuties are perfect for children (although you have to make sure the children don't hurt the dog!)

Also, If you are prone to allergies, this is great because they don't shed. I'm allergic to cats, but have no problems with my lasapoo. She's even slept with me a couple times.

Something I hate (sure to spark opposition!)

2008-01-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

I feel that my husband has been cheating on me, with something called World Of Warcraft.

Now, I don't mind that he play video games but this is rediculous. He plays it morning, noon, and night, after dates, after outings, before and after everything!

He is an addict. (according to me :)

Since I feel that I have no part in his WoW life, I have tried to say that I would play with him, but he doesn't quite get it. He says it takes so much time to do this and that, while I tell him I don't care. I am not going to waste a whole day on WoW!

Who agrees with me? Who doesn't? Let me know!
or am I just overreacting?

morning...

noon...

night...

My WILD New Years!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

Yup, that's right, it was TONS of silly last night as we got intoxicated by our sparkling grape juice (non-alcoholic), and hooked up the 'ol Dance Dance Revolution game.

... Okay! So what? we have 2 kids and we stayed at home... hey, we still had fun :)

enjoy the pics from last night's 'partay'

A Different idea for Christmas Dinner

2007-12-21T02:53:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving, we bought 2 turkeys because they were only 5 dollars each, and are yummy, so the more the merrier, right? and then I bought a humongous glazed ham. All this to feed just 4 people this holiday. So by the time we finished it all off, needless to say we are burnt out!

So what do you do for Christmas dinner if you're burnt out too? Just try something different!

This year for Christmas we just couldn't stare another turkey in the face, so we agreed upon a fancy party tray. What I did was bought some good bread (or you can make some homemade bread if you have a breadmaker), and buy lots of deli meat. We bought roast beef, ham, turkey, and pastrami. Then you need cheese so we went with Deli Swiss cheese (yum!), and lettuce, and then I went to the party store and bought little party knife picks to put in the center of the sandwiches to make them look fancy.

So I am gonna put this all together, however way I want, and then cut the sandwich into triangles. then I am going to put my fancy pick in the center and woila. fancy party sandwiches.

I also bought some ritz crackers to go along with my party tray along with a block of mild cheddar cheese.

So this will be fun to eat, and less cooking for me, and my husband loves the idea. It's a win win and I can't wait!

Good in D.C.

2007-12-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

Just when I though all hope was lost here finding a descent person in the D.C. area, I finally got the chance to meet one yesterday. I went to burger king yesterday to order my lunch and this older gentleman came up and bought it for me. I was just so surprised and touched by this because of all the bad experiences with people I have had so far here. I am just greatful I have been able to see a little ray of hope in this dark world. I really feel that God has seen my pain and he was just reassuring me that there are good people here.

Why are people so mean?

2007-12-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

It seems that I can't even go out of my house anymore for a quick trip to the gas station without running into at least one mean, rude person. Is this just the area in which I live?

I origionally am from a small, do nothing town, and was forced to move to Washington D.C. since my husband joined the military. I have never had problems making friends ever in my life until I came here, and I don't know if it is just society in general is just getting crueler and crueler, or it's the area I live, or if it's just me!

Sad enough, I don't even desire to leave my home anymore because of who I am going to run into that is going to ruin my day. I don't know how to handle this, except for buying some relaxation medication and just taking it.

This is just one example:
Yesterday I made my quick trip to the gas station to pick up some cooking spray to do my christmas cooking and this lady in line beside me started talking to my little girl. I smiled. And then my daughter said, "mom, I'm hungry!" she only said this because she wanted junk food as I had just fed her a big lunch, which you could still see all over her face! and that lady told my daughter, "awe! she's gonna take you home right now and feed you!" (what nerve!) I said no, I'm not!, and then the lady said, "Oh yes she is baby! she's gonna take you home right now and feed you!" I said no! no I'm not! and so at that point my little girl started balling and throwing a fit just cuz this lady couldn't shut her mouth where it wasn't her place to say anything anyway!

What is wrong with people? What could I have done differently? I could really use some advice. I am trying to live a christian life, to love people, but how can you love people when they are this way? If anyone knows the secret, by all means please post a comment and let me know! Thanks to everyone.

Delicious and simple Christmas treat

2007-12-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas Myspace Comments

I am all about simplicity. After all, I want to spend most of my time with my family, not stuck in the kitchen, but you can still make things homemade and have the pride of calling them your own without wasting a lot of your time.
Your kids can even help you out with this simple idea!

Edible Christmas Wreaths

What you'll need:
-bag of mini marshmallows
-green food coloring
-cinammon candies
-Corn Flakes
-stick of margarine

First you will need to place a stick of margarine into a large pot and heat on low/med heat. Let the margarine start to melt and start mixing in the marshmallows.
When the marshmallows are almost completely melted, then put your desired amount of green food coloring in until you reached your desired green color.

Now pour your corn flakes in with the marshmallows a little at a time and mix with a large spoon. (I dont' measure out the cornflakes, I just make sure that the flakes are completely covered with the green marshmallows, and you will be able to tell if you don't have enough corn flakes in if your wreaths look a little runny)

AS SOON as the corn flakes are completely green and covered with the marsmallow mix, immediately start scooping with your spoon onto a greased cookie sheet, placing your cinnamon candies on as you go, wherever you want them! I put 3 in a group with a total of 2-3 groups on each wreath.
This takes a total of about 10 minutes to make!

Once you have used up all of your corn flake/marshmallow mix, you are done and you can either eat them after they cool, store them at room temperature covered, or do as I do and put them in the refrigerator. (I like the taste of them cold!)

So I know this probably seems like a lot but I just wanted to include as much detail as possible so you have no problems making these. I make these every year and they are the FAVORITE treat!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

A Kindergartener kicked off the bus?!!!

2007-12-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

Boy what a day folks! I'm happy one minute, the next, the school bus coordinator is calling me chewing me out like I am the worst parent in the world, telling me about the worst child in the world... MINE.

I know that I am his mom, and this may sound like I am being defensive, but I know my son.

First of all, my son is a special needs student who has had problems on the bus ever since this school year began. First (as I stated in an earlier post), they kept putting my 5 year old on the wrong bus and dropping him God knows where (I never did find out!), and then when that was fixed and he was at least getting on the right bus, he started complaining about other children. He does not talk really well and as I said, is in special needs, but he is a sweet kid that is sweet to others, and I will admit he does go with the crowd, but is not an istigator.

So the bus coordinator starts barking at me right away about him spitting on kids so much that "all of them had to change their clothes"..... first of all, is that statement even humanly possible? come on! I personally think that guy is exaggerating! Second, I want to see my son's clothes, cuz I guarantee you will find spit on him too!

I told him this and I said he has been telling me about kids spitting on him since school started but I didn't say anything. Also, just yesterday, he told me about a kid that said he was gonna punch him in the face! And they wanna act like my child is the one and only bad guy.

So he said he is suspended from the bus and I need to find him another ride to school. Well, I am more than happy to cuz I have never heard of a school bus system being so messed up in my whole life.

We will see what he says when he gets home. Yes, he will still be punished for this. He will have his video games taken away from him for a week. I am not saying that it was right, whatever he did, but I'm pretty sure that story that was told to me was not all of it!

Saved By the Light!

2007-12-10T02:41:00.000-08:00

Saved By the Lightis a book by Dannion Brinkley, a man that died and lived to tell about it. I must admit I am drawn by these types of books, but this book helped turn my life around.

I read it in just 2 days (204 pages) so I must say this is a read that you just can't put down! I was just dying to know what this guy was gonna say next!

Dannion was not really a christian at the time, so that made it very interesting.

He states in the book that 13 angels showed him 117 revelations of the future-95 of which have already came true! And this book was released in 1994, so I did some more research on the remaining future events and found that most of them ARE IN THE WORKS! Well on their way to coming true as well!

