I have this date book in among all the pages where I am supposed to fill in the birth dates of loved ones are quotes by women and the birth dates of prominent women are added in on the correct days. As I was skimming through the pages I realized I did not know a good portion of the women whose names were listed. Now I know their birth dates but I want to know more. I should know more and so I am going to go in search of it and I will list the information I find here.
The first name is Betsy Ross she was born on 1/1/1752. I have actually been to her house or at least a house they think she might have lived in or one they think would have been like the one she lived in, if I remember right the Betsy Ross House isn't actually her house at all. She was the 8th child of Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James. She went to Quaker school. Her Father apprenticed her to a local upholsterer where she met another apprenticed named John Ross. Since she was a Quaker and he was an Episcopal their marriage was frowned upon and so they eloped across the river and were married in New Jersey. Oh, did I forget to mention she was born and lived in Philadelphia? Well, she was and did. She also went to the same church as George Washington.
After they were married John and Betsy started their own upholstery business. Soon after the Revolutionary War broke out and John joined the militia, he was mortally wounded and passed away despite Betsy's best efforts to nurse him back to health.
During the War she was approached by George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross to sew the first American Flag. Which she did to their liking.
She was married three times and had four children. Betsy died on January 30, 1836, at the age of 84. She has been buried in three different locations: Free Quaker burial ground at South 5th St. near Locust, Mt. Moriah Cemetery, and now on Arch Street in the courtyard adjacent to the Betsy Ross House.
I gathered this information from my personal experiences and knowledge as well as the Internet most notably this website.
Betsy Ross
Obamanation
I had never heard this before until just a few moments ago. OK I still haven't heard it I just read it on the Internet. As a matter of fact even though I am alone in the room I am going to say it out loud to see how it sounds..........It sounds a little strange. I voted of him (in case you could not figure that out) and I think he will be a great president but it still feels strange saying out loud. You do not even need the extra superhero aspect to make it seem unreal. America moved up in the world when we elected Barack Obama. If you don't know what I mean then you never will and you probably voted for the other guy. Obamanation it is, at least for the next 4 maybe even 8 years.
And he walked to the other side of the house
The other day I was watching a breaking news special on Television. Now when they break into your favorite show to tell you something it should be really important, something that I can not wait until the regular 6pm or 11pm news cast to see nothing else. Everything else can wait. But now this one was to let me know that President Elect Obama had arrived at the White House for his first meeting with Prezy Bush. Now I love Obama and I seriously had plans to leave the country if he did not will the election and I do think it is wonderful that he is meeting with Bush and that they seem to have plans to really work together over the next two months but I do not understand why this is "Breaking News." Did everyone think he was not going to visit the White House at all before he took office? Or maybe if no other president in the history of presidents had met with the current president while they were still president-elect then again this would be "breaking news" alas this is not the case and so although it is nice that Laura Bush gets to show Michelle Obama around the ole homestead it is not "breaking news."
ChaCha - 242242
ChaCha, what it is and why you should do it. Ok obviousely most of you know about the dance 1,2, cha cha cha. But have you heard about ChaCha the mobile answering service?
Probably not and I say that because I had never heard of it until a friend told me so I will give you an overview. Let’s say you are sitting in your living room and you are thinking to yourself “self, I wonder what the capital of Croatia is?” now what do you do. You have a few options for sure.
You can dust off your old encyclopedia, flip through the pages hoping to find the answer and also hoping that it is still correct after all the changes in the world since you bought it however many years ago. You can get out the trusty computer and scour the internet in search of a fact based website to find the answer. Or you and just grab your cell phone and either call or text your question to a guide who will find the answer from a reputable source and text it right back to you. In a few minutes your phone will beep alerting you that you have a new text message “Zagreb (who in 1994 celebrated its 900th birthday) is the capital city of Croatia.”
You don’t have to do anything but ask and the answer will be delivered to you also if you would like to see where the guide found this information you can go to chacha.com and log into the chacha account for your cell phone. This is where you can see all the activity related to your phone and see the source pages for the answers that were sent to you.
Now, why am I telling you this? There are two main reasons
1. A few weeks ago I became a ChaCha guide, I am loving it, I have learned so many new things and I can answer questions any time of the day or night from my laptop plus putting a few extra dollars in my pocket always gets two thumbs up. And
2. It is fun. It sounds like fun doesn’t it? Go ahead and try it, I know you want to, you know you want to so think up a question, any question there is nothing too ordinary or too wild, nothing too gross or too easy ask anything your heart desires, anything that comes into your head.
Text your question to 242242.
Remember though ChaCha is free, check your cell phone plan for your text messaging fees.
The ship is going down.
So honestly I think that the Palin ship hit a rock weeks ago but when I read these things I just can not help myself. I am in an interesting position on this one, you see my husband is reimbursed for his travel related expenses much like Sarah Palin is as Governor of Alaska. Have we expensed a couple things we shouldn't have, maybe but those things add up to probably $100.00 in the whole 2 1/2 years he has been employed with the company and we have never charged the company to fly Chance somewhere even if we could realistically say that waiting outside the station to pick Scott up from work is "official company business" (which of course we couldn't at least not in good conscience).
As I write this I realize that although Palin being the representation for all women in America bugs the living crap out of me, it may in fact be a dead horse and I should stop kicking it.
Early voting started in Louisiana today and the lines were long, for this I am glad.
You can find the article here.
A Lesson?
Lets talk about what is and is not appropriate when teaching a child a lesson.
scenario #1 - Your child continues to run around the room coming dangerously close to the corner of a table with each turn around the room. You mention that he should be careful and to watch the corner. He doesn't and he runs into it. The odds of him seriously hurting himself are very low and so this is a lesson he will only learn from his own trial and error.
Scenario # 2 - Your 14 year old granddaughter is angry and is threatening to run away from home. You take her and drop her off at a hospital in Indiana where they have just passed a law giving you immunity for abandonment. This is not acceptable because you see you have to go much farther out of your way to "teach" her something she has no way of truly understanding in the first place. She will not understand the fact that you abandoned her (which you still did) until days, months or even years later. And if you are going to chose this direction you completely undermine the lesson when you went to pick her back up.
Want to know more read here
Have you ever tasted Carrot juice?
I am not talking about the V8 stuff with carrots in the mix but real life no holds bared 100% carrot juice? If not then you should and by that I mean don't. In other words you should try it once in your life but if you are anything at all like me there is a good chance you will not like what you taste. It is crisp and sweet and strangely familiar there in, of course lies the problem.
