What Kind of Blogger Am I?

Your Blogging Type is Unique and Avant-Garde

You're a bit ... unusual. And so is your blog. You're impulsive, and you'll often post the first thing that pops in your head. Completely uncensored, you blog tends to shock... even though that's not your intent. You tend to change your blog often, experimenting with new designs and content.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Money Making Monday...Avon Products

Everybody knows the name. Avon has been around forever and has a vast product line.

make up, body, mens, womens, jewelery, kids, gifts.

I've been an Avon lady a couple of times, so I can speak from experience. With a little bit of effort, this really can be a great business. If you are just in it to get the discount for yourself, that works too. The start up is only $10.

If you are interested, go check it out.

www.avon.com

2008 is a Trifecta!

First back in the Spring I won a contest from Barbara Delinksy . I actually recieved a signed copy of her newest book, a "life size" authographed poster and a phone call! I got to talk to her for about 15 minutes. I was super excited and thanked her for the call. You know what, she thanked me for reading and spreading the word about her book. Very nice lady.

Then in May, I went on my annual trek to Milwaukee. And I got to meet Rick Springfield . A lifelong dream come true. I got to share it with my two best friends, and that made it all that more fun.

Now, it is September and I got to meet Jason Thompson . FYI, I was going to sit on his lap, but Lynn told me not to. I'm just brazen and bold enough to tell him. I say "I was going to sit on your lap, but she told me not to." His response was "She should have told you to do it!" I totally called her out then. I said, "See, Lynn, he told me I should do it!" Sorry, Lynn. I hope I wasn't too bold for you. Thanks for suggesting we go. I'd definitely do it again.

I think it was finally my lucky year. I was due for some good karma and I recieved. Be sure that I will definitely do my best to pass along the goodness because I do believe in sharing, something, most of the time...LOL

Here's a couple of pictures of me with the guys.

And lets not forget, the most important guy. Here's a picture of me and Fisher taken last summer.

And the Winner is...

AMY at escape to thought. A few weeks ago, I threw out a contest/drawing to all who posted that week. Well, I finally looked through the posters and wrote down the names. Then did a blind drawing. Amy you are the winner. Email me your address and I'll get that copy of the Potawatomi Times to you ASAP!

Phriday Photo Phinish Phiesta...aka when sisters get along

These are a couple of my favorite photos of the girls. They are happy, smiling, and not yelling at each other (for a minute). I always wanted my girls to be strong willed, independant, self sufficient, but not at the cost of my sanity! I love them, but some days I would willingly trade them.


These were taken during our Southern Wisconsin Apple Orchard Tour last fall. I wish I could remember which orchard we were at because this tree house that they are in was AWESOME!

A Soft Impeachment

it all goes well in the cyber world, ASI is now available for purchase again. The cover is different than before, but the story is the same. I just did some grammar editing and put it back up. I was going to "publish by lulu" and then it would be available thru Amazon too, but in doing that it would also double the price. So I tweaked and tweaked and it is only available through LULU because I'm not that crazy.

Enjoying Grey's Anatomy anybody???

Name change

Since Amy seems to be one of the coolest and most popular names around blog land (and you know I totally made that up), I changed my display name to Aim, you know, like the toothpaste. But I guess if I was going there, I should have changed it to Colgate. Funny story from middle school.

It was the end of 7th grade. We were signing yearbooks. Most people addressed mine to Amy or Aim. One boy, I believe it was Jim Fox, said that Aim was a toothpaste not a name for a girl. he said if we were going to do that, my name should be Colgate. And so I was, for the next 6 months until I moved. How funny is that??

So anyway, Lynn, you will now be able to distinguish me from the other Amy's (I saw that there were 3 of us today that posted on your blog, all in a row). If need be, I can tweak it again later. But for now, Aim works.

