Bettie Page Dies at 85

Thank you for the memories, Bettie Page. Peace be with you.

Read the article at TIME.

In Memory Of Kevin Allen

I lost a great friend this past weekend. He was a very kind, hard working, caring, funny, a give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back, kind of guy. Although fifteen years my junior, I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet him.


"Kevin, Kevin, number 7".. win them all up there, you hold all the aces now.
Save a round on the back nine for me.

Until we meet again, goodnight friend.

From Terrible Two's to Terrible Teen's

"I forgot". This seems to be the new phrase as of late around my house.


Did you finish reading your book? "I forgot."



Did you unload the dishwasher? "I forgot."


Did you bring your dirty laundry down to the laundry room? "I forgot."


Did you feed the dog, the cat, the other dog? "I forgot."


Okay, you get the picture. Teenagers' brains are on one speed. "ME". The world revolves around them. They are just checked in their room at Hotel Spoiled (insert your last name) for the next 5 to 7 years of their life.





After receiving a wake up call every morning, they are served breakfast of their choice. Then, the bus-mom, clears the table and the dishes while teen is getting dressed for school in her own bathroom, filled with all the hair products, flat irons, crimping irons, curling irons, (no clothes iron) and Bonnie Bell lip gloss and OPI nail polish than any 13 year old should need. I think my teen is a rep for Bare Escentuals. She made a great pitch on the fact that it would be good for her skin since it is all natural, she wouldn't look "made up", and it contains spf. She also told me that she thought I would benefit from it as well. Umm, didn't you hear, make-up now has cancer curing properties..... heh. that was sarcastic, so you know.

I have to admit, it is great, but this isn't an ad for it. Unless, Bare Escentuals, you would like to overflow a cancer-ridden, and I'm not exaggerating when I say ridden, mother of two's make-up bag full of your product... *wink* It really does help with my hollow eyes and dark circles. The concealer works wonders on the radiation "+'s"! I would also love, love, love me one of the new "HEROE's" collections! anybody hear me over there at i.d. bare escentuals? Get it.. Heroe's...I'm a cancer survivor..hopefully twice!....awwww you're not listening....... and I don't like to beg.



Anyway........


After said teen has slipped into her freshly pressed clothes and bounces downstairs, I have packed two lunches, put my tween's hair up in the usual ponytail and straightened her "side bangs". (Why am I still a hairdresser to an 11 year old?) I have washed the sink full of dishes from breakfast, ran the dishwasher, it was too full to hold the breakfast dishes..someone "forgot" to run it the night before-remember, and started a load of laundry. I also had a cup of coffee, if not two, while watching Matt Lauer and the headlines of the day.




Then the chauffeur, um, that's me, drives them both to school.




I feel as if I need to wear some Lycra catsuit with a cape and thigh high boots.




I envision the color red and black boots. But I will settle for another couple of cups of coffee or a sugar free Red Bull instead. Same power and energy and I don't have to wear the suit. Thank Gawd!!




When I walk back in the house from dropping the girls off, I get a whiff of my SC1's Juicy Couture, yes, a splurge on her instead of me...and I realize, this is my life. I look around at all the smiling photos and you would not know the entire story reflected back in the smiles. I have done my job. I am at peace.




The death of my husband, cancer once and cancer twice, and I would not trade it for another life.




So on I go, after a breathing treatment, a self injection, pop a tamoxifen, and finish cleaning Hotel Le Spoiled, make a batch of cookies for "after school talk" and know that I am spoiled.











spoiledmom

Summer is a commin'

Blogger's Unite Day 2008
Love thy Neighbor
Make Peace Not War




I love this time of year. I say the same thing when Fall rolls around, and I love that season, as well. But there is something about Spring turning into Summer that brings out the child in all of us. I think it is the newness of things. The rebirth of it all. The green, the colors, the scents, the youth.

A few years ago, I was in a deep depression over the sudden death of my husband. After just six months, I quit my job to stay home with my children again. They were 7 and 5 at the time. All of those years seem like a blurr to me now. I know I was in great pain. I remember the pain and the depression. Now, however, I feel like I missed out on a few years of my daughters' lives. After my husband's death, the holidays I loved so much, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, quickly came and went. I could not tell you to this day what happened or what I did. Depression has a way of flipping a switch in your mind, erasing all the pain, all the feelings. You do not know it at the time, but later on, when you have come out of the fog, you realize just how much you have missed out on. Everything that passed you by.

