Time To Give Thanks

A Time To Give Thanks

This is the time of the year to give thanks. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and its a time for family and friends to gather and feast and give thanks. The "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated to give thanks to God for guiding them safely into the new world. This was a three day event with enough food to feed 90 native Americans and 13 pilgrims. Then what happened after?? Yes a massacre of the Native Americans. (Just wanted to throw that in there) 

Do you or your family have any specific traditions at Thanksgiving? I can tell you what I remember from being a child. My mother would be up all night the night before prepping and baking pies. My favorite is my grandmother's and my mother's traditional pineapple pie. Everyone in the family looked forward to this pie. We did not have a huge meal but it was good enough for us. I can even still remember the menu. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes and of course pies. We never had many desserts just the pie. 

The day would begin with my mother getting up like at 6 in the morning to put the turkey on and then us kids would get up and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on t.v. while my brother and my dad were out hunting for the biggest part of the day. When my brother got older and moved out my dad would go by himself. We usually had dinner around 5 I believe when I was younger. Sometimes we would have other people stop by. I remember some of my parents friends coming one year, some friends thy had not seen in years. I also remember my uncle being there every year. 

As the years went by and we all got older the holiday started changing and a new tradition evolved. Thanksgiving was held at my grandmother's house (when she moved to Arkansas) and my Aunts, Uncles and cousins would all come and we all would have a wonderful Thanksgiving day at my grandmothers house. It was held at noon every year. After eating and cleaning up we would all head back up the mountain to mom and dad's house for the continuation of the celebration. 

Now more years have passed and the traditions that I once knew have disappeared. There are no longer any traditions in my family and it is really sad to think of it. I wanted to start my own traditions within my own little family but that is almost nearly impossible because of divorce, people work, kids are somewhere else..It saddens me. 

In honor of this holiday I will give thanks to the memories that I have growing up and my adolescent and young adult years ( I am still young). I will give thanks that I am alive and can remember those memories. No sense in me basking in my own misery just because our family can not be together. I will make the best of this day with the best that I have and thank God I have healthy, loving family. Maybe one day I will be able to start my own traditions. Until then I will just be thankful for what I do have. Love to all my readers and have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Spend it with the ones you love and enjoy in wonderful conversations and be merry. 

Divorce Sucks

Anyone who has experienced divorce knows that it just plain sucks in a lot of aspects but also for the best. I have experienced this two times in my short 30 years. Studies show that divorce rates have remained stable for the last decade at 50% for firsts marriages, 65% for second marriages and just gets higher with each marriage after. Basically statistics show that your doomed if you have been divorced and then remarry. Also basically your doomed if you marry at an early age. Marriages are more than likely to survive if marrying after the age of 25. I call BS but that is my opinion and not data. 


The worse thing I have experienced with my divorces has to do with my children. They are the ones caught in the middle and get hurt. I try my best to not involve them or let them know what issues their other parent and I are having but sometimes its inevitable especially as they get older. Holidays, extra visitation, child support and just anything to do with the child usually becomes a huge ordeal. Oh the Holidays. Yes this is the worse time of the year for me. All the fighting and figuring out who gets who when and where and etc..


In my opinion every divorced parent needs to work with each other. Think of the child and their needs before your own. I never understood it. I have sacrificed much time with my oldest daughter due to her sports. If I were a selfish parent I would say no, we are going by the papers and her extra curricular activities will take a back burner because I am selfish and want her here with me. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have her here with me but her wants and needs come first before mine. That happened the day I found out I was pregnant.  


Yes I am a mother with two children that live with their fathers. I made mistakes and I have paid for them everyday and do the best I can. I am on the paying end of child support. I am the puppet on a string who does whatever the custodial parent wants with the fear of a fight. I am not a fighter. I get so tired of arguing so I do give in more times than I don't just because I don't want my kids involved. You custodial parents out there, think about the non custodial parent every now and then and think about what your child would want and not what you would want. Do not use your child for your own selfishness just because you want to hurt your ex spouse!! 


