Little Ditty

Want to know how I started out this spectacular weekend?

With the news that my Granny had stroke. Yippeee!

How do I respond to the news that my Granny, the Pillar of my family had a stroke?

After I'm done sobbing uncontrollably in my room, proceed to convince myself and everyone around me that it had to be a Heat Stroke because I'm really not ready to accept the fact that my 89 year old Grandmother just might die one day.

She is invincible.

She will live forever and that's final.

Now, the icing on my crappy weekend to top off my horribly crappy, depressing week?

Camille cut her first tooth this morning. At 3:30 a.m. to be exact. And I know that because she woke up screaming hysterically. I can no longer live in the fantasy world that my baby will always stay a baby.

Have a great weekend people.

I'm depressed.

Two's Company

Oh my gosh it's 8:45 a.m. and I had every intention of writing this last night and then just waking up bright and early and pressing the publish button. I have failed. Greatly. Instead I sit here desperately trying to make a decision of who, who should I choose and I find myself torn. If I had just sat down and started this last night my morning would have been a little smoother and Camille would not have to be ignored and left on the floor to chew on carpet fuss. But instead I came home last night from a "domestic outing" and flopped myself on the couch to watch my 2 DVR'd episodes of Grey's Anatomy that I must get caught up on because stupid me started watching the show at the end of the season. What person in their right mind starts watching a show a month or two before the season ends? Me, that's the kind of person.

Because I procrastinated and just can't choose one, I choose two. It'll give us a kick start and one of the sites, well, she's new so my whole premise of taking the weekend to get caught up on sites would be silly because her archives are like, 2 months old and if you have a life like me that'll only take you an hour.

Our very first Lunch on Friday blog is brought to you by The Coffee Table. I've gotta give love to someone who nominates themselves. See people? I was serious! I think it's so awesome that she raised her hand and said "Choose me, choose me" so yes, I choose you! Hoosier Girl, as she likes to call herself, is a single Mom of 3 and lives in Kentucky. And she plays Sudoku, I play Sudoku! Oh my gosh, what are the chances?

Now, Hoosier Girl only has 2 months worth of archives, so after your done getting caught up with her, skip on over here but you better hurry. Kristi only has 3 weeks left until she gives birth to her first child which she conceived with her first IVF cycle but after 5 failed IUI's. Now, granted she does have a little more of a following than I do, but I like her site and she's going to have a baaaaaby soon. I love baby's. And she doesn't pimp all the big wigs on her link list so she's winner in my eyes.

So there you have it. Go read, leave comments and let them know they've been the latest contestants on Lunch on Fridays.

Lunch on Fridays

When I was in high school there was this girl. She wasn't very popular but she was extremely nice. Every Friday the Seniors were allowed to eat lunch off campus. And every Friday all the popular kids would go to Pizza Hut. Everyone but this extremely nice girl. She wasn't invited. She wasn't mocked, she wasn't teased, she was just ignored which to me is worse. At least acknowledge her existence, acknowledge that she is there. I only went out once with the popular kids, they did invite me, surprisingly since I didn't like the popular kids and they knew it. However, I didn't like the thought of this extremely nice girl staying behind with her lunch that she brought from home. Well, this extremely nice girl and I became extremely nice friends and we would go off every Friday to lunch by ourselves. I adored our time together. We always had a ton to talk about and always found ourselves laughing so hard through our lunch that we would leave with sore stomachs. This extremely nice girl was extremely hysterical. The popular kids just never understood why I wouldn't want to be with them. They didn't understand why I didn't want to sit around and talk about how cute David Tate was and how Aimee Garland just kissed him that weekend. Well, in my opinion David Tate was not that cute and honestly his cocky attitude made him extremely unattractive to me. And as an added bonus to me sitting around wooing and dreaming about kissing this boy was just a disgrace to the female gender. I had more important things to talk about with the extremely nice girl.

I've always rejected the notion of the popular crowd and found more substance in the unknown from my taste in music to my obsession with blogs. There is certain site that is one of the popular kids. Everybody goes their on Friday for lunch. On one particular post, the sites author asked for readers to tell her who they are reading and she would highlight the most popular responses on this site. Not like it was any surprise? Let's just say that everyone was just swooning over David Tate. Each comment, each reader would go all goo-goo ga-ga for the popular kids, as if they didn't really have a thought of their own and had to call all the popular kids. Everyone went with the same flow, the same sites, the well knowns. No one had a thought of their own, except me of course, but do you really think that the site that I offered up will be highlighted? Of course not because my site isn't on the list of popular kids and I'm not trying to act cool. It's almost as if you asked me for a recommendation of a good, not so well known restaurant to eat at and I told you all about this great little Italian place called the Olive Garden. Or how there's this great fast food place called McDonalds that serves the best fries.