I will give you a little taste. One of the angels told him (in 1975 mind you), that in the future, Oil will be used as a weapon to control the world economy... folks, is this not happening right now?

You will have to read the book to find more. There are 10 MORE visions he had of the future and they are all listed in his book. I strongly recommend this read as it has changed my life.

We have been struggling to go to church and to find a church in the new town that we moved to, and after reading this book, God revealed many things to me and now we have found a fantastic church, our marriage is even getting better, and I feel like a new person! If you would like to read this book, they are practically giving it away since this book has been out several years now. It was on the New York Times Bestseller List for over 5 months, and you can get it for the best price here.

23 Minutes in HELL

2007-12-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

23 Minutes in HELL is a compelling and can't put it down read about one man that actually spent 23 minutes in hell, and lived to tell about it. I have read this book actually 3 times. The first time I read it, I finished it in one sitting it was so good. Definitely a book you just can't put down.

In this book, he describes the smells, the terrorizing demons, screams of agony, and the strong hand of God lifting him from the pit.

There are plenty of verses to back up his story and he has done extensive research on hell after his experience. The book contains more than 150 verses in reference to hell.

In this book, many of our questions about hell are answered for us such as:
Is Hell an actual place?
Where is it?
Do you have a body in hell?
Are there children in hell?
Can good people go to hell?
...and more!

I can guarantee this book will get your attention, it got mine, and I often re-read it to remind myself and keep myself on the right track.

This book gives you a real, detailed glimpse into hell, and hopefully this book will be the closest we ever come to experiencing it. If you would like to see the book, click here.

A New Look at Christmas

2007-11-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Do you often buy out of obligation? Buying things that most likely get returned the day after Christmas? The best way I know of to combat this humbug attitude in people is to give them something unique, special, something they couldn't quite buy at the store.

More often, people just want to know that you care about them. Well, I am tired of giving meaningless gifts every year that no one cares about. I even asked my brother last year, "Did your wife like the gift I got her?" and he said, "Actually, not really it's not her thing" Rude right? But it really got me thinking in another mode.

Now, I am all for buying people what they say they need or can't afford at the time, adding a personal touch, and then seeing the reaction that I get.

You don't have to be some kind of great artist to do this, Lord knows I'm not, but it doesn't take much to add a little uniqueness to your gifts. It could be using simple appliques that you simply iron on, you can buy supplies at Michaels and make someone a one of a kind purse with iron ons or simple sewing. You can make your own jewelry, even make your own wrist watch. And none of these things are difficult to do. Hey, If I can do it, anyone can! but it just makes it so much more special to the receiver whereas they are more likely to keep it, cherish it, and maybe even pass it down to future generations!

One example from my personal collection: An apron I made for my mom this year. She is a grandma, so I made it look grandmaish and just got creative with it. I didn't use any complicated pattern to make it either. I bought a white high quality apron at Bed, bath, and beyond ($6.00) and my choice of granny material ($1.00 at Michaels craft store), and just sewed it together with simple straight stitch seams. And I think the end product is adorable!

(above) finished product!

(above) detailed fringe, easy to do! just pull out desired amount of thread one by one from all 4 sides, then sew securely onto the apron.

(above) 2 large pockets in the front of apron, simple, but secure seams.

Do you believe in Orbs?

2007-11-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you that I am a skeptic, but I still cannot explain the strange orb-looking objects that we captured on our digital camera. We took hundreds of pictures in the same spots and most of them did not capture anything, but here are the results of the few that we did catch!

(above picture) hard to see, but look closely at the blinds.

Are these ghosts? Can they be explained? Leave me your comments!

Making money on a social site!

2007-11-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you have been waiting to hear whether this thing is for real. Can you really make money talking to your friends online? Hey, this is new to me too, but I can tell you that The payout is $25.00 now (it was 50 before), and there have been a few friends of mine get paid now to this point. My latest friend to get payment got around $70, and this is just the beginning! As I posted in earlier blogs, I joined about a month ago and am starting to earn at this point. My earnings for October was $.12. This is only my first month. It will go up and I am not concerned about it at all. My very same friends that have now earned $90 and $70 dollar checks started out with $.35 cents in their first month. I am exited about it and having fun. I have met some great friends here. If you still haven't checked it out, you can click the link below. Hope to see you there!

http://r.yuwie.com/sunnysky

More Information on Yuwie

2007-10-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, I finally watched the whole advertisement page for Yuwie, the new blogging, frienship site (or at least it's new to me)

So, you get money every time someone views anything on your page, whether it be a video clip, your blog, profile, absolutely anything. Your payments depend upon how much Yuwie earns from the ads that they place on their site. They say that most sites that host like for instance myspace, are making 20 millions dollars off of us and they do no work. We as bloggers and friends are doing all of the work, so they say they figure they would be cool and give us a little of that money that they are earning from us anyway. They are the only site that does this.

They said the amount that you are paid per view will be different each month, so you may get more, you may get less, but that you have the potential to make $1000 a month just doing what you would be doing anyway... Talking to your friends and blogging. He does not promise this amount, as this depends on if you can get referrals. Then you get paid for a percentage of their pageviews as well as your own, up to 10 levels.

They say that earnings will be tallied up on the 15th of the month (I am guessing that is why it says I have not earned anything yet.) It does show how many times people have viewed my page and so far so good! Hopefully that adds up to something next month.

Anyway, I hope that explains a little bit more, if you would like to sign up, its quick to do and free, just click here, and good luck to you!

New Cool Sites

2007-10-25T07:07:00.002-07:00

Man, don't you hate when it barely sprinkles and your electricity goes off, or your cable goes out, or your internet goofs up? That was my problem this morning. My internet is being really wacky. Keeps shutting on and off. I made a new account at www.yuwie.com and I cannot get on it because of my internet and it is driving me crazy!!!

We have been in a drought here and we finally get a little rain and my internet can't handle it!

I just signed on with yuwie yesterday and am kind of feeling the water there to see what happens. You can supposedly make money for just having friends there and doing your normal thing, so we will see and I will let you know! If you want to learn more about yuwie, just click here.

As far as I have gathered so far, you sign up for your free yuwie account, then you need to get some friends. You need to rate their sites with a 10 rating and add them to your favorites to get more page views, oh and dont forget to leave comments on other people's blogs. Another thing that is helpful is your site has to look cool. They have free layouts right there on the site, more than you could possibly look at and they are all pretty cool. You will also need to blog on your page so you get more people to come to your site and you may also want to add pictures. whew! sounds like a lot, but I did all of this in 1/2 day yesterday and I think mine is looking pretty good. It is pretty straight forward and easy to do.

I have been finding some cool sites today though in between blackouts. I like www.mp3-codes.com. You can pick music you want to put on your site and it gives you a code for it you can just copy and past to your site.

And for your myspace pages, or yuwie page, I found a couple cool sites. www.commentsheaven.com, www.blingcheese.com, www.christianglitter.com, to name just a few.

In case I have failed to mention it before, one of my all time favorites (because I love freebies) is www.freeflys.com. You just put in your mailing address and they will send you all kinds of samples from tide detergent, to post-its, and they are not stingy either. I got a tide sample the other day (which smelled divine) and It came with 1 load of detergent and 2 dryer sheets. And I am definitely buying them when they come to my store they smelled awesome!

So go ahead, check them out. They are all free.

Technical problems

2007-10-25T07:07:00.001-07:00

The Daily News

2007-10-24T11:39:00.001-07:00

cheap, easy, and delicious family meal

2007-10-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from my mom. It was one of my favorites growing up. She had 5 kids, so she always cooked things that were affordable for all of us. My husband loves this recipe, and he had never even had this before I cooked it for him! Makes me feel special.

This will cost you next to nothing to make.

