Times have truly changed

This has been a crazy week.

At the beginning of the week we got the news that American celebrity Ed McMahon had passed away. It wasn't a big shock, as much as it was just sad to know that someone I've watched on television since childhood was now gone. I didn't really linger on it, but I definitely felt very sad when I read the headline and also feel for his family.

Then on Thursday morning while watching "The View", Barbara Walters passed along the information that Farrah Fawcett was in her final hours of life. She was at the end of her long battle with cancer and had only hours of life left. By the time I made it to the hair salon around 1pm, I was told that she had passed on. Even though we all had months to prepare for this, it was still hard to hear that she was gone. She wasn't a favorite celebrity of mine or anything, but again, she was someone I had seen on television a lot growing up, and her name was synonymous with beauty in most circles.

Then hours later, the shocker of them all. The news that NO ONE was ready to hear or accept. You know how there are events we've all lived through as a nation or world in which we will always remember where we were, what we were doing, and how we got the news about it? Well when CNN started posting news coverage that King of Pop Michael Jackson had passed away, I was too outdone for words. Nothing about it makes sense. He was only 50 years old! He's been rehearsing for a summer tour in the UK due to begin a month from now! We've just had two other beloved US celebrities pass away that many were in the middle of mourning...the greatest international celebrity of our generation couldn't possibly be gone mere hours later!!

I immediately called my sister. CNN was still not actually confirming the story at the time, and Chris was in the shower. I needed to talk with someone about this!! My sister told me that she had been watching the news for over an hour, and NO, it was not a joke. I immediately felt the tears in my eyes. I wasn't able to talk for a few seconds, and my sister knowingly said "I know, I've been crying too".

You see, my sister and I LOVED Michael Jackson as kids. She was 5 and I was 8 when Jackson's "Billie Jean" begin heavy on-air rotation. It was the first video I had seen on television with a black music artist, as far as I can remember. The only music video television available at the time was MTV, and they only played "Rock" music, which basically meant only white music. Most of the videos they played were actually pop songs by white artists. Their arms were twisted, threats were made by record companies to pull their videos if MTV didn't play Michael Jackson's video being played on their network, and MTV finally relented. The result was a hunger for more Michael Jackson!!

We all know that "Beat It" was next, only to be followed by the highest grossing song of ALL time..."Thriller". To this day it is the most played video ever on any music video network. It spent a whopping 37 weeks at #1 on the charts! Lots of irony there, considering MTV didn't even want to air any of MJ's music at all. Ha!

I should also mention that my mother, who is rarely touched by ANYTHING at all, actually shed tears as well. For her it was two-fold. As a teenager, she used to watch The Jackson 5 on American Bandstand with Dick Clark and had all of their albums. She was about as obsessed with Jackson 5 as my sister and I were with MJ himself a decade later. She also remembers how mine and my sisters eyes would light up whenever we'd hear the intro to "Billie Jean" coming on. We'd tear down the stairs to the family room where the big tv was and start screaming and dancing. My mom didn't believe in posters on the walls, but she made an exception for Michael Jackson. His "Thriller" album was the first album we ever had. Actually, it was only album we had for many years to come...until he released "Bad" a year or two later. We had the MJ pins and other such paraphernalia that represented our mini obsession with the pop star. She was saddened to see that a big mark of the era of our childhood was now gone.

Well, I think 3 - 4 days is enough time for me to mourn MJ. I spent between 48 and 72 hours watching all of his videos, listening to all of his songs, and my brain is darn near numb now. Time to move on.

Simon Baker and Lawrence Fishburne screen caps

NOTE: Edited to add the following link to the actual video these screen caps are from. Simon Baker's accent makes me want to become an Australian citizen.

