text:
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Probably the last post of the year!
We are leaving for the holidays tomorrow. We wont be back until the new year. 400 miles away and the weather better be great. I mailed out Christmas cards a bit late this year. If the mail wasn't so slow I would have gotten the pictures sooner and had them done to be sent out on time. Oh well, at least I got them out.
Now to finish the home made presents and hand deliver the neighborhood cards and get the oil changed and we are gone.
We should get to go out for our anniversary this year since we will be home with family and hopefully someone will want to babysit. I think New Years Eve is a great anniversary. We have had a great first married year. We haven't had any fights, just a couple tiny arguments. I am so lucky to be married to my hubby. He is a great father and such a sweet guy. He has been so supportive of me during the cancer and the pregnancy. I love that he is my rock. I probably would have sunken into the bed and who knows what else if he hadn't kept me strong. I love you more than ever baby. Who knew that we would end up here when we started dating 9 years ago?
I love you I love you I love you! More than yesterday, less than tomorrow.......
We wish everying that reads this blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 3:24 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Sunday, December 10, 2006
More to add..
To my wishlist for Christmas this year.
I saw this little tripod and I just think it is so cute.
I also want a good family picture. But that's something I will have to work on myself.
How do you get nice presents for your huge family with less than $50 to spend total? With the medical bills and the car repairs we had to pay for, we barely have the money to get to KS. That's our gift to our family for Christmas this year, they get to see us...but they really just want to see the boys. That's fine with us, I would rather see my kids get lots of cool stuff than me get anything.
I am going to crop tonight. Hopefully get a lot of good scrapbooking done. I am also back to blond today. I have hair that changes color with the seasons. LOL I had red since before Halloween, but I didn't feel very Julia Roberts so now I am back to normal. If people are going to be taking pictures of me at Christmas time, I want them to be of my in my normal color. That way it also looks like Spiderman belongs in our family cause his hair is the only light blond. I'm going for the same color as his, but we will see. I will have to post pics like tomorrow or sometime. Naturally mine is dark golden blond, but I think its going to be a bit lighter this time since I had to bleach and then tint. Things I have learned over the years of coloring. I think I started in high school and have been about every color. I went purplish black for Halloween one year in college. I was the dark angel and I couldn't very well be dark with blond hair. My roommate was a white angel. We won the group contest that year too. It wasn't so great the year before when we both went as Britney Spears. Funny, but not a winner.
Back to hair coloring!
Have a good Weekend!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 4:21 PM 20 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Friday, December 08, 2006
Going to crop with my friends tonight. Yay!
Here's something I made this week.
Its the beginning of a whole 8x8 album I am making of all the things we did last summer. This summer we didnt do any fun things cause Mama was a pregnant cow. LOL
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 5:52 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Winter Winter Winter
SIGH!! The snow is here. Well its been here since Thursday night.
Hey, don't you want a play by play??
Batman went to work last Monday and was told that they wanted him to fly back to Kansas to work in the plant there for a few days. They also said they had room for the baby and I. Since Spiderman went back to KS with my mom, then Superman got to take his first flight. We got rained on in a tiny little prop plane so we had to land half an hour from the airport in our town and wait for the weather to get better so we could land in our own airport. So our 1.5hour flight took 4 hours.
Then we got put up in a hotel that his work paid for, which was cool because we didn't want to choose which of our family to stay with and piss someone off. They did however, give us the crappy work van to drive around town while we were there instead of a cool rental. That thing is going to die...soon. We went to dinner with my dad and step mom on Monday night and Superman came down with a fever. He cried for a bit, but was really good throughout the ordeal. His first fever/cold and he really was a Superman.
We were supposed to fly back on Wednesday, but apparently it was storming up here in IL so he thought it best to wait until the afternoon. Then in KS that afternoon it was raining ice. Thats a good time. The pilot's son, who is the copilot, said he didn't want to take off at that time. So our flight was pushed until the next day. We were already at my Dad's playing board games and we had checked out of the hotel so we just decided to stay there in the warmth. My sister and her fiancee came over and we sucked them into the board gaming. I love the board games. My dad and stepmom are all about them. Batman isn't really a fan, unless its just me and him. We were having fun playing Sequence while it was pouring down ice and the temperature was falling as well. Oddly enough we were awoken Thursday morning with a phone call from the pilot saying he wanted to take off in the next hour. So we rushed to shove everything back into the suitcase and get the baby bundled. My step mom unfroze her car and drove us to the Airport. Its a tiny Airport, not like we had to fight any traffic or lose luggage. We were the only ones there.
So we take off safely and land safely back in IL. Our little car is at the airport here and it is frozen. It has no heater by the way. So we scrape and scrape and the temperature is 20 degrees out there. The baby is covered with every blanket I took with us for him and he is super warm inside his little car seat. No complaints from him.
We finally get it thawed and make it home and Batman has to go to work. Then at about 3pm Thursday it starts the raining of ice here. I called Batman and told him to get home before it gets too bad. Well he calls and wants me to come get him at about 430pm. So I get us all in the Durango and surprise...the heater in there doesn't work. Its like our vehicles are passing a disease to each other. The car got the STD first and gave it to the Durango. It was putting out air so I thought it would get us to pick up Batman. Well I got half a mile down the road and had to stop and scrape the window. I made it to Walmart and called Batman to tell him he was SOL and had to make the car work. So I hung out at walmart and picked up some windshield Heet and a few other things and called my scrapping friend's husband to tell him to just come tow the Durango. It needed a new water pump and belt and window motor anyway so we told him to just fix all of it. Bye Bye Christmas!!
Then after we went to bed Thursday it started snowing and didnt stop until noon Friday. Batman got a free day home from work cause the city sent out an emergency message saying to not park on the streets and to stay where you are and not drive anywhere. Yeah ice under a foot of snow is not good right? So finally Saturday it was getting cleared off so we braved the trek to Walmart cause we were about out of toilet paper I had forgotten to get when I was there 2 days earlier. There was so much traffic, I was a bit freaked out. Looked like lots of stupid people needed toilet paper. Then on Sunday we took Spiderman out to play in the snow. It was still powder and crazy cold. So here are some shots of our snow day.
Stay WARM peeps!!!
Yes, thats my kid throwing snow at my face. He soon started crying cause the cold snow was all over his face.Yes, that's my fabulous husband throwing snow directly at me, holding the camera. We were both shocked that I actually captured the snowball in the air. BTW, is it actually a snowball, I think its too big to be called that. Its a snowblock or something bigger sounding.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 9:56 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Holiday Spirit
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Both
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? colors
4. Do you hang mistletoe? no
5 . When do you put your decorations up? Day after turkey day
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Turkey or Ham
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Since I was a kid I have always loved going to my aunts on my dads side. Dad has 4 brothers and 4 sisters and they all come and bring their kids so I love being around the huge family.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? When mom let me put out the santa presents for my little sisters when I was 10.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Always
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Purple and silver and heirloom ornaments.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Dread it until its just on the grass, I hate it on the streets.
12. Can you ice skate? yes
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My grandma gave me a ceramic eagle figurine 5 years ago from her own collection.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? apple pie
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? putting up the tree
17. What tops your tree? an angel
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? giving
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Oh Holy Night
20. Candy Canes, like them or hate them? Like them!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 6:53 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Only Always posted by Arielle at 1:01 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:59 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Tuesday Twos
1. What two things are you most thankful for?
My family and getting rid of cancer
2. What are two things you like about Thanksgiving?
Eating turkey and family interaction
3. What two foods do you like the most for Thanksgiving dinner?
Turkey and Green bean casserole
4. What two things do you do with the leftovers?
Turkey noodle soup and turkey sandwiches
5. What are two activities you do after eating Thanksgiving Dinner?dishes and play board games
I can't wait to do all this Thanksgiving stuff with the family this year. We are going to my friend's house Thursday and then my family will be here Friday evening and our Turkey day will be Saturday. Going to be busy looking for preschools and trying to get one of the cars fixed tomorrow.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:34 PM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: Random
Monday, November 20, 2006
Simple Pleasures MeMe
When was the last time you _______________?
1. Took a bubble bath? I think I was still pregnant and we were in our old apartment. It must have been June or early July.
2. Watched a sunrise or a sunset? When I was in high school I watched the sunset once and in college I watched it rise.
3. Stopped to smell a flower? In April when I got lots of flowers after surgery.
4. Gave a friend a present for no reason at all? I gave my friend Sara a handmade mini book just cause last month.
5. Treated yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant? Back when I was still pregnant we went to Olive Garden.
If you read this, you have to post it on your blog with your answers, then comment me and leave me the link to your blog, unless you are already in my links.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 7:45 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: Random
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Cute stuff Saturday
Only Always posted by Arielle at 10:12 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Friday, November 17, 2006
Woo Hoo its Friday!
Well Mario didnt win Dancing With the Stars. He maybe wasn't as entertaining or funny as Emmitt Smith, but I think his footwork and Dance moves were much better. He is just so cute.
He sure entertained me this whole season and every week he just got better and better. I am dying to know if he and Karina are dating now. I think they should and they will be a great couple.
Tuesday's Nip/Tuck was bland. It was kinda funny to see how everyone could end up in the future, but I didnt get to see Christian's ass and that is all that matters.
I have to go watch Gray's Anatomy and ER that I Tivo'd last night. Don't spoil it for me, I am dying to watch as it is. The same goes for Medium and the new show DayBreak. I have a lot to catch up on.
We have a busy weekend coming up. Batman's best friend is coming up to hang with us for the weekend. I dont know if he will be here tonight or tomorrow.
We are also thinking about getting into the new Lord of the Rings MMO if it ever comes out. We already play World of Warcraft and we are waiting until January to see if we will buy the expansion. It is a great game. Batman started playing it when it came out and then he got me to play finally and we spend a couple evenings a week playing with people from all over the world. I am a kickass player too thanks to Batman.
Well time for lunch. Have a good weekend! I dont know if I will get a chance to blog if we have company, but I'll try!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 12:06 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Thursday, November 16, 2006
4 months
My baby is four months old. He had his check up today and weighed 14 pounds and 13 ounces. He is also now 25 inches tall. Big difference from 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 18 inches.
He is rolling over like crazy right now. Just from front to back so far, but he is close to going both ways.
My kids are just so cute, if I do say so myself and I have to share them with you yet again.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 9:32 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Superman feels Sucky
Well Arik got his immunizations yesterday. Sometimes I wonder if it is really important to put our babies thru all this pain. Is it really necessary?
He has been kinda grumpy today and refuses to sleep much. He did good and was all tough and didnt cry until the third shot. So insane that they do one at a time. He got a total of four.
He is needing comforting again so I will leave you with a pic of him for today. Tomorrow I will let you know if I am happy with the results of the last Dancing with the Stars episode of the season. And Arik's 4 month check up is tomorrow too, so I'll update you later!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 3:27 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Some of my Christmas wishlist
Every time we go to the store or every time there is a toy commercial on TV, Spiderman says, "Mommy can I have that?" about practically everything. I always tell him to put it on his christmas list and ask Santa. Its my turn to tell santa what I want.
1. This curly wire thing from Pottery Barn to hold my scrapbook creations and some of Spiderman's artwork.
2. Pottery Barn sparked my fancy and I want this wall organizer for more scrap stuff.
3. I am never going to get this cause its so freaking expensive, but that wont stop me from wanting, The One With All 10 Seasons
4. This fabulous camera that I need is too much too: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Digital-Rebel-XT-f3-5-5-6/dp/B0007QKN22/ref=pd_ys_qtk_wl/002-1953106-6943221
5. This bed set would be totally sweet. http://www.amazon.com/Kansas-Wildcats-Complete-Bedroom-Package/dp/B000I6W2SY/sr=1-115/qid=1163528430/ref=sr_1_115/002-1953106-6943221?ie=UTF8&s=bedbath
6. Some comfy boots. http://www.skechers.com/catalog/browse.do?function=displayProductList&gender=W&catId=-1&index=0&viewAll=false&sort=newest&prodId=18295
or these http://www.skechers.com/catalog/browse.do?function=displayProductList&gender=W&catId=1&index=1&viewAll=false&sort=newest&prodId=5104
And some HOT boots for fun http://www.skechers.com/catalog/browse.do?function=displayProductList&gender=W&catId=2&index=0&viewAll=false&sort=newest&prodId=14435&styleCode=30626
7. This is really a good deal on scrapbook mobility. http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/app.detail/walk.yah.0012~E880~E814 Not in blue or green though.
8. A few of these might get me organized too. Maybe. http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/app.detail/walk.yah.0012~E880~E814
9. I also have an Old Navy wish list....who doesnt? http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/home.do?cid=5151&mlink=9630,438095,0&clink=438095
10. And I'd love a Build a Bear GC. http://www.buildabear.com/default.aspx?sc_ppd=PS_Holiday_build_a_bear_goog
Well thats about it for now, I may add more as I think of stuff.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:52 AM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Monday, November 13, 2006
Do it! Do it! ~I cant think of a good title :)
We are taking Superman for his second round of immunizations tomorrow. HE did quite well with the first round but I never want to see him in any kind of pain.
Now for my first Monday MeMe....hopefully I can find more meme topics so I can do this every week.
Nicknames:~Honey, Sis, Mommy, Babe.
Mother's Name:~ Heidi
Father's Name:~ Rick
Favorite Drink:~ DrPepper
Tattoos:~ Nope, but I would like one.
Body Piercings:~ I have a total of 5; four in my ears and one in my tongue.
How much do you love you job 0-10:~ 10 BABY!!!
Birthplace:~ A-town, Kansas
Favorite Vacation Spot:~ What is Vacation? We like local county fairs and amusement parks.
Solen any traffic signs:~ AM I STUPID? Who would want a traffic sign? Well back in high school me and my girls got some blinkies.
2 door or 4 door?~ 4 door
Salad Dressing:~ Italian
Favorite Pie:~ Cheesecake, does that count as a pie? lol
Favorite Movie:~ Oh so many, French Kiss is always on the list.
Favorite Holiday:~ TIE!! Christmas and Thanksgiving!
Favorite Food:~ Mexican
Favorite Day Of The Week:~ Saturday
Favorite Soap:~ Bath and Body works
Toothpaste:~The Pro-Health Cinnamon, feels so good
Smell:~ coffee lately attracts my nose, and apple pie with lots of cinnamon
What do you do to relax:~ Watch T.V. and cuddle with my hubby or my babies!
Where do you see your self in 10 years:~ Running back and forth between kids soccer games and doing something big in the scrapbook world.
What do you do when bored:~ What are you doing right now?!? Yep, that's right you are reading my blog.. when I am bored.. I read YOUR blog!! So let me know if you read this one so I can read yours. Thanks!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 5:13 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Sunday, November 12, 2006
oops I did it again
Maybe my goal will be to post at least every other day since I am not too good at the every day thing.
Well my sisters are all coming up here for Thanksgiving. And my one sister is bringing her fiancee and his 3 kids and my mom is also coming. She may be bringing her new fiancee too, I dont know yet. So that means I have to plan a dinner for 12 people. I cooked dinner 2 years ago for 5 people and that was pretty easy. Just one turkey fed everyone and the rest of the stuff wasnt too hard.
So I need some help. Send me your favorite big recipie for side dishes. I dont want to have to make 3 green bean casseroles and 10 pounds of mashed potatoes. What to do?
Only Always posted by Arielle at 7:03 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Friday, November 10, 2006
Housing gripe
Oops I forgot to post yesterday. Dang. Someone give me their thyroid so I can remember stuff please!?
Well we have been in our new duplex for over two months now and still haven't gotten our deposit back from our old apartment. Rumor has it that in the state of IL, your deposit must be postmarked within 30 days of your moveout. If any money is withheld, the leasing company is required to itemize all damages and provide you with copies of all bills or receipts. If they do not refund your money or provide you with an itemize statement of how it was applied, they are required to return the entire deposit under Illinois law.
So we never liked this apartment manager anyway and I called at the beginning of October which was one month after we moved out and told them that I hadn't gotten our deposit back. The assistant manager said she had to check with the main office and she would call me back. Well 2 weeks later I called back after not hearing anything. Again she told me that the main office hadn't told her anything so she would check with them again and get back to me. Then, Halloween day I called again cause no one called me back AGAIN. This time I got to talk to the "fat bitch" aka the manager. She said she thinks the hold up is because we didnt turn in a 30 day notice. But she isnt sure so she has to talk to the main office and check our file to know for sure. And of course she will call me back. Well over a week later she has not called back. So now I think I will call her and tell her that I know what the law says. I am also looking for a housing authority or something to talk to about this.
A six hundred dollar deposit is not something that we can just let slide. Especially now that the surgery and all the doctor bill from this c-bomb are coming in.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 12:36 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Off to a good start
Only Always posted by Arielle at 1:28 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Only Always posted by Arielle at 4:36 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: Random
In Lieu of Halloween
NOTE: The following short story will either bore you or entertain you. Comments are welcome. I know I am not the best story writer, but consider it a rough draft.
I was thinking about writing my own scary movie. I ran a plot around and I could see what I wanted in my head. Its not a gory horror movie but more of a haunting spookfest. Basically my story is about a big beautiful bed and breakfast mansion with 10 floors. A young debutante lived there in the 1920s with her mean doctor stepfather and her psychologically damaged mother. Well something happened to the girl and she "falls" from the top floor balcony, through a glass roof, into the pool and dies. She haunts the top two floors because that is where a terrible event occurred. Sometimes she watches people while they are sleeping but only hurts people occaisionally on the top floors. An elderly lady runs the bed and breakfast now and has blocked off the top two floors.
My sisters and I and our significant others are staying there and we are on the 8th floor and hear noises above us so we go exploring. Our group gets separated on the 9th floor and I am wandering around with my youngest sister who is 14 and my oldest little sister's fiancee. Richelle leads us up to the 10th floor and we see tons of beautiful rooms and furniture that I can see but can't describe. Then we find a dark room that looks like a hospital room. There is a window in there with the shutters banging. My sister goes over to look out and suddenly faints. My other sister's fiancee catches her before she falls forward out the window. When we get her to wake up, she seems different. She has been posessed by the ghost girl and is really really mad. She leads us down a different set of stairs than what we came up. The old caretaker lady finds us coming down and gets really mad cause we were not allowed in that section, and the only way we could be where we are is if we went all the way up and now we dont know what we have done, and she makes a big scene about how we have really screwed up. Well weget away from her and go all the way to the basement and find a room like the one upstairs that looks like a tragic hospital room with restraints on the bed and old metal machines that look illegal and torturous. There is a bookcase in there with files and my posessed sister grabs a bunch.
Then she leads us thru some secret passageways under the pool and then we come out in the pool room. The water in the pool turns red and the ghost girl dives in. She comes up with a necklace and then heads back towards the secret passageway. A secret door in the passageway leads to a long tunnel and we come out in a foggy field. When we get to the only tree in the field, Richelle faints again and the ghost is free. Well my other sister's fiancee thinks that we should dig cause this is probably where the ghosts body is buried. We dig her up and take her body to the family graveyard behind the house and bury it there where her headstone is. We throw in the necklace she got from the pool and she stops haunting the mansion because she is finally at rest. I know, just the main points. I need to think about what was found in the files and how to prove what really happened to her. I am thinking it has to do with her mean and psycho stepdad.
Well I think that to finish up this post I will just add some pictures of the cutest little trick or treaters. We had fun taking the boys around to collect candy. As if we needed more candy. It was a little cold but they both stayed pretty warm. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween too!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 3:13 PM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: Random
Friday, October 27, 2006
Boys are funny
and stinky, and smart, and brave, and energetic. Just incase you didnt know. I am outnumbered by boys in my house. Spiderman is always climbing and jumping and yelling and hungry. If he weren't so energetic, he would be chubby from eating everything. I dread the teenage years.
Superman is in his smiling phase. He will smile at stuffed animals, the TV, and everyone who gets in his eyesight. Now making him laugh is our daily goal. He is getting more talkative every day. Just little sweet coos and mmmms.
I love being their mommy. Even when they are stinky. Boys emit the worst smells ever. I have never smelled anything like this from girls. Its astounding to me. Especially from Superman cause all he eats is formula.
Someday we will have a girl and I will have proof that girls dont smell as bad as boys. It probably doesnt help that I have a super smeller. Its much worse when I am pregnant because my sense of smell is heightened. I can smell a poopy diaper across the house. Not fun.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 5:27 PM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Just keep swimming
I have tried to enter a blog post like 10 times in the last two weeks and I keep getting interrupted or distracted and end up losing what I was writing. So here is one more attempt. Here's hoping I don't type it all for nothing. And now I see at the top of this screen that there is a scheduled outage at 2pm so I better get to typing.
First of all, I need to change my password cause my sweet hubby knows me too well. I was yelling at him over MSN one day about him not mailing something for me and then during all that, I checked my blog and found his post and he was let off the hook for not mailing the package he said he would mail. Well, I love you honey, and that post was so sweet.
I really have nothing else interesting to talk about. We are looking for a washer and dryer that we can afford. I don't really enjoy my weekly trips to the laundrymat. My endocrinologist told me that I would have another scan in February to find out if there is any cancerous thyroid left. And we decided that we are not going back to Kansas for Thanksgiving.
Pretty boring around here otherwise. Its amazing that anyone would let me have a blog or membership in message boards cause I really have nothing much to say. Everyone else is posting about their kids doing phenomenal things or their neighbors entertainment drama. WE however, have normal kids, that we think are phenomenal and boring neighbors. I have been working up some guts to go introduce myself to the young couple across the street. They have a son that looks to be around 4ish and a baby girl that looks to be almost 1. I just dont know what all to say to the girl or her construction working husband. We were the new ones in the cul de sac, they should have come over and greeted us already. I just dont like people coming over to my house unannounced so I dont want to do the same to her. If it were warm outside I could work on starting a conversation when she was outside. I really want to make new friends, I just dont want to seem pushy. Is it neighborly to take over a treat or something and introduce myself? I think my plan is to wait until Halloween and take the kids over there and do it then if they are not out trick or treating with their little ones.
Halloween, now there is a holiday I like. Not only do you get yummy candy and treats, but I love seeing all the little kiddos in their holiday attire. Spiderman has opted to be either a pirate or Peter Pan. He has both costumes, but changes his mind daily. I wonder if he even understands that he has to definitely pick one to wear out one night. He loves just pretending around the house.
For Superman's first Halloween, we have picked out an adorable Yoda costume. I was hoping to match the kids costumes, but I guess I have many more years to do that. Spiderman just didnt want to be Darth Vader.
I dyed my hair red, for multiple reasons. 1. Batman LOVES redheads. and 2. Its more festive for halloween and autumn. I usually dress up as a witch and somehow, being a blonde witch just doesnt seem right to me. Apparantly it has brought out my facial features and my scrapbook group of friends said they didnt recognize me at first.
I look forward to sharing the halloween pictures with you all next week.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 1:08 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
To My Beautiful Everything
There is a wonderful woman in my life. I don't think she quite realizes how absolutely beautiful she is. I speak of beauty as a whole. Not in the context of just physical attractiveness, but as the wonderful person I've thoroughly enjoyed watching her grow to be. If you would have asked me back in High School would I know she would grow to be so beautiful, I, filled with all of my teenage lust and puppy love, would most certainly have given a resounding yes. What I didn't know then though, was how much one can underestimate such a question. She's been more than I ever could have imagined, and I'm thankful every day for it.
How on Earth was I to know the target of my High School admiration would grow to be a loving, dedicated, and outstanding Mother of two of the most beautiful boys I've ever laid eyes on. How on Earth was I to know she would grow to be such a loving, caring, and selfless wife. I couldn't have asked for more, and I don't really believe there is more. How on Earth was I to know one person has the strength, will, and courage to not only battle cancer, but to do it in the middle of a pregnancy. All while moving and adjusting to a life 400 miles away from her family. I can claim to be the strong, manly man of our household all I wish, but I've never had to go through anything as trying as she did. She amazed me throughout everything. I've never told her before, but I've already seen in her the strength and character I hope people will someday say I possessed when I'm long gone. Traits I see continuing to grow. She really, really is a beautiful person.
I can't really tell you how lucky I am. I can say I hope the same for everyone else out there. I hope everyone finds someone so beautiful, so loving, so strong in character. I hope I've been as good to her as she has been to me. I hope tonight when I go home I remember everything I've written today and treat her with all the love and devotion she deserves. A woman so beautiful deserves much more than I think anyone capable of showing. I hope I'm up to the task.
I love you Arielle. I always will.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:02 AM 3 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Create your own message at BlingyBlob.com
My sister Hannah is 17 now. Her birthday was yesterday. Got me thinking a lot about when I was 17 and thinking a lot about my sisters. My senior year of high school was the best. I had so much fun. I was editor of the yearbook and newspaper, and captain of the flag team. I worked so hard and I was so excited to go to college. My sister plays tennis and I wish I lived closer so I could go cheer for her every match.
My other sister Amber is 21 now. She is getting married next summer and is already working on picking out dresses. Her colors are pink and light blue and its going to be a huge ceremony. She is having like 7 or 8 bridesmaids and groomsmen. I know she has a ton of friends and family that she wants in there, but geez. She is going to look for bridesmaid dresses with her friends this weekend and I wish I lived closer so I could go too. Being 6 hours away from my sisters sucks. But the crappy thing is, my sisters all live close to each other and they dont want to spend any time together, they are all too busy with their own lives to make time for each other. Amber wants Hannah and Richelle to go pick out dresses that they like and then she will make her friends get the same ones, but since H & R would rather be with their friends, then Amber's friends are going to pick out the dresses and H & R have to accept what they choose. I think I am the only sister all three of them are close to. They arent close with each other which I think sucks. I wish they could have each other to talk to or hang out with. I know that after they get out of school and move on with their lives, they wont have their friends around all the time, but their sisters will always know whats going on and always be there. They need to build those relationships and not grow so far apart.
Ah enough of my whining about them. They are just growing up so fast and I want to be there more for them. I am always a phone call away though and they all know that.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:24 AM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Friday, September 15, 2006
Only Always posted by Arielle at 2:19 PM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
How long does it take your body to get back to normal after being radioactive? Well I waited 2 hours to ask my endocrinologist and he couldn't answer my question yesterday. I just want to know when I will stop feeling so tired and brainless. He said it takes some time and we still have to figure out if my synthroid dosage is right. So I gave him some blood to test and left with an appointment to come back in a month and probably get no answers again.
So I hear that it is Thyroid Cancer Awareness month. Everyone get your NECK CHECKED at your next doctor appointment. Its not hard, just look up and swallow.
I barely have the energy to get my house situated the way I want it. There are still boxes sitting around that need to be unpacked. I am a newb when it comes to hanging pictures on the wall. I have a ton of adorable pictures that are framed and need to be hung, but I am really terrible about lining things up on the wall in a presentable fashion. Its strange that I can arrange pictures and embellishments on a page in an album but not on a wall. I am obsessive compulsive about how straight they are but I can't bring myself to put 10 holes in a wall to get it right. Vicious circle.
I am dying to get back to scrapbooking. But I can't get the energy to get things together to do it and I can't get Batman to be motivated to do it for me. I need to get the cabinet moved to the basement and the two big boxes of stuff. Then I need to go buy a table and chair to use down there. I can't wait to have my own scrap area though.
I got a haircut yesterday. I wanted to keep some length but have a more youthful style so I got shoulderlength layers now. Next we will try some color. But this morning I wondered if it looks like the same cut my mom has. Maybe this unhappiness with things in life right now has something to do with my thyroid hormone levels. Yesterday I loved my hair and now I think it looks like my moms. I need more shopping therapy. *_*
Sweet Batman bought me another powercat necklace off ebay. It was a sweet gesture, but it seems we got ripped off by the seller because the charm is only 1/2 an inch which is an inch smaller than my last one. So its not what he thought he paid for and definitely not worth what was paid. Its more like a child's necklace, so if the seller doesnt take it back and refund us then I may just use it as a bracelet charm. Thank you for the gesture though honey.
Well I have dishes to finish and Superman needs a bottle and some entertainment.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 1:32 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Back in the swing of things
Well, I had my radiation therapy. Still no info on what all got accomplished there. I talk to the endocrinologist next week and I will see what all he saw on the scans they took.
Being in the hospital for 48 hours was completely boring and I think I barely escaped depression setting in. I was thrilled to get to talk to the Genderist who called often to check on me. It was so nice to hear her cute southern accent and to connect with someone who knows how radiation feels.
I missed my babies so terribly. Not being able to hold or see my Superman and Spiderman was so hard. I cried every night just wishing they didnt have to go thru this with me. I did wean Superman completely to formula. Well my family did it for me. He stayed with his grandmas while things were going on. My stepmom and my mom and my mother-in-law took great care of him and he just kept growing even while I wasnt there.
Spiderman is not adjusting well to all the change. He acts out and does normal 3 year old things and everyone seems to think he has a discipline problem. He is a smart kid and he knows his right from wrong and I know it will just take time. I never expected him to be perfect and I dont see why everyone else does. I know he loves his baby brother, he just needs a period of adjustment like everyone else. This is like the first big thing to happen to him and I'm not surprised that he is a bit put off by it.
Add to all that, we are now living in our new duplex. Spiderman has a full basement now to house all his toys and his imagination. Our bedroom is big enough to keep the crib in for a few months. The boys will share a room in a few months. There is also a big yard to play and run around in. We are just glad that there is more room for us, less rent to pay, and its closer to work for Anthony. I didn't find my powercat necklace yet. I don't know where else to look. If I were a silver powercat, where would I be?
We went back to kansas to pick up the boys over the long weekend. It was good to get to see everyone again. To make things better I got a fever blister to signal the beginning of a big cold. As if bringing home two kids to an unpacked house after a 6 hour car ride wasn't fun enough. Being sick makes me want to cut off my head. I am slowly getting boxes unpacked and things put in their rightful places so I relax a little more and release a little stress with each empty box. I am just soothed knowing that my kids are here with me again and we can all get back in our own swing. Now that our internet is back up (no thanks to the cable company), I will hopefully get a chance to catch up on all my internet doings and get all those personal emails answered and all my reading caught up on and you may even see a post or two from me. That is if I can fit all that in between slowly unpacking, diapering, potty training, sleeping, playing WoW with Batman, scrapbooking, and coughing up lungs. Aren't you glad we're back? I'll try to share some new pics so you can see how we are all changing and get a post or two in here about something upbeat and not focused on mommy stuff or cancer stuff. Peace and love!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 3:14 PM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Friday, August 11, 2006
One month
I can't believe that Superman Arik is already a month old. He changes so much every day. I think I am going to go crazy while he is gone for 2 weeks. Isnt he just adorable?!
I was just told by a nurse and a nuclear medicine tech that I will have to stop breastfeeding completely. They say they have to give me a very large dose of the iodine and that its risky to keep breastfeeding him afterward. If there is iodine left in my system and my milk then it could kill off his thyroid cells and put him at risk for thyroid cancer. Well isn't he at risk anyway because its supposed to be genetic??
So quitting cold turkey is going to be hard and painful for both of us. I have about 3 weeks worth of milk saved in the freezer for him to use, but he really likes the closeness of nursing. This is so hard for me. I can't get the endocrinologist to budge on how late I do the radiation. I keep asking if there is anyway we can do it later and he always says no. >>>Insert sad face here.
I basically put my own health in jeopardy if I wait, and its risky to keep nursing after the therapy, and cold turkey weaning is really crappy all around.
Well since both kids are napping actually, I am going to go take a mini shower! Yay for showers at 4pm!!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 3:39 PM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Haiku of thanks
Dear sweet Genderist,
Informative sweet lady,
My very big thanks.
Ok maybe that Haiku sucks, but I hope my message is clear. I had questions about the RAI treatment and THE GENDERIST was kind enough to give me a special post on her blog to ease my mind and I just want to say thank you, and please stop by my blog anytime.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 2:08 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: Random
What day is it?
It seems like if I dont have some sort of doctor appointment, then I forget what day it is and I can't motivate myself to crawl out of bed until I find out that Aidan has gotten into something he shouldn't or the baby needs a diaper change. So thanks to new mommy brain combined with foggy hypothyroid brain, I havent got a chance. If I do manage to get a good day where I have a bit of energy and can carry on a conversation for more than 2 minutes with an actual adult, I usually get interrupted by a child disaster.
I'd rather not go into the details of the disaster, lets just say it involves not being potty trained and stomache aches.
So after that, I end up without any energy. I just sit in my recliner and cuddle with my newborn while yelling at Aidan and wonder what day it is.
On a super crappy note, I lost my powercat necklace. I have had this silver powercat since my senior year of high school and I wear it all the time since. I know I had it on yesterday morning, but I don't remember having to move it for the endocrinologist to feel my throat at my appointment yesterday and then I noticed it missing this morning while changing my spit-up infested shirt. I have been frantically searching the bed and apartment and laundry between yawns and breastfeeding today. I better find it before we move or I will be devastated.
I think we found an apartment we are going to rent too. We will be leaving this upscale, overpriced, snooty apartment complex and moving into a normal little, no frills, cheaper place. I admit, I am spoiled and I like having the finer things in life, but the new apartment means we will have to pay less for rent so we can start paying off bills which puts us closer to buying a house. Not that we will be buying in Illinois though cause I think DH and I have both agreed that we miss KS and would like to move back closer to our families. So the hope is that we get offered a better job in Kansas City so we can move back there eventually. The only downside I see is that I will have to find another endocrinologist and family doctor when we move back there.
We had tried to talk to our current landlords to let us stay an extra week or so, but they are snooty and would make us pay a whole months rent for the extra week, so we HAVE to move at the end of this month. Just 1 day after I get out of quarantine for my radioactive treatment. Such nice sympathetic people we pay to live here, dont you think? Whatever happened to customer service?
So since moving is immediate, DH will be staying home with me so he can pack and finalize the apartment details and signing of leases and so forth. And even though I would have liked spending time with my stepmom, she will be given the important job of caring for my sweet new baby for two weeks. I feel good about this arrangement because the other alternative of DH going back to KS with the boys included him working at the other plant and so a different family member would be watching Arik every day and I just felt really bad about having to inconvenience family. Since my stepmom works from her home computer and she wants to get back to trying to conceive with my dad, it would be ideal for her to keep Arik every day and be in the same state as her husband (for the sex part is easier that way). The thing is that my mom would like to see Arik and as you can imagine, there is awkwardness between mom, dad, and the stepmom. I hope they can all act like adults and not fight over my baby for two weeks. Do I need extra stress?
Well I do think its naptime. Aidan looks a bit sleepy so while I wait for him to pass out Maybe I can get a few chores done and fall asleep to the sound of the dishwasher...
Only Always posted by Arielle at 1:32 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
I'm still here
I know it seems like I only blog about my kids, but thats what my life is all about right now. I love being a mommy. I never expected it to be so hard to have 2 kids. I always thought Aidan would be a sweet and wonderful big brother. He is sweet and wonderful, just not all the time. He has his tantrums and never listens to me. I am wrapped up with feeding Arik and Aidan is not getting all my attention now so he feels he has to act out and he disobeys the most when I am most indisposed. If he knows I am feeding Arik or on the phone, then its like his queue to be the worst kid on the planet. He screams or just loudly makes growling noises or yells and gets right up in Arik's face trying to scare him. Repeatedly asking him to stop or giving him time outs are not working. I need supernanny. I have mastered the art of one hand typing while breastfeeding and yelling at other kid all at the same time though.
Its like a miracle if I can get both kids and myself dressed and out of the house on any given day. Not to mention the fact that I have been without my thyroid hormones for a month now. I can hardly hold a conversation with anyone cause my brain is froggy and I just feel stupid when I cant finish a sentence.
I am having my radioactive iodine treatment starting on the 14th. Anthony will take the boys back to KS on the 17th and I will be here with my stepmom taking care of me until the 29th or so. Quarantine does not sound like a fun time. I am nervous and upset because I dont know what exactly is going to happen. Like I have no idea what the capsule is and what the process of the ablation includes. I am upset that I cannot get faster results from the hospital and the doctors. And I am most worried about my kids. I DO NOT want to be away from them for 2 weeks. How are they just gonna take a new baby away from his mommy? He needs me and I have endured the pain of natural childbirth and breastfeeding for the past 4 weeks, just for some endocrinologist to tell me that I have to do the RAI right away and that includes being no where near my baby for 2 weeks. It just hurts. I can only imagine how he will feel. I have saved up a ton of breastmilk for his time away and I am praying I can keep up my milk supply so that he can get more when I am cleared. I know that the RAI has to be done, but I am not ready to do it yet.
Well, off to the doctor office. I promise a post not about kids or thyroids soon.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:43 AM 2 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
pic loop
If I actually figured this out, it may be my new favorite way to share photos with you. More pics in less space, I reccommend it. And I promise a real good post by the end of the week. Just have to figure out where I can get some energy. Anyone have a thyroid they dont need? LOL!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 11:24 AM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Monday, July 31, 2006
my boys
Here is a pic of Arik taken before we left the hospital and below it is Aidan's hospital pic. The blanket they are both on was the blanket I had behind me in my baby photo taken before I left the hospital also. I think you can tell they are brothers. I will try to find a better scan of Aidan's or I'll get a new one and I will look for one of mine too.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 1:23 AM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Thursday, July 20, 2006
More from the photo shoot
Dont worry, I wont quit my day job, oh wait, I have no day job. Maybe I should be a photographer. LOL!!!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 8:31 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Label: life
Family of Supers
I have decided to nickname all of us as superheroes. Daddy is Batman cause he used to say "I am Batman" when we were in high school. I am WonderWoman cause Batman says only WonderWoman could give birth without pain meds.
Aidan is Spiderman cause he watches the movies all the time and bounces off the walls. He does a great web shooting impression too.
Arik is Superman cause he made it thru my surgery and all my pain meds like the man of steel. Nothing can hurt this kid. He is super. He probably saved my life. I just hope that he doesnt think he can fly. ;)
So here are the amazing Spiderman and Superman in a WonderWoman photo shoot on my bed the other day.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 8:25 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Thursday, July 13, 2006
The Amazing Superman!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 8:58 PM 0 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Superman is here!!
Well hello everyone! We got home today around 1pm and we just crashed. Hopefully I can remember everything for you all.
Tuesday morning I went in for my NST at 11am and the OB said my blood pressure was too high. It was 144/102. I am normally a 108/86. So she said she wanted to induce TODAY. I asked if I had time to run back home to get my bag and she said she just wanted me to get started on the pitocin ASAP so I needed to get someone else to pick it up for me. So I went straight to the hospital with my sister and Aidan with me. I called DH and told him to leave work and go home and get the bag and a list of other stuff and get to the hospital. We also called our moms and MIL left KS as soon as I left her a message. She had had a bag packed in her car for weeks and was ready to come. She left there at 1215 on her way to IL.