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients:

Wide Egg Noodles (16 oz bag) $1.00*
Campbells cream of mushroom soup (1)$.70*
Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna in water (12 oz can) $1.50*
Campbells Cheddar cheese soup (1)
Shredded cheddar cheese (1 bag) $1.50*

for our family of 4, we always have a TON of leftovers
*prices will vary

Once you have the ingredients, it's easy. Boil some water in a large pot until bubbling, then add your egg noodles. Set your timer for 9 minutes and cook the noodles uncovered, stirring occasionally so they don't stick together. When your buzzer goes off, drain the water out from the noodles, then add your cream of mushroom, tuna, and cheddar cheese soup. Stir it all in and you are pretty much done! I sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese on top of each individuals dish when I serve this.

Enjoy!

Close to a disaster!

2007-10-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Me and my hubby rarely have time together just us anymore with the two kids and his job with the military, it just doesn't happen. So we FINALLY arranged a night out this past Saturday night. It was going to be great. Probably go out and watch a movie, and when we dropped off our first child, it began. Our car wouldn't start. We don't have some clunker mind you (unless I guess you don't like fords) :) but it is a 2004 and it has been a good car for us. Never has problems.

So for some reason our battery was dead, so we sat in the parking log a half an hour trying to figure out what to do and coming to the realization that with our luck, the night was ruined. So some nice people came over to us (they also drive a ford focus) same identical car actually, and gave us a jump. Woila! we are going! Now all we have to do is figure out what is draining the battery.

So we left it running all the way to the auto store which does free battery testing. At least then we can know for sure it is the battery or something else. So we found out that yes, the battery was dead. That is an easy fix and was happy news, besides the fact that we were paying for daycare to fix our car instead of having fun. But all in all, we made the occasion fun. We started dancing in the parking lot of the auto parts store when people would go by with their bumping music and it was fun. They even put in the battery for us (with some assistance from my hubby)

And we were finally on our way. Well, at this point there was no time for a movie, but that didn't bring us down. We still stayed optimistic and decided to go to a Grill to eat. It was fantastic. We ate until our heart were content and everything was divine! I think it made up for the bad start of the night.

So, instead of being a mess, it worked out, we still had fun, even had time to take a stroll down the street together.

When we went to pick up the kids we were joking about what was going to happen next time we want to go out. ... it's not fun for things to go wrong, but see in the end, everything worked out because we didn't lose our cool and we kept being optimistic. Just our mood towards something or our reaction to a situation can determine the rest of our day, or night. I guess we were determined not to let anything as simple as a battery ruin our evening together. And that night will be something I remember forever.

Evan Almighty

2007-10-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

I watched this movie in theaters when it came out and it was just awesome. People were actually clapping in the auditorium! And the kids really enjoyed it. I am going to buy it now that it is on DVD. I found it at the best price here.

Easy Homemade Pizza

2007-10-22T03:37:00.000-07:00

My mom gave me this recipe for making your own homemade pizza from scratch. It is much cheaper than ordering out and everyone will devour it.

My daughter is very, very picky, but I was shocked when I made this pizza, neither of my kids could eat it fast enough! And my husband is just thrilled that I am doing "homecooking now".

you will need sugar, salt, and flour, but its likely you have that laying around the house already. I like to use sea salt, but you can use your typical table salt.

I buy an 8oz bag of pepperoni (its the biggest bag they have at the grocery store) I get mine for $1.99*.

2lbs of mozarella cheese $5.35* (don't worry, this is a lot of cheese and will last you a long time)

Hunt's seasoned tomato sauce for pizza $.70* (one can will make 2 pizza's)

yeast $2.00* for pack of 3 (but will last you a long time)

So if you add it all up, you spend $11*, and you would have enough ingredients to have pizza just about every day of a whole week. You can't get that kind of a deal with takeout and it seems my family prefers it. The pizza sauce you have left over, I wrap it up good with saran wrap and it will keep in your refrigerator for 14 days. Just to be safe, I get a black permanent marker and put the date on the saran wrap and the date it should be chucked, which I will usually mark a few days earlier than the 14 days just to be safe, and I always use it before then.

(*prices will vary)

So here is the recipe to make 1 homemade pizza:

1 cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar
3 cups flour (or more as needed)

Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and knead it for a few minutes. ( This is my favorite part because it helps me get out the frustrations of the day) You can let the dough sit for about an hour in a warm place to let it rise, but if you like thinner crust, this step is not necessary.

You will now want to preheat your oven to 475.

Roll out your dough to fit onto your pizza pan (you can also use a rectangle baking sheet if you wish). Make sure your baking sheet is greased first. Spread on your desired amount of pizza sauce, pepperoni, and mozarella cheese (or any other toppings you prefer). Let it bake at 475 for about 10 minutes.

That's it! You just made a homemade pizza your family will love you for!

God has an audible voice?

2007-10-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

I have heard people say, yea, God talks to me but I mean like I just feel something in my heart, not an audible voice. While I believe this can be true and I think that God speaks to everyone in his own special way, I HAVE heard an audible voice from God. Now, it was a still, small voice, as it says in the Bible, but I could hear it. This has happened twice in my life, and if it happens to you, you will never forget. I believe that at the time that I could actually hear his voice, it was because he needed me to hear it. I was in danger and he wanted to protect me.

I was driving down a new stretch of highway, 2 lanes going in the same direction. It had just opened a week before when I got onto it. I decided to pass a slow poke in my right lane, so I turned my blinker on and proceeded to enter the left lane. We were coming up a hill that you can't see over when I heard this quiet voice say "Get over" and I thought, "get over? I am almost around this guy" and he said it again,audibly, like a whisper in my ear "get over" so I said "ok" and slowed down and got behind the slowpoke again. Just as I was getting in the right lane, here comes an old lady in the left lane, driving the wrong way right towards me. I just missed a head on collision. That's when I knew that it was God talking to me and that he had just spared my life. I would have died driving 60mph in a head on crash like that. It made me feel good. As long as I am a christian, I don't have to fear anything, because God will take care of me, and even warn me of things! I did not realize until then how much God cared about little ol' me. And it also makes me aware at how scary it can be to be out of the will of God, or to not be a christian and not have that kind of protection. And it makes me realize how important it is to be listening for his voice. Sometimes our lives are so busy or loud, we probably miss some important messages from God. And let me tell you, that is not a message that I would have liked to miss!

The second time this happened where I heard him speak to me, I was going through a confusing time in my life and he gave me a scripture to read and I remember what it was to this day. Isaiah 53. Read it sometime.

Surviving Abuse

2007-10-19T02:51:00.000-07:00

This is a very sensitive topic for me, but I thought this might be a good way to get my feelings out, and maybe help someone else.

It has been 6 years and I still have flashbacks of the physical abuse I received in my first marriage. I was married 2 years, a long time in my kind of predicament, but I constantly see stories of people staying in these relationships sometimes to their death, or otherwise they wait to leave 30 years into it. I also am the youngest out of 5 kids in my immediate family to get grey hair at such a young age and I attribute it to my 2 years in that marriage. I was only 21 when I got my first grey hair. Also, if I showed you pictures of me from during that time, which are few and far between, they do not look like me. The stress not only wore and tore on my insides and emotions, I started to look on the outside how I felt on the inside. You wouldn't recognize me if I showed you. Likewise, now that I am in a healthy relationship, I look the best I ever have. I look a lot younger now, like I have turned back the clock.

My deciding point, was when I got pregnant with my first baby and knew that I never wanted my child to see me abused, or worse yet, for him to hurt the baby. I am not giving great detail here because I am in hiding from my abuser. They usually stalk you as mine did.

Why would you even want to be with a person like this in the first place? Lets start at the beginning...

