In all Seriousness

Did you like my choices in songs?! Okay, maybe most of them aren't really my theme song, but they are fun to watch and laugh at. Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice were in there prime when I was in middle school/ high school. They still make me laugh!

But the reason I posted all those songs is that I couldn't really think of a theme song. But while visiting blogs last week I came upon a song that I love, from an artist that I loved when she was in her prime and I was in middle school. And I really think that this probably is my theme song and has been most of my life. What do you think?


If you want to see the original video you'll have to go here.

I really like this one too! I hadn't heard of Eva Cassidy before today but I really like her. She was truly talented.


And if you're as bored..interested as I was here are are few other renditions for you to enjoy.







All that said my favorite song by Cyndi Lauper is this one!! It's the reason I started listen to her music and was probably my first real, personal experience with music. What's yours?

Again, you'll have to watch the original video here.


Here's another cover by Eva Cassidy.


And there's always Phil's version.

My Song

My friend Sherry Carpet posted the video I posted yesterday on her blog. It is her "theme song" for now, until further notice. It got me to thinking, what song defines me? I came up with these...









Well, mostly just the last one.

What's your theme song?

Entertainment Value

For those of you looking for a little entertainment and feel a little bored...this one's for you. (You know who you are)

Where In the World...

Did you ever watch the show, "where in the world is Carmen Sandiagio?" I didn't, no I was much too old for that. And I only watched it for the a capella group who sang on it. Well, it was pretty fun. You ask where I have been, well no where near as exciting as the place on the show. But I'll give you a hint...it has walls and ceilings. Not enough? It's cold there...actually it's currently snowing!

Give up? As much as I'd like to tell you I've been somewhere exotic, doing important things with important/ famous people. I have not. I have been here...not entertaining the masses. But apparently my entertainment value has been missed. So I'm back by popular demand.

So what have you been doing, you ask? Well, many things. Let's see...where should I begin? Some bullet points might be in order. Here is what I've been up to not in any particular order.

• Going to parenting class. This has to be one of the most important things I have ever done. I don't want to burst anyone bubble and contrary to popular belief...I do not have all the answers. I have struggled with being a parent. What is the right thing to do and when? How help is too much/ too little? How in the world do I raise these kids that God has in trusted to me. In a notshell, I struggle. I read pleanty of books, talked to friends, family therapists, teachers, guidence counselor...you name it. I hear that I am doing a great job, but feel that I am lacking in so many areas and ways. External critisism has become internalized, has hit me pretty hard, and makes me question my abilities.

But along comes a parenting class that speaks to me. It is called Parenting on Track. It follows the Adlerain teachings of psychology and the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (S.T.E.P.) that Adler wrote. It has made an enormous difference in our family. We are all doing our part, most of the time even willingly. The kids are doing more for themselves and I don't play maid all the time. It's not without it's hitches. It's so easy to revert back to the old way...you know the one that doesn't work. But the most important thing that I have learned is that my kids have learned all their behavior from me and that I need to shut my trap and let things play out. When I do things run much more smoothly.

When I went up to thank her for all that she has taught me she told me to tell my friends and to have them go to her site and request for her to come to your area. If you ever have the opportunity go for it she is funny and great to learn from. She also has just put out a DVD/ audio set with workbook that is her class recorded. Probably not near as funny and adamated but it has all the information. I really want to get it, but (here's the cleancher) it cost a big chunk of change. If you order or request her to visit your area, tell her I sent you and maybe she'll give me a free copy! That would be great!

That's taken up the last 4 weeks. So what else..?
Sweetie Heart is doing great in school. She was just evaluated in reading and is reading a level 28, which means nothing to you because it didn't to me either until I asked. At parent/ teacher conference we were told she was reading at a level 16, which is where they expect them to be reading at the end of 1st grade. The literacy specialist and her reading teacher evaluated her again at the end of last week and had to keep getting harder books.

What No Sticker?

Yes, I voted today. I won't say it was an exciting experience, but I'm blessed to have the opportunity to cast my vote. I've votes in a few presidential elections, I have yet to have my endorsement win, but that's not the point. The point is that I have a choice and I chose to make it!

Voting in this little city has been a very different experience. I've been in big cities and medium but all have been busy, until I came here. Yesterday, Webby went to vote because he wasn't going to able to get to the polls today. He overheard the office workers talk about what they expected for today: long lines, crabby people, supper busy because it's a presidential elections. The doors opened at 9am (but I think I saw a few people seek in early.) Seems like I remember earlier times in the bigger cities I've lived in. I moseyed over about 10:30 figuring if the lines weren't too long we'd wait, it warmed up a bit today. And if the lines were really long we'd come back (we live a block from the fire house, our official voting place.) The last presidential election I voted in we waited for 2 hours with Sweetie Heart at nap time and she was 3. Well, Sweet Girl and I walk up and there was no line. We walked in and there was one person getting his ballot. There were many other people filling out their forms, but it's all different here. There are no booths with curtains, no electronic voting machines. It's more like a small square table you can stand at that is partitioned into four. Our ballot is a simple scan tron sheet. That's it! No waiting, no mandated privacy, no sticker. What no sticker? Well, if I have to trade the sticker for the wait in line, I'll take it!

Does This Means Somthing...?

I did this at the beginning of the month while listening to a talk from a church leader. I used to do stuff like this in my notebooks while taking notes in college. I also did other stuff that overlapped but I haven't done it that way for awhile. If everything means something what do you think this means?


This only 4 by 4 and done in colored pencil. And don't say you see pizza and smiley faces. I saw that as I did it and couldn't find a way to change it. So what do you think?

