Not Me Monday- through the years.

In kindergarten, I did NOT get in a fist fight with a boy twice my size because he kept flipping my skirt up. I did NOT win. (It also did NOT have anything to do with a solitary white chair in a sea of brown ones that I always wanted and so did he.) In FIRST grade, I did NOT get into trouble because I did NOT call two boys 'booger butts' because they were NOT calling my Native-American friend 'Chocolate person.' (they actually, for real, did not get into trouble. I was REALLY upset about this.) In SECOND grade, on the day back from being off track, I did NOT chase every single boy down and kiss them.In THIRD grade, I did NOT kick a boy, Frank, in the teeth because he did NOT keep crawling under the desk and kissing my knees. I also did NOT get into trouble because my 3 best friends and I did NOT throw mud balls at the portable (which was our classroom) and we did NOT have to miss an awards ceremony to clean it up. For YEARS afterwords, my best friend's mom did NOT lecture us about it every time we were together.In FOURTH grade, I did NOT bite the girl who sat next to me (Alicia) on the elbow because she would purposely lean over and stick it on my desk. In FIFTH grade, I did NOT have a teacher tell me there was no Santa Clause because she felt I was too old to believe such things. She also did NOT tell me that I should run away and never come back. She also did NOT make fun of me, and my best friends Brad, Rey, and Jake (all boys) at the time, telling the whole class how she saw all of them kissing me, which was absolutely, for really real, not true- we spent all of our time on the swings, and they were for really real, not my boyfriends. And when I was in Fifth grade, my BROTHER was in SECOND grade- and he did NOT change his appearance each day so that he could sneak through the lunch line several times. (Bottomless pit, that one. LOL.) In SIXTH grade, I was NOT an absolute looser with no friends because I switched from D track (where I'd been all my life) to A track, where the rich, spoiled, 'popular' class was, and I was NOT dirt under their feet.

Feel Good Friday and Letters of intent

http://www.thegirlnextdoorgrowsup.com/

(And if you're here for my letters of intent or Dear So and so, just scroll down. You'll reach it eventually!)

So welcome to Feel Good Friday- where I have the opportunity to talk about some of the things that are making me feel good. Usually, I use the first prompt and make a list of 5 things that I'm happy about. But today, I'm going to do a different prompt and write about something that I love dearly and that always makes me happy.

Ever since I was young, I have collected charms. My mother collects charms too, and has many many bracelets, some of which are not her own, but were purchased at antique stores. I have also started charm bracelets for my daughters, and a pin collection for my son, as charms are kind of feminine.

My charms are nearly all from my life experiences, if they were gifts, trips, or just purchased. They almost all have something to do with me. I have over 70 of them, and have had at the very least 15 fall off and be lost forever. When I was about 10, I wore a bracelet somewhere, and lost that one too. It had over 20 charms on it. I still mourn it's loss. Two of the charms were one-of-a-kind.

As I have so many, I won't talk about all of them, though every single one DOES have a story. But I'll show you a good many that mean something to me.

(These are in no particular order, as I don't really keep them in order on my bracelet. It's just wherever there happens to be room.)

This SUN was given to me by my husband on the day I gave birth to our SON, Mahone.

My mom and dad gave me this charm as a gift after I was in a musical at my high school. The pacifier represents Lilly's birth.


In high school, I was on an Irish Step Dance performing team. The gillies are correct (middle) they're the Irish soft shoe, but the dancer is actually a Scottish Highland dancer- I didn't do that. Still, she's pretty and unique. I bought the shoes after a performance at a Scottish festival, and my mom gave me the dancer. The goblet was also given to me by my mom because I went to ren faires a lot, and she thought it suited.

The little diamond girl represents my youngest (at the moment) daughter Scarlet. The knight in shining armor-well, I was a real romantic back in the day. He was handsom at the mall kiosk...so I bought him. The guy in the middle is actually an LDS missionary. My mom (she bought me a lot of these, you will see.) sent him to me in college, because most of my friends in high school were boys who, instead of going straight to college went on LDS missions. At one point, I was writing to 12 of them. So, he represents them all.

