I believe. One of many incidents.

23 Apr

One topic that always seems to come up in discussion with me is ghosts and paranormal activity. Do you believe? Some feel as if you can’t believe in God and believe in ghosts/spirit energy at the same time. Some say it’s wrong, sacrilegious and preposterous. (I’ve ALWAYS wanted to use the word preposterous in a serious tone! Did I pull it off? YAY!) I don’t agree. To each, his own.

I’ve always considered myself to be a bit of a “sensitive” when it comes to paranormal activity. As my BFF will tell you, weird crap happens to me, I predict weird things on crazy gut feelings, and have dreams that would make any non-believer change his/her mind. I wanted to share my experiences on here though none of these posts will be in chronological order.

I’ll begin these series of posts with my most favorite experience. We’ll start with the day of my grandmother’s funeral.

My grandmother (Mom’s mom) was the coolest cat around. We called her Gran. She was blind for most of her life but could play the piano like a professional. She could tell stories FOREVER and never get tired of talking. She could also whistle. She could whistle ANYTHING. A lot of times, people at her church would ask her to perform her whistling talent in front of the congregation. She’d whistle all kinds of hymns and sweet songs. That’s my grandmother.

As a side note (I’m not sure if my Mom and Dad remember this memory but I do. I remember it like it was yesterday), Gran absolutely NEVER said anything negative about anyone. Instead of writing letters, she used to have a tape recorder and tell us stories or even whistle! Then she’d mail it to us. At the time, I was too young to really appreciate what a gift that is. (I think my parents still have those tapes. How AWESOME it would be to still be able to hear her voice!) Anyways, my dad is one funny guy and is ALWAYS thinking of ways to make people laugh. One Christmas, my dad got a violin. (He doesn’t play.) He decided to “treat” my grandmother to his musical gift. He recorded himself playing the violin for a whole hour. (A WHOLE hour folks …… again, my dad can’t play the violin!!!) The worst thing that she would say after enduring my father’s HIDEOUS screeching “music,” was “well that was really nice.” My grandmother had a sense of humor along with unlimited patience. She absolutely ADORED and LOVED my mom and dad. I love that memory.

When Gran passed away in 1995, I sat with my family on the pew at the church for her funeral. I held my mother’s hand throughout the service. It was beautiful – my grandmother was an awesome lady. My mom has always said I remind her of her.

At the end of the service we sang a hymn and after we finished, we quietly mustered about getting ready to leave. During this time it was pretty quiet and you could hear sobbing and tears being shed. In that moment I heard my grandmother whistling. It was as loud as it would have been had she been performing in front of the congregation except it was coming from the back of the sanctuary. She whistled the last little bit of her favorite hymn, “When We All Get To Heaven.” It completely floored me. I looked around as the whistling continued. At first I thought it was tacky that someone would whistle. As I looked around, I could see no one whistling though I could hear it as loud as can be—and it sounded JUST like my grandmother. No one else seemed to hear it – I was the only one who had heard it. It was as if my grandmother was doing one last final performance for her church before moving on.

I told my BFF about this incident when we got home, but I told no one else until years later. I actually just recently told my mother this last year. I was afraid had I told her about it at the time that she wouldn’t believe me, or take me seriously. She was missing her mom and I didn’t want her thinking it was just me being emotional or fake. It was true. I heard my grandmother that day.

People can believe what they want about spirits, universal energy, ghosts and paranormal activity. As for me? I am a believer.

Miss you Gran.

Still alive.

23 Apr

We’re going for a new record folks!

Mama and Papa’s first movie review! Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol = Movie Vomit

22 Apr

Star Rating:    NO STARS.

(for Star Rating key: https://madtimemama.wordpress.com/mama-and-papa-movie-reviews/)

My husband and I are huge Mission Impossible fans. We’ve enjoyed most of the franchise.  Most of the time with these movies, if there are holes, I can usually forgive them.  But this time . . . THAT is the impossible mission.