The first swig is cool and refreshing as it crosses your lips and glides over your tongue. The orange colored juice begins to make it's way down your throat and that is when it hits you virtually out of nowhere. It can cause gagging and facial contortions, you do not know what it is but it just is not right. Something deep inside of you is telling your brain something is wrong with this situation.
Carrots are made to be eaten and the fact that you have now found them in liquid form is wrong and so the smart thing to do would be to abort, your throat starts to close attempting to send the juice back up and prevent any more from making it's way down. The juice bottle hits the table with a bang and your hand flies to your mouth to catch what you know your body is trying to do and stop it from happening. Luckily you do prevent an udder disaster of carrot flavored bile from leaving it's mark all over your tile floor and kitchen wall.
You think about taking another sip just to test your reaction but just the smell of it tells you not to take the risk. Sure they are tasty in soups and yummy when dipped in ranch dressing but they should be served in solid form and solid form only. You will just have to get your veggies in so other way and leave the carrot juice on the shelf, the grocery store shelf.
He must already know he's going to loose
Why not call the whole thing off? That is what Senator McCain thinks anyway. This does not make any sense to me, is it good to show the American people that when we are in a crisis he will call off all his public engagements and close himself behind locked doors and "work on a plan" honestly shouldn't he have been working on a plan for years now. If he had been then we would have this problem now so instead of getting on Television and letting all of us know how he would fix it so we can decide to vote for or against him he decides to try and call the whole thing off? If he thought he had a chance in hell of persuading people to vote FOR him this Friday do you really think he would ask to delay the debate? No way. Fortunately for him he knows he can't hold a candle to Obama's oratory skills and so his best bet to win votes is to hide and pretend to be working on some great economic plan. That way maybe just maybe a few people will believe him and decide to vote for him.
How about this Mister John McCain? Realise you waited till too late in your life to try to become a good person. Come to terms with the fact that the more you try to sell yourself as a good person the worse you truly become. Take this opportunity to stop running and stand up like a man. Don't sell it, live it! Then you might actually sway a few votes your way come November.
It's a Goverment Website...no wait it's a blog.
Has anyone else noticed that the website for the Office of Governor in Alaska looks more like a blog than a government website? When you first arrive at the site and give it a glace it does look like any other government site but just take a moment to really look...do you see it? Reading across the top of the page there are tabs for 'photos' and 'bio' those are tabs that are usually found on the personal website and if you scroll to the bottom you will find a banner that will take you to a list of comments and blessings for Sarah Palin's son Trig Paxson. In the middle where the real meat of the site should be is a roll of News items that pertain to Palin and the state of Alaska which is all well and good but wouldn't it be more effective to show whole stories? Or maybe just a little bit of the story instead of just the title? On your way over to the right hand side of the page you will see a couple more banners for different things including Palin's newsletter which we won't get into here.
On the right side of the page there are more links for pictures and even a link to a page all about the "First Gentleman of Alaska" I'm sorry but that definitely belongs on a personal site.
Now hidden down in the right hand corner you will find a few links to actual government related information you would expect to find on your state governor's website like the link to FEMA or Alaska's state budget for instance.
After writing this I thought maybe I was being to hard so I looked up the governor's website for Louisiana the state where I live to compare. Turns out I wasn't being hard at all. Turns out there isn't even one link to photos on the Louisiana site official or unofficial. Guess what else? There isn't a link to the bio of his wife! Does his wife not deserve a page dedicated to her and all her accomplishments and what about his children? No comments of blessings for them? Sure the people of Louisiana want the Jindals to live long and prosper but they also know that a government website is just that and not a soapbox for your personal life. For that you can start your own Flickr, or Blogger, or Myspace whatever makes you happy. Just remember like any other job you have to check your personal life at the door. We can all tell how well Palin has done with that just by looking at her office's website.
Governor of Alaska Website
Governor of Louisiana Website
Mystery Ship Revealed
This is pretty cool. Hurricane Ike uncovered the remains of a ship off the coast of Alabama. It is so amazing to me that there are things like this all over the place waiting just under the surface to be uncovered. So much history and mystery all around us.
Lindsay Lohan talks about Sarah Palin and why not?
Ok some people would say that quoting Lindsay Lohan on my blog would not skyrocket me to respectability among the readers in the blogosphere and most definitely not among the self absorbed egocentrics who tote themselves "serious writers" but to that I say Fuck You.
Ok so I read this on MSN and then went to read her actual blog because that is what it is all about isn't it. Here is where you can find her blog and here is where you can find the article I read first. Most young people don't care about politics as a child you don't know and as a teenager you don't get the big picture so you don't really care then something happens for some people in their late teens and early twenties where you start to understand and become interested in the process. Then you start to really care about who you are voting for not just putting a mark on a piece of paper because you can like buying a lottery ticket when you turn 18. Just because you can.
Why question her opinion's validity? She is a young woman who is paying attention to politics that in itself deserves two thumbs up. There are plenty of people young and old who read her blog and listen to her music and if any of them are inspired to get off their butts and pay attention to the issues and then vote, that is a step in the right direction.
got this in my inbox today
Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,
>> >> We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we
>> have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the
>> Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We
>> believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere
>> partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part
>> of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that
>> has a real possibility of becoming fact.
>> Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear
>> of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven
>> record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or
>> future daughters. To date, she is against sex education,
> ;> birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental
>> protection, alternative energy development, freedom of
>> speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to
>> fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the
>> separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say
>> nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become
>> the second-most-powerful person on the planet.
>> We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin
>> as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a
>> pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and
>> all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms.
>> Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the
>> face to the accomplishments that our mothers and
>> grandmothers and great-grandmothers so> fiercely fought
>> for, and that we've so demonst rably benefited from.
>> *First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us.
>> She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American
>> women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the
>> Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to
>> disagree, publicly.*
>> *Therefore, we invite you to reply here <
>> womensaynopalin@gmail.com
> with a short, succinct
>> message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do
>> not support this candidate as second-in- command for our
>> nation.*
>> Please include your name (last initial is fine), age,
>> and place of residence.
>> We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin,"
> which we intend to publicize
>> as widely as possible. Please send us your reply at your
>> earliest convenience. The greater the volume of responses
>> we receive, the stronger our message will be.
>> >> >> Thank you for your time and action.
>> *VIVA!*
>> >> >> Sincerely,
>> >> >> Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
>> New York, NY
>> >> womensaynopalin@gmail.com
More info I dug up
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.org/
and the blog they talk about in the email
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
yeah that's right.
