Today's thought...political correctness.

So I'm watching Dr Phil and it's a show about whether or not we as a people have become too sensitive to what's being said in todays society. Now, this is my opinion, and if I offend you, so be it, that's not my intent. People take things way to seriously. People get all up in arms about what someone else calls them. You don't see me taking offense when someone calls me a cracker, or honky! I could care less! Call me a Saltine, I am one and I wear it proudly. Just like I'm a geek, as seen in the last blog. Just get over it people! You know, it's everywhere, there are always going to people who are going to be ignorant. There isn't anything you can do about it, so adjust. I mean, I hate to be blunt but I mean really! Even Jesus was picked on and called names and he was the son of God!

Second, Dr Phil was talking about racial profiling at the airport. Okay people, we have been doing this for over 9 years now. We had people crash OUR planes into OUR buildings and we're not supposed to racially profile? Really!? If the US went over and bombed France, and I flew over there on vacation five years later, and I got profiled because I am an American in a France airport, do you think for one second I'd get mad? No! Why? Because guess what, it happens! It's the age we live in! Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it! And if you have nothing to hide, what are you so upset about? Let me ask you, if you were in an airport, would you rather have the racial profiling, or would you rather be the one sitting next to the idiot with the bomb on the plane? I'm just sayin.

Lastly, they were discussing the mosque. There's a lot of controversy going on surrounding this building. Here are my thoughts on it and here are my whys of my thoughts. First off, the Imam opening the mosque in the place that it is has gone on record after 9/11 saying that America brought this on itself. Second, he is putting the damn thing in a COMMERCIAL AREA!!!! How many churches are in commercial areas? I mean this is not surrounded by a house anywhere! It is ALL businesses around the stupid place. Now tell me, that the guy didn't decide to put it there to antagonize people. Then he says that he didn't realize it would cause this much of a problem. Really!? Really? If that's the case, then move the thing! Move it down the road a few blocks. We're not talking about telling them they CANT, we're asking them, as American citizens, REGARDLESS of their race, denomination whatever, to respect the situation that took place there. Then the Imam gets on the TV trying to scare Americans that DON'T practice the Muslim religion, that if they move the mosque now, that all of Islam is going to get up in arms and it'll be dangerous for our citizens. Really? That sounds like a scare tactic to me. I'm just sayin. And you won't move it down the road. Do people realize, that the pictures you see from 9/11 of the people that jumped out of the building while it was on fire, they fell farther than the distance from the mosque to ground zero?

Anyway, that's just my take on what was discussed on his show. I LOVE the Dr. Phil show and am really glad that he does shows like this, and that he's not afraid to ask the big questions! Go Dr. Phil!

Today's thought...Proud to be a Geek!

Okay so on the way to visit the fam last weekend Frog and I get into a big discussion about Linux, the programs and the new roll outs. Now I'm still learning Linux and all of the outs and ins. Using terminal is no longer scary to me and just relying specifically on Linux isn't scaring me either. SO we get to talking about previous versions of Ubuntu. Apparently, they distribute twice a year. Once in April and once in October. And in every distro, they have an upgraded version of Ubuntu. So like in April of '08 Ubuntu Version 8.04 rolled out, October of '08 Version 8.10 rolled out and so on and so forth. Well there's been a lot of buzz around about the 10.10 roll out, which is coming out 10/10/10!

So we're all excited about the roll out and talking about it and it hits me suddenly that if 10.10 is coming out in October, then in April of next year, 11.04 rolls out! So then I talk to him about being all excited about it and he stops and tells me that he's so proud, because I'm excited about a distribution of a Ubuntu Version that is still 7 months in the making and 2 distributions away! He laughed and said that I was a true geek and he loved it.

So the other night, Frog's at the house and him and I are talking about Pidgin. It's a chat manager in Linux that allows you to have Myspace, Facebook, Yahoo, Hotmail...I mean the list goes on and on, and it allows you to have all of them in one program, designed specifically for Linux (Even though, yes, they do have a version for Windows too now). So we're talking about a feature in Pidgin that isn't available in any of the Windows messengers and my roomie is in the room. And he just gives me the strangest look, and I tell him that it's a Pidgin thing, he wouldn't understand and that it's only for us geeks.

