The year to get in gear.

Woulda look at that, I'm a poet!
Haaaaaaa!

Anyways...

This is my year.  I'm claiming it.  This is the year that I figure me out, and hope that once I do that, everything else will fall into place.  Don't get me wrong.  I love myself, and have accepted who I am.  And I'm not looking to change everything about me, but I DO want to make myself better.  I need to adapt a part of me to try...TRY to be more organized, if I'm ever going to make a run at any sort of business, I have to have some sort of system.  Well other than collect papers, then stack in a pile later.  Then collect more papers, then stack in a pile somewhere else, destined to be lost, possibly forever.  I have two filing cabinets, I know HOW to file, but am just to lazy to actually sit there an file them and keep my shit straight.  Now don't get me wrong, I know I am perfectly capable of being organized, and managing my time well.  I do it at work everyday.  I need to tap into that motivation and carry it home with me.  But how?

Ugh.  I guess the same way I would tell anyone else, if they were asking the question to me.
You just do it!

Hmmm, maybe I should make myself shirts that say, "Just Do It"  and "Git er Done".  I bet I could make a fortune off those shirts.  -_-
If affirmation shirts worked, I wouldn't be having this conversation with myself, and you wouldn't have to witness this little bout of schizophrenia.

I'm starting to think that being a Libra, isn't all it's cracked up to be.  
You're balanced they say.  You know what that really means?  
I can't make up my fucking mind.  My head is full of 'but on the other hand's.'  I'm constantly seeing things from different perspectives, which don't get me wrong is kind of awesome sometimes, but it's also a real bitch. 
Libra's also love everything beautiful.  You know what THAT really means?
Yeah sure I'm crafty, but I'm messy as hell.  
When I bake cakes and cupcakes, it looks like a food fight between two 6yo, went on in my kitchen.
Even when I paint a sign, it looks like a classroom of preschoolers, was finger painting all over.  Almost every piece of clothing I own has paint, or glitter glue on it.  My husband looks like he often frequents strip clubs, with the amount of glitter that falls off of him weekly.  At least he looks like a stud to his co workers.  Or desperate.  Whatever.
Annnnnd, we tend to be fair and just.  Do you have any idea how twisted and macabre my imagination is, but my conscience won't ever let me play with it.  I mean don't get me wrong, I'm no Ted Bundy, but I could probably start a pretty large cult if I wanted too.  Not like a "drink the Kool-Aid cult," more of a really big 
commune, where we live on a island and I make all the rules.  

Haaaaaaaahahaha.

Just kidding I made that last part up for laughs.
Although, I'd be an awesome hippy commune leader.

Back to the issue at hand.  Being a better me, and not getting side-tracked and making jokes.  Maybe that's the thing...I hate seriousness.  It makes me uncomfortable, to the point where I avoid situations all together, to stay away from the anxiety of the uncomfortableness, that resides in my own head.  And that's when we come full circle back to the mental battle of which personality gets controlling stock of the 20% of my brain  that I access.  I need to be more serious in my approach to building better habits, and not laughing it off when I don't achieve my destined-to-fail-because-they're-to-much-too-soon type goals.
  
I need baby steps, I need consistency, I need perseverance.  
I raised my kids to think like that, why can't I raise myself to think like that?!
I bet I can.  I probably need help though. 

Hmmmm, I definitely have some things to think about.

What do you think???

Merry MERRY Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you out there.  I hope your day is filled with Fun, Family and Love.  If you find yourself getting down about something today, please remember....there's always someone worse off than you.  Take a minute to take stock of all the wonderful things in your life, and try not to spread negativity, it's a gift nobody wants, and almost everyone returns.
 


XOXOXO
See you all tomorrow.

Finding logic through tragedy. CAUTION: OPINION POST!

First off, let me say this;

Hi, it's been awhile, I know.  Been busy with the kid and life and and and.....
So, since this is my first post in quite a while, I figured that I would make it a controversial one.  You now me.

Second, let me say this;

My heart goes out to anyone that has lost someone due to senseless violence such as the recent events.  As someone who has lost a child, I know how devastating it can be, and as someone whose brother was shot, twice due to retaliation of being kicked out of a party, I can tell you that it's equally as devastating, when someone you love is injured.  No one ever wants their loved ones hurt, or taken, and I feel for all the families affected by the injury or loss of a loved one.