I am at the gym right now. That is right the gym has computers. I just had a fitness consultation and although I am pretty sure it is a load of crap they said my bodies age is 35. Honestly insulting me is not the way to get me to workout. The people were very nice but the computer program they imputted my information into was mean. I did however get this very nice 'The Sims' style picture of how I look now and how I will look in 24 weeks when I get down to my target BMI which is also crap by the way. Good BMI is between 18 and 25 I am now at 27 so I am not that bad just a little over and I think I will worry about getting within the 18 - 25 range and not to the target 21 that the computer decided for some reason I need to be. Anyway Chance is in the Kidsports area in their child care. I am worried about him but I know he is fine.
I'm a better Mom than she is ...
I have added a new feature to the site...Books I recently Read and Recommend. These are books I have either just finished (Bastard out of Carolina) or am currently reading (1-2-3- Magic). I really just want to share things that I am enjoying right now with everyone. I will let you all know how 1-2-3-Magic works out since it is a discipline book.
Bastard Out of Carolina is a book that has been at my bedside for a little while now and I just finished it about three days ago. If you haven’t read it, just do it. It is worth every minute. Also, I can say without a doubt that I am a better Mother than the one in this book, I say that not only because she is fictional but also because she is awful and I need the ego boost. So, if there are any other Mother’s out there who feel like they too may be doing a shitty job as a mother then they need only read this book, you will laugh you will cry and in the end you will know that at the very least you are a better Mother than that lady. That would be mean to say if she were real and not in fact a fictitious character but to be honest you could secretly say it to yourself even if she were real because she is that bad. Also, if you feel in the mood for a “I’m better than that Mom moment” but feel that you need a real life Mom to compare yourself to then by all means read the A Child Called It books that will give you a boost of motherly self esteem if nothing else will.
figured it out?
I don't know if you have figured it out yet or not but I am pro Obama and I have never been much into politics but when the whole Gore/Bush thing happened I was living in Florida and it really woke me up to how much it really matters who is living in the White House. The last eight years has really sent that fact home for me and I can not imagine a world where McCain wins. I just can not do it so I am sorry but I think I am going to spend a bit of my blog time from now until November talking about Obama and sharing some links and such. There will be other stuff too but this is important to me. I don't expect to share anything you haven't heard I am not planning to have any late breaking news about the campaign but I want to help get the word out the more people who write about him the more people with learn about him and the better the world will be. Anyway what prompted this entry is an email I found in my inbox today with a link to this website It is a fun little informational thing about Obama and his life.
And so it begins
So there is this lady Sarah Palin and she is running for Vice President with John McCain. Lots of parents, Moms especially are weighing in on whether or not that is a good thing given she has 5 children one of which is only 4 months old and has down syndrome so I thought I would too, what the Hell.
Do I think it is a double standard to mention her children? No, if a man had a 4 month old son with Down Syndrome at home he should not take a job that would be so time and energy consuming either.
When you make a decision to have a child you are making a commitment to be there for that child, if there is one thing I have learned from having a baby is they do not need money, or toys or new clothes or for that matter even clothes at all. Diapers are a convenience for you to be honest he could care less. The one and only thing that child needs from you is your presence and your love everything else is optional. If you take that 4 steps farther and decide to have 5 children then you are deciding to be there 4 times as much as a person with 1. As a parent those children look to you every day for guidance and support and when you are not there they will look somewhere else. As a parent I want to be here to provide every moment of my son's life with as much encouragement and all out love as I can. At his age he does not understand the presidency and he does not understand money all he understands is whether I am here when he looks for me or not. A 4 month old needs there parents to be there and a 4 month old with a serious disease needs that even more. Sarah Palin's husband works as well so I am thinking he will not be there full time with the baby either.
Parents should be able to go back to work without persecution after they have children but if you take on more instead of scaling back (and with Todd Palin making $92,000 per year I can't see why she would need to work more) I can not imagine that a woman who wanted to have 5 children won't regret missing some precious moments when they are all grown.
"The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them." - Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine, 07-10-2006
I suppose I should read more blogs then and if I only had more time I would read many many blogs I love to read them. Time is such a pain in my ass.
must work harder
We are home. I must work harder to provide content but for right now I am tired and so will still be taking a break from all this for a moment.
If you want to keep up on what is really going on in New Orleans and with its residence check this site often. I write for this site too and one of our authors stayed behind in his Restaurant in Uptown.
What I want to know about David Duchovny's sex addiction
I love David Duchovny. I watched the very first episode of the X-files when it aired and watched nearly every single episode in order from that day on. This show helped me through a lot of difficult times in my life weirdly enough.
Turns out he is a sex addict. I wonder what happened to push the whole family over the edge making him go into rehab for a sex addiction. My husband brought up a good point though, aren't we all biologically programed to be sex addicts? Our primary function biologically is to make it to puberty and then reproduce then take care of that offspring as long as you can so that they can grow up and have children. In other words, David do what you have to do but don't worry too much about the whole thing that is just the way we are built.
Inspired buy this article.
Stay out of it
Why can't the US just stay the hell out of the way and let other countries do what they want. If they are not directly attacking us then we should stay out of the way. Ok if they are jsut slaughtering people like in Darfur then sure we should stick up for them (which of course we aren't) but if there is a war going on between two contries like Russia and Georgia for instance then we should stay the hell out of it.
We don't need to give them advice or tell them that what they are doing is wrong or right in a press conference we just need to keep our mouths shut and stay out of it.
I'm just saying.
Morgan Freeman
I don't get to use the computer as much as I would like here in the hotel room. Today I turned on the computer and learned that Morgan Freeman had been in a car accident Sunday night. I also learned that he lives in Mississippi which although did not surprise me it was something I did not know. Even when you are the type of person who thinks they do not put celebrities on a pedestal I still find that I am taken off guard when I learn that someone I admire so much from afar is so close. Morgan Freeman is not living in Hollywood he is right next door in Mississippi. Weird and wonderful. Anyway, I just wanted to say I am sending love his way. He is a wonderful actor and someone that I am honored to learn from. I am sure he works hard at his craft as much as it just comes naturally. I hope he makes a full recovery and can live to make more movies or more of whatever his heart desires.
You can find a blog here on his Plan!t Now website.
and the article that inspired this entry here.
