Organization of this here blog

When giving consideration to this lovely blog of mine, I was thinking that maybe I should adapt some sort of "formula" to inspire me, keep me on track sort of thing. 

 You know what I'm talking about.

Monday = "witty catchphrase Monday"

Tuesday = "Witty catchphrase Tuesday"

etc, etc.

My problem is, Id like to be somewhat original , creative and maybe a little witty in my choices.

So  far I've come up with the following:

McBloggery Monday! ( Mondays are the day submissions to each weeks McBloggery are due, so I will be posting Mondays blog with w/e title the group has come up withh and run with it )

Totally Terrible Tuesday!

Winey Wednesday! (I get cranked up on a nice bottle of red and start blogging)

Thankful Thursday! (I bore -uh - regale you all with how thankful I am for some particular thing that day. I predict this one will be preachy.)

Family Interview Friday! ( I will prepare some original, interesting questions for one or more members of my family - even I will run out of family members at some point - and may move on to volunteer families. Just a way to get to know everyone!)

Socially Responsible Saturday! (Editorial where I bring forth a worthy cause, tell you about my families efforts to make a difference in something or anything along these lines )

Substitution Sunday! ( Maybe a guest blogger will take over! )

I think it's fair to say I ran out of ideas.  Tuesday and Wednesday ( and maybe Sunday, I dunno ) are still free ( and you thought I was really going to drunk-blog on Weds! Shame on you for thinking I have the funds to get drunk once a week! ). Id really like some blogger/reader interaction here. Since you all failed miserably yesterday with my camera question, I expect - demand really- participation!

If you have ANY suggestions for the two mentioned unnamed days, please contribute via "Comments". 

Today, of course, is Bonus Monday - where I blog twice. Now, and my McBloggery entry. Please feel free to check out the group page and "like" it on FB. EVERYONE is welcome - and I'd love to see how YOU take each weeks given topic and what you make of it! While today is probably short notice for you to participate, you can deifintantly sit back and watch the process for the first week and start fresh with the new topic listed tomorrow. OR If you are super blogger, or just inspired, Hell, go ahead and contribute**!

See you later Alligator!

** All submissions to McBloggery are to be your own work that you are wiling to share with the group ( via posting a link on the page when ready, no later than Monday evening of each given week ) and MUST follow the following rules:
All participation on the "Wall" of the group MUST be respectful, courteous, free of vulgarity, discrimination, harassment, or disrespect of ANY kind directed toward ANYONE. Content of blogs is completely unrestricted in content as long as the respectful nature of our group is honored. In other words, keep your comments on the wall clean and type whatever you want in your blogs. It is, afterall, all about the creative process. With that in mind, don't be a dick. Be kind to those in the group  and free of lack of human kindness. Use any language you desire (God knows, I will) but dont be abusive. We are about creativity, working with words and expressing ourselves. Not abuse. Happy Blogging!

PLEASE CHECK OUT MY UPDATED ALEXANDER DISEASE TAB, ABOVE!

I was going to try not to post today...

....so that you'd all think that my family was the only one to Raptureate-up-to-the-pearly-gates...
But y'all know me too well.I wouldn't have made the cut. So, we're all still here. Or as my daughter, Kaylee put it on her FB status:

"Woke up alive this morning
Kaylee:1
Jesus:0
Winning!"


So...here I am, posting my little heart out about literally nothing at all. Since I appear to have nothing of value to tell you today, I will instead pose a question.
Memories, including photos, have become very important to me recently. I would like to take a little informal poll ( hopefully more than 2 people will read this!) about simple to use, but really decent quality digital cameras. In short, I'm broke,photographically ungifted and need to replace my camera for important memory making and archiving purposes.
Anyone have suggestions on equipment? Feel free to comment your choices and reasoning - I'd love to hear your opinions!

Have a great upcoming week!

In Case I don't see you tomorrow...

I wasn't planning on doing a blog today. I DO want to start blogging daily, but not TODAY, know what I mean?
Then, I thought about it. I intend to be "Left Behind" today - I sin with the best of them - and maybe I will be too depressed to blog tomorrow. PLUS whatever I blog today will be missed by all you "Headed to the big block party in the sky" folks. 

So...Im compromising. 

Welcome...to my first Pict-o-blog. Enjoy. Then get out of here and begin sinning or packing. Whichever.

Argmegeddon sick of these Rapture Jokes, how 'bout you?

Happy Rapturing!

Everybody's Workin For the Weekend!

Ahhh Friday. I simply love Fridays. Why, you ask? Afterall, I AM a HQ Based Domestic Industrialist...or...er... stay at home mother, so wouldn't it stand to reason that I should Love ( with a capital "L" ) Mondays? Heck, no. Mondays are for less dedicated domesticians. Mondays are for maternal units with lack of direction. Mondays are for...well...wussies. Fridays present a challenge. How WILL we be filling our time on a limited budget, restricted vehicle status ( we own a very lovely 2006 Tundra - yes a small pick up truck. With 10 children. Period. ) and siblings that tend to...oh, what's a good word for it? Bicker. Yes, let's go with bicker. I am trying to break you in gently obviously.No need to frighten you with dark frightening tales before I hook you into liking me. A little. 

