"Fawk You Friday!" With Angel and BBB.

I'm certainly in need of a good FUF post today. And I rightfully deserve it. Don't like it? Then FAWK OFF!



Fawk You!! Blogger. You screwed up EVERYONE'S stuff. What was to be "routine" maintenance, turned in to the Blogosphere's version of Hell. I lost a follower on EACH of my four blogs. I have wonky-looking link tags and lost ALL my comments from my readers on the blogs you were so kind to (finally) find and put back up.

FAWK YOU!! To sensitive people who can't take a damn joke. What was SUPPOSED to be a lighthearted look at what I saw coming as a SAH mom with Summer Break looming, turning in to YET ANOTHER "Mommy War".

FAWK YOU!! To a friend (yes I still love her, but she crossed the line) who while I understand you were defending your sister, she was doing a fine job of it on her own. But YOU my dear just had to go the fuck off on a tangent when the misunderstanding was CLEARLY over, seeing as NEITHER of us (me and the other sister in question) said anything more.

FAWK YOU!! This one goes out to certain family members (mainly one in question) who I'm tired of having to "cater to". It's not fair that I basically HAVE TO do x, y or z but get nothing in return unless I practically beg. Or say that you (the one certain family member) are my last resort.

But YOU expect EVERYONE to take you places, help pick up YOUR kid and to watch said kid. It's NOT OUR fault that you have no license (because honestly you are too lazy, not that you can't due to legalities at this point), have no other mode of transportation, have no REAL and steady job (sorry but working privately "under the table" isn't going to pay the bills and using the 'I need more money to do this/that job and I'm too good for that job' attitude ain't helping ya).

And you pay NO ONE a damn dime for ANY of the shit we all do for you. And we are ALL tired of being used. It costs MONEY that we really do NOT have in our pockets to burn the extra gas. And you go off and get all pissy if one of says no to taking you somewhere or can't because of a prior obligation. Last I checked, we also had a life and are NOT the center of the universe, either.

FAWK YOU!! To the "help" for my husband at work. Must be nice to (on average) get 3 out of 4 Saturdays off every month. Especially being that YOU are on the bottom (pretty much) of the Seniority Totem Pole.

If my husband is not allowed to have NEXT Saturday off for what will be the last HUGE Family Reunion (where EVERYONE from both sides of his late grandfather's side of the family) for us before his Grandmother passes (who says she KNOWS she hasn't got much longer herself and has pretty much given up since his passing where being alone is concerned) then I truly think that the UNION Reps should have it brought to their attention. Because last I checked, SENIORITY rules. And you my friend are NOT above my husband anywhere in that store.

My husband busts HIS ass more so than the other guy EVER does but the "help" gets "rewarded" with his (every weekend) request to have Saturday off. Something is VERY wrong with this picture. Must be nice to have EVERY effing Saturday off with YOUR family.

True, my husband gets Sundays off (for the most part), but those are "automatic" due to his boss's scheduling preference and the fact it is scheduled around the truck's schedule of when they drop off orders. NOT because my husband pencils in Sundays off EVERY effing week. Big difference.

Shooo!!! I feel somewhat better after unloading all that crap off my barely-there chest. Next week won't be too much better. I have to be at the school almost every single day for something or another, being it's the last week of school. But it's going to be a FUN week.

Laters!

PYHO... Mommy Wars

*Please remember, for some of us, this is the only place to be able to vent in a safe way, as to avoid the unneeded negativity that may already be occurring in our lives. In other words, if you have nothing constructive, and uninsulting to say, please refrain or move on. Or else, I let Angel come at you with one of her flaming vlogs.*

Yesterday morning, over on my FaceBook profile, I put a little lighthearted post up about this being the last two weeks of school. My exact words were...

"All the kids are off to school and here I sit, sipping my second cup of coffee. Best enjoy it while I can. In two weeks, the peace will NOT be with me. For 2 months."

In a nutshell, I meant no malice. I was not whining (as a friend had stated on behalf of her sister) and yes, indeed KNOW that I am VERY fortunate to be home with my kids.

But it wasn't always this way. I have also been a working mother as well in my time. And I missed some important areas of growth in two of my children because of it. When my third (and last) came along, I quit my job because honestly, there was no way, even with BOTH of our incomes, could afford full and part time child care for THREE kids. So I left and never went back in to the workforce.

ALL of us mothers (and fathers) work hard. Both inside and outside of the home. Only real difference is that some mothers get to earn monetary income, as well as have the house duties (and parental duties). And some of us don't earn more than kisses or hugs, which in my mind trumps all the monetary pay in the world.

"I would say you are pretty lucky!"...Yes, I am. But also, I didn't post what I did as to gain sympathy or bragging rights.

Is this what posting anything in the way of parenting has come to? Picking a war over a joke? Hell, I even made it in to a "Yoda-ism" near the end.