Kid's Menu Choices
So I was skimming through the USA Today that we get under our door each day for being a Hilton Honors Member at the Hampton Inn we are staying at in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, (For more on that see my Somewhere Else Travel blog.) and I saw an interesting article about the calories in food on the children's menus of popular fast food or chain restaurants. A study revealed that kids' menu choices can top 1000 calories. Is anyone surprised? If you are you should not be. Look at a kid's menu next time you are in a restaurant. The adult menu usually has options for sides not to mention soups or salads but the kid's menu rarely has anything but a burger, chicken strips, fries maybe mac-n-cheese or another equally calorie laden option. One person quoted in the article offers the idea that restaurants should list the calories for each item on the menu. That is a brilliant idea but don't stop at the kids menu. How are we supposed to set a good example if we pick salads for the kids and burgers for ourselves? We need to put the nutritional information on all menu items. So we can all learn what the best choices are.
Now I do not expect every single dish to be made the exact same way every time of course one day there will be 150 calories and the next there will be 157 calories no two chefs make the dish exactly alike but with the calories on the menu I can get a better idea of what is good and what is bad and that is better than it is now.
Another option of course for all those people who order religiously off the kid's menu for their children is, Don't. Sure the kid's menu has bright colors and puzzle games on it and at times is a little less expensive than regular menu items but the nutritional value of ordering a salad and splitting it with your child is worth the extra expense.
I challenge everyone to do one thing, instead of fries or chips that come with your sandwich pay the extra dollar or two to get the veggie of the day. I did this while I was pregnant and I felt so much better for it, Today I am going to start doing it again. I can not expect my son to eat any better than I do, so I have to make the changes first.
Inspired by this article.
What's in a Name?
When your name is Talula Does The Hula a hell of a lot. A judge in New Zealand ordered that Talula's name be changed. She is nine years old. She has been living with this name for a long time and I see no reason to change it now. Sure it is unusual but so what people are unusual, everyone should not try to be the same as everyone else. What are they going to call her? Jessica or maria maybe, I have nothing against those names but aren't there enough of them in the world already? Her parents wanted her to be different maybe even special, what is the harm in that? Ok so all the experts will same she will be or has been a social outcast. Is that really because of her name maybe is is her personality to be a little shy or maybe it is because her family is going through a divorce and she is stuck in a custody battle, ever think of that?
Maybe if people stop telling her that her name is funny and drawing out this big long court case to change her name legally then she would feel better about herself. Start telling her that her name is unique and beautiful. Tell her that her name is special and maybe she will start thinking so too. She is nine she will still believe most of whatever adults in her life tell her so tell her she is wonderful and beautiful and special just like her name. Tell her that her parents must have known she would be unique and that is why they gave her that name.
P.S. How about letting people call her just Talula which is a wonderful name with a history of fascinating people attached to it, Bankhead for example. There are plenty of people who don't tell anyone but their closest friends and family their middle names.
spawned from this article.
And then there's John McCain
Senator John McCain was supposed to visit New Orleans today but instead he has decided to go to Columbus, Ohio. Now I have nothing against the people of Columbus as a matter of fact I have quite a bit of family in Ohio and I like them just fine but if you have the choice to go to New Orleans or Columbus let me tell you which one you should choose...you guessed it, New Orleans. I do not want to go into all the reasons if you do not already know them then you are a boring human being who needs to get out of the house more or you are a child who has not been given the gift of travel by your parents and have not been around long enough to rectify that situation and I am sorry for you.
On top of all the fun things to do here we have the history and as a politician with a shot (albeit a very small one) at the White House never never never cancel a trip to New Orleans. Tell us you are not coming at all, that is fine but telling us you are coming and then deciding Columbus is a better choice is just a slap in the face. We need to be coddled, we need to be babied we need whoever is taking over as president next year to come here and hold us for a minute then look us in the eye and promise it won't happen on their watch. That they understand how important we are to the history and culture (not to mention our Port) of this country and that they will not forget about us. That is what we need from the candidates. Not a canceled trip.
For the record I know he has been here before and I know there is a Hurricane, do I care? No, it's kind of the principle of the thing.
Inspired by this article.
Wednesday's Wonderful Review - Flat Earth Chips
I found these chips by Flat Earth at Target not too long ago and thought I would try them, a chip that is good for you and tastes good? I was skeptical but I thought what the hell so I gave them a chance. Turns out they are good and if the package can be believed they are good for me too. They have six flavors three veggie and three fruit. You get 1/2 a serving in each ounce of chips you eat. These pictures represent my favorite flavors but the baby likes their Apple Cinnamon Grove the best but this isn't his blog so I get to pick the pictures. 
Now that I know these chips are out there I have been looking for them on the shelf when I do my regular grocery shopping. I was a little shocked at first because I thought they would be more of a specialty item but there they were at every major grocery store I have been to do my weekly shopping. Like anything they should be eaten in moderation but I love that I can snack on them without feeling bad for eating some chips and I can pass them along to the little one without feeling like I am starting him on a bad habit of eating greasy fatty potato chips. He can actually get some nutrition form these while having a tasty snack, Yea!
Why do these things Fascinate me?
Maybe I should not say fascinate because I am not into necrophilia or anything, though I have played a dead body before but let's not talk about that now. Estelle Getty died today. She was 84 years old. I thought she was older than that, she looked that old on the Golden Girls. Turns out she was 60 then and they just made her look older plus that show was so good at getting you into those girls' lives that when they told me she was 80 I believed them. In reality she was one year younger than Bea Arthur who played her daughter on the show.
I really liked The Golden Girls, I do not know why since I was between 5 and 12 years old when it was on but I remember watching it quite a lot. Maybe because reruns of the show came on after school and when I was tired of Saved By The Bell or something like that I could flip through the stations and find The Golden Girls. Also, it was funny and a little grown up for me but not way over my head. Another thing I know I liked about the show is the way it made you feel at home. Sure they were a bunch of crazy old ladies doing their crazy old lady thing but when it came down to it they lived together in a warm home and they were always there for each other. They were best friends and that is what I remember most. Thinking how nice it would be to have friends like that when I get older.
This entry inspired by this article.
What's the difference
Ok so we bought these Yam cakes which I find to be not all that tasty myself but they are sweet and sometimes you just need that little pick-me-up. Anyway I always though a yam was a sweet potato but now I learn that is not so at all. According to an 
article on about.com a Yam "is not even distantly related to the sweet potato." I thought the two words sweet potato and yam were interchangeable and much like the sweet cornbread of the North it just depended on how you were brought up as to what you called those long potatoes that were all orange inside.
Yam's can grow up to 7 feet in length! Holy crap that is long you could feed a whole family with one Yam. 
I love purple!! This cake is made from a Ube or purple yam. I do not know how it would taste but the color makes me want to take a pig bite out of it. Maybe I will see if I can find some to try.
