Haves and Have Nots

I decided for an interesting and fun post today. I need some amusement while I am feeling out of sorts. Thanks to BU who inspired me on this one and to BB11 who inspired the title of this post.

20 Things I Have Never Done

1)I have never had a cavity.
2)I have never drank a cup of coffee (nor do I want to).
3)I have never tried a big mac.
4)I have never been inside The Monument or The Statue of Liberty.
5)I have never swam in the Amazon and after seeing the Oprah show with Dr. Oz and the "pee fish"... I never will because thats just nasty.
6)I have never tried Tabasco sauce.
7)I have never eaten a pickle.
8)I have never been hunting nor do I really want to. I would just feel bad.
9)I have never played with a Nintendo 64.
10) I have never read some of the classics like The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn or Robinson Crusoe.
11) I have never lived in more then three cities.
12) I have never like green peppers until I was pregnant and I still like them.
13) I have never liked mushrooms until my husband made them for me and now love them.
14) I have never saved a life.
15) I have never watched the sunrise (really watch it).
16) I have never eaten a pistachio but have sucked off the salt from the shells.
17) I have never purchased a cell phone or paid (well sort of) for a plan. My parents or husband always had.
18) I have never done my taxes. It has always been done for me.
19) I have never lived alone nor do I want to.
20) I have never fallen asleep without first thinking for a moment about the people I love.


20 Things I Have

1) I have had a knife pulled to my neck.
2) I have had a gun pointed at my head.
3) I have almost drowned and would have if my Dad and two other men didn't save me.
4) I have flown in a black hawk helicopter (w/ the doors opened)yet never been in the military.
5) I have gotten a nomination when I was in high school to attend West Point but didn't.
6) I have rapelled down a 100ft tower even with my fears of heights.
7) I have been ridiculed and/or had people prejudice against me because of my last name.
8) I have seen the KKK. (No I am not a member).
9) I have had a herd of cows run through my yard and never lived on or really near a farm.
10)I have memories of being inside my crib as a child.
11)I have rode in a car that had three flat tires in one night.
12)I have seen evil.
13)I have accidentally walked inside a mens bathroom, use the bathroom and then have a group of Hungarian men escort me out.
14)I have marched in a protest.
15)I have almost been trampled during a riot.
16)I have had a toboggan ride on the alps in Austria.
17) I have been to the Rock N'Roll hall of fame.
18) I have been to four other countries besides the USA.
19) I have enjoyed a fantastic authentic Louisiana Mardi Gras feast complete with crawfish.
20) I have been to the oldest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Next One Will Be A Girl

Every Mom has had some one at some time ask that question on if you're going to have another kid. My reply is yes and for some reason it is usually followed up with some response that basically hopes that I have a girl as if I am missing out by not having one. I have to ask...why? Sure pink dresses, cute hair bows and doing "girl things" are fun, but whats wrong with boys? Why do they get the shaft? I just hope that God will give me more and that whatever I do have is healthy. The sex of the child just does not matter.

I think boys are great. Before I had my son I really never took care of a boy during all my babysitting years (at least a little boy). Having a son truly is wonderful. With my son, he looks and acts so much like his Dad. He has the same facial expressions, the same quietness with spurts of energy. He even organizes things just like his Dad does. My husband is the biggest organizer I know. I also blame the dramatic side of my son on that good old Russian temperament. I get to also witness the joy on my husband's face because he is so proud of his boy, his son. Although the two have a wonderful Father/Son relationship, you can also see a friendship emerging even at such a young age. They will sit together watching hockey or football (both cheering for goals or touch downs). They'll play cars, build awesome lego building (that my son loves to knock down) and read little Russian stories together. It truly is a beautiful thing to watch.

As a Mom, I couldn't be happier to raise a son. I get to mold this child. Help this little boy grow up in this crazy world. Show him how to treat and respect women and through my relationship with his Father, also let him see how a woman should treat a man. There is also a depth of compassion he will learn for all things such as animals and human beings. Let him know that chivalry isn't dead and that men should open doors for women or offer his coat (when he's older) if a girl is cold. My job is to teach him how to be a real man. A man that loves, that can cry, be strong and love his family and God unconditionally.

I always imagined myself having a herd (yes a herd) of boys. I imagine weekly trips to Costco as being our basic grocery store, having prepared meals actually appreciated and devoured in my house, wondering how to organize the piles of sports equipment and dirty, stinking tennis shoes and making that solid rule of NO reptiles or creepy crawlies being permitted in the house. If I do have a girl at some point during my life then I'll be happy too. Perhaps she'll be a tomboy like I was. Like I said, whatever God will give me will be a blessing.