I'm NO better in the parenting department, being a mother who stays home, than the working girl next door with a kid or two. We both have the same job description where being a parent is concerned. Love, nurture and support our kids.

But believe me when I say, staying home 24/7 is no real picnic either. I would LOVE to be able to once again earn money from a day's work. I would love to have ADULT interactions outside of my home and the school setting (where I volunteer).

Then again, my line of work to go back to would NOT allow me the schedule I would need. Not in the retail life. It's not a "9 to 5" environment with every weekend off. And you can never really plan anything around your schedule, because that ALWAYS is changing.

Basically, there are pros and cons in BOTH areas of being a parent who works and who stays home. I may JOKE about the fact that Summertime will bring me little to no peace (which is VERY true), I will STILL enjoy the time I will have with my kids being home.

Like another mommy-friend said to me last night, "If your children don't annoy you at least once a week, you aren't around them enough". So true there! And believe me, I'm around mine enough, that the gray hairs just keep piling on my head. But I don't love, nor do I not want to be with them any less.

That FB post meant that I am being HUMAN, as well as realistic of what's to come with Summer break looming.

Just because I am a mother, it does NOT mean I have to "enjoy" having NO peacefulness or "me time" to take time for ME, and instead place myself last.

Which I do anyways.

Not In the Mood

Sorry folks. No "Tuesdays From The Terrarium" today due to something that came up. Best to not say more in fear of chastisement. I'll try to post today's tomorrow. But I'm headed for roud two of what I had to do today. So don't hold your breath.

I'm so tired and actually compared to yesterday in a pretty foul mood. Both from the tiredness and soreness I feel from sitting in a chair for almost six hours straight staring at numbers, and from a lovely note I received about a person's "concern".

Let's just say that it was NOT the best day to scold me like I am a 10 year old playing on the computer. So to see the note I received, yes, it ticked me off pretty much.

Have a good night, everyone. I hope to maybe post sometime tomorrow instead. I should have known that my Tuesday was going to end up being a Monday, seeing as my Monday was so freaking awesome!

I said I wouldn't Do It...

Since the kids had started to attend their current school, I have always helped at the Fall and the Spring Book Fairs.

It's a fun experience. Especially when you are working in the "store" with the kids from Pre-Kindergarten, through the Second Grades. They need the most help to navigate the areas, to write down what they wish to purchase and then actually help them make their purchases. It's very hands-on, one-on-one work.

But in reality, it's fun to see EVERY child from every grade level come in to the Book Fair and show their enthusiasm for their love of reading. I don't care if it's a "Pokemon" book or a "Clifford The Big Red Dog" book, or a trivia book. Reading is reading.

This year though, I had planned on taking a break for the entire year from doing the Book Fair. I'd gotten out of doing the Fall Book Fair, seeing as the school's PTO Board ran it this year.

And so I was just going to bow out and let others help run the Spring Book Fair as to give me a break from doing it a fourth year in a row.

No luck.

There aren't enough volunteers to help with the entire week's run. Even though when doing the Volunteer paperwork at the beginning of the year, we had several sign up to help with Book Fairs this school year. But most, if not all, backed out, even though they had ample notice of the dates to choose from as to help out.

Believe me, volunteering at a school's Book Fair is NOT easy. It's time consuming and even physically demanding. Especially when dealing with the little kids of the school. It takes time for them to look around and pick. They have SO many "favorites" and love so many different topics at the ages of four to seven, that it makes your head want to spin and pop off.

Between this year and last school year, I've noticed a decent decline in the number of volunteers that ACTIVELY volunteer at my childrens' school. There are even some people who are signed up to do tasks AT HOME. Like cutting out soup labels and box tops.

But it's becoming an alarming trend there, and most likely around the community's other schools, if not most everywhere in the school system, that when you "call upon" the volunteers that signed all the paperwork and went through the background checks to be an approved volunteer (yes, I to MUST have a BG Check every year) and ask to be called upon for which tasks that they signed up for, that they suddenly back out when you need them.

So my question is... Why sign up to be a School Volunteer in the first place? You are not only hurting us Volunteer Coordinators, but also the school staff (mainly teachers) and those kids. And ANYTHING, no matter how little or seemingly insignificant goes a LONG way. We (in our school's setting) have something for EVERYONE where volunteering is concerned. Even for those that speak a foreign language.

Next week will be MUCH busier than I wanted to have it be. Instead of my one day per week, I get to be there at least for three days of the week. The entire school day. So I'll easily pull in about 21 to about 32 hours of volunteering time next week alone. Depending on if I have to pull an extra day.

I urge you all to volunteer in your community. Be it at a school, a soup kitchen, the hospital or anywhere else that there are volunteering opportunities. You can't imagine how good it feels to know that you have touched someone's life.

