Ok, deep breaths, calming thoughts & waiting children.

So, I have calmed down considerably since my last stressed out post. A few friends and the hubby told me to "take a chill pill", and stop feeling responsible for everyone else's "good time". They also put things in clear perspective for me. I do this for MY fun. For my kids to socialize, and to get us out of the house and experiencing all that this amazing area has to offer us!

They all also think I should be "charging" dues/membership fees. I don't know about that. I'm on the fence ~ while I realize that I wouldn't have a problem paying (and have paid) to join other "MOMS" groups, I don't know that most people would. I don't have a problem paying meetup.com's fees, and would probably rather seek "sponsorship" from local businesses that we frequent, rather than ask the moms to pony up $5 or $10 a month.

On a positive & completely different note, I got a phone call from Patrick today. Patrick was our foster son for almost 5 years. He is now almost 18, and living in "independent living", with hopes of going to Frostburg in August. He was my first child and it was hard to let him go. There's just so much heartache & so much joy entwined together. Hearing from him reminds me that we should step up to the plate again and take in another "older" child. We got Patrick when he was in 8th grade. We've had at least 20 or 30 placements. Some are for two days, some are for 2 weeks. We did "emergency" care, so when they had a situation that came up in the middle night (because I worked from home) they would call us, and have us get a bed ready for whoever they happened to be bringing by. (Many families who do foster care, will only be available Mon-Friday 9am - 5pm - like office hours....)

We asked for, and received mostly teenage boys, or school age sibling groups. The average age of a child in foster care is 8 years old. However, foster care is also how we got our son. They called up one day and told us about a baby boy that had just been born, and abandoned in the hospital, and was a high risk placement, but one that was likely to go straight to adoption.

The system for sure has it's faults. Children (like Patrick) languish in foster care all of their lives. He had approx 10 other homes before ours. I know that Bill Clinton, when he was President enacted a law that said at 18 months TPR should be automatically considered.. however, if the birth family makes even the slightest move in a positive direction (i.e agrees to take a drug test sometime in the future, or shows up to a meeting), it can drag on and on and on. Even though it's been several years since this was brought into effect, I don't think change can or will happen suddenly for most of these kids.

Rosie O'Donnell mentions frequently while on The View, the stats for these children - there's something like 600,000+ children in foster care, of these, maybe 100,000 are in foster homes, the rest are basically ware-housed. Of that 600,000, less than 80,000 have been adopted. Yet if you know someone who is trying to adopt, chances are they're trying to adopt from overseas... ?? Yeah... For more information on stats, read Administration for Children & Families.

Anyway, as you can tell, I'm seriously thinking of going down that road again. The only reason we stopped was because of all the many issues my son has, he requires various therapy sessions, doctor visits, and lots of nurturing. You can also imagine the challenges living with someone who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, OCD, ADHD, Bi-Polar, Pre-natal drug exposure, low weight, oral/motor problems, behaviour problems, speech & developmental delays.. to name but a few.

Then there's my daughter. So patient, loving, emotional, funny, quiet, much more reserved than my son. She definitely has a few issues of her own, but all in all, she's a walk in the park compared to Milan.

This is hard work.... how do other mommies deal with this?

Having a 'moms group' is much harder than I thought it would be. In the last 12 short weeks of being an organizer of this group, I have had more than several stressful moments already. I've had many argue with me about moving from yahoogroups to meetup.com. I've had a few moms yell at me about having a photo as a requirement to the group. I've had a few more tell me they couldn't find us at certain events, either because they were a bit late, or because they didn't feel comfortable asking a complete stranger if they were part of the group... that doesn't half make me feel bad, I know how much trouble it is to get out the house with a kid or two, but then to arrive somewhere and wind up walking around by yourself is horrible.