Third and final thing, before I get to the real thing;

This is my opinion, not yours.  I'm not speaking for ANYONE other than myself.  I'm not trying to sway to you MY WAY of thinking.  Your reactions will in no way make me feel A. Validated or 2.  Ashamed of my opinion, because it is just that, MY opinion.  I'm simply writing on MY blog, how I feel about the recent tragedies and the vastly different opinions being thrown around by lots of people I know.  Most of them to my face, or on my FB.  I try to not start anything on FB, because, well, I believe people are entitled to their own thoughts...And without further ado, here's mine.


Over the last few days, I've heard a plethora of opinions regarding the Oregon mall shooting and the Connecticut school shooting.  Everything from, take away guns, to arm EVERYONE!  I've heard, 'stop glorifying the situation' in regards to the media, and 'I hope he burns in hell' from people, who every other day, preach forgiveness.  So many things to consider, so many people angry, so few people who realize something.  This isn't new.  This isn't a gun problem.  This isn't a time to blame a weapon, it's a time to take a look at the person wielding said weapon.  

I wonder how many people heard about the knife wielding guy in China, who on Thursday, injured 22 children and an elderly woman, as she walked them to school?  None of those kids died, so of course, it wasn't a big thing on the news.  In fact, it took me almost 10 minutes of news stories on my phone to even find it.  No one was holding a gun, so it wasn't worthy of a headline, or breaking news.  But I bet all of those kids and that woman's family, all felt the same heartache and panic as the people in OR and CT.
The knife wasn't the issue.

Andrea Yates killed her five children with her own strength and water. 
Water wasn't the problem here. 

Ted Bundy used charm and usually asphyxiation or a blunt object to kill his  victims.
Charm is not the culprit.  

I could go on and on and on, throughout the history of time, back to the days of King George or Caligula and site examples of how weapons can be made from ANYTHING.  
But...
That's not my point, well it kind of is, but I think the bigger issue is, mental health.  What drives a person use a gun, or knife on helpless children?  What makes someone look at their beautiful children, then take their lives away from them?  What makes a person gain your trust, then use it against you to take your life.  

It's called psychosis.  It's an actual medical condition, it's not just some unresolved childhood issues that's making you angry enough to throw a glass against the wall, or verbally lash out at someone, even though they may not deserve it.  No, this is, wires-aren't-connecting, severe-chemical-imbalance of the brain.  So, I say, instead of banning guns, or arming everyone, why don't we try paying attention to those around us.  Our friends, our family and even our enemies.  Pay attention to their behavior.  I don't just mean what they say, but their body language.  You can tell so much from peoples body language, but most of us just go through life paying attention to what we 'have' to instead of seeing the whole picture.  We go through life thinking we're all safe little babies, wrapped up in our own security of 'nothing like that happens in my town' until something like that happens in your back yard.  Then, we feel devastated for a while, but then forget what devastated us until it happens again, and again and again.   

I guess my Christmas wish for the world is awareness.  I hope everyone can now be aware, that terrible things like this happen and will continue to happen, because there's a gross oversight as to the real problem behind all of this senseless violence.  Be aware that bad things and bad people are ALWAYS going be around, and that NONE of us are safe from harm coming to us, and we shouldn't EVER wait for a tragedy, like the ones I mentioned to take the time to appreciate what we have!!!

Okay, stepping off my soapbox now. 
I'll be back with a jollier post before Christmas, I promise!!!

Would you rather.....

Hey y'all, happy Wednesday.  Head on over to Mamarazzi and Crazymama's pages and play one of my favorite games,  Would you rather???   I love these kind of hypothetical games, it gets your wheels really turning, and helps you discover some odd things about yourself.  So come hook up with us and play along.  