Emmy Roundtable with Lawrence Fishburne and Simon Baker

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Simon Baker and Lawrence Fishburne. Wonderful. Lawrence Fishburne is truly the best actor of our time, next to Hugh Jackman in my opinion. And Simon Baker is just delicious to look at. :Sigh:

































































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Babies, Books, Bible Studies and Boredom

Today makes officially 5 weeks since I was laid-off from CNN. I have dealt with it, and I feel a sense of closure. I've been able to stay in touch with the people that I care to continue communicating with. Had a few cool lunch dates, and even went out to dinner a few days ago with my former manager. Mmmmm...Thai!

I was extremely sensitive (hormonal) for a while there, and ended up cutting off a lot of people that I felt betrayed by. I now realize that it wasn't about me at all. I reacted hastily which I regret, but I simply don't apologize for it. I'm almost 8 months pregnant with my 3rd child, and no one in my house has a job right now. Sue me.

The good news is that I am certain that everything will be okay now. You can't deny God's existence if you just look at the timing of all of this. I'm basically sitting around resting while the company is still paying me. Once everything runs out salary and insurance-wise, my hubby will be working by then and we will all be covered with his insurance. The only concern, if there was one, would be getting back in the job market after the baby is born without feeling too rusty. But things ALWAYS have a way of working according to God's purpose for us!

I read a new book recently called "The Killer Inside Me" by Jim Thompson. It's classified as American noir...kind of like "No Country For Old Men" is Western noir. I really enjoyed the 1st person perspective we were offered from the actual killer. It gets pretty creepy the further into the book you go. Truth be told, the only reason I bought the book was because the movie is currently being produced. One of the central characters is a district attorney who is portrayed by...wait for it....Simon Baker! :-) Let's just be honest, that's the only reason for this recent interest. But I'm going to check out two of Jim Thompson's other noir novels over the summer after I finish the Harry Potter series. Still have HP Book 6 and 7 to finish.

I joined an AMAZING women's bible study recently!! It's a Beth Moore series, and those of you who are familiar with Beth Moore can understand why I'm so excited!! She is simply anointed by God to teach His word to women and men alike. Last night was our first meeting. I'm looking forward to reconnecting and having fellowship with other women my age and older. Mostly, I'm excited about reconnecting with God through the hearing of His word. Our facilitator is one of my favorite people in the world so it's going to be a wonderful time all around!

Finally, when I'm not with the kids or studying the Bible, I'm just bored. Okay, to be honest, I haven't really gotten into studying the Bible much yet. I've just been lying around like a friggin' rug. So tired all of the time. Again, this baby is obviously HUGE and my body is still kind of on the small size! Yikes. Speaking of boredom I'm going to go lie down on the recliner. I can't get comfortable in my bed AT ALL anymore so I sleep on my hubby's recliner now. Nothing is comfortable for me, but it's the best option I have in the house.

Until next time!

Disney Tips for Parents: Where to Visit

I've been going to Orlando, FL every few years since I was 9 years old. We've seen a lot in Orlando over the past 25 years and I feel that I have enough well-rounded insight to aid someone who's never been to Disney World on how to get the most out of their trip to the happiest place on earth!



Speaking of being 9 years old, that is really a great age for most children to really enjoy all that Orlando, FL has to offer. You're old enough to appreciate good food and good entertainment, but still young enough to squeal in genuine delight when spotting characters in the various theme parks. My sister was 6 years old, and that my friends is the PERFECT age. Too old for midday naps, but still a child in every way. So, my sister and I were 6 and 9, respectively, when we took our first jaunt to Orlando. Over the years I've made mental notes about things I would do differently with each trip, and as an adult, I feel like I've got hands-on experience on how to keep the family happy on a trip to Orlando; especially a family with at least one toddler on the trip; So let's get started!

Tip 1: Take the time of year into consideration Disney World is a truly magical place. But even Disney World gets OLD in 90 degree weather. Especially with the park completely filled to capacity and hour-long minimum wait times for each attraction.

Suggestion #1: If at all possible, avoid Disney World after Memorial Day and before Labor Day if you have children younger than 5 years old. Visit Universal Orlando or Sea World which are never as ridiculously crowded as Disney World on a summer day. If not possible (as is the case for most people, obviously) here are a few more suggestions.



