Acknowledge everyone and their work

I'm totally open to good advice. In fact I'm actually pretty unsure of myself a lot and prefer that someone makes the choices. Guess that's why Mike and I make a good match. Where I need him, he's there and where he needs me, I'm there. Yes, he needs me. Heh, if you knew me personally you might laugh. But if you've ever seen him make the most simplest meals or ask him to do up a load of laundry, there's a darn good chance that he's going to make it....sub par. I'd like to say disaster but that's not the case.

(Come on, Ladies, you know you do it too; he always misses a spot or several with dishes, there's always lint on dark laundry, ya know, sub par)

I'll tell ya right now that I'd rather make a three course meal at suppertime with all the trimmings than lug  around 90 pounds of 8 inch thick pressed plywood and fiberglass that are 8 and 9 feet tall. And that's not the hardest part, that's just all in a day's work.

My husband is a form setter. He's one third of a 3 man crew that makes foundations for houses. Yes, he's deliciously ripped....and healthy, yes, ehem, healthy so he lives forever heehee.

I'm a stay at home mom. There's more to it than that, as all stay at home moms know. I'm happy to say that I have a very understanding husband that knows and acknowledges how mentally and emotionally exhausting my days get. And I'm proud to say I think I do a good job of acknowledging how physically exhausting his job gets.

We have a marriage. We have a partnership that's not equal but it's balanced.

He doesn't cook half the meals or change half the diapers, just like I don't lug half his panels. We're balanced to meet our strengths and weaknesses. I really don't know how single parents do it.

Kudos to people who do it.

Everyone's pain hurts them. Don't be an...

Have you ever seen a child throw a tantrum? Have you ever laughed at it or rolled your eyes and walked away? Or told them to stop it?

Have you ever seen someone cry at a funeral? Have you ever laughed at it or rolled your eyes and walked away? Or told them to stop it?

Do you see where I'm going with this? We're adults, you say. Our pain is greater, you say.

No it's not. Just cause it's not something you'd get upset about, doesn't make it wrong to be upset about it.

Ever pull the wings off a fly? (Or in my extremely sensitive case, ever watch in horror as someone pulled the wings off a fly?) Nah, I'm not arguing that it's scared. They can't feel; they barely have a nervous system. They have an awareness and an instinct. When you pull off they're wings, they're entire world is suddenly wrong. Their instinct is telling them to do something they can't. "Wrongness"? That's all they know - everything is wrong. Might not be fear like what we feel but it's the opposite of finding a yummy pile of shit in which to play. Can we all agree that it's entire existence is altered for the worst?

I'm not saying to be a hippy vegan and join PETA. I'm saying dig into your empathy when you're dealing with children and their strong emotions. That's all they know.

Don't bother correcting or straightening things out for them to make them feel better. In the moment, just hold them and be sad with them cause their hurt is real. Just for a moment and then step back into parenting if you must. Please take just that moment to feel their hurt.


I'm also going to request that you just adopt this quality for everyone in your life. Everyone's pain hurts them. Don't be an asshole.

a Rant of Good Versus Bad, Believers and Non Believers

Wrote this rant quite some time ago. Guessing a year, maybe more? Anyhoo it was simply a train of thought that I was following on a keyboard as well as my head. I'm going to publish it as another testament to my loving and innocent personality.

My funny brain is all over the place this morning so I figured I'd see how fast I can type hehe:

So lately I've been thinking about my faith. I consider myself a christian as in I believe and accept that Jesus is my lord and saviour. I whole-heartedly believe that he died on the cross (he suffered in the most unimaginable ways) to pay to serve as punishment for all of the sinners on earth. A lot of us believe He died only for the ones that believe in Him. I, personally, believe that we have a wonderful loving and forgiving God. I believe that He alone has the final judgement on where we go when we are done with this life on earth. Jesus teaches all about love, life, loss and too many things really to name. In a nutshell (hard to do I know) he teaches right from wrong. I think that is sorta born within all of us. Its up to us to take it in or not. Thats where I think its important to seek Jesus because he teaches so well and he teaches the truth. There;s other religions that I've read and listened to and quite honestly they all teach right from wrong (however some are lost in translation I think thats whats happening with religious wars).

I'm losing my thoughts. I wanted to mention God's forgiveness and where the grey areas are. The brain is part of our physical body and small children, naive and mentally disabled people aren't really capable of accepting Jesus. I can't believe for a second that their souls are cast into the fiery pits of Hell for all of eternity. My best friend told me once that my big brother that died when I was 13 went to Hell. I lost my breathe when she said that, literally felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I doubted my beliefs for no more than a moment. I know for sure that my big brother's spirit is waiting for me in Heaven. Not a doubt in my mind and never will be.

The Bible describes a lot of things, some more specific than others. I know that the Bible was written from stories passed down and translated from an ancient and practically unknown language. Ages ago when people were killing in the name of God was when we put that book in ink. We solidified those words, the things that the Amish take very literally. In our modern religions we seem to take what we think we can accomplish in life (like how far we're willing to go to worship God like not use cars or electric) and pick the religion that fits that. We listen to our parents, we take in the thoughts and beliefs of our neighbours and make our own.