To see the smiles on the faces of the children that I work with, especially during Reading groups when they "get it", correct THEMSELVES or read the entire book flawlessly (we are talking about KINDERGARTNER'S people!) it makes everything I do seem effortless and like I have helped them achieve.

Because believe me, copying those books and putting them all together for each of the four groups is NO fun and (literally for me) back breaking.

So to see all of OUR hard work (my putting books together, and them learning how to read them independently) makes it all worth while.

I *HAD* A 'Fab Friend' a few Friday's Ago

It's that time again over at For The Love Of Blogs for Fab Friends Friday.



While I relish in participating normally, I had contemplated for most of this week as to whether I should even write this post or not, seeing as so much in my family's life is going on. But here it goes..

There's a friend of mine from a good while back that has seemed to have distanced themselves from me and a few of our mutual friends. We met about three years ago via an internet website. From there, we were practically inseparable, going and joining other sites together as we found them and figured the other would enjoy being there as well.

But in the recent weeks of past, if not about a month or even longer, seeing as I'm really not keeping count this person has strayed and basically "dropped" our friendship off on the wayside.

Yes, both of us have a lot going on. But I have tried to get "something" from the person to acknowledge that I indeed exist in their world. We both are on FaceBook together. But alas, my words fell on "deaf eyes".

I'd noticed the change after this person started writing in their blog of things that NORMALLY, I'd never see from this person, seeing as in all honesty, was very highly out of context for the blog's "theme of writing" that I had come to know and even respect.

But now, this person does nothing but writing prompts and blog carnivals at least 95% of the time. No longer do I see REAL substance in the writing. So I had decided after somethings that were written of a "personal" nature and more than my eye's fair share of writing prompts, to un-follow their blog.

And then I finally stopped following the person on Twitter as well, thanks to never being "spoken" to anymore over there in any way, shape or form. Between both places, this "friend" has yet to even acknowledge that I am no longer on either of their lists as a follower. Or realized we are no longer even "speaking" with one another.

This past week has apparently been REALLY hard on both of us. But unlike them, I made it no "secret" as to what has happened within my family. Not on here, Twitter or FaceBook.

The ONE person that I thought that I could count on, the one I was SURE would be there for me, my husband and our children was nowhere. Not to say sorry to my kids for their loss or to my husband who lost his beloved grandfather.

Yes, I did write something on their wall. But to no avail. And because I didn't know until after the fact of what they are going through, what I had written in some ways I wish I didn't. But then again...

Needless to say, even that post I made on their wall went unnoticed and/or just ignored of acknowledgment.

This person KNOWS I don't do the "one-sided, one-way-street, all give-and-no get" type of friendship.

This person talks with a certain other friend on all these sites ALL of the time. Acknowledging their posts on their page, and converses on their own page when said friend posts there.

If that's how it's going to be, then I think that this person just needs to tell me that our friendship is over. Because obviously I'm not running with the right "clique" or the "cool crowd" of bloggers. Or on Twitter for that matter.

I'm honestly DONE trying.

EDITED..Why I THINK *my* blog's readership sucks..

**ETA** that yes, I did read the blog that now people are starting to Tweet about why people are not reading your blog (WHY NO ONE READS YOUR BLOG). Personally, I do not see where I fit really, within ANY of that posts "criteria".

Now onward with my original post...

True, I know I'm not always the "best" follower/commenter on the blogs that I follow. As a matter of fact, after this is posted, I plan on down sizing the list.

I Tweet and I link my posts to my FaceBook "Like" pages for each of my blogs (most of the time).

Due to personal matters, a busy schedule and stress issues, I'd taken a "blogging hiatus" for about a week. Come back and finally posted, with something POSITIVE. Got a couple comments and a good number of page views. Cool.

Then I posted something that I normally do NOT post. Christian-based posting with Contemporary Christian music videos, seeing as I wanted to share the "pick me up" kind of day that I was having..which for once was REALLY a "good" day.

Then I had posted in my other blog, The "Mental"-ist Mom blog about the effects that the robbery from a week and a half ago had left on my son primarily.

Wait a minute! I think I found what went wrong (or is that "right"?) as to why THAT blog (the latter) got attention... I was complaining or venting. Why? Because I am still LIVID as to what the robber(s) had done psychologically to my children. But my son has taken it the hardest, thanks to his Anxiety Disorder's problems being escalated.

Does this mean that I should always write about negative stuff? Nope. I look at it this way..SOMEONE will want to read POSITIVE things. And I am doing what I can to STAY positive. But I have to be honest..I'm tired of putting forth "commenting efforts" as I can, with no return results. Even by those that have been known to be "regulars" in the past.

Lately, I have commented on a few blog pages of those that I read regularly, but those "regulars" (to me) are being self absorbed within their own pages to not return ANY KIND (seemingly) of comment "love".