I'm actually now hyperventilating about this Saturday - I feel like it's going to be seriously stressful. It's already a logistical nightmare - trying to meet 100+ women, with their babies, children and husbands on the National Mall during the Cherry Blossom's Kite Festival!! I can't imagine how many phone calls I'm going to get, much less how I'm going to get there with my big ass double jogging stroller, two kids, diaper bags, snacks and navigating the metro stations! They do allow me to wheel the stroller right onto the metro cars, don't they??

Although I'm not afraid to say what I'm thinking, or voice an opinion, I do have a hard time meeting new people.. My husband is much more the outgoing one in our relationship, and he can talk to anyone, about anything at anytime. I hate it!

I have no problem planning parties, choosing places to go, or encouraging people to come along. It's when we're all there, and we're looking at one another that I feel like I'm the one that's supposed to make sure I talk to everyone. God that's awkward!! Especially when you have some folks who are clearly very shy, and then those who are not giving off "good happy vibes"!! LOL. I also can't EVER remember names! I suck at it. It's very embarrassing. If I've met the person before, it's excruciating for me!!

Since January, I've met several great women that I want to get to know better, and enjoy spending my time with, but when you're constantly "hosting" and having new people coming out to new events, it's really difficult to grow the friendship with the original women that I've now connected with.

I almost wish I was just a "member" of the group... not the organizer. Seriously Stressed Mommie..

Elephants!

What a fun morning we had at the Zoo this morning! It was a moms club event. The elephant bath & tricks were sooo much fun. My kids in particular were just completely taken with the whole scrubbing and hosing the elephant down! They watched in AWE. The look on their faces was just priceless!

Before going this morning & last night before bed, we had to read Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack & What's for lunch? Two of their favorite books, featuring elephants of course!! I had no idea that elephants had such BIG FEET!!!

I was amazed just watching this huge animal do as he was told, getting down onto his knees, and rolling over. We walked around, and visited the monkeys & apes, the kimono dragon, the panda exhibit, kissed some donkeys, and watched the cows.

The only disappointing part of the entire day was that the "kids pizza" playground was closed or under some kinda construction! We were all hoping we could release the kids from their strollers and wear them out before loading up and going home! We were able to make do down at the kid's farm while checking out the cows, goats and ducks!

There is just so much to see at DC Zoo, that we're going to need many, many, moms day outs here!

Tomorrow is park & a picnic! I can't wait. I love being outdoors and running around with the kids.

Big Balls, Heavy Balls & inebriated bowling..

Well it's been go, go, go around my place this past week. I've walked about 19 miles so far already, and was geared to go again today to Roosevelt Island, but it's YUCKY out yet again! I'm so sick of bad, crappy weather. I just want it to be bright, dry, and at least 60 degrees.. is that too much to ask??

Last night I went for a moms night out bowling. I had a really good time. Especially since the rules were:

Besides the fact we like to bowl, we kind of suck at it and don't care. We are girls who just wanna have some fun! That's right, you read that correctly. We just wanna go and bowl for the sheer fun of it and be more interested in our last order of chicken fingers & pitcher of beer than what the score might be, and when we say keep score, we mean that loosely, and only in the sense that we want to get our lies straight.

For example, "Wow. I bowled a 17." Proper response from inebriated mommy member, "No, no. You're drunk and really wrong. That's a 117. Pay attention...and pass me the curly fries."

Also, NO competitive bowling for us. Or else this might happen to you.

If you like to bowl (or think you might), and your good-for-nothing friends won't come out bowling then we are the group for you.

If you like meeting new friends, and socializing with interesting and fun people, stop reading and sign up for this event now. We will get along famously, and we are the group for you!

If you can bowl while drinking from a martini glass, and not choke on the olive, you totally rock and should RSVP to this event now. We are the group for you.

So of course I HAD to go. I even had a smashing headache all afternoon/evening, and after about 6 aleve, and laying in a dark room almost close to tears, and totally miserable, I found this stuff from Origins that I'd stuffed in a drawer. I put it on after a quick shower, and I swear to God, I could feel that stuff working. I put it on my temples, behind my ears, and on my neck.. it was amazing. I think mine is only a sample size, so I'm totally buying more of it.

