Contemplative Questions

I love questions that make you think, remember, or wonder about yourself or someone else. Since I was in the mood to blog and couldn't think of anything to "talk about" I decided to post some questions of my own and answer them...for my own entertainment if for nothing else. As you read along I'm sure that you will be able to mentally fill your own answers in.

By the way, I found these questions off a random website I didn't make them up.

Name the most terrifying moment of your life so far.

There are a couple, but the one that popped into my mind when I read the question was when I lost my then three year old son in a water park. As I ran around frantically searching for him all I could envision was him tumbling up underneath the large wave pool nearby. At that moment in my life I knew what real terror was.

If you wanted to look very sexy, how would you dress?

Hmmmm....I have always been a fan of blue jeans and tank tops. That's about as "sexy" as this mama gets. In my experience the only reason a woman would want to look "sexy" is to impress a man. In my experience men don't need much to get turned on so ladies don't bother wasting your time. :-)

What famous person do other people tell you that you most resemble?

Well I have been told I resemble Cher and Lois Lane (Superman's girlfriend) and Alf. None of them made me feel proud...especially Alf. :-)

What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

My brother claims I used to eat rolly polly's when I was little...I think he is lying though.

Do you believe honesty is the best policy?

In some instances yes. I do believe if you are telling the truth just to relieve your own guilt you are making a mistake. Some secrets are best left in the closet.

Would you rather go a week without bathing, but be able to change your clothes, or a week without a change of clothes, but be able to bathe?

Probably a week without a change of clothes. My clothes don't really get dirty but I like my body to feel clean.

Which of the four seasons do you most anticipate?

I would have to say fall/autumn. There is something about the smell in the fall air that makes me feel cozy.

You can choose your method of dying and the place in which you will die. Where would you like to die and how?

I want to die of a heart attack while asleep in my bed at night. Quick and to the point would be nice.

You can choose your last meal. What will the menu consist of?

I'd be too nervous to eat if I knew it would be my last meal. I would pass on the food but would rather have a huge, strong alcoholic beverage.

If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?

The Waltons. I love the idea of a big, close family helping raise all the kids.

You discover that your wonderful one-year-old child is, because of a mix-up at the hospital, not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to correct the mistake?

I don't think so. Once I accepted the child as mine and grew to love it I don't think I could "trade out". I get attached to easily.

Would you be willing to become extremely ugly physically if it meant you would live for 1,000 years at any physical age you chose?

Not no, but hell no!! I don't even want to live that long even if I were beautiful!

Would you be willing to eat a bowl of live crickets for $40,000?

No! I wouldn't even do it for a million...seriously.

Would you be willing to give up sex for five years if you could have wonderfully sensual and erotic dreams whenever you wished?

Probably not...I like the real thing

If you could have anyone locked in a room so that you could torment them for a day, whom would you choose, and how would you torment them?

When I was younger I used to have the urge to torture whiny little kids....like locking them in dark closets and not letting them out. That fantasy disappeared when I had whiny kids of my own..mostly anyway. ;-)

Do you feel that children should be sheltered from unhappiness?

For the most part yes. Life eventually brings about unhappiness the older we get anyway so it's not like they won't ever experience it. I say keep 'em happy as long as we can...unhappiness is eventually inevitable.

The children living next door are being horribly abused by their parents. The only way to stop the abuse is to adopt the children and care for them in your home. Would you?

Honestly, NO, plain and simple.

What rights should the father have if his unmarried girlfriend wants an abortion?

I say little to none. The girlfriend is the one whos life and body will change. She also will have the brunt of responsibility to care for the child. He just gets to sit back and enjoy her ride...unless he is a very involved partner which is very rare.

Would you enjoy spending a month of solitude in a beautiful natural setting? Food and shelter would be provided but you would not see another person.

I try to do that as much as possible now. I enjoy time to myself..which of course is rare to none.

Would you generally be overdressed or underdressed at a party?

Probably more underdressed.

If you could wake up tomorrow in the body of someone else currently living, would you do so? Whom would you pick?

Probably my husband. I would love know what he really thinks and feels about life and about me.

