Sick and Sad in Scrapland

I am soooooo disapointed. I had to backout of Scrapbook night with Tara =( She usually comes over at 7pm we order pizza (and more), then we watch A.I. or Dancing With The Stars (depending on the night) and we scrap til Dawn's early light.

I woke up this morning feeling as if my neck turned into a tree trunk. Everytime I lifted my head off the pillow I had an instant headache. I was suspose to have my blood drawn this morning, but I think that I would have fainted if I did.

I went to my Mom's to do the wash (I hate doing it there, but it would cost me $8-12 at the apartment's facilities). I had a light load (only 4 machines) and by the time I finished the FIRST load I was exhusted. I didn't even finish folding the last load, I just scooped everthing up (including the Kids) and stumbled into the car.

The kids are now watching a video. When Daddy cames home he can put them to bed and then go pick up Dinner while I watch A.I. laying on the couch. (not too selfish and demanding)

To Ebay or Not to Ebay.

Hmmmm. Everyone says the Ebay is a good way to make some extra money. Lord knows that I could use extra money. So I try Ebay. I think that I’m the ONLY person in Ebay history that lost money selling on Ebay!!!!! We have a small apartment and two Kids.
We are aching for elbowroom. Today we (well I) were on a cleaning/redecorating jag. I found 6 (SIX!!!) 20gl totes filled with baby clothes to sell on Ebay. Now, we tried selling and to be honest…it’s a big pain in the a$$. I would put 4 items up and maybe 2 would sell. They all would have people watching them then, when it came due to the closing bid …NOTHING! and I would still have to pay for the listing. I would relist the items thinking well I had lots of watchers, maybe this time…and still no bids. What’s wrong with you people? My stuff is really cute (I do have good taste) and they’re clean. To make a long story more boring we have a friend who’s Brother is having another baby (you know I mean his Wife). Our friend asked us if we could start saving our Son’s clothes for them. I said that all we have right now are 18m if they want. Then I found those 6 totes (I don’t know how I didn’t notice them. 6 totes aren’t easy to hide in a one-bedroom apartment). I looked through ALL of those totes (it give me my shopping fix) and I now have two totes for our friend’s Brother’s baby, one tote for my Second Husband’s (Lisa) Daughter, another one for the little girl who lives up in PA. The rest are going to Goodwill/consignment. I feel so liberated.

My Husband and I not Conservatives (quite the contray we're pretty much left of center)
Nor are we fanatial flag wavers, but this article,that my Husband posted on our Forum, is an interesting read and I wanted to share it with the blogspot community.




Thanks to Jim Appleby for providing this insightful article. Please take
the time to read the attached essay by Dr. Chong. It is without a doubt
the most articulate and convincing writing I have read regarding the War
in Iraq. If you have any doubts please open your mind to his essay and
give a fair evaluation.

I had no idea who Dr. Chong is or the source of these thoughts... so when
I received them, I almost deleted them - as well-written as they are. But
then I did a "Google search" on the Doctor and found him to be a retired
Air Force Surgeon of all things and past Commander of Wilford Hall
Medical Center in San Antonio. So he is real, is connected to Veterans
affairs in California, and these are his thoughts. They are worth reading
and thinking about!(the same Google search will direct you to some of his
other thought-provoking writings.)

Subject: Muslims, terrorist and the USA. A different spin on Iraq war.

This WAR is for REAL! Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired

Tuesday, July 12, 2005
To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country
is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it,
that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are
very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who
realize what losing really means.

First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?
Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United State
is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the
following attacks on us:

* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.

(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist
attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?

Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened
during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush
1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or
Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their
immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

3. Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.

5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the
predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the
dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no
difference. You either went along with the administration or you were
eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for
political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (see
http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm )

Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as
the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom
heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept
the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone
who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world
- German, Christian or any others.

Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill
all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else.
The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no
protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims
there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim
leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own
pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the
peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?

6. So who are we at war with?

There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the
Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing
this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't
clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.

So with that background, now to the two major questions:

1. Can we lose this war?

2. What does losing really mean?

If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions

We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the
major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the
answer to the second question - What does losing mean?

It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means
hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our
business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can
get.

What losing really means is:

We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will
not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us
dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not
have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past
18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorist to attack us, until we were
neutered and submissive to them.

We would of course have no future support from other nations, for fear of
reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and
cannot help them.

They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will
be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It
doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its
troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their
train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain
to do will be done. Spain is finished.

The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they
might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished
too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However,
it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and
fading fast!

If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will
all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us,
if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims, how
could anyone else?

The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are
completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and
be likewise committed to winning at any cost.

Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until
we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put
100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take
that 100% effort to win.

So, how can we lose the war?

Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is,
defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose,
and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort If we
are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be
divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life
and death seriousness of this situation.

President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.
Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men
between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow
profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This
is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the
civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to
lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose
all of them permanently.

And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil
rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and
in fact added many more since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?

No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political
Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a
clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them
out of your head.

Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the
Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us
lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is
because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that
conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and
weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our
cause.

Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media
regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies
best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the
treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our
military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago
were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands,
cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just
for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.

And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed
400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same
type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging
their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq.

And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing
videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American
prisoners they held.

Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days
have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some
Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses
through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them.

Can this be for real?

The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the
Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of
comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are
fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous
results of losing this war, nothing can.

To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner
issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned --
totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor
any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this
does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal.
It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of
the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been
pushing us, for many years.

Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That
translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United State, but
throughout the world.

We are the last bastion of defense.

We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge
is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that
we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds
of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our
back, we can defeat anything bad in the world!

We can't!

If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive,
and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow
freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of
the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or
any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that
contributes to the good of the world.

This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or
we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of the
Roman Empire . If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books
to be written or read.

If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims
take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to
increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little
by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be
fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which
will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve.
Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?

Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some
external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away,
politically correct piece by politically correct piece.

And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown,
worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to
themselves, once they are in power.

They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then
start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control
the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about
the "peaceful Muslims"?

I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are
united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now after the election,
the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation
we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are
talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.

After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but
our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world

Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that include
the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!

Please forward this to any you feel may want, or NEED to read it. Our
"leaders" in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that find
fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly thinks
through this, that we must UNITE!

If you would like to see who this fellow is go to this Air Force web
sight and look him up.
http://www.af.mil/bios/alpha.asp?alpha=C

Have you ever had one of those days where you were getting everything done, you were plodding along nicely and then all of a sudden you just dropped and didn’t get back up.
I drove my Daughter up north Jersey to stay overnight with her Grandma and cousins. We had lunch up there then drove back home and put my Son down for a nap. Now you would think being one kid light, I would be kicking up my heels. Well on the contrary, all my energy both physical and mental was drained right out of me. I even felt a bit down in the dumps. I had so much that I wanted to do, but couldn’t motivate myself.
Then my Husband called and told me that our bank account was dangerously in the red and I thought that we were doing O.K. Well …there go my plans for Wednesday. I was going to buy the rest of the supplies to make the March Of Dimes sale items and order our Walkamerica Family Team shirts. It looks like I might even have to cancel my plans with my Second Husband (A.K.A. my Best Friend Lisa) for our rare Saturday outing at the movies, unless I can find the Loews gift card that my Brother gave me last Christmas. Man being broke sucks.

I am very upset. Chole(sp) WON! not my Danny V. on Project Runway. I even felt sorry for Santino. I actually liked his designs! Anyone else as sad as me about the outcome? Come on people talk to me.

We'll see who leaves A.I tonight. Who's your choice?

O.K., I’m back and I’m pissed (I know it didn’t take long). I’ve always been the Black Sheep of the Family,
but now it seems like I’m the A$$ Hole too. Read on…..
But first a little back-story. My Brother was married to a Psycho. During the divorce hearings I was there to support him. I found a babysitter for my Daughter and went to court (on Staten Island) with him even while I was pregnant with my second baby. I helped him clean out the house SHE trashed, loaned him our Fax in order for him to communicate with his Lawyer (who I found for him, BTW). I bought him another one when I needed ours back (which the spoiled brat gave back to me without a cartridge, and still hasn’t given me a new one.) I even took care of my Niece’s Birthday party so that he wouldn’t have to stress about it.

Now fast forward to June 5, 2004. I go into preterm labor.
June 6, 2004 I have a 3.1 lb baby boy who is in the Nic-U
for six weeks, my Brother sees him ONCE.

Just a few weeks ago, I asked my Brother to join walkamerica with us as a Family Team. This is what he wrote:
Hi Guys I’m sorry I haven’t got back to you sooner but my life is one big blur these days even more than it’s ever been. I’m sorry I don’t want to commit to anything now with this whole mess with the Ex and wedding plans and overtime and the kids extracurricular activities etc…. I know it’s a great cause and I feel bad turning Vaughn down right now but it sounds too time consuming for me at this point in time (TOO TIME CONSUMING!) I’m only planning my life a couple of days at a time right now and Mara has to work on Sundays so if I was able to do it, it would just be me. Mara can’t afford to take any time off from work (but she took off early to go to a 40th Birthday party). I hope you’re not to disappointed but I could give you a strong maybe for next year (don’t insult me!!) or the next walkathon. Once again I’m sorry. Love you guys and I hope to see you soon.

