Switching gears

I have set down and written posts quite a few times lately and then deleted them. I feel like I need to be witty and wise and most days I just don't have the energy for that. So I am dropping all pretext and am no longer even going to try. I'm going to write what is on my mind, what I am feeling, what we are going through - well you get the idea. It may just be a few lines and it may be more. I need a release and this is the only real way to get it(at least for me). I have to quit worrying about perfection and just allow myself to be. I am going to try to write something everyday. Where ever I have to do it from, what ever it takes and even if it is incoherent to most people. 

Back in Business

I'm finally back in business. Why was I out of business? That's simple - because my husband has a temper. He threw the phone and it bounced of the couch and onto my laptop and even though it was closed it cracked the screen. If you've ever seen an LCD screen that is cracked, you know that there is no hope for using it. It took me awhile to get over being mad and break down and get it fixed. I used the desktop for awhile but it made me mad every time I had to set there, so I quit setting there for any longer than it had to take to do what I needed. It is now fixed and up and running. I'm hoping to get back into this world. I have missed my release, I have lots of things I want to talk about. Plus I can't wait to get back to reading what is going on in all of your lives.

Sometimes..... Life gets in the way.

I've been gone for awhile.... again. I know. Sometimes though life really does get in the way of the things that we love to do. Sometimes it bogs us down and drowns our everyday joy. Sometimes we let it become a burden rather than a pleasure. With 4 kids there are so many things that I have to deal with on a daily basis that it is easy to let myself slide. I love writing and this blog is the best way I have had of doing that for a long time. I had started devoting a little too much time to it and too little time to my family. So I took the holidays off and spent the time with them but now I seem to have lost myself once again in their world. I'm working to find a balance between the two sides of my life and its not easy. I want to be the mother I need to be but I find that if I'm not careful I lose myself in that process and then what kind of a mother am I being. I am not a perfect person, there are so many things about myself that I struggle with, there are so many things that I would like to change and I feel that I have to start working on those sooner rather than later. When I think about all of the things that I need or want to do it often turns into a vicious cycle for me. I can think of so many things that it overwhelms, then I start to get depressed and that leads to me doing even less which of course then adds more things that I need or want to do. I'm going to find a way to change, a way that isn't overwhelming, a way that I can be the person I want to be. I may not post as regularly as I was but I will be posting again and you may want to stick around and see what I come up with. Hopefully it will be good and it will work.

Hectic Schmectic

I have to go get the kids Halloween costumes today. Yes, you heard me right. I am a horrible Mother and my kids still don't have costumes. I can honestly not think back to a day that we would have had time to do it though. So today is the day and hopefully we can still find them something decent. I will let you know how that goes.

A few side notes:
As for the camera I got - It is a Fuji Finepix S8100fd. I'm still learning how to use some of the features, actually most of the features but it is so going to ROCK! I eventually want a fancy shmancy camera but not until I get a little better at taking pictures (and can afford to blow that kind of money). This camera was free, so to speak. My husband gets points at work for safety and they have a catalog from which to choose things to spend the points on. Therefore I have no money in it.
As for all of the wonderful comments- Thank You all so much. It's so great to get feedback from people. Plus all of the ideas for giving myself a time-out were great. I promise to start trying to find time for myself, somewhere. Seriously though you guys are the greatest!!

What a Day

Today has been a wonderful day. I was the Featured Blogger on SITS and I got my new camera, I was given an award by a fellow blogger and I got my new camera, I had a pretty easy day and did I mention I got my new camera. But seriously, I loved all of the attention I got from all of my SITSa's. Everyone was so nice and the comments were wonderful. I can't wait to get to fiddle around with the new camera some more. So far I love it. It really has been a great day though. I promise I am trying to get back to each and every one of you that left me comments, if I miss you, I'm sorry.

Update 10-23-08: I just wanted to give you guys a little info. about the traffic through my site. On a normal day I have about 10 visitors, some days only 1 or 2. Yesterday I had 572 and that is just amazing. I do have a little bone to pick with you guys though. Only 534 of you were first time visitors, that means that almost 40 of you have been out there lurking and not leaving comments. Everyone loves comments, so come on ladies and make my day, every day.