Obviously, from my parents on Graduation day. And the key is an antique charm I bought at a flea market because I also collect keys. 12 of the charms on this bracelet are keys of some sort.

My husband bought me the moon when we were dating, and I bought the cards when we were in vegas, after we were married just before we found out we were expecting Lilly. My first real boyfriend bought me the dice because we used to play Dungeons and Dragons (okay...I still DO play. But not with him anymore.) Though they would be more appropriate if they were 20 sided.

This may be one of my favorites. When I was pregnant with Scarlet, we lived in Alabama. For Christmas, we took our kids, Lilly- then 2 and Mahone, then 17 months to Disneyworld and met my parents and my brothers and sister there. I bought this CInderella's castle there. Isn't it breathtaking? It was expensive too. Platinum. My WHOLE souvenier allowance. LOL.

Yes- from my parents when I turned 16. In Utah. LOL .

ANother of my favorites. This charm was purchased in Disneyland when I was pregnant with Lilly. Brandon had gone off to Boot Camp for the Air Force in Texas and my mom had whisked me away with our family and some good family friends to Disneyland.

The Statue of Liberty. I bought her at the store on Liberty Island where the statue stands. Brandon's first station was at McGuire AFB in New Jersey and my Sister In Law came to see us for her birthday. We took her to New York. I was pregnant with Mahone.

Camera, phone...both from my mom.

The bell was a gift for Christmas one year, and the palm trees were purchased in Jamaica on my honeymoon. Yes, the little sign says "calif." but our plane was leaving and I didn't really think about it until after the fact. Oh well. It's a story to tell. The little boat under the bell is a charm Brandon bought me from Maryland when he was on a TDY (temporary duty) there.

Brandon bought me the dog, because I wanted a dog, but our first apartment didn't allow pets. I bought the armadillo in texas when I went to see him graduate from Boot Camp while still pregnant with Lilly.

I got to visit Texas again when we drove back to Utah after I had Scarlet from our second Station in Alabama. We stopped to visit our best friends and I bought this there.

COmputer, heart, cowgirl...I think the boot is actually Lilly's...it's also from Texas.

Dear My Uterus,
I see you have received my last letter with grace. And gracefully, I am here to encourage your journey over the next 9 months. I imagine you pink and plush inside, full and fertile like a mother should be. Cradle my precious baby, please, until i can cradle the little thing his/herself.

Sincerely,
Dearly Thankful

********************************
Dear Baby,
You must always know that you are very severely wanted. Not just by me, your mother, your grail, but a numberless slew of people who envision you in their mind's eye already. Your oldest sister will be your biggest fan, as she is already practicing changing diapers on your other older sister. Your brother will be your protector. He is our Superman, and he hopes that you will be a boy so that he will have a Batman to run around with. And our Scarlet- well, she will have well meaning intentions, but I will have to protect you from her curious fingers and teeth, and keep you out of the way of her chronically tripping feet.
Hang on sweet baby. Cling to me, and stay with me. I want you. Always.
Affectionately,Your mommy.

*********************************************
And for some comic relief before my over active emotions get the best of me and I short out my little laptop with the weight of my many exaggerated tears....

