So You CAN Teach An Old Bitch New Tricks!!

 After a night of major drama (which resulted in no sleep for me last night) that I'm not even going to bother to mention because it's so damn redonkulous I spent a lot of time (since I couldn't sleep) reflecting on the last year and what I've discovered about myself and about life in general.

I've realized that even though hubby and I didn't have the best year possible, it could have been much worse. We've weathered the storms and we're stronger for it. We're so blessed to have the life that we do.

I've realized that I'm much stronger than I ever thought I was. And I love it.  

{my big sister's bf and I} 

I've  realized that no matter how close you think you are to someone, or how long you've been friends with them...they'll still turn on you and let you down. I guess I knew this already but it still sucks. 

I've realized that people who say you shouldn't judge people are the very first ones to judge you. Usually without looking at the whole picture. They take what little information they THINK they know and run with it. And that no matter how much you try to "prove" to them that their opinion of you is wrong, they're going to believe what they want to about you no matter what you say. I'm done trying to prove myself to narrow minded people.

{beauty fades...dumb is forever ~ Judge Judy} 

I've realized that I'm much better off without people like the above in my life. 

{fa true!}

I've realized that I have a stubborn streak and when I know I'm right I wont back down. I love that too.

{shady's right back on your bitch ass} 

I've realized that what other people think about me doesn't mean shit to me. The people who love me know the REAL me. And the ones who don't...

{baby bye, bye, bye}

I've realized that Mr Hubby and I are both so sick of watching Soap Operas that we could scream. I feel dumber after each time I watch it.

{for realz yo} 

I've realized that snow is still gorgeous to me...until it starts to melt. Then it's just an ugly, nasty mess.

{yuck} 

I've come to realize that if our neighbors dogs don't stop barking all damn DAY AND NIGHT that I think I'll choke her...not her dogs.

{bite your owner already}

I've realized that reading in bed is a much better "sleeping pill" that all that Ambien I was taking.

I've realized how damn crafty I really am!

Clockwise from left to right, top to bottom:
Washer necklaces
Photo Ceramic Tile Coasters
T shirt Scarf
Deco scissors
Rice Hot/Cold pack
"Name" Frame

I've also realized that I make "OMG that's good" Brittle!

I've realized that I have the most amazing big sister ever!


Her love, support and guidance has been what's gotten me through more "rough" spots than I could tell you. Her strength and determination amaze me. I'll never be half the woman that she is, but when I grow up...I want to be just like her.

I've come to realize that the seat warmer in my new car are pretty damn cool.

 

{warm my bootay}
I've realized that knitting is relaxing, and not just for "old ladies" anymore.

I've realized that without my family, I'm nothing. They define me as a person.

As much as I like to joke that we put the "funk" in dysfunction...I wouldn't trade any one of them for anything in the world.

I've come to realize that my computer is a sick, sick girl.

{poor baby}
It's only taken me a week to actually put this post together. That's in between defrag'ing, analyzing, scanning and everything else I can think of (and still can't figure out what in the hell is going on). Natalie...thank you for being so patient with me about your blog design! I really appreciate it!

In closing, I've come to realize that I'm one lucky girl!

{I wouldn't have it any other way}

Oh the Trouble...and an Award!

First the award...Marguerite from Cajun Delights gave me this great award! Who doesn't love to hear that they make people smile??

I was so happy when I found her blog, she's a fellow Cajun and she only lives about 30 minutes from my hometown in Louisiana. If you like Cajun food you MUST check out her blog. She shares some of the yummiest recipes there. Thanks Marguerite, how sweet of you!

I'm gonna share this one with Mimi  and Daffy, they both make me laugh almost every day! ♥ you girls! Y'all go check out their blogs if you haven't already!

Now for the trouble. OMG y'all...my laptop is being a bitch right now! First my PS was moving slower than a snail for the last few days. I couldn't get shit done on it. So I did a disk clean up on the laptop and then decided to defrag it. It was defrag'ing for three days and still wasn't even half way done! I got frustrated and stopped it. Right now I'm uninstalling PS and I'm gonna reinstall it to see if that will help. I did find that PS had "stored" 150, 000 thumbnails on my computer. It took over an hour just to delete those damn things!

