A stitch in time... Takes a LOT of TIME

It has been mentioned, hinted at, alluded to, commented and remarked blatantly about... that I've neglected a few things lately.  Most were referring to my writing... either chapters or blogs...  and while that is true... what is not as widely known is the neglect of .... dishes, laundry, cooking, showering, sleeping....

I blame my great grand-mother.... and Channa... and Miles...
I read recently that blame does not promote rational thought... so thankfully the following does not need to have any rationale.

My great-grandmother Geneva Gathright taught me, over a series of summers spent in Portland, how to crochet.  I never did much with that ability.  A few granny square quilts... mostly for dolls.

She taught anyone who would take the time to learn...

Aunt Nancy obviously took the time.  Since we each received afghans at Dad's funeral. 

Years later, Miles and Sarah learned to crochet and knit from a delightful lady, ironically named Nancy who held weekly 'Knichet' classes for anyone in the neighbourhood who wished to learn.  She ended up with a dozen children at her door each week.  She enjoyed their youth and energy and taught them.  She was suffering from cancer and those children will always remember her kindness and smiles.  There were many young faces at her funeral who had all taken the day from school to show their respect to this sweet lady. 

Miles picks up things... quickly.. easily... needless to say, when I came across a fabulous idea to crochet some Christmas projects one year, I turned not to my skill gained at the knee of my great grandmother but to my children... who had more free time than I did... and insisted they use every spare minute to help me with the crochet project.  They did... a little begrudgingly but did a wonderful job.

Channa recently posted...

Initial thoughts on her post.... 

• do you actually expect me to remember this in two years?
• those are cute slippers... maybe he could make me some also.
• it's a shame I couldn't send him a hook and yarn and just have him mail it back completed.
• I suppose I do know how to crochet.... 
• it's not a granny square.
• I know someone locally who teaches crochet... I bet she'd give me pointers on how to read the pattern.
• I just told the boys that everything this Christmas needed to be homemade.. I suppose I should make things also.
• I'll just do it... and if I don't tell Channa... then if I'm not successful... no  one needs to know.

 I did it... I made the slippers.  I didn't take any photos... Just look at the original post... and think... dark brown.. and not so polished a finished product.  They were definitely cozy.  I had a friend cut some leather for the bottom and he surprised me by attaching it also... He hadn't seen the photo so the leather was the entire sole of the slipper. 

It was exhilarating to make an actual something! 

I teach primary and this year will be teaching the same class as last year.  I try to recognize each child's birthday.  Last year I mailed them a cute notebook and pencil.  I needed an idea for this year.  My friend came for New Year's and she whipped up adorable bookmarks for the Schmidt girls.  Dainty, darling bookmarks.  I mulled it over and googled simple bookmarks for kids.  I decided I could probably handle making the bookworm bookmarks for the dozen kids in my class. 

So I began crocheting.  It took a few attempts but I finally had a successful Bruno the Book of Mormon bookworm.  He 'loves to feast upon the words'.  

Now to make twelve!  Thankfully they aren't all born in January.

Fast forward to the end of January.  I have 3 finished bookworms....  and a ridiculous idea for Valentines day.

The little boys are in a home-school Co-op that meets once a week.  They were planning to have a Valentines party.  We were encouraged to think 'non-candy' for the valentine exchange.  Some gave pickles, pens, teddy graham crackers... 

Me?

On Jan.. 31st I sent a message to the parents asking... please tell me your child's favourite animal.

I expected... cats.. dogs.. cows.. pigs... horses... I expected it so much that I began to crochet a pig and a sheep.  They were adorable.  But the list of favourite animals did not include any pigs or sheep.  

With only 13 days until the party I had to find patterns for and complete 14 bookmarks... of penguin, shark, chipmunk, panda, 2 scorpions, a whale shark, (I had to look up what a whale shark was!), frog, elephant, tiger and thankfully 2 cats and a dog.  

So for 13 days... I crocheted.  A LOT!  

This is why there hasn't been any blogs.. chapters... supper.. clean underwear!
This is a serious problem.
I did find it delightful to have something to do when waiting around in town for kids... and when Patrick was driving... I can get a lot crocheted in a half hour drive to town.  But I can NOT get anything else accomplished when crocheting.  I can not read.  I can not even listen to a book because I'm constantly counting stitches and referring to the pattern.  I can not clean or cook or type! 

but...