Have you ever been sexually attracted to a family member or a person of an inappropriate age? How did you deal with it?

Never a family member. How young is considered an inappropriate age. :-)

Have you ever returned an item to a store for a refund after having used it?

Yes, but only recently.

Would you like to have a child much more intelligent and attractive than yourself?

Well of course!! I would think that's every parents dream.

If you could have one superpower, which would you choose?

Reading people's minds.

What was the most recent movie that made you cry?

The Hannah Montana Movie.

If you could be any age again for one week, what age would you be?

Probably somewhere in my mid 30's. Old enough to have gained some knowledge about life but yet young enough to not have reached the "middle age spread" age yet.

What is it you like best about your mate’s personality. What do you like the least?

What I like best is his loyalty, sincerity and humor. What I like least is his annoying bathroom habits..I won't elaborate.

If you could plan a trip anywhere in the world for yourself and your mate, where would you like to go?

Alone with my mate???? My mate and I have not been alone together in 9 years so ANYWHERE would be nice.

What outfit or article of clothing do you like to see your spouse wearing the most?

I love it when he wears his hat backwards on his head...so cute.

What things would you like to know better about your partner?

Some things I probably would rather not know...

Have you told your partner about all of your past relationships?

Yes, I'm sure he can recite them forward and backward.


Well, that's the end of the stupid questions.

Taking Care of Business and a Museum

Although I had previously carved out the day for a family activity I had business that needed to be taken care of first.

In a nutshell, the girl I sold my Subaru to obviously had not taken care of business and transferred the title into her name...2 months after her purchase.

In my mail today I happened to receive a late parking ticket notice. At first I was confused because I KNEW that I had not parked downtown lately and even if I had I prefer to pay the high dollar garage fees as opposed to trying to search for a parking meter in crowded downtown Austin.

Upon further inspection I realized that the ticket was for "my" Subaru. I immediately called the municipal court to clear my name. I found out from the nice lady that I talked to (yes, I even got to talk to a real person)that I should have filed a vehicle transfer form when I sold my car to release myself from any responsibility past car sale.

So the first half of our morning consisted of locating a notary so I could mail off my affidavit to the court and filing the Vehicle Transfer Form.

Luckily my business was all hassle-free and we proceeded with our day.

Ever since we watched Night at the Museum II the other night I have had the urge to visit a museum. There are still a few that we have not visited in Austin and since Toby has always expressed an interest in the Texas Military Force Museum I decided that would be the one.

Although I am not one of those folks that sport around the magnetic yellow "Support the Troops" sticker on my car and also believe if the ones in Government that are declaring war were having to actually fight it war would be nonexistent and peace would prevail. Nevertheless, I do enjoy a good museum.

The museum was not what I expected. There were a lot of artifacts and diorams....mostly a visual museum. There was also a lot of info on different wars that have been fought since WWI. I didn't realize how many wars there have been. Men sure do like to fight a lot.

Summer really enjoyed the dioramas. She is now on a mission to build her one. I'm sure hers won't be a military theme.

Here are some pics of the museum. It was kinda dark in dreary in there....just like war and hate I guess.










Yeah, it was pretty gruesome and depressing but it was a museum and it did what museums do....inform.

After we left the museum we stopped by Lammes Candy Store as a treat.

Imagine My Surprise!!!

I had the surprise of my life last weekend!! My son decided to make the very long trip from Alabama to Texas unannounced.

This is something that I would never expect my son to do. He's not a surprise kinda guy so you can only imagine both mine and Summer's reaction when we saw him peering through the front foyer window!!

Yes, we were very excited, happy, blubbering idiots. I have never been so happy to see an unexpected guest.

I have always heard that absence makes the heart grow fonder but I have found the longer I live away from my son the more I think it's very unnatural for us all to live so far apart. After all, there is not many of us...we need to stick together as much as possible.

Lucas brought his new mountain bike to test out on the trails here. We also spent our weekend hanging out swimming, watching the night sky through the telescope, and of course eating.

Although it was Father's Day Weekend I think I got the gift.♥



We are hoping to see him back 4th of July weekend. Hopefully his recent long trip didn't discourage him from wanting to come back so soon...we will see.

