A shout out to CarnivAOL

This is a shout out about CarnivAOL. 

What is this you ask? 

It is a chance to showcase one of your journal entries that you think you want a lot more people to read.  Whether you think it is funny, important information, or really great writing, you can have it showcased here!

Click this link to learn more: CarnivAOL 

And, oh yeah, the first link that you will find to a really great entry is one of mine!  LOL  But not just me, lots of my friends are there from journal land and lots of great new friends, too!

I do hope you like it!

Paul who is running CarnivAOL will be asking for more submissions starting on 7/26 for a new issue of the CarnivAOL to be released on 8/2.

To get a submission to Paul email him a link from your journal to Plittle@aol.com.

Be well,

Dawn

 

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Tonite is the night!

 

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince will be released! 

My hubby, the kids and myself, are all going to Barnes and Noble for a party from 9pm- Midnight!  There is going to be food, games, music, all Harry Potter related!

I can't wait.  I may actually be more excited than the kids.

HP is the most wonderful series of books.  And, fyi - any one who says they are anti-Christian has not read them or had a big fat agenda. ( like the man who read it for the Pope)

The stories are a classic battle of good vs. evil.  Voldemort, the villian, is actually evil incarnate.  It is very clear that he has lost his soul to the "devil", if you so wish to name it.  And like all true evil doers/devils his followers are legion.

Harry is the only one to stop him.  Marked as a baby by Voldemort himself.  Harry has the help of many good people  in his world.  Thank goodness.  Also, Harry being the good soul that he is, is also concerned for the muggles or non-magical people, because he knows Voldemort will harm them as well.

The fact that the book has a magical setting makes amazing things possible.  Both good and bad.  I really enjoy the fantasy world that it is set within.

But strip that away, and it is a very classic tale. 

I anxiously await this next installment to see how good will thwart evil again.  I know there will be casualties in this war, just as there are in our daily lives today.

Author Rowling gives us something very special in each book, though.  Something that in these books as in life, we cannot live without.

HOPE.

Be well...

Dawn

 

"And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain..."

Hello again!

My time as AOL Journal Guest Editor is coming to a close, sometime tomorrow.

And so as I make my final bow...

I am hopeful.

I hope you all will keep coming back to visit my journal again and again.

I hope that I touched the life of at least one person also suffering with a chronic disease.

I hope that I have helped as many "healthy" people as possible understand a little bit better what it is like coping with a chronic disease.

I hope that the next time you see an apparently healthy looking middle aged woman park in a handicapped parking space you don't scoff and think "but she doesn't look sick" because she might be me or one of my RA or Lupie buddies, and she may be very "sick".

I hope when you see me and I am looking good you don't think I am cured, or exaggerating most of the time, but realize I probably rested up a lot, or I am having a wonderful, blessed day without many or any symptoms.

I hope that you appreciate your good health, and that you don't have to take many pills and a hospital infusion once a month, like me, just to somewhere near "normal".

I hope you appreciate your "Spoons", and don't take them for granted.  Mine are very precious and I cherish each one.

Most I spend on my family, since they are the heartbeat of my life, my purpose, my catalysts for being.

Click here to understand "Spoons"

I hope you know that I use some of my "Spoons" to reach out to you in my journal and appreciate that, too.

Come back often and soon.

Dawn

 

Weekend Assignment #68

Weekend Assignment #68: Take a moment to appreciate something French. Tell us about that French thing you most appreciate.

 Ca'cre blu!  Scalzi stole my first thought, the Statue of Liberty!

C'est bon - I have many more! 

My hearts biggest desire, a completely selfish one, is to travel to Paris to visit the Louvre.  I want to see the Mona Lisa.  I want to see many of the Great Masters art that they have showcased in that Renaissance palace.

I would love to say I want to see it "all", which I do, but I understand that would take many visits.

I also loooove French, the language.  It is quite beautiful sounding.  And even saying "up yours" has a lovely ring to it...you will have to trust me on that!  LOL

Be well,

Dawn

 

A little Latin for you...as Dennis Menaces

Dennis is here...menacing my joints.  Well, he wasn't unexpected and the kids let me sleep in later than usual, to almost 10:30am, which was very nice.

I thought I would share the poem from Latin that Carpe Diem, Sieze the Day - is taken from.

By Odes, Book I, Ode II, lines 6-8

Be wise, strain your wine, and in this brief space

Cut back long hopes.

Even as we speak, envious time flees:

Seize the day, trust little in tomorrow.

It is so beautiful and so true. 

Time does flee, and way too fast. 

My cousin just had her third baby on July 3rd.  Mom and baby are doing well, and I get to see her and her sweet newborn baby girl on this coming Saturday.  I can't wait to hold the baby.

Thinking about that has brought back memories of my three angels when they were newborn babes.  I can't believe the time of babies is over for me.

I really cannot believe that my oldest is going to be 13 next month!  A teenager!!  Am I ready to be a mom to a teenager?  Well, it's coming so, tough crap, I had better be ready! 

Our situation is unique, though.  Since ds12 is homeschooled and has Asperger's, our intro into the teen years will be gentle. 

Ds10 will be the one that will bring us screaming to our knees as a teen, I am sure.  Interestingly enough, he was the sweetest baby with the easiest disposition.  The ideal Gerber baby!  He slept well, and never cried or fussed! 