With the holidays just around the corner try to make some sacrifices for your kids and make the best of it for both of you. Because I have an ex that can only think of himself I am stuck with Thanksgiving without my children. All because he insists we follow the papers I do not get to see my children until December. Everyone is so excited about the Holiday's, I stress and worry. Think if it this way, if 50% of people are divorced, 50% of people are going through the holidays fighting with ex spouses over issues with seeing their kids. It's not fair and something needs to change. No wonder suicide rates go up during this time of the year. I have just gotten to the point I don't argue. I am done. I have faith my children know I love them, know I care and would be there if I could. If you are out there celebrating the holiday think about inviting someone who is spending it alone missing someone in their own family. Remember what the holiday's are about. 


Either way you look at it. Divorce sucks! Especially when children are involved and the holidays are the worse. 

http://www.divorceguide.com/usa/divorce-information/divorce-statistics-in-the-usa.html

http://www.childrenanddivorce.com/

Motivation

Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals

The weekend has came to a close and the normal week life starts again for most families. Some families weekends are just starting, either way do you have enough motivation to do the things you want to do on your days off or are you lacking in that department? I can speak for myself and say I lack motivation. I am even surprised I have been able to keep this blog going as long as I have (not even a week). 

I have recently discovered the pinterest . Crazy site for someone who lacks motivation and the desire to accomplish many many "DIY Projects". This site has poured a fuel to a fire that has already been burning bright for awhile, I just can't seem to even make it die down a little. I have spent many nights awake with ideas and excitement. I finally go to sleep and BAM!!! Motivation has disappeared. I have wondered if it's because I am a stay at home mom and all that motivation gets poured into taking care of and entertaining my 9 month old son and the house or if I am just truly unfocused.  I decided to do some reading and research into this subject because I am pretty sure I am not the only one. Actually I am positive. I see it in my own family and children. So I need to fix this problem. 

We all know that in order to have motivation we need to have goals and to stick with them. One of the biggest failures to reaching a goal is procrastination. Oh yes I have this issue! The way to solve that is to not delay. We all knew that! But I think the bigger picture is to look into the real reason why we procrastinate. Here are a few reasons as to why we procrastinate, fear of failure, personality trait, future rewards. So we need to pay attention to what the real reason is. I believe for myself is fear of failure. Hopefully you can identify yours. Work on these issues and finally just get off your butt and do it!! I so need to take my own advice. 

I have a list of projects I want to accomplish

1. Keep up with this blog

2. Making memory boxes for my girls

3. Completing the Razorback shirt for my son

4. I have a few projects I am working on that involves salt dough

5. Creating the snowman stocking stuffers for Christmas

6. Lots of things on pinterest

How soon "not now" becomes "never"

My final note, if you are lacking the motivation to accomplish your goals you have set out to do, "JUST DO IT"

Picture Friday

So its Friday!! I have decided on Fridays I will post some super cute pictures to brighten your day and hopefully keep you smiling throughout the weekend. Enjoy

Google search,cute animal pictures :-)

My list of Pros and Cons of Autumn

"I think I am falling for Fall"

Moose from Nick Jr.

This is the shortest lived of the seasons and you have to be quick to catch it. There are good things and there are bad just like every season of the year. Here is a list I have compiled of my pros and cons of the very colorful season.

PROS

1. The end of a hot hot summer

2. Ah the rain

3. Beautifully colored leaves

4. Halloween

5. Pumpkins (Jack-o-lanterns)

6. Thanksgiving

7. Perfect photography opportunity

8. My reason to start drinking coffee

9. I can have chili and soup again

10. Perfect hiking weather

11. Beautiful sunsets

12. Birds..Yes birds, I see more hawks this time of the year than any other

13. Candy!!!

CONS

1. Leaves, Leaves, Leaves (yes they are beautiful but they are a mess to clean up)

2. Holiday shopping starts

3. Christmas takes over Thanksgiving

4. People start getting grumpy

5. Time change (yes we may gain an hour for that one night but we lose daylight)

    Perfect time for vampires though

6. More darkness brings more depression

7. Leaves, Leave and more leaves

Clearly I have more pros than cons. Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. I love hikes out in the woods during this time. Of course Fall and Spring are a close match. I love both seasons. I even love winter..I despise summer!! I can not stand being hot. 