This movie is so slow and full of holes it can barely stay afloat. Even the beginning feels forced and fake, like they’re re-enacting something that worked one time before, trying to recreate that success. The movie moves at a snail’s pace that is hard to watch because it drags on and on and on.  Also, with the slow pace, it’s hard to get attached to the characters.  Simon Pegg is just about the only saving grace in this film.  And every five minutes the characters all sit down to “fill us in” on stuff that has already happened, or in some cases stuff that JUST happened.  It’s like the script went through so many hands and rewrites the only thing they ended up with was a patchwork group of scenes that had to be pasted together by having the actors give us an exposition after every action sequence, just to keep the “story” moving.

Now, about that story . . .

1)   Storyline was one dimensional.  Did the bad guy ever really say anything? (Which is too bad because he was pretty darn awesome in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo — Swedish Version)  We only know anything about him or his threat due to –you guessed it—what the other actors sat down and told us about him.

2)   Too much of the story is just told (with terrible acting) without actually being shown.

3)   Light stick + river = one of the dumbest things ever in any movie, ever.  Ever.

4)   Established threat, complicated mission, fast moving sequences = Mission Impossible formula for success …  you will find none of that here.

5)   The climbing the tallest building in the world stunt was a great idea—however, little Tommy is making an awful lot of ruckus on the windows.  It’s a hotel right?  Or a least a very busy building… so if he is climbing up 10 stories on the outside on the windows themselves, wouldn’t someone see him and be curious as to why this petite man is climbing the building?

6)   Sandstorm fail.  Cheap way to film the chase scene in L. A. without having to film it in Dubai.  Lame.

7)   There’s a limited number of cool gadgets (that number is pretty close to zero) in this film.

8)   His wife is dead.  No, she’s not.  Wait, maybe she is.  Oh look, there she is.  Hi! The End. Dumb.

9)   The Mission Impossible theme song is hardly played. Only hints at the main riff during movie if at all – making it feel like some kind of random “lets see Tom Cruise run – a lot – and then say cheesy lines …..

With a fist in the air, Ethan grabs the briefcase controlling the nuclear missile and manages to slam his fist down on the briefcase stopping the missile, therefore averting catastrophe and actually says “Mission Accomplished.”    ……. HORRIBLE.  THEN, two minutes later, there they are again telling us about what just happened.

10)   WTF is up with Ving Rhames?  Did he HAVE to make an appearance? I mean, I would have rather seen him, little Tommy (only because he is Ethan Hunt after all) and Mr. Pegg thru the whole movie.

11)  This movie ends with a big round of laughs with everyone sitting around the table.  Yay, we can get on with our careers!  Bleh, no thanks.

I HATED this movie.

One of my imaginary BFFs is JJ Abrams. He helped produce the movie. JJ  … call me.  We should talk.

A quote from my husband.  “Garbage.”

A quote from me:    “Suck.”

Look Ma! I’m an Artist!

21 Apr

I absolutely loved my pregnancy.  LOVED it.  I know this sounds crazy (most women would tell you “OMG I was miserable – I couldn’t wait for it to be over etc”   and at times I was uncomfortable, but for the most part I was lucky because it was great), but I had such a FUN time being pregnant.  My little girl was super active and kicked SO much.  I tell everyone I would have gotten pregnant again the day I gave birth if I could have.  I know every pregnancy is different, but my experiences the first time around have made me want to have another.  My little girl was my first baby and she is about the best baby anyone could ask for. Babies are so addictive. With all that said, my next child will be Lucifer, NO DOUBT.  I’m preparing myself now.

Now, one thing that pretty much everyone knows about me is that pink and glitter go together like PB&J for me. When I found out I was having a little girl I was SO excited to buy ALL the things for the nursery that I always wanted for my own room.  Pink, glitter, sequins, pink fur rugs and boas… all of it.