Well that started a whole conversation as to who fit into the definition of geeks. Like me and Frog, we're what you'd call Linux geeks. Mr2 is a Windows geek. Oh yeah, you non-geeks may not realize it, but there is a hierarchy in the geek world! I have to say, in my opinion, no offense to my roomie, Linux geeks are geekier than Windows geeks. I mean, look at the diff in that right there. How many folks even know WHAT Linux is, much less uses it or has it on their computers? Ya know? I'm just sayin.

Thats like the convo we were having about Windows v/s Linux on my dual boot computer. I HATE Windows. Hate it! The only reason it is still on my computer is because there are still a couple of programs that they haven't completely integrated into Linux yet. Like iTunes. So then the other day, Frog and I are on the phone talking about using a diff program in Linux that I can hook my iPod to and get music moved around and such. So Mr2 says "Whoa whoa whoa wait a minute! Not only do you want to work around windows, but you want to work around iTunes too?" to which I proudly reply, "If I could work around iTunes, I'd drop the windows side all together!" LoL! He just shook his head.

That being said, the cuz is going to help me work my iPod in my Linux with a program called Rhythmbox, and if we get that going good, when 10.10 rolls out, it's Bye-Bye Windows...PERMANENTLY! LoL! Time will tell! So, you tell me folks, am I a geek or what? Why yes! Yes I am! And I wear that label proudly!

The trip from hell...LoL!

Okay so this last weekend I had to go back home to see my grandma. She was having a hard time and my mom has been with her and taking care of her for over a month now. So I left my daughter in the capable hands of her daddy and I rode with my cousin 800 miles to see her.

The trip up wasn't bad. Spending time with the fam was good too. My grandma was able to get up a couple of times which was definitely a good thing. Coming home though...man lemme tell ya.

First off, it was hard being up there. I missed me daughter so freakin bad I could have cried every time I talked to my husband! But that being said, I bawled my eyeballs out when I had to say adieu. My grandma was with a home health nurse that was trying to talk to my grandma about going back to the hospital. SO I get in the car, where my cousin proceeds to tell me that he has a headlight out and we will have to find an Auto Zone so we can replace it. So we find one, get the bulbs replaced and I get a text that I left my car charger at the house. Thankfully we had to replace the bulbs so we were able to make a quick trip back and get the charger. So we get there, run back, grab the charger then on we go.

SO, we get about, oh maybe 90 miles out and we stop at a gas station. I run in and pee, he pumps gas and he asks me to pop the hood. I do because he smells something. We look in the engine bay to find...the radiator is leaking. So, since he has an '07, his car takes...yes, not the normal antifreeze, but Dex-Cool. The 50-50 antifreeze mix. And coincidentally, no one sells it. Shocker there! So, on Labor Day, we had to find another Auto Zone, to get the Dex-Cool and be on our way. Yeah. That's easy! We're states away from home and couldn't tell you just where in the world we were going to find an Auto Zone. Well, we get on the internet, after buying a power converter and pluggin my cousins wireless network to it and find the closest one.

We make it to Auto Zone and look under the hood again and find that it's still leaking but doesn't appear to be getting any worse. We get 2 gallons of Dex-Cool and after a couple of times stopping every 60-80 miles we get a rate of leakage of about a quart every 60-80 miles. Lets just say something was definitely keeping us from getting home early. A trip that should have taken us until 10pm to get home, wound up taking until 2am. I was SO GLAD to see my driveway! LoL!

Todays thought...Irritating commercials.

Okay so I'm watching a soap commercial. And it talks about the fact that liquid soap bottles can harbor germs and bacteria on the pump itself. Okay now, that is a good point. I wont dispute that. However, if you're using the soap that is in your hands, to WASH your hands, then um...is it really that serious that there's bacteria on the pump? I mean really? Maybe I'm wrong about this, but if you're washing your hands, it really shouldn't matter if there's germs on it or not. I'm just sayin.

