Comments by "Anonymous"

Anonymous Commentors - do they not have an account with blogger and therefore have to be "anonymous" innocently enough or are they hiding behind "anonymous" because they don't have the nerve to give a name or be tracked back to an email or blog?

I don't mind anonymous comments left. I honestly don't. Not everybody has an account and do not spend a lot of time on blogger blogs to make getting one worth it. That's no biggie. 99.9% of comments are encouraged and welcomed!! (So, if you are reading this, leave me a comment, lol.)

There is one person who has left about a dozen comments on my blog under "anonymous" that I will not post. Why?

1. It has nothing to do with the post they are commenting on. Totally different topic.


2. They hide behind "anonymous" - - if they don't have the you know whats to stand behind what they say, then they shouldn't say it. Period. I think they are hiding behind it because after that many comments, you'd think if they were legit then they would have registered by now. Coward.


3. Finally, leaving a slew of comments saying the same thing is just plain stupid. If you have something to say, go say it on your own blog instead of bombarding mine.

For the rest of my anonymous commentors, feel free to keep posting. I am just trying to get one bozo in particular to leave me alone.

Moving in Four Years and Ten Months

We are moving in four years and ten months. Why the timeline you may wonder? Because that is about when child support ends and we will hopefully be able to afford to get out of this too small house and into something large enough for our kids to grow into teenagers without crowding the rest of us out of it (or sending us screaming when their teenage hormones turn them into moody caricatures of a human being).

We want a ranch on five acres with storage. I have no storage in this house. The top of my dresser has become our linen closet, piled high with blankets and sheets. It's pathetic. We have so much stuff. I guess it is expected with the size of our family. Too much stuff but I have a hard time getting rid of things. I have every piece of clothing from all four of my kids from the time they were babies. That is driving my husband nuts right now because storage in this house is worth about a million bucks.

When we move, we are going to definitely have to look into moving trucks to get us moved. There is no way we are moving this household by ourselves. We used a moving company with a large moving truck the last time we moved and it was so much better than the times before when we did it ourselves. I hope to get rid of some stuff before that...if I can ever part with it.

Google Buying Digg? How about calling it Diggle?

Rumors abound around the Internet that Google is in final negotiations to buy Digg for a couple hundred million (thereabouts). Will it go through? Will it fall apart before all the i's are dotted and t's crossed? Will Microsoft step in and buy it if it does? Hm....the suspense.

Not really suspense. Just interesting tidbits to bloggers, lol.

We can come up with all kinds of names for this if rumors become fact: Diggle, Giggle, Doogle, GooDigg, G'Digg, D'Goo. How about G'Dog?

Yeah, I have too much time on my hands right now and better get back to cleaning the house. Mommy bloggers still have kids to raise and houses to clean. :)

Gardasil Information

Before reading about all of the adverse reactions to Gardasil, I was swaying more towards giving it to my daughters. I had some time to consider it though so I didn't allow the doctor to give it to my oldest a year ago when she had wanted to. I wanted to look into it more first. I am very glad I did.

The amount of adverse reactions and deaths is into the 8,000's now. To read more about it, check it out here.

Bottom line for me is that my daughters will not be receiving this vaccine. They are talking about giving it to boys as well. My son will not be receiving this vaccine either. If any state or school tries to make it mandatory, I will raise heck about it.

Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

When I worked outside the home, I developed Carpal Tunnel through my hand/wrist. It gave me pain whenever I would type on my computer. While walking by me one day, the President of the company noticed and immediately instructed Human Resources to find me the tools to help. At that time, it was cushions and exercise balls to squeeze in my hand.

Leaving the outside workforce to raise my children and working from home, I did better for a few years but since buying this new laptop last fall with the touch mouse, it must be working that same painful area again because the pain is back through my hand. I do stretches with my hand in the opposite direction than what my hand is used to while using my laptop but it comes back too frequently. It makes it hard to work sometimes. I really need some carpal tunnel relief.

