He's a TEENAGER!!!!

Welcome to the world of teens Devin... I hope that you stay that kind, funny, sensitive, beautiful, loving little boy that means everything to me! Always remember that everything I do in this life, I do for you, and your brothers. We are about to embark on a journey together that your older brothers and I have traveled already. And just like I did with them, I'm going to have to let you go little by little as the years go by. But always know that you are one of best things to ever happen to me, and in between those inevitable eyerolls that will be coming my way....I will always love you with all of my heart!!

Seems like the time has just flown by and during that time my baby has grown up and today you have hit the next stage of your life...you are now a TEENAGER!!! Since you are the youngest of three boys I know what to expect ....you know the things like attitudes...and girls...and hormones....and attitudes.....and zits....and non-stop eating ..and attitudes....hehe But regardless of it all I am looking forward to watching you grow into the man you was born to be...year by year!!


HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY DEVIN!!!!





~LOVE YOU BUNCHES, MOM~

Something Positive.......

Music 4 Monday

I have come to the terms that I am suffering through a mild case of depression....alot has been happening in my life and though I have ALWAYS been the strong one , all of the sudden I find myself feeling weak and broken down. I really do not like this feeling at all. I do know that some of my depression comes from my son leaving and going to Iraq...this has not been easy on me at all. Its actually really really hard...I miss him more then I ever imagined I would..and trust me I imagined I would REALLY miss him!!!! So I do know that does play a big part on why Im feeling the way I am.
Another part of it comes from finding out someone that I love dearly is not the person I thought they were. I had this eye opening experience after having them live with me for about 8 months...this was not a very good experience and it allowed me to see the REAL side of them and its been a hard thing for me to swallow....because Im not really liking that side of them...and in a way I feel let down, which in turn is also a part of why Im feeling depressed.
It sucks because I try to go about my days as if there is nothing wrong and then inside I feel almost mad because Im faking these feelings...and I feel like everyone around me is fine...because as long as Im fine (or they can pretend I am) then all is good. Like I said I have always had to be the shoulder to cry on....the one to turn to for advice....the one to lift others up when they are down and now it feels like when Im really in need of that from others....no one knows what to do....so its just easier for them to pretend everything is ok with me....so I play along. I put on my so called happy face for everyone to see....while Im crying on the inside.

Just walk away........

Someday

why women are crabby

We started to 'bud' in our blouses at 9 or 10 years old only to find that anything that came in contact with those tender, blooming buds hurt so bad it brought us to tears.. So came the ridiculously uncomfortable training bra contraption that the boys in school would snap until we had calluses on our backs.




Next, we get our periods in our early to mid-teens (or sooner). Along with those budding boobs, we bloated, we cramped, we got the hormone crankies, had to wear little mattresses between our legs or insert tubular, packed cotton rods in places we didn't even know we had.



Our next little rite of passage was having sex for the first time which was about as much fun as having a ramrod push your uterus through your nostrils (IF he did it right and didn't end up with his little cart before his horse), leaving us to wonder what all the fuss was about.



Then it was off to Motherhood where we learned to live on dry crackers and water for a few months so we didn't spend the entire day leaning over Brother John Of course, amazing creatures that we are (and we are), we learned to live with the growing little angels inside us steadily kicking our innards night and day making us wonder if we were preparing to have Rosemary's Baby.



Our once flat bellies looked like we swallowed a whole watermelon and we pee'd our pants every time we sneezed. When the big moment arrived, the dam in our blessed Nether Regions invariably burst right in the middle of the mall and we had to waddle, with our big cartoon feet, moaning in pain all the way to the ER.



Then it was huff and puff and beg to die while the OB says, 'Please stop screaming, Mrs. Hearmeroar. Calm down and push. 'Just one more good push' (more like 10), warranting a strong, well-deserved impulse to punch the
%$#*@*#!* hubby and doctor square in the nose for making us cram a wiggling, mushroom-headed 10 pound bowling ball through a keyhole.



After that, it was time to raise those angels only to find that when all that 'cute' wears off, the beautiful little darlings morphed into walking, jabbering, wet, gooey, snot-blowing, life-sucking little poop machines.

Then come their 'Teen Years.' Need I say more?

When the kids are almost grown, we women hit our voracious sexual prime in our early 40's - while hubby had his somewhere around his 18th birthday.

So we progress into the grand finale: 'The Menopause,' the Grandmother of all womanhood. It's either take HRT and chance cancer in those now seasoned 'buds' or the aforementioned Nether Regions, or sweat like a hog in December, wash your sheets and pillowcases daily and bite the head off anything that moves.

