Too long Too long

I have to admit, I had given up on this whole blogging thing. However, I find myself narrating in my head as the days go by anyway. Therefore, here I am. Giving it another go.

Hello,
    Well here is a jolly update on what has happened. Let's see....

      January....boring
      February.... my dad turned 50, but then the rest was boring...
         March.....more boring.......
               April.......... well you get the idea.

         I give up, I cannot remember things month by month anyway. Let's see Carter turned one in May, it was a fabulous suaree of pizza and FLEAS.


 The party was supposed to be at our house. You know, the house I spent the two weeks before scrubbing from top to bottom. However, our two lovely kitties brought a sudden influx of fleas in the week before. After 16 flea bombs in three days we finally got rid of them. In case you didn't know this, 1 flea bomb is supposed to cover a 2k square foot floor, and both my top and bottom floors are less than 1800sq ft. We were just a LITTLE determined to finally be rid of them. The day of the party came though and the bombs were being set so thankfully we had Marion's pizza as a backup plan.
If you are not from Ohio and you have not had Marion's pizza, then I highly suggest you get in your car and drive to Ohio and eat there. If you ARE from Ohio and you haven't had Marion's Pizza,what the hell is wrong with you? Put down the Dominoes and drive. Right now.

   Shortly after his first birthday Carter took his first steps. It is truly magical to watch him run around the room now. However, less magical when he is running and topples into the trashcan.

       In July Chloe turned five :) We actually had her ON her birthday too :) I set up balloons in her room while she was sleeping, and posted the number five all around the house. Her daddy and I were determined that she would remember her first birthday morning with us. ---------------------->
 
My favorite moment was her explaining to me: "There are five fives hanging, and I'm turning five!"
To which, my response was "It's like someone planned it that way..."

Also, later in July we adopted a dog, Beretta, from a friend. She is a young Jack Russell/terrier mix. Loving and sweet and Carter's new best friend and partner in crime. 

Oh yeah, and I guess it's important...

                            We GOT MARRIED :)

    Jon and I eloped to Gatlinburg, TN and were married on July, 14th. It was a small ceremony with only us, the preacher and the photographer. Beautiful, romantic and everything I could have hoped for. But more details on this later.

School has started again, I'm trying to find a job and life is stressful but we're pretty happy. More to come soon, and much better topics than my boring old life.

Trending Travesties

Hello!
       I hope your Christmas/Thanksgiving was awesome!! Mine was fairly uneventful, despite it being Carter's first.
       As of late however, I have been browsing the "OMG 2011 is over we all feel the need to recap what happened!!" statuses.
       However there was one article that caught my eye.
   Kid Trends we hope not to see in 2011 

        This article is all about bad teen trends that some moms around the country feel are inappropriate for their child. Such examples include low rise jeans, ugg boots and printed tee shirts.
Of course those are just the examples I expected to see. However, some I found were surprising. Not necessarily simply that they made the list, but that they exist.
 For example, push-up training bras? As a girl who had to wear a bra by third grade, all the women in my family are rather blessed- or cursed depending who you ask- I can understand that some young girls need to start wearing training bras earlier than some others. HOWEVER, the fact that any mother would encourage her impressionable young daughter to wear something that distorts her body image, ESPECIALLY at that young of an age, is appalling. What happened to moms who told their daughters "All flowers bloom in their own time?" What happened to you are beautiful and you don't need to look like everyone else?

In the same state of mind, who buys their child a tee shirt that says "I'm too pretty for algebra?" Coincidentally, I am currently in search of a book that is about images like these shirts and other images like Princess memorabilia. The book is called Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orstein. (Click for the NYTimes book review) and from what I have heard, it gives a fresh look to the images that we subject our girls too. Such as the influx of Princess memorabilia. Now don't get me wrong, Chloe's room looks like we won the Disney Princess lottery. Seriously, my little girl keeps Disney in business. However, I try to teach her that she should be strong and independent. She doesn't need a prince to rescue her. Still, I wonder, what does my own gender-bias mind say to her? I associate pink and fluffy with girly and so does she. What does that say about us as women?