Maybe it's me. I don't know. But I can assure you, today, I'm Pre-Spring Cleaning my blog list. And possibly my Twitter list as well. I have even thought of deleting my "Like" pages, seeing as they are a waste of my time to post in and no one really "talks" in there either.

If this post causes me to lose readers, I'm okay with this. If it upsets people, I'm down with that too. If you are extremely upset with what I have said here, then MAYBE you are one of those bloggers/followers/readers/commentators that I'm speaking of.

I don't claim to be Perfect Patty (sorry SLIDE CUTTER! LOL) but I DO try to comment here and there. Even if to just say "I'm sorry this happened" or "What a cute story."... I don't expect long-winded comments, especially since for the most part, I don't give long-winded comments myself.

Heck! I can't even get ONE single Twitter Follower to RE-TWEET something for me, even after practically begging for the RT being that THIS blog has a new URL. That too tells me something.

Oh well. That's life I guess in the Blogosphere...

(Also note that ALL "LIKE" pages on FaceBook have been removed and I have cleaned out my Reader List on Blogger, as well as have down sized my Twitter list as of this writing.)

I'm "Pouring Out My Heart" as I am "Cleaning Out My Closet".

I decided to "double dip" today, which is really a rare thing. Today, this post will serve as both a participant in Shell's



..and For The Love Of Blog's (Vic's)



As most of my readers know, I required a Corneal Transplant back in October of 2009. I had a bad infection invade the eye its self, then it also eroded the cornea. But I perforated the entire cornea when I accidentally poked myself in the eye.

While I have fairly good eyesight (colors, some shape, light) I still have problems. One being a cataract that will eventually need removal. I still have eight of sixteen stithces left to go.

I have my good days. But lately, I have had a rough go. I don't often complain on here or on Facebook or Twitter. I don't want to sound like a "whiner".

And most people, if they don't understand that a transplant is NOT a "cure all" think that the recipient must be ALWAYS happy and feel "lucky".

In all honesty, lately I've had some trouble where infection is TRYING to attack again. Not bad, but in an annoying way. I am working on getting it calmed as we speak.Add in sinus trouble also making my eye a bit unnerved and it's an all out "party"

Sometimes, I wish that they did take the eye. Then I'd have no more drops, no more stitches needing to removed. No cataract to be taken out. No mounting doctor bills for "after care" that constantly come at me. And no chance of needing a SECOND transplant later on down the road.

Is it selfish and ungrateful of me to think and feel this way? Maybe. But I also feel that my children have been through enough with their mother having one set back after another with her eye in one way or another.

Yes, I am so very thankful to my donor and their family. Without their gift, I would have no sight at all. But also my children and I are paying a price. As is my husband. Not just monetarily.

Organ and tissue transplants are not the cure all to the problem with that organ or tissue. In fact, you go from having one set of problems, to a new kind of set. Mainly dealing with the chance of rejection. It CAN happne a day later or many years down the road. And we live in the thought of "is this the day that it all goes downhill and we have to start over again?". It's not a life I wish on anyone. Even for "just an eye".

I'm angry. At my skin condition that invaded my eye. I'm angry at myself for not getting that under control sooner. I'm angry that my body turned against me. I'm angry that another family had to suffer a loss. I'm angry that it took someone to die for me to be able to see with both of my eyes.

While I may smile and "look" or even "sound" happy on the outside, inside, especially right now, I'm screaming and seething. Because right now, I feel that I have lost a battle (again) that I have fought hard to win and overcome for the last year and a half.

One Hot Mama!...I'm Pretty Ticked & Heed My Warning.

If I could, I would have this shooting out of my head..

And have these shooting from my eyes...

Why?

Because, for the now third or fourth time, my local Walgreen's Pharmacist has messed up. It's one thing to miscount the number of pills. It's also one thing to not even fill one of them. Heck, it's even one thing to place your child's medications in the WRONG "filled and ready to go" bins.

But when your "mistake" at reading the prescription goes as far as one, filling it with the WRONG refill number, as well as with the WRONG DOSE, that is when I am DONE.

And that is also when I write to Corporate Office, and to the District Office, and to the Local Store. Yep. Every single level of Walgreen's got a copy of my letter of complaint about this "mix up".

The medications that my child is on are pretty "powerful" and can have some pretty bad side effects if given wrong. The one that was completely dispensed wrong can hurt his Blood Pressure or even his heart.

What SHOULD HAVE BEEN 2 mg. of a dose at 2 refills was ACTUALLY FILLED as 3 mg. dose with 3 refills.

How does someone read a "copy" wrong? When in doubt CALL THE DOCTOR that prescribed the medication, THEN proceed to fill it. It's not rocket science.

Please, my readers, for your safety and for the safety of your family, especially your children, READ LABELS on the medication bottles. Every time. No matter how many times you filled the same medication.

