Cuz I'm the nanny....that's why

I thought that caption was appropriate. Because why, indeed? There's really nothing here. Now I know what the term "down in the holler" means. Let me explain my current situation.

My sister has decided her life is not nearly full enough what with her five kids and a full time job as a labor and delivery nurse and all. So she's decided to go back to school to become a midwife. Most of her coursework will be done at home online until she gets to the clinical part. But she had to come down here to the school for a week of orientation.

How do I fit in to that equation? She's breastfeeding the almost 6 week old. So she asked me to come with her to stay with Tess during the day while she's at school. Since she's promised to go to China with me when the time comes, I agreed. Now I can hold this over her head if she tries to back out, right?

Especially since I'm holed up in a Super 8 motel with spotty internet connection and barely any cell service. But at least I'm able to work on my plan to watch all 9 seasons of Law and Order: SVU before the season premiere of season 10. Not sure if I'll make it. I'm only up to season 4. Oh and there's a Taco Bell right next door. So it's not all bad. LOL!

But I'll be out of commission for the rest of the week here on planet Hazard. Just in case anybody missed me. Gotta go. The baby is refusing to nap today.

The Story Of The Tattoo

The new tattoo is on my left arm. My inner wrist/forearm area to be exact. And this is actually how it should be viewed. I tricked ya a little by putting it sideways down below. I just wanted to see what some of your guesses would be. :P This guy is absolutely amazing. I explained my concept and he drew it out. Straight onto my arm. Freehand. With a black ink pen. Seriously. Can you believe that? He's uber-talented. His name is Josh. And you'll be shocked to know that he's a Republican who listens to talk radio! Well, I was shocked by that. I guess you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, eh? He's a very interesting person. Very cool to talk to. Not at all what I'd expected. Some of you were correct in your guesses. The tattoo represents my nieces and nephews. The "T" in the middle is because all their names start with the letter T. But of course, y'all knew that, right? Then there's a flower for each one descending down in their birth order from oldest to youngest. Each flower is colored for the birthstone that represents the month they were born. This is the black outline before color. (Sorry. If you look close it's a little bloody.) The third born is Tatum. Her birthstone is blue topaz which represents December.
Fourth born is Teagan. He's an aquamarine for the month of March.
Think John Mc_Cain would want Josh campaigning for him? LOL! Yes those are tattoos on his face, too.
Our baby girl, Tess, was born on August 10th. Her birthstone is a lime green peridot. Looks a little yellow in the pic mixed with my blood and all. :)
It didn't hurt too bad. Was just more annoying than anything. But I also have a high tolerance for pain. So maybe I'm not a good judge of that. A friend from work went with me for moral support. Or in case I became a quivering bundle of nerves. LOL! She took all the pics. Thanks Debbie. Here's the second born's flower. Travis is an amethyst. He was born in February like his aunt.And we finish up with the oldest child's flower. Another purple one. Tanner was also born in February. Pretty cool, eh? I absolutely love it!!! It turned out even better than I expected. It's exactly what I envisioned and then some. I'm still amazed that Josh just listened to my explanation, grabbed my arm and drew it on with a ballpoint pen. No practice on paper first. Just went for it. And it turned out perfectly! By the way, Carla, now that this is permanently etched into my arm...... you're done having children, right? LOL!I love that it's so dainty and feminine. The swirls and scroll work are gorgeous. And just to give you an idea of the scale here's another pic. With little Mr Griffey demanding his ears be scratched.I don't have any tattoos on my back yet. I'm saving it for a piece to represent my daughter. I'm hoping that her Chinese name will have some type of meaning that can be interpreted into a drawing. I'll include her western name in a beautiful script. And her Chinese name in traditional Chinese characters. If the meaning behind her name can't be drawn out, I'll do something else with an Asian theme like cherry blossoms, a koi fish, a dragon or something like that. We'll see. I have lots of time to ponder it, don't I?

My New Ink

I got another tattoo last night. Number three. It's still a little red in this pic. I'll give you the details later tonight. But in the meantime, anyone care to venture a guess as to where I put it and what it means? And no guessing if I've already told you about it.......

Seven Years Later

I'll never forget where I was on the morning of September 11, 2001. And every year on the anniversary of that day I pause to remember all those lost and the horrible tragedy that forever changed our country.

Questions Answered: Part 7

I haven't forgotten that I still have a few more of your questions to answer. Today I'll talk about my wedding day. And a little about the marriage, too. LOL!