I was young and naive at 19, more naive than some. I had become a christian at 16 and devoted myself to God and helping others. One day this guy (the abuser) started talking to me (we had mutual friends) and told me about the relationship he was in. He was living with a 16 year old girl (he was 22 and started dating her when she was 14 and his parents I later found out kicked him out). He told me he was a christian and that his father was a preacher, so I told him as a friend that how he was living, he knew that it was wrong. I did not expect anything to come from this. People don't usually listen when you tell them things like that, but I guess he had another agenda. I still just thought he was a friend when he brought me to meet his parents, which now I know was just a bid to get his parents back on his good side. "look, I brought home a nice, christian girl" kind of thing. At the time, I was very strict and wore dresses all the time because I believed that is how you should dress as to distinguish that you are a girl.

He broke up with the girl the NEXT day...I am even shaking as I am typing this because this is something I try not to think on anymore.

So then at the beginning, it was all suddle. I was a little surprised and alarmed that he broke up with the girl, but as a friend I told him that was good. It was a very brave thing to do and he probably did the right thing. So it started out that he just hung out with our mutual friends, then it was driving me home, very subtly he snaked his way into my life. He told me everything I wanted to hear in the beginning. We seemed to "want the same things" out of life. He said he wanted to be a preacher like his dad, which appealed to me. And I felt like I was helping him.

The whole thing felt weird to me and we discussed this on mutiple occasions. We just said "lets see what happens". I never liked him in a boyfriend way, but just thought that I could help him, and he had a nice, sweet family, so what's the worst that can happen?

I went on some strange dates with him where he would try to do weird things in public that freaked me out, but I was young, and he made me feel like I was freaking out because there was something wrong with me. Like he did some odd things that I don't care to talk about and the next day, I told him that I wanted to date other people and wasn't sure if we were going anywhere. He tried to talk me out of it but I really didn't like him. I started actively looking for someone else. I went out on a date with this guy I worked with soon after that conversation, and he followed me the whole time on my date! And my date knew it too. It was embarassing. When he drove me home, he went to my neighbors house, got out of his truck and stared at us, I guess to see if I was going to kiss him or something. It was so embarassing, I never got to see that guy again. So the next night after that, I worked until 11:30 pm, and as I was walking to my car, he jumped out of a dark corner and scared me. I was like, "what are you doing here, its almost midnight?" he said "I wanted to see you and he begged me to go out with him". It was at that moment that I knew that he wouldn't stop leaving me alone unless I went along with it, so I did.

I realize in hindsight, I could have gone to the police for stalking or something, but I didn't know that at the time. I thought I had to handle it myself. Well, soon after this, he raped me and honestly, I was so clueless at the time, I didn't call it that back then. I blamed myself, but I tried to push him off me and I was screaming at him no and to stop but he seemed to enjoy the fight. Sicko. But as I said, I was a christian and in my mind I though that well, I have done this and now we have to get married. I thought it was the right thing to do in Gods eyes.

Between that time, and the wedding, there were 2 times when he publicly beat me and the police got involved and actually pulled their guns on him. They kept telling me it wasn't my fault and that I deserved better, but they didn't understand that he would just find me and go after me. I saw no way away from him. Even after all of this, no charges were filed against him, the police just drove me home and told my parents what happened.

So why did my family allow me to get married since they knew what he was like? I have no idea. They knew that I didn't like him in that way. When the preacher said "is there anyone who believes these two should not be joined", I was seriously waiting for someone to stand up and save me... it was quiet, and we were married. More beatings happened the first night. The honeymoon night.

As soon as we were married, we moved out of state because he claimed he wanted to go to college to become a preacher. He went to the college and preached sermons that I listened to, and I always hoped that he would change and constantly prayed for him, and for myself to make it through.

Obviously, more happened than I am stating here, but if I were to write in every single thing, this would be a 1,000 page novel, so I am trying to condense this.

He was mad at me one day, and he threatened to wreck the car into various things in the middle of nowhere where no one would find me because I wanted to get out. I was so scared. Somehow, I convinced him to just take me to my brothers house to clear my head and we would talk the next day. I spent the night there, trying to plot how to get out of the situation. I had already talked with my pastor and he was willing to fly me out. I was just scared at the thought. I had no money, no job because he was controlling and he wouldn't let me work. If I got a job, he made sure he got me fired from it. I just didn't know what to do and I was afraid if I left him, he would kill me.

So I went back with him the next day and of course he was so sorry and would never do that again. I started having nightmares...about my own husband! That alarmed me. There was one time that I dreamed that he was going to kill me. He put his hands around my neck, smiling and evil smile, with scorching red eyes. When I woke up, the room didn't feel right. I felt some kind of evil presence.. He was awake and said that I was laughing but it was not my laugh. That scared me. I can't be posessed right? I am a christian? How is that possible? I have since had people tell me that he may have just told me that to scare me and that there may very well been a presence in the room but I wouldn't have been posessed.

I prayed all the time, God, what do I do? Is it wrong for me to leave him? I don't believe in divorce. I never seemed to find my answer, so I stayed.

He beat me again, and again, and finally I told him, "I am not supporting your wishes to be a pastor anymore (I was doing his homework for him). I told him that he was not right and I wasn't going to help him in that anymore until he stopped hitting me. He said "fine" and instead of maybe saying he would change or something, he dropped out of college and we went back to our hometown. We stayed with his parents for a while, in which even in their own house, he tried to suffocate me with a pillow, of course he justified it by saying "I didn't want you to wake up my parents with your screaming", when I found out I was pregnant while we were living with them, he pushed me down their stairs and said "I'm sorry, you don't look pregnant so I didn't think about that". While we were there, behind his back I applied for my own housing and got accepted, but yet again he said he was so sorry and would never do it again, and I thought the christian thing to do was to give him his chances.

So again, we moved away from my family, his family, everyone. He wouldn't let me work or have friends.

We were living in a shack (literally) when I was pregnant. I was about 5 months along now and was showing quite clearly. We were moving out of this shack to go to another one and we started fighting over the vacuum. He would not let me take it. I told him, this is our last day to move out and we can't come back and get it. It was the only thing that I owned that was mine anymore. Anything I had before I married him, he broke it, he broke everything, and the vacuum was the only thing I had left. Silly, huh?

So we got in a big fight over, thats right, the vacuum. I begged him. There was enough room, just let me get it... somehow this escalated into him headbutting me in the head, dragging me around by my hair, and popping my neck. At the moment he twisted my neck around and it popped numerous times, the whole room fell quiet, I was quiet, for a second I thought I was dead. That's when I knew it was life or death that I get away from him. For myself and my unborn baby. When I realized I was still alive, I screamed so loud, I was so scared. I think I had God's protection. I finally told him that I had had enough and acted like i was going to cooperate. He had a hold of my arm so I wouldn't get away. I told him I wouldn't run, I'm done fighting and as soon as we were out side, holding my belly, I made a break for it and ran to the landlords house and for some reason he couldn't catch me (again, I think God helped me I was praying at the time) He sped off in his car (the only car we owned) and I asked for help from the landlord and told them what happened. I called my family and they picked me up that night. I should have went to the hospital with what he did to me, but I was afraid. I have seen the shows on tv where they will arrest people for being pregnant and letting abuse happen like that. so I refused to go and I went to live with my parents.

I lived there for about a month and he called saying he missed me and was sorry and would never do it again. He said he would even go to counseling, but that I should go first. well, I went to counseling and she basically just sent me on my way because she couldn't give marriage counseling with the spouse missing. I did not tell her about the abuse though. Again, I knew if anyone knew I was in danger, I would be arrested, or he would be arrested for a few months, get out, and then kill me. Nice justice system we have, isn't it?

I decided to try again. By now, my family was very aware of what was going on and my brothers were very worried about me. One of my brothers talked to me and told me I shouldn't go back. I told him to trust me and that God would take care of me, and I may get hurt again, but he cannot take my life because I have God's protection. I still believe that to be true.