How DO we spend our weekends? Quietly. Other than the bickering, I mean. We are homebodies. Not always by choice, I admit, but overall we like lazy weekends. Some of us will cook together, we read, we garden together, we play games, we take the dogs for walks, we draw, we spend time. Together. Okay you got me. I like Fridays because I'm sorta lazy and I like spending time with my family.
This weekend holds the exciting promise of a yard sale. Maybe. Fingers crossed. This is New England and well the weather....if you've been to New England you know exactly what I'm saying. Our atmosphere goes through more changes in a day than Elizabeth Taylor went through husbands. Or the Octomom went through diapers. That, my blog reading friend...is A LOT. Oh, and like I said, I'm fairly lazy. So...I'll let you know how that "yard sale" idea goes over on Monday. We also have a Family Meeting planned for Saturday - so that will be fun. You ever try to get 10 kids to agree to, compromise on, like or even LOOK at the same thing all at the same time? Yeah - "fun". Lot's of good stuff on the agenda for the meeting. 

• Summer fun brainstorming ideas
• Ways we are all going to attempt to curb the electric monster- er- bill
• Dinner menu brainstorming ideas ( I'm sick of cooking the SAME things over and over again )
• Chore Assignments (you don't even want to be here for that one. Hell, I don't even want to be here for that one.)
• Fathers Day planning ideas
• I'm going to propose a Summer Reading Program at home, as well through the Public Library - this one is "ok" - I am raising a bunch of reading freaks. 
• A fundraiser. Yeap- we are about to embark on our first fundraiser revolving around my daughter's illness and the fact that me staying home with her and 4 babies under two is straining our budget. Profusely. Add to that little tidbit that we will most likely be embarking on travel expenses with her medical treatment, we have NO savings and that Brittany cannot get affordable life insurance because she has had a fatal illness diagnosis since she was 14. Yup, Im one of "THOSE" mothers that never purchased each kid life insurance. It's morbid. Oh, and can be important. So I do recommend you check into it, if you haven't. I wish I had. Not because I want to profit off of my child's death - obviously. But because she has a 17 month old and a 4 month old that aren't going to have any support after her death. 

Not really sure how the fundraising issue is going to go over with the kids. But a good friend of mine, that I've never met ( we'll get into that in another post ) has insisted, out of the goodness of her heart, that she is going to host a Flap Jack Breakfast Fundraiser for us at our local Applebees in July. She has some misguided impression that A) It takes money to raise a family and pay da bills and B) That we are struggling. She's a pretty smart cookie, in my opinion. And generous. And amazing.We'll get into that in another post too. So, if you haven't guessed - the light hearted sarcasm and joking is pretty much (failing to) cover up the embarrassment and sadness that comes with needing a fundraiser to be thrown for your family. We are using the opportunity to promote awareness of Alexander Disease as well, so it's not all about the money. Her disease has affected approximately 500 people since it was identified - in 1949. So let's just say it's sort of rare. Please feel free to locate my list of links and read about it at will. It's not pretty. She has the Juvenile Onset form of the disease, which is "better" than the Infantile Onset. Better, meaning it's slower progressing and lets you live longer. Like all the way into your 20's - and sometimes your 30's. Brit is going to be 21 in October. That is about all I'm prepared to blog about that for now. Please do go visit the links. The one for The Alexander Disease Awareness Network is one I created recently. It's pretty amateurish and I may move all the content over to Blogger at some point, but who knows. It, like everything I have my hand in, as you will soon learn - is a work in progress. 
So, being lazy, figuring out a "mission statement" for this blog and a weekly content list as well as designing a flyer promoting AxD Awareness and my daughter in general for pre-fundraising handouts is my weekend agenda. oh, and that blasted yard sale. 
Come onnnn, rain!

It's been a long time, but I am back !

It's been awhile since I've been here. So long, in fact, that we have added TWO bundles of joy to our family. Three, if you count the rescue puppy we are fostering for Big Fluffy Dog Rescues! In addition to Nathan the wonder dog, we have added a son (Wyatt born 12-05-10), and a grandson (Aiden born 12-22-10). Yeap, that's right- 17 days apart. I am thinking Nathan is going to get his own page on the blog, in order to have a record for our family of our fostering experience - as well as to promote fostering, and keep BFDR up todate on their pup until he is adopted.
Anyhoo - what has prompted me to begin blogging here again, is the fact that my fabulous friend Michelle and I, along with Andy, Michelle's brother - have decided to start a blogging group
on Facebook.
 If you have a FB, or would be willing to sign up for one in order to join our group, please feel free! The more the merrier! A topic will be posted once a week and you will have a week to write and link an appropriate blog posting to the page. Anything posted ON the group page needs to be suitable for public viewing and respectful to all participants. Your individual posting is pretty much a free for all, as long as the respectful nature and attitude is in place. Your content is your decision as long as nobody is getting "hurt".
In the meantime, please feel free to check out my links section - and get familiar with the people and organizations I know and support.
I'll be back soon enough to address Michelle's first blog group topic, "Time's a wastin". 