This is what I wrote back, after many rewrites
Well Erik I have to be honest and let you know….YES I am disappointed.

Don’t mistake what I’m about to say. I know your life is stressful and chaotic,
I’ve always known that. However I feel you need to hear this from MY perspective.

The March Of Dimes gave Brian and me answers and support when we didn’t know day to day what would happen to Vaughn. They played an essential role in SAVING Vaughn’s life. Therefore this walking event is greatly personal to me. I thought perhaps you would see the walk could have been a good experience for Brittany and Ryan to learn about paying it forward. Not to mention that it would just make a great Family day out.

It’s sad to me that you are so consumed by your emotional muck that you can’t see the Forest for the Trees.

As apart of THIS Family you, of all people should know how important it is to be there for each other. I’ve done so for you and the kids. I just thought that you could be there for me this once. I’m sorry you don’t see it that way.

In a second E-mail I asked him if he could pay me the $12 difference from the fax cartridge/ Brittany Christmas gift deal we made so that I could put it toward the walkamerica donations. This is what he wrote:
Dawn I believe we settled the money issue with the apples to apples game for Brittany. If I am wrong please refresh my memory as to why I still owe you $12. I can still make a contribution though even if I don't owe you any money, but I'm afraid it won't be too much I'm one step above poverty. I can sense some animosity still over this walkathon. I don't want this to become an issue between us, we are family and I love you guys. I am sorry if your not happy with my decision but it turns out Brittany has a swim meet that day anyway (which is beside the point). This is why I can only plan my life a couple of days at a time. I can't have Brittany miss that swim meet because she is already missing two other ones. Mara is working that day and I have to coach the meet so that would only leave Ryan available (sarcasm not appreciated). I was deeply concerned for you and Vaughn when he was born and I don't think you are being fair to me (I’M NOT BEING FAIR TO HIM?). I am holding back a little bit here because I don't want to add fuel to the fire (If you don’t want to add to the fire, then don’t tell me your holding back, am I right people?). Please understand my situation and let's put this behind us. I love Vaughn very much and I am so happy the March of Dimes was there to help him and you guys and I'm not taking it all for granted. I will make you a promise to try my best to be there for the next one. My biggest problem was I didn't have the time to run around finding sponsors. So please let's get past this and go back to the way things were (Yeah where you walk all over us again…I don’t think so). Once again I'm sorry and I will see you guys soon, I hope. Love you guys

Love Erik

To add insult to injury, he told Mommy on me. She called me from his house while babysitting HIS kids and asked me about what was going on, and why did I write such a nasty E-mail? Boo-freakin- Hoo. Then she proceeded to defend him!!! Am I crazy? I honestly don't know what to see to this boy. I need opinions/advice here, except for you Tara, you must be Switzerland since you know both of us. I know I’m right; I just want you all to confirm that.

So I went to Steph's Baby Shower/Scrapbooking Class, against my will(but glad I went) and feeling like cockie (really). After feeding the kids, I decided to save time and bathe them together (as any Mom will do) and my Son POOPED in the tub. I had to whip my Daughter out, before it floated over to her. As I was wrapping her in a towel, I turn around to find my Son drinking the water. YUCK AND YIKES. I gave him a "bird bath" in the sink, through the tub toys out, got them both dressed (Breath). My Husband comes home and says that he's not going to his club meeting, therefore not taking them out. (Just Breath). I tell him where the kids are as far as scheduling, and he asks me if our Son had his night time bottle.......... WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!.......DO YOU WANT TO BE ON MY LIST?!

Anyway have to go get myself dressed as I need to take my Daughter to get her hair cut. My Husband tried to cut her bangs (nuf said)

Well hi. Here I am...at last. I really can't say much right now because it's a rainy cold indoor kinda day and I have two kids tugging at me. PLAY WITH ME MOMMY!!!! LOOK AT ME MOMMY!!!
DON"T DO THAT!!!! GET DOWN FROM THERE. STOP THAT!!! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!!!! I'm suspose to go out tonight to my Step Sister In Law's to Scrap......YES I'm a Scrapbook Junkie. Ya wanna make somethin of it?! BUT with it being so nasty out I'm in stay home and watch Idol results mode....YES I'm an Idol Addict too (the original). The darn (hate that word, so want to use the REAL word) thing is that tonight my Step-Sister-In-Law's (Let's just call her Steph for the sake of my typing) assistant is give her a baby shower tonight, therefore I kinda feel abligated to go, otherwise I'd tell her I'm not coming and call my Digi Scrapping Mentor,Tara, and tell her to come on over.(Make her drive in this weather...Ya;)

O.K. the kids are queit, gotta go see whats goin on(pray for me)