Autumn would be perfect if the leaves would stay their beautiful colors and stay put on the trees. They are nothing but a huge mess. A mess in my yard, my porch, my car and even in my house!!! I have two dogs, a cat, kids, husband and myself. We track in lots of leaves and not matter how much you blow them off or sweep them up they keep coming. Its about time to get the mower out and mulch them up. Its just like mowing in the spring. Twice a week it will need to be done. Much easier than raking. That is for the birds! Meanwhile enjoy some pics from the fall season I have taken.

Red Box Night

"In brightest day, in blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight ,Let all who worship evil’s might. Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!"

Every Wednesday night the husband always rents a movie or two from red box. I bet you can guess what it was that we watched tonight. Ha yes, your correct. It was The Green Lantern. We have been hesitating on whether or not to even bother to rent this movie after reading all the reviews for it. After all Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a 4.6/10. That is not even half way decent. I had also been reading friends opinions on the movie and had not seen a one say that this movie was a good one. Then I checked out the ratings on IMBD which is one of my favorite sites to refer to movies, actors and actresses. Packed full of great info. IMBD gave this movie a 6.1/10. Not to bad of a rating so why not go ahead and see for myself. 


First I will give you a little bit of an overview of this movie from my perspective before I tell you what I thought of it. This is based off of DC comics and of course The Green Lanterns are heroic. They help keep the peace in the universe. Each Green Lantern wears a ring that is powered by the imagination and will. After the death of one (alien hero) the ring chose another (Hal, played by Ryan Reynolds) which is of course the beginning of the whole movie. Of course every hero has a villian. Not much more sense in me telling you anymore of the plot you will just have to watch for yourself. 


Now for my grand opinion...I really liked this movie and I would be willing to give it an 8/10. I will say that I do not think that it would be for smaller children considering the villian is kind of scary looking. If your child is sensitive to those things then beware. And of course the costume has to be kind of dorky. The masks?? Why?? It did not work for Zorro or Superman. Its not going to work for the Green Lantern. I just never understood the point of covering up a little bit of your eyes and your cheekbones and expecting that to pass as a disguise. You can still tell who the person is if you look close enough. At least he is not in a cape. Those capes could catch on anything. Anyways enough of my nitpicking. I enjoyed this movie and the action was enough to keep my attention focused (which is a great thing). 


If your looking for a movie to rent or to add to your DVD/Blue Ray collection I do recommend The Green Lantern

 "He said the ring chose me. He said its a great honor. Responsibility" 

Internet Movie Database
Red Box

Halloween

HALLOWEEN

Yes I realize this post about Halloween is a little tiny bit late, well I started my blog late. I wanted to share with you my children's Halloween celebration over the weekend. I was able to have my two oldest over that weekend but not all of my kids. It happens that way at times. This was my 8months old sons first Halloween and I was not going to pass up the opportunity to take him out trick or treating. I realize he can't really eat the candy but I wanted to enjoy the experience. My son loves people and loves getting out so this was the perfect time to do such a thing. On Saturday I decided to take all three of the kids trick or treating at the Frisco Station Mall. Nothing big but hey its something. Afterwards we attended a small carnival with Games and rides. Logan got to play his very first ever carnival game, of course with the help of his big sister.  The kids really enjoyed this and had a blast. I am so thankful I have children that are not greedy and do not need the huge things in their lives to make them happy.

"If you see a spider on this night, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one watching you"

The two older kids went home on Sunday, but that did not stop me from taking Logan out on Monday night.  I was joined by Logan's God Parents, his uncle John and Aunt Kim. I thank them a ton for tagging a long. Logan even had his very first sucker :-) Butterscotch flavored. 