Today's questions are....
Would you rather....Never be able to look at yourself in the mirror again, or always get dressed in total darkness??? Well, since I look like I already get dressed in total darkness, I'll have to go with that one.  I love mirrors.  I didn't used to, I used to hate my body and everything about it, but I've learned to love me and everything about me, including my amazing reflection.  Besides, if I get dressed, and look hideous, I can go back into my 'dark' room and try again.
Would you rather...Receive $50 a day for the rest of your life or $50,000 right here and now??? Oh hell, that's easy, gimme fifty grand in full, right now.  I can find a way to make fifty dollars a day, but I doubt I'll ever get the chance to know what holding fifty grand cash is like.  Wait....this is tax free, right???
Would you rather...Have extreme narcolepsy or have a bad case of tourette's??? ShitFuckDamn...I think I already have tourette's.   Or just possibly a very defective filter...
Would you rather...Be able to rewind 24 hrs 3 times a year or consciously control your dreams? Sweet victory, gimme them dreams.  If I could rewind, drastic things could've probably changed in my life, that I really wouldn't want changed, in the long run.  My dreams, however, ROCK!!!
Would you rather...Be fluent in every language around the world or be the best in the world in a category of your choosing? OOOooo, you know what they say, variety is the spice of life.  Lemme know them all.  I would rule the world!

What about you, what would you rather do or have???  

Music...It's what moves me.

So since Monday starts with M and so does music, and I've been wanting to do a music portion on my blog for a while now, I figured I'd kill a couple birds with one bat.  Let's face it, I suck at throwing rocks. and I like to his as many things as I can with one swing, so let me introduce you to...

Music Monday. 

****clapping and cheering****

Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to come up with some sort of cool little logo for it, but for now, this works.  This is where I will share my loooove and sometimes hate for music, it's a complicated relationship, but I'd die without it.


Literally...


Die!!!


Today I would like to share with you one of my first loves.  This is one of the first songs that I can remember obsessing over.  I was probably six or so, with my grandmas big headphones on, with the stereo cranked to:    
Dolly Parton - Jolene


I love this song.  I love Dolly.  Amen!



Then a girl named Mindy Smith came along and redid it.  And even though, Miss Dolly herself, was in the video, and I liked the video.  I did not approve of the remake of the song itself.  At all...



Then, another of my favorite bands did it, and let me tell you how terrified I was to give it a listen...  Then without a choice.  I was in love with this version by The White Stripes.  I love his voice with this song, and the way they put an edginess to it.  Give it a listen, you just might like it.



I love how a song from my childhood has made it through the years, and inspired so many different artists to creatively twist a timeless classic.


I hope you enjoyed today's post.  I can't wait for next weeks.

What I've been up to. Pt. 1

Over the last six weeks, my life, has drastically changed.  Some changes good, some bad, some really bad.


First off, the really bad.  The day that I feared the most in my life came to surface itself, on one of the two worst days of my year.  On my sons birthday, they day I sit around moping that he's not here to celebrate his birthday with us, I dropped the bomb on my husband, that we DID NOT in fact have the money in our savings account, for him to get his snowmobile.  


Shocked by this news, he proceeded to give me the longest bout of the silent treatment, in history.  "How could I have wasted all the money, why didn't I tell him that I had to dip into savings", all the things that he was entitled to know, but didn't want to hear the answers to.  


Now let me explain this, it's not like I was just going out on shopping sprees, or out to fancy dinners, and I certainly wasn't going to the races every weekend, telling my wife to get me this and get me that and make sure I have a couple hundred bucks to get through the weekend.  No, I was not doing that.  I wasn't the one living by the "of course you can get it for me, we have a few thousand dollars in the bank" rule.  


But, I also wasn't the one saying, "hey listen, if you do this, we'll be out of money by Tuesday and I'll have to dip into saving to get us by until Friday".  I was the one who enjoyed seeing The Mister so happy, going here for a day, or there for the weekend.  He seemed content, and that made me content.  I was also the one that was under the delusion that I would get a job quickly, and be able to replace the money that was depleting at a faster than slow pace.  I was also enjoying the fact that, I too fell into the delusion that I could start getting more of the things I wanted.  Bad, bad, bad...


Luckily after five days of silence and a whole lot of "real talk" to him, from his best friend, who's always managed to stay pretty objective to us, and pointed out, that he put me through a great amount of hell for about six years, and maybe he should re-evaluate the situation before he throws all those stones, and then, he started talking to me again, but it's changed things greatly for us.  Like, from now on, until we can prove to each other  that we can manage money, we're going to manage our own monies.  He can manage his, and I'll manage mine.  For twenty years we've managed to mess things up financially, and I really want to try stick to a budget.  Problem is we don't see eye to eye with how to do it, so for now, we'll do it separately.  I know it's not ideal, but it's how it's gonna be.