Suggestion #2: Be at the Disney Main Gate 30 minutes before it opens. Try to be within the first couple hundred people to enter the park, if possible. This is very possible if you have small toddlers who wake up at 7am anyway! NOTE: Once you have entered the park, go all the way to the back of the park as far as you can get. Human studies show that most people do one of two things: they either stop at the first thing they see once they enter the gate, or they immediately run to their favorite attractions and jump on those. If you can get further into the park and work your way forward, believe it or not, you'll actually be better off than if you follow the crowd.

Suggestion #3: Go the Disney "Fast Pass" route. Disney offers what are called Fast Passes at all of their most popular attractions. And trust me, if your child is older than 3, they will be ALL about these particular rides/shows. So after heeding Suggestion #2, go ahead and get your Fast Pass for the ride your toddler seems the most excited about. The pass should display a time to come back that is one to two hours later than the current time. Spend that 45 min searching for characters in the park, grabbing a snack, or visiting a much less popular attraction to kill the time. If the kids are younger than 5, I promise they should be okay with this. Be sure to keep track of the time, so that you don't venture off too far from the area of your Fast Pass attraction. Also, be sure to confirm that the attraction you're visiting to kill the time won't spill over into your time to visit the Fast Pass attraction. Once your time listed on your Fast Pass arrives, keep in mind that you may still have a 30 min wait if it's noon or afterward. Once you leave the Fast Pass attraction, repeat this whole process for the rest of the day. (i.e. find another Fast Pass ride that the kids will love, get your passes, and do something else in the meantime) Suggestion #4 is pretty important so I will list it as another Tip.



Tip 2: Use one of Tami's Disney World calendar methods As you may know, Disney World Orlando has 4 theme parks. Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Disney Studios (formerly known as MGM Studios), and Animal Kingdom. There are two tricks of the trade frequent Disney travelers like myself use when determining which park to visit on which day.

Method 1: The FBT (Florida Bureau of Travel) method Most people in the US work Mon - Fri, and don't take vacations in the middle of the week. So Saturday is the incoming TRAVEL DAY for the bulk of people visiting Orlando. Trust me, there are still a TON of people already in FL visiting the parks on Saturday, but it doesn't come close to the sheer number that will be ready to visit the parks by Sunday! Also take into consideration the fact that most people visit the Disney parks each day in this order: 1)Magic Kingdom 2)Epcot 3)Disney Studios 4)Animal Kingdom.

So with this knowledge, if you are arriving to Orlando sometime Saturday late afternoon, early evening like most people, you don't want to waste money on visiting a park with only a few hours to play. Once you wake up bright and early Sunday morning, eat a very light breakfast (you don't want to set yourself up for feeling extremely tired before noon even hits, so I suggest sticking with continental breakfast), and get to that Main Gate. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT visit Magic Kingdom on Sunday. EVERYONE does this, so dare to be different. Epcot is a great park to visit, in my opinion. Lots of cool rides that the little ones can ride. Most popular is Spaceship Earth. It's the landmark of Epcot, and the kiddies will most likely want to ride it, just because it looks so cool from the outside! But again, it's the first ride you hit, so you may consider implementing my previous suggestion from Tip 1 which involves making your way deep into the park and working your way back to the front. This may work differently at Epcot, however, because it's twice the size of Magic Kingdom, not to mention that Epcot is made up of two distinct parks in itself so the "go further into the park" rule can be implemented separately in either one of them. On Monday, visit Disney Studios. Tuesday, Animal Kingdom. This would put you back at Magic Kingdom by Wednesday.

Method 2: The Extra Magic Hour method When you choose to stay at a Disney resort, you receive an EMH (extra magic hour) before the Theme Park opens and after it closes to the general public. Only one of the 4 parks has an EMH each day. So if
Monday happens to be Magic Kingdom's day to have EMH, none of the other parks will have it on that same day. Here's the trick: avoid the park that has the EMH on that day, because it will be extremely crowded due to being visited by almost all of the guests staying on the Disney resort. So if Magic Kingdom has the EMH, skip Magic Kingdom that day. Any of the others will be less crowded. Here's some more information about the EMH.