Dear Vacuum,
I hate you.
You advertised yourself as a vacuum meant specifically for shedding pets. "Up to 3 animals!" the box shouted, letters inflamed in in a spiky cloud as though it were a comic book. You boasted pictures of two long haired cats, and an English Sheep Dog.
So, why is it that, from the first day I vacuumed, I have had to unclog the tube every single time I vacuum a room? Not every time I vacuum my HOUSE, but every time I vacuum a ROOM? And I'm not talking things like wads of toilet paper, or marbles, or a pair of underwear (Which my last vacuum survived) or one of Brandon's ties (which is what ultimately ruined our last vacuum and made us purchase you.) I'm talking dog hair.
Now let me tell you a little about us. I am a little bit obsessive. I'm not obsessive COMPULSIVE. My house isn't spotless or sterile, but I am a little bit of a freak about it being clean. Particularly the carpets because I have 3 (4) small children who play on said carpets. I also have a 2 year old who, apparently, has not outgrown the oral stage. she puts everything in her mouth. So, needless to say, I vacuum most of my house almost every day.
We also have a dog. ONE dog. He is a Brittany Spaniel, and he sheds. His hair is medium length and his shedding is very minimal.
So, comparing our lifestyle: I vacuum every day, and we only have ONE dog (which implies very little hair when it's cleaned up every day)
to your advertisement: "For up to 3 animals!" surrounded by two cats and a dog (which implies a HECK of a lot of hair, especially if you're like most of the world and you vacuum once, twice, maybe 3 times a week as opposed to every day.) well, it kind of gives me the feeling that you are a lying sack of goat cheese.
Well, I take that back. You don't have a sack. You're one of those awesome kinds with the little clear tube that unlocks and you just dump it into the garbage.
Oh right! I don't do that...because it's rare that anything makes it there, due to your inability to suck dog hair all the way through your blessedly transparent tube ('cause at least I can SEE where the clog is), or any of the three places that tubes connect to filters, 'bag', or the spinney brush thingy underneath the vacuum where it sucks stuff up.

The company said on the phone that I either have too many pets, my dog has too much hair, or I should vacuum more often. ~Wry look~

So, please, because I mean this in the nicest possible way, don't be offended when i say: You don't suck.
May I suggest a disclaimer: "Works best with hairless animals and those that don't shed!"

Cordially,.......I have no clever alias, I'm so ticked.

Mama Kat's Thursday Writer's Workshop!

Losin' It" src="http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac331/mamakatslosinit/poodle4.jpg">

Today, I picked #3 from MamaKat's workshop prompts. To write a haiku about what I love about my regular day. So I wrote several. 3 lines didn't seem like enough to cover it. And it didn't seem like enough substance for my readers. So here you are. Some of my favorite parts of the day.

p.s. Dear babies- even though you don't read this, I have to say it: I know I'm cranky right now. I know that sometimes it seems like I tolerate you instead of enjoy you. But I wouldn't trade a single stressed out moment for a lifetime of money, ease, fame, or things. I love you. YOU are my favorite part of EVERY day. (OMG. My hormones are out of control. I'm going to bawl my eyes out writing this.)


breakfast table, cool.
giggles, berries, sugar, prayers.
"Mommy?" "Hmm?" "Love you!"



On the road, buckled.
"Want to hear a story mom?
It is about me."

Little fist on door.
"Mommy! I waked up!" cheeks hot
Grin, with nap time gone.

Still breath on pillows,
Footie jammies keep toes warm.
Finally, my time.

Wordless Wednesday: What do these pictures have in common?

Baby Blue

Baby Ruth


Baby Proof

Baby Dill

Baby Doll

Baby Carrots

Baby Boom.
(November 19, 2010)

Touchy Topic Tuesday- God and constitutional rights?

First of all, I have to say that I am SO SORRY for not spreading around any comment love for the last few days! I have not been able to be online all that much, but I appreciate your comments, and will try UBER hard to do better in the future!

Also, if you don't mind, PLEASE vote for my blog by clicking on the TOP MOMMY BLOG button on my left sidebar. I'm currently #6. I would LOVE to be #1 this month!!!

*****************************************

Welcome to Touchy Topic Tuesday!

Today's Topic: God and the People's Constitutional Rights!

Let me start this out by saying that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a rule, this means that I take my relationship with God and with Christ very seriously, though my SPECIFIC religion has nothing to do with this, it just has to do with ANY religion that believes in God and Christ. But be forewarned. The examples I may use will be pretty strictly LDS, because that is what I am and that is what I know and identify with.

I DO, wholeheartedly, believe in the separation of church and state, which, by definition is

*the idea that the government and religion should be separate, and not interfere in each other's affairs. In the United States, this idea is based on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that the government cannot make any laws to establish a state religion or prohibit the free exercise of religion.