I was actually "comparatively" good, and totally surprised myself when I actually knocked all the pins over a few times. I hadn't bowled in years - like maybe 10 years, and I remember sucking so bad, that my husband had them put up the guard rails, because I was soooo not having any luck otherwise.

Half a pitcher of yuengling later, my headache was well and truly toast! I was either really hungry, or their fries were really good! Unfortunately, the only thing that didn't happen, was the cosmic light show, and glow in the dark balls.. that's only now on a Saturday night.. oh well, it was still fun, and the other moms were really nice!

Happy St Patricks Day!

From the Irish Girl herself.....

We're loading up the family and going to go visit friends & tie one on, and have some good craic... ;-)

Single chick Vs Married Mom chick??

I'm pooped. I had a great night out with two girlfriends at this somewhat "hokey" hotel nightclub. However, it was a night out!!! No kids to watch out for, or clean snot & poop off of made it extra special!!

Being out last night with a single girlfriend and another mommy shoved the harsh, stark reality that is my life, right into my face. This one guy came up and started chatting, and I'm sure was wondering which one of the 3 of us was he going to hook up with. He was actually someone that I may have been interested in dating at one time.... nice looking - tall, athletic and neatly groomed & dressed. He had a cool job that was interesting to talk about, and on the surface there was nothing screaming out dickhead... loser... player...

Then it sank in... why am I not this interested when my hubby talks about his job...? Why am I even having this conversation with this guy, when I'm married with children. The fact is that there's a bit inside of me, that was thrilled... I miss that "newness" spark that you get when you are presented with possibilities, or the getting to know one another stage.

After a few more hours & interesting conversations with mommy chick, and seeing single chick get totally drunk, and slobbering all over this dude, I realised that being footloose and fancy free isn't all it's cracked up to be. Looking around the room at lots of lonely, mostly desperate people who want a connection, be it emotional or physical, with someone else to validate them, isn't all it's cracked up to be. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Or is it? I do sometimes envy my single friends, to walk into your own place that's neat, clean, tidy, and smells good, is something that I yearn for... longingly.

I got home at 2.30 this morning, and then got online till about 3.30am. I then woke hubby up for some quick drunk sex, and finally went to sleep about 4.30am only to get up at 6.45am. Luckily my kids have just gone back to bed!! Totally not normal for them, but very appreciated. They must realise that mommy is not in tip top condition today. Hair's all askew, look like crap warmed up, and am wearing the pink fuzzy slippers... not a good sign!!

I hate this fu*king weather!!! It's sooo depressing. It makes me wanna eat ;-) --- which reminds me -- I've gotta stop eating out, especially right after going for a walk. Totally defeats the purpose when I go wolf down french fries & half a schwarma pita from the Jewish kosher deli, after only burning 500 calories! Hubby is also quite confused as to why I'm suddenly hanging out at Jewish markets....

It also doesn't help the weightloss efforts when I hit the drive-thru at 2 in the morning for a big and tasty burger... LOL... the vodka and redbulls probably were ok... I mean vodka doesn't have that many calories in it right? Afterall they were doubles with very little actual redbull in it..

I decided about a week ago to move my DC Moms group over to meetup.com. Besides the learning curve, I really like it - but I need to figure out how to edit the stupid reminders so that these women aren't getting shit loads of email. I'm not sure about the paying to use it thing - it seems a little weird to me, that people (i.e losers) pay to start a group in order to make friends... then it occurs to me that I'm one of those total losers for having had the need to start up a group to find mommy friends to begin with. Do you see the big old L on my forehead??? On top of it, now I'm paying too, at least yahoo was free...