Here is a copy of my letter to all of the branches of Wallgreen's...

To Whom It May Concern,

I'm writing to complain about the (now) third or fourth "accident" in regards to my son's medications being improperly filled.

My nine-year-old is on medications that can have a great impact on his heart and his blood pressure.

His Intuniv was filled COMPLETELY wrong. I was supposed to have 2 mg dose with 2 refills. Instead I received 3 mg dose and 3 refills.

I cannot tell who had filled my son's medications last night, seeing as you do not have your Pharmacists place their names on the prescriptions that they are having to fill. That alone to me, is discouraging. Because I now cannot tell you in fact WHO ACTUALLY filled my child's medications.

At this time I am NOT "taking my business else where", but do know that I will NOT be talking very kindly about your store, and especially not in regards to this branch.

When filling medications, it means that your staff is literally holding their customer's/patient's lives in their hands. Including children.

Thank you,
Melissa C

Death Panels...Since when is one's life "not budgetable"?

Arizona has a Governor without a heart or a soul. Her state's budget cuts are not only "saving" money, but are also COSTING lives.

Now, two people are dead. Thanks to the budget cuts and the insurance's refusal (due to said cuts) to pay for much-needed transplants.

There's now a list of people in the state of Arizona whom will surely die, being that their assurance of insurance has been cut off because the insurer will not "be able" to pay for the transplants.

Including the one this past week who was needing a kidney transplant.

Yes, the insurance I am speaking of is Government-funded Medicaid. The state's funds for the insurance that helps those that are low-income, too disabled to work or meet other criteria for the (supplemental) insurance will be cut by $1.2 million.

Luckily though, the citizens of Arizona have Senate Minority Leader-Elect David Schapira (Democrat) in their corner. And he is asking to have *emergency* restoration of the Medicaid funds to be put in to place. But only for certain types of transplants.

Thus far, 98 patients are on that list.

Patient Mark Price died in November, as he was desperately awaiting a bone marrow transplant.

Read the full story at... CNN.com

As a transplant recipient myself, to see these kinds of cuts made at the expense of human life, is utterly deplorable. Shame on the state of Arizona, and it's idiot Governor, Janet Brewer.

Rest assured though, that in the event that herself or one of family members or close friends (who were on Medicaid, thanks to job loss or lower income status) suddenly required a transplant of some type, she would be fighting tooth and nail to get their insurance to pay for it.

But hey, it's no one special or important (to the dumb hag called 'Governor') so she feels that she can go to lay her head down at night without the guilt of knowing that she (literally) signed almost one hundred of her citizen's death warrants by her actions of slashing the access to their medical insurance, and to much-needed medical care to stay alive.

Sure, it was "just an eye" to most people. But saving my sight, as well as my entire eye was of utmost importance to me as a mother of three children who are all still under the age of twelve.

If my insurance wasn't there to help cover the cost of my (**$23,000.00**) surgery to have my cornea replaced with a cadaver's cornea, then I would not have my sight, let alone the eye its self. And being a mother, it would have hindered (somewhat) my being the mother I am to my children.

What kind of person wishes to slash funding as to let others be there with their children and grandchildren? A thoughtless Government Official such as Governor Janet Brewer, is who! And the scary part in all of this? If one state does something like this to "save the state money", then most often times, even more states follow and institute these cuts as well.

And that's a scary thought in its self! It will go from just under a hundred, to hundreds, then to thousands. Then, quite possibly the "movement" could cost MILLIONS of lives here in America.

Is this really what our country's Government was built to be all about? Money over it's people.

The more I look, the more I view it in this manner. And it frightens me more and more a bit each and every day, that our children and grandchildren's lives will be placed on the front lines as a means to save a few extra bucks for the Government Officials to pocket.

The money NEEDS to be put back in place. At least some it it, anyways. And for the most needful of transplants (heart, lung, kidney). And Arizona's guidelines on insuring transplants needs to be overhauled as well. No one's life is above another's. Or at least it shouldn't be.

I can understand (at this time) that they cannot cover ALL types of transplants. But give those with the biggest fights ahead, the biggest chance at living.

Is this really too much to ask, Gov. Janet Brewer?

Some People Make Me Want To Bang My Head On The Desk...(Blog Hop Stuff)

What part(s) of the following do people apparently NOT get when I post this??...

"The *ONLY* stipulation I have is to please LEAVE A *GENUINE* COMMENT here on my page to show that you have read it. Not a copy/paste thing or a "I followed you/follow me back" comment... I am okay with people stating if they came from another blog hop and found me. But I don't play the "followed you/follow me back" game.

**If you cannot abide by that one simple rule for linking on my page, I wish for you to NOT link it at all. I hope you understand. Thanks.."

You will find this one my posts that I add my Linky Tools link up button to. And that is only maybe (now) twice a week to run in time with For The Love Of Blogs as to give them more exposure and to further help out my fellow bloggers from that community and other places within the blogosphere.

