Holy Cow It's Been A Long Time!!!

Well... ladies and gentleman... all my faithful followers... I am back from hibernation. I just noticed that my last blog was posted on December 9... I knew it had been a while but didn't realize it had been THAT long... Thank you Thank you Thank you for sticking by me. I didn't lose anyone and somehow I pickup up another along the way. Bonus!

I totally thought I would have blogged much more than I did over the holidays. We went to Oklahoma day after Thanksgiving and stayed until New Years. Fun times. It was good to see my fam and the boys really enjoyed hanging out with the grandparents they rarely get to see.

We were constantly going back and forth between my mom and dad's house that I barely had time to situate everyone before it was time to pack up and head back to the other house.

All in all it was a good trip.

That said... I am SO ready for January to be OVER!

John and the boys got colds right before we left to come home. Zac - the youngest - had his cold turn into an ear infection four days after getting home. Got that cleared up and I came down with the worst cold/flu ever on Sunday night and Caleb got it Tuesday afternoon. We watched a LOT of movies that week. Its hard being so sick you can barely function... taking care of an equally sick 3 year old... and a quite healthy full of extra energy 8 month old... We all got well and rejoined the living on Saturday night. John threw me the most amazing 30th Birthday Party on my birthday Tuesday the 19th. Then last Saturday I got food poisoning at lunch and spent 7 hours Saturday night paying homage to the gods and all day Sunday in bed. Never had food poisoning before... let me tell you... not fun. My stomach still isn't quite right. The extreme cramping finally faded last night but it still hurts a little when I eat. I guess the silver lining in the whole mess is that I lost about 6 or 7 pounds between the flu and poisoning.

So I guess that about brings us up to date. We just changed the location of our computer so I should be able to blog a little more often. Bear with me as I get back in the groove of things.

Don't Let This Happen to You

So I literally tossed and turned ALL NIGHT last night deliberating whether or not I was going to post anything about this. I had decided that it was a personal matter and would not need to be discussed with anyone outside of those directly involved, but I convinced myself otherwise.

Disclaimer: I am in NO WAY trying to start a political discussion. I WILL NOT tolerate any lashing or negativity. This is VERY VERY humbling for me.

On to the blog...

My two sons and I are in Oklahoma visiting my family for the Holidays. John will be joining us next Wednesday. Yesterday started like any other morning. Caleb coming to my room way too early so I convinced him to snuggle with me and get a little more sleep. A few hours later he decided he had enough snuggling and insisted on getting up.

Zac was waking a little too but was still sleepy. So I told Caleb to go find Nana and I was going to feed Zac and get him back to sleep. I could hear Caleb with my mom in the bathroom talking and my stepdad Charles was in the front getting ready to head off to work for the day. There was an exchange about water bottles and my mom told Caleb to go get his off the kitchen table.

Then I heard it.

I didn't know what it was. It was a very loud POP and shrieks of horror from Caleb. I thought he had tumbled backwards in the dining room chair. They have high backs and I have been constantly telling him to turn around and sit in the chair right. I immediately get up to run to to him as I hear my mom running down the hall at the same time.

Then I hear her yell OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I immediately start screaming as I don't have my glasses on and I am seriously blind without them. I can't really see anything other than my mom hovered over Caleb frantically looking him over and Charles, who also heard the sound and came running, saying I'm so sorry, please forgive me.

Still not completely registering what had happened... shaking... and freaking out myself... I am yelling at my mom to tell me what happened.

Then Charles showed me the gun.

My two and a half year old son shot a gun.

Charles had taken his gun down from where he stores it and went to grab his cell phone which charges by the dining room table. Saw that the phone was still charging so went to the garage to quickly grab something he needed to take to work with him. He left his 9mm handgun on the middle of the table.

Let me add here that he did not know that Caleb was awake and with my mom in the bathroom.

Caleb went to the kitchen to get his water bottle and saw the gun. He took it out of the holster and pulled the trigger.

I THANK GOD HE HAD IT POINTING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!! The only injury he has is a scuff and slight bruise on his collar bone where the gun recoiled and hit him.

I will say again I THANK GOD FOR HIS DIVINE PRESENCE AND PROTECTION! Every night our prayers with Caleb begin "Dear Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for keeping me safe..." I never realized how much I took that statement for granted.

I still start shaking and my stomach turns in knots when I start thinking about it.

As I lay in bed thinking about this last night and realizing just how lucky we were I decided that this needed to be shared.

40% (give or take) of homes in America have guns in them. To put that in perspective... Of the 13 people who read my blog (me and my 12 followers) 5 of us have guns in our homes.

No matter how "educated" you think your child might be about the dangers of guns they are still children.

Caleb and I had a discussion about the dangers of guns and why we don't play with them. They are only for grown ups and if you ever see a gun you don't touch it and you come find mommy.

