Soccer Weekend #2

Well, it was the second game of the year. Today's game was half good, half bad. The bad half is that they lost. 5 goals to 1. However, the single goal was scored by EMALI! Yes! She got the goal. We were so proud of her. She was so excited after she scored that she started dancing around on the field. She didnt care that the team lost. She scored and that was all that mattered. So, as you see, that's part of the good. The rest of the good? The kids' Grammy, Grampa, and Grandma all came! (My Dad, S-Mom, and my Grandma). Emali was soooo excited to see them there!

 Going after the ball

 It wouldnt be a game without Emali getting hurt. Here she is after taking a kick to the knee.

 Probably my new favorite picture of her playing.

 Em throwing it in.

 Em's cheering section: Eric, My Empty Chair, Alvin, Grandma, Erin, Grampa, Grammy

My Dad (Grampa), Alvin, and S-Mom(Grammy)

Halloween Wreaths

Yep, I know I'm a tad bit early, but ya'll I am ready for the holiday season to get started. So, tonight while watching TV, I made TWO, yes 2! different wreaths for Halloween! Sorry, no how-tos as I got so into what I was doing I didnt take pics of the different steps. Sorry. :(

Black Feather Monogram Wreath

Close up of the ribbon and monogram

 Black Glitter Garland Wreath w/ Pumpkin Confetti

 Closeup of the Pumpkin Confetti

While I like both of these wreaths, I absolutely LOVE the feather wreath. I think it may be my favorite craft yet!

2 on Tuesday: Cleaning Products

So, Andrea asked today:

What two cleaning products make your life easier?

Well, that's simple!

Emali and Erin!!! Oh wait...Maybe Andrea meant actual cleaning products. Hrm....Well, okay then. *think* *think*. Got it!

I used to scrub floors on my hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water and a washrag. Then I discovered Swiffer wetpads, but those leave a weird film that I cant stand. That's when I came across this beauty:

A Shark Steam Mop! Love this thing. All it uses is water! No chemicals, no films. I dont even have to wait for things to dry, because it's steam and it's pretty much already dry seconds after I mop. I really dont know what I'm going to do when this one dies. Cry, most likely.

The second product I couldnt see myself living without is:

My Bissell Little Green Machine Pet! Ya'll, I have 3 kids, a dog and 3 cats. My carpet gets messy, quickly. With this I dont have to lug out a full size machine everytime someone/something makes a mess on the carpet. Just whip this little baby out and BLAM! spot is taken care of easy peasy.

However, like Andrea, I despise cleaning. I do it, but I dont like it. In fact, most of the time, my house looks like a toy bomb exploded. Or, in the case of the girls' room, like a clothes bomb exploded. But, hey, who cares?

Soccer Weekend #1

Yes, it's that time of the year again! Emali had her first soccer game this weekend. She was sooo excited to finally get to play. As usual, she spent more time on the ground, than she did running down the field. She also got a chest ball and was out of the game for a little while. But, she got back up after about 10 mins, and went right back into the game. She managed to get an assist on the goal that a teammate scored. So she was all excited about that. Plus, they won 2-1! Great way to start the year off.

Also, I've put Em's soccer schedule over in the right hand side of the blog here. Only dates and times. No location. So, if you want to know where she's playing, call either Eric or I. Eric's probably better as we're still having issues with our service at home.

 Alvin wanted to get in on the action prior to game actually starting. He's so cute!

Catch Daddy!

2 On Tuesday: Island Essentials

Today is another installment of "2 on Tuesday" hosted by Andrea over at My Chihuahua Bites! Today's topic is:

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what two items would you wish to have with you? (I know you’ll have more than two. I would have one million. It’s ok if you share more than two.)

Well, I'm only going to share two. I'll start by saying, my family wasnt involved in the plane crash that led to being stranded. They stayed home. So, with that said, I'd bring:

A hammock with a canopy so I have a shaded place to sleep comfortably. I dont plan on being on this island all that long. As you'll see by my next item:

A satellite phone. Yep. I went uber geek and went for the satellite phone. Guaranteed signal on this bad boy! So, I'll make my phone call SOS and chill on my hammock while waiting for my rescue. :)

AT&T

I apologize in advance for anyone who's tried to reach Eric or I via text message/phone. For some reason, ATT's coverage has dropped to non-existant where we live and we arent getting notification of incoming calls/texts.

Where Were You...

Hi there. It's Eric this time. I know you readers rarely hear from me, but today, I'd like to post where I was on September 11, 2001.

I was on the USS Seawolf two-thirds of the way through a 6 month deployment. We were at a port call in Scotland. I was on duty, on watch, when one of the officers came in stating that the towers had been hit by a plane. He had found out through talking to his wife via phone. We all thought he was joking until we saw the front page news in the local Scotland newspaper. We were all pissed off and all wanted to go. Go do what we had been trained to do. We made preperations to leave port as soon as possible. Port call was being ended early.

Military day to day would forever change because of this. While I cannot tell you exactly what happened to my boat mission-wise, I can tell you that our missions changed. We went from a pleasant port call, to being back under the sea. All within a day.

So that's where I was when I found out.  On a submarine, in a foreign country.