I don't "have to" add the tool to any of my blogs. I do it because I want to and I like helping others to gain more readers. Not just myself.

Thanks to "link and run" types of "users and abusers" of the link up ability to my page, I removed it. Then decided to bring it back here and there. Then, I felt that I wanted to help Vic and Ashley at FLOB by also doing a link up capability on the posts I run to show case them and two of their blog hops I'm involved with.

So now, I will say it this way from now on in ALL FUTURE blog hop posts that I provide a link up tool for others to add to...

"The *ONLY* stipulation I have is to please LEAVE A *GENUINE* COMMENT here on my page to show that you have read it. Not a copy/paste thing or a "I followed you/follow me back" comment... I am okay with people stating if they came from another blog hop and found me. But I don't play the "followed you/follow me back" game.

**If you cannot abide by that one simple rule for linking on my page, I wish for you to NOT link it at all, nor even leave a COMMENT on my page.

If *anyone* is caught breaking the rules for MY BLOG PAGE and the way I wish to run MY blog hop/link up, then the comment and/or blog link and button will be DELETED.

I hope you understand. Thanks.."...

Now, do you all think that THIS will make it clear? Especially if you have actually READ FTLOB's "rules" about blog hopping and leaving comments on other's blogs. They also *DO NOT CONDONE* copy/paste comments or the "followed you/follow me back" comments and also feel it is TACKY as well as RUDE.

If these things keep happening on my blog, then I will put an END TO PROVIDING a link up/blog hop on my blog page.

And here I thought KIDS were bad.

Apparently, in most cases, the PARENTS seemingly are no better. And you wonder why I have a MAJOR beef with "fanatical" right-wing Christians and organized religion.

Over on my BFF, Angel's blog she posted a Vlog in regards to a fellow blogger, and one of her bloggy friends, who's son was bullied. To read that post, please feel free to CLICK HERE.

The reason so many of us are up in arms, is due to the fact, that the person in the second link had their SON dressing up as "Daphne" from "Scooby Doo". She made sure several times before ordering that indeed that is what her 5-YEAR-OLD son wanted to be. And he was quite adamant mind you, seeing as his BFF (a GIRL) was dressing as Scooby and wanted to pair up.

Now mind you, this all had taken place in a CHRISTIAN Preschool setting. Where they are taught Pre-Kindergarten concepts and that Jesus says we are to love one another no matter what and to treat others like how we wish to be treated. With love and respect.

Now, if you know me AT ALL, you know for a fact, I'm not one to post Biblical verses. I am a Christian, but not a Bible wielding one that will thump you over the head with the Good Book like bonking you with a ball bat. But just for today, I feel like quoting some Scripture.

Scripture text is derived by the Bible Gateway Site...

Matthew 22:37-40 (New International Version)

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In other words, if YOU wish to NOT be torn down and demand to be accepted and respected, you damn well better be willing to reciprocate in return.

Wow! The verses I found for you HYPOCRITE Christians out there!! Ready?

Psalm 26:4 (New International Version)-4 "I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites."

Matthew 7:5-"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Matthew 23:13-[Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees ] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."

Who can claim the name "Christian" when they are hypocrites to the tenth degree? And against a CHILD no less. Who has ANY right to judge another being? For ANY reason due to being different and "out of the box" where the "normalcy of society" is of any concern? Not myself. Not you. Not anyone. I should only judge my own misdeeds, and the misdeeds of my children. But all others should be left to the Lord God Almighty to judge for Himself. For HE is the ONLY true Judge of any one of us.

Luke 6:37-“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

As a child, and for the majority of it, I was judged and ridiculed. By both children and adults alike. Of course, I felt that it was both parties' faults. It wasn't until later in years, say in my teens, that I had come to an eye-opening conclusion. I should NEVER have blamed the children. But the parents that had raised them.

Children are NOT born to hate and ridicule others in the world. They were TAUGHT to do so. By example and the leading of their parents. I remember COUNTLESS times where I had walked in the door from school, sullen, sometimes tears streaming down my cheeks and being quiet and reserved. All because again, I was picked on for looking different from the other children. And many of them that did this to me were fellow members of our church that I had attended as a child.

My parents had the cops called on them due to the fact that they parked in a Handicapped Zone LEGALLY. But to the old lady, I didn't "look handicapped enough" to need such a spot.

My father almost got in to a fist brawl in a grocery store checkout lane thanks to some idiot ADULT stating that "if I had a kid that LOOKED like that, I wouldn't let it out the house" (thanks to the trache, tubes and monitor wires I required to be hooked up to for day trips from the hospital).

How in the hell can ADULTS, let alone human beings, be so damned cruel? Especially towards CHILDREN? It's so beyond my comprehension, it scares me.