If your out and about and looking for a place to visit in North West Arkansas Check out this place. They hold events often

Frisco Station Mall

Adventures in Puppy Training

"First you learn a new language, profanity; and second you learn not to discipline your dogs when you're mad, and that's most of the time when you're training dogs." Lou Shultz

 Meet Rocky. Not sure his exact breed but I am sure he has pit bull in him. Not sure of his exact age but I do know he is young just by looking at his teeth and he still has that unforgettable, unmistakable puppy breath. Rocky came to join our household one week and one day ago. He was covered in fleas, dirty, ears were filthy, bloated with worms and very shy and scared. I have a huge love for dogs and anyone with a heart or soul can not resist big beautiful puppy eyes or that puppy breath. This pup needed a home and I was more than willing to try my hand out in the puppy thing. I knew my husband would be a little upset about bringing a new dog into the house so I waited until I got him and on my way home before I told him.. I also did this through text. I did not ask I just told him. He was okay with it once he seen him. (Goody)


So I get this big boy home and clean him up and get flea after flea off of him. Poor dog. He ended up having three baths within just a few days. Luckily with all that hard work I managed to make sure he is flea free and of course I can't forget the flea and tick meds I put on him. Thanks to my mother she lent me a crate to help with this whole potty training business and also to keep him from destroying or eliminating himself all over the house while we are gone. So we are home, he is introduced to the family and to Mable of course. We cant leave out our six year old basset hound. She likes him (at first) they play and get along pretty well and the first night of puppy training went over pretty smoothly.


First couple of days went as expected and very smooth then I guess when this pup got settled in I swear he turns me into the devil! I forgot how hard it was to potty train a puppy. I wish every puppy came already potty trained. Life would be much easier and there probably would not be as many homeless little or big doggies out there. I find myself cussing this poor puppy every step we both make towards the door after every accident and it seems those are getting more frequent. I blocked off the whole living room so that was the only room he would have access to so I could keep my constant eye on this sneaky little devil dog. Well once again he did good (for just a little bit). 


The common signs to watch for when a puppy has to go potty are as follows:
1. The puppy will circle and whimper
2. The puppy will sniff floors
3. Puppy will need to go out after eating and after sleep
4. Generally as a rule the puppy will not soil the place where they sleep


I guess I'm going to have to learn to read all the opposite signs of this?? Rocky will not circle or whimper. He wags his tail and just pees where he is at. I have not seen this dog sniff the floor one bit except to find some food, he would rather eat, play. sleep and then potty (If Im lucky). Rocky likes to pee in his crate. Grrr!!! What gives?  I realize it has only been one week but you would think he would start getting the hang of this thing and not give you that doggie grin while peeing on the floor. I think that is what makes me the most angry. I am beginning to think he likes to upset me and push my buttons, just like a child. So he goes to his crate if he does not potty outside..Now this is a whole other nightmare. This pup slams himself back and forth in the crate causing it rock back and forth and he cries and cries. I need the Dog Whisperer. Czear, where are you????


When this dog is not being such a pain in my rear he is fun. He does the normal puppy thing and he runs circles around the coffee table, plays really well with the kids and pesters Mable. Mable of course is not a fan of this home invader.  He is a good companion for Justin when he is out working in the garage, nice company for me and a decent foot warmer and not to mention a great guard dog. I have faith he will be the perfect dog if I can just keep my patience and my profanity to a minimum or he may kill me by driving me insane. Have you ever wondered why we drive ourselves mad for some satisfaction? Hmm...another topic for another day. 
In the mean time check out some links I have posted below of some inexpensive dog products I have purchased and have found works really well. I don't have a pet smart income I have a wal-mart income so these products work for us. 

Dog Shampoo
Flea and Tick Drops
Nail Clippers


I wonder how many times I say no in one day??