some thinking time

With Vicki in kindergarten and Little Man buzzing around the house like a madbaby, I've had a surprising amount of time to think.  I keep going round and round in circles, and feel moved to write, but I'm afraid everything will come out nonsensical or disjointed.  I guess I'm going to start a long draft on here, and keep saving and editing until I feel compelled to publish (which is usually immediately, but I promise myself more time with the next one).
A few things that have been on my mind: what Christianity/being a Christian means to me, doing my interpretation  of the Constitution (since everyone else is), and good LORD my daughter is getting huge.
That last one is an ongoing thing, and probably won't make it into the posts.

And now, I leave you with a baby in a witch hat:

I made my own hell!

General asshats
Circle I Limbo

Puppy stompers
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

DMV Employees
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Scientologists
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Creationists
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Republicans
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

Tea Baggers
Circle VII Burning Sands

Glenn Beck
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

NAMBLA Members
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

Something that might hit close to home.

It's been awhile. But let us jump ahead to what's going on now.

There has been a plague of bullying brought to light in the last few years - even more so in the last few months.  Children - yes, children - are killing themselves for things that we look back on as adults and realize they are growing experiences.  Given we did not have many of the technologies that kids do now that bullies use to harass beyond the schoolyard.  We also did not have the technology to embarrass ourselves in the way that kids do now - namely, sexting.  I know that personally while growing up I was entirely too modest to take a nude picture, much less send one to someone who might potentially forward it to thousands of people.  But times have changed.

Now our children are bullied for the simplest mistakes that any of us could make - and some think that suicide is the only way.  Other children are bullied for things that are not, in my opinion, within their realm of control. Honestly, what middle- or high-schooler would choose the incredibly difficult path of coming out?  How do you "choose" one's sexual orientation?  Personally, I always knew I liked guys - they were cute (and later, sexy) to me, they gave me butterflies and made me pay attention to my appearance, hoping that one would like me.  It wasn't a choice, it was just there.  I didn't "choose" to be straight because it was easy - and trust me, no relationship is easy. This tangent is relevant, just keep up!

Children that realize that they are gay and have the confidence - nay, the BALLS to come out while in such a hormone-fueled, turbulent, ever-changing environment such as school are being harassed.  They should be applauded!  This harassment is coming from intolerance, hate, and sometimes just plain ignorance.  A lot of times it isn't the bully forming their own opinion, but just imitating the opinion of the parent(s).  Therein, my readers, lies the problem.

Why do we hate based on ignorance?  Why does the fear of the unknown or misunderstood lead to belittling another human being, another Child of God?  Does God love "the gays" less than you or me? Excuse me for a minute here, but HELL NO.  God loves everyone equally, without question, unconditionally, forever and ever no matter what you do. The. End.

Since God loves them, why do you fear them? It just doesn't make sense to me!! If you are a Christian, you accept everyone as they are, and don't pick and choose random old laws from Leviticus to support your theory.  Christ came and changed those laws. This is why we are Christian, and not Jewish (not to mention the whole bloodline thing).

Now, for you non-Christians, the argument comes down humanity or morality.  Why are you making fun of someone for something they can't control?  Why not make fun of their hair color, or who they great-great-grandpappy is?  Because it isn't as sensitive, and wouldn't hurt the target as much, you say?  Well grow the hell up.  I'm sure you aren't perfect, and have things of your own that you secretly loathe.

Something to make you smile!

Here's the deal. While you are in middle and high school, hormones are raging. People seem to change from day to day.  Scandals come and go.  But herein lies the secret: while you are concerned with what others think of you, they are concerned about what you think of them.  Do you have acne?  Try to look through the make-up, everyone else around you probably does too.  Think your package is smaller while changing out in the locker room?  Guess what, the guy next to you is worrying about the exact same thing.  There's a psychological term for it, I remember reading it, but for the life of me I can't find it right now.  Let me know in the comments if you know it! 

So there is my position.  Kids, talk to your parents.  They remember high school better than you think they do.  For my generation, my parents grew up in the 60s - there isn't much that would have surprised them.  I know now that I should have went to my dad more about some of my concerns, but if someone had put that perspective on it, I might have.  

This may be pretty disjointed, but I needed to get my thoughts out.  Thanks all!

It's been crazy!

As per usual around here, things got kinda nuts.  July 4th, there was a tragic balcony collapse in a nearby city at an apartment complex.  One friend was lost, and another severely injured.  Others had relatively minor injuries, considering they fell three stories.  God works in odd ways, an we never know what's going to happen next.

I love this girl.

That threw my life into a loops, and then....Family Reunion!!!

