Jr high anyone?

"a mommy board"

Honestly......sometimes that's what it is.....jr high coming back into your life and rearing its ugly head.....man I thought that was left years and years ago.....the whole "well she said....." and the "well she did this first....." really reminds me of jr high and quite frankly my 10 year old daughter and her friends!!! come on people we are grown women with children!!!!! the catty, behind the back, BS that comes about is totally unnecessary....you should be able to speak your mind without fear of being "deleted" or "admonished" for hurting someones feelings....if you don't agree with things most will just sit back and go with the flow...because they are afraid of stepping on any ones toes....I often wonder....do they do that in real life too....how much does their "Internet" life differ from their "real" life....do they just let people walk all over them in their real life, or do the stand up for themselves and what they believe in?

I am known for speaking my mind....I do it in my Internet life and my real life....it is just me...and if people don't like me then OMG I am not going to shrivel up and die because so and so does not like me...I could care less....life is too short to worry about what others think of you, the only people that I worry about what they think is my mother and father, my husband and kids....because honestly in the end they are what matters most!!! friends can come and go but family is family and they are always there....you can fight and argue and say some pretty ugly things and in the end....you find your way back to each other....(disclaimer at least it is that way in my family!!!) because you are FAMILY....I have a couple of close internet friends....they are two of the best girls you would ever want to meet!!! one is quiet at times but then she will go and do something totally crazy and off the wall that just makes you love her more!!! (ahem ar's unmentionables) especially when she has some brownies in her system!!! the other one is loud like me....she will tell you like it is in a "tactful" sort of way (so not like me) we have differing opinions on things and can debate things til we are blue in the face and in the end agree to disagree and still be the best of friends.....omg what a concept!!!!!!

I know one day I will meet these two ladies and it will not be awkward or weird, we have told each other some of the most private things you can tell another person, and we are so there for each other.....I know I would absolutely die without them in my life....if anything these two have been the constant in my life for almost 4 years now (OMG!!!) it goes to show you that even though mommy boards can be quite jr highish at times.....that some of the best friendships can come from such a place......and for that....I will be forever grateful for the drama filled mommy board I belong too!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Natures Ode to George Washington

T minus 28 days.......

As parents when we have our kids we hold them close as newborns and wonder.....what their lives are going to be like in 18 years, where they are going to go to college, what are they going to be etc......well I can tell you one thing for sure.....18 years have gone by in the blink of an eye...if you look below at my wordless Wednesday posting....you can see the little wide eyed 3 month old baby grew up into a HS graduated young lady....and is now heading off into the proverbial sunset to start her own life.....I am so very proud of her, she is doing what this mother never did...go to college....I had no desire to further my education...NONE ZERO ZILCH....I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up other then to be a mother....some may say that's such a lack of "desire" or whatever on my part, but....my life my choice....well her life her choice, and she made the right one....she is off to further her education so she can have a career first then have kids....at least that is her goal....I think back over the past 18 years and wonder.....WOW where did the time go? wasn't it just yesterday that she came and asked me "mommy, when will I be bigger like you?" or "mommy, I can tumble!!! watch me watch me!!!" now she is about to tumble right out of my daily life and move on....I know its apart of life, but nobody said it would be this hard....nobody told me that when you are about to let your first born go off to college, that it would literally break your heart in two....she is a good kid and I know we raised her well, she was not a hell raiser, never got into trouble like some of her other friends, but.....there is the part of me that just would like her to be the little girl that crawled up on my lap and said "I love you mommy, your my best friend" and not leave us......

Wordless Wednesday

Wthelga is wrong with people....

do you ever wonder just that....what the helga is wrong with that person? I often times find myslef having to bite my tongue in situations because quite honestly, I could totally rip someone a new one if I did not refrain from saying what was on my mind.....I guess that is all apart of "growing up" LOL Yes, I have grown somewhat, I know my dad certainly didn't think it was possible, but I showed him now didn't I!!! LOL or did I??? since he is not apart of my life anymore he would not even begin to know, but then again maybe he does, because I have given up having false hope where he is concerned, so.....maybe he noticed a little...doubtful, but maybe...you see the old wendi would have just told people off without regard of their feelings, or seeing the consequences of her actions....sure she would have felt better for a little while, then the reality of the situation would sink in, and the ramifications of it all would be brutal.....but this older, somewhat wiser wendi sits back and evaluates the situation first....as hard as it is to swallow at times, she does her level best to bite her tongue and stfu.....I know how hard that is for some to "see" in me, because some do know me oh so well.....like my sister, she often thinks "wwwd" what would wendi do.....and that is reserved for the extreme cases where she really wants to say something, but doesn't because she is a better person than I am!!! I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing....she says its a good thing, but I am not too sure!!! LOL to be known as the "bitch who speaks her mind" can be somewhat daunting....I guess I am always expected to say whats on my mind.....and honestly, is it a good moniker to have? I mean.....as far as my kids go....I don't think it is necessarily a good thing....I already have one daughter that does speak her mind....much to my chagrin.....but then people know that they cannot pull any bs with her at all, that she will call them on it, and not to mess with her....is that a good thing, or is it a bad thing? I have yet to figure that one out.......