So my friends, if you want a job done right do it yourself. Here in Princess and Johnsy land I'm going to highlight my own sites, the unknowns who are writing such great sites that I think you need to read them to. Sometimes when you're doing this,these online journals, you wonder if anyone is reading, if anyone cares or gets you. When you only get a few readers each week, you start to question if it's even worth taking them time. And as a reader, sometimes you just want to read a little unknown site, a diamond in the rough that no one has discovered yet. Therefore, each and every week, I am hosting what I will title Finally Friday. I chose this day because many sites close down for the weekend giving you plenty of time to catch up with the highlighted sites and to read through archives so you're all ready for Monday when your regularly scheduled blogs reopen.

I was really excited when the site mentioned above was going to do this. I thought I'd find new exciting territory and instead I got Las Vegas. I would love for you guys to help me and nominate some sites that you read, the unknowns. You don't have to if you don't want to. I'll set myself up for no one participating and just nominate my own sites, but it would be more fun and productive if you guys would pitch in here. And of the numerous hits I get per day, I know you're out there, lurking, so delurk and give me some suggestions. Leave me a comment or send me an email, I don't care, just participate darnit! And the best part? Nominate yourself! Don't be shy, tell me to highlight your site, I don't care. I just want to do this in a way to say "Bleh" to everyone else who couldn't find a unique thought of their own.

Now, don't let the extremely nice sites out there eat by themselves each Friday while you hang out with the popular kids at Pizza Hut.

Meme Moi

Apparently I owe a few folks out there a meme. As much as I adore being tagged (hint, hint) I must agree with my cousin though that these last couple of meme's were made by teens and twenty somethings who still are living that childfree single life. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, trust me, I lived up those days once but now that I'm not there anymore it is a little difficult to answer questions like "Imagine your first is a girl". Steph had also said how she should write her own meme and really I thought that was a great idea so I ventured to do exactly that but then realized how absolutely non creative I truly am and quit. Yes, I'm a quitter. But I am not so prideful that plagiarism is beneath me. Nor is tagging myself. Ha! That's right folks, I'm tagging my own damn self. All the cool kids are doing this one meme, and since they didn't invite me I'm inviting myself to play!

So here we go, let's play like the cool kids:

Apparently in cool kid land you are supposed to name things you have been obsessed with throughout your life, who knew!

Toddlerhood:

Grover ~ I loved my Grovers and even had 3 stuffed Grovers that I slept with each night. I still have them but will never let Camille come within a mile of them, I'm still kinda protective of them.

Childhood (5-9):

Stickers ~ I had a kick ass sticker collection even though my sisters said theirs were better than mine, we all knew they were just very jealous

Strawberry Shortcake Dolls ~ Who could go wrong with dolls who smelt like candy?

Pre-teen (9-12):

Presidential election ~ now do you see why I had no friends?

Little house on the Prairie Books ~ see above

Scrunchies ~ my sister had every color of the rainbow and I had maybe 2 so I would steal hers, she deserved it.

Early Teens (13-16):

Money ~ I learned at a very early age how to make it, how to save it and how to make it go as long as possible. I loved babysitting, I hated other people's kids but the money was my crack

Late Teens (16-20):

Fashion ~ I've been known to hold down 3 jobs, one which was at Express and I became obsessed for years with clothes. Each new season they would give us a incredible discount on top of a incredible sale.

Money ~ It stilled dominated those years. The hell with high school idiots, I would work all weekend and watch my bank account grow.

D ~ yep! Met him when I was 17 and fell instantly in love. We spent a ton of time together. During college, each break we were inseparable.

Early 20's to present day

My home ~ when I was little I will never forget this line from the Jetsons. Rosey the maid had gotten a new chip put in her and she went on a cleaning frenzy and would repeat over and over "A place for everything and everything in it's place" well, that has become my motto, drives D nuts.

Everything ~ how creative is that? Seriously though I have touches of OCD, diagnosed, yep, that'sa me. I'm totally obsessed about everything from the number M&M's or other small candies I'll eat at one time (answer: even numbers, can't eat 3, must eat 2) to the way I rotate the dishes as I put them away making sure that I don't constantly use the same dish so when I unload the dishwasher I put the clean dish on the bottom, it's real pain. Unfortunately I could go on.

Tag time...here is the part where you, my wonderful reader is enjoying this little meme and then you get to the end of the list and realized that you have been tagged. Some of you will swear at me because you absolutely hate these and some of you will celebrate because you really need a quick and easy post. Now, I know some of you just got tagged so I won't retag you, don't worry. Instead I tag you're it 4 other amazing ladies: Rich Girl Poor Girl, please don't feel obligated as you are debachlorizing an entire house, planning a wedding, working and school, but I thought it would give you a post!! Preemiehood, I know you're updating about the pregnancy which we all are on pins and needles hearing more good news, so here is a little ditty for the in between to keep us happy. Angelsfight, my darling one who is away for the next couple of days, welcome back, now get to it! And lastly, I usher in a new member of Princess and Johnsy land, Hoosiergirl5, since I just started to read your blog I kinda want to get to know you better. And actually, I have also started to be lurkish (though I have commented once) over here but I don't think she knows I'm reading but she will now.

