Can I Just Whine A Little???

I am not normally a clumsy person nor do I let much slow me down.  But this weekend, I felt like I was 'Goofy', the cartoon character.

We spent our beautiful, 90 degree weekend outside finishing yard work.  It seemed to all start when I turned around on our porch and caught my ankle on the base of the wooden rocker.  Damn!  That hurt!  For a few minutes it went numb, and then WHAM!  It started throbbing!  Within a very short time it started turning black and blue.

It wasn't long after that I turned around the other direction and caught the top of the very same foot on the blade of the saw-saw.  Now, that one really got me!  At first I thought I had just grazed it and went on with what I was doing until I realized I was bleeding all over the damn porch!  So off I go in search of a large enough bandage and some Neosporin to doctor my blang foot.

Seriously, it didn't look like this...it was just fine with an over-sized band-aid.

My day proceeds on without event until late afternoon when I pleasantly smash my thumb with a hammer!  I'm sure you can only imagine the words that came out of my mouth with that...

I thought I was finished with getting 'beat on' by the elements of my day until I ran my hand along the porch railing and picked up a splinter in my left hand.  This would not normally be a problem but as I am left handed, I can't do shit with my right hand!  Absolutely no coordination with my right hand to hold a needle and try to pry that little booger out of there with a pin.  So today, it is festered up and hurts like a son-of-a-bitch!

(not my hand)

   I'm wondering how many days will it be before it works its way out of there.  Anyone have any ideas??©

This Moment

This Moment

"A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

“This Moment” is a ritual found on Life inspired by theWee Man adopted from SouleMama which was introduced to me by Sarah-Jane, author of Almost There. If you find yourself touched by a Moment and would like to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments section.

This is So Totally Random!

I am aware that nature needs bugs, spiders, snakes, etc. to make the eco-system work.  That's absolutely wonderful!  As long as they stay their asses away from me!

The past week, I have had more encounters with spiders than I have in my entire life!  And these spiders have not been the friendliest of sorts neither!  For the last 15 years, we have lived on a farm and outside of the common 'Daddy Long Leg', I didn't run into many spiders at all.  Really?  You would think you would see quite a few on a farm, but naughta.

The first spider I had the pleasure of coming across was what my friend called a 'Trap Door Spider' as it lashed out at her foot.  She screamed!  I screamed and didn't even know what the hell I was screaming at!  She walks back up to this tiny, little hole in the ground and puts a stick down the the opening and damn!  Here comes this creature out of the hole like it's going to grab a hold of that stick and tear it up!  This is what it looked like.

And this is after I doused it with about 1/2 gallon of gasoline!  It was still moving...hardy little creature.

The next two I encountered was while my son was moving a stack of cement block.  I told him to watch out for snakes, but never even thought of spiders.  He and his buddy messed with this dude for quite awhile before I figured out what was going on.  This little guy was mean!  He had fangs and was biting into everything you put in his path.  Even things that weren't in his path, he would take off charging at anything he could charge at.  I have no idea what this crazy creature is, so if you happen to know, please comment and let me know.  This is what he looked like before I smashed him with a part of a block!

Now, the last one we came across was one the boys told me was a 'Black Widow'.  Of course, when it comes to identifying spiders, I am totally clueless.  Okay, if that's what you want to call it, Black Widow it is.

I apologize for the last two photos.  The clarity is not the best.  But hey, I may not be a spider expert but I'm not a dumb-ass either!  I know good and well what a 'Black Widow' can do and I wasn't going to get any closer to that damn thing than I had to in order to snap a picture!  They wouldn't let me kill this one and now he resides in the bottom of a bottle.  For the time being anyhow.

So, if I have any spider experts reading this post that can tell me what these darling little creatures are, I would greatly appreciate it.

This Moment

This Moment

"A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

“This Moment” is a ritual found on Life inspired by theWee Man adopted from SouleMama which was introduced to me by Sarah-Jane, author of Almost There. If you find yourself touched by a Moment and would like to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments section.

What is Your Limit with Your Children?

Why on earth do children feel that they have to wait until the last minute to inform their parents of something they need for school?  Especially, when it is something that takes more time than just running to the store and picking up!


Yesterday, my son comes home from school and says "Mom, I need something made for class".  I reply "What do you need and when do you need it by?"  He answers "I need something baked and uh, mmh...I need it in the morning???" (as he lowers his voice so I can barely hear him)

Momma isn't happy!

Children have such a simplified picture of life.  Wake up, go to school, come home, and enjoy life unless mom or dad ask you to do something, which of course you will need to gripe about because your 'enjoying life' has been interrupted!