Nathan, the foster dog and Phoenix , aka "Weenie", our pit mix rescue from North Carolina!

It's been one of those nights...

School Vacation Needs To Be Over.

Fact of life: By the time you realize what your parents said was right you will have a kid who begins to think you are wrong.

Just something I wrote a couple of weeks ago after a particularly difficult day, when I realized just how differently parents and children see things. I know that this dynamic is just the nature of the beast, but I can't help wishing my children sometimes saw how inaccurate their perception of our motives really are. Given the fact that I have very recently given birth, I may be able to chalk this up to hormones, but I still can't read what I wrote without tearing up, remembering how my older kids used to be eachother's best friend...Oh how things change when children grow up...and apart.

I see you get mad that you are having cold cereal and juice or instant oatmeal for the third breakfast this week.
I don't think you see that I was awake until 5:20am with your sister...and I've gotten exactly 40 minutes of sleep...again.

I see you get mad I made peas instead of corn at dinner...and that's your brothers favorite, not yours.
I don't think you see how I still haven't slept, but cooked my ass off tonight so that we could have a hot, hearty, family dinner together...and to make up for the cold cereal this morning.

I see you get aggravated that I chose a family movie instead of that comedy you wanted for movie night.
I don't think you see what I see on movie night...all 7 of you huddled up watching together, eating popcorn and laughing at the stupidest movie ever.

I see you getting angry that someone else's ornament is too close to yours on the Christmas tree.
I don't think you see my memories of your sister picking you up, so you can hang your favorite ornament high enough that the cat doesn't knock it down and break it.

I see you lose your patience with me for asking you to get into the shower and get ready for bed AGAIN!
I don't think you see not that long ago when you would put on your footie jammas and bring me the comb, asking me to comb your hair...and how much I miss smelling Johnson's No More Tears in your hair.

I see you have already gone to bed...
I don't think you see there was a time you couldn't go to sleep without "one more kiss and a story, mama".
(IS your mama a llama?)

I see you shove your sister across the room and make her cry because she took something from your room...or said something negative about your friend.
I don't think you see the memory in my heart of you shoving that little boy at the playground because he took her toy and made your sister cry. Or how you put your arm around her and walked with her, talking about how many different color birds there are in the world until she stopped crying.

 I see you get frustrated that I said "no" to that trip to the mall...the walk you and your friends want to take to a questionable area...the sleepover at the friends house that I don't know.
I don't think you see how lost I would be without you, if I made the "wrong" choice every time you ask permission.

I see you feel let down that I said "No" to that 200 dollar coat..100 dollar pair of sneakers...300 dollar cell phone...50 dollar pair of jeans.
I don't think you see how panicked I feel when I need to choose which bill to pay this month, and which ones I need to postpone.

I see you roll your eyes that my sneakers...coat....jeans...aren't "cool" enough.
I don't think you see how much I deny myself so that I don't have to say no to your jeans...sneakers...coat, next time.( You still don't need a cell phone)

I see you feel mistreated, unloved and that your life isn't fair because I am yelling at you to stop fighting with your sister.
I don't think you see that it's tearing me apart to watch you and your sister each hurting someone I love SO much.

I see that you wish I would stop telling you to be nicer, help out and just generally treat your sister or brother with more respect.
I don't think you see that when it all comes down to the wire, no one is ever going to love and appreciate you as much as your family.

I see you get bored with game night, and head up to your room to read instead.
I don't think you see how much your smile, your laugh and your presence is missed when you're gone.

I see you can't wait to "get out of this house and live by your own rules!"
I don't think you see I just don't know what I'll do when I no longer see you everyday, no longer know where you lay your head every night and can't protect you from the big bad world by giving you rules to live by.

I see you decline to come with us on a trip to the store or a walk down the road in favor of being by yourself.
I don't think you see how you used to jump at the chance to walk through the old old cemetery, picking up colorful leaves, and leaving peanuts for the squirrels.

I see you get angry with some decision I've made without consulting you.
I don't think you see how many things I've decided against, just to avoid hurting, upsetting or unsettling your life somehow.

I don't think you understand that I do things for your friends when they are in need, not only because of how much I love THEM,
It's because of how much I love YOU.

I see that it was easy for you to lie to me about where you were, what you were doing or who you were with, just this once.
I don't think you see the little girl in my memory that would be reduced to tears at the thought of disappointing me, even once...even just a little.

I see you don't know how much I do for, give up for, want to give and worry about losing....YOU.
I don't think I'll ever know how much I didn't see, when I was your age.

Most of all, I wish you realized that the minute I had you  I stopped thinking only of myself, and fully understood what it was to want to give someone else the entire world. And that I'm deeply ashamed that it's taken almost 40 years for me to realize all my mom did and continues to do for me.