IMAK offers a smart glove that was designed by an orthopedic surgeon that would seriously help with the pain through my hand and wrist right now. My husband has knee pain from years of hard and steady cycling that their knee wrap would likely alleviate. They have other orthopedic products as well – neck, eyes, elbows. I am going to look into this smart glove more. I need relief from the pain through my right hand sooner rather than later.

Golden Girls' Estelle Getty Dies at Age 84

Sad but not surprising, Estelle Getty (Sophia) on Golden Girls passed away. Born Born Estelle Scher on July 25, 1923, she passed just a few days prior to her 85th birthday.

As the mother on Golden Girls with the sassy wise-cracking mouth, she was fun to watch. The show started in 1985 and ran for seven years. I would have been about 14 then.

I've seen some of her former Golden Girls cast members talking about her these last couple of years...saying she had dementia. It finally took her - Lewy Body Dementia (it mimics Parkinson's and Alzheimer's). Like I said, not surprising, but sad nonetheless.

Memory Walk 2008 for Alzheimer's

If you have a loved one with Alzheimer's or like to perform charitable services for the community, you might be interested in hearing about The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk 2008. Volunteers (of any age) can help raise funds for support, research, and Alzheimer care in more than 600 communities for the Alzheimer's Memory Walk.

If you are thinking you couldn't possibly do a walk, it is usually only 2-3 miles. It's on a cool weekend morning in the fall. Circumstances couldn't get anymore comfortable to help raise funds for Alzheimer's disease.

If you go to their web site, you can do a search for the closest walk near you. Join up nearby. You can start your own team of family members, friends, and even coworkers. Motivate your coworkers to form a work team and get walking!

If you can't walk, there are still ways to volunteer to help by becoming a team captain, event planning or joining your local event committee. So you can participate whether you can walk it or not. It’s a great way to help others.

Criminal Searches

The Internet is an amazing tool with all of the searches. You have the sexual offender/predator search databases which can help you avoid sending your child to a party's home where a sexual predator lives or is related to (been there, done that...it works!). You can search people's backgrounds, employment history, financial information. Pretty much anything is available if you know how to look and have the means to do so. The newest search I just became aware of are criminal searches. At Criminalsearches.com, you can search people's criminal records. Might be a handy tool for the blind date, babysitter, teachers, perhaps a neighbor, or the ex, lol!

*this is not a sponsored post.

Stress at Work

I have a lot of stressors working from home, but let’s face it - I had even more stressors when I worked outside the home for a large automotive company. As the Executive Coordinator in the corporate offices reporting to the President and CEO, a stressful day for me was every day business – managing the corporate offices, subordinates below me, and deadlines and meetings to attend to. Sometimes, the stress load was overwhelming. Having some really great coworkers helped a lot, but sometimes not even that was enough to get through a full workload without almost breaking under the stress.

Many people, including myself, do not like to take prescription drugs to alleviate stress and anxiety. Managing my stress was not going to be something I needed a prescription medication for! However, there is a natural remedy that can help alleviate the stress before an all-important deadline or meeting with the boss. It is called AbsoluteCalm.

Calming your nerves can make the difference in having a successful meeting or a poor meeting with an important customer. Portraying an image of confidence is much better than giving the impression that you can’t handle the responsibilities of your job or aren’t confident in your abilities. AbsoluteCalm can help you portray the image you want.

Hurrican Dolly Coming to Texas

Texas' southern coast may meet Hurricane Dolly. It is a tropical storm right now but it could become a hurricane by tomorrow. I have family in Texas but my family is in eastern Texas where they are expected to be spared from Dolly. It is also not expected to affect U.S. oil and gas interests in the area for those who are interested. Hurricane conditions are expected in the Gulf coast area within 36 hours.