Last night was actually an event on the moms night out calendar.. but as it turned out, there wasn't much interest in going out on a Thursday night, to dance your socks off to the oldies... the yahoogroup was so large & seemingly successful; yet most of the mommies refused to move to meetup, and they're still hanging out on the yahoo group where there's *nothing* going on. What the hecks up with that?? Luckily, lots of moms were already on meetup.com just waiting, and waiting, hoping for something cool & hip like me to come along ;-) and they immediately signed up. So we've gone from 287 women on the yahoo group, to 157 on meetup. Only 10% are from the original yahoo group...

Flickr... do you?

Anyone reading use flickr?

I've just started, and love it! I love looking at other people's photos - and it's kinda creepy in a way. When I'm doing it, I'm almost doing it in a way where I'm hoping not to get caught! Then I wonder what kind of people are looking at my pics?

What kinds of pics do you post? How often? Do you browse through other peoples? What's your flickr address?

People are posting pics of their medicine cabinets & what's inside - cause you know everytime you host a party at your house, everyone automatically peeks inside to see what's hidden in there next to the mouthwash...

Check out the tag whatsinmybag on flickr -- most people have no clue what's really in their bags...

Post your flickr address to the comments section and give me something to do!! I must really be a voyeur!

Kevin Kelly (from Wired magazine) developed a "cool tools" site to allow readers to share useful information about the things they love. It's quite convenient!

Vote for the worst!

I have NEVER been so bored in my life - are we the people, really trying to turn the show upside down ??? Now Sanjaya stays in the top ten, and will go on tour.... he'll also have to sing Gwen Stefani...!!

From VFTW: "According to The Post Chronicle, Simon Cowell is definitely not enjoying the rein of terror that Sanjaya Malakar is bringing to American Idol. Simon had this to say: "He's not going to win. I won't be back if he does!" The whiny Brit has never been so upset about a contestant making the top 12, and he's never threatened to quit before, so it looks like it's up to VFTW to help power vote for Sanjaya for a while. Simon will already have to endure Sanjaya on the Idol CD and Sanjaya in the finale (even if he doesn't win, he'll come back to sing with the others), let's make him also endure Sanjaya on the Idol tour and Sanjaya as the reason he lost his lucrative job. Yay"!

Wanna know the truth behind American Idol auditions according to VFTW?

Howard Stern has also been campaigning pretty hard to get his listeners to keep Sanjaya around!!
Read more here.

Quotes... got any?

Julie Burchill
'I've got two sex speeds: Mad For It and Why Bother?'

Coco Chanel
'All men are children, and if you understand that, a woman understands everything'

Cher
'The trouble with some women is they get all excited about nothing - and then they marry him'

Michelle Lovric
'Men are perfectly good. The trouble is they are only good for one thing at a time'

Carrie Fisher
'Sex was for men, and marriage, like lifeboats, was for women and children'

Joan Rivers
'Never give the ring back. Never. Swallow it first'

Agatha Christie
'An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have: the older she gets, the more interested he is in her'

Sophia Loren
'Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've got'

God it's been a hard week!

So for the last week, I've been back on "my program", and boy oh boy has it been hard going! My first walk in months was glorious though - I felt like I could just keep going and going. I met a bunch of mommie friends down at Roosevelt Island where we tracked around it with the kids in strollers. After they left, I got on the George Washington Pkwy and walked all the way down to gravelly point & back. It felt so good! It helped that it was at least 65 degrees outside! I'm such a wimp otherwise, and so not a snow girl!!

The hardest thing is cutting out alcohol yet again. Going out for moms nights out, will mean no more red wine, and certainly no more margaritas -- they have about 700 calories alone in them!! Who knew??

In January I'd managed to really tone up my stomach, (which was my biggest problem area & where I really carry my fat), well it's gotten flabby again, so cutting out almost all my exercise for 6 weeks or so was NOT a good idea!!

Need to get back into those 7 minutes of ab crunches again daily!! Why is it soooo hard to just get down on the floor and knock them out??

Got some really cute photos of my kids to post later today! Check out the flickr square on the right!

Do all the good you can....