On a semi related note, I have a funny story from Lyric's school. The teacher was asking her what she liked to be called. Her "real" name is not really shortenable, but she did it. Anyway, she told the teacher that she used either/both and it didn't matter. Right after that, a friend of hers piped in with- "My last name looks like Mitchell, but it's pronounced Jonas". Is that the funniest damn thing you ever heard? I told Lyric that I was going to tell people my last name looked like what it is but is pronounced "springfield", she was highly disgusted as only teenager could be.

Also, Lyric has decided that she is marrying Kevin Jonas. I said he's too old for her (7 year difference), and she says "you and daddy are 7 years apart"...which is totally true, but it's a little different when you are 20 and 27 instead of 13 and 20. I have a feeling she will date/marry an older man. She is my daughter by the way.

Found Siblings...AKA I'm Matt Hunter

Dr Noah Drake
Dr Patrick Drake
Dr Matt Hunter
(however he looks more like Shawn Douglas Brady in this photo than Matt Hunter. Matt has the scruffy thing that I love going on)

Sorry I haven't been around the past few days. I was busy and I was thinking and I was pondering. I've been a fan of General Hospital since the 80's. I didn't watch it then because of Rick Springfield/Noah Drake, but I do now. It was exciting when Noah came back a couple of years ago. We got to find out what he had been up to (married, had a child, alcoholic, etc) and where he was going. We got to meet his son (who I will REALLY be meeting this weekend!) and see some new stuff.

Last week, a new cat was let out of the bag. A new doctor in town, Matt Hunter, is Noah's son. Patrick has a brother. Patrick is pissed. Noah is...well, I don't really know what Noah is, and Matt is just hurt. I can relate.

A few posts back you may remember that I addressed the situation with my father. I would love to have a relationship with him, but I won't die without one. My mom is wonderful. I love her, I look up to her, and I'm so thankful to her that she did not give me up for adoption. (even though there was a time or two that I wished Rick was my father, but I digress).

A particularly painful scene on GH for me to watch went something like this:
PATRICK: what do you want?
MATT: nothing. I want nothing from you.

A few words, short, but it was like a sucker punch. I was asked that same question, several times. And really, all I wanted was to know the rest of my family. that's it. I didn't want money, or a place to live, or anything else. I just wanted to know. and if anything comes of it, that's okay. So, I've been thinking about writing a letter to the siblings I can and just let them know I'm here and I'm open to whatever they might be open to. And if that is nothing- it's okay. I'm good.

As far as Patrick's response, I can't imagine what I would do if somebody showed up claiming to be my sibling. I just don't know. I have thought about what would happen if say, Fisher had a child before we were together. I actually based one of my books on that situation. But while I was watching this scene, I had to think about the fact that I put somebody else in that position. It made me think about what I wanted to do from here. Hence the letter mentioned above.

Here's a link to a letter about a found sibling. dear margo It's true, there should be a book, a support group, a place to go for answers and a shoulder and an ear. Looks like I may have found a new coping mechanism. We'll see.

Phriday Photo Piesta...and more

Well, we made it to Friday (or Phriday). Lots going on, lots to talk about. First (or Phirst) here's my photo. I debated about this one, because it seems like the theme in my Friday's is Rick Springfield Concerts, and I really do have more than that going on in my life. Really. It just happens that at those concerts is where GREAT THINGS HAPPEN!

Left to right: C, K, Me, L, M, D. There were supposed to be two more of us, but they backed out at the last minute. We then had 2 unused tickets. Before the show started, we found two girls (possibly mom and daughter) who were wearing Rick shirts. We asked if they were going to the show (yes) and if they had front section seats (no). We gave them the tickets. They were hesitant at first, but finally took the tickets. We saw them later and they were really enjoying the show. I'd like to thank the nice Beloit Riverfest Staffer who took this photo for us. We all are smiling, looking at the camera, and looking good. It's hard to make that happen with six people involved. This was also my very favoritest concert/venue/concert experience.