Cooking Not My Thing

I am not a very good cook. It's not that I lack talent (I don't think), I lack the desire. Period. I do cook but I don't get all fancy like my little sister does. I am basics. She genuinely seems to love to cook. I guess I didn't get that gene. She is a fantastic cook. She can take a recipe and turn it into a feast for several families. At family gatherings, everybody looks forward to what she brings to the table because we all know it is going to be good. I am making myself hungry thinking about it, lol. I probably shouldn't be blogging about cooking at lunch time!

Who is Spamming Google Trends?

An article today on Shoemoney which lead me to TechCrunch caught my attention regarding the use of Google Trends and spammers manipulating it to have the search terms they want appear on Google Trends. I thought it worth mentioning here.

The article mentions several search terms that I happened to see the day they were up. I steered clear of the ones with swear words which ended up being the spammed terms. Go figure. One term in the article they say was spammy actually brought a rush of traffic to one of my sites so I guess a one and only "thank you spammers" for that one. Now quit being dorks and manipulating the search terms!

Lame! Why would people waste time doing this?

Massage Technology Advances

My mother and sister are both massage therapists and offer relaxation on a traditional massage bed. There is a new LightSpeed massage bed that offers something called Far Infrared Light that gives you deep-tissue penetration of several inches, reaching deep muscle tissue. It is called the Takemi Jade Vista 5000 Massage Bed . The bed has an built-in mp3 player and headphones so you can relax along with soothing music while your back and posture problems are alleviated.

The new age of massage therapy is here.

Give Up Medicine for Blogging?

I am not sure I could be like Arnold Kim, who gave up a career as a doctor to blog full-time. For eight years, he's dedicated a lot of time to his blog, Macrumors.com. His blog is all about facts, gossip and rumors about Apple which now boasts 4.4 million people and 40 million page views a month. A MONTH! Wow! The NY Times thought it fantastic enough to write about it.

I've seen rumors online that his blog is worth $85 million. I'd like a blog worth a few thousand.

He has another web site, Touch Arcade, for iPhone and iPod gamers. This one will be of interest to me as I recently won my choice of an iPhone or iPod which I am excited about.

He made six figures as a doctor. He makes six figures as a blogger. That's impressive and something most bloggers can only dream about.

I am not sure I could give up a career as a doctor, especially after years of schooling, to blog full-time. I have a hard time relating to that aspect. What this mommy blogger CAN relate to is one of his reasons for doing so - his daughter. It is my reason for leaving a successful career outside the home behind almost nine years ago.

So, I can hope one day to become more successful at blogging for a steady family income. Something that takes us out of this too small house for eight people and three dogs. Something that allows us to afford these high gas prices and to take our kids out more often than once in awhile. Something that allows those fun days of shopping with the kids rather than the nail biting ones as you see every dollar spent melting out of your budget.

Congrats Arnold Kim!

John Kanzius and his Kanzius Machine for Cancer

John Kanzius has non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He is also an American inventor (among other things - radio and TV engineer, ham radio operator, station owner). He has invented something that may treat cancer in the future using his radio frequency transmitter (being referred to as Kanzius Machine). He built it himself in his home.

The details are technical so I will give you a link here. In short, it is hoped to destroy cancer cells without damaging healthy cells. Preliminary research has been promising with a 100% success rate on rabbits causing them no harm in the process.

Some individuals with cancer of the blood have allowed samples of their blood be sent to a lab to see if this device works on their samples. Human trials aren't supposed to start for another 18 months.

It sounds promising.

Why am I hoping the pharmaceutical companies don't put a stop to it somehow? I don't know anything specifically about them but I don't trust them not to try to stop something that will help cure a disease that they make a lot of money off of. It's in trials on human blood by samples so hopefully there is nothing they can mess up at this point. I might be overly suspicious but pharmaceutical companies and government aren't big on my "trust" list right now. Call me cynical. Call me pessimistic.

iPod or iPhone?

I did a three day paying survey which is great. The money is so needed right now, especially after having my stepkids here. I spent about $350 in groceries this last week! OMG!!!