Around my 7 ½ month of pregnancy, my doctor ordered that I stay home as much as possible to reduce stress and bring my blood pressure down.  It was the most AWESOME last month of pregnancy EVER.  (I know this was my first pregnancy.. but seriously, I had SO much fun)  The doctor told me that I should relax, no kids to be responsible for, watch movies, hang out with the dogs, snooze with the dogs, hang out with the husband, go get pedicures (eesh…. More on that later…), read my People magazines, sleep in, go to sleep early, drink coffee on the deck, drink coffee at Starbucks (my drink of choice:  Grande Java Chip Light Frap with whip, no drizzle thank you) … you get the picture.

All during these leisurely activities, I got a little restless.  We were renting a house in Washington state.  I didn’t want to paint the nursery because I am WAY lazy and was NOT going to want to paint it back to white should we move (which we did two months after bay-bay was born).  SO, I drew pictures with sharpie markers, highlighters, crayola markers and glitter glue. on some canvases to hang in the nursery.  I’m not a great artist but these are special—just for my little girl. These were the finished products (Though it looks like different shades of pink, the checkered pattern is all the same shade in real life…. also you’re eyes aren’t going wonky, several of the pics totally suck …. the camera pictures suck and are blurry, not the paintings… hee hee):

 

Hello. I’m a plant serial killer.

19 Apr

I’m a recovering plant serial killer. I have killed many plants. Some were such a pain to keep alive I was happy with their demise.

To make amends with Mother Earth, I have adopted two bucket children.

So far, these girls have been alive and well for a whole month.

We’ll see how long they will last…

This guy freaks me out.

18 Apr

 

Just sayin……

 

 

 

 

 

Keep sweet.

18 Apr

**Disclaimer** I’m not a Mormon.    I have a LOT of LDS (Mormon) folk that I love and adore.  Please note:  This post is NOT about the mainstream Mormon church. This is about a completely different sect that the mainstream Mormon church doesn’t even recognize anymore.  With that said, I ❤ my Mormon pals.**

This will be a change of tone than my previous posts and a more serious topic.  I have been revisiting some old stories and youtube videos.  Several years ago in 2008, the “Yearning for Zion” ranch in El Dorado, TX was raided on an allegation of child abuse taking place within the polygamist compound.  It was the largest Child Protective Services case in US history.

After all this came to light, I became pretty obsessed with the extremist Mormon sect the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).  This cult actually believes that Warren Jeffs (a known and convicted child molester) is some sort of prophet—even after he was convicted they STILL consider him a prophet and wrongfully imprisoned! Do I believe there was child abuse going on?  Absolutely.  There have been too many people who have come forward:  previous members who had to escape in the middle of the night and people who witnessed the abuse first hand.  Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

One book I read a while ago was called “Escape” by Carolyn Jessop.  I could not put it down.  Such a sad, tragic story – amazing this woman could get on with her life despite what happened to her.

http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Carolyn-Jessop/dp/0767927575/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334716208&sr=1-14

You can watch her tell her escape story right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJAvqc5u9KM

Polygamy is bad folks.  As much as I am against polygamy, I’m fascinated by it at the same time.  There is no way in HELL I would be in a polygamist situation.  Take the show Sister Wives  for example.  How confusing is it for those kids?  This family doesn’t necessarily treat their situation like a “cult” but they consider themselves a part of the FLDS.  Out of morbid curiosity I watch their television show (yea I know it’s a bit hypocritical).  Personally, I think Kody is a douche and just an old fashioned fame seeker sell-out by using his family.  As a side note, his hair grosses me out. He needs to do something with it.

Check out these youtube videos of the FLDS women after the raid.  It’s QUITE obvious that these women are brainwashed and were told how to answer questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoMHNyN8ZLw

“Keep sweet. That’s our motto.. it means, sacrifice your selfishness to bless others.”  BLAGH!

Here’s another one.  Eesh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7D8–c9gCI&feature=related

This is a GREAT DVD regarding this topic. It’s called “Banking on Heaven.”

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000QRQ50G/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&condition=all

I just ordered a couple more books to read on this subject.  I’ll be sure to revisit this topic in the future.