I went back and he acted like he missed me, but to this day, he probably doesn't know that his friend that he was living with told me that the day after I left he was with other girls. His friend said to me"well, he though you weren't coming back". Wow. Yea he missed me, he missed his punching bag I guess. I went into premature labor, I knew that I probably would because of the stress and the beatings but my doctor did not know this. They managed to stop my labor and I went home, still having the baby a month early. Besides being Jaundiced, he was healthy. And I thought, maybe now that there is a baby, he will stop hitting me. Well, he didn't of course and even one time we were fighting and he was holding the baby and was covering his mouth and nose yelling at me, as the baby started to flail. I got scared and yanked the baby away from him. He said he didn't mean to, but I wasn't going to wait for an 'accident' to happen. From then on, I carefully planned my escape. I took what little money he had saved, got my own job, packed up my car, and waited for him to hit me, one more time. I already warned him and I guess he didn't believe me. I said, "now you know if you hurt me again, I have to leave" He said "ok ok I know I won't do it again.

So it didn't take long, a day or two, and I guess he didn't believe me because he beat me again, knocked me out of my chair, pinned me against the wall and told me if I told anyone, he would kill me. I said okay and acted like I wasn't going to tell anyone. I went to work because he dropped me off, but as soon as I entered the building I told my manager to call the police. I met the police at my house when they arrested him. He was in jail a total of 24 hours. He eventually pled guilty to that and got 2 years probation. That was the extent of his punishment for years of abuse.

I did not let him come back to me again. I had watched enough oprah to know that I did not want to be one of those women that has 3 kids and 30 years later and my kids have to see that. Not me. I refused to let that be me. I reclaimed my life and had the locks changed on the house. I was free, so I thought. he broke into my house late one night through the back door and I was holding the baby and he pulled a knife on me. I ran outside frantic and none of the neighbors seemed to care what was going on. A friend of mine drove me to the police station where I gave my statement. They tried to find him, but they told me if he went out of the county that there was nothing they could do because it would be out of their jursisdiction. That is the stupidest thing I have heard. So, he didn't get arrested, he pled not guilty in court but he was charged with unlawful use of a weapon at least because of the evidence and testimonies, and he still to this day cannot hold a job because of the little criminal record I was able to get filed on him. He also eventually lost his license because of failure to pay child support.

Later, I found out that he called my mom and threatened to kill her and the rest of my family.

Sure, there are a lot of things I wish I could do over, like staying away from the phsyco from the start, but I was young and I just thought that you could trust people. I have always lived by the scripture, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" Unfortunately, sometimes that means you get hurt. They will have their reward someday, if they do not get it on this earth.

God was faithful to me. He spared my life, on numerous occasions, and I left that relationship early enough that my son will not have to ever see that kind of behavior. Or see his mommy get hurt. I kicked that creap out when my baby was 5 months old and soon after, I was not looking for anyone else of course and did not think that I would ever marry again, but God unexpectantly brought a great guy into my life that was totally crazy about me and loved my baby and we got married, and everything turned out perfect. I never though I would have a life after that, but I am more happy now than I ever thought was possible. My ex won't dare to come near me now because I have someone that will protect me from that, and truth is, all wife beaters are anyways are cowards that like to prey on people weaker than them.

So if you are in a relationship similar, call it what it is, be smart, get protection, restraining orders, anything you can and don't let this rule your life any longer. I am glad I did. I came to the conclusion from reading the Bible that God does not want us to be in pain. He is a loving God and cares about us, like we care about our own kids, we are his kids. I believe there are a few instances where divorce is an option, but it is always our choice. Our free will, and I don't believe that because I divorced this person that I will not make heaven. Also, you need to realize something that I did not know at the time. When you are in a situation like that , all you are thinking about is survival. How to get out of it, etc, but the longer you take the death threats, and the abuse, the more it will haunt you perhaps for the rest of your life. I am pretty sure that I have post traumatic stress disorder because of my experience. Not a fun way to live. I have sudden flashbacks sometimes I have to fight, I can't watch certain movies or types of movies anymore that may trigger a memory. It is traumatic. I did watch the movie "Enough" with Jennifer Lopez and I wished I could have been more like her. you don't think about it while it is happening... that the memories will follow you, but they do, so get out before you become traumatized.

Oh and by the way, I don't wear dresses anymore. I think they are too accessible, and my daughter will never wear one to school or anywhere else unless there are pants under them. This is just my personal opinion, but I believe I could have avoided my rape and gotten away had it been more difficult for him.

I don't even talk about this to anyone anymore. No one around me knows what I have been through except my husband. As far as they know, I had both of my children with my current husband. Everyone even says they look alike. They even have similar interests and talents. I think it's interesting how God works things out that way. But to my son, this is his daddy. The only daddy he has ever know. His biological sperm donor never cared to see him. He didn't even stay in the room when I was giving birth! He went out to eat with his parents and left me in the hospital alone! He never used his visitation, and never sent child support. My husband adopted my son to make him officially his just 2 years ago. I just wanted to start completely new, without people looking at me a certain way, and I like it that way.

I have a fantastic life now, couldn't be better. My husband coudn't be more opposite than my first. and now that is off my chest, that is all I want to focus on now. I have been with my new husband for 5 years now. I am still young and I have the rest of my life ahead of me. You can have a happy ending too.

What is TMD?

2007-10-17T02:57:00.000-07:00

It stands for Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. A disorder that affects 5-15% of people in the US according to NIDCR. I am among the 5-15% that suffer with this every day.

It took a long time for me to be diagnosed, and everyones is a little different, but mine started out when I woke up one morning not able to open my mouth. We are very fragil I suppose as humans. The day before we were moving stuff out of the house we were moving from and my brother was chasing me around the house trying to hit me with a towel, to try to avoid him, I ran into the laundry room that had a shelf at neck level. I fell back on it and it hit my neck. Now I did not think this was a big deal. So I had a little red on my neck and mom told us to stop horsing around. It did not hurt that bad. Problem is, that you can easily slid a disc in your jaw out of place if you have an impact like that. Whiplash can do it too and I have had whiplash as well years earlier.

It's scary to see how simple it can be to change the rest of your life, but from the time I woke up that next day until now, my life has changed. I was 16. It took them 2 years and several doctors to find out what was wrong. At first, my mom didn't even believe me. I'm like hello?! I can't even eat a hamburger! and you think I'm faking??? so finally after 1 month of still complaining that I couldn't open my mouth, my mom started taking me to doctors, chiropracters, dentists. Everyone tried to yank my jaw open with different therapys, but nothing worked. I was starting to get depressed because I couldn't eat, I couldn't yawn. Yawning was painful because I could never do it. I would go to my room and hit my jaw and try to open it myself it had just become too much for this teenager. After a whole summer of lockjaw, my mouth finally opened on it's own one day and ended my depression. I finally got diagnosed by my childhood doctor and she knew right away what was wrong with me.

I had started to get a big bump under one side of my jaw. I thought it was a tumor or something. She said it was just the muscle swollen up on my jaw and demonstrated how I could alleviate the pressure. Cotton balls, basically, and no I never did this. I can't stand the feeling of cotton balls on my teeth. Another chiropracter told me I should not eat anything chewy anymore. Gum, steak, anything chewy. Well what can I eat then? I just finally gave up on all that and after 11 years of having this problem now, I have found out what works for me, or what makes it worse. So, yes, I shouldn't chew gum. Everytime I do (because I can't resist!), I get really bad headaches. Actually, now for the past year or two I have bad bad headaches every single day, every minute of every day that I treat with OTC Excedrin Migraine. That is the only thing that gives me a little relieve and lately that hasnt been working.