Me, on the other hand, seem to always be two to three steps behind where I'm supposed to be at most times. So, when you through in a little 'surprise' on me, I get all scatter-brained.  I like to be organized.  I can roll with the flow most days, but yesterday I was already behind in my business and was diligently working to get caught up.

I tell my son to check the cupboards to see if there was something I could make for his project.  Oh, and by the way?  This is for a grade in his Advanced English course!  He finds a box of Brownies.  "Here mom, we can make these" and heads back to his X-box game.  I'm standing in the kitchen with a box of Duncan Hines Brownie mix and wondering where the 'we' came into the picture!   I lay the box on the kitchen counter so I won't forget to make these damn brownies before I go to bed, and head back to finish what I was previously doing before he dropped the bomb on me.

I'm finally finished with my day's work and I think to myself  'I believe I'm going to watch a little TV before I go to sleep' and I venture to the kitchen to refill my drink.  Damn!  There sits that box of brownies!  Shit, need to get these made.  What do I need?  Two eggs, oil, water.  Simple enough.  11 x 9 pan.  "Son?  Hey, how many kids are in your class?  How many?  I need 25-30 brownies?"  I'm looking at this pan and in my head saying there is no f'n way I'm going to get that many brownies out of this recipe!  Especially after my hubby smells them baking!

Image via Wikipedia

Mix, bake, cool.  That works for me.

So, what am I doing at 5:30 this morning???  Baking cookies!  Chocolate Chunk to be exact.  I only got 16 brownies out of the pan. Okay, so I admit it...I had a few myself at around 3 am.  They just kept calling me and I couldn't resist.

It's 6:45 am, I know have 16 brownies and 32 cookies, nicely layered in a container and ready to go.  My son comes downstairs and says "Ya know mom...we needed to have our recipe written out to go with it".  As I am ready to grab the nearest weapon and beat the daylights out of my son, I reply "Son, this is a boxed brownie mix.  How do you expect me to write a recipe for a mix out of a box???"  He answers "I think it was supposed to be a home made recipe."  "Bullshit!" I say "A little late to remember that key note.  You are leaving for school in 10 minutes.  Take it or leave it" as I dig the box out of the garbage to type up a 'recipe' for the brownies.  As for the cookies?  I told him to tell them they are the same cookies that Subway sells!

Why Do You Treat Me Differently?

First, I would like to apologize for the loss of my first post.  I began to go back and re-write it, but things never seem to come out as good the second time around so I just decided to forget it and give the thanks to Google.

Image via CrunchBase

About two years ago, I began to fall into financial difficulties along with 90% of the rest of the world.  I certainly felt the embarrassment, but didn't feel alone.  Not long ago, we lost just about everything material that we owned.  I am not angry or hateful about this.  I am thankful that we have each other and that we still have jobs and our health.  I have never lived on this end of the spectrum and it is so very different than what I was used to. I now find myself needing the help, instead of being the one to lend help to others.  It's quite different for me and has taken me time to adjust to this new way of living.  One thing that I am especially grateful for after our experience is that I have taken time to stop and 'smell the coffee'.  I have never done that.  I lost track of what was truly important to me in my life.  I was engulfed by the constant go,go,go and never took the time for the little things in life.  This experience has left me more appreciative of what I do have and has shown me how important my family is to my total being.

What I don't understand is why some people are treated differently based on what they own, or how much money they have.  Call me naive or whatever.  It's bullshit!  I am the same person that I was a month ago, a year ago.  I have never flaunted anything we had.  Hell, most people didn't even know where we lived or how we lived until they came to visit us.  But last week, I had an experience that just blew my mind and pissed me off past reason!

Image by KeithBurtis via Flickr

To make a long story short, people are judged by what they own and how much money they appear to have and are treated accordingly.  The level of trust decreases and respect seems to go straight out the window!  This to me is totally unacceptable!  This sucks!  Whatever happened to treating a person according to their merits?  Being kind to a person for who they actually are and for the efforts?  I am totally amazed by all of this.  I do not look at the world in black and white.  I realize that there are gray areas and everyone deserves a chance.  I also realize that nothing in life is free and that if you want something bad enough, you need to work for it.  What has happened to the compassion in life?  What has happened to the acceptance?  Where has the 'Okay, you got some rough bumps along the way, but you can rebound' kind of attitude gone, the encouragement of others?  Why is the 'support of others' so difficult for most people.

Image by Gregory Jordan via Flickr

Surely, I am not the only way feeling this way?  Do you get treated differently because you do or don't have a certain amount of  money?  Are you looked down on because you are not in perfect health?  Do share!