The weather was great. We were outside. Rick rocked. And I was with friends. Nice.

On to the other things.

I have a bit of a complaint about General Hospital. Not the place, the show. A few months ago I watching and I heard in the background "Dr Noah Drake to the ER." it made me giggle like a school girl to hear his character's name. Then, when the infamous Dr Noah Drake is back on screen and has lines and stuff, they say that he was off doing Drs Without Borders?!? WTF? Did somebody forget to take him off the schedule? I hope that nobody died while they were waiting for him to show up in the ER.

Second complaint. A couple of days ago (maybe last week) Robin and Anna were sitting in the waiting area of whatever floor they are always on. In the background (yes I really do listen to this stuff) there was a "Code Pink NICU" paged and nobody that was on the set/in the scene even blinked an eye. Seriously?? I work in a hospital, 3 floors below the NICU and when we have a code pink everybody does something! You check stairwells, block entrances, watch for suspicious people. SOMETHING! There was another code pink called yesterday and again, nobody even really notices/cares. SERIOUSLY? At least look towards the door, or acknowledge that it was paged. Otherwise I say, DON'T PAGE! Come on. they could have any number of possible background thingys. We have a lullaby that plays everytime a baby is born. That would be okay to ignore. Or page ramdon doctor names that nobody would recognize. Then it would still seem hospitally (yes, I'm making up words), and continue the flow of whatever else is going on, without irritating me.

Special Blogger Note- If you have not seen GH this week, the below information could be construed as a spoiler.

Speaking of irritating- okay, not really, it just seemed like it was time to change the subject, or at least take a left turn. I loved most of the show yesterday. I love "Scruffy Noah", mostly because I love "scruffy Rick". I thought his reaction to Matt was good. i loved the recognition on hisface when Anna said Matt's full name. I loved Matt's line "It's a little late to act like you care, Dad." That was swesome! Also, Noah's "You can be as angry as you want, but I'm still your father!" was great! I loved it and have been repeating it all week (I actually saw it in a preview earlier in the week) What the preview did not show was that Patrick was in the hallway and overheard. Didn't see that coming, but I should have. It was AWESOME. I'm really tired of the Noah/Patrick hating each other thing, and it was nice to see them get along for once. This is going to tear them apart. But hopefully by the time Alyssa Rose Scorpio Drake is born, they will get their crap together and be a family.

Blogger note- not digging Alyssa Rose. it's a fine name, but doesn't really go with either of their last names, so I hope that they change it.

And a final note: Lyric got the part that she wanted in the play. She was so worried about it, she almost made herself sick. But the cast list was posted today, and she let me know right away that she got it. Hopefully she will start to feel better now. (i'm still not convinced that she doesn't have what Jazz had on Wednesday, but we'll see)

Quick side-ish note: for those not working in a medical facility/hospital- Code Pink is a child abduction. At our hospital it would be paged "Code Pink 2" if it was a two year old. It's for any missing child in the hospital under the age of 18. It is really the one code where everybody scrambles. Code Red (fire) and Code Blue (medication emergency) get people moving, but nobody wants a baby/child to disappear on their watch.

The play that Lyric is in is called "Ramona Quimby" and it's based on the book(s). She is going to be Ramona's mom.

It's Wonderful Wednesay...no wait, it's Thursday

Sorry, I missed Wednesday. I was at home with Jazz. She had the flu yesterday. Was up from 4am to 8am mostly in the bathroom or on the couch. She went back to bed at 9 and slept until 12:30. I cleaned, washed all the clothes that she had changed out of in the previously mentioned 4 hours, and did some home work. Right now I an currently 1 week ahead of schedule for the homework, yeah!

Jazz is back at school today, with an albeit tender tummy, but she took fruit, cracker and juice. She didn't want to miss the principal wearing a dress because they raise a bunch of money for PEACE. (Pennies for peace). Hopefully 1) she will make it all day at school and 2) nobody else will get sick at my house.

Lyric auditioned for the school play...you know, the fall play that might not happen until February because some other group thinks they need the gym that weekend. But she said it didn't go great. She had to audition with a partner, not of her choosing, and the other person was very nervous. The cast list goes up tomorrow.

Okay, back to business. See you for Friday Foto Finish Fiesta!

(somebody remind me I have a GH complaint. It's been swimming around in my head for a few days and of course I need to share my opinion with the world!)

Blog Awards

My friend Amy gave me an award. Is is weird that we are both named Amy?? No. I think there should be a webring just for bloggers named Amy because it is a cool name. And because there are like a million of us. I haven't always thought that it was a cool name, but I've come to terms with it as I have matured. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.



Anyway, here's the award.

Thank you so much, Amy! Now you know I have to pass it along. There are some rules and a meaning to this award.

To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means:"This blog invests and believes, the proximity"[meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]

I am now instructed to pass it along to a few blog buddies and they are:

Ally

Lynn

Sooz

Paula

These are the blogs I check the most. We all came to the blogosphere for different reasons at different times, but we are all here and connected, and I'm so glad for that!

Now they must all post the award and pass it on. I guess I better let them know they got the award first, huh??

Thanks, Sooz, for the heads up. Apparently I pasted when I should have cut or something and both Paula and Sooz were linked to Sooz's page. Should be all better now!

Money Making Monday- Signature Homestyles

The point of Money Making Monday is to spotlight a home based business. I've always seen myself as a home bases business person. I've done Mary Kay and Avon. I'm continually looking for THE right opportunity for me. So, as I do the research, I will post ideas here. If anybody is a consultant for any of these businesses and would like to give first hand info, please let me know. There is only a couple of requirements for MMM on my blog. 1) it must be a business that I would actually consider, and 2) it must be affordable (to me). I know I had a few on my other blog that were a bit steeper with the start up- you will not see them here. (Affordable to me usually means less than $100 start up, unless it is a product line I really love).

So, today's choice is Signature Homestyles.

$25 start up/deposit, and the rest of the $175 is taken from you commissions.
Included in your Show Case is:
(Over $500 Retail Value) :
Simply Seagrass Ladder Stand
Arched Tealight Holder, Cocoa
Down Home Plaid Runner, Small
Trailing Vines Runner
Rustico Berry Clips
Olive Chenille Trunner®
"Go to the Diner" Card Game
Passing Thyme Insert
Photo Frame Insert, Black
"Home" Photo Frame
Safe T Light Set
The Wall Wizard® Frame, Walnut
The Wall Wizard® Ultimate Frame, Black
Great Leaf Book Holder
Storage Basket Caramel
Small Rectangular Caddy, Chocolate
Rectangular Caddy, Chocolate Scroll
Divided Caddy, Caramel Scroll
Autumn Elegance Accent Plates: One Spice, Mustard Chocolate and Olive
Rustico Leaf Swag
Classic Collection Cube, Toffee; Large Rectangular Basket, Espresso & 2 Small Baskets, Toffee Classic Small Caddies (1) Toffee and (1) Espresso
Love Plaque

Product line is storage and decoration (which I am getting ready to do at my house)

website for more information:signature homestyles

Phriday Photo Phinish Phiesta

I can't believe it's 2pm and I'm just now getting in here. Where did the day go?? Anyway, here's the photo for today.

This photo rocks. I know I often have photos from Rick Springfield concerts and here is yet another one. I'm not naming names, to protect the innocent, but that's my on the left, rocking out with Rick dancing on our table. The other red shirt/pink sleeved girl is my evil twin. We are oh so similar is so many ways, yet sometimes night and day. But we both know how to ROCK OUT WITH RICK! Dude, he was dancing on our table. Did a little lap "stand" for K (you can just see her curly hair in the bottom of the photo) and hit her in the face with his guitar (it was totally an accident!) He spilled wine on my camera, and I'll admit it- we all took turns drinking out of the glass after he moved on. I know on some level that was gross, but on the bigger level- we touched something he touched! I don't remember who I got this photo from, but if you are reading this- THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and I owe you something! This is a memory that will not go away for a long, long time.

New Schedule

I believe in schedules. I'm a list maker. I believe that happiness lies in being organized. I like being able to cross things off. It shows accomplishment. It's shows that I can actually get a whole bunch of stuff done, well. I believe that everybody should have schedules and stick to them and cross things off as they are completed. Nobody else in my house feels this way. Fisher does makes lists but they are usually "don't forget" lists, not "these are all the things I want to get done today so that I can feel like I really did something" lists.

Anyway, that's not really what this post was supposed to be about, but I guess it all ties in. I'm going to try something for a month. Certain days of the week will correspond with a certain theme post. It really makes sense and helps me put on my creative hat a little bit.

So, here is the upcoming schedule (for the next month at least)

MONDAY- Money Making Money (remember that other blog I had for awhile? it's going to be like that)
TUESDAY- open discussion, whatever comes up
WEDNESDAY- Wonderful Wednesday (the good, the wonderful)
THURSDAY- another open day
FRIDAY- Phriday Photo Phinish Phiesta ( I found this by chance, started it for fun, will continue as long as I can find a good picture to show)
SATURDAY/SUNDAY- Super Days! I don't often blog both days so these will be saved for something super- coming up, recent past, past past, whatever)

Updates

Hey, all! Thanks for stopping by again. Today is very eventful/informative day, so I'm glad you came!

The link for A Soft Impeachment is probably not working. It's okay. I have temporarily made it private. I promise to let everybody know, via the blog, when it goes live again. I had to do this because I found a few typos and a couple of inconsistent facts that I needed to fix. It should be done this weekend, but again, I'll post here when you can get your copy, because I know that everybody is chomping at the bit to buy my book.

Jazz went back to school today. She was feeling pretty good yesterday afternoon and evening, and may have overdone it, but she got up and got going today. And I didn't get a call from the nurse, so we're good.

School bites. For me, not the girls. I have to take a test by midnight tomorrow over 3 chapters, but only two were assigned, until last night. Good thing I took the initiative to read the chapter anyway. 10 questions, 20 points, 3 chapters- you do the math.

Lyric is trying out for the fall play next week. She's super excited. I really hope that she gets a part but there are less than 20 parts for this particular play. So competition is going to be tough. At least her drama teacher likes her, and the choir teacher loves her voice (they are the ones that decided who gets in.

What else, what else? I thought there was something else I was going to say, but it isn't coming to me right now.

Have you ever...

thought that your child "just" had a cold and it turned out to be something else?? I have done it a bunch. The past couple of days, Jazz has had a stuff nose and a cough. Last night she said it hurt to swallow. At 5am, she was in our bed HOT AS HELL, and crabby. We all rolled around and tossed and turned....if you know anything at all about me, you know that I LOVE SLEEP. Anyway, Lyric already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for today to check on her headaches. (yes I had myself half convinced she had a brain tumor). I called the office to see if they could see Jazz as well. I love my pediatrician. Anyway, took them both in.

Lyric (13) is 5'8 1/2 " tall
Jazz (9) 5' 1/4" tall
Mommy is 5'5" tall on a good day

Okay, so Jazz has strep throat. I feel so bad for her. She can home and slept for 5 hours. She's hungry now so I'm going to try to feed her something, but she really still feels like crap.

And, Lyric, well, Dr R is thinking it's related to her allergies. She said Lyric's nasal passages were so swollen she was surprised that she could breath through her nose. Nice, huh? So, she is now using a nasal spray for two weeks and keeping a headache journal. If it's not allergies, we have to figure out what it IS. Not sure what else, but Fisher and I both get migraines, as did his dad, and my mom had a bought of headache pain with a pseudotumor a couple of years ago. My kids are doomed.