Method 3: Pad your trip to Disney with other fun things Traveling with toddlers to Disney World for the first time is going to wear you out. Especially if you have a small toddler. The frequent trips to the potty, the need for a nap (lest they become a public embarrassment to you), the heat, etc..., all of these things make for very grumpy parents during the summer at Disney World. My suggestion to you is to leave at least 1 day between each visit to the Disney parks to do something other than Disney. Please trust me, you will love me forever if you try this! Every other day, my family takes a "rest day". This involves either laying around the suite watching tv, hitting the pool, staying in the area doing some shopping at the Mall at Millenia, or just visiting another theme park all together. You could even drive 45 - 50 minutes south east and hit Cocoa Beach for a relaxing time there! Even those with the patience of Job will need a break from the over stimulation and excitement of Disney. Also, don't even think about utilizing the Disney Park Hopper if you've got toddlers. Total waste, because you'll most likely never get around to more than one park in one day; the kids (and you) will be restless by mid afternoon and need a nap so that just won't leave enough time to get your money's worth unless you plan on keeping them out really late.

I really hope that the tips come in handy. Please email me or leave comments with any feedback!

Disney Tips for Parents: The Drive Down

I've got several previous posts from over the past few years about the trips I've taken to Orlando, FL. They are labeled "Orlando" or "Disney" if you want to back search for them. I've been itching to write a post specifically for parents taking toddlers to Orlando. A friend of mine will be traveling to Orlando soon with her family, and it reminded me that I never posted my tips here in this blog! Without the proper planning, insight, advice, etc..., this type of trip can sometimes vary from extremely frustrating to an all out nightmare. I've broken these tips into 3 parts, with one to be published each day over the next 3 days: Travel (the drive down), where to stay: the pros and cons to prepare for, and where to visit: which places are more family friendly. This post, as the title suggests, is on the subject of "the drive down". If you're driving to Orlando from metro-Atlanta, the total time on the road is approx. 6 hours, not counting lunch or other rest breaks, of course. My family of 4 has done this trip 3 times since the kids were 3 and 2 years old, and by now we have it down to a science.

Tip 1: Have a portable DVD player in the vehicle

If you haven't invested in one already, be sure to borrow one from someone if at all possible. Be sure to toss 3 - 5 of the kid(s) favorite movies somewhere in the vehicle. Suggestion: Don't fire up the first movie until you've been on the road for about 30 - 45 minutes or so; this may help stretch out the amount of time you get before you have to make your first stop. As an example, this is how my kids operate: by the time they appear restless (around 45 minutes) BAM! We just pop in their favorite movie, pass the popcorn and drinks back to them, and they are set for the next 90 minutes! By the time the movie ends, you will already have driven for more than 2 hours (over a third of the entire drive) with only one movie down! After the movie goes off, go ahead and stop for a potty/snack/stretch their legs break. By the time you get back in the vehicle and pop in the second movie, they will probably be asleep within 20 minutes, and sleep for about 1 1/2 hours at the very least. When they wake up it will probably be time for a lunch break anyway, and you will already be over 4 hours (2/3 of the total way) into your drive! Suggestion: have headphones to use with the DVD player; otherwise, your FM signal will most likely be compromised by kids movies the whole way down.



Tip 2: Be sure to load up the mp3 player with all of your favorites My hubby and I have done so many road trips over the 14 years we've been together (dating and marriage) that we've also got this down to a science as well. 6 hours is a very short trip to us, and unless my hubby is extremely exhausted, he does all of the driving. We usually spend the first 30 - 40 minutes talking and getting caught up with everything we haven't had a chance to talk about. After we're done with that, the hubby always turns the volume up on the iPod. This really helps the time go by SO fast. I always have my own iPod with all of my road-trip favorites as well...I actually have a "Road Trip" play list on my iPod at this point! I also rip my favorite DVD's onto my computer and upload them to my iPod ahead of time as well. That REALLY helps the time go by fast for the passenger! Suggestion: Also, don't forget your Sudoku/Crossword books, novels, magazines, whatever you love reading to pass the time, if that doesn't make you car sick.

