That's my daughter, Shea.  She's 14 today, and I'm marvelling at how time flies by....it seemed like just yesterday that she was in diapers.  She's really something, is Shea.  She's on High Honor Roll at school; her lowest score on any test this quarter was 98%.  She regularly gets A+'s on her assignments and is incredibly disciplined about doing her homework.  I don't know where she gets it from; I'm not THAT organized or disciplined! In the past year I've ...

*I'm going to give you a little background information before I get to the 'EEK' part of the story* Saturday morning I get up and find little smears of dried blood all over the hallway tiled floor.  I wondered if one of the dawgs had cut their paws, but couldn't find any evidence of that when I examined them.  The cat wasn't anywhere to be found, so I summised that she must have injured herself somehow and that's where the blood came from.  We had a big hole in the screen of ou...

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/10/12/162815.shtml Cindy Sheehan has decided to tell everyone that she's a finalist for the Nobel Peace Prize. However, she's the only one to call herself such; nobody knows for sure who the finalists are because there hasn't been a release of any names. If all you have to do to get to be a finalist is camp out where you're not wanted, then I'm pitching my tent in the backyard tonight!  That Nobel Prize WILL be mine next year! ...

I'm not going to say where I found this ad at; I just want you to read it. It's titled 'for a man who has got too damb skinny', and it's as I found it, spelling mistakes and all. I am slightly embarised to say this but I've allways been pretty skinny. Well here lately I have been commuting back and forth from college on a bike. Well I did have a mens small size waist and now I find I have the waist size of 10-12 year old boy, according to underwear sizes. Well its really embarising to...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,219398,00.html The repercussions of the school shooting in Joplin, Missouri, have reached sleepy little Mascoutah in Illinois - where 2 out of my three kids attend school.  The superintendent has decided to enforce a new rule to hopefully avoid a similar crime happeneing here.  Have they put metal detectors at the entrances?  No. Are there security personnel wandering the hallways, searching students, their bags and their loc...

A lot has happened since I last wrote.  First of all, my momma and The Big Guy got another dawg.  They call her a boxer, but I've never seen her get into boxes like that cat does, so I really don't know why she's called that.  I still hate that cat.  But whatever.  This new dawg is called Greasy....no, that's not right.  Gracie.  That's it.  Gracie.  She looks like her mother dropped her on her face because her nose is all smushed up and it causes her...

Antique photographs.  Degaeurrotype, cabinet and imperial cards, tin types....anything dated pre-WWII, but more specifically, memento mori. In the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, most people didn't have access to a photographer.  The photographs that we take for granted these days were almost unheard of, and some people went their entire lives without ever having their photo taken. So, their photos were taken in death instead.  Sometimes people were pose...

Dear Dad, It's me again.  I've lost count of how many times I've written to you in the past few months, but if I had to guess I'd say it was over a hundred times.  I know in my heart that you don't NEED me to write, that you already know how I'm feeling and what I have to say to you...but it helps me to write it down anyway (and I know that you know that too). I miss you, Dad.  I miss you every fucking day, in one way or another.  Sorry for the profanity, btw.  I k...

I don't mind spiders when they're living outside.  I don't mind watching them spin their webs; I'll even go and watch them work and admire the finished results. But what is guaranteed to give me the willies and make me run away shrieking is a decent sized spider in the house.  When I was pregnant with our 12 year old, my husband and I found a hunter spider the size of a bread plate crawling down the side of our couch (we lived in the UK at the time and had the screenles windows open...

I have a pretty strong stomach, stronger than most, I'd say.  I've changed some nasty baby and toddler diapers, picked up and cleaned up animal waste, seen and dealt with all kinds of vomit, both from kids and grown-ups,  and regularly go into nursing homes and hospitals to sit with and care for people who have lost control of their bodily functions.  In other words, it takes a lot to make me gag. However, there are still some smells that cause me to gag.&nb...

I have hair!  I know that we've all got hair, so you can quit saying "so do I!!!" now. What I mean is that I have enough hair to gather into two little ponytails.  It's long enough.  It hasn't been long enough for ponytails since I was in my early 20's. So, ponytails are a big deal for me, and I've been sporting them for a couple of days now.  I figure I'll eventually get tired of them, but right now I'm loving being able to tie my hair up so I don't have sweaty wet hai...

I attended a retirement ceremony this morning.  It's the first one I've actually WANTED to attend.  I've been to others out of a sense of duty, but this one I really wanted to go to. It was for Chief Master Sergeant E.  CMSgt is the highest enlisted rank you can attain, and only a few ever reach it.  You've got to be something really special to be a Chief. We've known Chief E since we were in England, 12 years ago.  He was a Staff Sgt and had made Tech Sgt whilst w...

So, Sen Foley is entering rehab for treatment for "alcoholism". How many people didn't see that coming?  Not very fekkin' many. The Washington spin doctors need some new hype.  It seems that every politician that screws up, will, a few days after being exposed, go to rehab for treatment of some addiction or other.  The addiction is their excuse for doing whatever it was that they got caught doing, and to be honest, it's getting to be old and transparent.  When I was tal...

Link I just left a response to Locamama's excellent article 'What's the most expensive thing you ever bought?' and it got me to thinking about the best bargains I ever got.  I'm a big bargain shopper and LOVE to get a great deal! I bargain shop mainly for clothes and shoes, but occasionally for the house and electronics too, so I'll list the best bargain I got in each of those categories. Clothes: A Calvin Klein jacket and pant set that was tagged with a retail price of $160. I ...