Wednesdays Wonderful Review - The Pitbull
They are fun and lovable, high energy and beautiful animals but are they deadly? My sister has two pitbulls and they are nothing but friendly. They play and have fun with themselves and with us. They are no different than any other dog who is your playmate and companion. Dogs are animals and any animal can be provoked or cornered into violence as humans we must never forget that just because we are smarter does not mean we can change the nature of an animal. The question is: is the nature of a Pitbull to be mean and the answer is no. I think for the most part PitBulls are given a bad rap. You hear about them in the news more often than other breads attacking other dogs or people but do they really attack more often? I'm not so sure. Every animal just like every person should be judged on a case by case basis and should not all be lumped together. Pitbulls are at the mercy of the 'one bad apple' rule. Now governments around the country are trying to pass laws that do not allow their citizens to own Pitbulls. Why punish dogs that have done nothing wrong? If a dog attacks a human they should be put down no question but a dog should not be put down because of the type of dog they are it is no different than hanging people due to the color of their skin. It is not right and should not be done.
Besides do you even know what a pitbull is? You can find the test in this blog.
On beer...
"An Australian man convicted of his seventh drink-driving charge was spending about A$1,000 ($972) a week on beer -- enough to buy more than 2,500 small bottles a month, a newspaper said Tuesday." (SYDNEY (Reuters))
First I do not drink beer not because I do not drink alcohol but because I once got very very sick on the stuff and I hate the way it smells and tastes. But I do drink things like Smirnoff Ice (Grape is my favorite) and I can not imagine spending $1000 per week on it. How do you hold down a job that pays you $1000 a week to spend on alcohol if you drink that much? Maybe he was hording it for the Apocalypse. Well, no that theory does not really work since he was caught drinking and driving.
I have another question who did not know this guy had a problem? Every single person he came into contact with must have seen this coming from a mile away. I can not even fathom having so much money that I have $1000 per week EXTRA to blow on beer. And how long can you do that I could do it for one pay check and then on Saturday Scott would be like "what the hell did you do with all the money." I would of course be to drunk to tell him but I think he would figure it out pretty quick.
Oh well, Inspiration for this blog came from this article.
Favorite Chef
I came across this blog, Food Ideas For Today, which posed a question that made me think Who is my favorite chef?
Until recently, well actually the last few years now this question would not have even warranted thought. It would have passed into my mind and then right back out again simply because I did not cook nor did I feel the need to take the time to learn to cook. Then came two things a guy that truly explained his cooking in a way that I both found fun and informational and the invention of the traveling/food show. That led me to two people who I could watch all day: Alton Brown and Anthony Bourdain.
Alton Brown explains the science behind the cooking and the history behind the food. For a non cook like me these are the things I need to know in order to become interested in making a good meal not even to mention the fact that the science behind the meal is nearly as important as the actual food itself. If you do not know why you have to boil it for 5 minutes you are apt to cut corners and only boil for 3 minutes. Alton Brown tells you why you need to follow the recipe to a 'T' and I love him for it.
Anthony Bourdain is wonderful. I working in restaurants for a while, it is really hard work much harder than anyone who has not working in restaurants would guess but it is a family where you are on and off stage just like in a theater people either love you or hate you but you have to go back out there in font of them every night no matter what. Anthony Bourdain gets that and he has never let go of it. Something draws him back to the kitchen. The fact that he has gotten this opportunity to travel around the world makes no difference he is still in the kitchen. Lots of people criticized his visit to New Orleans post Katrina but I loved it also the man gets caught in Lebanon when Israel bombed them in 2006 and to help himself cope he took over the kitchen. I can't explain how happy that made me. He is funny and for all the "fixing" that must go into his show it is still realistic, Hell he is actually living it whether he ran into the guy on the street by accident or by producer.
Check these guys out.
Some blogs I am reading
Blogs I am reading or have discovered lately
1. Mary’s Blog – I found this one on socialspark but it is cool because I think I have some things in common with Mary. she mentions on her blog:
“My goals this year include writing my novel, continuing to write poetry, have a healthy baby, getting another tattoo, and cleaning my house”
I also write poetry and want to write a novel I want to get another tattoo of my and Scott and I am always needing to clean the house, awesome.
2. Dooce – I like this one because this is the blog that inspired me to figure out how to blog for money.
3. New Orelans Metblog - why because I write for them occasionally plus metblogs is a great way to learn about a city you are thinking of moving to or currently live in.
4. Sweet Juniper – This one is a cute little blog I am still in the beginning stages of learning things about the blogosphere and this blog is helping with that.
5. Wyrding Studios Blog – This is the blog of a friend of mine who makes wonderful jewelry
Earliest memory Opp
On Tuesday I posted about my earliest childhood memory I had actually been thinking about that for some reason which is what prompted me to take the opportunity when I saw it on socialspark. The opportunity was posted by Perky and you can see her post here Take the time to check it out.
Favorite Food.
I got this idea from Monika's Corner another blogger on socialspark.
My favorite food for as long as I can remember has been Tacos. I do not have a particular type of taco that is my favorite or even one from a favorite restaurant. Sure tacos are tasty but the reason they are really my favorite is because you get to put whatever you want on them and as much or as little of each item as you want too. Now that I am older and make my own they are also easy to make. Just brown the meat and lay out all the ingredients for everyone to make their own taco.
I love how I can put more cheese on one taco and then on the next I can put more lettuce and tomatoes whatever I want. Also, as a cook it is really hard to mess up the recipe.
Wednesday’s Wonderful Review – Clorox Greenworks
I have been on a quest to get more “green” since the Live Earth concert last July 7-7-07. In keeping with this quest I have begun replacing my conventional household cleaners with “green” cleaners. It does not make sense to clean up a mess by spraying deadly chemicals all over your house. So, I picked up Clorox GreenWorks the other day. It is made with lemon oil, glycerin a coconut based cleaning agent, ethanol, some dye, water and a biodegradable preservative. Now my first issue is that they do not tell you what the biodegradable preservative actually is but above that there is one big problem with this cleaner.
It leaves a sticky residue. At first I thought because it is “green” it just does not have the cleaning power that chemicals do and so it was not getting ride of all of the spill or whatever I was trying to clean up at the moment. After a few times however I realized that spots which were not sticky when I started became sticky when I was done. The mark on the table would be gone but everywhere I had just wiped my cloth was now sticky. To get rid of the stickiness that the GreenWorks left behind I had to then wipe the table down with water.