Tip 3: Chart out where you plan to stop beforehand, if at all possible
You will probably only need to stop a maximum of 3 times during the entire trip, hopefully. And there's nothing worse to me than ending up waiting too long for a potty/food break and having no choice but to stop in Bohunk, South Georgia. (especially if you're black, you might want to be planning ahead to avoid this) Here are some suggestions: the cities of Tifton and Moultrie are within 2 to 2 1/2 hours away from Atlanta. Lots of fast food options here: the Moultrie exit even has a nice CiCi's Pizza that we always try to stop at. Valdosta is 3 hours away and is the halfway mark. And Lake City, FL is 4 hours away from metro Atlanta. We love the Steak and Shake in Lake City and there is a mall there also where I usually stop and get my mani/pedi (if I can't make time before leaving metro Atlanta) while Chris walks around with the kids for about 30 - 45 minutes or so. The mall is kind of ghetto in my opinion, but what started out as an accident 5 years ago has turned into a tradition. :-D



Tip 4: Take lots of $1 bills and quarters Once you leave Lake City, FL, you will only have about another hour and 15 minutes or so before you start hitting the infamous Florida Turnpike tollbooths. And depending on what part of Orlando you're staying in, you can hit up to as many as 6 of those things! I would suggest having about $15 in singles on hand just for the 2.5 billion tolls you will have to pass through.

Please come by tomorrow for the post on "Where to Visit" which will probably be my favorite to blog about!!! :-)

Reaching out and grabbing life

In addition to this wonderful blog, I also have a private one. I opened it about 8 months ago because I started feeling that I no longer had any place to share my most personal, intimate thoughts anymore. Everyone in every aspect of my life pretty much has access to this current blog, so if I needed to get something off of my chest about a co-worker, or a member of my church, I needed a place to go where I could share with the 10 or 11 people that I trust most on this earth, and have zero worries.



I posted about this last week on my private blog. I was laid-off on Tuesday, April 28, 2009. I've just now arrived at the point where I'm comfortable talking about it in a public forum. There are family members that I've talked to several times since the layoff that I still haven't told yet. I'm not hiding it, there's just a bunch of emotions, and possibly stages, that one goes through when something like this happens. I believe that the order of the stages mostly depends on our individual personalities. Here are the ones I encountered, in their respective order:

1) Shock I was like a zombie that Tuesday. Once I got home with my hubby, I knew that everything was going to be okay, but I just didn't know what to do or think. I wasn't hungry (which is a CLEAR sign that I was going through something abnormal) and I didn't want to talk to anyone. My phone began ringing off of the hook by 2:30pm that day. Apparently that's when the meetings ended where the news was broken. People that I didn't really talk to that much were calling my house; I just asked my hubby to take messages. One of my best friends who was also a co-worker came and picked me up that evening and took me to a meeting at Turner. I was a part of the Turner Women Today circle mentoring group, and our mentor had already paid for us to attend a big event being held there. So I went, and acted as if nothing had happened. There were people around me crying for me, and I was comforting them!! Yep, definitely shock.

2) Bitterness Over the next few days, Twitter and Facebook were abuzz with the news of the layoff. I started making the connection that the people who were talking about it still had jobs. (And probably weren't pregnant and the only source of income for their households). I still didn't want to talk about it in a public forum, so I refrained from responding or commenting about the matter at all. I was angry with Suchita Vladlamani on Good Day Atlanta because she has a job and I don't. I went back up to CNN a few times to get some things and felt betrayed by the people that still had jobs. From the SVP's to the crew at Chick Fil A, I was just bitter toward them. I even felt slight envy toward my husband who now has 3 friggin' degrees and has the people from his new job that he starts in August already calling him and talking about how excited they are for him to start later this summer. Woop De Doo for everyone else except for Tami...that's how I was feeling later that week.