The Coal Miner's Wife Explanation

Alot of people didn't understand the controversy over Coal in my post Yes, I'm a Coal Miner's Wife so I thought I would give you a little background. There are a lot of "enviromentalists" who want to stop Mountain Top Removal and unsafe mining practices that started protesting around here a few years ago. When we stood up to show our support for our husbands and the job that they do, the protestors took it as an offense to them. They started to attack us in anyway that they could. They wrote letters to the papers about how we were all just scared to speak out against the people who paid our bills, they talked about how us wives didn't want to give up our easy lives and they carried signs in their protest walks that called us Coal Hoes. I'm not saying that the coal companies are perfect, they are a huge corporation and what big corporation runs without criticism and mistakes. You should keep it in mind when reading this though that maybe a handful of the people fighting to save us from the coal companies actually live around here, the rest of them are people working toward college credits or living off of grants or company funding. They have fought and fought against our childrens elementary school because there is a coal silo behind it but they leave out the fact that until just a few years ago it was heated by a coal furnace. We live in coal country and in my opinion they should either accept the risks or move on. It is no different than living in a city where there is a lot of pollution, you know the risks and the benefits and you decide whether it is right for you.

#4 Attempted again.....

I tried again Friday to give blood and had the same problem. They can hit the vein but the blood just stops coming out. After the second arm (yes I let them stick them both) did the same thing they decided to force the blood through the line, to see if they could tell what it was doing. Even though they have anti-coagulate in the line this is how fast my blood was clotting.

Yes, the worm looking part is my blood. Apparently I have an extremely high platelet count and it is making my blood clot ridiculously fast. I'm thinking this can't be too healthy for me. So I am making an appointment with the doctor and am back to exercising and eating better ASAP. In the meantime I will leave you with the picture of the bruises I got for my effort. I really wanted to be able to give.

Blogathon with the SITSa's

I have mentioned this site before and I love them. It is a great way to find new bloggers and to have your minute to shine. I have discovered some of the greatest blogs through them and there is always support to be found there too. So today they are having a Blogathon to get the word out to more people. So go check them out and join in the fun today.

Getting to know other people is also a great way to get ideas for your own blog and to see how other people relate to what you may be writing. Here are a few of the blogs that I have found through SITS and love to read.

The Pearlman Update

Seven Clown Circus

Staci's Heart

One Crazy Chick

October is CRAZY!!!

That's about all I can say. Next year I am just going to forewarn or write a bunch of posts ahead of time because October is just CRAZY in this house. It is the only time of year that is like this. It seems that everything in our lives converges at this point. All the ballgames, all of the activities, the beginning of hunting season, Halloween and then anything that can go wrong - going wrong. It seems that I don't have a minute to spare, let along do anything extra. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up my end of the deal around here but I will pick up the slack soon. Things should be getting ready to calm down, at least as much as they do around here. It's all part of the Mommy Business I suppose. I'm trying to write a few things now and get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I will be back in action soon.

Why I love Blogging.....

I got into the world of Blogging to give myself an outlet. I use it as a way to release alot of things that I might otherwise hold onto. If it is entertaining, encouraging or enlightening to someone else, well then that is just a bonus. It quickly became way more than I ever could have hoped for though. I love being able to write down all of my thoughts, I love the idea that my kids will be able to read this when they get older and have a true glimpse into the how and why that I did some of the things I did and I love the connection to other people. The latter has been the biggest surprise to me. It is so awesome that even on the days that I don't feel up to blogging myself I can come here and find someone who has felt exactly the way I do. What a wonderful encouragement to know that there are people out there who feel the exact same things you do everday. Whether its guilt over not being perfect for your kids or pain over things that have happened in your past; there is someone who knows and understands that exact feeling.

Then of course there are all of the cool give-a-ways, contests, writing assignments and so much more to keep your mind working and entertained. Like Mama Kat's vaccum give-a-way and writing assignments and the newest in a long line of give-a-ways from the Sits Girls, as well as their daily featured blogger. Not to mention being able to Blog Around the World or join a Political Campaign as it travels.

I'm a very private person (believe it or not) and I have trouble sharing my life with people. I'm horrible at keeping up friendships but no matter how long I stay away I know that when I come back the Blog World will still be here waiting. Although I have no intention of staying away!!

This Blog's Reading Level:

I had noticed this on a few other blogs and decided to

just check it out and see how low I could score.

TV Reviews

I was utterly shocked. It has left me wondering just what criteria they use to judge this thing.

Blog Around the World

Just wanted to let you guys know about a really cool undertaking that I found. Debbie from This is the Life is starting something new. She is trying to categorize bloggers from all around the world according to where they live. I personally would not even want to attempt this but she has a great system going and it is really cool to see the states filling up. This was one genius idea. So go check it out.

Going Public

So after the suggestion from a few people I am taking my blog public. I have copied most of my blogs from my Myspace(so that people like my Mom who won't Myspace-it can see them) to this site and am ready to start blogging here. To all my Myspace readers - don’t worry I will still be blogging there too. I just want to be able to do more with my blogs. I’m sure it’s going to take me a while to figure it all out, so be patient. Writing is what I love, even though I’m not great at it. It makes me happy and often relieves my stress. I’m no professional, that’s for sure, I’m just here to have fun.