What’s the point in that? When this bottle is empty I will be trying a different brand of “green” cleaner
Earliest Childhood Memory
I was thinking about the first thing I can remember the other day. For some reason that I have never been able to put my finger on this one memory just pops into my head every once in a while.
I am sitting down in a crowd. I know I am young because I am not at head level with the other people in the crowd I am lower actually sitting in the crowd. Now this would make me uncomfortable but in my memory I am totally fine with it. I feel excited but safe. I am looking out toward water a big tank of water. I am drawn to the people around me in my memory but not really I am actually drawn to them physically, their shirts and the backs of their heads like for some reason I am distracted by them. but I keep getting pulled back to the tank of water. I can not remember what is going on in the tank of water but I remember knowing it is water and a lot of it.
That is pretty much the whole memory nothing big happens just sitting there in that crowd.
After telling this to my mom I learned that we went to Sea World when I was 6 months old. I have never been back to Sea World or any other water park like it so that trip when I was 6 months old is what I think I am remembering.
Spit Anyone?
I have never been a spitter myself but evidently lots of other people in the world are. Just go to google and enter ‘spitting ban’ as the topic you want to search for and watch the articles pop up. You can not spit in public in parts of England, Canada, and China the list goes on. Until this point I have never put that much thought into spitting either in public or in private and definitely not enough thought to warrant passing a law against it. There is one reason and one reason only to spit and that is because there is something disgusting in your mouth. Odds are if there is something disgusting in your mouth you just put it there and I for one do not go around in public putting disgusting things in my mouth repeatedly and repeated spitting them back out onto the sidewalk or other public place. Maybe I am one of the only people who learns from my mistakes.
If people are in fact spitting in public to the point that laws need to be passed should we not then offer free public classes that specifically focus on teaching children not to spit? I would like to know the demographics of a spitter. Are they men, women, young, old, are these people inherently dirty? Do they have high paying executive jobs or do they toil away the hours on a construction site? The study should be titles Who Spits?
Just something for fun.
Enter your date of birth (eg. January 12) into the Wikipedia search field.
1. List five famous people - dead or alive - born on that day.
- 1778 - Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (d. 1851)
- 1915 - Édith Piaf, French singer and actress (d. 1963)
- 1933 - Cicely Tyson, American actress
- 1923 - Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor (d. 1990)
- 1980 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor
2. List five historical events on that day.
- 1776 - Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in the Pennsylvania Journal titled The American Crisis.
- 1941 - World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
- 2007 - The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. They then proceed to establish the Republic of Lakotah, with an ongoing process of international recognition as a separate country.
- 1154- Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
- 1986 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from internal exile in Gorky.
3. List any days of national or religious observance that occur on that day.
- Roman festivals - Opalia
- R.C. Saints – O Radix
- Liberation day - Goa
And now the horses...
Why do we as people even debate topics such as this? Should killing horses ever be an option except for survival? If people are dying then yes by all means kill the horse and eat it, cover yourself with the horses skin and live another day. Why? Because people can and that my friend is Darwinism. Darwinism as I see it does not mean killing horses just because people want to have more land in their name or because people are too selfish to care for the horses or how about this one, if people want to fight a stupid war instead of feed some beautiful wild horses in the Western United States. None of these should ever be reasons to kill horses.
If only 100 years ago there were 2 million wild horses in the US and now there are only 60,000 I do not think we have a population issue. The numbers are dwindling naturally if you consider human encroaching on their land nature. Now “budget cuts” are going to force them to be euthanized? If this happens now in a few years we are going to be having a conversation about how the wild horses are on the brink of extinction and what should we do about it. We should leave the damn wild horse alone let him run and frolic of whatever the hell wild horses do. Do not kill them just let them be. PETA here I come.
This rant inspired by the article found here.
Wednesday's Wonderful Review - Cloverfield
WARNING - THERE ARE DEFINITELY SPOILERS IN HERE
I have heard that this movie is either a love or hate thing.In a room full of people one guy tells me he loves the movie and I should most definitely see it for myself then as soon as I turn around there is another person telling me it is awful and I should not waste my time. The previews always looked intriguing to me so last night we sat down and had a look.
The entire movie is shot off the cuff from the point of view of Hud the poor sap who has been put in charge of documenting his best friend, Rob's going away party with home video camera. Due to this concept it starts off a little slow because they can't introduce you to all the characters like is done in a traditional movie, you kind of get thrown in and have to piece the story together as you go but in the long run the movie is all the better for it.
About half way through the party Manhattan gets attacked by monsters. We never find out where the monsters came from or what they are doing here on Earth but one thing is clear, they do not come in peace. This sends Roy, his brother Jason, Jason's girlfriend Lily, Hud and the target of Hud's pickup lines Marlena on a crazy trek across the island to rescue Rob's would be girlfriend Beth.
The plot itself is not that unique. Along the way the group holds up in a convenience store as dust from falling buildings gusts past the windows and begin walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in scenes that made me think of 911. They hold up in a subway station and quickly learn that the monsters are having babies when the group is attacked by the little guys leaving Marlena bitten. They run into a make-shift Military Post where a flurry of confusion breaks out when someone yells "We've got a Bite" then Marlena is drug off behind a curtain. We see blood splatter but it is still unclear if the military shot her or her head exploded and I am not sure if I missed something or I am supposed to wonder. They do finally make it to Beth but I must tell you if the building I was going to was in the shape this one was in I would have to call the whole thing off. On the way back to safety each member of the group is picked off one by one until all we are left with is the two lovers Rob and Beth. I will not tell you the very end but I will say we still do not know who won the humans or the monsters.
I can see why some might not like this movie, the camera shakes around and it really isn't anything new in the plot department. For others though it is great because the camera shakes around constantly, it never breaks the Point Of View there is never a moment where everything goes completely steady thus making the home video aspect unbelievable and although it isn't anything really amazing as far as the plot is concerned they do what they do well and the monsters are kind of cool. Overall I give the movie a 4 out of 5. I think those people who can stop their brains from saying "why is the camera shaking" every two seconds will really like Cloverfield.
Children make you happy, yeah right!
I did not really know this was up for debate. Of course I should have known better because people have been searching for the holy grail of happiness since the beginning of time. That is what really made Eve taste the forbidden fruit, right? Anyway, I was reading this article which examines the notion that you have to give birth to and raise kids to be happy in life. This is absurd! The article goes on to state that in fact people who have children for the most part state their lives as more unhappy than before they had their little bundles of joy.