Because C asked "Do you wish you never got married or are you glad that you did? Will you ever get married again?"

I don't regret getting married. I learned a lot of lessons from the whole thing. My wedding day was May 30, 1999. My divorce was final on May 2, 2001. Quick, wasn't it? Technically we got a "Decree of Dissolution of Marriage" instead of a divorce. Because we were in agreement about how to split our assets and there were no children involved. I think disillusioned is a better way to put it... cuz boy was I ever. But let's talk about the hard stuff later.

One of the biggest reasons I don't regret getting married is because I got to have a wedding. Now that may sound superficial... and in a way I guess it is. But to this day I still have wonderful memories of "The Day" itself. The days after.... maybe not so much.

First, let's talk about my dress. I loved my dress. It was so incredibly beautiful. The dress I'd always dreamed about. And it was comfortable. Surprised? I was. Even with the train bussled up I could move freely. It was light as a feather. Gawd.... I loved that dress! I really felt beautiful that day.It had gorgeous beading on the bodice and a full tulle skirt. My headpiece was custom made to match the beading on the dress. The veil was removable from the headpiece. I had it made that way so at the reception it could come off. I was prepared to get my groove on and didn't want to worry about someone accidentally yanking it off. LOL! Can you tell I loved my dress? Okay enough about it already... Look at my beautiful girls. They wore silver dresses. The wedding colors were pink and silver. Carla, I just realized you had a little farmer's tan going on. LOL! I never noticed that before. Look how skinny we were then. Damn... what happened? LOL! I love those little "kissing balls" my flower girls carried. Everyone looked so gorgeous that day.The church was impressive on it's own with that amazing pipe organ. But all decorated and lit with candles it was simply breathtaking. The pipe organ played while our wedding party went down the aisle.My (ex) mother-in-law is Scottish. So as a special surprise to her and her own mother who flew all the way from Scotland for the wedding, we chose a bagpiper to play me down the aisle. It was awesome! The pipe organ stopped playing as soon as all the wedding party were in their places. And then there was a pause... for dramatic effect. Just a silence long enough for everyone to fidget in their seats and wonder what was going on. Where was the bride?

Suddenly, the bag piper stepped into the doorway and started playing. His mother and grandmother cried their eyes out. It was a total surprise. They had no idea. It was no easy feat to find a place for him to warm up while keeping the ladies away and occupied so they couldn't hear those bagpipes. But it was so worth it.He walked down the aisle before me and stepped over to the side down by the altar. Then I made my grand entrance into the doorway. It was perfect! I loved every second of it. I took the advice of BTDT brides who'd told me their biggest regret was rushing down the aisle, looking straight ahead and not paying attention. So I paused in the doorway and just soaked it all in. Then I started my walk. Slow and deliberate. I looked all around at the guests. I even waved at a few. I was all smiles... and so happy. I was like Miss America on her victory march. It was actually quite sickening. LOL!The funny behind the scenes part is that as the bagpiper was going down the aisle... I was behind that doorway completely freaking out! I felt like I was going to keel over. I told the assistant to the photographer (who was my right hand woman getting me through every bit of that day .....thank gawd for her!) I couldn't do it. I'm telling you I got the worst case of stage fright ever. I kept repeating "I can't do this! I can't do this!". It was the most horrible case of nerves. I got really hot and thought I was going to pass out. She took that giant dress and started fanning it out.... you know like how you flip your sheets on the bed.... to cool me off. It was hysterical. I wish I had some photos of that moment! But as soon as I stepped into the doorway, I regained my composure and no one had any clue as to what had just happened. LOL!

The cake was spectacular and absolutely delicious. Every tier was a different flavor. You probably can't see (since I took a digital picture of the photos out of my wedding album) but the flowers on the cake were made to match the beading and flowers on my dress. I'm telling you I planned out every little detail of this wedding. And no we didn't smash the cake in each other's face.
The reception was everything I'd always wanted. Beautiful centerpieces and decorations, delicious food, lots of friends, and an off the hook par-tay!! It still ranks right up there as the most amazing day I've ever had. I have wonderful memories of it all. I'm glad I got married for none other than to be able to experience that perfect moment in my life.But the truth is, I had an uneasy feeling when we danced our first dance. Like I'd just made the biggest mistake. But I shoved it away, blamed it on nerves, the exhaustion of wedding planning, whatever. Now looking back, I realize that I knew in that moment this thing wouldn't last and I wasn't truly happy with him. I thought I was. But now that I'm a little older and wiser, I see the mistakes I made.