Now then there was that thing, which I could not even CONCEIVE why it is on the list. Monster 

High Dolls! Why on earth would you be against these little dolls? Barbie and her skimpy skirts and double d's has been on the shelves since 1959. The company which has infiltrated every little girl's room with the image of the perfect woman and had such horrible failed designs such as "New Ken" Later deemed as "Gay Ken" because of his new earring and mesh shirt. Likewise, there is "Happy Family,Midge" Barbie's pregnant friend.   However, set up little girl's these days with a doll that has the exact same body type, but whose clothes aren't pink and frilly and the world ends. Personally, I love the idea of these dolls! I think they give girls a new perspective. They still aren't perfect, I think companies need to make some dolls with wide hips and a chubby face or something, but still they get the much needed toe in the door.

What do you think, what aren't your girls or boys, allowed to wear? What has caught your eye and made you think, what were they thinking?!

Troubling Television

       Sometimes I find myself wondering not just how much television my children should be allowed to watch, but also what they are really watching. One night my daughter and my nephew were sitting watching Spongebob Squarepants. Spongebob is an extremely happy, fun-loving aquatic little cartoon who famously, “lives in a pineapple under the sea.” There was no real pause for concern for me as a parent, since it was on Nickelodeon; I figured it’s a kid’s network so life is good. As I folded my laundry, however, the cartoon characters did a multitude of inappropriate and suggestive things. Such as, Squidward calling Spongebob an “idiot” and an “imbecile,” these things just don’t fly with momma. Likewise, in one episode there are suggestive jokes as Spongbob and Patrick wrestle in their underwear.
     A friend of mine suggested this was because the creators of Spongebob didn't intend it as a children's show at all. However, I've found that it isn't true. Spongebob was meant to be a children's cartoon from the beginning. He was supposed to be this creature who smiled brightly and was happy through any adversity. And so he is.
      Ironically, it is not Spongebob's character I question. It is the adversity, and the language used in that which I question. Let him conquer evil, let his optimism overpower anything. Teach my children that hope is more powerful than everything else. However, don't teach them so if Squidward has to call names or I have to explain to my kid what that dirty joke actually meant.

Here is one example, to show you what I mean.
Most of these aren't too bad, as long as your kid is too young to understand.

          This one I thought was a little more of a legitimate example: Spongebob Watches Porn

 My kids may not understand what the joke was, but that doesn't mean I want it in there.

So lately, I have begun to look at my kids’ movies a little more carefully. Last night I began with a newer continuation of an old classic, Toy Story 3.
                The beginning is very action-packed and very thrilling. As always with Disney Pixar, the animation was superb. My husband and I were immediately drawn in, and my five month old was captivated by the colors, if only for the few minutes he was awake to see it. The plot of Toy Story 3 is about, as always, Andy and getting older. This time Andy is off to college and the toys in his room wonder, what’s going to happen to us? Complaints of having not been played with in years ensue and as Andy’s mom presses him to make decisions about where all his stuff is going, a mishap happens. Mom accidentally throws the toys in the trash, and then they get donated to a local daycare. Nearly seven hours of play, every day, with endless amounts of new kids to play with, seems like heaven to the new toys, but heaven is soon too good to be true. Although the movie is action-packed and thrilling, I found that it is the appropriate amount and type of action for its target audience. There is no shooting, no one blows anyone up and no one pops any caps.
                 During the movie though, some mom alarms definitely went off. Not nearly as bad as some Disney movies I have seen, with adult undertones and innuendos, there were still some moments where I felt certain phrases or expressions could have been left out. For instance, Lotso-Hugs, who is ironically the antagonist, calls another character an idiot. This was really not as terrible as it could have been though, since immediately the other characters on his side looked at him differently, and saw it as a mean gesture. Likewise the producers made it very obvious that it was not something that was not nice or appropriate. Similarly, Buzz Lightyear stumbles upon what is very obviously a game of roulette. I thought the fact that gambling was in a children’s movie was inappropriate, but I approved of how the creators set it up. The setting was very dark, with a green, somewhat evil hue to the room. It sent a message that they were doing bad things, and were definitely not behaving. That much I appreciate, although they probably could made it more appropriate.
                Woody is a character that kids can relate to, and so are all his friends. After this movie, there is a definite reaction. It pulls at your heart strings, it makes you laugh, and it even makes you wonder. Much like, when I saw Transformers and afterwards I walked out to my car, only to stare at it and wonder; “Why can’t you do that?!” I wondered about my own toys, where they were now and where my kids' toys would be when they grew up. Even though we made a deal and they aren't allowed to grow up!