Internet Parenting Handbooks

18 Apr

I guess you could say that I am pretty easy going as a new parent.  I like to think I am. Maybe I’m not—but for my blog right now, I am. 🙂   One thing I am not is a researcher.  The best person for me to receive advice/knowledge from (in my humble opinion) is my pediatrician.

I may from time to time see if something is poisonous to give to my bay-bay, but that’s about it. I come from a very long line of worry warts.  FOR ME, if I start to read about something, I’ll get obsessive over it and worry more about other stuff rather than about my bay-bay  and be in the moment.  That worry wart gene is deeply rooted and surfaces from time to time.

The one rule that I have been living by since my kiddo was born is:  Don’t believe what YAHOOs say on the internet and read TOO much into any topic.

Along these lines, a dear pal of mine sent me this link and I about pee’d my pants.  You have got to read this.  WARNING FOR ANY PRUDES READING THIS (I say PRUDES with love.. I can be a prude.. just not tonight!) 🙂  It contains the F-word … more than a couple of times.  BUT seriously, it’s way worth it. SO FUNNY and SO SO SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO true.  You know the speech General Patton gives at the beginning of the movie “Patton”? My dad used to listen to that speech right before he’d take a test in Vet School.  Similarly, I WISH someone would have read this to me before I gave birth to my baby girl. What a pep talk! HA!  Click below!

http://www.pajiba.com/think_pieces/30-practical-tips-about-the-horrors-of-raising-a-baby-that-you-will-never-learn-from-movies-and-tv-.php

Bay-bay goulash time!

18 Apr

I went for my evening walk as I always do and started to think about what the bay-bay was gonna have for dinner tonight.  I was toying with making some chicken sometime soon. Maybe make some oatmeal with some fruit.  We’ll see.

My bay-bay is to that stage where she grabs absolutely anything and everything.  She would completely cover her whole body in her baby food if she could.  She is FASCINATED by all food.

She’s trying all sorts of meats right now:  beef, turkey, chicken and ham.  All have been a hit.  I make her a little Gerber (GASP!) casserole of a meat and a veggie every time and she gobbles it right up (or wears it on top of her head… either/or hee hee).  Sure the premade baby meat smells like cat food, but so what?  Broccoli and Asparagus smells like farts but people still eat them and even like it (Face it—you people eat food that smells like farts! hahahahahaha!!). I don’t. Honestly, I’d rather eat cat food!

See?  She loves it!

Bay-bay is also eating the little Gerber puffs—awesome stuff.   She LOVES those.  She gets so excited to pick them up and put them in her mouth.  Seriously, my kid is a genius.  So advanced. So perfect.  Hee hee! I’m a proud mom!

Here are the Gerber Puffs: http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Finger-Foods-Strawberry-Banana/dp/B0018MJ2EE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334721365&sr=8-3

I’m gonna venture into making some chicken and tenderloin sometime soon.  Should you want to get into the baby food makin’ industry, here is a great website that my pal told me about: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/howmuchbabyeat.htm

I want the PHOENIX! Is that asking so much?

15 Apr

Ok, I’m gonna geek out for a minute.  My husband and I play WOW (World of Warcraft).  We’ve played WOW for years—since probably back in 2006.  We used to play while my husband lived at the Marine base and I was living in Texas.  It was a great way for us to spend time together while we were living apart. Now it’s a great inexpensive way to hang out together in between an active bay-bay.

There has been one flying mount that I have wanted since the Burning Crusade expansion.  It’s called the Ashes of Al’ar.  It’s a pink and yellow phoenix that leaves a trail of pink glittery goodness behind you when you fly.  See?

I have ALWAYS wanted it and have never had a group to do the dungeon with me that would let me claim the precious mount should it drop. It’s nestled in the cozy floating castle of Tempest Keep and you can only do it once a week. I have wanted this for YEARS.

**sigh** Our guild has disbanded for the most part, and most of the randoms are d-bags. Someday, someday…. I am patient. Just gonna be stuck with my ugly dragon mount for a while.  I hate HATE hate HATE dragon mounts.  They are WAY too big for their britches and get in the way of EVERYTHING.