My jaw pops all the time. Everytime I have to open it wide. Yawning, singing, eating are the most difficult. You take so much for granted. I don't even remember what it's like to have a normal jaw that doesn't pop all the time. I remember in choir in high school the director didn't know I had this problem and he would get onto me and tell me to open my mouth wider when I sing and I tried to tell him that I couldn't, but he wasn't listening.

I could have surgery, and it may come down to that some day, but I am trying to avoid that. There are risks involved and I just dont want to go that route.

The one thing that I keep around that helps me the most is a rice sock. I just bought a bag of rice, any white rice and fill up an old sock of mine that I can't find a match to tie it off, and microwave it for about a minute and 30 seconds. Then I put it on my jaw, the back of my neck, or wherever I am feeling pain and by the next day, I am at least feeling better than the day before. We even use the rice sock for my husbands muscle pain. The warmth of it does wonders for about anything.

It took me a while of research to find out, but it is not hereditary. It is usually caused by some kind of injury, like a neck injury or jaw injury. People sometimes develop TMJ after car accidents. I didn't seem to have a clear reason for mine. I wouldn't call hitting the back of my neck on a shelf an injury. It wasn't bad, but it is the only explanation I have.

If you can get one, a fitted mouthguard should help. I would like to get one, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. You need to get it from your dentist. You arent' supposed to use the store kind mouthguards if you have TMD.

Also, If your teeth are misaligned, that can also cause you TMJ problems. I also have just one tooth out of alignment and some crowding, and a slight overbite. This may have also contributed to my problems and a friend of mine that has TMD too, she got braces and she said her problems didn't go away, but they got better. And that is something else that I am looking into. I would like to get the new invisalign braces. Clear like trays that fit over your teeth and you can't even tell you have braces in. You can take them out when you're eating. They have flexible payment plans. I would love to get those. If I do, I will let you know. I like that they don't stay in as long as metal braces either. You may have them on for as little as a year. If you are interested, they will send you free information from their website (which I did receive in the mail), even your consultation is free, just go to www.invisalign.com. They give you all the details, even lists invisalign providers in your area so you can schedule your visit.

Real surveys that actually pay you cash

2007-10-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have found (and signed up for) all kinds of paid survey sites. Some of them give you point to maybe win something, but there are the few I have found that actually pay you, without having to sign up for someone else's offers. One of my favorites is Pine Cone Research. You have to be invited to their panel though. I luckily got in with some hard work and searching.

Another favorite of mine is American Consumer Opinion. It works much like Pinecone, but anyone can join. Their surveys aren't the ones you usually see, they are asking you real questions about your shopping habits, what you usually buy, some are about a new movie coming out, they ask you why you don't like certain products, things like that. They pay really fast by check in the mail. I have included my latest paystub here. I earned $4.00 for this one survey:

Hey, it's not much, but I only took one consumer survey to get that. Not bad. I can buy quite a few candy bars for that, or even buy myself lunch! My husband makes fun of me but I love it. The surveys never take long, and I am always happy to get a check in the mail. So if you want to check them out too, its completely free to join and you can start doing surveys and making some easy money. Just click on the box below:

They do not spam you as far as I have experienced. I have only received e-mails when they had a new survey for me to do, and you don't want those to be thrown out!

Surviving D.C.

2007-10-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

George Washington's home at Mount Vernon

I knew when I moved here it was going to be a challenge with traffic n' all, but boy did I underestimate it!

When we first moved here, we tried to go and see the sights and we have some pictures, but most of the time we didn't even stop because...you couldn't or it would be dangerous if you tried. You are just in the way of the locals and they will run you over if you are in their way. Yikes! I could never live here for my whole life.

That was driving our own car. Every book I read tells you not to take a car, to take metro or a bus. I guess we are too scared, so we braved it. You can find parking. You can pay a meter and walk but I really think it's impossible and not worth it if you have kids. We could never walk very far from the car. It was hot, and the kids would get fussy.

We went to the Smithsonian which has many different buildings with different things. Some of the cool stuff is in the Air and Space Museum-upstairs, but we didn't even bother with that because there was such a long line and we had our little ones with us. The Museum of Natural history (I think that is the name) is not even open and that is where they have the coolest stuff like mummies, etc so that is a real bummer. They moved some of the stuff to the Air and Space museum but not all of it, (basically, not the cool stuff). You can find Dorothy from OZ's ruby slippers there but like I said, prepare to wait a long time in line for that.

The National Geographic Society was pretty convenient to find with our GPS and there was a conveniently located parking garage directly across from it with valet. Cool! But, there was really nothing to see at the National Geographic society. They advertise on their website that there is a tornado that you can touch there, and some other cool things... they are gone and have been for years they said, they just said for some reason they can't get them to take it off the website. Probably because they don't have anything else to market to get people to come in. There really isn't anything to do there.

The highlight of the National Geographic trip was going into the picture booth and getting your picture taken on the cover of National Geographic ($5.00), but somehow, it made the trip worth while. Also, they have a penny machine that you can put your pennies in and it will print out a picture on the penny of whatever you want as a souvenier. We got a lot of pennies!

And there is no need to worry about carrying a camera on you, there is nothing to take a picture of! Still, it was fun to go.

My absolute favorite place to go is George Washington's home in Mount Vernon. It is a convenient, back road drive, Cheap to get in. I recommend just buying the season pass. I could have had 2 season passes for the 3 trips that I have made already, and I plan to go again, so go ahead and get the season pass. It's cheap. To get in, I think it's around $13 and a season pass like $18.. around that. Not much at all. They also give cruises on the potomac river that give you an awesome view of his home (which sits right beside the river) and the cruise is around $9 with paid admission. Not too shabby. 45 minute cruise.

There are several movie theaters in the museums that show movies of his life, and they are good quality. We enjoyed them.

They have an old time restaraunt where people dressed like George Washington's era will searve you food, and if you don't like that, they do have a Pizza hut next door, and a couple other food choices in their food court. I love it. Mount Vernon is my favorite place to go.

If you are wanting to move here for whatever reason, I can tell you that the closer you get to D.C., the more dangerous, and dirty. The farther you can get from it, the better you will be. If I was to do it again, I would move to Woodbridge. They have a humongous one story mall, but it's a couple miles long and most of them are outlet stores. Disney store outlet, children's place outlet, JC Penny outlet, etc. If you like mall shopping, you will be very happy with the prices here and it's pretty simple to get to. You take the Manassas exit, merge left as soon as you can, turn left on shoppers best way, and you will run into it ( you will see a walmart on your left). That is another thing about this place. No supercenter wal-marts. Somehow, I have managed to survive without it, but I don't understand. They have these small walmarts in these big cities, not enough employees... why do they have it at all? We never go.

Another weird annoyance of living here. If your destination is 4 miles away, that pretty much means 1/2 hour drive. Pretty crazy.

And I feel sorry for the folks that have to go to work on the "beltway". We have only had to go a couple of times, and even then we went at off times of the day(which is a great time to go!) and we could have gone a different route. You can find better routes. There are always big accidents on the beltway. Lots of people die there. I guess usually at nighttime when the truckers are tired and refuse to make a stop.

About the only good thing is that once you live here for a while, you figure out back routes that most people don't take.

If anyone lives here or is planning a move and would like me to help them with directions somewhere, just post me a comment and I will try to find you the best way to get there.

My Morning Arsenal

2007-10-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have learned a lot through years and years of trial and error. What works, what doesn't, and decided to share some of my secrets here with you. Everything I have talked about here, is shown in the photo above

1. Take your makeup off at night. If you feel like you simply must leave it on for the sake of society, use mineral makeup. I am in love with Loreal bare naturale mineral makeup in Soft ivory.

2. use facial moisturizer (I use olay facial moisturizer) If you don't, your skin will dry out which will cause wrinkles. I started getting crows feet in my early 20's because I never used it, and I regret that now, but since I have been using facial moisturizer, all of the lines that were showing on my face have vanished. I look younger now than I did in high school, and I am 27! This is not just me saying it, my family and everyone else comments on it too.