I get in a little labor room and they hook me to the belts and after two attempts they get an IV going in one arm. The pitocin starts to drip at 1230pm. Shortly before that DH arrived at the hospital. My BP is still high thruout everything.They told me that around 5 or 6 the midwife or the OB would be in to break my water. So I laid around and waited for the contractions to start gaining strength. I was contracting good between 1 and 4pm. The contractions were every 2 minutes and I was still pretty comfortable. The IV fluid was going right thru me and I was up to pee every half hour and I thought my water was going to break on its own a few times. Between 4 and 5pm the contractions were really strong so I told them to call the epidural lady on up. They said I had to be at 4cm to get an epi and they would check when they break the water.The midwife comes in to talk to me at 5pm. She got me a shot of something in my IV to relax me and then she broke my water at 515pm. She checked me and I was only 4cm when she broke the water so the epidural lady can come in. Yay! The MW also attaches an internal contraction monitor and fetal heartrate monitor. I have cords taped to the inside of my legs now instead of around my belly.
Up to par with my last delivery, the pain gets stronger after my water breaks. So I am saying OW thru every contraction and trying to talk to the epi lady. A nurse checks me and thinks I am at 8cm so the epi lady cant give the nice epidural and instead I get some spinal shot that didnt do a bit of relief. Might as well have not had anything there.
Then my friend Carol gets there. Carol is a nurse/lactation consultant at the OB office who I started scrapbooking with and she agreed to be my adopted mom until my mom or MIL got into town. She arrived right before 6pm. I am laying on my left side and trying to breathe thru contractions and she is figuring out how to work my camera so she can take pics til MIL shows up.
Well I feel the need to push all of a sudden and the MW looks at me and says that if I feel it then do it. So I am being told to slow down my breath and blow out a candle and just keep breathing. I am laying on my left side and DH is kinda behind me holding up my right leg. I push and kinda yell at the same time and the MW tells me, "no noise, just push hun." She says it a few times and I get a little annoyed but try to comply.Well I push and push and scream and tear and then at 612pm, out pops Arik! I tore on top, a labial tear. I had watched a few pushes in a mirror and on the last one I pushed until I just let out a huge scream.
So I get Arik laid on top of me and rubbed down while DH cuts the cord and they start stitching me up and delivering the placenta. Arik then decides to pee on me so my gown gets ripped to the side and I am given what they call the mandatory Sacred Hour. As long as baby keeps good color and breathing then I get skin to skin contact for at least an hour after delivery, uninterrupted. Well we get a little over 2 hours which was fine with me. I loved it!MIL arrived at 630pm and was so disappointed that she just barely missed it. :(So Carol grabs my boob and Arik's head and helps us latch on real quick. He took to suckling so well. I was just so thrilled at how good he was so fast. Then Aidan and my sister come in the room and get to see Arik. I am kinda oblivious to what else is going on in the room cause I am still in a lot of pain and I have the baby right on top of me so I dont know what all anyone is doing. After 2+ hours of skin to skin I finally realize that I dont know how much he weighed and stuff and my sister who has been on the phone is giving me impatient looks cause she has NO information to tell anyone except that I did it without pain meds and what time he got here. LOL
So they bring in the scale and weigh and measure him and wipe him off and put a diaper on him and everyone else gets to hold him for a few minutes until I get him back to nurse again. They took the IV out of my arm and moved me to a private room then. So the rest of the night I just work on nursing and pain control and my blood pressure is still high.
It feels like every muscle around my lower back and butt has been stretched and pulled and bruised and I feel like my pelvis and tailbone are broken in a million pieces. They give me some perkoset and motrin. Still a far cry from an epidural. They started me on BP meds Wednesday night and today my BP is down to 130/98 so they said I could choose whether I stay in the hospital another night or go home on bedrest, so guess which I chose?
I dont get as good of pain meds since I came home, but I did get better sleep in my own bed this afternoon. I hadnt slept while in the hospital Tuesday night and barely got an hour nap all day Wednesday between all the visitors and baby stuff. My mom got there late Tuesday night (430am) with one of my sisters and hung out for a while. My dad and stepmom and stepgrandma and stepcousin visited Wednesday afternoon and they all headed back for KS before I even left the hospital. MIL headed back this afternoon after we got home.
What else? My sister Hannah is staying 2 more weeks to help out. I am on bedrest because of my BP for at least a week. Its quite thunderstormy here too. But other than that, we are glad to be home with our new bundle of sweetness. He is such a great baby. He has barely cried his big brother just loves him up. He is nursing so well. He looks like his daddy and he has the same chin as his big brother.
Arik Daniel
Born 7/11/06 at 6:12pm
Wt 6lbs 11oz and 18" long
Here's a link to some pics I have uploaded so far.
Only Always posted by Arielle at 8:49 PM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post
Sunday, July 09, 2006
I have THE cutest kid!
I don't care what you say. He is the cutest. And he is gonna be the best big brother.
His aunt Hannah is here with us for the month until the baby comes and she gave him a mohawk in the bathtub the other night. I just love his little expressions and his grown up grin. You can tell he is used to having his picture taken by his psycho-scrapbooking mommy....so when a camera is around, he knows how to hamm it up!
Only Always posted by Arielle at 12:15 AM 1 comments from beautiful people! Links to this post


text:
Fri 3/20 8:30p
Every third Friday.
Doors 8:30. Show at 9:00.
On Friday, March 20th comedian Trevor Hill presents Hand to Mouth: a monthly, topic-based comedy show where each edition explores a specific social, cultural or political issue. One show, one topic. See the show that SF Weekly hailed as "a night of priceless comedy".
This month Trevor (London Comedy Store) is thrilled to welcome comics Jesse Hett (SF Sketchfest), Shanti Charan (San Francisco Punch Line), Irene Tu (SF Sketchfest), Drew Harmon (SF Punch Line) and Brandon Garner (Redwood Comedy Fest) for a historical tour of important events from bygone times, yesteryear and the olden days. They'll be straight up making fun of Ming dynasties, dissin' the Dark Ages, & clownin' on Classical Antiquity. The Protestant Reformation is about to get seriously pwned.
Comics Andrew Holmgren and Ben Kolina will also debate which historic drunk would be funner to party with: Boris Yeltsin or Babe Ruth? Our money is on Boris Yeltsin.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
You are kindly invited to the LIASA MP Seminar.
Venue: Mzinti Community Hall (Nkomazi Municipal)
Date: 11 June 2015
Time: 10:00
The invitation is extended to all library and information workers and service providers across Mpumalanga Province.
Please send RSVP to the Chairperson Mr Cyphus Maluleka 073 306 0407 and the Chair-Elect Ms Kholo Sambo 072 240 1597
Please RSVP by 09/06/2015
Registration is: LIASA Members R 100-00; Non-Members R 120-00
Bank: ABSA
Account Name: Library and Information Association
Account Number: 9266859204
Branch Code: 632005
Send proof of payment to: email@example.com or fax to 0866688918


text:
Its that lovely Teddy For Mum stamp from Lili of The Valley, again! (Go check out the new stamps they are soooo cute!) No New makes from me, this week, I have done a little crafting, but I can't share what I have been doing just yet - So I thought I would show you The Mothers Day card I made for my Mum.
The round Mothers Day sentiment came free with a magazine, so I based my card on that! The bear is coloured using copics but I used Spectrum Noirs to colour the Mum Balloon & flowers. I was keen to try the Spectrum Noirs as I have read so many great reports and seen them on Create & Craft TV, so ordered a set of RED'S, I find reds one of the hardest colour combos to blend so I thought if I can do reds using the spectrum Noirs then I will be able to use the rest of them, well as you can see I did manage to blend them and for the price they are very good, however I found the shape of the pens difficult to hold, and I did not like the nib at all, - Just my humble opinion, but I will be sticking to Copics and Pro-markers.
I would like to enter this card into these challenges:
Sweet Stampin' Challenge = Anything Goes
The Cheerful Stamp Pad Challenge # 39 = Anything Goes
Divas By Design Challenge # 28 = Stamp Something
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenge # 50 = Stamp It.
Simon Says Stamp Challenge = Anything Goes
Lollipop Crafts Challenge # 73 March Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times Challenge # 142 = Cute 'N' Cuddly
Crafty Purple Frog Challenge # 37 = Anything Goes
Hugs Lou x


text:
Welcome to Oli's award winning blog. In the event of anyone accidently reading this, this blog exists because:
– I sometimes find diverting websites that i might want to look at again, and my Firefox bookmarks is too clogged and you can't leave notes. So, in a very real and awful sense, this could be considered a 'weblog'.
– I have a tendency to pontification about music, technology, and musical technology. This will be the home of such nonsense.
– Be warned, I may also mention some of the following subjects: chess, Futurism, Paul Morley, jello wrestling. Stuff like that.
– Oh yeah, the main thing is that it will also be a frequent record of CE activities and progress that aren't official enough for the CE Myspace Blog.
I may also slag off crap bands.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: general |


text:
For all of you who wanted to take a look to my thesis (Design of a model to implement High Availability Web Servers, an overview here)… you can donwload it from here: https://roaksoax.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/thesis.pdf
Btw… it is in Spanish. 🙂
For all of you who wanted to take a look to my thesis (Design of a model to implement High Availability Web Servers, an overview here)… you can donwload it from here: https://roaksoax.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/thesis.pdf
Btw… it is in Spanish. 🙂
Hey all. Sorry for the delay in posting this tutorial, I've been pretty busy and I finally had some time to finish it. Enjoy :).
Well, as you may know, in previous posts (Post 1, Post 2) I've showed you how to install and configure DRBD in an active/passive configuration with failover, automatically, using Heartbeat. Now, I'm going to show you how to use that configuration to export the data stored in the DRBD device (make it available for other servers in a network) using NFS.