Never forget

A vent: Hate

Ok, let me start first by saying this: I wasnt sure I was I was going to write this blog post. I've been stewing over it for the last 24 hours. However, I think it's better off posted than not. So, here's your warning. This post deals with hatred. It's a very controversial subject matter and you may not want to continue reading.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hate the word 'retard'. Hate it. Despise it. I hate it when it's used to define the dislike of something; "This car is so retarded looking." I hate it when people use it to describe others; "What? Are you a retard or something?" Mostly, I hate it when it's directed at those who have either mental or physical disabilities. Having a child who had to wear a DOC band, and now has been diagnosed with NF, I've gotten my share of having him called this word. Mostly because people figure out he cant talk, or that he's not potty trained. The worst was while he was in the DOC band though. (Applebee's story I'd rather not care to reiterate right now).

However, yesterday, some ignorant person used it on the FB page of a company I used to be a consumer of. Yes, used to be. This person used it to describe the stylists who picked out her showroom. (Little backstory, it's a shoe-of-the-month club. "Stylists" pick out a few different items, you pick from their selections.) Well, the backlash this lady received from other customers was greater than anything I could have imagined. However, the response from an employee of the company was horrid. Normally, if there is hatred being spewed, the employees inform the offending party/parties that their behavior wont be tolerated, and that the post will be deleted. This time? No such thing happened. The employee merely looked over the hatred being spewed and asked the customer to call them so they could help her. *blink* I was in shock. How could an employee condone the use of this word??

In an effort to give the employee the benefit of the doubt, I waited. For 30 mins. Then I called their customer service line and asked why the offensive post hadnt been removed. I was assured that it would be immediately, and the customer would be informed that her behavior would not be tolerated. This did not happen. The customer took it upon herself to send me a personal message (via FB) letting me know that" I was a 'retard', and "The Company" was in full agreement. Otherwise, why didnt they delete her post?" So, I called back and cancelled my account with all haste. I posted that I cancelled, and my reasons why, on their FB page. The offending employee called me and said that they 'merely forgot' about the post, and that they 'didnt realize it was going to be that offensive." *blink*

I dont not understand how a company that refuses to allow two women call eat other fat could have an employee so out of the loop that they dont know that the word 'retard' is offensive. Because of this, I refuse to do any more business with this company.

I am taking a stand. The word 'retard' should never be used in the manner in which people are using it. How can I make the world better for my son, if I were to keep on utilizing a company that condones the usage of this word? I cant. My son is not a retard. He's a wonderful, smiling, healthy little boy, who happens to have a disease that's robbed him of speech. I'd say he's a hero. My hero.

The Weekend, So Far

Well, another weekend is upon us. Final one free until after Soccer season. Since Emali starts her soccer games next weekend. So, we went to the Columbiana Street Fair last night. No pics, since there's not really much to do there. However, it is a good time waste. We spent at least an hour simply people watching. Then, this morning, we went to Columbiana's Firestone Park to the playground. Glad we did, because it's now raining.

I think this might be my favorite pic of the kids ever. I love it! I'm going to get it put onto a canvas.

2 on Tuesday: Fall!

Today I'm participating in "2 on Tuesday" on Andrea's blog over at My Chihuahua Bites! Today's topic is:

What are your two favorite things about fall?


Well, I love fall because it means cooler weather. Cooler weather means boots! I love boots! Tall boots, short boots, ankle boots, moto boots, etc. Just boots.

My newest pair of ankle boots!

The second thing I love about fall is the changing leaf colors. The true beauty of trees gets to be displayed in a gorgeous array of colors. How can you not love fall?



Canfield Fair 2011

So, finally we got to go to the Canfield Fair yesterday! It was drizzling on and off throughout the morning, but it cleared up in the afternoon. Was really cold though! Only a high of 62! But, we had a great time. We got to see a lot of the booths, eat good food (well, they did. I didnt), ride rides, etc. We even stopped to talk at a booth that had a man with NF. He was raising money to raise awareness for NF. We must have talked to him for 30+ mins. Kind of scary looking in to your son's (potential) future. But, we learned a lot from a firsthand experience with NF. Here's his website if you want to learn more: Ed Needs a Miracle

Also, we got to see our baby neicers while we were there! All three of them! (We have many more neicers, but I'm talking about the babies; Aleah, Zoey and Kasey.) This was our first time getting to see Aleah and Kasey so it was exciting! (Long story about why we live here and dont get to see our neices. Mostly, it's stupid family drama.)

Cleveland Air Show

We had originally wanted to go to the Canfield Fair today. But with the temps being in the 90's with heat index near/at 100, we decided to go to the Cleveland Air Show instead. The theory being that we'd be sitting and it wouldnt be as bad as walking around a HUGE fair. I'm soooo glad we went. The kids had a great time. Alvin had the best. He LOVES airplanes.

So, I'll apologize now. This will be VERY picture intensive! Also, as a side note, I've started to add watermarks to my photos because I found one of my pictures on another blog. The owner of that blog did not give me credit for the photo, and claimed it as their own. So, watermarks here I come!

 U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachuter

 Viper

 John Klatt with Dynamic Precision

 Metro Life Flight

 Top Gun "Super" Chipmunk

 Jelly Belly "Comedy Plane"

 Jet Powered Super Bus

US Navy F/A-18 Hornet

 US Coast Guard Demonstration

 An old Navy training plane

 F-4 Phantom II

US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II

This is the part of the day where Alvin fell asleep and we called it a day. We missed out on the Heritage Flight. Well, pics of it anway. I got to at least see the P-51 Mustang in flight! And we did miss out on the Air Force Thunderbirds, but Eric wasnt too thrilled at the idea of seeing them anyway. Next year is the Blue Angels. So, as a former Navy man, he's insisting we see them next year!

Couldnt leave without showing you Little Man all passed out in the 90 degree weather.