3. This should probably be #1, Drink as much water as you can. This will help hydrate your skin from the inside out. I can tell when I don't drink a lot of water my lips start chapping up. Also if you drink too much soda it will dehydrate you fast.

4. Personally, I don't use blush. I haven't used blush for years. I don't like it or how it looks. I use bronzer. You can use any brand you want, cheap or expensive. From my experience, it doesn't seem to matter. Just pick what color you want and put it lightly on your cheeks, forehead, and a little on chin. it will give you a little glow.

5. To make me look chipper and awake in the mornings no matter how I feel, I use revlon shimmer powder. I put it on the lids of my eyes, and around in a 'C' shape around above my brow around to under my eye. It reflect light, so you won't look sleepy.

6. This may sound silly, but if you have a big night out and you have cuts on your legs, or bug bites, or other kind of imperfection, I like using TruBlend by Cover Girl. It's whipped makeup and it makes your legs look airbrushed. Beautiful!

7. Personally, I don't use eyeliner anymore. I used to, but I found out that it was making my eyes swell up, so be careful!

8. I have a recurring problem with my cuticles. They like to shrivle up and be quite ugly, but my Sally Hansen Cuticle massage cream heals it almost in one night!

9. Occasionally, I do have the problem of getting the occasional cyst (acne) on my face that will just not go away, and for that I like to use Neutrogena Rapid Clear. It will reduce the appearance within 8 hours. I put it on before bedtime as needed and it is reduced in size and appearance by the time I wake up the next day. Also, if you don't get enough sleep it will make you break out. I guess my skin is really sensitive. I need my "beauty" sleep! I notice my face is so much clearer and smooth if I catch up on my sleep. And oh yea, CLEAN YOUR PILLOW CASE OFTEN! It harbors all kinds of yucky germs from you drooling on it, sweating on it, and whatever else. Clean it as often as you can and you should see a reduction in breakouts.

10. For special occasions (but very rarely!) I use Loreal infallible makeup. I love the look it gives me, covers exceptionally well, and it lasts forever and ever, BUT-It makes me break out. But I do recommend it for a wedding, or a party, or something where you need your makeup to hold up. Just make sure you wash it off as soon as you get home!

11. Do you have a mole? or other beauty mark that you are proud of? I am proud of mine. I try to put my makeup on around my mole so you can still see it. If I cover it up though, I will use a brown/black pencil and lightly make it darker.

12. Your brows set the tone for the rest of your face. Make sure you pluck regularly (but not too much!) and use a brow pencil to accentuate your brows and shape them as needed. I love using Revlon Brow fantasy.

13. The perfect scent. My husband LOVES Glow after dark by JLo, and I actually love it to. What's most important, is that your man will love it. :) That is after all why we wear it, right? And the bottle it comes in is pretty. I originally told my hubbie that I would wear it for special occasion only to keep it special, but I end up wearing it every day I like it so much!

14. I don't wear lipstick. I wear it lightly if it is a big occasion, but most every day, I just keep hydrated. Currently I am using Lip Smackers cotton candy flavored lip balm. yummy and it smells good, but don't eat it people! it goes on your lips!

15. Extensions, why not? Change it up and have short hair one day and long hair the next, like me! Everyone is probably confused everytime I walk out of my house but it's fun. You can't even tell I'm wearing extensions. They clip into your own hair. It doesn't hurt, and you can do it yourself. I am wearing my extensions in the picture above. You can get your own here.

16. Of all of the mascaras that I have tried, Revlon 3D extreme lived up to my expectations, and is the one that I am currently using, and planning to buy again when it runs out. Be careful the first time you put it on, it may surprise you how much comes out. Once you get the hang of it though, you will have diva lashes.

Well, I think that's about it! If I think of any more tips or find some new ones, I will be sure to add them!

A Strange Encounter

2007-10-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the dreaded bus stop, as usual. All the other mommy's are there in their sweatpants and ponytails like they just woke up. That's all right n' all, It's just not for me. I'm just not one of those people that doesn't care about my appearance. And it is not for other people, but I do it because I love my husband, and I want to be something he can be proud of. I never want to be the one of many who "lets themselves go" only to receive a pot belly, and no husband in a few years. I try to keep myself looking interesting. I wear interesting things. Like, I wear a lot of headwraps and hats. Those are my main accessories. and maybe a cute jacket. I like pink or brown jackets that come down to about your knees. I also wear the occasional wrist bands. The one that I have has a cross on it and is pink. So I usually wear a pink headwrap with it, with a brown shirt and it was something simple I threw together but everyone thinks Im cute.

Like this morning, I didn't even fix my hair. On days like that, I will usually wear a hat. It distracts people's attention from your bad hair! :) So I simply put my hair in low pig tails on each side of my head, situated above my shoulders, slapped my pink hat on, and put a pink jacket on. I was even wearing my pink house slippers. I threw myself together, but because I don't go out in sweats, I get noticed.

One mom actually came up to me and laughed and said, "you know, I think I'm really starting to hate you" she said, "you always look like a million bucks in the mornings. Maybe I should take some pointers" I was like, "ok...thanks??" and for the first time since school started, one of the moms talked to me. Maybe I scare people off because I'm so beautiful. he he, just kidding. It made me feel good though. Maybe I can change the world. NO MORE DULL LOOKING STAY AT HOME MOMS, join the revolution, dare to be noticed!

The Bus Stop

2007-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

I really hate bus stops. I mean, when I was in school, my bus always picked us up at our homes, not some corner or something. I guess bus drivers are getting more and more lazy and inpersonal.

I don't like it because when you have an entire bus load meet at the corner, the bus driver does not get to know the children. Are there children missing today? which ones? How would they know? They don't take roll.

3 times in a row my son (who is in kindergarten) got put on the wrong bus and sent only God knows where in his very first week of school. I never found out where. No one knew. And how could they. I just know he was a 5 year old running home by himself while I am making phone calls and trying to locate him.

We always developed good (or sometimes bad) experiences with our bus drivers that picked us up at our homes because they got to know us. They knew where our house was and if we didn't come out right away, they could wait, or honk. Meeting at a corner, you miss the bus, you miss the bus.

Anyway, I guess I am ranting for no reason. I don't see any change to come of this. Things are evolving into an unpersonal society, where people are only worried about speed, not you.

Wouldn't you like everyone to just slow down every once in a while. You can't enjoy anything anymore. People take your money at the checkout and they practiallly push you out to get the next customers money and I am sure I could go on, but then I am getting off my subject so I guess I will bring my rant to an end.

Cash Crate Surprise

2007-10-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

Click here to get your free membership with cash crate
http://www.cashcrate.com/314569

I signed up for Cash Crate recently, thinking I may or may not get something out of it. I have done things like this before... several, that usually pay too little for you to ever get to a payout. So before I signed up, I checked out their forum and listened to what people had to say that were making money with cash crate. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that just about everyone was making a little bit, with some making quite a lot. So I went ahead and signed up. It's free anyway, so I figured, why not?

You have a choice to chose offers the way you want them. By popularity, by 100% free offers, etc. I always chose the 100% free. I signed up to as many as I wanted for free and watched my stats. (Check your e-mail often because you will get confirmation e-mails you will have to click to confirm before the pay shows up to your cashcrate account. You will then get an e-mail from cashcrate saying congratulations, a credit of $XXX has been added to your account. Sweet!

It is not only signing up for stuff, they also have 2 surveys you can chose to do per day that will earn you money. You can find it on the daily survey tab. Don't forget about that, it's an easy way to make extra money.