So, this poor mother and her child had to endure horrid comments about HIS choice of costume for this past Halloween. And she got it for "letting him wear THAT". So obviously (and quite sadly) those "mothers" pegged the kid as being Gay. So what, if he is?? He is OBVIOUSLY quite comfortable in his own skin. His mother is proud of him for being HIMSELF. Not some "image" of what or who OTHERS "think" he should "be like".

Parents and people in general such as these "Christian" hypocrites outright DISGUST me. Yep, I said it! They D-I-S-G-U-S-T me. They are a very small fraction of the type of people that just chap my hide. They are two-faced, corners-of-the-mouth speaking snakes in my eyes.

So remember everyone, do *not* blame the children who speak ill of others, for they know not fully what they are doing is wrong. Blame their parents and any other adult-centered influences within their lives. Because it's the ADULTS that are "bringing up" these children to be, act and think how they are doing so. All we can do as REAL Christians is love them and gently correct them and the errors of their words and/or ways.

For the children we are bringing up today will be our future that will bring up tomorrow.

Judging A Book By Its Cover...In This Case, Blog Posts.

Judgment. We all do it at some point in our lives. We may judge a person just by their looks or behavior. We might judge a place, just by secondhand "word of mouth" and decide to NOT go and look for ourselves. Or we judge a book, article or post by it's title, and refuse to read it because we automatically assume it's viewpoints are of a disgusting nature. And in turn, we once again base our opinion of not only the subject within the post, but we tend to judge the author as well.

This very thing happened with the previous post here on Homemaker Diary. Because someone had misread and in turn, misinterpreted the title to the post, taking it that I TRULY do believe in the nature as what the title "sounded like", I was made out to be a racist, controversy-seeking moron. When in fact, I am FAR from that "truth". And the post was named what I chose as to drive home a point. NOT to state what I truly felt.

If I honestly believed in the fashion that I had chosen for the title of my previous blog entry, then the "..." would not have surrounded the title's name. Hence I would have stated that I did indeed think/feel in that manner. But, I used the "..." to show the audacity of such a statement and show what I was about to write about.

Sadly, someone misconstrued the title with the ".." around it to mean that it was the title to the blog it's self and the statement that I really do think in the fashion of the title. And this person was only half right. And being that they flat out decided to not read the post in it's entirety, they missed out on the TRUE meaning and reflection of the post at hand. If anything, my post was speaking AGAINST such a statement. Towards ANY race/color.

If this person had swallowed their pride and not gone off half cocked, then maybe, just MAYBE they would have in the end agreed with me. Even after posting the main points from the blog its self, they still refused to read it. All because they decided blindly on the title's name.

If you wish to check out the post in reference, CLICK HERE.

This is what is wrong with the world today, in my opinion. And no, I am not innocent. Not by any means. To say otherwise would be stating an all out lie. ALL OF US are too quick to judge in this world. From skin color, to people with disabilities, to literally judging books (or in this case, blog posts) by their covers.

I lived my life with judgment all around me. Because of something I could not help. I looked different from my peers. I was not mentally challenged in any form of the word. But because I slightly looked different, with a trache in my throat, it left me open to automatic judging. Even by adults!

This is why I cannot stand ANY KIND of intolerance of any kind.Be it racial, ethnic, physically or mentally challenged, and a host of others. When you automatically "ASS"ume (which makes an ass out of U & ME) about a person, place or even an article BEFORE getting to know them or read the material, it doesn't make the offended look bad. It makes the offender look closed-minded and depending on the case, looking like a bigot and a hypocrite.

Personally, I would much rather read the article/post or get to know the person or place for MYSELF, **BEFORE** passing judgment upon it/them or making my opinion known. To do so leaves you looking less like a jackass.

This is for ANYONE, not just my "regular readers" for future reference...If you have nothing nice to say, being you are too closed-minded and/or scared to read something, be it here or on any other blogs, then here is a suggestion for you (and you the guilty, know who you are)...DO NOT SAY A WORD. Being you wish to predict what the post/article is about BEFORE reading it (if you choose to do so at all), and in turn closing yourself off to other's points of view, only to stay within your comfort zone I call Fantasy Island and not possibly gain a different perspective about the world around you.

Being a Mother (Or Wife) *Really Is* A 'Thankless' Job!

I honestly DO love being my children's mother. They bring smiles to my face in one way or another, almost on a daily basis.

I've laughed with them. I've cried with them. I've laughed at their actions or words. I've cried for them.

All in all, I would die for them, if need be. I would do almost anything for them. Almost.

When you hear women say that motherhood is a 'thankless' job, they aren't kidding! It truly is a 'thankless' job, indeed. No pay (as in no monetary gain), no vacation (even when you ARE on vacation, away from the kids), no sick days (being you still most of the time, end up caring for them, even when feeling your worst), and no promotion (being that you have the highest job in the "company").