So, the first thing to do is to install NFS in both drbd1 and drbd2, stop the daemon, and remove it from the upstart process (This means that we'll have to remove the NFS daemon from starting during the boot up process). We do this as follows in both servers:
:~$ sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server nfs-common
:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server stop
:~$ sudo update-rc.d -f nfs-kernel-server remove
:~$ sudo update-rc.d -f nfs-common remove
Now, you may wonder how is NFS going to work. The NFS daemon will be working only in the active (or primary) server, and this is going to be controlled by Heartbeat. But, since NFS stores information in /var/lib/nfs, on each server, we have to make both servers have the same information. This is because if drbd1 goes down, drbd2 will take over, but its information in /var/lib/nfs will be different from drbd1's info, and this will stop NFS from working. So, to make both servers have the same information in /var/lib/nfs, we are going to copy this information to the DRBD device and create a symbolic link, so that the information gets stored in the DRBD device and not in the actual disk. This way, both servers will have the same information. To do this, we do as follows in the primary server (drbd1):
mv /var/lib/nfs/ /data/
ln -s /data/nfs/ /var/lib/nfs
mkdir /data/export
After that, since we already copied the NFS lib files to the DRBD device in the primary server (drbd1), we have to remove them from the secondary server (drbd2) and create the link.
rm -rf /var/lib/nfs/
ln -s /data/nfs/ /var/lib/nfs
Now, since Heartbeat is going to control the NFS daemon, we have to tell Heartbeat to start the nfs-kernel-server daemon whenever it takes the control of the server. We do this in /etc/ha.d/haresources and we add nfs-kernel-server at the end. The file should look like this:
drbd1 IPaddr::172.16.0.135/24/eth0 drbddisk::testing Filesystem::/dev/drbd0::/data::ext3 nfs-kernel-server
Now that we've configured everything, we have to power off both servers, first the secondary and then the primary. Then we start the primary server, and during the boot up process we'll see a message that will require us to type "yes" (This is the same message showed during the installation of DRBD in my first post). After confirming, and If you have stonith configured, it is probable that drbd1 wont start its DRBD device, so it will remain as secondary, and won't be able to mount it. This is because we will have to tell stonith to take over the service (To see if stonith is the problem, we can take a look at /var/log/ha-log). So, to do this, we do as follows in the primary server (drbd1):
meatclient -c drbd2
After doing this, we have to confirm. After the confirmation, Heartbeat will take the control, change the DRBD device to primary, and start NFS. Then, we can boot up the secondary server (drbd2). Enojy :-).
Note: I made the choice of powering off both servers. You could just restart them, one at a time, and see what happens :).
As you know, in a previous post I showed how to install DRBD in Hardy Heron, in an active/passive configuration. Now, I'm gonna show you how to install and configure Heartbeat to automatically monitor this active/passive configuration, and provide High Availability. This means I'll show you how to integrate DRBD in a simple Heartbeat V1 configuration, and as a plus, I'll show you how to use the meatware software provided by STONITH.
To do this, we have to install Heartbeat and make changes in three files, which are /etc/ha.d/ha.cf, /etc/ha.d/haresources and /etc/ha.d/authkeys. First of all we install Heartbeat as follows, in both nodes:
sudo apt-get install heartbeat-2
After the installation is completed, the first file we need to configure, in both nodes, is /etc/ha.d/ha.cf as follows:
logfile /var/log/ha-log
keepalive 2
deadtime 30
udpport 695
bcast eth0
auto_failback off
node drbd1 drbd2
Note: Notice that the auto_failback option is in off. This means that if the drbd1 fails, drbd2 will take control over the service, and if drbd1 comes back online, drbd2 will not failback to drbd1 and drbd2 will remain as the active node.
Now, as you know this is an active/passive configuration, so we have to decide which node is going to be the primary and which node is going to be the secondary one, for the Heartbeat configuration. (If you have followed my previous post, the drbd1 node is going to be our primary node, and drbd2 will be our secondary node). We also have to consider here is where are we going to mount the DRBD resource in our filesystem, and which IP address is going to used as the VIP (The Virtual IP is going to be used to access a service, or a DRBD resource, over the network, since we are going to use DRBD for NFS and/or MySQL).
So, assuming drbd1 is the primary node, the VIP is 172.16.0.135 and we are going to mount the DRBD resource in /data (so create the directory in both nodes), we edit /etc/ha.d/haresources as follows, in both nodes:
drbd1 IPaddr::172.16.0.135/24/eth0 drbddisk::testing Filesystem::/dev/drbd0::/data::ext3
Note: Notice that we are specifying the DRBD resource with the drbddisk option.
Then, we have to edit the /etc/ha.d/authkeys file, which is going to be used by Heartbeat to authenticate with the other node. So, we edit it as follows in both nodes:
auth 3
3 md5 DesiredPassword
Finally, we change file permissions to this last file as follows:
sudo chmod 600 /etc/ha.d/authkeys
Now that we have both nodes configured, I recommend you to power off both nodes and boot the node we want to have as primary. In our case, it is drbd1. After booting up this node, we need to verify that Heartbeat has started the DRBD resource (we can see this with cat /proc/drbd) and mounted it in /data. If it has, start the secondary node and verify that it is the secondary one.
If everything has gone right, try the failover process powering off the primary node. You will notice that the node that had the DRBD resource as secondary, it's now the primary one and it has control over the service. Also verify is the VIP address is working (should appear as eth0:0 issuing ifconfig).
After verifying everything is working as expected, it is always recommendable to have a Fencing device to ensure data integrity. This fencing device will prevent an Split-Brain condition. A well-known Fencing mechanism is known as STONITH (Shoot the Other Node in the Head). This mechanism will basically power off or reset a node which is supposed to be dead. This means that if drbd1 is supposed to be dead, drbd2 will take control of the service or, in this case, the DRBD resource. But, if drbd1 is not actually dead and drbd2 tries to take control over the shared DRBD resource, an Split-Brain condition will occur. So STONITH will ensure that drbd1 has been reseted or powered off so that drbd2 can take control of the DRBD resource.
To do this, there is an stonith package that is used to work with STONITH/Fencing devices in Heartbeat. But, since we don't have a real Fencing device, we will use meatware. Meatware is a software provided by STONITH, that simulates the use of a STONITH/Fencing device, by not allowing the secondary node (drbd2) to take control over the shared resources If there has not been a confirmation that the primary node (drbd1) has been powered off or rebooted. This requires operator intervention. So to integrate the meatware software with Heartbeat we do as follows:
sudo apt-get install stonith
Then, we have to modify /etc/ha.d/ha.cf like this (in both nodes):
... [Output Ommitted]
auto_failback off
stonith_host drbd1 meatware drbd2
stonith_host drbd2 meatware drbd1
node drbd1 drbd2
Then we power off the primary node (in this case drbd1) and reboot secondary node (drbd2). After reboot, take a look at /var/log/ha-log until you see something like this:
As you can see, STONITH is sending a message that says that we need to confirm that drbd1 has been rebooted so that drbd2 can take control over the service. So, take a look at /proc/drbd and you will see that the DRBD resource is still as secondary. So, we do as follows:
sudo meatclient -c drbd1
And we will see something like this:
Now, we confirm that it has been rebooted and we can now see that drbd2 will take control of the resource by setting the DRBD resource as primary (cat /proc/drbd).
So we can now start drbd1. Everytime the primary node fails, the secondary node will display a message on /var/log/ha-log saying that we should confirm that the primary has been rebooted so that the secondary can take control of the service and become the new primary.
In a next post I'll cover how to make NFS make use of DRBD. Any comments, suggestions, etc, you know where to find me :).
DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) is a technology that is used to replicate data over TCP/IP. It is used to build HA Clusters and it can be seen as a RAID-1 implementation over the network.
As you may all know, the DRBD kernel module has now been included into Hardy Heron Server Edition's kernel, so there is no more source downloading and compiling, which makes it easier to install and configure. Here I'll show you how to install and and make a simple configuration of DRBD, using one resource (testing). I'll not cover how to install and configure heartbeat for automatic failover (This will be showed in a next post).
First of all, we will have to install Ubuntu Hardy Heron Server Edition on to servers and manually edit the partition table. We do this to leave FREE SPACE that we will be used later on as the block device for DRBD. If you've seen the DRBD + NFS HowTo on HowToForge.com, creating the partitions for DRBD and leaving them unmounted will NOT work, and we won't we able to create the resource for DRBD. This is why we leave the FREE SPACE, and we will create the partition later on, when the system is installed.
So, after the installation we will have to create the partition, or partitions (in case we are creating an external partition for the meta-data, but in this case it will be internal), that DRBD will use as a block device. For this we will use fdisk and do as follows:
fdisk /dev/sda
n (to create a new partition)
l83 (to create it as logical and format it as Filesystem # 83)
w (to write the changes)
After creating the partitions we will have to REBOOT both servers so that the kernel uses the new partition table. After reboot we have to install drbd8-utils on both servers:
sudo apt-get install drbd8-utils
Now that we have drbd8-utils installed, we can now configure /etc/drbd.conf, which we will configure a simple DRBD resource, as follows:
resource testing { # name of resources
protocol C;
on drbd1 { # first server hostname
device /dev/drbd0; # Name of DRBD device
disk /dev/sda7; # Partition to use, which was created using fdisk
address 172.16.0.130:7788; # IP addres and port number used by drbd
meta-disk internal; # where to store metadata meta-data
on drbd2 { # second server hostname
device /dev/drbd0;
disk /dev/sda7;
address 172.16.0.131:7788;
meta-disk internal;
disk {
on-io-error detach;
net {
max-buffers 2048;
ko-count 4;
syncer {
rate 10M;
al-extents 257;
startup {
wfc-timeout 0;
degr-wfc-timeout 120; # 2 minutos.
Note that we are using drbd1 and drbd2 as hostnames. This hostnames must be configured and the servers should be able to ping the other via those hostnames (that means we need to have a DNS server or configure hosts for both servers in /etc/hosts).
After creating the configuration in /etc/drbd.conf, we now can create the DRBD resources. For this we issue the following in both servers:
sudo drbdadm create-md testing
After issuing this, we will be asked for confirmation to create the meta-data in the block device.