So I signed up for all the stuff that I wanted for free, and did a couple of the daily surveys, and I was surprised when a check showed up in the mail from Cashcrate! They sent it fast too. Payout is on the 20th. You have to meet the payout amount ($10) by the 20th, then they will issue you a check. I got mine a week or 2 after the 20th. And this is my paystub to prove it:

You might be thinking... wow, that's a small check. Well that is my first ever check from cashcrate and to me, money is money. $10 is $10 and I am happy.

If you are still curious, you can check out their site here: http://www.cashcrate.com/314569

Where in the World is Paula Viola Hayes???

2007-10-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is my fault I suppose. It has probably been 2 years since I moved when my husband joined the military, and I lost contact with my BFF Paula Viola Hayes. I have tried to people search her to no avail (they don't seem to be as updated as they let on). So I kinda gave up. She has her life, I have mine. She is probably a teacher now. 25 years old. We went to school in Missouri together. Anyway, If anyone happens to know her, bring her to my site.
Thanx all!

A New Adventure!

2007-10-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

I just completed my first transaction with ebay! How exiting. I had not the slightest Idea what I was doing and had no idea how it would turn out, but I did it! I shopped "victoriously". And I feel like I won a prize...even though I paid for it. :) I "won" a potty seat for my girl. My 3 year old believes she will fall in the toilet of public restrooms, so I bought a potty seat that fits over it so she won't fall in, also it folds up so it will fit into your purse or handbag. It's dora, so It should be a winner. I have been just bringing her whole potty seat from home, but I don't have to tell you how cumbersome and annoying that was. This will be a whole lot easier and convenient. I am a happy mom right now :)

I did not pay much for it though. It started bidding at $.99 and that is what I got it for. What about shipping, right? It was $5.00 for shipping, but even at that when you add it up, to $5.99 for the total cost, I still couldn't have gotten that price even at the local flea market. And I had already looked for this in stores and I never could even find one, so this is perfect. Convenient and fun. Unfortunately for my husband, it looks like I will be doing this a lot more now that I know how to do it.

Old Concept drawings

2007-10-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am very proud of my husbands artistic talents. He will be going to college soon to fulfill his dream of being a game designer. These drawing are several years old and most of them were not ever finished. This is just a sample of his talent. I couldn't find anything recent but he draws all the time.

My Husband the Composer

2007-10-12T11:30:00.001-07:00

In case you cannot read it quite well here is what it says (its a poem)

Take me where
Angels Fly so high
Can you take me
Where angels Never cry

You've got the power
to make the clouds begin to try
The wind whispered me a tale
of a girl whose heart
pounded out a beat for nature

To stare into her eyes
Is to go beyond her lies
To listen to her voice
Is to hear a beautiful noise

...I am sure he did not complete this. I found this laying around the house with a bunch of other concept drawing he made. He is a really good artist and thought you may find this poem interesting, though I'm not sure I understand it or that it makes sense.

To Make You laugh

2007-10-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

I will add some of my "artwork" here, if that is what you would call it. I am not an artist. Sadly, I spent a lot of time on the Dolphin picture and only looks descent because I got it from an art book. :)

Allright, now can anybody even tell what is going on in this horrible picture???

How I chose my Career

2007-10-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Chosing a career is not always easy. You may know what you wanna do, but it ends up being like ice cream. You may know you want ice cream, but then you have to pick a flavor, and then, it is hard to get someone who wants to help you, or at least it has been a little challenging for me.

I did finally find a college that is trying to help me out. I finally decided on medical assistant because I have basically already been a medical assistant, I just didn't have the title or the certification to show for it. ... oh yea, and I never drew blood, but that is the only thing I haven't done in the office I used to work at and it doesn't bother me the thought of doing it. I think some people freak out.

I was hired as a receptionist for a small doctors office and eventually, became the "do everything girl". When the nurse was gone, I became nurse and the biller, and the transcriber, and the receptionist, and lets see what else...

Anyway, I think I did my job with much grace and I was very good at what I did. The patients loved me and I think I really miss getting to interact with them.

I had to quit about 1 1/2 years ago when my daughter went into the hospital with multiple problems (you can read about it in my other blog: http://yogurtcansaveyourlife.blogspot.com) Basically, she couldn't go back to daycare with all of the germs and her immune system being so weak, so we made a choice for me to stay at home with her until she got better, which I suspected may be years.

So she is 3 years old now and I am applying to college right now. I am planning it good so that she will be in preschool... maybe even kindergarten by the time I get out of my training.

I chose medical assistant ultimately because I have 3 years experience already, I would love to work with patients again, and it only takes one year to go through an online program :). Oh yea, and it pays pretty good of course. It pays better as you get experience so I am betting that will help me since I already have experience.

After I start working, I may get some radiology training. I like taking X-rays. You get to be in a dark room, its quiet, I think its fun...peaceful for the most part. I have done it before. It's not hard. Just like anything else you have to learn it. It's just with prerequisites n' all it would take me 3 years to become a radiologist.

I also kind of like the idea that the only prerequisite for medical assisting is to take the ACT test. I think I can handle that!

Good Reads

2007-10-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

My husband bought me this bible January this year and I love it. It is a very girly bible that is marketed toward teens, but I have been reading it for quite a while now and it works just as well for any girly girl :). It's called Revolve. You can get it at major christian retailers, but I would recommend getting it by clicking here because otherwise it will be pretty expensive. It has daily devotionals in it and other cool ad ins that I really like. It is worth every penny of the high price, but hey, if you can get it cheaper how much better is that?

So I will also tell you what I didn't like. The Relationship rescue by Dr. Phil. Now, I do like Dr. Phil and that is why I bought the book and the workbook that goes with it, but all it did was depress me. I thought it focused way too much on each others insignificant flaws, and didn't offer a quick enough solution. You keep reading and reading wondering when he is gonna tell you it's gonna be okay, just to get to the end of the book and think wow, I must have a lowsy marriage. Everybody has problems, but I felt that they were put under a microscope too much, with not enough solution. He will pretty much tell you whether you should get a divorce or not. Yikes. I expected more help than doom and gloom, you know? But if you still want to read it yourself, you can get it here.

Another book we like is the Disney Princess book. It is actually a collection of your favorite disney princess stories. It has short stories on Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Snow white, Bambi, Aladdin, Mulan, Tarzan, and quite a few more. in all, it has 19 stories all in one book you can read to your kids. My daughter loves this book. We are certainly getting our $20 worth out of it, but I have since seen it cheaper here. Don't you just hate that! But they are cute stories. I like it because then you don't have a bunch of books sprawled out everywhere. You have them all in one and she likes to get it out and read it a lot.

Oh, and I got this book called "The day I died" and it sounds really aweful and morbid, but truely it is not. It really inspired me. I read it in about a day, the story hooks you. It also makes you really look into your own life. You can see the book here. I also Like 90 minutes in Heaven. That was another addictive read that gives you an inside look at what Heaven was like from someone who died and came back.

I know you are probably thinking, "don't I read anything else besides motivational stuff"... and no, I don't and that is because I could use all the help I can get! :)

Heroes -- In Theater trailer

2007-10-12T09:19:00.001-07:00

This is my most favorite show of all time! If you haven't seen it, you have too!!!

Michael W. Smith- The Stand

2007-10-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

My Favorite song right now. I'm addicted!

Today's Scripture

2007-10-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

Introduction

2007-10-12T06:54:00.001-07:00

Oh Camels! I have made my very own site now, just for me, and for you all to read about anything that I wish. I will enlighten with my fascinating life as a christian, mom, a teenager at heart, a devoted (and sometimes hard to manage wife), and whatever else I can think of. When I find cool stuff on the web, I will include it for you as well on this site.

By the way, you probably are thinking "what's up with the oh camels?" Well, my brother used to date this girl that said it all the time when she was frustrated and I think it's a cute saying. It's not something you hear everyday, so I have adopted it.