Admittedly, this seems like a daunting task to accomplish. You would have to have the energy and the patience of a super human to act like this every day, all day. But why not try? Easier said then done, but certainly worth the effort. Why wouldn’t you want to be the best person you can be? Sure, we’ll all have moments, even days where we are far from perfect, but isn’t that part of being human? A better way to look at it might be to just put as much effort into being kind to as many people as you possibly can. You won’t touch the lives of everybody, but if you make just one difference, it will all be worthwhile.

Should be an interesting list...

What list am I talking about? This one. She's been in business since 1993 - so I can't imagine just how many "well knowns" will pop up! As a matter of ethics, I don't really think it's too kosher to sell your little black book.

American Idol Vs Girls Gone Wild?

Sanjaya gets to stay and Sundance goes home? Haley stayed and Sabrina went? Whose voting for these people? Then there's Antonella Barba, the least talented contestant with those cutesy, maybe a bit racy photos on the Internet; well there's a positive side to her being eliminated: Joe Francis, the creator of the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ franchise and the founder of Mantra Films Inc. announced his intentions of making her the next face of Girls Gone Wild.

Now you either think he's vile, and a total sociopath, or you rape him up the ass.

SugarDVD, the largest renter of adult movies online has already made an offer to the alleged singer: according to TMZ, the Sugar CEO has already contacted Antonella, offering her no less than $500,000. And she’s not even required to take her clothes off for this amount! All she has to do (if she takes them up on their offer, that is) is to be the company’s spokesperson, hosting gigs and such. Maybe, in time, if she does her job well, she will become a Star on her own, who knows…

Clearly she's not such a big loser afterall, because, whichever will be her next step (light porn with ‘Girls Gone Wild’ or mainstream hardcore porn with SugarDVD), it is bound to make her a rich woman.

Weight Issues

So, if you started at the beginning of my blog, you'll know that I've been on a weightloss kick for a while now (7 months). I *WAS* doing so well. By the end of December I was down from 247lbs to 197lbs - reaching my first all important goal of getting below 200lbs!! Pathetic to all you skinny bitches I know... but it was no picnic.

I went from taking 4 spinning classes a week & maybe an hour of weight training to working out at least 2 hours every day. I would include hiking 6 miles or so most days of the week, in addition to the above gym routine. I made it more fun by buying a heart rate monitor and along with my book I'd compete with myself every week to add more calories burned to my sheet.

Not only did I feel great, and full of energy, but exercising helped my ADD unbelievably. I was so much calmer, less impulsive, focused and my mood was elevated naturally....

Then sometime in January I felt really run down, like I needed a break. I also spent more time on the computer than I normally do (which meant less time exercising), and I started slacking off. Then February hit and by then the weather was really nasty, snow, and freezing cold, and my kids would alternate between goopy snotty noses, or having the flu. I used those as excuses to not make it to the gym, and of course, I sat on the couch typing on my laptop even more. No more running the stairs, or jumping up them two at a time. No more tai-bo tapes when I had 30 minutes of peace and quiet. I really just slacked way off.

I could tell by looking around my house that I was spending too much of my time online, flylady's habits were starting to wane, and my floors really need to be polished.

I was only spinning maybe twice a week, I was buying peppermint patties for my chocolate cravings, eating edy's fruit ice pops almost nightly (albeit only 80 calories), going out for dinner and margaritas or red wine, at least weekly, and sometimes twice a week, and I literally haven't gone for a walk since sometime at the beginning of February.

Even though I'd kicked my sugar habit, my alcohol habit, and my chocolate habit, they have slowly crept back in, and it scares the shit out of me. So much so that I decided today was the day I had to recommit to my program. So I got on the scale, logged back onto sparkpeople, and after entering my weight - 183lbs - I was told I'd graduated to stage 4 of 4! That was enough to refuel my waning desire. I dusted off my motivational binder, printed out a few new recipes from sparkpeople, and read it from cover to cover. I also listed new goals for myself. I'm going to give myself to Oct 28th to get down to 150lbs, which I realise will mean that it's taken OVER a year to lose 100lbs. But this is real life, and if the mind can conceive it, the body can achieve it.