I read a Bible that refered to Sodom and Gomorra as cities full of "wicked men", there was no detail of homosexuality in the verses I read. However picking up a different Bible I read they were "men having sex with men". What did God want that to say? I know too many homosexuals to think they could ever be cast into Hell. Some probably have no idea they already living there life by Jesus anyway: they're already good people. They hold open doors, they say thank you just like everyone else, geesh, they are everybody else. I don't consider them different. How about entire nations like North Korea that have no idea Jesus is there for them? They say thank you and I bet they look at lying, stealing and cheating as bad, right? We have a wonderful loving and forgiving God. I also can't help but believe that He's got one heck of a sense of humour.

I've got nothing to add.

I'm a damn good writer; who cares if there's millions of bloggers....only one me

Yeah, the title! Read that! Take it to the bank, put it your pipe and smoke it....put it on your plate and eat it....you're cup and drink it.....

That's an inside joke with my husband and if I let you in on this, it'll let you in on my personality:

We had only been going out for a few weeks but we're committed. I wanted to make a point about something but failed to come up with the right saying. "Put that in your pipe and smoke it" was what I was going for but what came out was "Put that on your plate and eat it....".

I knew it wasn't right and I got no response, not even a smile so....

(quick, Becky, think!)

"Put it in your cup and drink it?" I apprehensively corrected. Then I giggled.

Mike let out the breath he'd been holding and laughed along with me.

It was safe. He knew I was extremely sensitive but I also have a quick wit, to which he was still learning the ropes. I think he told me once that at that moment he fell in love. He's since told me other cute quirks were also moments of tripping over love. Yeah yeah I'm the luckiest girl in the world....today.....

Yeah, got the old depression illness that I fight every single day. Today I'm happy....right this moment anyway. Take it step at a time, eh? Trying to find out some things about myself so bare with
me.

I'll try to share some of my life lessons to save you the hassle of figuring them out.

Cody Cute Pants

Adam and Cody found this Wii game that makes you balance ice cream cones as it stacks higher and higher.

Mike and I step outside to talk (I've been having a sad day). After a few minutes Cody comes to the door, pokes his head out and requests ice cream. After his negotiating got him nowhere, he whimpers and says "Mom-may, I peed my pants".

My husband tells him its ok and to go up and change.

When he leaves I look at Mike, questioningly, "How did he..." Mike laughs, "Cause he's been having so much fun with that ice cream game in there."

I repeat, "He laughed so hard he pissed himself?"

"Yeah" my husband confirms.

How to make Rouladen

Most people buy their flank steak precut and even tenderized. In my home, I buy thrifty so I bought a flank roast and cut off a bunch of strips and made some into cubes for a beef stew. These strips I tenderized with a nifty meat mallet til they were about a quarter inch thick.

Next step is to slather on the mustard. Its recommended that you use a nice German stone ground mustard, but I didn’t have that on hand, just some no name stuff from the grocery store across town.

Get a medium sized onion                and chop it into half inch “strips”

Then lay the strips of onion onto the strips of mustardy beef

 

You’re next step is to get your half pound pack of bacon and cut the strips in half; thats about how long your going to want your strips of beef so cut everything with the bacon as your template.

Get your toothpicks ready…

(cuz you dont want to have to get more out of the box when you have bloody cow on your hands)

Then roll them up, keeping the onion in tact. (I use the curve of the onion to help me assist in the roll; curve the beef and bacon with the onion into a roll and) quickly stab it with a couple toothpicks to keep it in place.

For the broth, you can simmer it in a crockpot on high for 4-5 hours or on low for like 6-8 hours, or if your short on time or crockpots, you can use a decent sized stewing pot.

  

You’ll need 2 1/2 cups of water

and a couple tablespoons of either beef bouillion cube/powder or beef bouillion liquid concentrate

Stir it around to dissolve

and add your rolled up and stabbed-wounded rouladen

put the lid on and leave it alone

About an hour before it’s done, drain a bunch of the broth and make gravy with it (its a gravy like you’ve never tasted, but its so fattening so go easy on everything). It super yummy with mashed potatoes and your favourite vegetable….served on your birthday….by your nana….

Lastly, enjoy!

Yay! My gift exchange present!

See my pendant?! I totally got that from Allison at Shades of Jade Designs. I absolutely love it! See?

A close up:

And the other side:

Yessss! I was so excited to get this in the mail and I’m so gonna do another gift exchange!

Thank you so much to Linda over at Craftaholics Anonymous for this opportunity!

Allison also has a blog at http://www.adambombandlittlefrenchie.blogspot.com/ 

Sorry for the short quick blog post, but we’ve been moving and without internet for the week so I’m pretty behind with a lot of things. I bought a new camera, and car, plus a new place…just lots of new going on. I even got a new nephew and a new brother-in-law! Lots to write about, but this is it for now. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you on the edge of your seats for too long; just give me a day or two to paint the kitchen, kay?