Essentially, this prohibits the government to demand that all the people in the United States follow a certain form of religion. (For the type of devastation this can actually cause, please study up on British history.)

The Separation of Church and State also prohibits religious leaders from stepping up and taking over the government. This is not to say that a religious leader should not be allowed to run for president. If he were willing and able to keep his religion from running the government, then all things would be well. However, I do see this as a conflict of interest, and I think it would be difficult.

That being said, I do not believe that a person should be required to put aside their beliefs and their religion and what they have been taught and feel is right, if it pertains to God, when they vote. Doing so is NOT part of the Separation Of Church and State, in fact, it goes directly against the first amendment, which reads:

**Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There is absolutely nothing in the first amendment, which supports the Separation of Church and State, saying that a church cannot petition the government to change a law that dissatisfies them. There is nothing here saying that people who believe, because of anything, INCLUDING their religion, have to accept a law that is undesirable.

Furthermore, while it does not give religious leaders the right to run the government, it DOES give them the right to ASSEMBLE PEACEABLY- which, essentially means that they CAN rightfully request that their members vote a certain way.

In the whole history of my church, I do not ever recall our leaders asking us to vote in a certain way, only to pray about our decision and to actually VOTE and take responsibility in our glorious free country. UNTIL the onset of California's Proposition 8 in 2008, where they asked members of the church residing in California to vote yes for the bill stating:

***Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California

As a member of the LDS church, and one who did not vote on this because I am not, and never have been, a legal resident of California, I have been the subject of much personal ridicule about my religion, and my church leaders and their "unconstitutional act" and their disregard for the idea of "Separation of Church and State" because they donated a large sum of money to the campaign against gay marriage, when in fact, when a person understands in full the definition of both the First Amendment and the definition of the Separation of Church and State, the leaders of my church never overstepped their bounds.

And yet, I have not reached my point.

Everywhere one turns, one sees the influence of people- be they Atheists or Agnostics- who do not believe in God, claiming that the use of God's name in our schools, on our money, in our Pledge of Allegiance, in our newspapers and daily conversations are infringing on their constitutional rights NOT to believe in God.

I happen to belong to several chat boards, both for my blog and for my parenting, and birth boards. Daily I see one or more claim to this. Someone may mention a scripture passage, or ask for prayers for a sick child or family member. Nearly all of these types of posts are harmless, faith filled responses to a situation where no one is proselyting or suggesting someone join their religion lest they go to Hell. In fact, many of these comments are simple answers to a question such as, for example, a thread called "Pre-marital Sex: What do you think about it?" If one should mention that morally and religiously, they think it is wrong, they are immediately bombarded with posts requesting that they not force their religious beliefs onto that person because they don't believe in God, or that a person's view on a political topic is invalid because they are using God as their moral compass, instead of their compassion for human beings, or that it's invalid because they are not employing the idea of Separation of Church and State (which is a false claim, as mentioned above.) In every instance, these people claim that those people who are rightfully displaying and utilising their belief in God are robbing the unbelievers of their right to live without hindrance of accountability to a higher being.

My question is: Where are our rights? You have successfully eliminated God from our Schools and very much of society. The first Amendment, while I personally feel it it obvious that it also supports those who choose NO religion as well as those who DO choose one, gives us the RIGHT to put our prayers, and our scriptures out there! Stated securely in the constitution, it is said that they may NOT REVOKE THE FREEDOMS OF SPEECH OR PRESS! In essence, NO ONE may tell us that we are hindering anyone's rights because we choose to pray, and then write or talk about it. No one may tell us that we are hindering rights because we VOTE based on the moral ways we feel because of our knowledge gained through religion.

There is NO valid comment that a person can make in stating that a person's constitutional rights are being tramped on because a person with a belief in God has chosen to divulge their belief. The Separation of Church and state is not meant to remove God from every aspect of our lives and keep it hidden deep inside the walls of churches and out of our voting and our conversations, it is MEANT to protect the rights of those who chose to BE religious.