So many good summer memories were made at the home my husband and I shared with our children. The Little Tykes gigantic blue boat wader pool, the turtle sandbox, the swing set, the tree swing. My flower gardens. The cookouts we had with our neighbors. I didn't want it to end. Sadly, it did. I packed everything up December of 2004 and sold my home, our home. I could not stand to be there any longer without my husband. I felt the good times were gone. Depression took hold of me. It was worse than the cancer had been a few years earlier. With it being Christmas, I knew I could not get into a new home right that moment. I did not want to settle for the first thing I found.

I found a modest rental while I looked for something to purchase. My mistake was telling the homeowners that it was only temporary. They locked me into a one year lease. I hated the house. It was too small. It was half of my old house. I had to pay an extra $150 a month for a storage building just for the furniture and belongings that would not fit into the house. This did nothing for my depression. I felt as if I failed my daughters. They lost their Dad, their Mother was not herself and I had yanked their home away from them. They had to make new friends, start a new (yet as schools go, one of the best in the county). The elementary school had once been listed as one of the top 100 in the US.

As thankful as I was for having a home, I was still depressed that I could not provide the best for my kids. I hate to admit it, but I was ashamed. I barely made it through the year's lease and when it was up, I quickly started looking for a new home. Our home. A new start. Several could have been the one, but one I was too late on, another, the people accepted someone else's offer and the other turned out to be more work than I wanted to put into. I wanted a turn-key. I was not planning on going anywhere. I didn't care about upgrading later.

Finally, in May of 2005, I found it. Our beautiful home. It was not our old home, but it was us. A two year old, four bedroom, 3 and a half bath, large great room, awesome master bedroom with bathroom. A glorious, large eat in kitchen. (so what if there was not a dinning room), and a rocking mud room with laundry off the back deck. We were home. Again.

I think that is why I love the spring/summer seasons again. It brings back memories of life to me. I will always love fall. Most certainly will cherish and love Christmas, the birth of Jesus. But I give thanks each spring and summer for giving me life back.

Now, my family dries into our subdivision with the belief that God has placed us here, in this house, in this neighborhood, for this season of our lives to be the aroma of Christ to those who live close to us (2 Corinthians 2:15). We know our neighborhood is more than just an address. It has united us to spend more time together and to get to know our neighbors, caring for them and spending time with them. The neighbors and I walk our dogs together. We have cookouts together and my children have made friendships that I hope will last their lifetime. I have also found someone special in my life. Again.

Take time to get to know your neighbors, plan activities in your neighborhood to bring you closer together. Find a family to build a relationship with to fellowship with and start new memories of your own.


spoil yourself....

take cookies to a neighbor for no reason, it feels good.

Celebrities known for....what?

Annoyed Americans are uniting with a growing trend. Talentless celebrities who are Famous for Nothing. These stars have literally not done anything, and yet the paps follow their every move. These stars court big headlines and big bucks for zero talent. America is becoming fed up.
Kevin Federline got paid between $100,000 to $300,000 for um, well, nothing. Nothing except for his Las Vegas 30th birthday, and maybe a little attention, that is. While attempting rapping, K-Fed got booed off stage by the very people he invited to the soiree.
This list is already long and growing. Including the likes of Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Kim Kardashian, Kevin Federline, Lauren Conrad and posse, Lindsay Lohan, Kimberly Stewart, (do I have to keep going??) Just pick up any rag mag at the check out and they grace the cover of five to ten every week. How many times to we have to see Britney's barefoot, vajayjay hanging out, Starbuck's toting, sideswiping, ratty weave, can't get custody of her kids, mug splashed across every mag in the store? I know I don't have to look, I don't. You just can't help but notice when it is EVERYWHERE.
Why not put pictures of each soldier that lost their life or a limb. Why doesn't one of these mags contribute a story to these heroes each week. I would buy it, would you? Editors do not want those stories because they hit too close to home. There is a reason for that. It is real. It is home. I would love to know what the men and women that are fighting for my peace and my rights love to do in their spare time. I would love to know about their dreams, the kids they left behind. I want to know this about not just the ones who have lost their lives, but the ones still fighting the fight, the ones who have been wounded. How are they? How are they healing? How is their family?
Why do we pay our hard earned money to look inside the lives of these talentless, uneducated stars? Myself, I do not buy them. I do not want to further their stardom or their vanity. I, for one, do not want these girls as role models for my daughters.
As long as these known for nothing stars keep getting attention and money, they will keep treating the world as their own private party.
This I know for sure, my daughters will grow up with more dignity and respect than all of them put together.
God Bless Our Soldiers and let them come home safe and soon!