Learning Important Things

Most actual learning doesn't happen inside of the confines of a classroom. The most important things I have learned have come with travel and exploration, raising kids, being married, in ever day tasks, and with my community.

I was private/parochial school educated my whole 12 years of schooling. I had what most would consider a proper education. Unfortunately, I didn't retain most of what was coerced into me.

In school my strong points were reading and spelling. I sucked at math (still do) and never did nor still do I give a crap about history. Most of it is probably embellished or politically correct lies anyway. And Bible/religion...well, Bible was and still is torture for me.

In hindsight I don't believe my schooling is was what made me excel in reading, writing, and spelling as it was that it was something I just had a natural inclination for.

The really important things that really taught me and helped me grow as a person took place out of school..in real life with all different kinds of people and situations.

In school I learned how to do as I was told, feel insecure about my looks, what I wore, categorized by my grades and social class, to sit down and be quite and listen to some stranger that most the time didn't even like me or know anything about me or what interests me pour information into me that I cared nothing about and for the most part have never used to this day.

Everything I learned in school I learned for that moment. I learned it long enough to get that "passing grade" and approval from my teachers and my parents that I had done a good job memorizing useless knowledge. My goal was to make them proud. Sad. ...as if a grading system made me who I was and who I would be...

When I remember my school experiences what sticks out most in my mind are the holiday parties and field trips...not my multiplication tables, what a homophone is or what happened in 1602.

The more I separate myself from the social mass school mentality the more the whole damn thing seems ridiculous. I wonder why otherwise intelligent people are blinded by the results our society is reaping since the implementation of forced education???

I have to cringe when I hear some clueless souls discussing how kids these days are they way they are because "we are taking God out of the schools." HA! Kids are the way they are because for the past 100 plus years parents have been shipping their kids off to a babysitter everyday....the classroom.

The family unit is being broken because families spend very little time together. By the time kids get out of school and do assigned homework and extracurriculars very little time is left for family interaction. Children need to be home with their families learning about the world around them and living and learning with each other and friends of their choosing. It's not up to "God"..it's up to us.

I'm sure it would disappoint my parents to know that that expensive education they paid for was pointless in the outside world. By the time I graduated from high school:

I had no idea how to cook or grocery shop. I didn't even know where to begin. I couldn't sew a button on a shirt or operate a washing machine or dryer.

I had no idea how to manage money. I didn't learn how to count back change until I was 24 years old and couldn't do simple addition and subtraction without the use of a calculator. I couldn't read the little lines in between the whole numbers on a ruler and was not familiar with any fractions other than 1/2.

I couldn't relate to anyone outside of an authoritarian figure or someone of my own age group and social class. I couldn't place an order by phone or carry out everyday business activities. My husband had to do all those things because I didn't know how to talk to people in the "outside world". Oh you say, "but school kids are so socialized"...BULL SHIT!!!!!!!!! They don't teach kids social skills in school, they teach them how to obey authority figures and do as they are told without asking questions.

I won't bore you with anymore of my embarrassing discrepancies even though there are many more.

In unschooling my daughter my goal has been to help her survive everyday life. Anything else she needs to learn she will learn as she needs it. She's not stupid and as her mom I have faith in her abilities. She will learn everything she needs to learn in the time she needs to know it...as I have seen her do in the past several months. I refuse to treat her like she's dumb no matter who may agree or disagree with my methods.

I have had enough life experiences to know better than to let other people's fears influence the decisions I make.

One recent accomplishment Sum has made is learning how to pump gas. To pump the gas she also has learned how to insert the debit card to make the purchase. She familiarized herself with the debit card a long time ago when she learned how to scan and pay for our purchases in the self-checkout isles.

She can also place her own order in a restaurant. She can ask for assistance in a store if she needs help in finding something. She can prepare meals and knows how to work a needle and thread.

I don't force her to do these things, she eagerly volunteers to do them.

In truth, I hate to pump gas and I have managed to pawn the chore off on any family member that is with me at the moment of refuel time. Lucas learned to pump gas at an early age also and still gets the "pleasure" when he is with me.