Now, you ask WHY women seem to be more spiteful than men, when men get off so easy, INCLUDING the icing on life's cake: Being able to pee in the woods without soaking their socks..

So while I love being a woman, 'Womanhood' would make the Great Gandhi a tad crabby. You think women are the 'weaker sex?' Yeah right. Bite me.

To be found......

Everyone.......

Whats your favorite Easter Candy??

Im just curious what is everyone's favorite Easter candy...I seen on the local news today they was talking about how popular peeps are and I thought to myself ewwww I don't like those ...but realize that alot of people do...and that made me curious as to what the most popular Easter Candy really is......for me its

Im totally addicted to reeses of any kind...and I dont know what it is but when the holidays come around and they bring out the shaped reeses.....even though its probably totally in my mind only...they just seem to be a little tiny bit better then the original ones

I also need to get my little fix for one of these bad boys...they are sooooo super sweet that I usually cant have more then one or two for the Easter season...but for me it just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have one each year...some think they are gross.....but I dont...what is it you ask????



So I ask...what is YOUR favorite Easter candy??????

Just a thought

When life knocks you to your knees…isn’t that a good position from which to pray?

Music 4 Monday

YES..Im obsessed with Enrique Iglesias !!!!

My Soldier turns 23 today

Kody..given his momma one of his bear hugz

My oldest..Kody turned 23 today....he's over in Iraq right now fulfilling his duties as a soldier...I am so very proud of him as he has turned out to be the kind of son everyone would want. He is truly beautiful inside and out. Though he never grew up wanting to be a soldier...never dreamed about it talked about it nothing...when he was a freshman in college he and a buddy decided to join the National Guard....was one of the hardest things for me to accept..and yet in a way I was so very proud of him. He thought being in college he would be safe from deployment....we found out the hard way thats not the case. He's been gone since November and I miss him so very much..and today as I spend the day without him physically with me....I hold him in my heart and I realize that I couldnt be any more proud of him then I am right now...he may not be doing what he wanted to be doing but hes doing it and he's making the best of it....and he reminds me every day that he has grown up and he is going to be ok.

I LOVE YOU KODY.....and HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY!!!!

THE BEST 99 MINUTES

Today as I sat at my computer working on business stuff I heard the most wonderful sound ever......it was the sound of my skype going off with my son on the other end calling me!!!! Its amazing how an hour and 39 minutes can go by so fast!!! I miss him so much...I cant help but sit there and watch him on my computer screen soaking up every moment...watching him smile...talk...scratch...fidget...I am so thankful for this technology I truly have no idea how people survived when their soldiers left them years ago....because even though this is only the second time I have been able to see him on the camera since hes been gone...it was truly the best 99 minutes of my day!!

Power in Prayers

~MY SOLDIER....MY HERO....MY SON~

As most of you know my oldest son Kody is over in Iraq.....he has been on deployment since November so the fact Im still able to function is pretty amazing...as I'm so super close to him and being soooooo far away from him for so long...well lets just say it hasn't been easy!!! Then a few weeks ago he got seafood poisoning from eating scallops on his day off. He got so sick he ended up at the medics hooked to an IV ...the results of this food poisoning lasted for 2 weeks....he continued getting sick even one time having to get a shot to get him to stop throwing up....needless to say this ordeal only put me over the edge...I felt like I couldn't concentrate on anything other then what was possibly going on over there. Kody and I have skype and though we don't get to video on it much...actually its only been one time since he's been there... we are able to type to each other on a daily basis....and he calls me now and then.....but while he was sick I went days not hearing anything...and therefor not knowing anything. It truly was almost more then I could handle.....so I turned to the one thing I knew could make this all better....I started asking everyone to please pray for him.....I had so many prayers going up for Kody that the very next day when I talked to him he said mom, I felt so rejuvenated when I woke up today.....and then I knew...all of our prayers had been answered. There is so much power in prayers!!!! I thank God for listening and laying his hands on my son that was so sick....and making him feel brand new again!!!


Heres a few pictures of him over there that Id like to share with everyone!!!