Phriday Photo Phinish

I'm in again! Here's two versions of a four generation photo. One is my brother, his son, my mom and grandfather. The other is me and my girls with my mom and grandfather.






























We have also been lucky enough to have a five generation photo on the other side of my mom's family. All first generation women. I was born on my Great Grandma's birthday. She recently celebrated her 90th birthday.

I love these photos because we don't get to see my grandparents very often, and it was just a really special chance to get us all in the same place.

Homework Correction

I have figured out something. Those words that I was complaining about- not the spelling words. They are the vocabulary words. There's a difference. Spelling words they have to know how to spell (duh), vocabulary words they need to "understand". Hence the synonyms, antonyms, definitions- etc. It only took me a week to figure that crap out. I think it will help Jazz a bit now that we understand it.

Tonight we will be sitting down to do the DSAP's. (definitions, synonyms, antonyms, pictures)

My Dad

I try to keep the blog pretty light and, hopefully, entertaining. But today I need to share/vent/post about something that happened last year. I talked to my dad for the first and only time. It was September 4th. Without going into all the gory details, I will tell you this.

My mom was young when I was born. He was older. He was in a more committed relationship with somebody else. (They married 2 months after I was born.) My mom didn't put his name on my birth certificate because she didn't want to lose me to him. My mom and her family did a tremendous job of raising me.

I've known since I was five that my biological dad was out there somewhere. I've searched off and on since I was about 14. Never had any luck.

Come to find out we were spelling his last name wrong. One letter makes a huge difference. And he was orginially from California, but now lives in Nevada. I had found somebody with the "right" name in Utah. Had a friend help me look for some contact information (Thanks, A!) and then I wrote a generic letter about how I was looking for somebody in my family.

I got a call about a week after I mailed that letter. I had actually sent it to my half-brother. We talked. I told him I was really looking for my dad, yada, yada, yada. He called his dad. Gave him the story. Called me back and gave me a cell number. Didn't really have anything else to say at that point. I'm not sure if he was shocked, pissed, upset. I don't know. I haven't talked with him since.

I filled my mom in on this stuff as it was happening. I hadn't told her that I sent the letter at the time, but now I was filling her in. I have to say, My Mom ROCKS! Anyway, I did call my dad. Talked with him for a few minutes.

He said that he couldn't confirm or deny that he was my dad. It was possible because he had in fact slept with my mom. Nice, huh?!?

Anyway, we exchanged contact information and got off the phone.

Over the course of the next couple of months, I exchanged emails with his wife, my step mom, I guess. One thing that was asked was what was I looking for. I don't know what they thought- that I was looking for money? But all I wanted was to finish that piece of the puzzle of me. After some pretty hurtful things, we got to a "good place" but I haven't exchagned emails with her or my dad for almost 9 months.

I have had some contact with a half- sister. She seems pretty cool and I would love to actually get to meet her some day. There is another sister as well, but I don't know much about her. I feel for the brother that first got the contact and I want to send him a letter, but I don't know what to say.

Someday I still hope to have to opportunity to meet my dad, but the only way for that to happen is for me to go out there. Fisher said he would go with me. (I LOVE HIM!) But, it's kind of a two way thing. Do they want to meet me? I can't imagine that I would meet them and not want to have a relationship/contact with them. I'm not sure it would be reciprocated, and I can't take that rejection again.

So, for right now, I'll continue to email W, and sent Christmas cards to R & N, and we'll just have to see where it goes from there.

This Week's Spelling Words

Again, we (Jazz) has to do synonyms (one word only) and antonyms (one word), along with define, use in a sentence and draw a picture.

teenage

legendary

league

bowling

migraine

Seriously?? I think I just might learn something this year. How to keep my 9 year old from going crazy.

Also, I add a couple of links to the side. They are for my cafe press stores. We'll be adding more items over the next few weeks.