*Courtesy of www.historycentral.com

**Courtesy of www.usconstitution.net

***Courtesy of www.wikipedia.org

So what do you think? Do YOU feel that someone who talks about their God and religion is overstepping their bounds when talking to you? Why do you feel that your rights are more valid than theirs? Do you believe that a person should be allowed to freely express their belief in God? Let me know! And I know this is a HEAVY topic. We're moving up. Remember to PLAY NICE. Mean, personal attacks will be deleted. That's a warning. Keep it civil.

Not Me Monday and "All about MEme"

My children do NOT STILL all have croup.

Whenever Lilly coughs, she does NOT make the excuse "I'm NOT sick, I just swallowed down the wrong tube!"

Lilly is NOT a diva.

Mahone does NOT talk in his sleep and we do NOT have these kinds of conversations:

waking up: I Don't wanna do that! I odn't want to! NO!!!

Me: You don't want to do what, honey?

M: I don't want to go down there!

Me: Where?

M: I don't want to go parachuting! I just don't want to go down there!

Me: you don't have to honey- it's just a dream.

M: I won't just jump out of the plane!

Me: It was just a dream honey, no one is going to make you jummp out of a plane.

M:okay...where's my indiana jones hat?

Scarlet's Baby Stella (Below) is NOT continually on "time out."

And whenever Stella (Scarlet's favorite baby) is missing, she does NOT walk around in tears screaming "STELLA!!!!!!!!!!!!" as though the baby will come running when she calls.

I do NOT think it's posetively hilarious, and it does NOT remind me of "A Streetcar Named Desire" when Scarlet roams the house screaming "Stella!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I do NOT crack up, big time.

I have NOT been known to briefly make Baby Stella 'disappear' for short moments at a time, just so Scarlet will NOT scream "Stella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" because, that is not a nice mommy. And I am certainly above such things.

Sunday Sonnets

There was a Child went Forth

Walt Whitman (1891)


There was a child went forth every day;
And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became;
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.

The early lilacs became part of this child,
And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,
And the Third-month lambs, and the sow’s pink-faint litter, and the mare’s foal, and the cow’s calf,
And the noisy brood of the barn-yard, or by the mire of the pond-side,
And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there—and the beautiful curious liquid,
And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads—all became part of him.

The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of him;
Winter-grain sprouts, and those of the light-yellow corn, and the esculent roots of the garden,
And the apple-trees cover’d with blossoms, and the fruit afterward, and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road;
And the old drunkard staggering home from the out-house of the tavern, whence he had lately risen,
And the school-mistress that pass’d on her way to the school,
And the friendly boys that pass’d—and the quarrelsome boys,
And the tidy and fresh-cheek’d girls—and the barefoot negro boy and girl,
And all the changes of city and country, wherever he went.

His own parents,
He that had father’d him, and she that had conceiv’d him in her womb, and birth’d him,
They gave this child more of themselves than that;
They gave him afterward every day—they became part of him.

The mother at home, quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table;
The mother with mild words—clean her cap and gown, a wholesome odor falling off her person and clothes as she walks by;
The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger’d, unjust;
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture—the yearning and swelling heart,
Affection that will not be gainsay’d—the sense of what is real—the thought if, after all, it should prove unreal,
The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time—the curious whether and how,
Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
Men and women crowding fast in the streets—if they are not flashes and specks, what are they?
The streets themselves, and the façades of houses, and goods in the windows,
Vehicles, teams, the heavy-plank’d wharves—the huge crossing at the ferries,
The village on the highland, seen from afar at sunset—the river between,
Shadows, aureola and mist, the light falling on roofs and gables of white or brown, three miles off,
The schooner near by, sleepily dropping down the tide—the little boat slack-tow’d astern,
The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,
The strata of color’d clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint, away solitary by itself—the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud;
These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day.

(from Leaves of Grass)

*********************************************************************

My children. My loves. Everything they see becomes a part of them.

I am a part of them.

Oh, I pray that the part of them that I am is the sweetest part. That it is their love, the softness, the wise (as well as wise-assed) and genuine parts.

Please. Let me be the GOOD part of them.