Kody and some battle buddies
Kody is on the bottom with bottle in hand....this was when he was at Kuwait




This was when the boys got to go to the Smashmouth Concert
(Kody is in the middle)



This is Kody at work...refueling a "bird"

Music 4 Monday

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

This morning I seen a story about Abercrombie & Fitchs new padded swimwear for little girls..we are talking girls the ages of 7-12....are you kidding me with this???? I realize that this brand has become popular by sexualizing young people....and Im not one that agrees with that either but now for girls of this age..I truly feel they have gone too far!!! There is no reason that a young girl needs to be wearing a so called "push-up" bikini.....what is this world coming to???? What ever happened to letting girls just be girls and allowing them to grow up slowly.....why are we insisting on making them grow up so fast..or having them see them self sexually at such a young age....or feel that they shouldn't just be proud of who they are without coming up with something as ridiculous as push-up swimwear. Oh let me state they did decide to remove the word push-up in their advertising and just use padded instead...yeah that makes me feel a whole lot better!!! I don't know about you but I find this completely despicable!!!!
Children's lives are being polluted by pressure and a false perception of beauty. Being manipulated in this way, by things such as media and fashion can lead to less obvious effects, such as, damaged self esteem and lack of confidence. I'm sure this wasn't intended when the "push-up" swimwear was being designed. However, I believe people in the industry should have thought twice before letting a product such as this go ahead and be made and sold. I just hope there are enough parents out there that feel the same way as I do.

Music 4 Monday

HELP JAKEY

As you know we sell online...we are doing this from one of our stores in an effort to help out this little guy fulfill his wish!!!



Jake has an aggressive form of cancer called Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma.

One of the things that makes Jake happy is helping others. That’s pretty awesome. He is so loving and caring that he wants to make other kids who are sick feel better, despite feeling sick himself. Jake has been taking his dinosaur Pillow Pet plush animal with him when he goes to the hospital to take his medicine. Jake and his mom thought that every child at Riley would like a cuddly pal to hug when the medicine they’re taking makes them feel so yucky and when the doctors start using some frightening words. So, Jake decided he would make sure every child at Riley Hospital would get a Pillow Pet.

Jake’s goal is to collect 1,000 Pillow Pets by the end of this month...and we want to help him do that....if you purchase a pillow pet from us and have us send it to the collection center in Carmel Indiana (we have the address) we will give you a 20% discount on any of the Pillow pets we have....AND if you would like one for your own child we will give you the same discount of 20%...just enter code helpjake during checkout!!!


ONLY TAKING ORDERS UNTIL MARCH 26th SO I CAN GET THEM ALL MAILED BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH…I WILL INCLUDE A NOTE FROM YOU STATING YOU DONATED THE PILLOW PET!!!

http://www.bonanza.com/booths/jdsgiftshack



You can read more about Jakes story here :

http://newsfromyou.indystar.com/posts/cancer-doesn-t-hold-jake-back-from-collecting-pillow-pets

DIET COKE WINS.......YAY

Diet Coke overtook Pepsi-Cola , making it the No. 2 carbonated soft drink in the country behind Coca-Cola.........I find this exciting since Im a diet coke drinker!!!
To read more about diet coke click here

If you arent apart of it yet...join coke rewards and cash in your points and get super prizes!!!

To buy coca-cola or diet coke items click here


If you'd like to make the famous diet coke cake....click here


Want some diet coke nail polish...click here





~HAVE A DIET COKE AND A SMILE~

love yourself

“You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being who you are, your simple presence can make others happy.”

My Tuesday Thought

YOU DON'T GET TO CHOOSE HOW I FEEL

Tears.....

Thought for Thursday

Just love me

no one understands

Ever just feel like no one understands???

Music for Monday

broken inside

Here I lie,
Broken Inside,
Nowhere to go,
Nowhere to hide.

I'm left here all alone,
With no one by my side.
All I do is sit here and cry,
I'm so broken inside.

Too many problems,
Too many tears.
I'm bleeding blood and crying tears.
Unbearable pain, through all of these years.

No one in my life,
Really seems to care,
They go throughout their day,
Hardly noticing I'm here.

I'm alone in this world,
With nowhere to go,
Filled with so much sadness,
No one will ever know.

You can read it on my face,
You can see it in my eyes,
But no one ever takes the time to notice,
I'm broken inside.

Lost inside myself

Right now in my life....nothing is making sense anymore....I feel like people always use me...they take advantage of my kind heart and suck away everything I have.....I tell myself Im going to just stop trying to help people, Im going to stop giving so much of myself...and yet I continue to do it...and now I feel lost...and it makes me feel bitter and yet I have no one but myself to blame..because for whatever reason I feel it is my place to fix everyone that comes running to me...and yet I cant even fix myself!!!

a positive thought

a positive thought

"Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can't change. Kiss slowly, play hard, forgive quickly, take chances, give everything and have no regrets. Life's too short to be anything…but happy."