25 Random Things About Me

1. I lived in England for 3 years.
2. I still think that that spiders will "get me" while on the toilet because of the movie Arachnophobia.
3. I tore my ACL on my right knee the very first time I ever went skiing. Ran right into that orange mesh fencing and had to be strapped to a stretcher and taken to clinic by a snowmobile. Very embarrassing!!! All that while my lovely Aunt Lorrie snapped photos to document it! =)
4. I have never been skiing again and have no desire to ever do it again. Cold, wet, clothes that make you look fat, so hard, and did I mention cold. No Thanks!!!
5. I sleep with one leg outside of the covers.
6. I started dating Jason the summer after my Junior year in high school (1997) and we got married seven years later in Oct. 2004. He is my best friend and the greatest daddy in the whole world!
7. I miss having sleepovers and girls night with my girlfriends. I wish that we didn't have to wait for somebody to get married to do this. What happens when we are all married???
8. I always said that I never wanted children and then my best friend Kellie had her daughter and something changed the moment I first held her and over the years the amount of love I had for her and she wasn't even mine.
9. I always said that I didn't believe women who said that there biological clock starting ticking and that they couldn't help it. Unitl it happened to me. Not so much that I thought I had to because I was getting old but that I could just feel it in my heart that I wanted to have a child. Once you get bitten by that bug, it's all over. I drove everyone crazy talking about it until it finally happened. (I know what you are going through Abby)
10. I was off birth control for about 14 days and got pregnant.
11. The day I had J was the day I discovered what pure, unconditional, true love is all about.
12. I love seeing J smile, he has the GREATEST smile in the whole world.
13. Getting kisses from J can turn any day into a great day! My heart melts every time.
14. I have the craziest family ever but I wouldn't trade them for anybody elses. My brother and sisters and I are closer now than we have ever been and I am loving it.
15. I have a great group of friends that I know that I will be friends with for the rest of my life. And I like that that group is small. Some people think that it's the amount of friends you have but I think that it's the quality of those friends that matters. The one's that are there in good times but especially the hard times!
16. I am addicted to my iPhone.
17. I love reading instruction manuals. Like to cars and gadgets.
18. Whenever somebody I care about tells me sad news about an illness or something I immediately go to the internet and research it to death and try and get as much information as possible because it makes me feel better if I know a little about it. I do the same with anything that I am told about myself also.
19. I come off as uncaring or not interested sometimes in situations where people I care about are sad, telling me something sad or are crying especially. This is never true but I never know the right thing to say or do.
20. I think that #17-19 above are all due to the fact that I am a control freak and that I like to have information and fix things, including problems, people and things.
21. I love reality TV like Big Brother, Survivor, Top Chef, all the Housewives of whereever shows, Project Runway, the list could go on and on......
22. I am addicted to HGTV and TLC shows that deal with real estate like, House Hunters, My First House, Flip This House, this list could really go on and on forever.
23. I want to flip houses one day, I think that I would be really good at it.
24. I want to own my own clothing and gift store for kids that actually has things in it that are affordable but still so cute and trendy. (Not any of those out there that I have come across)
25. I can't stand to have my hair touch the back of my neck when I am laying down. I have left strict instructions to have my hair OFF of my neck before I am buried. I do know that this is crazy!

No Filter Friday!

To the parents and caregivers out there that leave children in hot vehicles: SERIOUSLY, Just DON’T DO IT!!! Every year about this time you will start to hear warnings about the dangers of leaving children in vehicles in warm weather. So far in 2010, six children have already died and it’s just May. One of those fatalities occurred in my home state in Meeker, Oklahoma. A two year old girl was left in a vehicle for over 7 hours by a friend of her mother that was supposed to drop her off at daycare but forgot. The temperature outside was 86 degrees.

They will offer tips on how to remind yourself that your children are in the car so that you don’t forget. (EXCUSE ME……How in the hell can you forget???) Such as put a stuffed animal in the front seat and your purse in the back seat or put a brightly colored blanket on the car seat as an extra visual cue. How about you just don’t forget your child and lets call it a day.

The thing that gets me are the people that don’t forget the children are in the car but the ones that actually do it intentionally and think that it’s ok to just “run into the store”. NO MORON, it’s not OK!!! Would you like to be left in a car with no air circulation and excessive heat that continues to rise by the minute? No, I didn’t think so! While you’re in Wal-Mart browsing through the aisles for god knows what, let me tell you what your helpless children are going through in the car you left them in unattended.

1 in 5 parents think it is okay to leave their children in the car "for just a minute". (2002 poll by National Safe Kids Campaign and General Motors)

Heatstroke occurs when a person’s temperature exceeds 104 degrees and their temperature regulator becomes overwhelmed. Children’s system regulators are not as efficient as adults and their body temperatures warm at a rate 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s. Symptoms include: dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, sluggishness, seizure, hot dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty, loss of consciousness, rapid heart beat and hallucinations. A core body temperature of 107 degrees is considered lethal as cells are damaged and internal organs shut down.