Anyhow, onto the really good news...

I won the survey's drawing too so I get to pick from an iPod or an iPhone. How cool is that? My cell plan won't allow for an iPhone I don't think (though I will definitely check) but I'm not sure how much I'd use an iPod unless I get a docking station and can listen to it throughout the room so I can still hear the kids (hmmm...maybe ear plugs with all these kids would be a good thing). We will have to see. I haven't received the information in the mail yet so I don't have to make a decision right now. Either way, I am happy I won. I don't usually win things. Too bad it wasn't a few million in a lottery but I'll take this, lol.

Orange Full Moon Tonight

If you haven't looked out your window tonight, go to the window now and check out the moon if you can see it where you are at. It appears orange tonight. It's beautiful.

My husband wanted to take a walk out into the back of our property to look at it better rather than thru our trees but with the kids all up and the mosquitos biting, I was happy to look at it through the trees.

Get up! Go to the window! Step outside and enjoy the full moon.

Donate Hair for Children

Well, after talking about it for months, I did it. I had my hair chopped off. I have been wanting to do it for awhile now but have been waiting for the time and money to get my hair cut. I am donating 10" to Locks of Love. There are other organizations that do the same thing (Wigs for Kids and Beautiful Lengths). My hair will be made into a wig for a child who has lost their hair.

I went into the salon and told them that I wanted to donate my hair. She tied it off into four ponytails (my hair is very thick and couldn't be done in a single pony tail) and measured. Minimum was 8" for Locks of Love but I went with 10". Then, she snipped four times and I had four ponytails to donate.

My 11 year old daughter was upset after she hacked off the four tails. She said, "You don't look like mom anymore." After I let her pick the length of my bangs, she cheered up. The women at the salon said I looked ten years younger which prompted my stepdaughter to say, "not with all that gray she doesn't." Funny kid:) I like the length...it's not heavy or hot on my back anymore.

I cheered up even more when I got carded at the store afterward. It has been a long time since I have been asked for my ID, lol.

These are the "before" pictures:




These are the "after" pictures:

So, who is next? Chop! Chop!

Complete List of Starbucks Closings

If you are a coffee lover and need to know if your favorite local Starbucks will be closing on you, the complete list according to Starbucks is here. Closings are supposed to start this month and go through the first half of the fiscal year for 2009.

I am not a coffee lover myself but my husband is. It doesn't affect me but for those die-hard Starbucks fans, better get your last cup of joe before the doors close.

To find out how coffee may extend your life, click here.

Mom Corps - Work From Home Recruitment

When I took a severance package to leave my 40-hour work week in the corporate offices of an automotive company to stay at home with my (then) two babies almost nine years ago (we've since added two more), I left with a few tears for the people I was leaving behind but with the excitement of knowing I would be raising my kids - nobody else.

If you are a stay-at-home mom who wants to become a work-at-home mother, or are still in the workforce and wanting to leave, there are a few companies recently in the news that may help you.

They are:

Mom Corps
On-Ramps
Flexible Executives
Flexible Resources
FlexWork Connection

If you are looking for a recruiting company that can offer you the flexible schedule you and your family need, you might find what you need with one of them.

There are also other things you can do from home depending on just how much income you are looking for. I also blog for additional income, though I am currently looking for other ways to bring in more income to our family. Gas prices and the rise in groceries is just killing our budget. With school coming soon and the need to clothe three kids (possibly four if she qualifies), then school clothes for four children will take a healthy bite out of our finances.

*not a sponsored post.

Peanuts During Pregnancy May Cause Asthma

In a study of 4,000 women out of Utrecht University, mothers who ate peanuts everyday, as little as one peanut butter sandwich a day, while pregnant increased their baby's risk of developing asthma as a child. Recommendations are to eat nuts in moderation (they don't want you to stop eating ALL peanut products because the baby may miss out on other nutrients normally found in them).