Todays thought...motherhood.

So I had a very dear friend call me today. I call her Boo boo and she calls me Ladybug. I think I've talked about her before. Anyway, it's been a while since I've talked to her and she asked me how things were doing. And I told her that I loved being a stay at home mom. And she told me that I was fit for the job because I had so much love to give, and God knew it. And I thought about it. She always told me that I had so much love. And she always made me feel so good! Always made me smile, always brought a smile to my face when I was having a bad day.

But anyway, it got me to thinking. Maybe this was my calling. Maybe this is what I was meant to do. Be a mom and wife. I love being at home and well...yeah, housework is housework, but you know, I wouldn't trade this time in for anything in the world! All of the firsts that I'm getting to see and experience with my daughter, the random phone call in the middle of the day from my husband to see how things are going and to tell me he loves me, all of it. Right down to seeing an old friend that I used to work with who told me when he saw me that being a mother suited me, because in all the years that we worked together, he'd never seen a more genuine smile on my face.

And yes, admittedly and a bit selfishly, I do find the time to write my books. So Boo boo, I say to you, thank you. Because I do love it, and I do feel like I was meant to do it. But it took you saying it for me to think about it. You always did know how to make me smile. Love, Your Ladybug.

Todays thought...Yesterday's race.

Those of you who know anything about me know that I'm a grease monkey from the word go. My cousin and I rebuilt a 1987 Pontiac Fiero couple of years ago with the original intent of using it in a week long rally that happens every year in Targa New Foundland. Now admittedly, Frog was able to do more on the car since it was at his house, but any time he had it at my place and I was able to pitch in, I was right there under the car with him. I would say under the hood but anyone who knows anything about cars knows that the Fiero's engine is in the trunk and the trunk is in the front. Most of the work needed done was on the underneath of the car anyway so...there it is. However not long after taking on this project, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and the dream on my end didn't die, but got put on hold. Well Frog continued working diligently on the car and we entered it into an auto cross yesterday.

Now we've auto crossed before but it was in his Chevy Aveo. Which is a 4 banger anyway. The Fiero is a V6. The Aveo a front wheel drive front engine car. The Fiero a rear wheel mid engine. The Aveo will run and when you push a curve or a turn it will keep pushing. The Fiero...LoL! Yeah. When you take her around a corner and go in too hot, the ass end comes out and just keeps going! There is no corrective mistake, you just bring it all the way around and keep going. Now I've spun a car out before. However it was not in a controlled environment and there was another car and trees and...yeah it was just bad all the way around. However in a controlled environment, it's a whole new situation. There's no fear when you spin out, except for the thought that when you go off the track it doesn't matter what your time was, they consider it a did not finish and that totally blows when you're racing.

That being said, and neither Frog nor I having driven a rear wheel mid engine car before lets just say, I spun out on my second time around, which was coincidentally my best time, which I stayed ON the track. Frog on the other hand, his first trip around was his best. It was great. The second time around he spun out once and kept it on the track, and then he spun out again right at the end and threw the thing off the course and dirt and dust flew in every which direction...into MY window! See the Fiero's AC doesn't work, so the windows were down and I got DIRTY! They blare over the radio frequency to all the other drivers to watch out for all of the dirt and grass that was now on the track. His third time around, he did great until he hit the corner that he hit before he spun out into the grass, hit the stop strip, threw the car into a spin and went off the track again! And this time, dirt and grass came in through my window again! It was hotter than the blazes out but oh my gosh was it fun!

Needless to say when we were sitting at a restaurant afterwards and looking at the fact that I was covered in dirt from head to toe, I had grease on my arm, on my knee, on my legs, and I had something blue that we couldn't immediately identify where it came from. It was so great! We got pics of the car, as dirty as I was. I got home, and there was black and brown in my bra, in my hair, in my EARS! But oh my gosh, I had more fun yesterday then I've had in a long time! It was amazing! Can't wait to do it again!

Today's thought....I really am a tech geek!