Below I put some cute quotes I love about boys...enjoy : )

A boy is Truth with dirt on it's face,
Beauty with a cut on its finger,
Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair,
and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.
-- Author Unknown

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A boy's will is the wind's will.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Boys are God's way of telling you that your house is too neat!
-- Author Unknown

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Mothers of little boys work from son up till son down!
-- Author Unknown


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My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."
--- Harmon Killebrew

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My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
-- Mark Twain

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Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
-- Author Unknown

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Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.
-- Marc Brown

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There are 3 stages in a man's life: 'My Daddy can whip you Daddy.' 'Aw, Dad, you don't know anything.' 'My father used to say . . .'.
-- Dwight McSmith

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There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
-- Mark Twain

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There never has been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between a mother and a son.
-- Author Unknown

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To become a real boy you must prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish.
-- From "Pinnochio"

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When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
--Author Unknown

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Are You Scared?

I thought when I became an adult that everything would change. It has for the most part. I manage bills, care for a toddler and work with my husband as team (God I love that man). I just thought that someday that I would magically like to drink endless amounts of coffee, love the taste of wine and not have scared irrational feelings when I became an adult. However, I still can't stand coffee (or really the smell of it for that matter). Wine to me is one of the nastiest beverages ever and I have silly spurts when I get scared of things.

Last night as I was trying to drift off to sleep, I swore I heard what sounded like a 12 piece jazz/swing band playing. Thumpty thump, thumpty thump with an occasional sound of brass instruments hitting a good beat. I checked to see if I saw the light from the television beaming up from the downstairs, but it was off. Our house was pitch black. Both my husband and my phones were turned off and we have no radio to speak of in our house. The noise wasn't coming from a car stereo outside, so what the heck? I asked my sleepy sick husband if he heard anything. He is the first to hear any sort of noise and told me no. Okay, then I must be going crazy because I hear a band playing. After ten minutes of thinking I was OUT of my mind, my sleepy husband told me that he now heard the noise but it was so distant that he doesn't know why its bothering me and promptly went back to sleep. Then my imagination got the best of me.

Was there some crazy man in the attic hanging out listening to music? Was there some ghost messing with my head? I mean come on band music on at 11 o'clock at night? I don't have old neighbors and on either side of me they have relatively young kids so they wouldn't be blasting music at such a late hour anyways. So I did what any scared human being would do, I put a pillow over my head to drown out the noise and snuggled next to my husband. He'd protect me if anything started happening or at least I'd be able to be close enough to hit him to wake up so he could.

I know it all sounds silly. I rationalize that nothing is coming out to get me. When I feel irrational I pray and snuggle into my husbands for protection. Nothing wrong with that right? So I ask you, what do you get scared of?

More To Love

I am not one of those women that typically watch love interest shows like the The Bachelorette or The Bachelor. I do love my reality shows like Big Brother, Kathy Griffin's Life on the D List and (eek) Jon and Kate Plus 8. This summer I actually got interested in a show called More To Love.

More To Love is a show that has a group of woman with a little bit more curves (aka over weight) all trying to win one man. It essentially has the same premise as my usual unwatched love interest shows. I am not sure why I started watching it, but I am kind of glad I did. I am not really for women or men that try to fight for one mans or one womans attention on a show. I think finding love on network television just isn't the way to go. I just think the show has a good premise behind it, that even if you're over weight and not that perfect (well industry perfect) size 2, that a man can see you as beautiful and sexy.

Luke, the man that all of the women are essentially fighting to win over, is really a pretty cool human being. I don't think that kissing multiple women (call me prude) is really great, but he has a demeanor about him that is just appealing. He is calm, a great listener, decently cute and overall has a great ora about him. He says over and over in the show to each of the women how beautiful they look and is sincere about it. I am not saying that all overweight women never hear that they look beautiful, but I think the majority of overweight women don't hear it very often and when we do it is special. I wouldn't categorize myself as the same weight class as some of these women, but I am pleasantly plump.

At the end of the show last night a light bulb went off in my head. I realized it is okay to be a little overweight. If you want to lose some weight for yourself then do it but do not do it for anyone else. I think that we all have image issues because we may feel our boobs are too small, our nose is too big or that we're overweight. What is the perfect weight anyways? I think that inside we all need to feel beautiful, sexy and appealing. We need to realize that some of our bodies are never going to look like Angelina Jolie's because God made us in all different shapes and sizes. Some of us have always been a little overweight and some of us have seen the weight add up as the years progress into adult hood and/or after us women push out a few kids. The key is to be happy with you because there are Luke's out there that see beauty in all types of ways. Don't try to make yourself something that you're not.