Now we have to power off both servers. After powering them off, we start our first server and we will see something similar to this:
After confirming with 'yes', we can now start the second server. After the second server is running. both nodes resources are secondary, so we have to make one of them primary. For this, we issue the following on the server we would like to have the resource as primary:
drbdadm -- --overwrite-data-of-peer primary all
We verify this by issuing:
cat /proc/drbd
And this should show something like this:
Well, up to this point, i've have showed you how to install and configure DRBD on Hardy, and how to make one of the servers have its resource as primary. But, we still don't have automatic failover or automatic mounting. In a next post I'll show how to configure heartbeat to have automatic failover and to take control of the resources, aswell as configuring STONITH to use the meatware device, so that we won't have a split-brain condition (or at least try). I'll also show how to configure NFS and MySQL to use this DRBD resource.
BTW, if you have questions you know where to find me :).


text:
About Barbara Talley
Barbara is a keynote speaker, author, poet, and publisher who speaks nationally and specializes in Goal Setting, Time Management, Balancing Work and Family, Vision, Values, Virtues (Spirituality), Diversity, Leadership, Personal Empowerment, Effective Communications, Women's Issues and other motivational topics for businesses, associations, community groups, colleges, and government organizations.
Signature Workshops (click for descriptions and more info)
Understanding YOU- Understanding ME
TIME Management is SELF Management
How to Keep Your Cool when Your Emotional Hot Buttons Are Pressed
Superwoman Doesn't Live Here Anymore
On Track, On Fire, On Purpose
The Polished Professional
CrossWorlds (Non-verbal Communications/Diversity Interactive Game/Workshop)
Beyond Time Management– 7 Keys to High Quality Task Completion
Who You Are Speaks So Loudly, I Can't Hear You (Effective Communications)
Valuing Diversity– R.E.S.P.E.C.T – Find Out What It Means To Me!
Mapping Your Professional Journey
Strategies for Survival in Non-Nurturing Environments
To book Barbara for an event, phone 301.428.4831, email her at email@example.com or visit her website at www.thepoetspeaks.com.
January 16, 2012 12:23 am
I was forwarded your video-mail as an example of a professional image,,,,i must say congratulation. I also love your material.
July 17, 2013 2:49 pm
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a
very well written article. I'll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will definitely return.


text:
Title: Anything But Broken
Author: Joelle Knox
Release date: August 2015
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Won
Description: After five years, tragedy brings Hannah Casey back to Hurricane Creek to bury what's left of her family. She's flunking out of college, haunted by scandal, and the only person who cares is Sean Whitlow, an irresistible bad boy with a soft spot for her. The problem? He's her dead sister's ex.
Sean doesn't bleed red, he bleeds motor oil. During the week, he struggles to turn his auto repair shop into a profitable business. But when Saturday night rolls around, he's the reigning stock-car king of the local race track. He doesn't know how to lose–or how to walk away and leave Hannah alone with her grief.
Between her grades and her wealthy family's dark secrets, Hannah's barely holding her life together. And the last thing Sean needs is to get tangled up with another Casey girl. As the attraction between them spins out of control, they'll either find a love with no limits–or go up in flames.
My thoughts: Yes, this is another contemporary romance where something emotionally traumatic happened in the characters' past which they're now trying to deal with and it affects a new romance. Yes, this type of story comes up again and again. But I love them. As with any romance novel, it's about the journey.
Hannah has come back to the town she grew up in after she inherits her childhood home. She wants to come back, do the dutiful daughter stuff, and then leave again as quickly as possible. Of course it doesn't go that smoothly and as she struggles to deal with what happened in the past and what is happening now, she finds other things to lean on to 'help'. And while she really wants to like Sean, there are secrets her late sister confided in her which would tear him apart.
The chapters alternate between the two perspectives of Hannah and Sean and I really liked getting to see what was going on in Sean's head and life from his own perspective. Another thing I really liked was the community of Hurricane Creek which Joelle Knox introduces. There are some great side characters who I'm looking forward to seeing more of. However, I felt like a bit too much time in this story was spent focussing on the couple who star in book two of the series. They're Hannah & Sean's best friends (of course) so it's understandable that they should feature heavily in this story but at times I felt like Anything But Broken was their story as much as Hannah & Sean's. The problems of a first-in-the-series book, I guess. The other criticism I have is that I thought some of Hannah's 'big secrets' about her sister were very easy to guess.
Overall, I did find this a very enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to the sequel. This was a fun contemporary romance and introduced some characters who I really want to see a happy ending for in future books. Joelle Knox is the pen name for one of my favourite authors but if I hadn't known that, I would never have guessed! This book really proves the versatility of the author. Overall I'm giving this book 6 out of 10.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Anything But Broken, by Joelle Knox
Author: Ailsa | Filed Under: 6 Stars, Anything But Broken, contemporary romance, joelle knox, Kit Rocha | at 8:14 AM |
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
The Dark Humor of Tammy Duckworth, Iraq War Hero and Gun Control Advocate
The Illinois representative and Iraq War vet who lost both her legs talks about the NRA, taking her Republican colleagues hunting, and her T-shirt that says, "Lucky for me, he's an ass man."
House Republicans had called a recess. C-SPAN had shut off the cameras in the chamber. And Illinois Rep. Tammy Duckworth, the Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when the helicopter she was flying was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, had taken off her titanium prosthetic legs to join her fellow Democrats in the House to sit on the floor of the chamber to demand a vote on gun-control legislation.
Without C-SPAN's video feed, members had turned to tweeting photos and livestreaming Democrats singing "We Shall Overcome" on Periscope and Facebook Live—a blatant violation of the decorous rules in the chamber. And so, to forestall her phone being taken away by Capitol Police, she slipped it into the hollow of one of her prosthetic legs. Poof!
Though the June sit-in didn't succeed in bringing the legislation to the floor for a vote, Duckworth and her peers say they haven't lost hope. They'll continue fighting for what they call common-sense legislation, such as keeping suspected terrorists from buying a gun, and raising awareness of the issue. But Duckworth, who is in a tight Senate race, faces an unusual challenge on that score: Her opponent, incumbent Republican Mark Kirk, has repeatedly bucked GOP orthodoxy on gun control, joining Democrats to vote for gun restrictions.
At the office of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, just steps away from the Supreme Court, she sat down with us to talk about why she's the better choice on gun control and how she developed a dark sense of humor about her lost legs.
GQ: During the sit-in to force a vote on gun control, you hid your phone in your prosthetic leg so it wouldn't be taken away. What else have you hidden in there?
Tammy Duckworth: [hearty, extended laughs] Sometimes, you know, Sour Patch Kids. [laughs] My secret vice, Sour Patch Kids. Yeah, we didn't know. They ended up not doing anything, but at the time, we knew they'd cut off the feed, and you had to go off the floor to go use the restroom, and we thought when we were coming back, they might—there was a rumor going around that they were going to take our phones away. Because we were openly taking pictures and recording, which is against House rules. And we just thought, "Oh, they may actually take our phones away if we leave the floor."
You've been a staunch advocate for gun control since you came to Capitol Hill as a congresswoman. But in the four years since, gun control has repeatedly failed to pass. What has to change for legislation to pass?
We need control of the Senate and we need to close the gap in the House.
Simple as that?
Yeah. There are bills out there right now, like universal background checks, that have Republican co-sponsors. But they'll never come up to the floor for a vote. Not unless Republicans are forced to compromise, and can't pass legislation without the help of Democrats. In 2013, 2014, we were able to do more bipartisan things, because the gap in the House was much smaller, and we had Democratic control in the Senate. Because Speaker Boehner had to rely on some Democratic votes.
I feel like moderate Republicans, who would support sensible gun violence legislation, are pushed aside by those folks who are absolutely beholden to the NRA. And so we never get the vote.
You've said that your experience in combat taught you to "never leave anyone behind." How are you guided by that in the fight for gun control?
We leave innocents behind every single day. You can just go to Chicago, where little babies are being killed in their cribs while they're sleeping because of the gun violence that [is] happening in Chicago. Mothers pushing strollers are being killed by stray bullets in Chicago. And so much of this is partially a result of lax gun violence legislation.
There's a loophole right now, that I'm cosponsoring a bill that's bipartisan to try to end, and the bill—right now, if you are a gun store owner, and you decide to go out of business, you get to convert your entire gun store inventory to personal use. And then when you sell it, you don't have to conduct background checks. People are going into Indiana, from Illinois, and going into some southern states, from Illinois, and buying massive amounts of guns without background checks. Loading them up, literally into UHauls and the trunks of cars, and driving into Chicago and selling them in back alleyways. And they were, many of them, legally purchased guns under these loopholes that occur.
You've offered to take Republicans voting down party lines duck hunting to discuss gun control legislation. If anyone took you up on that, what would you say to them in between shots?
I'll go! I actually prefer being on the range, I'm not a big hunter. But I'll go with you. I actually shoot. I enjoy target practice. I find it really zen. You focus on nothing but the target. You have to control your breathing. It's all part of my years in the military, where I was taught to become a marksmen, but also to respect my weapon.
What would you say to someone, a gun owner, who was planning to vote for a Republican, if you took them shooting? What would you say to them about gun control?
Well, I think I would go over what some of the very sensible legislation is, and the fact that the vast majority of Americans support this legislation. Universal background checks is something that the vast majority of voters support. Over 85 percent of Democratic voters, and 90 percent of Republican voters support universal background checks. Most people do not want people who have been convicted of violent crimes and felonies, to be able to go and buy a gun. And right now, because these loopholes exist, they can.
What could you do as a senator that you haven't been able to do in Congress on the gun control issue?