Feeling less stressed already.....

What was she thinking?

OK, so I haven't really gotten into this season of American Idol. I don't think that the talent is as good as it has been in the past, and it's just not held my interest much.

So Gina Glockson -- I really, really, really, like her hair, and her dark smokey make-up rocks. I liked her sound, and I thought she was VERY comfortable looking performing on stage tonight, but what the hell was she thinking when she put on that sparkly spandex silver mini dress; with a fuschia pink bra, black control top panties, and then with tights over them!!!!???? It looked like she hadn't used a dryer sheet and had too much static cling on it!

I loved the leather, buckles and studs, even the fishnet gloves were kinda punk rock glam (in a good way), but god, that dress was horrendous!!! This was one for gofugyourself.com

I loved Melinda Doolittle - she was awesome!!! She has to win!

I am so glad that dickhead Simon finally gave LaKisha Jones a nice compliment about her outfit!! She's going to be in the top 3 for sure.

What did everyone else think about her dress?

How can this be?

OK, there's a whole blogging group of infertile women here, mostly putting their bodies, minds, and husbands through hell with drugs, all in the hopes that they one day might conceive a child.

I can't even begin to speculate how much money, time and heartache they've invested in the thought that one day they might have their own little child running around... (well I can, because I spent some time there myself)....

Then there is Angelina Jolie & Madonna going overseas to buy "adoptable" babies, when clearly there are so many of them here just dying for a good home, and someone to love them.

Looking at this, do you think it's fair that these children should now just hang out in a group home, because the chances of being able to be placed locally with foster families (who are open to adoption & increasing their family and not their bank accounts) is probably slim...

How do women like this get away with having children in the first place? Having the nerve to let the children YOU gave birth to, live alone in that filth, is beyond me. .

Why don't more infertile couples know about their states foster care programs? Is there some kind of stigma of taking a child that's been born to some drug addicted crack whore here in DC, (or some woman who simply cannot parent the child herself for whatever reason) as opposed to some abandoned baby in an orphanage in Ethiopia or Guatemala?

Isn't it better to help the kids who are here, and desperately want a better live for themselves, not to mention saving yourself about $25K or more, into the bargain?

Starbucks thinks you need statements like the one below with your coffee:

Starbucks cup #208 "I wish couples who desperately take every means to conceive a child would realize that adoption is a wonderful alternative. A child who becomes your child through adoption completes a family. Just as when you commit to your spouse or partner there are no biological ties, yet a family was formed. This child enters a family the same way! It is not blood and flesh that form a family, but the heart.-- Michele Johnson Starbucks customer from Amego, Kansas."

Now the only thing I wish is that it was more inclusive of all people - whether you can conceive on your own or not, adopting a child LOCALLY FROM THE UNITED STATES FOSTER CARE STATEWIDE PROGRAMS makes more sense!!

Three links

• Are these really the same women?
• Looking into the future with your kids and the funny, fucked up things they say at times.
• Babble - a magazine and community for the new "urban" parent ??

The Secret...

So I spent the day yesterday with a few single girlfriends and we **tried** to watch "The Secret" DVD. "The Secret" - book - I also bought, but haven't yet managed to finish. It's in some weird text script/font - which makes it very difficult to make out the words (at least for me), and it's done in short quotes and paragraphs by the authors - Word for word, what I've read in the book, was said on the DVD, so I feel like it's a bit of a rip off..

Even with a few bottles of wine, chocolate godiva cheesecake, brie & crackers and god knows what else ~ we were all totally disappointed, pissed off, and bored out of our minds. In fact at 5pm, after 4+ hours of watching, pausing to bitch, watching, and pausing to slam Oprah for recommending it, we were all completely wiped out and had to take a nap for an hour and a half! We eventually turned it back on and watched the ending.