3) Embarrassment By that weekend, I started feeling as though it was my fault I was laid-off. If the whole group had been let go, that would be one thing, but we were cherry picked. I felt expendable. My GREATEST fear in life is rejection, and here it was staring me in the face. So cold and uncaring. Goodbye, Tami, we just don't need you. I have a lot of self confidence, and there are people in my life who I feel look up to me for different reasons and who depend on me. I didn't even want to face them anymore. I just wanted to hide somewhere and pretend I never knew any of these people. After all, at least they still have jobs.

4) Reality By the following week, I was starting to get some of my swagger back. Some. I still felt pretty yucky about how things went down, and came to a lot of unfortunate realizations. The gravity of what happened really hit me, and I knew that it was time to take from this situation what I was supposed to:

I had spent the entire 3 weeks before my layoff complaining about how miserable and tired I was. I was SO exhausted and had been feeling so sore. I was only at weeks 22 - 25 of my pregnancy, and I was barely able to get around comfortably. It was taking me almost 15 minutes to get from my car to my desk...that normally only takes about 5 or 6 minutes. I was barely able to stay awake at my desk anymore. Mondays were the worst!!! I always woke up completely wiped out on Mondays as if I had been binge drinking and someone had been kicking me in the stomach the entire weekend. Miserable. I really loved working for the lady who was my direct manager (and who I have been staying in touch with very well) but that's about as far as it went. Everyone else around me was making me miserable, save for a few people around me that I am especially close to.

I was also spending a lot of time in other departments trying to get on with other groups. Amazingly, this is still in the works now, and is actually much easier now that I don't have to balance a current workload with the new stuff I was being trained on. If this pans out the way it appears to be, what an amazing story this will be to tell in the near future!



90% of my closest friends have told me that they feel that this was a MAJOR blessing in disguise. The people closest to me knew how much I was struggling and how I needed a break, even more so than I was willing to admit. Being able to sit on my screen-porch at 9am on a Monday morning and eat my breakfast is quite nice, I must admit. And then sit in my recliner and eat my lunch while watching my favorite soap opera. And then go take a nap before picking up the kids hours later. I'm REALLY loving this, to be honest. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, because I still miss work. I hope I have some good things to report over the next few months. I'm still very excited about what the future holds, and have been reminded to hold on tight to God's unchanging hand. Even though circumstances in the world change, He does not, and always has our best interest at the heart of who He is. I'm so honored to be His, and look forward to what's to come!!

BTW, one of the best parts about this is that I no longer have to pretend that I like/enjoy/tolerate CNN News anymore. Thank God!!! :-) :-)

At A Glance...

Last Week At A Glance:

Last week was eye-opening in a few ways. It definitely had more meetings than I'm used to. Two of them in particular I personally consider awe-inspiring.

During one of them I was, again, exposed to the positive repercussions of simply being nice to people and making myself an available source of information to them. I did some "schmoozing" after the meeting was over, and have some more follow-up meetings this week. It never ceases to amaze me how far natural charm combined with a decent amount of hard work will go. I emphasize "natural" charm, because that's quite a different animal from that "fake, smile in your face, then go talk about you to anyone who will listen" crap that many people seem to engage in. No, one of my few strengths includes an ability to look into people's souls when I'm with them and communicate to them that I actually care about what they're discussing with me at the time. But if you cross me, you are screwed. That's not tough talk at all, just a sad reality. The good news is that everyone gets two chances with me, though, so it's not as bad as it sounds. :-) But I SERIOUSLY digress....

During the other meeting I'm referring to, I was exposed to some SERIOUS irony, karma, whatever you want to call it. We see it everyday, but a colleague and I now use this situation as our inside joke. Life is really something. Now that I am approaching 35 years of age (considered by many to be the halfway point of average life-expectancy), I am really coming into my own. I'm done trying to figure out who I want to be. I simply am who I am, and I'm learning to be content with who I've become.