Me and the rest of the Bug family went up to Lake Lanier, GA for the vonGal-Vreeland reunion - this is my mom's side of the family.  The place was gorgeous - water park, lakes, horses, the whole nine yards.  It was great getting to see family that I never see!  Most of those people saw me last in 1988 or 1993, so my husband got a lot of  "Last time I saw her, she was *this* high! With all that curly hair! Oh, it's still so curly! She must get it from her dad's side..."

I warned him.

Yup, curly. 

While there, we got a dog for VickiBug's fifth birthday!  We found a different way to make use of the doggie cage:

I swear, he climbed in himself.

There's the update! Another one is soon to follow, with it being focused primarily on my lack of decorating skills.

Spiders On Drugs

I know, I know, I'm up late. But I had to share this one.

BP Oil Spill: Kindra Arnesen Venice LA Needs to Evacuate

I'm not usually a pick-up-the cause type, but this woman has many, many things to say that NEED to be said. This was on many different YouTube channels, but was pulled by "the user" - and not sure why. Hopefully this one will still work.

An Adventure in Car Buying

Everything's an adventure these days, isn't it?  The Husband's been getting mucho overtime (yay for monies, bad for time together) and therefore we've been truckin right along with the plans to become the quintessential American Family.  You know, 2.3 kids, a house, a car, 1.4 dogs.   Well, we got the kids (not sure how we're gonna work a percentage of a kid yet), the house, and TODAY WE GOT A TRUCK.

Actually, THIS truck.  (!!!)

Ain't it purdy?  

Our need for this?  Think this:

Plus husband, of course.

In this:

Farewell, Jeep.  You will be missed.

Oh, that was a crunch.  So now we have room for kiddos AND groceries!! It's swell. Just awesome.  I'm bouncing off the (newly painted) walls.

Now, onto my plea for a puppy and American Life domination.....

BP Spills Coffee

Comedy on a serious issue. Seriously, this is how BP handled everything.

My first adventure in DIY-ing

We closed on the house April 9th!!  

This house, specifically. 

And, being a new homeowner, what is the first thing that I can change about the house that is cheap, quick, and relatively painless?

 

If you guessed painting, you were wrong on the relatively painless part.  

I decided to start with the kitchen (small painting area, much of it relatively covered up with tile/cabinets/appliances).  I wanted a sunny, yellow kitchen: something cheerful.  

oh yeah - YELLOW!

And now we enter the realm of MamaBug's adventure into painting.  Let's start with step one.  Or what I now know to be step one.

1.  Clean every. Thing.

     Bugs and cobwebs, while a nice accessory to any room's corner, do not do well being painted over.

2.  Tape everything, whether or not you think to.  If you are going to be painting within 8 feet of it, tape it.  Tape the ceiling.  The baseboards.  Your clothes and hair.  

And this is why.

3.  Put down your drop cloth.

     Or at least a small cat to catch drips.

4.  Lock up all small children.

They will thank you for it later.

5.  Corner the room with paint.

     No one told me about this until I'd began.  This is what caused me to need a third and/or fourth coat of paint.  Cornering is taking this angled paintbrush thingy and painting the corners and other places the roller apparently won't reach, no matter how much you try to force the roller to go there, and end up painting the ceiling.

6.  Paint!  

Use these type tools, not your hands. 

7.  Allot several days and/or hours to pass between coats so they aren't streaky.

     

I went with hours...and it took days.  Crap.

8.  Remove tape and clean everything again once you're done!

     This is because you've made a pretty good mess, dripping paint everywhere your drop cloth had a tiny gap between it and the floor.

9.  Call a professional to fix your mistakes.

     This is my current step.

my favorites from 5SF

New House, New Adventure

Here we go:


WE HAVE KEYS!!!!!!

We closed on our new house on Friday, with much carpel tunnel and cheers.  We recieved keys, and money (What?! We got money while going into 100k+ of debt?!) for various repair and closing costs - I'm not really sure why, but hey! money!!

So now I have the daunting task of packing.  The wonder in-laws have both kids for the weekend, so I am at a complete loss of what to do with myself.  The practical thing is to go ahead and get started while I don't have to keep Lil Man from eating phone cords and such, but that would make too much sense!!

However, I timed myself of Friday.  Straightening up the apt + vacuuming = about 1 hour.  Well, that just told me to quit being lazy!  Yet here I am, typing away, listening to pandora.  Ahh, Gin Blossoms, Cowboy Mouth...stuff to get me moving.  So I better get going, huh? 