That being said... I am 99% sure that he would do the same thing again if he found himself in a similar situation. He's 2 1/2. I would be naive to believe otherwise. I was naive to believe he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger.

But he did. And my world was almost shattered in an instant...

Now I grew up in a house with guns. My dad had a gun case that was always locked. My grandpa had guns in their house. My mom even kept a revolver under her mattress after my parents got divorced. I knew the dangers of guns. I knew they weren't toys and I was not supposed to touch them. But that didn't stop me as a kid.

When I was about 7 or 8, my cousin and I were playing at my grandparents house. They had a big closet in their room and we were allowed to play in their closet and bedroom and the bedroom directly across from theirs. We liked to play hide and seek and house... One night we were playing in the closet and saw that my grandfathers safe was left slightly open. Out of curiosity we opened the door to find some cash and diamonds and a small gun. We ignored everything else but took out the gun. We didn't pull the trigger... don't even know if it was loaded. But we still took it out and played with it even though we both knew what we were doing was wrong.

Don't think your kids are smart enough to know better. I was smart enough to know better but I still played with a gun.

Don't believe that you are ever "safe" if you have a gun in your house.

I am not saying that having guns is wrong and I am not going to go down that road. Just make sure that IF you have guns in your house please be safe. Your child WILL find the gun.

Please do not store a loaded gun in your house unlocked. Especially where your kids can get to them. It doesn't get safer as they get older. Then you have to worry about them "showing off" to their friends.

Don't be afraid to ask the parents of your kids friends if they have guns in the house and where/how they keep them stored.

Again, please don't pass judgement. This could happen to anyone no matter how safe and cautious you think you might be.

I never thought this would happen to me but it did. Don't let it happen to you.

Tears In A Jar - Happy Birthday

So 03 December 2009 would have been my twins' 4th Birthday. It's crazy to think that it has been four years already. But somedays it still feels like it was yesterday.

I am struggling to find the balance between remembering and letting go. Not letting go in the sense of forgetting, but more of a healing. This is a HUGE struggle for me. It seems like just when I think I finally have a grip on things I am tested. And most of the time I fail... sometimes miserably.

To be honest, I hate hearing about people having twins. It irritates me to my core. Especially if I know the person. I always wonder what makes her so special that she can have healthy, full term twins and I can't. There must be something wrong with me. Why her and not me?

It doesn't help that I started having labor contractions Thanksgiving weekend and I had Abigail and Kiersten 3 weeks before Christmas.

I remember that first Christmas... I tried to put on a happy face but I was just going through the motions. I was absolutely NOT in the mood for Christmas but I also knew that it wasn't all about me. I had other family and friends to be with and I didn't want my giref to ruin their otherwise Happy Holidays. So I put on my best happy face and trudged through it. I was barely treading water. I don't know if I was just being overly sensitive or if other people were overcompensating trying to be extra nice to me but I wanted to tear into some people. If I heard someone ask me what I wanted for Christmas one more time....

But I made it through... And I am still making it... One day at a time it seems...

It kind of worked out conveniently the first year for John and I to go cut a Christmas tree on the twins' birthday. That was a nice time and I decided I wanted to make it a tradition.

This year we are in Oklahoma visiting my famliy. The kids and I drove down right after Thanksgiving. So I asked my dad to come with us to cut a tree. Tree Farms in Oklahoma are different from Tree Farms in Michigan. I'm talking different ends of the spectrum. But anyway... we found a tree and Caleb helped cut it down.

One thing that Oklahoma has over Michigan is the weather. It sure was nice tree hunting in the warm sunshine with no snow. Usually in Michigan it is cold and we are trekking through knee deep snow across acres to find the perfect tree.

I'll post pictures when I can get them downloaded.

Drabby to Fabby Makeover (Pics now up)

I know I haven't posted a DTFF in a few weeks... Been a little pre-occupied. Plus, I've been saving up to do show my head to toe makeover.

So without further ado...

Last Friday I went to my fave place, Design One Salon & Spa and hung out with Chris at Aura. She helped me get a whole new look last Summer and I absolutely love love love the line. So the Salon and Aura were having a promotion for Fall Updates so I went in and got some pampering done. Let me just say this, it was nice to get out of the house alone for some much needed ME time.

So Chris hooked me up with a great new look for the Fall. I got some new cream eyeliner too and I must say it is much easier than I thought it would be. Not sure why I waited so long to take the plunge...

Then, on Wednesday, I went to Darcy's and saw Victoria and got a new updated "do". I was flipping through my Sr yearbook and was horrified to discover that I've had the same basic hairstyle since high school. And that was like TWO years ago! OK... OK... It was more like Ten. So I was off by two letters... Who cares? : )

I gave Victoria free reign to do whatever she wanted with only one stipulation - needed to be somewhat low maintenance. Lets face it, I have 2 small children... My makeup only takes 10 minutes... My hair can't take more than that. I don't have the luxury of unlimited, uninterrupted face time in the mirror.