Big F-ing surprise. People with children do not sleep right, they do not eat right and they go out of the house with shit on their shirts, literally. It is not their fault it is just that they did not notice the diaper bush against the hem on their shirt before they wrapped it up and tossed it in the garbage. Of course people with children are unhappy, it sucks more than most anything else in your life has ever sucked or will ever suck. Why does it suck so much you ask, well the reason is simple, it is never ending. The pressure is there when you wake in the morning and there during nap time and there when you go to bed it is also there at 3am when you roll over and look at the clock with a sigh.
Parenting is not all bad by any means and as everyone says it is worth it but will it bring you happiness? No, it will not. You make yourself happy with or without children and if you are having them to fill a happiness void in your life then you are going to be sorely disappointed.
Read the article that spawned this rant here.
Too strong tail winds?
Seriously? Ok so Tyson Gay is running his ass off to qualify for this summer’s Olympic game in Beijing. He is doing his thing in the 100 meters and he does it faster than anyone else in the world. not the city, state or country but in the whole world. unfortunately “they” which is probably a bunch of guys behind a desk who could not run as fast if the building was on fire, will not let it go down in the record books. Why? because there was a 4.1 meters per second tail wind and that is way over the allowable 2.0 meters per second.
I am sure this maters to a lot of people especially the guy who came in second place at the race in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday. To me it is like splitting hairs. He is damn fast, let him have the record. If someone else really is better than him then they will waste no time at all breaking his record and then all will have sorted itself out.
Read the article that spawned this post here.
So tomorrow we are going to hit the road. We are driving up to Alexandria, LA to pick up our new pug puppy.
Tis will be an interesting drive. it will be the first time Scott and Chance have ridden in the car for anything that could be considered a long distance. I will be there too of course but I do not count because I have ridden in the car with the baby for a trip to Orlando and back (9 hours one way) Fort Myers, Fl (13 hours one way) and from ATL to Kentucky and back (7 hours one way) as well as a couple trips to Biloxi and such. I am as prepared as you can be when traveling with an 18 month old. Like I said it will be an interesting trip.
We are also a bit unprepared to pick up our puppy on Saturday but what can you do? We have to wait for money to be deposited in our account tomorrow for us to be able to go out and buy the cage for our new little guy. yeah that's rigth we do not even have a cage for him yet. We took really good care of our English Bulldog I promise and we had him for 7 years.
Death of a Laptop...Maybe, and School Tours
We had to get up and out this morning without too much fuss, we had an appointment to tour a school at 10am. Of course this is not too early but for our current lifestyle (the laid back no schedule lifestyle) it is. One of the things that is firmly on the 'Con' side of the page in regards to putting the little one in school is having to get our lives on more of a set schedule. Anyway we made it out of the house without much trouble and to the school. The place is great all the teachers were nice and almost painfully smiley but I guess that is better than frowny but neither of those are real words and the fact that I use words like that is on the 'Pro' side of the page in favor of a school that would teach him the correct way to speak. Chance, enjoyed playing with all the toys as we listened to the Admissions lady talk.
While we were there one of the groups of two year olds came back from an outing. They were all walking in a line holding onto a string which reminded both me and Scott of George Clooney children in Oh Brother Where Art Thou. They walked into the room where we were. All the children were calm and they sat down in their chairs around the little table in the center of the room prepared for their snack of goldfish crackers. This is when I wondered if Chance could do it, could he handle this kind of behavior? He will not even sit at the table for a full meal he gets down and then comes back to grab a bite and then goes again. Would he sit at a little table with a bunch of other kids to eat all of his snack? People say "once he sees the other kids doing it..." but I am skeptical. My son is a rebel just like his old man. He is a good boy but he walks to his own drummer and I wonder if he will fit into the school mold so easily. Anyway we still are not sure if we are going to put him into school or not. More on that debate later.
When we arrived back home I had left my half full coffee cup from the morning sitting on my desk. While Scott and I were in the kitchen talking and slaving over the stove to make the little one his favorite breakfast food, sausage. He was climbing up in my desk chair and spilling the aforementioned coffee all over my desk and laptop. We did not notice this until some time later and so no one really knows how long it was sitting there in a pool of sweet creamy goodness. As soon as I noticed it of course I picked it up and tried to turn it on, evidently as I was quickly told by my husband this was exactly what I was NOT supposed to do. So, I may have fried the circuits but how was I to know? Despite my ineptitude my wonderful husband took all the little screws out of the back and we are now allowing it to dry, soon we will know the answer to the question, Will I be getting a new laptop?
Weekly Review - Barrack's Books
The audio version of Dreams of my Father has an epiloge which includes his speech at the last Democratic National convention. After hearing the story of his life, learning where all his convictions come from that speech brought tears to my eyes. And I did not even vote for the guy (in the primaries that is).
George Carlin, you know you want to...
...what? I do not know but I do know you want to. Anyway, I opened my homepage today to find that Mister George Carlin has passed on and by that I mean he has died. He was 71 so I don't think he went too soon or anything but in his heyday he changed the way a lot of people including the supreme court thought about language as well as other things. I have always loved George Carlin's stand-up, I like seeing him in movies and I have read all of his books. I have gone back through youtube to watch his old stand up routines and such. There is one thing has really stuck with me and that is the longing to be there, to be a part of what he was.
At any comedy show there are people in the audience and they are laughing but when you watch one of Carlin's shows from his peak the people in the audience are not just laughing they are there with him they are not just agreeing with him they are cheering him on because he is saying things that no one else has ever said before. At least not on Television. I have a urge to be there in that audience to be a part of the revolution that only Carlin brought to life.
Comedians like Lewis Black and Bob Saget (some of you know what I mean) are allowed t say the things that they do because of George Carlin and people like him. I want to encourage you to go out and find all the Carlin you can his comedy albums or old videos or his books such as Napalm & Silly Putty or all of the above. If you have young children and believe their tender ears are not yet ready for the likes of Mister Carlin do not fear there is a Carlin for you, he hosted Thomas the Tank Engine from 1991 - 1997 so get yourself a copy and enjoy.
Food
For a while now I have been hearing about the food crisis. It is of course due in part to global warming and in part to the global economy being screwed up and in part to a few really bad people. There are people eating cookies made of dirt in Haiti as well as other countries I am sure and in Africa there are countries who can produce food but the people there can not afford to buy it. You do not have to look very hard to see that this food crisis will reach America sooner rather than later. I wonder if it has not reached us already. Over the last few months while at the grocery store I have noticed a strange trend. The bread that I usually buy has been out of stock more than half the time. When looking around I notice it is not just my usual brand either.a lot of the time there will be up to a whole shelf empty. Also, I have been experiencing the same trouble with the cereal aisle. I do not know if the two things are connected at all but it makes me think. Lots of people watch the news then walk through the grocery store but the two things do not connect in their head. I do not want to be naive. When things are going wrong right in front of your face but you go on believing what the American media tells you that it is not a problem here, that is stupid. I do not know for 100% sure that the cereal in my local grocers has anything to do with the world's food crisis but it might be, open your eyes!