Well, just wanted to let y'all know that I'm still alive, just trying to get my laptop back in working order! Trust me...I'm so ready to get rid of this Christmas layout. Be on the lookout for a new look lol.

Snow Pics and Meet Me on Monday

I didn't sleep at all last night (Saturday night), a little after 4 am I looked out the window and it was SNOWING! Y'all...I'm a lil' ole Cajun gal, I'm not used to seeing a lot of snow. And it still mesmerizes me every time I see it! I love it, I could sit and watch it for hours. It's 12:30 Monday morning and it's still snowing. Love it! Here's some pics that Mr Hubby took over the last couple of days...

{the biggest wood pecker I've ever seen}

{it was huge}

{freak of nature I'm telling you!}

 {Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie}

{how gorgeous is this pic?}

{I bet he's wondering where his legs went}

{big ol' snowflakes}

Ok...I'll get to the MEOM now! Here's this weeks questions. If you'd like to play along you can go here.

1. What are your New Year's Eve plans?

{Staying home. Hubby and I call it "amateur hour!" Too many drunks on the road!}

2. How tall are you?

{not me. probably one of those amateurs!}

3. What is your favorite pudding flavor? 

{dark chocolate. anything dark chocolate lol}

4. What room of the house do you blog the most in? 

{the living room...no this isn't my living room}

5. What is your best physical feature?

{my hazel eyes I guess}  

{all images courtesy of Google images} 

Ok, I'm taking my behind to bed. I've got that feeling. You know the one. The itchy throat, the stuffy nose and the all over feeling of blahhness. Damn it...who gave me the flu?

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

So I totally spaced on posting the winners of my giveaways yesterday, sorry y'all. I know that all NINE (seriously?? lol) of you who entered the contest were dying to know if you'd won or not! Haha!

The winner of the $35 CSN gift certificate is {drum roll please}....

Mimi from Living in France. As soon as I finish typing up this post I'll send you an email with the info. Congrat's girl! Thanks for being such a loyal reader (you always leave a comment!) to my blog!

The winner of my ever so fabulous blog design of your choosing is {drum roll please}....

Natalie at My Crazy Busy Life. I've sent you an email. I can't wait to get started on your design! Congrat's to you!

Sooo...I woke up this morning, jumped out of bed {late as usual}, got dressed and rushed to my dr's appointment, only to find out that my appointment is tomorrow! Great. Not such a good way to start my morning lol.  I was actually looking forward to this appointment. I'm probably going to get another round of injections in my shoulders. Though I'm not looking forward to the pain {the injections don't hurt but my shoulders do afterwards for a day or so} but I am looking forward to the relief they bring!

You guys may have seen several post about this auction in the last few days.

I've donated a blog design to them for the auction. It's not much, but I'm glad I can do something to help!

Have a great day y'all! Again...congrat's to the winners!

Gossip Folks....

We all do it. We're all guilty of it. Who doesn't love a good story? But most of the time it's just "innocent" talk. But my question is....do people ever stop to think about how gossip can hurt people?

The kind of gossip I'm referring to isn't about who's sleeping around, or who's doing what. The kind of gossip/rumors that I'm talking about and when someone passes away. Y'all {probably} know exactly what I'm talking about.

Someone you know passes away and everyone starts talking. By the time the story gets around it's blown up 10x's what it really was. The first time I experienced this was when my son's best friend lost his brother. Rusty and Chief were in the 8th {or 9th} grade. Chiefs brother was on a hayride during the Sugarcane Festival {a festival in my home town}, he fell off of the hayride and was run over by the trailer that he'd fallen from. It was sad, and tragic. Chief and Rusty both took it really hard. Brad was a wonderful brother and a great friend to my son.

Rusty and Chief both decided to go to school the Monday after it happened {two days after the accident}. I had to go check Rusty out 45 minutes after he got there. The rumors were everywhere. He was drunk and fell off the hayride {not true}, he was pushed off the hayride {not true}, he fell "on purpose" {not true...wth?}.