You cook. You clean. You ensure that they have all that they need, basics-wise. You make sure that they are up, ready, and prepared for school each morning. And never once (or so rare, that we often forget it has been said) do you get a "thanks for all that you do, Mom" comment from them.

Lately, I have gotten really tired. Tired of being the (Not Very) Merry Maid around the house. No matter what I threaten my kids with, be it loss of TV or computer time, or any other interests that I can take away, it doesn't seem to sink in.

It's a CONSTANT battle to get, let alone KEEP the house (especially their rooms and the play/family room) decently clean for more than twenty-four hours at a time. And instead of THEM HELPING to clean up around the house (mainly their own messes), I end up having to. Or else I have "consequences" to pay. Such as hearing my husband bitch and moan.

In fact, I also have to clean up after him. It's little things. But even then, I feel it is a bit...hypocritical of him to get on the kids about not cleaning up after themselves, but he leaves band-aid wrappers laying around, or a glass on the table.

It must be nice to go to your job, work your ass off, and when you do something that is "above and beyond", you get a compliment. Praise is a nice "payment" or "reward" for a job well done.

Sadly though, many a mother and/or wife that stays home all day doesn't hear those simple, few words that can and does make her day. What are they, you ask?

"The house looks really good. You did a good job".

Honestly, how hard IS this for any man to say? Must be almost impossible. I get "dumped on" with his daily work happenings. I also get told of the GOOD points of his day as well. The same with the kids.

The minute I try to talk about my "roses and thorns" though, I get deaf ears and practically ignored. Or at times even told "I don't want to hear it"...Nice, huh?

I know for a fact, that I am far from being the ONLY wife/mother with these thoughts, and these "situations". But just once in a while, I want to be seen as more than that. I want more than JUST the respect of being 'just' a wife to my husband, and 'just' the mother to my children.

For so many years, I have been struggling to keep MY identity. My pre-wife and my pre-motherhood identities. Thus far, I think I have failed in still trying to be the ME that I was before husbands and kids. I know that I am more than these two things. But apparently, I am not viewed in any other manner. At least not in my own home.

This may be far from the truth. I'm sure that my husband would tell me otherwise. But then again, 'actions speak louder than words'.

Got a small beef with blog followers (from ANY blog).

Just out of curiosity...

Do you 'drop' a blogger from your list of reading ventures due to their not writing a post basically on a daily basis?

Do you, if you blog, write on your blog page(s) on a daily basis, a few times or once a week? Or do you blog when the mood to moves you?

I'm wondering if a (now former) follower dropped me being that it was almost a week or so between posting blog posts. I don't really care that they did so. But it popped in my head that I must not be writing enough to suit their reading taste.

Well, lets take a really good look at my blog and break it down, shall we?

Look at the name of my blog... 'The (Not Always) Happy Homemaker Diary'. Operative word here? HOMEMAKER. Which means that I am a STAY-AT-HOME wife and mother.

I have one husband and I have THREE kids. And those children (through this weekend) are on SUMMER VACATION from school. Which means three kids that need to have MY attention as needed BEFORE anything else.

Plus if you notice, I have written many times in the past about my son, who is a SPECIAL NEEDS child that requires more attention and time consumption than most 'average' kids.

Plus, I have to take care of the home, hence the HOMEMAKER part of my blog name. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, cleaning out cat boxes (being we have three of them) and any other jobs that need to be done around here.

Now, if you have read the blog entry from YESTERDAY, you will also know that I am gearing up to once again volunteer at my kids' school (hopefully) three days a week, if not more. I'm quite possibly being 'promoted' to Co-Volunteer Coordinator. Which means quite possibly more time at the school, as well as 'working' from home.

Plus I will be on not just one, but two Parent Advisory Boards for not only the school, but for my school's district.

So, when you add all of this together, it makes for MUCH less time typing up blog entries. And if you are looking for daily, or semi-daily bloggers, then I am NOT your girl. Especially with school starting.

Also, I have a secondary blog called ParanorMel that delves in to the realm of the Paranormal. Primarily with ghosts/spirits and hauntings. Even that blog gets posted to, maybe, I'd say once a week to every two weeks. It all depends on if I had a personal experience happen, if there is a topic in my head that I wish to cover, or if I found a video and/or article that I found interesting enough to share.

But also, I do NOT see my followers dropping me there. And they know I WILL post. Just not more than MAYBE twice a week. Or for as long as every two weeks.

With that said, I hope that you will stick with me and watch for new posts in the future. At this point in time, you might never know when I will write about my adventures in life, marriage and raising my kids.

Just know that I WILL BE around. Just not as often. I find it sad that some people base their reading on the fact of how often a person posts entries. It should be based on QUALITY of the work. Not on QUANTITY in the numbers of posting.