                         All in all, I have no problem with this movie. But what about others?
       Are there any movies or TV shows that are supposed to be for kids that you've caught?
                          What do you deem appropriate for your child's age group?     
 Personally, I wrote a letter to Nickelodeon after watching the new Fred movie with my nephew. At one point Fred opens the fridge, where his dad is supposed to live, and exclaims "Damn it!" very loudly when his dad isn't in there.
                  What shows, if any are your kids allowed, or not allowed, to watch?
                         How do you feel about adult language in shows or movies
                                 that are supposed to be rated G or at least PG?                                       What have you banned from your house?

Whitey white white.

How can I express my astonishment and elation to walk into my spanish class the first day and find a stout little white man?! He was not a dark, tan woman with dark eyes and an indistuinghishable accent. He did not have bright, vibrant colors on, no, he was wearing a UD hoodie and jeans.
     Now I have no problems with those women, or teachers like that. It is simply so INCREDIBLY reassuring to me that, although I am not from nor will probably ever live in a foreign country, there is still hope!
    I want to be a spanish teacher, and there was something about that man, he just made me so ecstatic. He grew up in the same city as me, and was doing what I wanted to do!
     Who gives you hope at random times? Do you ever get random bits of happiness? Not the serious kinds you expect like family members or paychecks.
     When have you been surprised happy?
      When the vending machine at work suddenly has your favorite candy?
         When a random rose appears on the bush that didn't produce any the year before?
                    When a note is left in your lunch that says I love you?
           What makes you happy? That random, out of place kind of happy?
        

PERPLEXING PORNOGRAPHY!

          Today I "Google'd" Carter Sauce. I was pretty content with my original nickname for him, and then I was really really disappointed when 9,660,000 search results popped up. I mean I knew it wasn’t totally original, but I mean I figured less than at least two million. Anyway, I searched it AND now I may have to change the name of this blog.
   

    Apparently there is a Facebook group called Carter Sauce, and it's some type of "F8ck Palace." Needless to say I didn't click on the link to find out more. Although to be honest, I probably would have had I been at home. My curiosity is pretty overwhelming. However, sadly, I was at school and they generally frown upon you using their internet access to look (possible) porn sites. LET ALONE in the middle of the library.
   With my luck it would have been a video entrance to the site with sounds and all. Can you imagine walking past THAT in the library?

So guess that our discussion of the day is?!!!!  
That’s right, PORN!

Maybe in your world PORN is a four letter word. But maybe in in some others, it’s four letters of fun!

         
  This leads me up to my
    Questions of the day!!

For everyone:
 Has anything like this ever happened to you?
 Have you been trying to look up something online and found something inappropriate instead?
Ever look up Dicks.com with your mom standing behind you? ....Yeah it's Dicksportinggoods.com.
 God that was awkward.
                                 
                                                          Guys:
Have you ever been in your dorm room looking at nudies when a roommate walked in?

How often do you REALLY watch it?
Do guys share porn?
Magazines or internet? Both?
Married men, be honest. Post anonymously if you think the “Mrs.” might see.

Don’t feel bad. When I was in fifth grade the new computer lab teacher, Mr.Something-er -Other typed in whitehouse.com instead of whitehouse.gov and showed a SOLID thirty seconds of porn to a room full of eleven year olds.

How about you Lovely Women, Lovely Wives, Mothers?
     
 Have you ever walked in to your husband watching it?
Ever found it on the computer?
                     How did you feel?
                      Do you do it too?

Again, don't lie. According to an article on CNN's website "In the first three months of 2007, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, approximately one in three visitors to adult entertainment Web sites was female; during the same period, nearly 13 million American women were checking out porn online at least once each month."
Click HERE for full article.

To me this makes sense, Cosmo is basically porn. At least the good issues.

So come on, tell us. We are all big kids, if you have kids you have some experience.
     
   

 How about Rated-R movies?
My sisters tricked me in to watching American Pie with my Grandmother.
My dad and I watched the unrated version of Forgetting Sarah Marshall together AND Good luck Chuck. Actually, we turned the first off after about thirty seconds, and the second off when he goes on his sex-scapade.

Do you watch HBO? You watch True Blood don’t you?
What do you think about them?
Are they lighter versions of porn for women?

Romance Novels?
Erotica Novels?
Are those any different than your husband going to porn hub?