This is where my opponent and I have very different views. For me, it's not just about gun violence, legislation on gun control. But it's also about all the factors that come into play with these shootings that are happening. I think for example, my opponent said that he, it was beyond the capacity of his Senate office to do anything about community-police relationships. I disagree. We can certainly work towards providing more grants, money, more funding, to help fund advocacy groups that work for community and police relation improvement. I think that we may have the opportunity to push hard to get the NIH to be allowed to conduct research on the effects of gun violence. That was prohibited by law. And Congress can reverse that. And I think we have an opportunity to push that out of the Senate and force it to become something that we can talk about in the House.
The bottom line is, when you're in the Senate, you have more of a voice in the beginning than a new House member. You can get to that level of seniority in the House, but you have to be re-elected multiple times. But when you become a senator, the things that you advocate for, just by nature of you being a senator, you can immediately become a leader in the nation on those issues. And it's one of the reasons why I'm running, because I want to better serve not just my congressional district, but my entire state, and my entire nation. And we have the opportunity to do some of that.
Earlier this year, you were one of just two Democrats who weren't endorsed by Americans for Responsible Solutions, Gabby Giffords' gun control group—they endorsed your Republican opponent, Sen. Mark Kirk. Why do you think you didn't earn their endorsement?
They're playing politics. They needed to endorse a Republican or two to show that they're bipartisan. ... I think it's short-sighted. But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter to me, because my stance on sensible gun violence legislation doesn't change because of whether or not some outside group endorsed me. It's what I truly believe, and I think our communities will be safer places if we have sensible legislation.
Donald Trump blames the rise in military sexual assaults on women being in the military. How do you respond to Trump and others who think we would be better off if women weren't in the military, or weren't in combat roles?
Well, first and foremost, military sexual trauma predates women's service in the military. It was happening even before women were allowed to serve equally. Second of all, there are more male victims of military sexual trauma then there are female victims.* … And so, my question is, how is he going to stop the rest of it? Because it's actually male-on-male violence.
* Per a 2014 study, 10,600 men were victims of sexual assault in the military, as were 9,600 women.
And frankly, it shows that he does not understand our military, and he does not understand the challenges, but also the capabilities of our military, and he's not fit to be commander in chief. Bottom line, our military can no longer exist and perform its duties and its missions without its female service members. Not going to be able to do it. Female service members are so integrated into the military, so critical and vital to all functions of the military, from combat service support to combat support, to direct combat, that we could not go to war as a nation, we could not defend America, without our women. And so this is a man who wants to be commander in chief and he doesn't even understand that basic fact.
Clinton unveiled her policies for people with disabilities yesterday, which is unusual for a presidential candidate. Do you think people with disabilities—including disabled veterans—are being recognized more as a powerful voting bloc than in the past?
I hope so. I don't know that they are. I am very, very pleased that Secretary Clinton did that. But you have to understand, we couldn't even pass a reaffirmation of the [Americans with Disabilities Act] to strengthen it. And we couldn't even get the United States to sign on to the International Convention of Persons With Disabilities. And it's based on the ADA. We had Bob Dole on the floor of the Senate pleading with his former colleagues, sitting in his wheelchair to please ratify this. And they still voted against it. The Republicans still voted against it.
You have a sense of humor about your amputations, and have been known to wear a shirt that says, "Lucky for me, he's an ass man."
Yep. [laughs]
Which I'm obsessed with.
You can Google it! You can get it online. It's available online.
Duckworth's communications director interjects: "Please don't."
Oh, I think she should! I'm proud of that shirt! You had the same reaction as my husband. You know, he's thrown it away at least once, and I've pulled it back out of the garbage can and worn it. [laughs]
How did you come to a place where you felt comfortable joking about that?
Well, it's thanks to the care I got at Walter Reed. And being able to recover with my fellow service members. You can choose to cry about it, and you can choose to be depressed for the rest of your life about it, but at the end of the day, I earned my injuries. I earned this. And I'm proud that I earned this. Because I earned it in defense of my nation.
And for me to not accept it would be a denial of my very own service that I'm proud of. And even more critical to me, would be a dishonor to the men who saved my life. They didn't risk their lives to save me so I could spend the rest of my life feeling sorry for myself sitting on a couch somewhere. I could do that. I would have every right to do that. But I can better honor the struggle that my crew went through to save my life by having a sense of humor about it, and showing that my life is really pretty normal. I talk about this all the time. My husband and I have fights all the time. We don't have fights because I don't have legs. We have fights because he leaves the toilet seat up. And it annoys me. [laughs]
It really is the most annoying thing.
It is. Only second to he puts the toilet paper in from underneath instead of like the paper coming out through the top.


text:
If my Senator (Mark Pryor) votes to continue funding Obamacare, more appropriately called "Barry's Clusterf**k", I will vote for Mr. Pryor to join the ranks of Arkansas' unemployed in 2014.
These elitist idiots work for US, WE THE PEOPLE!! Problem is, the majority of WE THE PEOPLE, are more consumed with Kim and Kanye, Cyrus' exhibitionism, Lohan's latest DUI arrest, or Bynes' most recent psychotic tweets. In our societal ignorance, we elected these Washington buffoons, and probably got what we collectively deserved.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I, for one, applaud the citizenry of Egypt, Syria, and other Arab Spring countries. They (the citizens of those countries) got their fill of oppressive, elitist leaders, who destroy lives and run their nations into the ground. They (again the citizens) had the gumption to pull themselves together, and revolt against the destructive status quo.
I believe it's time for a bloodless coup d' tat in Washington, and move every one of these elitist opportunists out of town. I don't care what party they belong to. We need statesmen. People who not concerned about being re-elected, but concerned about doing the right thing for America.
I can imagine some of you sitting there think I'm a racist. I am not a racist. I do not dislike Barry Soetoro Hussein Obama because of the color of his skin. I dislike Barry Soetoro Hussein Obama because he is a totally inept, incompetent, Socialist, nincompoop, who is bent on destroying capitalism. I dislike him because he has never held a leadership job in his life before the White House. And his idiocy shows. Foreign leaders scoff at him. Vladamir Putin openly disrespects him and mocks him. Cases in point are the Edward Snowden affair and the Syria boondoggle. Soetoro-Obama was a freakin' ACORN community organizer, taught under the extreme left wing radical Saul Alinsky.
I am not a racist. I would vote for Condalezza Rice in a heart beat. I would openly campaign and vote for Dr. Benjamin Carson. Not because of the color of their skin, but because of the quality of their character. This president is an amoral shill, who has pulled the wool over the eyes of idiots in the mainstream media, over the eyes of the Hollywood elite, and kowtows to left-wing extremists like radical LGBT leaders, and the murderous lemmings of the Planned Parenthood crowd.
We need a Constitutional Convention that will further delineate and limit the powers of all three governmental branches. We don't need an egomaniacal runaway train in the White House. We don't need judges who legislate based on their own political leanings or personal tastes, but we need judges who interpret the law of the land (the Constitution) in the spirit and context in which it was written. And we certainly don't need 535 cronies in Congress who are constantly in a re-election mode, and vote for convenience, TV facetime, and a sound-byte, rather than voting according to the desires of their voters back home.
Problem is…. no body in Washington has the kahones to be a statesman, and make the first move.
This idiot in the White House is too stupid to see what kind of harm his "Affordable" Care Act is having on the middle class, as this nation becomes a nation of part-time workers. He has already brought America to our knees and made Vladamir Putin the most powerful man in the world. He is reducing our America to Third World status at breakneck speed.
Do we really want someone who is intentionally out of touch with Americans? Who disrepects his voters and citizenry to shove his evil policies down our throats? Do we really want him with access to the nuclear launch codes, or on the phone with Putin or Netanyahu, bringing even more humiliation to this nation?
Like author Joel C. Rosenberg, I pray for America's Third Great Awakening; and I honestly and sincerely pray for a 2nd American Revolution. A revolution where character, morality, and the rebirth of a once great republic is the goal. And the plans of the current cast in Washington become yesterday's news.
God Bless America!


text:
- Multi-tier language for client-server Web and mobile applications
- Reactive Web pages
- Sessions ...
An OCaml to Javascript compiler.
A cooperative threading library for OCaml.
A full-featured and extensible Web server.
Eliom application skeleton ready to use as a basis for your own applications (with users, (pre)registration, notifications, etc.)
Native OCaml widgets for browsers (client side only, or client/server)
A library for generating valid XML ouput, using static typing (HTML5, SVG ...).
Persistent references and key-value stores.
An OCaml binding for JQuery
An OCaml binding of the Google Closure widget library.
A language for type-safe database queries.
OCaml binding generator for Javascript libraries
An OCaml virtual machine in Javascript.
A content management system written with Eliom (wiki, forum).
Ocsimore module implementing collaborative development tools (forge).
An experimental Eliom-like module for the CDuce language.


text:
Sweater - Pimkie / Skirt and rings - H&M / Bag - Zara / Sandals - Stradivarius
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've had a lot on my mind... I don't believe in only writing in order to have something to post so when I'm absolutely not feeling for it I don't blog. Quality is more important to me than quantity.
Friday last week I was finally on vacation. Sunday morning , or rather night (04.00), I had to get up to reach my plane for Ajaccio, Corsica where I've spent my last five days with the norwegian girls. I've had a lot of fun ! And ofcourse a photo diary from the trip will be posted as soon as I'm finished going through all the photos we've taken. I'm also preparing a guide on how to fix every girls (or boys) biggest packing problem; how to fit everything you need in a small sized bag. I hope you'll find some of my tips handy.
Here I'm wearing what I think is the perfect combo for an early summer morning. While wearing a sweatshirt with my skirt it's easy to adapt to the rising temperature. You don't get cold in the morning breeze and when the sun starts to warm properly you can tie it around your waist for a casual but cool look. I love combining graphical and cute. The graphic print on my sweatshirt and the minimalistic bag and shoes make a great contrast to the lace and the light colors.
I've just arrived in Milan where I'll be spending the weekend with a good friend of mine. But more about that later. Now I sereously need to get some sleep ! Night