He popped the question completely out of the blue. Just under a year of us being together. We were living together but had never even discussed marriage. Or our future. We were just living day to day. I got star struck with the bling and I said yes.

For the next year and a half, it was all about planning my magical wedding day. I made the same mistake that so many other women make. I got caught up in the fairy tale and didn't think about what it'd mean to actually be "married". All I could focus on was the wedding.

Now that I have some perspective, I know that I settled. And I shouldn't have. I loved him and he loved me. But we weren't madly, passionately "in love" with each other. Oh.. we thought we were and we said we were. But now that I know better, I can see that we weren't. We both looked good on paper so to speak. We had all the right qualifications for what each one would want in a spouse. And we did what we thought the next step should be. But we weren't really madly in love.

Which is where all the problems started. Because if you don't have that as a solid foundation, you can't fall back on it when you start getting on each other's nerves. Which all couples do at some point. We were just really different people. Too different. Looking back, I think we would've ended up divorced eventually anyway.

Unfortunately.... or maybe I should say fortunately, my ex helped speed up that process by being unfaithful. Six months into our marriage. That was one of the most difficult things for me to get through. I felt like my whole world got turned upside down. To be betrayed by the one person who should always be in your corner, the person who promised to love you and take care of you, the person you thought you could trust... was devastating.

We separated for a few months but then tried to work it out. Cuz we were "married" and figured we needed to try at least. I think I just didn't want to face it at that point. I wanted to believe all the crap he was feeding me. And I didn't want to have to admit to everyone that I'd made a mistake. I mean we'd just had this huge wedding. Some of the damn gifts hadn't even been opened yet. I felt ashamed, embarrassed. I didn't want to be seen as a failure. Which, in hindsight, was all so stupid. I just wasn't strong enough to stand up for myself yet.

We were together for another 6 months after he moved back in before I asked for a divorce. I finally woke up and decided I couldn't get past it. I didn't trust him anymore. And I wasn't truly happy. Not just because of the affair, but because I'd finally admitted to myself that he just wasn't the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I know now that I would've come to that conclusion at some point even if he'd always been faithful. But it took me awhile after the affair to get strong enough again and to realize I deserved more. So we ended it.

To finally answer the question... no I don't regret getting married. Because I got to live out the fantasy wedding day that every little girl dreams of and I have wonderful memories of that day which will stay with me forever. But more importantly, I learned so many lessons about myself. Now I know what I want and deserve from a relationship. It was certainly rough during the bad times. There were moments when I felt weak, shattered, devastated and could only curl up in a ball on the floor because my heart hurt so bad. But I wouldn't change it. Because it made me stronger and it opened my eyes to a lot of things.

But will I ever get married again? I know you should never say never.... but I doubt it. I'm happy being on my own. I like making my own decisions without compromising. I'm pretty set in my ways. I like that my life is simple. No drama. I know what to expect and there's no other person who could shake my foundation, like before.

Quite frankly, between the hurt and betrayal I've had, not just in my marriage but a few other relationships as well, I don't think I could ever really trust enough to let somebody get that close again. Kind of sucks, but it is what it is and I accept it. And my expectations are way too high. I'm not willing to settle for less than what I want and deserve. Unfortunately, what I want is a tall order to fill. But I still love men and enjoy their company. I just keep them at arm's length. And you can't have a healthy long term relationship that way.

Plus I'm so looking forward to adding a daughter into my life. And the complications, doubts and fears that brings to the table when you're talking about trying to date would have to be a whole other post!

I'll Be Standing Up

Tune in tomorrow night for a monumental television event. All three major networks will simultaneously air this special show. And it's commercial free. I don't believe this has ever happened before .... unless it involved politics, of course.

But this time it's for a much more important cause.There are 1.5 million new cases of cancer diagnosed every year. 559,000 people are expected to die of cancer this year. More than 1500 each and every day. It's the second leading cause of death in the US right behind heart disease. The National Institute of Health states that in 2006 the overall cost of cancer reached over 200 billion dollars.

Anyone whose ever had this horrible disease touch their lives in some way needs to pay attention tomorrow night and Stand Up.
I think that includes all of us. Don't you?