My eldest was very good, never cried - but never slept either.  My youngest, the girl, had colic for 10 weeks.  Those days are a blur with her!

Time has gone too fast and I know, it waits for no one.  So, I am trying to embrace, no, seize each day, each new turning point.

I think all this rain has made me mushy and sentimental today!

Be well, Dawn

PS... I took the picture of the seagull in the "All about me" section when we were in St. Thomas, USVI.

Blood sugar and Blockhead Hubby

My blood sugar, must be down.  I have been really good, eliminating the sweets and white breads, and staying low carb over all.

I think it is working because I put on a pair of capri pants today that are loose!  I am excited about that.  I do not own a scale because they are possessed by the devil (joke), but will be weighed at the rheumatologist on my visit next week, whether I want to or not.  LOL

Anyhow, it has not been easy.  In fact, it sucks, but I am really determined to do it.

So, my dear hubby goes to the drug store on Thursday night with dd8.  I can't remember why, but he came home with snacks.

Ok fine, I can dig that.

He buys something especially for me and presents it to me much like our cat presenting her freshly killed mouse. 

"Here!  I got these for you.  I know you like them."

I, much like the same reaction to the mouse with entrails exposed, plaster a smile on my face and say, "Thanks".  Then take said "treat" and put it away in the snack closet after he leaves the room to preen himself some more.

The "treat" you ask?  An entire box of After Eight Mints.

Yes, I like them.  How sweet of him to remember, right?

Wrong.

I wanted to scream but didn't.  In fact, I said nothing until last night.  Amazing restraint, I might add, but I will get to that later.

I mean, does he not remember the letter from my rheumatologist a week before about sugar?  Ok, maybe he forgot about that, but how could he forget the fact that at dinner I was discussing the different choices I was making since I was watching my sugar!  I mean, it was a whole conversation, with him andmy parents.  Even about the choices at dinner, so that was not it.

Work has been bad for him lately and he has been a beast.  He thinks he handles his stress, but he doesn't - it handles him. 

In fact, dd8 informed him on Friday that she hadn't seen him smiling lately and she was not happy about that.  He thought she was insane and looked at me to correct her, I just "harumphed" and turned back to the Yankee game. 

Again, displaying amazing restraint, I think.  I gave the kids some of the After Eight mints during the game.

I had decided that Saturday was going to be my cheat day and I had dessert while we were out to dinner.  We were at the Macaroni Grill. To offset the cheating I had eggplant parmesan to avoid pasta.  See, restraint.

At home, while watching tv, the kids polished off most of the After Eight mints and then I had a few.  (ok, not so restrained, but it was my cheat day and the bloodwork is a week off)

Last night, I informed hubby that buying someone (read: wife) candy when they are trying to watch their sugar is really not the best thing to do.  It would have shown more support and less stupidity to have bought something sugar-free. 

I barely got a response.  I know I have his over-stressed state to thank for that. 

I think I am still showing amazing restraint because all the while I want to scream at him to snap out of his annoying "poor me" funk and scream how stupid and insensitive it was to buy me candy.  And, hittting him with a 2x4 to punctuate my comments has also crossed my mind, but I have not screamed nor hit him with the wood. 

Yet.

How long can this new found restraint last?  I really don't know...but I am really trying!!!

Be well,

Dawn

ps...this was written to let off some steam, and get you all to chuckle along with me at the irony of life.  

 thanks. ;-D

 

Weekend Assignment #67

Love a movie that you know is really really really bad? Then have I got a Weekend Assignment for you:

Weekend Assignment #67: Bad Movie Marathon! Share your favorite bad film of all time. Tell us why you love it so.

Extra Credit: Your favorite quote from the aforementioned film.

Oh Scalzi, you had to do it.  I love movies.  I am almost as nuts about movies as I am about books and that is pretty nuts!

This is so hard to just pick one movie.  And what equates "bad"?  Not a box office hit?  Hmmmm...

Okay, mine is actually a series of what may qualify as bad movies, but I love them.

Let me preface this that I love movies based on comic book heroes.  I am a huge Batman fan, and as a family we Tivo Justice League and Teen Titans and watch them all together!

 I have always loved comic book heroes, since I was a little girl.   It was an extension of fairy tales for me, the super hero is the knight in shining armour and all that.  Okay, I know, I probably need some serious therapy.

My movie choices are Blade, Blade II and Blade Trinity. 

I love them.  Love Wesley Snipes, love Kris Kristofferson.  Blade was a spin-off from Spiderman, for those who don't know his comic book history.  He is sexy, ultra-cool and half-vampire and half-human!!  He considers ridding the world  of vampires his lifes mission, since he is the only half-breed that exists.  He is feared by all vampires and called "Daywalker", because his human half allows him to be in the world of sunlight, unlike them. 

Kris is his gadget guy named Whistler.  He makes all these really super cool weapons that shoot, daylight and garlic.  Think Q for James Bond.  (I love those, too.)

My favorite quote from Blade the original is this:

Blade: There are worse things out there than vampires.

Dr. Karen Jenson: Like what?

Blade: Like me.

So smooth.

I could go on to quote the sequels too, but I will spare you all. 

I just love these movies!

Definitely a guilty pleasure!  And probably shocking from a middle aged mom of three!  LOL

(My kids have never seen them and will probably have to see them in college sometime, as they are very bloody and kind of scary!)

Be well,

Dawn