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As History and Precedents Are Set…

Published November 25, 2014 by Angela

…Ferguson, Missouri has the national Guard in place, and a verdict is going to be announced in 15 minutes. My daughters and I are watching this, as I continue to pray for everyone involved, on both sides of this situation. No matter what the verdict is, thousands are going to cry foul.

My opinion and feelings on this situation are irrelevant, as I was not there, I do not live there, and I did not see what happened. What I do have feelings about, are the people who were there, live there, and were involved. Not only were many lives changed by this situation, many thousands of lives can, and will very likely be changed by the verdict that is announced.

I pray that stronger heads and hearts prevail, and no one is hurt in the aftermath of a situation that has gripped a nation for months, and will be talked about, studied, and evaluated for years and decades to come.

Hopefully the lessons that are in this situation to be learned, truly are learned from, and as a nation, we can do everything in our power to make sure this is the last time this type of situation ever happens, ever has to be evaluated and put to trial, and we can rise above this stronger, smarter, and more empathetic to those we may not agree with.

Tony Robbins and Feeding America 100 Million Meals Challenge

Published November 23, 2014 by Angela

A Blog Post definitely worth looking at! ‘Tis the season of giving, sharing, and caring!

elevatechristiannetworkblog's avatarElevate Christian Network Blog

Tony Robbins 100 Million Meals Challenge: Tony Robbins is donating a minimum of 50 million meals* (monetary equivalent of $5,000,000) to Feeding America and member food banks from December 2, 2014 – December 3, 2015.

Source: elevatechristiannetwork.com

Tony Robbins has a passion to help people in need.  For the past 37 years he has provided 42 million meals to hungry people and families.

See on Scoop.it – Elevate Christian Network News

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In Case If You Like Free Stuff…

Published November 8, 2014 by Angela

…have I got an offer for you. I know several of you are already following my blog on books, reviews, and all things book! If you are, I hope you get a chance to register for the two $25.00 Amazon gift cards.

If not, here is the link to the post on my Books & Opinions blog, go check it out if you are interested at a chance at these 2 gift cards. It is one drawing, with the winner receiving both cards, to share, keep, or give as gifts 🙂

You can find that post here: http://booksandopinions.com/2014/11/06/give-away-1-for-your-holiday-season/

Just In The Nick Of Time!

Published October 29, 2014 by Angela

We had pumpkin carving tonight for our Wednesday night church classes (WOW) Worship on Wednesday. This is the only way my girls were likely going to be carving pumpkins. I completely blew this task off last year, and am still being told a couple of them cried because of it. I hardly think so because 1) if they were crying about it, I would remember it, and 2) I am not that mean.

WOW Halloween Celebration 10-29-2014 023

So yeah, I do not like carving pumpkins. I did not really care for it when I was a kid, either. The only thing I dislike more than carving pumpkins is coloring Easter eggs. Yep; I can’t stand doing that either. But in my defense, every single Easter, I have 4 dozen colored eggs sitting in my refrigerator for weeks.

My two favorite holidays, and I dislike the two most popular things about those holidays 🙂

So now that that is over, I hope everyone has a safe, fun-filled Halloween. I am officially down to 1 child trick-or-treating, and since it is supposed to snow here in Michigan, by Friday I will be thinking that it is 1 too many!

The Genetic Lottery…Did You Win It?

Published October 27, 2014 by Angela

Or maybe your children did. You know, those families that are just beautiful. Perfect hair, teeth, faces, bodies. Not that it is a bad thing. Some people win that lottery, some don’t. Some have natural beauty, some have to work a little harder at it.

But what about that other genetic lottery? You know; the illnesses, addictions, diseases, bad behaviors, and all those other things that every person dreads.

I do not look like either of my parents, or any of my 3 siblings. All 4 of my daughters have a strong resemblance to me. No one would ever ask any two or more of us who may be together if we are related. It is that obvious. I do not know where I got my green eyes from, I am the only one in my family with green eyes. I have 2 daughters with blue eyes, one with blue-green-indescribable colored eyes, and one with brown eyes. All of my girls got their eye colors from their father’s side.

What else was I blessed/cursed with? An incurable, genetic bladder disease (IC) that I have been dealing with for over 25 years. Anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. I have stopped drinking alcohol because thanks to an alcoholic mother and father, and grandparents on both sides, I cannot just have a couple drinks. Oh, it always starts out as a couple drinks, but it never ends after a couple. A couple of drinks would never again be enough for me. I am unsure if I will get my Grandmother’s dementia, but I know my girls would make sure I had the best treatment possible if and when it got to that point.

Alcohol Drinks

I am very smart. Smart in the way that just comes easy to me. No clue on where that came from. No, I am not saying anyone in my family is not smart, it was just always easier for me. I am musically inclined, and can play 7 different musical instruments. No one in my family ever played or sang, but I have 2 daughters who are musically inclined.

piano keys

But I worry about what else my daughters may get from me. Will they have addiction issues? Control issues? I have a 13 year old with depression and anger issues, and I wonder how much of that comes from me or her father. You just never know. Just because your parents are a certain way, does not mean you need to grow up and be like them. But you certainly want to be aware of the possible issues that go along with being their child.