In the movie, they say if you tell yourself over and over and over again that you need to lose weight -you'll always need to lose weight. If you tell yourself that you see yourself slim, fit and healthy and keep repeating it over and over and over (or make a wish book or an inspirational board with photos of the way you want to look, and what you want to wear) then you'll get it. If you keep saying that you have debt, then you'll always have debt. However if you take a bank statement and white out your current balance, and put in something else - like $300,000.09 and imagine you have that kind of money to play with - money will then be attracted to you...

Essentially, according to "The Secret" if you want a new partner, new life, new house, new car, or even to cure yourself of cancer - think (and behave) that it's already yours.

In theory, but on a much more intrinsic "happiness" level, I agree with positive thinking.

As an Oprah fan as soon as she featured it on the show, I like millions of others, went to Amazon that same night, and bought it. I think for her, this may go the same way as "A million little pieces".. (however, that book was actually a good read). Perhaps before putting these people on her show, and making them all wealthy, she should have one of her many minions do some background research.

The author - who doesn't even feature in the book or the dvd - except for her drunk sounding commentary - which you have to go into settings, and turn on... was very bizarre. The graphics, the whole music thing in the background is just totally distracting... She put this together in two months - and it shows - low budget, hard to follow, most of which can be found in a much better book, done by a real author:

• The Science of getting rich, by Wallace D Wattles (written in 1912 and still applies today).

Then there's the people who have capitolized upon his book:

• The science of attracting more of what you do want
• Attractor Factor - Getting what you want
• Ask and it is given!

Besides the fact that almost everyone interviewed on the dvd and in the book is a no-name and certainly not out of this world famous -except maybe for Jack Canfield (Chicken soup for the soul) and John Gray (Mars/Venus) - the others are all life coaches, authors of books that were relatively low on anyone's list, energy experts, and people in white coats, who supposedly work in quantum physics.

Dr Joe Vitale MSC.D ---> he's a "doctor of metaphysic science" - says one of the dumbest things I've heard:

"This is like having the Universe as your catalogue
and you flip through it and go, 'wow, I'd like to have this experience and I'd
like to have that product... 'it's you placing your order with the
Universe."

This was the recurring theme in the movie -- "ask and ye shall receive"... checks in your mailbox instead of bills, flashy cars instead of bus transfers in your pocket, mansions on the coast in California... Then they show this 8 year old boy pining away for a red bike - and low and behold some creepy old Mr Roger looking guy is standing on the doorstep with a shiny red bike for him...

I am not going to buy my children everything they want out of a bloody catalog, and to say that the universe will just perform and provide things for you as you want them, is more than just a bit unrealistic! No one mentions working hard in school, going to college, or thinking outside the box...

BTW - http://www.metaphysics.com/prospectus/degree-programs-metaphysics-.htm

Also, many of the new age speakers that endorse "The Secret" are bald. SO... I must ask — if the secret is so effective, why don't you bald, badly tanned dudes positive-think your way into some new hair?

I'm also pretty sure starving children in third world countries spend an awful lot of time thinking about food & visualizing it, but they still don't get it.

I was disappointed that it was soooo materialistic - it wasn't about positive thoughts and energy so much as it was consumerism - and buying *things* that are supposed to make you happy. Of course, they wanted to sell it to the general public, so what better way than a "quick fix" - think diet pills, diet books, diet drinks, diet food...

Here's the first 20 minutes of the website's movie - judge for yourself!

So... do you like to dress up for your husband?

I'm pretty sure it's because I was a little drunk last night, but I decided that I was going to rev my husband right up. For some reason, even one glass of wine makes me frisky. Several glasses of wine turns me into the proverbial wanton woman!

He and I have been having sex together for 14 years, and in the beginning we broke a bed, almost got arrested in a parking lot, and spent entire days and nights in the sack making love. However, since the kids came along, it's really gotten pretty tame & predictable. It's now always in the bedroom - usually at night, and we've motored down to probably an average of 3-5 times a week. I miss the excitement and the spontaneity of our life B-K (before kids).