I must say I was rather pleased with the end result.

Then I got my Fabby Feet prize in the mail the other day. You remember, the prize I won for entering Tamara's Drabby to Fabby Friday giveaway??? I got it and decided that my feet needed a makeover too.

So there you have it. My head to toe Drabby to Fabby makeover.

Head on over to Tamara's site and check out the DTFF blogs. Just click the DTFF button on my page. You should post your own DTFF and you could win a Fabbylicious Prize. This week is a Date Night Apron from Quilt A Treasures. I SO want to win this one! It reminds me of something you'd see on I Love Lucy or Ozzie & Harriett (which, by the way, I LOVED watching as a kid. Reruns of course!) only a more modern, sexy version. Did I hear someone say "Clothing Optiinal?"

I had much better photos to show but they somehow disappeared from my phone. Apparently, I can only have 50 photos at a time...

This is face before. No makeup.

This is face and hair after.

Feet before... You could say it's been a while since my last pedicure/polish change.

This is hair before. I think this was taken about 2 or 3 weeks ago. You can get an idea of how long my hair was and you can definitely see the roots showing... I think she cut a good 6 inches off at least.

What's The Word on "The Street"

Forty.

Well... actually the "official" word on the Street is going to be habitat...

That's right folks. Sesame Street is turning 40 on Tuesday, November 10!!!

Sesame Street has come a long way since it premiered November 10, 1969. I don't think there's a person alive today that doesn't know Sesame Street and Big Bird. It has truly bridged the gap between the generations.

Interesting Fact: Caroll Spinney was hand picked by Jim Henson to play Big Bird and he is the only original cast member still on the show. He also does the voice of Oscar the Grouch.

If you've been to Google lately you've probably seen the Sesame Street characters incorporated into the Google Banner. I was curious one day and clicked on Big Bird's legs. I came across this article by CNN Ent. They have released the early seasons of the show on DVD and they come with a warning label.

Sesame Street has a warning label???

"These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child."

According to the article Cookie Monster promotes childhood obesity by his constant gobbling up of cookies. He's a bad influence with his lack of self-control as he eats anything in sight when he's jonesing for that elusive cookie. And he smokes a pipe in a few episodes. And I guess "they" think Oscar was too mean and nasty, He's a GROUCH! What did you expect? Nastiness is part of his name... He's not named Oscar the Pleasant.

My son, Caleb, LOVES Sesame Street. He likes to sing and dance along and he laughs at Oscar and thinks Cookie Monster is "silly". And of course, we can't forget Elmo,

I knew he could count to 10 because I taught him that. At least I think I did... Now I don't really know for sure. But I was pleasantly surprised when I heard him count to 20 on his own. I KNOW I didn't teach him that. He learned that from Big Bird.

SO CONGRATULATIONS SESAME STREET ON YOUR 40 YEARS!!! Here's to 40 more. Who knows... maybe my grandchildren will watch original new episodes of Sesame Street. By then, Sesame Street will no longer be set on an urban street but instead on a planet or under water or something else "new agey".

The Fireman Needs your Prayers

Please say a prayer... light a candle... whatever you do... for The Fireman and his wife. Don't know the whole story, but her dad went into the hospital on 30 October to have knee replacement surgery and while the next few days of recovery progressed he was moved to the cardiac care center and now they are starting dialysis because they believe his kidneys are failing.

You can read more of the details on her blog here.

Drop by their blogs and let them know you are thinking of them.

A Few Things That Make Me Say WHAT THE HECK!?

OK first things first...

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day cleaning house - the whole house. The Hubby comes home and comments about how nice it looks. Then he proceeds to rummage through the fridge trying to find something to eat. In the process he decided to clean it out leaving all the inedible crap on the counter behind him. He turns around and says "Sorry Sweetie for messing up the kitchen"... then walks away!!!

WHAT THE HECK!?!

This is bound to offend someone but its my blog and I don't care...

What ever happened to honor and wedding vows? My husband has a friend tell him recently that out of Friends 5 closest friends my husband is the only one who has not cheated on his wife - including said Friend. This is sad. Apparently, The Hubby knows plenty of people who do this... Seriously...??? I know its not just the men who have affairs... plenty of women do this as well. Someone I looked up to cheated on her husband.

This had me completely floored and I asked The Hubby why someone would do this. His reply: Honor. I would add Integrity, Character, and Morals to the list but they all pretty much mean the same thing. Seriously... have a little respect for your spouse.

I need to get off this soapbox before I really get going. Things like this have a tendency to drive me insane... so I'll just say

WHAT THE HECK!?

Happy Friday Everyone!!!