I have asthma and it has almost been fatal for me before. It causes coughing, wheezing, and labored breathing that can kill you or your child with asthma. It is not something to mess around with. You want to make sure you do everything you can to prevent your child from developing asthma.

They are hoping for more studies to be done on this to confirm their findings for nuts. I would also ensure you are not smoking or around anybody else who is smoking is not around you while pregnant. Once your child is born, please do not allow anybody to smoke in the house where the baby is - nowhere in the house. It's something you can help prevent - asthma due to second hand smoke.

Susan Atkins, Charles Manson, and Sharon Tate

If you were the family member of one of Charles Manson and his occult's victims, would you agree to compassionate release of one of the murderers who was dying of a disease? That is exactly what is going on out in California right now. One of the individuals (Susan Atkins) convicted of killing Sharon Tate is dying of brain cancer and they are trying to get her released. It is called compassionate release. According to Susan Atkins' husband (who is also acting as her attorney), she only has a few months to live. She has been in jail for about 37 years.

I can see why the family would want her out - supposedly she is dying. However, she has been alive for 37 years longer than her victim, Sharon Tate. She just didn't kill Tate (who was 8-1/2 months pregnant at the time!), they were also tried for the murders of six other people. They killed an innocent child while their mother begged to spare her baby's life so let's make that seven others in my eyes! According to the Associated Press, after stabbing Tate, Atkins tasted her blood and then used it to write "pig" on her wall.

Their killing spree doesn't leave any room for compassion in my eyes. She is lucky that when she was sentenced to the death penalty, that it had then been temporarily ruled unconstitutional and her life was spared. That's more than she did for the victims she helped kill.

U.S. in Switzerland Saturday to Listen to Iran, Not Negotiate

Is the U.S. gearing up for another war (with Iran now) or is the envoy meeting with Iranians in Switzerland for nuclear talks to stop uranium enrichment by Iran going to be successful? There will be no negotiations between the U.S. and Iran at this time. It is strictly to listen.

Here are articles on this subject:

BBC

MSNBC

Fox News

Onto the terror watch list (no fly list, terrorist watch list), did you know it is over one million names? The ACLU says this about it:

The American Civil Liberties Union says the list is an impediment for millions of travellers." America's new million-record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources (and) treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought," ACLU technology director Barry Steinhardt said in a release.

Park West Art Gallery

We moved two years ago and I am sad to say, I still do not have any art on my walls. I am still waiting for my walls to get painted. Then, I plan on decorating the walls with the finest art that we can afford.

There is a gallery near where I was raised, located in Southfield, Michigan, called Park West Art Gallery that was founded in 1969. They have some exquisite collections that I would love to go see in person.

Marcus Glenn's The Finale of the Flow would be appreciated by my husband I believe. I love Alfred Gockel's Dali Vision. The Markus Collection and The Nixon Collection are very beautiful as well. I would love to see Charles Lee's Sisterhood on my living room wall. The colors are exactly what I am looking for and the subject matter is beautiful in itself.

Their 63,000 square feet of Greco-Roman architecture in Southfield includes 23 exhibition galleries and is beautiful outside and in. If you are going to be in Michigan, I would take the time to peruse their collections. Otherwise, don't miss out on one of their fine art auctions held around the U.S. and Canada. Park West, an affiliate, offers cruise ship auctions so by land or sea, you can enjoy fine art by talented artists.

Exercise Update

Well, I started exercising again. The last couple of days has seen me playing countless volleyball games. I have the sore forearm to prove it. Ouch! We play several games a day with all of the kids. Sometimes, it is girls against boys. Sometimes, it is hubby and me against five of the kids (we still win though they have fun making fun of the "old people").

Here is to hoping this jump starts the weight loss...AGAIN. I was doing good and then it kind of petered out with the daily rain almost everyday over the last few weeks.

Come on weight, go away.