How could all of those kids not realize how those rumors would hurt Chief? Wasn't it bad enough that he was dealing with his brother's death? Even worse? The police department in my hometown was later sued by Chiefs parents when the Mayor called them to tell them that she'd found out that 4 of her police officers were suspended that morning for passing around pictures of their sons body.

When Rusty's Dad committed suicide...the same thing. I couldn't begin to tell you how many rumors I've heard. For as long as I'd known him he'd had problems {off and on} with cocaine and meth. I'd never known him to smoke crack. But the night before his funeral one of his good friends and his neighbor came up to me in a restaurant to tell me "You know why he did it huh? CRACK!" I just looked at my sister and told her to get this mofo away from me before I punched him.

I mean...maybe it was true. But did he really think it was appropriate to come to his ex wife and good friend the night before his funeral to inform me of the rumor that he was spreading about him? Effin' idiot!

My last trip home I was informed that his own brother {my ex bro in law} was telling everyone that Brent {my ex, Rusty's Dad} had found out that the girl he was seeing had Aids and that's why he did it. I was boiling. And I swear...my ex bro in law better hope I don't see him anytime soon. I mean...even if that was true, why would you...HIS BROTHER...go around telling everyone that?

Does it really matter why he decided to stick a rifle in his mouth and kill himself? He's dead. He killed himself. There's no reason in the world that's a good enough reason for what he did. But the man has kids, parents, and people who loved him. And those rumors HURT. It hurt me for my son, it hurt me for me and it hurt me for Brent. Just let him rest in peace damn it.

The reason I'm on my "soapbox" about this? There was a prominent orthodontist killed {murdered} in my home town Monday morning. I'd had the pleasure of spending some time with him socially, he was a wonderful, thoughtful man. He started the Kid ID program in our town {where they go to the schools and fingerprint the kids and then put the fingerprints into a database for law enforcement}, he donated bikes to low income kids in the community, and he sponsored brown bag concerts on Main street.

Imagine my surprise when I logged onto FB yesterday and read some of the rumors going around on there. I read the newspaper at home online everyday so I already knew that reports were saying that he wasn't shot or stabbed, but they weren't releasing his exact cause of death at the time.

There's a guy who WAS on my friends list who kept posting stuff about Doc's {don't want to put his name in here} death...every two frickin' minutes. About  how he was shot in the head, then about how he was stabbed five times. None of it was true. He was also posting crap because the man who was arrested for the murder appears to be Mexican. So naturally he assumed that he was illegal...and that we need to get all illegals out of our country. Yeah...that's going to comfort his family!

All I could think was...OMG his poor son. His son is a Marine who is fighting for our country. And he's also on this idiots friends list. So if he happened to sign into FB...he could have seen all of this shit that this idiot town cryer was spewing all over FB about how his father was murdered.

Don't people think anymore? Don't people consider other peoples feelings before they speak? Uugh! It kills me. Needless to say this douche canoe isn't on my friends list anymore. And they say women like to gossip? I couldn't tell you how many times this guy has done the same thing before. When someone in my hometown passes away I usually found out from his FB postings before I could even read the damn newspaper.

Whew...sorry y'all. It's just something that's close to my heart, I guess because of my ex's suicide and the rumors that are still going around. Think before you speak, especially about such a sensitive subject!

Click below to pour your heart out too!




Did y'all see on the news this morning about the woman in Ohio who helped a police office who was being attacked by a man he'd pulled over? Lol... have you seen the video? She helped that cop whip that guys ass! Hilarious! You can see the video here.

I just finished reading the 3rd {and last} book in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series last night. Dayum... I love the way it ended. The first book was really hard for me to get into, but once I did I couldn't put it down. The last two books were much better! I'm sad that there aren't going to be anymore books in the series. Can't wait for the movies though. They should be good.

Since I've been up all damn night I started reading another book. Play Dead by Harlan Coben. ♥ his books! I've read every one of them so far!

Anybookworm...I started reading it last night and I'm already on page 241. Yeah...it's that good!

Well that's my thoughts for the day! Don't forget to enter my giveaway, it's ending next week! Have a great {gossip free} day y'all!

It's a sticky situation!

{giveaway here}

Now, go check out the hotness that is K and play along with the stickiness!