LoL! Okay On my puter I have Windows on one partition, and Linux on the next. I like Linux, it's clean, user friendly, and you only have to dedicate 15-20 gig of space to it unlike Windows in which the program itself IS 15-20 gig. Well the other day my cousin was telling me that he had Ubuntu 10.04 on his flash drive and asked me if I wanted to see if I liked it. That's the other good thing about Linux. The program is small enough that you can load it off of a flash drive. Anyway getting back to the point, I put it in, run it, fall in love and decide to update from Linux Mint Helena 8 to Ubuntu 10.04.

Now most of the time, he does the upgrades of Linux programs on my puter but this time he asked me if I wanted to learn how to do it. I told him that would be awesome. So he walks me through it. I get all excited because I know how to load a new Linux program now on my puter that when I reload it and restart my puter, I don't even look to see if my Windows partition is still on my puter. LoL! Because I have it partitioned so that I can have both Windows and Linux on my puter. And I do this because I have programs in Windows that won't run with Linux...YET. Such as iTunes...etc. Regardless, it was just so funny, that as important as my Windows side is to me and those programs, I didn't even look to see if Windows was still there. My cousin laughed so hard and said I was officially a techy geek!

Eke! I'm so proud of me!

So, my cousin works for this company which will for obvious purposes remain nameless, where he does a job that he used to love. And in fact, I think he probably still does love the work, just not the politics that goes with the job. First off he's been thrown into working 3rd shift. Which in itself wouldn't be bad, except when the boss gets in after him working all night, he throws more and more crap on top of him to do. In this week alone I'd be shocked if he's had more than 6 hours sleep a day. And he just keeps trucking along. Workin his ass off. Now here's the big thing with it. He's salary. Which means he doesn't get paid over time. So hell, if I was his boss, why not use that advantage and use my employee? Oh wait, that's right, BECAUSE I'm A DECENT HUMAN BEING WHO KNOWS USING YOUR EMPLOYEES IN THAT WAY IS WRONG! Come on people! Where does it end? This happens EVERY DAY to people all over the country! Especially for small business owners and their employees. At least when the company my husband works for pushes him for all he's worth and then asks him for more, they pay him for it! And why is that? Oh yeah, because someone who works there isn't scared to call the labor board on their asses! Not that they'd need to, he works for a pretty big corp and in the almost 10 years he's worked for them, they have treated him really good. I dunno. It just pisses me off that bosses like my cousin's get away with this every day!

Today's thought...Recovering.

Recovering from the rents visiting. Not that it was a bad visit, I love when they come into town. I hate when they leave. And I mean I HATE it. It sucks so bad. Life's been busy lately. Not bad, in fact, pretty good, but busy. My daughter has got all four top teeth cutting at the exact same time. Poor thing has been in a bad way lately.

On a light but totally gross note tho, my husband was frying some fish the other night for the fam. Well I look up and notice a spider on my ceiling. (Creepy freaky...eeeeww) Anyway, I'm telling him that there is a spider. And ordinarily I would shriek and yell at him to kill it but this time it was about to crawl over his head. So I of course shriek, but tell him that he needs to beware and kill it. And he's busy cooking, so his initial thought is "I don't care about the stupid spider, I'm cookin." But he looks up and tells me to grab the fly swat, so he can reach it. Just as I'm about to grab it the spider falls off of the ceiling and disappears. Turns out, it wound up IN the cooking oil that was boiling. Deep Fried Widow anyone? LoL!