So that's one of the things I've been up too, 
I'll tell ya more later...

One week down.

The rest of my unretired life to go.  Monday I started back to work after a five and a half year hiatus, in which I stayed home to be, well everything to my family.  Let me tell ya, 1. I forgot how purposeful I feel when I'm working and B.  I can't wait to get my first paycheck.  One week on the job and I already have two and a half hours of overtime.  


It's not that I didn't enjoy being a stay-at-home-do-everything-for-your-family-and-then-do-some-more type, but, I've always enjoyed working.  It's makes me feel important.  Well, so does being a mom/wife/nurse/cook/maid, but let's face it, it's kind of a thankless job, and working I at least get paid for all my efforts.  Plus, if I stay at this company for at least a year, they've got some rockin' benefits, like 80 hours of vacation AND 80 hours of sick pay.  In case you don't have your calculator handy, that 4 weeks a year.  PAID!  And since I'm never sick enough to EVER miss work and we go on vacation once every decade, I like getting an extra months pay, just to show up on time and ready to do, well, whatever they want me to.  Plus, they offer education credits.  That means, if I decide I want to go to back to school to learn something handy, they'll pay a thousand dollars of my tuition.  It's a pretty sweet deal.  Not to mention the health/dental/vision plan they have is even better than The Mister's union plan, which I though was amazing.


My job is kind of monotonous and a tad boring, but after a week, they say that I've caught on really quick and they have no worries that I'll do just fine.  My job title is a Kit Cutter.  With a name like that I naturally assumed that it would be something kind of crafty.  No, no it's not.  I roll out the composite material, punch numbers into a computer, the computer makes a machine cut everything out, I gather the cutouts, put them in their kits, roll em' up, tag and send them along.  Then I separate the leftover material, recycle it, then roll out more material and do it all over again.  Although, it is cool to know that planes couldn't fly right without me.


So know when I see certain aircrafts, I can look at people and say, "I built that", cuz that's just how I roll.


This week was day shift for training, but next week I'll be on the swing, which means I can get back to my daily blogging.  THANK GAWD for that, because I'm really going through blogdrawals, it's not pretty.  It gives me a fever and the shakes.  And hallucinations.  Okay, maybe not that bad, but I've truly missed it.


As for now, I'm beat.  So I'll leave you with this.


See you Monday.

Some friends of mine.

I like to think that you can tell a lot about a person, by the crazies people they are friends with.  Most people don't have a set "type" of person they hang out with, except for me, it seems almost all of my friends are a bit looney. 


What, you don't believe me???

This is Stacy, now while she looks perfectly normal here, in this picture with G.  a very dear friend of mine, whom I made a monkey cake for this weekend for his birthday, Stacy is a loon.  She may look sweet and innocent in this picture, but give her a little bit to warm up to her surroundings and you have a whole new girl, just looking to shock and awe you.

Aaarggh, I be a pirate and me want yer booty. 

I'm not even sure what's going on here.

I do know that she likes to stick her tongue out a lot tho.  Here she is with my oldest and bestest friend.

She's a bit of a weirdo too.  Not like me, I'm perfectly normal.

See, perfectly normal.  Me and the birthday boy man

And perfectly not normal.  There's the monkey cake I made.  

Although, she is not the looniest of my peeps.  No no not by a long shot.  No that title is reserved for one of my favorite people outside of my family.  This guy will do anything to make you smile laugh burst your belly wide open with laughter.  If Will Ferrell and Chris Farley were to have a love child with Jim Carey, you would have Justin.  Now before I show you his little montage, let me just warn you about what you're going to see.

Pure Awesomeness, that's what.  And a fat guy in a little shirt.  Hide your small children and those who just can't handle it.

I didn't lie, did I?  This is Justin...No, not Beiber, although I think girls find him just as sexy. Justin has been in the gang for about 15 years now and I can gain more ab power in one night around him, than I could in one week at a gym.  As you can clearly see.

He will do anything, and I do mean anything for a laugh.  Like putting on a shirt that would fit his 13 year old daughter to take sexy pictures with the birthday boy.

He's their number one fan.  I keep telling them they should make this their new promo picture to hang in the bars.  I mean the crowds they could attract with this would be amazing.