Here's a few videos of the latest excitement of Lil Man getting on his way to crawling:




And one more:

New House!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've been in negotionations for a house in the past two weeks, and are now in the inspection phase of it!  We've done a house inspection and a septic inspection.  Now we have to wait for the appraisal and find out who the termite contract is with and get that done! 

Pictures wil sooooon follow.  I'm in Jemison right now, watching the healthcare debate, and just praying that our leaders make the right choice.  It's the only thing I really can do at this point!

Joe's talking about how America would be if it was run entirely by blue-collar workers.  No politicians (and let me tell you, this is my first time actually WATCHING c-span, and the politicians are testy and act like children more often than not) might cause an actual advancement in America.  But yet again, most that anyone can do is vote on election days, vote on propostitions, and vote with their dollars right now.  American has made a decision, and we have to go with it.

I don't remember who it was that was on the TV when I woke up from my Sunday nap (Holy crap! a sunday nap!) I want to say it was Joel something, and he was doing piece on "Bloom where you're planted".  It really goes along with what I believe - the whole everything happens for a reason.  God's working in your life, whether or not you realize it.  I've always taken comfort in that. 

Well, I'm going to try and get a little Bug in bath and bed, and a Lil Sumo Baby is trying to munch on electrical cords.  Back soon with pictures!

We're Lookin At Houses!

I finally called the realtor (luckily, she's a cousin to my dad) and we're getting the ball rolling on finding a house!  Hopefully we can find and sign before the April 30th deadline of the tax credit. 

It's short and sweet, but I'm excited to be getting out these damned apartments.  We have neightbors that constantly are fighting and slamming doors - we even had to call the cops out one time.  I enjoyed our first place, but we are really outgrowing this tiny little "neighborhood"....which if you take the last four letters of that word, will tell you where this place is heading. 

Mostly I'm excited to be getting our first house.  Yay!

ADD

DEL

Move

Porn for New Moms

A book hits the streets...and you get a glimpse of the hot guys!

Gift of an Ordinary Day

This is worth the 7 minutes of watching - for all of the moms out there.

Thanks to my Aunt Kit for sending this to me!

Adventure in Writing, Part the Second

When we last left our heroine, she was deciding on a job.  No, not a job - a career path.  Something that would intrigue her mind, challenge her when necessary, and never leave her bored.

Wait, I mentioned she was a mother, right?

Okay, a job besides Conflict Resolution Specialist - aka Mommy Dearest.

I think some kind of crusader would aptly describe our main character.  I think that our main character is a social worker.

At least I hope so.  She might change careers.

So, our social worker has had her first perfectly normal morning. 

Crap.  I need to think more.

An Adventure in Writing

"The Perfect Morning"

I awoke at a reasonable time, around 7:30, to the delicious aroma of coffee.  God bless the man who invented the automated timer - caffeine is the first reason I wake up and roll out from underneath covers.  The second is the morning paper.  I realize it's a bit behind the times, what with the internet and all, but there is something about the feel of a newspaper under your hands that just gets me going.  It might be the crinkle of the paper, the smell of the ink, or possibly the frustration of getting the damn thing to crease right so I can read the article that I want to.  Anyway, I'm a crossword person, but I make myself wait until the end of perusing through the news - it's my reward for keeping up to date. 

After finishing the coffee, finishing the newspaper, completing the crossword (or at least pretending to), a nice muffin would do me.  A second cup is taken to the computer desk, where I check the e-mail, see what my friends are up to over on Facebook, and see what lovely rants Consumerist has for me.  Satisfied catching up on my daily knowledge, I would wake up and feed both children.  Cereal for Vickibug, and milk for Lil Man. While they're eating, I would tidy up the kitchen and put a load in the washing machine.  My husband would wake up and actually eat breakfast for once. 

God, my day is sounding absolutely boring.  Let's assume the house is perfect, everyone's eaten and bathed, and some sanity still resides within me.  Ooh, let's give me a job.  A cool one.  Spy?  Too obvious.  Crap. 

Lil Man is awake again, need to pause this until another time.

Update, then an Adventure

After the update.  Things plod along normally in this household, and we are now truly in the market for a house.  Apartment living is ridiculously expensive right now, and our mortgage would be at least $100 cheaper than our rent right now.  So that's that.

There has been snow:

 

Mmmm, handsome.

Snoop Dog:

 

He was sitting on a car at World of Wheels.

Much food:

 

om nom nom

And, of course, mice:

Awww.....get out. You ain't payin rent.

There's life in a nutshell there.

I've been watching Roseanne reruns, and it got me in the mood to write.  So next will be my experiment in writing, starting with what every mom dreams of: scripting the perfect day. 