On a blog roll today, but I couldn't resist

My son decided he needed a bath, because he was stinkey and smelled like butt!!! yes those were his exact words!!! so he squeezed his little naked buns into the bathroom sink and tried to fill it up!!! My life is definately not boring!!!!!

do you put your dh first in your marriage, or do your children come first?

now that is an interesting question.......

most tend to agree that they should put their dh's first...that their needs need to come before all else....I don't see it that way....dh and I have been together for 19 years now....we know each other inside and out....he knows I love him, and I know he loves me...we don't do the date nights because honestly with 5 kids...its just not feasible....we make time for each other....it may not seem like quality time to others, but we do what we can with a house full....even if its just sitting together in our big ass recliners watching tv shows we like, or talking about our days....and him asking about my "mommy friends" LOL Maybe at times I do take him for granted because we have the ability for me to stay at home with our kids....but as he says....he would not have it any other way....he loves the idea that I am at home with them, and that when they get sick that I am there for them to come home to.....I try to tell him how much I appreciate him, and he knows it, by the little things I do, be it buying him a Mtn Dew and bringing it to him at work, or buying him his favorite ice cream or things of that nature....because to me it is the little things in life that mean so much more than the big things......sure him buying me a mustang was a wonderful thing....but I quite honestly the popcorn machine he bought me had to be the highlight of all the presents he has ever bought me!!! of course this was a total "HUH" from him...LOL how could I possibly get more excited about a popcorn machine than a mustang? and it is quite simple really.....while the mustang is what I built online and he bought it for me, because he wanted to, it was a gift that really was not a necessity.....and to ME him buying me a popcorn machine (like the movie theaters have) was something that I could only dream about....because that wasn't something you could just go out and buy a few years ago.....but now here it is sitting in my house making the most wonderful popcorn in the world......and for any popcorn lover...you will definately understand that it is the ULTIMATE gift!!!

OK sorry....to meander....back to the topic at hand........

I do tend to put my kids first....I always have....for the last 17 and a half years I have done this.... its not because I do not love my husband as much, it is because it is my duty as a mother to teach them and mold them and to show them as much love and support as I possibly can, and so that they know that when they leave my house and go off into this big bad world, that there will ALWAYS be unconditional love waiting for them at home!!! We have our own unique way of doing things that maybe most families or couples just don't get, but it works...Bruce and I have a deep love, that is so deep within me that the thought of him not being there HURTS....and he feels it and knows it....it is just as deep as my love for my kids....but there is a difference to me of that love....because even though we said we would "love honor and cherish" each other, sometimes it just doesn't work out....and with that being said....I know if he were to die or leave me, I could and would go on, I would have too....for my kids.....but if something were to happen to all of my kids.....I just do not know if I could go on....I don't know if I could find the strength to go on....even for my husband....and as wrong as that sounds...he understands that...we have talked about it like we do about everything....I guess we have the kind of relationship that is very different from some, but I would not change it for anything......

Are these Alaskan Made?

I get that a lot in my shop....well technically my father's shop, but hey since I am said manager of the shop....it is my shop....we do the touristy stuff...all designs are done by my father and are originals that are reproduced on said items in the USA in various parts of the country....our cards and mini prints are printed in Oregon along with the Tshirts and Tote bags....our Hats are done in Georgia, the Cups are done in California....and there comes the sticking point....the ONLY place to buy the tan ceramic mugs for my fathers designs to be printed on is from China....so...on the bottom of each cup it says "made in china" so...of course...the designs are done in china right!?!?! NO....they are done by my father....you see the man standing over there by the window...well that is him...the artist!!! our designs are put onto the cups in San Diego CA at the one and only company in the USA that does 22kt gold designs on cups.....if you would like their number I will gladly give it to you so you can verify this information!!! BUT the cup states "made in china"!!! well the ACTUAL cup is made in CHINA.....because there is not one place in the USA that sells this particular cup for the company to use to put the designs on...we have looked, they have looked....so YES while the CUP says "made in china" because the CUP is...the design is made by my father, sent to the printing company in CA and put on the CUPS that are yes indeed "made in China"..........well I don't want anything made in China....

and the whole while I am so trying to not give them a giant bump on the head made in ALASKA by the cup made in china because of their total lack of ability to understand the concept that my father is not a little china man making Tsimshian Indian art in China....