The time it takes for the temperature in a vehicle to reach deadly levels occurs very fast. After 10 minutes=19 degrees, 20 minutes=29 degrees, 30 minutes=34 degrees, 60 minutes=43 degrees, 1-2 Hours=45-50 degrees. So, to those people that say "it’s not that hot out" or "it will only take a few minutes", it doesn’t take excessively high temperatures or extended periods of time for heatstroke and death to occur.

For example: On an average day with a temperature of "only" 75 degrees, and "only" 20 minutes, the inside temperature will reach 104 degrees!

Only 15 states currently have laws prohibiting leaving a child unattended in a vehicle. An Associated Press study "Wide disparity exists in sentences for leaving kids to die in hot cars" examined both the frequency of prosecutions and length of sentences in hyperthermia deaths. Charges were filed in 49% of all deaths and 81% resulted in convictions. In cases with paid caregivers (i.e., childcare workers, babysitters) 84% were charged and 96% convicted. Mothers are treated much more harshly than fathers and moms are 26% more likely to do jail time and their average sentence is two years longer than the terms received by dads.

My home state, Oklahoma, is one of the states that has a law against leaving a child unattended but from my experience it all depends who you are talking to how seriously they take it. Last summer my family and I were leaving Wal-Mart and as we were putting the groceries in the trunk I noticed a van parked beside us that had four car seats in it and all but one had a sleeping child. There was no adult in site that appeared to belong to the van. We sat in our car for about 5 minutes to see if someone was maybe just returning the cart or whatever but when no one came I called the non-emergency police phone number (at my husbands request because I was fully prepared to call 911) to report it. After I explained the situation I was expecting to hear they would send someone right out but instead she was extremely rude and acted like I was being a nosy busybody. She actually asked me "are the windows cracked?" I swear I about lost it, I told her "yes, but does that matter?" she asked "how long have they been there?", I told her I had no idea but that it was extremely hot outside and asked her if she was going to send anybody out. She told me that it would be awhile before she could send an officer and that the driver probably just ran into the store because the kids were asleep. I could NOT believe what I was hearing. I basically had to force her to take the license number and vehicle description and location.

So, as summer approaches and the weather gets warmer, please remember when your children are in the car, don’t let caregivers keep your children if they can’t remember your children and don’t intentionally leave your child in vehicles so you can run into a store.

OK…..that was my rant for the day! I feel much better getting that off my chest. And yes, I know that some people will probably feel like I shouldn’t judge others so harshly that have done this unless I have walked in their shoes or whatever other BS excuse they can come up with but here is what I say to that…"There is never an excuse for doing this and it’s never OK to leave your kids alone in a car for any reason! PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thanks and have a great holiday weekend!

Garage Sale Newbie

So, we finally had our garage sale this past weekend. My husband has been begging me to do this for years and I finally caved in and agreed. NEVER AGAIN!!! I have never had a garage sale and had no idea what all was involved. The whole process of going through all of the things that you have accumulated over the years is exhausting. Its really hard for me to let go of things. I seem to have a memory or attachment to everything. I found things that I didn't even know I still had. Such as the dress I wore to my high school graduation (over 10 years old!), notes between friends from high school (man were those interesting), college projects and papers (I was pretty impressed with a few) and PICTURES. Some of the old pictures I found were seriously hilarious! It was pretty fun taking a walk down memory lane. But the task of getting all these items set up and ready for the garage sale was not fun. We had to borrow tables and rent a clothing rack. The first two weekends we attempted to have the sale were rained out and this past weekend was hot and very windy. The actual garage sale itself wasn't that bad minus the few freak shows that showed up. We sold some things on Friday afternoon and then we didn't get out there on Saturday until 8:30 because my husband had to work and I didn't want to go out there by myself. When my husband went to put the signs out he literally had people following him back to the house. Overall we made about $250.00 which isn't bad but we still have a ton of stuff to get rid of. I think we are going to try again this Saturday and then whatever we have left is going to the Goodwill. 

Here are a few things I learned throughout this process that may help you out in your future garage sales:

• If you say the sale starts at 9am that really means 8am. Even if you state no early birds.
• People will try and haggle with you over a quarter. 
• Put a price on as many items as you can in advance.
• Be organized. We had many people tell us how nice it was to see a garage sale that was nicely organized.
• Hard core garage sale people are a little crazy, be prepared to deal with it. We had one lady that stayed over an hour and told us her whole life story and all her families dirty little secrets. Another lady almost shit herself over a Sex and the City game. That same lady also had on a dress that didn't leave much to the imagination, she must have been channeling Samantha. 
• Make sure you have bags to put the purchased items in, they expect it!
• Have a calculator handy so that you don't look like a total moron when trying to add up items and giving change.
• Be prepared for your children to find items that they don't think need to be sold. Mine found an old fax machine that he now is using to conduct his business on. 
• Watch out for groups of people that come together and spread out. I discovered that this is a tactic to distract you from any one person and a perfect opportunity to steal things. 
• Don't be afraid to put anything out for sale. The things that I thought would never sell were the first things to go and the things that I thought would sell quick we still have. 

Here are a few pictures I took: