Day 40

Parent/Teacher Conference

The dreaded yearly event in every parents life of school aged children. It has arrived.....
  Well,That was a shitastic day all around. Car broke down on the way to the conference. At least I made it to the school instead of being broke down on the side of the road stranded. My son is having a rough start to the school year. He is mostly having behavioral issues this year and trust me it is going on at home as well. I guess he is coming to the age where he is becoming more and more defiant. Well I have news for the little man. He is gonna HATE me by the end of it. I don't care if I have to take away his video games indefinitely.  He will be a mindful and respectful child or I will make his life miserable.The choice is up to him on how he wants this to go down. He will be 7 in a few days.

Since Quitting

Since quitting smoking I have gained about 10 lbs. I feel like all my hard work over the past year to lose weight was wasted. I feel defeated. I haven't exercised in a couple of weeks. Haven't really felt like I had the energy. I feel like I look like Flubber , for those who may not know who Flubber was :

Need to get out of this funk and start getting back to eating healthy and exercising again. 

I just need a big one of these:

A giant swift kick in the pants.

For the record it is :

of no smoking 

Legalization

Last night it was also announced that Colorado and Washington state both Legalized Marijuana for both Medicinal and recreational use. I say good for them. I am hoping that more states will follow this lead. Just think of how much money it could make to be used for things like education, etc. It will save time & the state money trying to prosecuted for misdemeanor crimes (such as carrying, personal use, etc.) We can now use that time to go after the harder more dangerous drugs such as cocaine, heroin, meth , etc.

And the Winner is....

President Obama has beat out Romney in the 2012 presidential election. His speech was fantastic :)

This speech is 23 mins long but it has his entire acceptance speech.
I am happy with the results of this election. I know that a lot of people are not. But what is most shocking ,and it really shouldn't be surprising is the extreme disrespect that those have for our president. I am baffled at those that want to tear him down instead of standing behind him and helping raise this country out of it's current state. People need to get their heads out of their asses. Their Moms need to slap some respect into them. People in general leave me shaking my head and the election has brought out the worst in people. Even people you wouldn't expect it from. We should not be drawing lines and taking sides. We should be standing together for the greater good. We should love thy neighbor.

I Voted.....

                    I voted and I brought my daughter with me. It was bittersweet being able to share this moment with my young daughter. On the way to the Polling Place she asked why we were going to vote. 
          I said "Well my darling daughter we are going because it is our duty and our privilege as women to be able to vote. We fought hard for these rights and we should want to use our abilities. We are going to choose our new president." 
         She is probably too young to understand but I rather drill it in her head now the importance of voting than her not care later on. I will have to admit politics is not my favorite subject but I am glad I am smart about it. I do the research on each candidate. Vote Today and Make your voice heard! 

24 days

                 It has been 24 days since my last cigarette. I feel like I am losing my mind. The physical craving subsided weeks ago so I rarely get a craving now but the emotional toll has been much much harder. I call it the emotional roller coaster of death, doom and despair. Apparently this little phase can last up to months. I have talked to others and they all say it can take up to about 3-4 months to get back off this crazy train. Of course no one tells you about this fun little ride when they are lobbying for you to quit this oh so wonderful habit. If I knew my sanity was going to take even more of a hit I would still be smoking. Hello mother of two children my sanity has already taken quite a bit of a hit. So each day I don't smoke I am inching further from sanity and closer to the jacket that hugs you so tight and you can't forget the calming white room with padded walls. Each day sticks with an emotion. For example: Today is I'm pissed off and am seconds away from going on a murderous spree. Yesterday was On the Brink of tears. Tomorrow I am planning on ignoring all things related to responsibility. I would say about once or twice a week I feel like a normal person. I picked up some St. John's Wart cause apparently it is suppose to help stabilize a healthy mood. We shall see. Next stop is seeing a Dr to possibly be prescribe wellbutrin ( a mild anti-depressant). I am really hoping it doesn't have to come to that.

Young Adult - Movie Review

           




                           About the movie: Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.



My rating for the movie: 2 out of 5 stars and that is being kind. it is more like a 1

My thoughts on the movie: I would not recommend this movie to anyone. It was a complete suckfest. the acting was mediocre at best. The story line was a huge fail. It was actually really painful to watch. Charlize characters attempts to win back her ex who had clearly moved on was pathetic.

Preview clip:

Finally...

Reached over a 100 posts. Only took over a year because well I can be quite lazy when it comes to blogging. So I am quite excited about this :) 

30 Day Thankful for Thanksgiving

*will be adding to this daily

Day 1- I am thankful being blessed with the children I do have. 

Day 2- I am thankful for being blessed with a husband that understands me and wants to see me successful in all my ambitions.

Day 3- I am thankful for my In-Laws and the close relationship they have with my children. The effort they make to be a constant influence in their lives. 

Day 4- I am thankful for wine. It is so delicious not that I am a raging alchy because I rarely get to drink alcohol in any form. But when I do it is a great way to unwind after a hectic day,week, month, year, etc.

Day 5- I am thankful that we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our bellies. 

Day 6- I am thankful that as a woman I have the ability to vote. I exercise that right and I am hoping to pass this on to my children. The importance of voting is too great not to pass on. Making your voice heard is uplifting and freeing. 

Day 7- I am thankful for my Mother in Law. She has been a huge blessing in our lives. Making me a better wife & mother. I know I can count on her if I need advice or suggestions. 

Day 8- I am thankful for my sense of humor otherwise parenthood wouldn't be as entertaining.

Day 9- I am thankful for movies & TV otherwise I would get no cleaning done with small children around.

Day 10- I am thankful family time. I enjoy just popping in a movie for us all to enjoy. Our silly traditions we have around the holidays mean so much more to me than anything else.

Day 11- I am thankful for all the men and women that fights for this country, for our freedoms. I am thankful for the Veterans. Happy Veterans Day :) 

Day 12- I am thankful silly television series that keep me entertained.

Day 13- I am thankful for growing up with caring parents that were a good example of right and wrong. Taught me to stand on my own two feet.

Day 14- I am thankful for a great support system. It has been really helpful in this journey to a better , healthier me. My husband is my greatest supporter. He is taking the brunt of my mood swings on my journey of quitting smoking. 

Day 15- I am thankful for Music. It knows how to speak to me when I feel lost or kicked down by life. Puts things in perspective and lifts my spirits. It is also a huge motivation :) 

Day 16- I am thankful for cover-up. Seriously I have been breaking out all over my face this month. BAD!! 

Day 17- I am thankful for sweatshirts and hoodies. As this weather gets cooler I love being able to have layers :) 

Day 18- I am thankful for intimacy. It is a great stress reliever. 

Day 19- I am thankful for Dishwashers. I would be seriously lost without one. I hate what the dish water does with my hands. Drys them out so bad they crack and bleed. 

Day 20- I am thankful for UPS and their fast deliveries. My kindle replacement should be coming today :) 

Day 21- I am thankful for everything God has given me. Good family & friends.

Day 22- I am thankful for my great children. Although they have their faults (realistically who doesn't) they are good kids.

Day 23- I am thankful husband the provider :) 

Day 24- I am thankful for my son's school. They have been extremely helpful and understanding. Without their constant support I am not sure I would be making it through this process as well as I am.

Day 25- I am thankful for everything good that has come into my life. 

Day 26- I am thankful for to be married to my best friend. His constant support and understanding of all the crazy I can give off. He really is my rock.

Day 27- I am thankful that the month is almost over.

Day 28- I am thankful that soon I will not have to be writing this post anymore. I really am running out of things to write. 

Day 29- I am thankful for the freedom of expression. I would't feel like myself without my tattoos, piercings or crazy hair colors I sometimes do. 

Day 30- Finally, I am thankful for all the love I am blessed with. Also blessed with being able to give it away and love unconditionally.

Halloween Pictures

Halloween has come and went. We went out trick or treating and by the end of the night I was pulling my hair out. First of all I didn't even feel well enough to get dressed up. For the 1st time and 28 years I didn't wear a costume :(  Second of all the kids were trying my patience & the Mall was way over crowded. People really need to teach their kids manners. There were kids shoving other kids, cutting in lines. Just Ugh! it was a nightmare. I most likely will not be going to the mall again in the future.

Me and the kids went with my BFF and her 2 boys. But anywho here are the pictures :

Mine are the Popstar & the taller Iron Man :) 

My version of the top 10 things to do for christmas

I was browsing the internet searching for a blogging idea when I stumbled upon this article : Top 10 things to do in bed this Christmas . This was clearly written with Married couples who have no children in mind. But seriously think about it. How many married couples do you know that don't have children?? I can tell you how many I know and that is exactly 1 and not by choice. Probably 90% of married couple out there have children. As we all know children change a relationship and finding time to make a connection with your spouse can be difficult at times. But sharing your lives with your children is a connection you will remember longer than any rumble in the sack. So here is a more realistic Top 10 things to do this christmas:

10. Share christmas stories of your childhoods. This you can do with your spouse and children. You Can reminisce and learn things you may or may not have known about your spouse and the children will enjoy hearing about traditions their parents had as children.

