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!