Waiting for what again?
I am sitting here in the dark on my couch. The TV is showing a slide show of the most recent pictures om my Flickr account. The bathroom light is on and is flooding light into the hallway but is still too far away to shed any light onto my keyboard to make this post a little easier to get out there. I am waiting. Waiting for Scott to get home, he just called from the airport and will be here any minute. He had to take a taxi since his plane did not land until 11pm and that was too late to keep the little one awake just to go pick Daddy up from the airport. It's weird because in a normal family it would be such a special occurrence picking Daddy up from the airport that you would keep the kids awake and all go to the airport together but here it happens all the time so taxi it is. That should never happen to a family. One member of your immediate family should never be gone so often that it becomes a common occurrence. Of course if it were solely up to me that would never happen to me either but it isn't and so here I am alone.
But I will not be alone soon, the aforementioned taxi should be pulling up any minute now and then we will all be one big happy family again. For how long? We can not be sure but at least for the weekend and no matter how much the next day he leaves will be looming over my head I will try to push it to the back of my mind and enjoy the moment. That is my new goal to enjoy the moment. I do not feel optimistic about this.
I am thinking of trying to find a farmer's market to go to this weekend. I have been trying to "green" myself up a bit. I figure this would be a great way to meet your neighbors as well as get some cheaper and fresher fruits and veggies but so far I have not looked one up so unless I stop what I am doing right now to look it up we probably will not go tomorrow because once the baby wakes up if you do not have a plan the you might as well just wait for nap time and then it is afternoon and too hot and before you know it the day is spiraling out of control.
News, Britney Spears and William Shatner
I’ve actually been reading the paper. Although for years newspapers all around the world have been an amazing outlet for the happenings of the day. I have loved writing for many many years now and fully believe that we as a people should never do away with print newspapers but there always seems to be so much in them that I don’t want to read and therefore there has never been enough motivation to dig the fifty cents out of my pocket, slip it in the slot and bring the paper home. Then on top of that to actually read it, forget about it.
However for the past few days I have been reading the local paper to fulfill one of the requirements for my 101 things in 1001 days. I have learned a lot of things some of which I do not even want to know and most of it I do not need to know at all. I guess in a global world everyone should be ‘in the know’ but the truth of the matter is that life would be a lot simpler if we did not know some of that stuff. Take my last entry for instance. Think about how much topics like that weigh on your psyche everyday. How much simpler would your life be if you did not have to worry about floods in Iowa or famine in Africa or what Britney Spears is doing for fun these days.
People are not supposed to be burdened by these types of things everyday. Of course there are more crazies in the world today because 100 or 200 years ago we never had the same concerns as we do today. Our families and friends were probably better off for it too since we all had more mental time to give to them and to ourselves instead of our minds being spread out over not only our immediate lives but also those of other people and things that have very little to no effect at all on us or our familes.
Reading - Up Till Now - William Shatner, I just started this audio book but I really like William Shatner. I loved him in Star Trek and in Boston Legal. I also just experienced his spoken word songs, Rocket Man and such which if you haven’t yet then check it out here.
Watching - The Time Tunnel - Season 1
Hello, I am Rayna
I guess that says it all, doesn't it? Well not too much but a girl has to keep some mystery in her life. I have been keeping a traditional paper journal for years, since I was 12 years old, I am 27 now. I also have a livejournal that I have been keeping for a few years and another blogger journal that is mostly dedicated to family, since we live so far away from both sets of grandparents. Oh yeah did I mention I have a baby? No, well it's that mystery coming into play again.
So, you are no doubt asking yourself with all those other writing outlets why start a new blog. I can see where you are coming from with this thought. The truth in the matter is I am trying to make the transition from hobby blogger to professional blogger. This is my first attempt. I have high hopes for myself but not too high because I hate to be let down. Also, I am not sure I could handle it right now so I think to play it safe I will say this website is going to be a complete failure but I will learn from it and move on. With that things can only go up.
I am currently a stay at home mom but I never wanted to be. Some would think that is aweful to say but those people are not me. I am just not cut out for staying home all the time. Yeah the little one keeps me busy but I need more of a purpose in life or at least more of a personal purpose. I always wanted to go back to work part time but that did not work out so here I am sitting on my couch watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and I keep thinking what can I do, what are my talents? That is when it hit me I love writing I have been keeping a journal forever how can I make these things work for me and here I am.
I don't really know if writing is my true talent but I am going to try to make it into one and once I get really started I am sure you will not be disappointed. At the very least you will be entertained.
A Little About...
...Rayna (that's me). I currently live in New Orleans with my husband and toddler, the terrible twos are upon us. We moved to NOLA in November 2005, yes after the hurricane. This picture was taken when we were on a river cruise last Christmas. I picked this picture because the Portland look is so hot right now. Everyone "going green" and all (me included so who am I to talk).
Writing fills my heart with joy and so I do it much and often like laughing in that poem. Speaking of poems I like to write those too as well as this blog and a couple others. I am here to entertain you and myself with my witty ramblings. And to share info on books and reading in general, of course.
I did not return to my job after giving birth to the aforementioned baby and so spend most of my days desperately trying to find something to fill my schedule. Oh yeah and trying to avoid becoming a complete fat ass from lazing around the house. So far it's working out, I'll keep you posted...
Authors, writers, poets, artists, 'zine makers and Publishers; Do you have an title you want to share with the world? I can help.
Submit your title for review on the Mom’s Not All website. Having me review and post my opinions about your title is a great way to inform Mom’s Not All readers about your book, 'zine, short story and more. Please understand that I cannot review an item based on a photo, brochure or website description. Because I will need to use/actually read the title in order to review it, the items are non-returnable.
Review Requirements:
In order for me to review your title, you must send a non-returnable item for me to review. I give an honest opinion in my posts.
What I do for your review:
· I will write an honest and detailed review on your title in addition to any info that you would like me to include.
· I will Link to your website / blog and anywhere else you suggest
· I will include a photo of your title as well as business logo(s) to further promote your title and your business
· The review will be sent to all of my subscribers
· I will also Tweet about the review getting the word out to my followers