9. Make new traditions. Take a tradition from your childhoods that you both share and pass it on to your own children. Or make a new one up all together. For instance Pick one day (the same one) every year and go pick out your tree together as a family or decorate it together.

8. Snow ball fights can be foreplay. If you think about it adrenaline is pumping, you are letting loose and having fun. Hold on to the bliss you felt and rock it in the bedroom. Or after the kids are in bed rock it in a snow bank outside. It will be cold but the hotter you move it will melt the snow ;)

7. Snowmen, Igloos and Hot cocoa Parties. Need I say more. 

6. Christmas Cards. Have the kids help you make them personal. Or do a christmas family photo 

5. Make Ornaments that have everyone's name on them. A crafting family's dream. The kids will be proud of their work and when the kids are happy the family as a unit is happy.

4. Snow Day! Make the most of the bad weather and the cancelled school. A great opportunity to reconnect with your kids and spouse.

3. Visit Santa Claus. 

2. Write your Christmas wish list as a family.

1. Snuggle up on the couch and enjoy a christmas movie marathon. Check out my list of top 20 christmas movies to watch

Top 20 Christmas Movies to Watch

1. Elf

2.Santa Clause 1,2 & 3

3.Home Alone

4. It's a Wonderful Life

5. A Muppet's Christmas Carol

6.National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

7. A Christmas Story

8. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

9. Jingle All The Way

10.A Charlie Brown Christmas

11.Frosty the Snowman

12.A Year Without Santa Claus

13.Santa Claus is Coming to Town

14. The Grinch

15. The Polar Express

16. Ernest Saves Christmas

17. Arthur Christmas

18. Miracle on 34th Street

19. The Nightmare Before Christmas

20. White Christmas

Ticks

Starting off... I HATE ticks. They are so friggin nasty. I hear the word tick and I instantly feel like they are all over me and that feeling lasts ALL DAY! I have picked a quite a few off my cat this year and also from myself. Well this morning my youngest comes to me picking at her head. Asking what this little bump she found was. Of all things holy I tried my best not to freak her or myself out. It was a tick that has attached itself and was engorged on her damn head hidden in her hair. I safely removed it and called the Pediatrician.
It was a Dog Tick.

Nasty little buggers, right?

Information on Tick Removal 
Information on Ticks regarding Lyme Disease Signs & Symptoms , also Identifying Tick types

Yay YAy YAY!!

I found my camera that went missing .

I am SUPER ECSTATIC!!!  

I was so bummed that I was going to have to get a new one and miss this holiday season with pictures. I missed a few things like a halloween party, my son's field trip & festival parade and a trip to the pumpkin patch with the kids. But Tomorrow is halloween and I would love to get a picture of all the kids(mine & my nieces and nephews) with their costumes on.

Hurricane Sandy 2012

Feeling pretty good. Made it through the storm. We didn't even lose power. The schools remained opened. Checked out the yard. No pooling of water, a couple branches down but they are more on the twig sized side of things. No damage to my vehicles or home. Just a lot of wind. It is still a bit breezy today but not whipping like it was yesterday. Seems like we had more damage when Irene went through. We got extremely lucky and we are counting our blessings.

NYC/Manhattan got the brunt of the storm for NYS. News Clip from the storm:

Book Reviews/Short Stories

I am moving my Book Reviews to their own blog space to save more space for my personal stuff on this blog. I will also be writing some of my own short stories. 


New blog Space : http://karmasstories.blogspot.com/

Disney Princess Sofia not Latina enough for the Latin Community

                      Oh boy do they always find something to complain about when race is involved. 
  
Here is the statement Disney released on the issue :

          What’s important to know is that Sofia is a fairytale girl who lives in a fairytale world. All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures. The writers have wisely chosen to write stories that include elements that will be familiar and relatable to kids from many different backgrounds including Spain and Latin America. For example, Sofia’s mom comes from a fictitious land, Galdiz, which was inspired by Spain [...] this creates a world of diversity and inclusion that sends just the right kind of message to all children -- “Look around you, appreciate the differences you see and celebrate what makes us all the same.” I am eager for you and your children to meet Sofia and experience her world together!

 This is Princess Sofia. Although she doesn't premiere til Nov. 18th. There is already controversy about her complexion, hair and eye color. I personally think is ridiculous! People need to find other things to do with their lives and realize we all look different and we should not live our lives looking at color/race, religion, sex, etc. 