So I was watching a TV show today and I heard something that I've heard so many times from guys before. The man said that he doesn't know why his wife has it so hard being a stay at home mom. Well let me tell all of you guys that are my friends that may read this, being a stay at home mom is a full time job and is just as stressful as your jobs and require just as much work! Some moms have just the child to take care of but in most cases, if you are a stay at home mom, it's because you're married and your husband has the income so that you don't have to. So as such, of course your first responsibility is to your child. That means that you never sleep in. As soon as your child is awake, they are up. Needing either a bottle or diaper change. Especially when you have a baby. Then, once you have the baby taken care of, your next responsibility is to get your husband up and off to work, making sure their breakfast is done, lunch is made and ready to go, coffee is brewed, and if you have a man that takes any medications, you have to make sure he takes his meds. And you do all of this because you love him, not because you have to. Once you have him taken care of and off to work, you go back to your child. Who now that they are done eating, is needing mommy time. Once you cuddle a bit and give that baby some mommy time, there has to be some play time and some reading. Then after about an hour of that, you lay the baby down for a nap in which if you're lucky, you get about thirty minutes to an hour to have some breathing time and pick up close by. Or at least I do. My daughter doesn't nap in her crib. So I get the living room picked up and by the time I sit down for a bit, she's awake. By this point it's almost noon. It's time for me to eat and getting close to time for her to eat again too. So I fix myself something, make her a bottle and feed us both. Then we once more have some mommy and me time and by around 1, I have her hooked up to a pack on my chest and I do the rest of the house work. Dishes, getting food ready for dinner, sweeping and mopping (Because I have hard wood floors), and of course, lets not forget, calling around and paying bills, talking to doctors, fitting a phone call into my husband in there once in while and putting her down for her afternoon nap. I get about 2 good hours to do what I want, which is usually napping myself because I've already been going for 10 solid hours non stop. Now she wakes up and is ready for her afternoon bottle which I give her while doing laundry, making sure that my child has clothes to wear the next day and my husband has work clothes and clean drawers to put on every day. Oh lets not forget, every other day, while cleaning after lunch, she gets a bath too. Anyway back to my point. So once she's done, she goes into her bouncy chair and comes up stairs with me so that I can start dinner and have it ready for my husband when he gets home. I don't do this because I have to, I do it because I know that my husband is out there busting his hump so that I can set here with the baby and watch her grow up. Once he gets home it becomes a run around of making sure his coffee cup is clean for the next morning, taking care of any left overs that may be still on the stove, running the dish machine again, checking my husband for ticks because he has a job that keeps him outside all the time, making sure his plate and glass is full, and getting him some of the clean drawers that are in the dryer, as well as his shorts to wear. Now somewhere in the midst of all of this, my daughter gets a jar of food to eat and another bottle and IF her daddy gets home in time to see her and kiss her good night, then it's been a good night. Other wise she goes down for the night. Now I don't think I need to mention through out the day I probably change 30 diapers, give a million hugs and kisses and clean up drool and spit up. All day long. Now, once she's asleep, if by some miracle I'm not dead on my feet, I get to spend about 30 minutes with my husband before he crashes out completely because he's been working for around 12 hours. Now I suppose you could say by this time I've technically been going for about 16, maybe 17 hours by now. Knowing that in 7 hours I've got to get up and do it all again. And that is only IF my daughter doesn't wake up in the middle of the night with a night mare, needing a diaper change, or suddenly in a growth spurt and needing another bottle. Oh and somewhere in the midst of my pretty much 24 hour a day job with a few down times, if I'm lucky, I can get a shower every other day. I get no me time, unless my husband actually has a few seconds to watch the baby and I can get out. Or my brother in law, which has been an absolute blessing in my life. Point to be made here is those men out there that think that life is so easy for a home maker and stay at home mom, of a baby at that, have no idea what my life is like. And to top that off...I don't get a paycheck for it! So don't judge, and don't think you know what happens behind closed doors, because you don't! Learn to appreciate your wives/mothers whatever and understand that life aint any easier or less stressful because I don't go to work for 8 hours a day, because you have NO IDEA what my day consists of.