Not all of my friends are like this.  I have some semi-normal ones too, but let's face it, who the hell wants normal when you can have loonies like this, right?!  

I love my people.

Now off to do housewifey stuff.

Till tomorrow,

Marisa

I missed my anniversary.

No, not my wedding anniversary.  I had that date tattooed on my wrist, so I'd never forget it.  No it's the one year anniversary of my blog, and I can't believe I missed it.  Wait, that's a lie.  I can totally believe that I missed it.  I am the queen of absentmindedness after all.

Better than a string around the finger.

I honestly can't believe I've been doing this for a year.  It was a little spotty there for awhile, but I managed to pick it up and ran with it and here I am, a year later and still loving every minute I give to it.


I sometimes like to go back to my first blog and realize just how much my writing style has evolved.  When I started I was kind of scared to really bare my soul, well, that's obviously changed, now I have no problem talking about my sex life.  


I loved how this blog has changed my life, I love all of the wonderful people that I've cybermet because of this blog and I love the peace of mind I've gained because  I finally have an outlet to vent, celebrate and just generally speak out on.


So here's to my first year, and many more to come.  
Marisa

Surviving the layoff, week 1

It's Friday Confessional day over at Mamarazzi's House and this is a pretty odd Friday.  Mostly, because it doesn't really seem like Friday now that The Mister is off work for a few weeks.


And since he's been off work for a full week now,


I confess...


*It's really not that bad to have him around everyday.  Of course, it has only been a week, but I have high hopes that it will stay this awesome and that we continue to NOT get on each others nerves.


*I spent the first three days of this week getting the younger enrolled in school.  She decided that yes, she loves online school, but she really misses going to school.  So she's decided that she wants to go to the school her dad, aunt and grandma went to which is awesome, except for the fact that it's not in our district, so I have to take her to school everyday.  Small price to pay for an "excited to go to school" kid though.


*I'm getting excited for fall.  I've been in denial about it, because we really haven't had that much of an awesome summer, weather wise, and I kind of feel a little jipped by it, but I'm getting over that and getting psyched about all the fun fall things to do and make and smell.


* I'm not, however, looking forward to the winter that comes after.  I'm not a huge fan of freezing cold weather.  I'm not ready for my power bill to double.  And I'm certainly NOT ready for the muddy floors and carpets, I mean, I just got them cleaned from last winter.


* I've bought 3 Christmas presents already.  This is the first time EVER in my life that I've bought presents before December 15th.  EVER!!!  I may be growing up and getting smarter.  Shhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone else, okay??!!


*I'm officially spent from all this soul bearing.  /Hand to head in my best Scarlet O'Hara voice.




Don't forget to go link up and confess your...........confessions.


Hope everyone has a safe and fabulous Labor Day weekend,
Marisa

Scooby, the eyes on that picture just moved...

Welcome to Wednesday.  

I gotta tell ya'll, I'm pretty anxious today.  I interviewed for a job yesterday, and lets just say, I WANT THIS JOB.  It's a bit of a commute, especially if there's traffic, but I would be going the opposite direction of the really shit traffic, usually.  It's for a position in the foods department of Saint Martins College, which is a catholic college.  I know, I was afraid lightening was going to strike me down too, but I made it through the interview, which I rocked by the way, without even a warning flash.  So now I get to play the anxious waiting game with butterflies in my belly. Did I mention, I'll get to work with Monks???  Like real life, robes tied with ropes, Monks.  And OMG, Nuns.  I really want this job.  So around 1 pm pacific time, if ya'll hear the faint sound of WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO  don't worry, that will just be me celebrating.


Now, on with the show.




It's Wednesday and time for WWTK, hosted by the always awesome Mamarazzi and the super fantastic Queso, who by the way, asked this week's questions.  So hop on over and tell us your answers.


1. If you could be on any game show what would it be? 
I would have to say, that it would have to be, Wheel of Fortune, because I rock that game.  OH oh, or Family Feud.  I love that damn game show.


2. If you could stay any certain age forever, what would it be?
I don't want to stay any age forever, but I would love to have the body I did when I was 17 forever.  Okay not 17, 23 is better. 


3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
OMG answering the last question.  Ridiculous, right???  I have 15 tabs open in my browser and I keep flipping back and forth and getting sidetracked.  I think I need help!