Movie Reviews- ZooKeeper, Lorax, Joyful Noise

About the movie: In Zookeeper, the animals at the Franklin Park Zoo love their kindhearted caretaker, Griffin Keyes (Kevin James). Finding himself more comfortable with a lion than a lady, Griffin decides the only way to get a girl in his life is to leave the zoo and find a more glamorous job. The animals, in a panic, decide to break their time-honored code of silence and reveal their biggest secret: they can talk! To keep Griffin from leaving, they decide to teach him the rules of courtship -- animal style. The film also stars Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb and features the voices of Cher, Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler, and Sylvester Stallone.



My Rating:


My thoughts on the movie:
Had some cringe worthy, funny & sweet moments. Over all though the movie was mediocre and didn't reach it's full potential.

Movie Trailer: 

About the movie:  12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. 

My rating of the movie: 

My thoughts on the movie: I haven't read this particular Dr. Seuss book so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I loved everything about this movie. It was comical but serious about the issues of preserving trees and what would happen if they were all to disappear. Bonus My husband and Kids loved this movie.

Movie Trailer: 

About the Movie: G.G. Sparrow faces off with her choir's newly appointed director, Vi Rose Hill, over the group's direction as they head into a national competition.

My Rating for the movie: 

My thoughts on the movie: I love singing movies. I really do but this one wasn't that great. I guess I expected more from a dolly parton movie. I am not saying that the movie didn't have heart because it did. It also had some good qualities about it but the story line was mediocre and felt like it was all done before.

Movie Trailer: 

Lost my Camera :(

I lost my camera and I am sooo bummed. I imagine that one of the kids took off with it. Needless to say I probably won't ever see it again in one piece. It will be awhile before I can get another one. Especially since my son's birthday is next month and Christmas is shortly after that. Bummer cause around this time of year I take a lot of pictures (holiday pictures, birthday parties, etc) My son had a field trip last week that i would have loved to get pictures of but no camera to be found. So it looks like I am in the market. I will spend the next couple months comparing pricing, features,reviews, etc. Wish me luck!

Book Review- Home Front

About the book: In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war. 

All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .

Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life---children, careers, bills, chores---even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a soldier she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own---for everything that matters to his family.

At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope. 

What my thoughts of the book: It was a bit slow moving at first but once you got into the core of the characters they became relatable. I was never a soldier but I related to mother's love and sometimes marriages can be rocky. It was good and I would recommend this book.

Movie Reviews- One for the Money, The Sitter & This Means War

About the Movie:
Unemployed and newly-divorced Stephanie Plum lands a job at her cousin's bail-bond business, where her first assignment puts her on the trail of a wanted local cop from her romantic past.

What I would Rate the Movie :

My thoughts on the movie: It was cute. You could feel the Chemistry. It was funny and surprisingly  Katherine Heigl's jersey accent was believeable. Plus side the local cop was major eye candy :) 

About the Movie: A college student on suspension is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

My rating for the movie: 



My Thoughts on the movie:
It was funny. It had some raunchy humor. It had totally unexpected morals and a sweet underlying story. Not a movie for kids. The first scene had Jonah eating lady parts.

About the Movie: Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.


My Rating For the Movie:




My Thoughts on the Movie: I am a huge Reese fan but this movie just didn't do her talent justice. The movie was alright could have used a lot more comedy. I did love Chelsea Handler's character. 

Book Review: Pretty Boy Problems

Book Description: Responsible, mature, employed...everything Avery Beauregard Montgomery is not. Instead, Beau is a
natural born charmer. He has breezed through life on his dazzling looks, six-pack abs and sparkling personality. But this pretty boy's luck has run out. Fed up with his freeloading and philandering ways, his brother and sister-in-law are turning on the tough love and turning him out of their house. For Beau, that just means moving on to the next...

Beau shows up at his sister's Dallas condo with nowhere else to go and no idea what to do with his life.  Suitcase in hand, he stumbles in to find not his sister but a bathing beauty. Someone super-model gorgeous with attitude, skepticism and no time for trifling pretty boys. Belle, his sister's new business partner, has already claimed the guest room and Beau's imagination. All it takes is one look for Beau to want to do some claiming of his own. Belle rebuffs his advances but offers him not only a job but an opportunity to do something with his life.

Finally, Beau knows who and what he wants. What will it take to get Belle on the same page?

My thoughts on the book:

   It was charming, sweet. The chemistry between the characters was moving. A brilliant romance novel. I would recommend this book to those who love romance novels.