Okay folks gonna step into my soap box and get a little bit political here. It's frustrating and here is just my humble opinion. I think it's deplorable for what's happened in Nashville to not be even commented on by our famous wonder. You know Bush was on the television 3 days before Katrina hit, he was on the tv the day Katrina left and was ready to help out the second they asked. Obama hasn't said a single word about what's going on in Tennessee right now. Oh wait...could it be because Tennessee is a Republican state? Begs the question doesn't it? Or does it? It took him over a week to say something about what was going on in the gulf so that doesn't really say much about that. But you know, everyone and their brother was all up in arms about how Bush didn't do anything for La when Katrina hit is just absolute crap but oh no one says anything about the fact that Obama not only takes a WEEK to even say ANYTHING about the oil rig and hasn't even said ANYTHING about the tragedy in Nashville? Whatever people! I'm so tired of the freaking double standards that everyone shows him because "Ooh he's the first black president..." Ahhh! So what! News flash folks....HE'S NOT EVEN BLACK! I'm more Native American than he is black and I don't have much of that in me! Oh and here's another one... HE STILL has yet to PROVE that he's even a US citizen! Yeah! And he hasn't been questioned yet? WTH America!? Anyway, again, these are just my opinions on this subject. Love em or hate em it is what it is.

Well, my daughter is officially an only child. I had to have the Essure procedure done. Went in yesterday and found that it took full effect. No babies anytime in the future for me. Though it was a good decision, it's still hard to wrap my brain around at times. My body rejected the pregnancy with my daughter from the beginning and I just couldn't do it again. So my little girl is an onliest. She's so special. She's so beautiful. I love being a mom so much.

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Today's thought...Another funny to share.

Now my cousin has always been one to make me laugh with his stories of restaurant trips, or times that I've been with him, or on the phone with him, that he's done something just off the wall. And what I mean by that is he will go through a drive-thru and order it to go. He's gone through the drive-thru and ordered it for there. We were at a little pub and the waitress was getting our drink order and he told her that he wanted a diet water. Kid you not. She started to write it down and then stopped and give him the oddest look, until we all started laughing and I told her to ignore him. Well my hubby did one in the same recently and it was so funny, I just have to share it.

Recently McDonald's did the twenty-five cent Chicken McNuggets on the menu. So, my husband, went through the drive-thru and ordered...get this now...1 Chicken McNugget and a glass of water. To which the lady on the other end rang up a twenty-seven cent order. He and my cousin (yes, the same one) were laughing so hard that they could barely tell the lady that they were only kidding and that they had a big order. I, hearing about this, laughed so hard myself I could have peed.

Anyway, I had to share that story. I'm in the mood for a laugh tonight and thought this would do it! Later peoples.

Today's thought...10 years.

So it's been 10 years ago today that I made the biggest and one of the best decisions of my life. And I guess that's the main point, I got away alive. I got away with my life in tact. I left my ex, who was as abusive as the day is long. So many things were set in motion by my leaving. I met my husband now, and well, if not for him I don't know where I'd be today. I do know that I'd be without the love in him, as well as the love and life of this beautiful little girl that is my daughter. She is such a miracle from God and I am so thankful every day that he allowed her to live. Through everything that she's been through, and she's been through a lot...she's so tough. Such a fighter! I wouldn't change a thing from the last 10 years. It's been an amazing journey. Happy, sad, thankful, scary and sometimes bad. But mostly blessed. How else do you go from hell to heaven like I did? God Blessing alone.

A day in the life of me...Get ready to laugh.

So most days, being a stay at home mom currently, I will sweep, mop, dishes, laundry and taking care of the baby. Then I take care of diff odds and ends things that need to be done through out the house. Well honestly I can't remember my funny yesterday mid-day, but last night on the way home my husband asks me to put on a pot of coffee because he's on his way home from work and frozen like a Freezy Pop.

So I pour out the holder part of the coffee pot and I realize..."Hmm. It's kinda nasty gross, I need to wash it out." So I lightly rinse it with soap and water, making sure not to scrub out the oils in there, but just getting the main grody stuff off, ya know? So I spray it out and soap suds goes everywhere and I rinse out the holder part and throw it back onto the base of the coffee maker. Not thinking about all of the soap suds that were on the bottom of the holder, I step back to get the coffee from the top of he fridge to realize, holy crap, there's soap suds coming out of every section of this coffee pot! LoL!. So I hurriedly remove the holder and rinse off the bottom, grab a piece of paper towel and begin to wipe off the base that has the heater part. Then I think..."Self, you should probably UNPLUG the coffee pot while wiping off the wet soap suds." and I do so. Well, I finally get it all wiped down and got everything back together put the coffee and the water in the pot and hit the power button. Nothing. I hit the power button again. Nothing. Then it dawns on me. "Duh stupid! Plug the pot back in!"