After I put Lil Man back to sleep.

Mouse in the House

So, everything's been puttering along per usual in the house.  We've been getting over this stupid stomach virus, and as a result we had to get the carpets cleaned.

 

OMG CLEAN CLEAN!

It's up to you to decide why we had to have the carpets cleaned.  

We have still been battling the mouse

 

A mouse?! Whhaaaaat?!

But we got him today.  Well, if not the one I usually see, at least one of his friends.  Cute little thing, too, he just doesn't belong in the house.  He was laying on the kitchen floor (probably dying from the poison the critter man left out awhile ago), so I scooped him up and put him outside.

 

Awwww.....get out.

 

 

We got our tax refund in, and have thus payed off all our credit cards (the evil things).  Happy dance! 

 

 And we've been Valentine's Day shopping.  Made a day out of it - however, I did mine online so's Husband doesn't know what he's getting.  We did an imprint today of Vicki's hand for her gift.  

 

Mostly, I just wanted to post pictures of the mouse we caught.  Nothing interesting has happened over here otherwise.  

 

So, back to your lives, people.  

Sickness in the house of the Bugs

Been a minute since updates, but we've come down with that stomach flu that's been going around down here.  I had it Friday, Husband caught it yesterday, and we are trying our best not to get the kids infected.

C'mon, who would want this lil guy sick?  He knows he's handsome.

Sadly, Gus-Gus is no longer with us.  Unfortunately, the Man of the House took matters into his own hands - steel mouse trap and a doughnut.  Yep, that got him.   This is after he tried chasing him around with a hammer (imagine that mental image).

 

So here are some ducks to think about instead.

No ridiculous things going on minus the mouse hunt has ended.  Oh, but I am stupidly excited about Lost premiering tomorrow.  I can't wait to see how this goes. 

Well,  I need to get Lil Man off to dreamland.  Since he's refusing to. Mostly I just wanted to say that we all got sick, and pathetic, blah-de-blah-blah-blah.  Now, I have to go chase some sleep.

 

Ah, Chunky Monkey bliss.

Mouse updates and the like.

Today was Doctor day for Lil Man.  18 lbs, 14 oz, and 26 inches - aka Sumo Baby.

Beware.

Shots and the like, but otherwise he's ready for real food!  Hopefully he won't turn into Godzilla and take over the apartment...

It usually is hard to get Husband up in the mornings (well - afternoons, night shift work) but I've found the most effective way to wake him up is in waves.  First, the gentle "How much more time do you want, honey?"  That is followed by, "Wake up so you can get started.  Now."  After that, I deploy the troops.

First wave, GO!

The Battle of Mt. Daddy

Second wave, GO!

  

 

No one can hide.

 

 

Eventually, he gives in.  My easy way of getting up is simple:  caffeine.  And lots of it.  I can take it in many forms: hot, carbonated, and intraveneously.

                                              My mug is on the right.                                                        Ah, sweet sweet caffeine.

Oh, and Gus-Gus is getting BOLD.  Little bugger ran right out in front of me today and dashed under the TV.  Then he went over THREE sticky traps and squeezed into the hole I (thought) was plugged up.  Gus-Gus is wily, and smart.  We had a stare down.  I won.  I'd catch him, but he's not worth enough points for Mousehunt (ha-ha).

Well, it's a Girl's Night over here, and time for sushi.  I just had to update the madness.

For the Personal Things in Life

I think I'm going to have to bring over some of my old posts to make this blog official.  I really liked doing the personal blog, especially with all the new antics that are happening.  So I've decided to keep this one up for the funny things, and keep the two facts over on the the other blog. 

So!  Back to the daily grind.

We have been invaded by a mouse.  This offender has shown up three times, and has got to go.  I've nicknamed the lil bugger GusGus, and he is a fast little devil.  Sneaking around, I couldn't capture a picture of the offending party, but had a mock up done for identifying purposes:

Cinderella's Mice
by FrogMiller 

(artist's rendering)

If this mouse is seen, please catch him immediately.  He is guilty of darting out from underneath furniture, making scritchy-scratchy noises, and not paying rent. 

-

My Daddy-o stayed the night over here last night.  He was driving back from ATL to Baton Rouge after seeing my sister and her kiddos, and doesn't do awesome at night driving.  It's great having him here, he's full of stories.  That was just a side note.  I'm one of those girls that will always love her daddy.  

I have to get back to attempting to clean.  For some reason, that self-cleaning house I ordered never arrived.  The laundry-folding fairy is also on backorder.  Looks like I'm going to have to do everything myself....