I am her mother and know her better than anyone. I trust that she will survive and grow up to be a contributing member of society.

Babies Everywhere

Toby being the social party kind of guy he is figured since he has put all this work into creating his pool escape that it was about time to invite a few of his co-workers over for a swim.

Luckily, I have previously met and approved (like) of all his co-workers and their families...not that it would make a difference. I would still be the good hostess and tolerate as much as I could for his sake, I just enjoy it alot more when I like the company myself.

The weather cooperated and it was a perfect day for a "pool party". We had beer, sun, kids, hamburgers, hot dogs, snacks and great company.

I usually don't like to do social things at home because I feel inadequate with my abilities to entertain. Lately, I have realized that it doesn't take much to entertain folks...good thing for me. :-)

We had the kind of get-together that when they walk away you think what a great time, I hope they will return again soon.

I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked. I have been really slacking on my photo taking. I think because I sometimes find that I miss out on alot of things when I am busy trying to take pics.

Anyway, here are a few of Atomic Tattoo's fantastic artists and their families...




Okay nobody drop their jaws. These are rare photos you don't see very often!!

One of our guests are new parents. Since I was inside preparing some snacks I offered to keep an eye on her sleeping infant while she took a break and took a dip in the pool. I don't mind babes as long as they are being good or sleeping.

Summer and I were the only ones inside at the time. I was chopping lettuce and tomatoes when I heard that baby stirring and fussing. I started to talk soothingly to her from the kitchen until I could stop what I was doing to go console her.

I noticed as I was finishing up that she had hushed. I walked into the living area to check on her and this is what I saw...it brought tears to my eyes.



My "baby" had picked the baby up on her own accord and consoled her. Wow...you live what you learn. I guess if you are given love you learn how to give it freely. Or maybe it was just female maternal instinct??

Even more jaw dropping....




Here's baby and her daddy..Pick her up dad she's crying!!



Speaking of babes we also have some animal additions to the family. We started off with 7 and as of this moment are down to only 3.

Here's Mama....



And babies....




I think I'm gonna just start a rabbit zoo in my backyard.

Hopefully soon I will have some more interesting updates. My son may be visiting 4th of July weekend and my brother and his family are visiting in mid July. I am excited about seeing them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not Much...if Any

Well, as you have probably guessed my life has been pretty hum drum lately...hence, the reason for my blogging absence. I have been so uninspired I can't even think of any "crap" to post.

Since the purchase of our "new toy" we have been homebodies. The only person that really bothers is me. Everyone else in my house wouldn't mind being permanently glued to the home.

It's not that I don't like home, but I would like it much better if I were the only one here. You see, home is my job. When I am home I am working preparing meals and snacks, cleaning, refereeing fights and arguments, being on constant call for help of another family member..any wife/mother knows the list goes on and on.

So you see, it's not that I don't love my home I just like to "take off work" sometimes and be free of household annoyances. It would probably be more fun to be home for me if I could sit down and read a book uninterrupted, watch what I wanted to on T.V. without kids running around or asking me if they can change it to watch what they want ( I know I can say no, but T.V. really isn't that important to me), and just sit on my butt while someone else cleans up after me and fetches my meals.

No, I don't enjoy being home all the time. I need a day off at least twice a week. And by a day off I don't mean going to the grocery store or running errands. Selfish I know, but honest for sure.

On a more positive note, it has been nice to have the leisure of swimming in the pool after working up a sweat after some yard work or just to soak up some sun on the float.....barring there are not several splashing kids in it.

Summer season has not even began and I have seen Summer starting to tire of water activities. I guess when you have a pool in your backyard and full access everyday to swim it can get monotonous. I'm sure by the end of Summer I will be sick of looking at it myself...

We have also have been spending hubby's days off working on the deck. All work and no play makes mama a very dull and agitated girl.

Anyway, so that's what's been going on in our lives.

Here is the latest pic of the pool progress. Toby has finished a portion of the splash deck. Still a long way to go for our vision of the deck area but he's doing it solo so it may take awhile...I'm not much help in the construction area.