LoL! Oh the life and times of this household. Tee hee.

Today's thought...what I believe. Just a small list of a few things.

I believe that God is my Savior and that Jesus died on the cross for me. I believe that one day after I die, God and I are gonna go horseback riding and discuss the important things in life over a steaming hot bowl of mac and cheese (Kraft of course!) - Things like...Why on EARTH he created spiders.

I believe that jeans were created to wipe your hands on, and they can be worn more than once before washed.

I believe when I get to heaven St. Peter is gonna shake his head cuz I'm gonna come in sliding into home base all dusty and dirty with my favorite pair of perfect fitting jeans, my favorite hoodie and my signature hat.

I believe you should always smile. Mama still says to this day that it makes people wonder what you're up to.

I believe it's always appropriate to crank the music in your car and sing along as loud as you want.

I believe that you shouldn't worry about what people think about you. I believe that your real friends will love you no matter what your little quirks are. They'll love you for those quirks. Just ask my best friend. If people cant appreciate you for you, find someone else to be around.

I believe in blinkers and the hundred foot rule. I also believe that driveways will NOT run away so you can pull in faster than a creep. I believe in letting someone cut in front of you in a traffic jam and I believe that truckers and motorcyclists have the right of way just as much as I do.

I believe putting the pedal to metal is the only way to race. I believe in getting my hands dirty and getting under the hood as much as possible. I believe its a great release and an accomplishment when you fix a car and get it running again.

I believe everyone should farm at least once in their life. Be it hang tobacco, bail hay...whatever. One of the most amazing feelings in the world is coming home after a long day of working out in the field and sitting down after a long hot shower to a glass of iced tea.

Like I said. These are a few of my beliefs I wanted to share. I'll write another later.

The year in review. Good-bye 2009 and hello 2010.

Lets start with the beginning of the year. Trying to conceive. The Pooh Bear and I had been trying to get pregnant for a while. We'd had a couple of blow out fights and he told me to take another pregnancy test. I did and found out in early March that I was pregnant with my amazing bundle of joy. They ran tests and found the blood tests showed yes, I was definitely pregnant, but they couldn't find the baby in the ultrasound. So they thought it was ectopic and sent me in for a Laperoscopy because the baby was in the tubes and could be fatal depending on how far along the pregnancy was. To the best of their knowledge based on my last period and the level of hormones in my blood it was getting close to critical time. I go in for surgery and wake up to my husband telling me that I am still pregnant.

From there on out until mid August when I started having real problems with my blood pressure and if I continued as was it would cause me early labor. This continued into September and by September 19th I was in the hospital because of my blood pressure and I was borderline gestational diabetic and I was preaclamptic. I was in the hospital on a Saturday then by the next Friday, September 25th, by 3pm my daughter was born. It was emergency surgery and she was not supposed to have been born until November 30th. She was 10 weeks early. It was such a hard time going back and forth to the NICU but she finally came home on 11/12. It was amazing to have her home, at 4lb 7oz. It's been a hellova last few months! But my little girl is here! She's alive! And more than that, she's home! She's crashed out now, with a bottle in her mouth bless her heart.

It didn't stop there though. On October 30th I went in for emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder. I went in at 7:30 that morning and woke up once more to my husband telling me that while the surgery had gone well and they'd removed my gall bladder, a few stones had gone down the tract into my liver and they had to go back in later on that day and remove the stones from my liver. It's been a crazy year. But good in the end. So I guess though it's been as trying as it has been, good-bye '09, hello '10! Nice to see ya and hope you're as good as '09 ended!!!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD PEOPLE!???