Tip Tuesday

I'm not sure if I've done this one before, but I'm too lazy to check.

So this may be a repeat, but good repeat in my opinion, due to the season. Yes, I'm talking about Catalog Season. Merry Catalogs to all, and to all a good night. Now if you like getting all the catalogs you get, disregard this tip. However, if you see catalogs as a evil ploy to make you crave things you never knew you wanted/ needed or to overspend or to turn you and you children into unchecked consumers, then this tip is for you. Okay maybe it's just me (and Webby.)

Whenever I see a catalog I see wasted resources. A tree being cut down, on my behalf, made into paper (lots of resources used there) printed in glossy ink (how safe are they really) and send via airplane or ground (fuel and man power) so my letter carrier can lug it to my house where I promptly put it in the recycling. So I think it is better to cut out all the middle man and just not send it to me in the first place. Maybe you don't go that far with your thought process, I just get tired of them. So I use Catalog Choice. It allows me to choose which of the catalog I already get to continue getting. (That's a confusing sentence, Webby will fix it, he always does.) Anyway, you can stop getting that Vickies, you never signed up for or the catalogs for the previous resident or with you in-laws name on it. I seldom get a catalog anymore and am so happy about it. I've tried calling the companies, but that's labor intensive and half the time I have to call again. So this works great! I love it. Try it, you'll like it!

Hubby Meme

What is his name? Since I'm not using his real name on the blog, I can't tell you. I can tell you that he and his brother were named after a horse breeder.

how long have you been married? 9 years

how long did you date? We never really dated. We went from hanging out to engaged within a month.

how old is he? 33. I'm older by 9 months. My birthday is 9/6 and his is 6/9.

who eats more sweets? Me only because I eat them while I'm making them and I don't have any qualms about eating candy.

who said i love you first? I did

who is taller? He is by 2 inches, but people usually ask me how tall I am. 5'10" plus Danskoes make for a pretty tall girl. Plus most of the time people don't stand right next to me so when they do they're surprised.

who sings better? me

who does the laundry? me

who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're laying in the bed, I do. But if there is a baby in the house I sleep closest to the door.

who mows the lawn? Usually Webby, but this year it's been all me.

who cooks dinner? Me

who pays the bills? Webby, he's great with bills! He's my financial wizard
who drives?

who is more stubborn? That's a toss up. It probably depends on the topic.

who kissed who first? That was a mutual thing. But I defiantly wanted to kiss him first.

who asked who out first? We never really dated. We hung out, first at my house and then we went out to dinner as friends, then at his house.

who proposed? He did. We planned to go ring shopping but he cancelled and went to visit his grandma. I thought he was getting cold feet and was really worried. He went down to get an antique ring from his grandma ans surprised me!

who has more siblings? I do by 1, but he doesn't have any sisters

who wears the pants? Again, it depends on what you're talking about. If it's finances or the car, Webby. If it's about the kids or home, me.

Your Third Choice

I don't take politics. I don't really like politics. But I do vote...most of the time. I'm going to get a little political here, so if you get heated up about it please close this window now.

I know we look at politics in many different ways. I think that it's good. We all have different views and should be voting for the who we think is the best person to represent ourselves. But I think we've fallen into the trap of "am I a Democrat or Republican". I can't really say that I'm either. I've voted both ways and other ways, too. What do you do then when you don't feel either candidate represents you. Because that's the way I feel right now. No, I'm not afraid of who will take office and what they will do. I have faith that, ultimately, God is in control. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't vote my conscience.

Until recently, I have felt that I needed to pick the lesser of the two evils. Ultimately, that means that I don't agree with either of them. And the lesser of two evils is still evil. There is no politician that can or will represent you completely, but the choices I have seen in front of me have left a bad taste in my mouth.

But there is another choice. Did you even know that? I didn't!




Now that there is someone else, I am seriously considering him instead. Now you can tell me that I'm throwing my vote away, but I voted for Ross Perot, need I say more? Plus, I live in a largely Democrat state, if I vote for McCain I'm throwing my vote away. There are many more things that Baldwin says that I agree with. He is a christian, is pro life, wants to secure the U.S. borders. All things that are important to me. So I'm not saying vote for him, but find out about him and see if he's a better choice for you. Vote for someone you really believe in. Imagine if more people were courageous enough to throw their vote away...it might actually change things.

Please don't send me scathing, unkind messages. I just fell others need to know what I just happened upon. I want what is best for America just like you do. It's just another choice. And I promise I won't blog about politics again for 4 years, if that.

Okay, so I'm kind of coming up empty with my tips. Do you have any ideas? What are your tips? Email them to me and I'll do a post with your tip. I suppose you could always, just do a Tip Tuesday on your blog, too, though. But lets see what I can think of. If it's lame I apologize in advance.

Tip Tuesday
Garlic. I use garlic a lot in my cooking. But I hate peeling garlic. It always seems to stick to the clove, which is really annoying. When I was in the produce section about 2 years ago I ran across something that has saved me so much time and effort. I love it. It is a 2 pound jar of already minced garlic! It's not that expensive either. Now when I need garlic I just pull it out of the fridge and measure out what I need. Sweet Girl eats it by the spoonful that way.

Another tip for getting the paper off fresh garlic is thus. I was watching my sister-in law cook one day. She separated the clove and then put the flat side of her knife the clove. Then she hit the other side of the blade with her hand. It cracked the clove open and the paper came right off. That was kind of hard to describe, but I think you get the picture. The garlic is just going to get diced anyway, so having it break open doesn't really matter.

So there's my tip. Let me know if it was any good and send me yours.