So when you look at those people and think to yourself that they must have a perfect life, you need to remember that no one has a perfect life. Many people have issues or illnesses you will never see.  So you may have gotten a couple doozies in the genetics pool, but I bet you got some good ones too!

When Mom Fails In Epic Proportions…

Published October 23, 2014 by Angela

…you make do, right?

So yesterday, I let Erin’s homeschooling teachers know she would not be online. Because she cannot seem to monitor herself, and by the time I got out of work, we had church.

So I left her a note today of what I needed her to do. But my schedule was off, because I was checking in to our other plant, attending meetings, and focused on other things. So at 7:15 am, I realized the laptop my children use was still locked in my bedroom (Yeah, I cannot leave it out, because Erin gets up at random hours in the night to talk to people she shouldn’t). So I called her at 10 am when I finally made it back to my office.

“Mom, I cannot find the laptop.”

“Yeah, I forgot to put it out this morning.”

So thank goodness for vacation days, because I am off work tomorrow to get her caught up with her homeschooling and going to her live lessons, while I try to get ahead on my college class.

Sometimes You Just Have To Let It Go…

Published October 21, 2014 by Angela

…and I hope to goodness you do not have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the night! If you do, I am sorry beyond apologies.

I can only fight with my girls for so long, before I need to let it go and let them be responsible for the consequences of their actions. Me trying to fix their mistakes will teach them nothing. Even if letting them make those mistakes is something I will pay for later.

And I will.

I always do.

But I cannot expect them to respect themselves for the decisions they make if I do not truly let them make those decisions.

So you want to ignore your homeschooling assignments for the day? Go ahead. But what are you going to do tomorrow? Or the next day? Or on the weekend when I have nothing better to do than to sit next to you in a chair and make sure you get your homeschooling work caught up?

Because I have nothing but time. Nothing but time on the weekends to read books and look over your shoulder while you do 5 days worth of work in two days. And rest assured, I will make sure you do it.

Doing It Old-School, Kind Of…

Published October 20, 2014 by Angela

…Erin was not very happy yesterday with the you-don’t-go-to-confirmation-classes-no-laptop rule. She was literally up about an hour before she asked if she could get on the laptop.

“No.”

2 hours later…”If I clean can I get on the laptop?”

“No.”

The next hour “Can I please get on the laptop, I just want to play my game.”

“No. You didn’t feel good enough to go to class, you should be resting, not playing games.”

What she really wanted to do was talk to her friend whom she had seen the day before, and the only way he could contact her was through the internet. He must have panicked when she was not online all day, because by 8pm, the neighbor kid came over to see Erin. Apparently Erin’s friend talked to the neighbor online, asked him to come over and see what was going on, and the neighbor likely went back and reported that Erin was fine, and I was just being mean 🙂

I found it rather funny and cute at the same time. I mean, when I was growing up, we would use the telephone, or just walk to the neighbors, but we were always sending a friend to go do the talking for us 🙂

Mom, You’re Probably Going To Be Mad At Me…

Published October 18, 2014 by Angela

…is never how I want a conversation to start. But this is exactly what happened Thursday when my 10 year old got home from school. Now, what we did Wednesday was go to the school administration building to get her signed up for basketball. I also paid the $25.00, non-refundable fee. She has been going to 2-3 basketball practices a week, for the past couple of weeks. Wednesday was the last possible day I could sign her up and pay the fee in order for her to be on the team. I waited until the last possible minute to give her ample time to figure out if she did or did not like it, and if it was something she would be able to make a commitment to and follow through with.

So what I said as soon as I heard those terrifying Mom-you-are-probably-going-to-be-mad-at-me words come out of her mouth :

Me: “You do not want to play basketball any longer.”

Her: “No. I’m not very good at it.”

Me: “That is why they have practice. No one can get really good at something without practice.”

Today she was supposed to stay after school for basketball practice.  Which would likely explain the phone call I received at work from her at 8 a.m., telling me her stomach hurt every time she moved.

Really???

So, what I am going to tell her when I get home, is that if she does not want to participate in basketball, she will be doing $50.00 worth of chores around the house, and I determine what that $50.00 worth of chores consists of, or I will directly take $25.00 out of her Christmas money, and she will get less gifts than her sisters. I am not going through this with her every day there is basketball practice.

I will also not allow her to sign up for anything else again. Is this harsh, mean, cruel, I’m a horrible Mommy?

Yeah; I can live with that. Because I am not even going to begin explaining the number of things this child has been signed up for, only to wait until I invest my time and money to the point of no return, and beyond, before she drops out.

You would not even want to guess how much one year of Irish dancing lessons, school uniforms, 2 pairs of shoes, travel time, gas money, days off from work, and hotel rooms can add up to.

Published in our local paper

Published in our local paper

So No, she does not get to sign up for anything else. Unless if it costs me zero dollars, and does not involve me driving or picking her up.