Acronym this

Today I went to the library for story time. While I was there, my friend and I decided to introduce ourselves to two other Mom's.

Now, before I continue, I am definitely sure that I have droned on and on to one of my friends about the story I am about relay to you. I don't remember who that poor friend was as I tend to drone on and on to many of my friends. Poor friends of mine. The droning, it's not very becoming of me.

As I was saying. I decided to go introduce myself, and my poor friend, to these two other mom's because I joined one of those meetup.com online groups geared to Moms. Yes, I know, humiliating. Now, in my defense I did not want to join originally but my friend did and she didn't want to go to an event by herself so she reeled me in and I, on my own free will, joined the bandwagon.

The first meetup wasn't a success. It wasn't horrible, but we got stuck with one of those over bearing Mom's. You know who they are. The ones who are positive that the way they are raising their child is the absolute only way to raise a child and if you veer off of her path of child rearing you should be compared to that of a criminal.

Realize that I could have written off the entire group and packed up my things refusing to play ever again. Instead I decided to just write off this particular Mom and I chalked it up to one wackadoo and I would not let her spoil the bunch. I haven't been able to attend many more of the events due to travel and cruddy weather. Finally, today an event was planned that I was actually able to attend. Before rsvp'ing yes, I decided to take a look through the other members profiles, just to get a sense of who would be there. As I read through them, I found myself becoming very confused, feeling like a needed a legend just to interpret exactly what these women were trying to say. It felt as if they needed certain acronyms just to prove to others how good of a Mommy they really are.

Here's some good examples:

".....I chose to give up my legal career to be a SAHM. I bf and practice ap. We look forward to meeting other families."

or this one:

"....I am EBF'ing, co-sleeping, delay vaxing, np mama.."

and not to forget this beauty:

"....I am a SAHM. I BF, wear, CD"

and this one just takes the cake:

"....I'm a stay at home mom and an active member of La Leche League. My daughter and I are "AP'ing", I wear, CD and I love trying out new slings and wraps."

So, it makes me wonder, what would my acronym be?

I am SAHM and I do bf if you could interpret that as bottle feed. But would am I allowed to admit that I bottle feed? Or can you not wear that as a trophy? But since she is on (gasp) formula would I then be a bff for bottle feeding formula?

Should I say that I am an ex-epm'ing mom which I learned that epm means exclusively pumping mom?

I make fresh baby food for my daughter so would that be considered mf for making food?

See, it's all confusing to me. I just don't get it. We all are moms. We all do what we think is right for our children. But in the end? No matter how hard we try? We will do something that will land our kids in therapy. So really the best thing to do is to stop being so concerned about the acronym that you can attach to yourself and just love the heck out of your children. Realize that other mom's will love their kids differently.

And make sure you set aside plenty of money for a good therapist.

I'm a mom.

I love my daughter.

No acronyms required.

Unsettled

Everywhere I look, everyone I talk too, heck, even every blog I read is all about vacation.

Everyone is taking a vacation somewhere.

Except Us.

Oh, how we need a vacation but a vacation is just not a possibility right now.

Things here aren't great, they're not horrible, just not where we need them to be right now. I've been dealing quite fine for the past week now but today? Today I am just not finding the patience or the emotional strength to be optimistic.

I know things will work out. I know we won't be doomed but right now it's just very unsettling and uncomfortable. I don't know where or when we are supposed to land. I want to be grounded. I want a big ole' arrow to come down from the sky and just point us the right direction. What I want is unrealistic so here I sit. Frustrated.

And talking about it just makes it worse because there is nothing to say to make it better. Trust me, I've tried the talking route. I just got off the phone with D and now instead of feeling better I have a headache.

I'm going to go ram my head against the wall now.

Freedom

As I've read through some sites today I've noticed that a lot of people are getting political on this day. I guess it isn't to shocking, seeing that today is a day that marks our country's freedom but what is shocking to me is how strongly opinionated many of these writers can be, which is easy to do. Trust me, I am strongly opinionated when it comes to the current politics but I make it a point here to not state my political views. I'm not at all intimidated by people disagreeing with me nor do I fear stepping on toes, not intentionally. But I know, for a fact, that my views on politics do no coincide with some of my readers views and really, there is no need to start a revolution here. There are two things that you don't talk about in friendships, religion and politics, two very sensitive topics that can tear even the most solid friendship to pieces. And you? You are my friends. Even those of you I don't know, I don't want to purposely offend you either and when you talk about politics it can just be assumed that someone will be offended.

But I can say this.

Today I do celebrate my freedoms.

My freedom of choice.

My freedom of speech.

My freedom from religion allowing me to worship how I see fit.

What freedoms are you thankful for?

She enjoys her freedom of choice like her Mama.

The freedom to daily choose to nap or not nap.

Happy 4th of July.