I believe, No matter how you feel. Find some-real- loving at some point in your life.
   Remember my motto:

Don’t be afraid of your own body. Because sexually frustrated people
kill other people.

Chicken Noodle soup for the lovers soul

Not the book, but the I actually got home from work and my wonderful love had made homemade chicken noodle soup for us. It was delicious.
   And it got me thinking, I needed to give him sime credit. We have been fighting but he needs to know-since I know he reads this- that he is pretty awesome.
    Let's see how can I describe my pregnancy? How can I sum it up? How about tempermental? Yeah I think that best describes it.
    I spent the first five months of my pregnancy with my head down the toilet. And the first two trying to hide the fact that I was always sick. Jon caught on real quick though.
       He was always there, bringing me ice, holding my hair. He didn't even get mad when I was so sick on my birthday that we couldn't go see the movie he had already paid for. Not to mention that on Christmas Day he had to pull over three or four times so I wouldn't throw up in his Mustang.
    After the fifth month it all got better, we were all moved out and I wasn't throwing up as much. But the heartburn sucked pretty bad.
           And there he was again. We live behind two Speedway's and we kept them in business. I seriously went through like ten slushies a week.
         Now don't get all angry, not all of them were soda slushies. AND did you know that one slushies is only like ten percent soda for flavoring? The rest is just ice. So Carter and I really didn't even ingest all that much.
                 Jon has been there so much, as well as for Chloe. He always makes sure she is safe and having fun and makes sure we are all taken care of.
          Everything went pretty smoothly, until the doctor told me that I still hadn't gained any weight, not enough weight, any weight. He said my muscles had began to atrophy. Which is the thing that anorexic girls get where there body literally eats their muscles. Except it was Carter was taking my muscles away. This, as you can imagine was not good news. He said I needed to gain weight or Carter could be born premature, or with learning disabilities and have a ten times higher SIDS rate.
   I began eating as much as I could keep down, it was hard. I worked forty hours a week at Spagh House, which has amazing food but gets old after a while. I was always eating and still it didn't seem to make a difference. I took food everywhere, peanuts, grapes, crackers, candy bars, pickles. SO MANY PICKLES!
At one point I walked around Kroger for an hour, crying and thinking to myself "This is America it can't be that hard to find something incredibly fattening."
   As I went into panic/determined mode Jon went into husband/daddy mode and went out and bought me this protein shake crap. "I promise baby, it tastes like chocolate milk." Maybe after chocolate milk sits in a hot car out day and then gets throw out the window and someone licks it off the pavement.
  However, despite it being awful, it worked.
           Not only my pregnancy, but through my life, as my best friend, he has been there. He was the one I called at three in the morning, who listened to me cry when I had a broken heart. He was the one who watched me fail time and time again, who watched me get my heart broken, and break a few my self and loved me anyway.
              But the dream, and the reality are all the same, to love, forever and far beyond that.
        What about your man/women?
            What do you wish for in a man?
                    What's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you?

Carter kisses and singing silly.

Yesterday I laid just a little bit down from Carter, facing him and we made silly faces at each other. Before I knew it he had moved his little head down and was kissing my nose.

    Rather, his version of kisses. Which is open-mouthed slobbering and trying to suck my nose.

   But I feel like for a three month old that definitely counts as kisses.
    Right now he is sitting in his moo cow chair watching me type. We don't put him in it unless we can watch him these days because the kitties like how it bounces and try to bounce off him. Plus he squirms out of it.


     This morning we were singing our "Good morning" that I sing when he wakes up and before I knew it he was yelling and cooing. I thought for a second he was crying! Then I realized, he was actually trying to sing with me :) I was so astonished. We called daddy in and had him listen. Daddy says he isn't suprised. Everyone in this family sings to him.
          Jon actually has his own songs too. Although some of them will have to stop being sung when Carter can actually understand what they mean. Most of daddy's songs are meant just to amuse mommy.
     If you have ever seen the episode in "Two And A Half Men" where Charlie writes kid songs and becomes a hit sensation with songs like "Who cut the cheese" and "I drink from a sippy cup"

  
   Basically that's what Jon's songs are like. It's pretty hilarious. :) Next time he comes up with one I'll write one down here.

Do you have any weird rituals or songs?
     What is your routine like?
                Is there anything that you have found works best?