4. What would I find in your fridge right now?
Condiment Galaxy, 3 different kinds of beer (fat beer, skinny beer and Raaaaaaiiiiiinieeeeeeeerrr beer), the fixin's for tonights lasagna, spilled wine from 2 weeks ago, OJ gotta have OJ, Tupperware with mystery contents from a mystery date that I'm afraid to open but haven't thrown away, milk, eggs and butter, you know the usual.  


5. If you were a piece of furniture what would you be? Why?
I would want to be me in my wedding picture, that way I could freak people out by moving my eyes, like in the old Scooby-Doo shows.  That would be rad.  Wait...Is a picture a piece of furniture?  Yes, no??  Okay, if not, I'll say the most used lamp, then I'm sure to get turned on regularly.  Da dum dumm.  Kssshh


Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to tell ya'll I gots me a job!
Marisa 

People, stop freaking out.

I have read a few blogs/articles/statuses about the whole "child free" events, restaurants, stores, even housing complexes that are going "kid free".  Meaning that they either have kid free hours or they just don't allow the little ankle bracelets.  Of the things I've read about it, I find that it's being chastised by many, many people.  


Why?  


Are there not allowed to be people that want to go someplace other than a bar to get away from the "family friendly" setting.  Everywhere I go, I'm expected to be PC and polite and sweet to people, even when they piss me off.  I'm not saying I actually act this way, but it's what's expected.


What about the people who have kids that want to get away from them for a night and go somewhere nice, where there's not a bunch of drunks or loud music.  Is it too much to ask for a nice quiet place that kids aren't allowed to go that's not a bar or have a stripper pole?


I have kids, two of em', 21 and 17 and I'm the oldest of a bunch of kids.  I know what they're like, and I can  remember not wanting to be around them sometimes.  Any of them.  I can remember leaving a place early so that my unhappy kids wouldn't ruin someone else' meal.  I can also remember times of going on a date with The Mister to the movies, and having someone else' kid scream through whole thing.  Then walked away thinking, "that kid owes me $9.50 for the movie didn't get to see".  But my only options of escape, were a bar, a club or some other place just as annoying as being around a bunch of screaming kids, including, but not limited to, my own.  


I would have killed to have a grocery store that I could go to, that didn't have a newborn baby, that was starving for mama's boob, but she's too busy chasing her unruly 2 year old around, and buying $300 dollars worth of food to feed the baby.  Meanwhile, she tries to pacify baby by repeating, shhh shh shh, it's okay baby, shhh shhh shhh it's okay baby, shhh shhh shhh....for 25 minutes.


I would have loved a coffee shop to run to that didn't have a bunch of squealing little girls in the corner.   Sure they're having fun and getting along, but they're still loud and maybe I wanna sit and read a newspaper in peace while listening to smooth jazz, coffee radio.  


And why is that horrible of me to want it?


Look, I'm not saying that kids are horrible and that we should ban them from everything, I think kids are great.  I know I adore mine, and several others that aren't mine.  What I'm saying is;  People, stop freaking out just because not everyone wants to be in places with kids all the time.  Some people don't even like kids, even if it's just for the simple fact, that they are a kid.   Some people choose not to have kids because they don't find them as fun and enjoyable as others do.  


And you know what???  It's okay, it's called individual living.


So I say Hurrah to those business owners that are "banning" kids.  I know that I'll be on the lookout for a few non-bar, kid un-friendly places to hang out when I want to get away from the rapidly growing population of young humans.


Now I'm off to enjoy the sun, with the kid.
Marisa

Walking contradiction.

In my older, wiser age, I find myself being more and more of a walking contradiction.  It's way beyond being a hypocrite, mostly because I'm only being a hypocrite to myself.

†  I love flip-flops, but hate the sound of them.  I live in flip-flops.  Winter, spring, summer and fall, you will see me rockin' the flops, but I can't stand the snap-snap-snap sound they make when your walking around.  Is there a way to make silent flip-flops?  Maybe I'll just start gluing them to my heels, that should work.