I watched something on the news today that really just...PISSED ME OFF!!! Ok this terrorist attack attempt on Christmas Day, and that's what it is...A TERRORIST ATTEMPT...not a Man Made Disaster (We'll get on that one in a minute)...they are in a debate on whether or not they should put him (the terrorist) directly in Gitmo or if we should let him have rights and so on and so forth. Ok everyone is all worried about his "Constitutional Rights". HE IS A TERRORIST!!! THE CONSTITUTION IS FOR PEOPLE BORN IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! HE DOES NOT HAVE RIGHTS IN THIS COUNTRY! HE IS A TERRORIST!!! WHY ARE WE GOING TO GIVE HIM RIGHTS AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN? ALRIGHT PEOPLE, SINCE NO ONE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND THIS, LETS REFER TO SOMETHING HERE SHALL WE? The Geneva Convention which states the rules for prisoners of war. It goes on to say that we are only held by this treaty of prisoner treatment IF the opposing country follows the same rules. Guess what people, THEY AREN'T FOLLOWING THE RULES!!!

THE POLITICIANS OF THIS COUNTRY HAVE GOT TO STOP MAKING LIGHT OF WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON AND STOP BEING SO DAMNED WORRIED ABOUT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!!! THESE ARE TERRORIST ATTACKS PEOPLE!!! THEY ARE NOT MAN MADE DISASTERS!!! THEY ARE ATTACKS AGAINST US ON OUR SOIL!!! AND TO QUOTE SOMEONE ON THE O'REILLY FACTOR. I'M NOT SURE WHICH DEBATER I WAS BUT ONE OF THEM MADE THE STATEMENT AND I QUOTE: "OBAMA SAYING THIS IS AN ISOLATED INCIDENT IS LIKE TIGER WOODS SAYING RACHEL UCHITEL IS AN ISOLATED INCIDENT!" WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! ITS TIME TO START SEEING THIS FOR WHAT IT IS. WE ARE IN WAR PEOPLE! AND IT'S GOING TO BE GOING FOR A WHILE. YOU CAN SAY WHAT YOU WANT, TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO SLEEP AT NIGHT BUT THE TRUTH IS STILL THE TRUTH AND THAT IS THIS IS WAR, THESE MEN ARE TERRORISTS AND IT'S GOING TO CONTINUE UNTIL WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! STICKING YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND IS NOT GOING TO MAKE IT GO AWAY! WAKE UP AND REALIZE IT FOR WHAT IT IS AND NOTHING LESS!

Really...a whole new area?

SO I'm watching The Weather Channel of all places to hear this, this morning. Now first off I can't STAND that NBC decided to put Al Roker on TWC in the mornings and try to turn it into another morning show! People didn't watch TWC to find out what the latest stock quotes were or to find out what was going on in Washington D.C. I mean COME ON! Sorry, a bit of a touchy subject with me. Anyway, getting back to point here...Apparently some city in Mexico became the first city to recognize gay marriage. My problem wasn't with the recognition, lord knows that's not even something I think about. But what did bother me was the fact that instead of calling it Mexico, we've become such a politically correct society that they said, and I quote, "the first city in Latin America." WHAT!? Did I just hear that? So no longer is it Central or South America, it's all Latin America. Wonder what the folks south of the border would think of that. WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED TO US?

Case in point. My best friend has a co-worker that she is close with. She is from Mexico City. And you know, when you talk to her about her origins, she talks about Mexico proudly! She embraces where she's from and with grace! Now, if she can embrace where she's from, just like EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US SHOULD, then why is it such a bad thing to say she's Mexican? I mean look at me. I live in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! When I go to Mexico or Canada, I don't call myself a Northern Statesman (Or even Northern Stateswoman for that matter.) Hell no! I'm a freakin American and DAMN PROUD OF IT! Further more to embrace my own heritage, I'm also part Native American, part English and part Black Spaniard! PROUDLY! So what now!? What do you call me? A Heinz 57? A mutt? Oh no, that's not politically correct. I'm a Conglomerated American. WHATEVER! WAKE UP PEOPLE! GET A FREAKIN CLUE!