I am a working mother. Those of you moms who stay home all day, great. But why do so many stay-at-home moms judge working moms? If you're content in your personal situation, stop concerning yourself with what other people are doing.

I am a Christian. I am proud to be a Christian. I don't wear my Christianity like a fashionable piece of jewelry that I take on or off depending on the situation. It IS the biggest part of who I am and I'm proud to exalt my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! If you have a problem with who I am or any of the tenets of Christianity, I don't mind fielding/answering questions about why I believe in and trust God and His Word. But I will absolutely not engage in debates and arguments about who I am and why I believe what I believe. I don't go questioning people of other lifestyles who make certain decisions, and I expect the same respect in return. If I do not get it in return, I'm not shocked, but I will not be baited into heated discussions about something that is so precious and sweet to me.

I am a Conservative. This is something I've only come to realize about myself over the past 7 or 8 years. I'm what is commonly referred to as a "9/11 Conservative". This is not to be mistaken with a Republican, by the way. I don't align myself with any of the major political parties in this country. This choice to not politically align myself has much to do with the fact that my Christian walk is SO important to me and something I have to work at daily. I can't let an undying association with fallible humans and their political swayings mar my testimony of faith. And that's exactly what I believe happens to those Christians who do engage heavily in politics. Simply my opinion.

I'm very obsessive. This is either my greatest weakness or strength. It depends on the object of my obsession. When it's my relationship with God, hubby, kids, or something related to my career or personal growth/development, it's a major strength. When it's a hot actor or sports player, it's bad (I keep writing about this, but I really need to share my Tiger Woods story one day!!). We're not talking minor crushes, people. I always take stuff to the EXTREME on either side. I used to obsess over my husband while we were dating. It was borderline predatory; really surprised he didn't call the police at some point. Sadly, it changes with the wind, and you never know where I am at the moment, or where I'm headed with this. But this is who I am, and at this point in my life I finally understand that trying to be something else is so futile. All I can do is channel this obsessive nature into positive things that will leave a positive stamp on my family's livelihood and well-being.

In closing, I just want to say something to all of the 30+ year-olds who may be reading this. Most of you may have already figured this out, but for those that haven't, you ARE who you ARE now. Those of you actively trying to be someone else or change major characteristics you have, it just doesn't work. I promise I'm not being mean intentionally, but you really are not fooling anyone but yourselves. Not to mention that you really look silly to everyone who notices, if you care about stuff like that. It's impossible to truly like or truly know someone who tries to hard to go against the grain of who they are. If you're a total a$$hole who turns people off with your personality, I'm really sorry to hear that. But in my opinion the best thing you can do at this point is just own up to it, and try to choose a profession that gives you the most limited contact with people as possible. When you try to appear nice, you appear very strange. Especially because the real you is going to show up again at some point anyway, and will cause people to wonder who the heck "that other person" was. I'm speaking from personal experience. I have really enjoyed writing this post. It feels good to share things like this that have been on my mind for a really long time. :-)

Next Week At A Glance

I'm leaving work early on Tuesday to go to a doctor's visit.

I'll also have a MUCH needed visit to my hair stylist to get some cute layers cut and my hair pressed out. It's been way too long, and I'm just looking a hot mess right about now.

Let's see, what else...oh yeah, the hubby, kids and I are going on a trip to Alabama to visit the hubby's family. We haven't been down there in years, and it's really sad because we were so close to this part of the family before we had kids. At this point we have completely lost touch with everyone. Looking forward to reconnecting with as many people as possible. My hubby has 8 aunts and uncles on each side (yes, 16 total) and about a gazillion 1st cousins, so there are usually cookouts/fish-frys and the like to look forward to whenever we go down there. My hubby is the oldest granchild on his Dad's side so they always make an especially huge deal when we go down there. Something really special about the first Gran, I always hear. :-)

Ta Ta For Now, readers!!