†  I love swimming, but I hate the feeling of being wet, unless I'm in the water.  I live on a lake and swimming is a huge part of our summertime fun, but I tell ya, once I'm out of that water, I want to be in dry clothes, like now.  I'm not one of those, in and out swimmers that swims for a while, gets out, dries in the sun and then jumps back in.  Oh no, I go, I lay in the sun, get nice and hot, then go swim until I just can't swim no more, then I'm out and in the house in dry clothes in minutes.  Ridiculous?  Absolutely!

†  I love playing in the rain, but hate getting wet.  See above.

†  I have my ears pierced twice, but never wear earrings.  The first holes have been there since I can remember and the second ones, I bugged my mom to death. to let me get them when I was fourteen.  I've maybe worn earrings a couple dozen times since I was sixteen.  Over twenty years.

†  I absolutely hate needles, getting shots or having blood drawn.  I don't even like to watch it on TV it creeps me out so much.  Although, I love to get tattoos.  I have three and I'm getting another one at the end of the month and I'm totally stoked about it.  Have to get blood taken next week.  Totally not stoked about it.

†  I am very comfortable in the heat.  I love adore am obsessed with warmth.  One problem, I loathe sweat.  I get really bitchy when I sweat.  Especially when when little drops of the nasty stuff starts rolling down my head.  I want to shower immediately.  It has to be related to the whole "not being wet" thing.  I hate it though, no one should be bitchy on beautiful days.

Well there's plenty more contradictions to me, but I don't show you all my faults in one day.  Where's the fun in that?!

So, until next time,

Keep on keepin' on!
Marisa

Childhoodlum!

Since I'm new to this blogging thing, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to write about on a day to day basis.  Then, like a miracle from afar, my dear, dear Auntie posted a ton of picture of us kids as kids.  

Now, y'all don't know this, but I come from a fairly LARGE family.  On my mothers side, we have my Grandpa, her dad, who is the youngest of 11.  My maternal Grandmother was the oldest of only 4, but her Mother was in the middle of 9.  My Grandparents had my wonderful Mommy, then 6 more kids.  Not much to do back before cable TV and internet, of course.  Now here's where my generation come in, I am the oldest of my generation, thanks to Mom getting knocked up at 17, again, no cable or internet back then and I'm sure she was just trying to keep warm on those cold Phoenix, January nights... I have 9 siblings.   They consist of; 2 sisters and 1 brother by Mom, 3 sisters and 1 brother by Dad, and 2 step-brothers from step-dad that married mom, even though she already had 4 of the devil's children and a Granddaughter from the oldest of the spawn, yeah, that would be ME.  Then if you go down the list there is a grand total of 25 of us.  My 2 sisters, by Mom and I have done a good job starting the population of the next generation with 6 kids including my 2, my younger sister has 2 girls and my baby sister has 2 boys.  You won't hear me talk to much about my other 4 sibs from my Father, because well, I don't know them that well and I have actually never met any of them face to face.  My Father and I met once when I was 18, and haven't seen each other since, but that's another days blog.

Now that you know a quickified version of my family tree, let me tell ya about some of the leaves.  

When I was a kid we would have these crazy wild camping trips.  Now when  most  families go on camping trips it's a weekend, even a long weekend trip, not here.  Vacation days were cashed in, relatives from near and far would gather at My Great Uncle John's house, *G-pa's older brother, down near Aberdeen for at least a week of fun in the sun, complete with racing, rope swings, explosions and a visit from Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.  The Fourth of July would be the grand event that would gather the masses, that would play host to the families of not only G-pa's siblings but Grams siblings too, so were talking roughly 100-150 camping for sometimes a week at a time.  The property itself was somewhere between 20 and 500 acres, hey what do you want, I was a kid, it was all huge, trees everywhere, a giant barn, complete with rope swing and pile of hay and my uncle had tons of heavy equipment that made for a wonderland of metal for us youngen's to climb on, over and under.  Now, let me just warn you here, this blog will now and then talk about the unsafe behavior of young, stupid, daredevil type kids that were raised by older, more mature, preoccupied, daredevil type adults and everyone had a 3-wheeler or a dirt bike or a 3-wheeler and a dirt bike.  It was heaven for heathens well behaved children.

We liked to get dirty, our parents would clean us up, and then we'd just go get dirty all over again. Rinse.  Repeat.


I'd have to say, I had a pretty happy childhood.  Don't get me wrong, it had it's bumps, but I wouldn't trade it for anyone else'.


Til tomorrow.
Marisa