I'd actually feel like a bad mommy asking hubby to follow me into the woods, and ravage me... knowing that at anytime a jogger might run past! Ooooh the excitement & thrill still gets me.

SO, I pulled out a pair of black fishnet stockings, a pair of leather thigh high boots, and put on some little leather number (well not soooo little, it was a size 12).. but I felt like a size two smoking hot Charlies Angel in it! LOL. Alcohol does great things to your perception! I came out of the bathroom just as he was about to climb into bed. To say that he was happy & thrilled to see me was an understatement! That man was fully revved up & raring to go!!

We were like love starved teenagers all over again. At 3.30am this morning, we finally were both spent & closer than I've felt in a while! I was sweating like crazy from the thigh high boots, and had to peel them off afterwards, but... I highly recommend it!

OK, I take back what I said originally about...

Craigs List & Freecycle... in my original post I bashed them both equally well. However, at around 8pm last night, someone did come by and pick up all the toddler stuff, and someone came by first thing this morning and picked up the box of spices & vinegars. YEAH! Now, I just need to get rid of a highchair, a stationary bike, a vibrating chair, about 50 bags of kiddie clothing & a garage full of stuff, that I don't need!!

I want an organized, clean home, and I don't want this "stuff" cluttering up my life! Before the kids it was easy to just load it all up and go to goodwill - and get a tax write off - but have you seen what a car looks like with two carseats in the back, and an entire trunk taken up by a double stroller, diaper bag, and emergency changes of clothes? I can barely grocery shop, and I can no longer in the same trip buy diapers & groceries, or go to costco. That is actually the only good thing to come out of shopping with two toddlers - by the time my son is in the actual shopping cart, and my daughter is up front in the seat, I can't spend tons of money - because there's very little room left to put stuff.

No children were hurt during this taping... bAndage babies..

My son has ADHD, and obviously a very short attention span - usually he's lost interest in something before I've even got it out of the packaging. He's definitely more of an action guy, and loves rough play, whacking himself with various instruments, and loves to be active and outdoors. He's also in therapy for sensory integration dysfunction, so I now realize that his little body NEEDS certain activities to feel centered.

He and my daughter over the last week or two have gotten really into stickers - we've got barney stickers, grandma sent them valentine's day stickers, and they enjoy sticking them everywhere. My son though loves sticking the stickers on himself, and wants to be covered in them from head to toe. Over the holidays when I was wrapping gifts a lot, he'd love to take the roll of tape and have me cut it into strips for him to stick all over his body.

Well, I was shipping a gift this week, and needed to use express mail tape. He went ga-ga over it... so I started out giving him little pieces that I'd ripped off and he stuck them on himself. He asked for more, and bigger pieces, so I started giving him long strips. He tried sticking these across his mouth (he has a lot of oral motor issues) and obviously liked the stimulation. Infants and toddlers who come to our house regularly even had us buy a "vibrator" - seriously - for him to use against his mouth and jaw, so I'm sure they'll see absolutely nothing wrong with what happened next....

Now, before you call child protective services ~ For the first time ever, he was engaged & plugged into this activity for well over an hour. That's huge for us. He enjoyed trying to hop with his legs taped, he enjoyed sticking it over his shoes, and pulling it off, he enjoyed feeling the compression against his body, and he's wanted to do this almost every day since.

My daughter also decided that if he was having so much fun, she should get in on the act also. However, she's nowhere near as co-ordinated or resourceful as my son, and definitely doesn't have the gym skills that he does so I didn't allow her to have her legs taped together (that would just be plain dumb, and unsafe):

and I know you might THINK she looks like she has her mouth taped - she really doesn't, and that isn't a look of horror in her eyes either. They actually both had the best afternoon ever, and all with a roll of USPS tape. Who knew? I've been spending tons of money at Michaels & AC Moore, obviously unnecessarily.

So let me reiterate: NO children were hurt during this "taping".