I can now say that I can read a crochet pattern. 
I have a few more bookworms to make but then I can take a crochet break.... maybe... unless I have some other grand idea. 

F is for Feelings of Failure

...FEELINGS OF FAILURE!  Even with every FEELING from A to Z, I refuse to give in to FEELINGS of FAILURE.  Instead I prefer to FOCUS on the FUTURE.  What can I do to improve?  I will admit to FALLING for FACEBOOK's FRONTIERVILLE.  I can't believe that I FELL, let alone that I will admit to it!  YIKES!!!  It started so innocently.  I was just trying to keep the peace during a very stressful Christmas break and details of why so stressful aside, FRONTIERVILLE was the right solution for the time.   I've always struggled with the use and point of FACEBOOK to begin with ... rather impersonal and silly.. I much prefer a long winded blog format!!!  But....  The kids played.  I played.  Then we played some more.  When the ten days that we needed to play for came to an end.... we FACED that we had a problem.  We thought we could just stop.  We thought we had FORTITUDE and strength of character and self discipline.

We do not.

If you aren't FAMILIAR with the game, the  premise is that you are building a town in the old wild west.  You visit your neighbours each day and help them out, sometimes you harvest a crop, other times you chop down a tree, and sometimes you send them FOOD.

I knew it was at it's worst when we were sitting in Sacrament meeting at church and we were listening to a wonderful talk by the relief society president about charity and service, and when she mentioned visiting neighbours and how some have served others by chopping down an old tree, and others with meals... well.. Miles whispered to me.. I think she plays FRONTIERVILLE. 

That moment should have been enough for me to ban the game FOREVER!  But it didn't.  It did however make me insist that they earn time to play by doing their chores and responsibilities FIRST.  So we created the NobleWorld game, very similarly based on the FRONTIERVILLE game.  So now we play it all the time in real life.  If they want anything, they have to check their status jar to see if they have enough points to pay for the; playdate; baking cookies; computer time; swimming outing.... etc.

So to all those out there.... don't start!  And for what it's worth... it's not just me... it looks like I'm playing constantly but really there are FIVE people on the same account playing throughout the day!... I realize that actually sounds worse now that I type it.  We're still working on it.  I will promise this though... We won't be starting ANY other games!! 

Success is not FINAL, FAILURE is not FATAL: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~ Winston Churchill

The gauntlet has been thrown down

Taking on dares... Only just this past weekend as a dozen or so children were rambling around in the backyard, I interrupted a game of 'double dare'. Later with just my own children, we discussed the intricacies and potentially disastrous effects that playing such a game can have on each other's emotions and sometimes create ethical dilemma's for each other. I didn't forbid the game. I just gave fair warning that they could probably come up with a plethora of other better things to spend an afternoon with friends doing.

Then today as I was catching up on my blog reading.. (hate to admit that I had fallen behind lately). I read one that I somewhat lurk on. An old BYU friend of Sparky's, 'Teach in fourth' or Mr. Z, or Jason. His was called 'I dare you'. And he did. And I will. But he did because she dared first. She is Gerb. I don't know her at all.. She knows him, and I linked from him to her and read her dare called 'I have a comment'. Now I think I'm initiated into some not so secret not even underground movement about commenting.

Yes ME... in a movement to create more comments...

Comments are what got me into this whole mess in the first place. Or was it lurking without commenting? It was definitely linked to comments somehow that began the outright blogging addiction that I haven't been able to give up! I have to credit Janet for calling me on the carpet a year ago about comments. I have commented since then... just not often... ok.. so it's still a rarity.

I even went on to read about blog commenting etiquette.. and felt pangs of guilt... but still it didn't change who I truly am deep down inside.... I had to come to terms with what was comfortable for me... what makes sense... I don't often comment in a classroom situation either... when I'm in person... I'm more of a one on one commenter... and then I find I should have kept my mouth shut and listened. I would prefer to leave an encounter, a class or a blog having picked up a tidbit, been enlightened or entertained, not having shared with others what I already know about myself. How would that help me to grow... but as I contemplate this... I am compelled to learn that responding, thanking someone for that tidbit or insight, sharing SUCCINCTLY, if I can learn to do that, that they touched me or made a difference is as important for me to do as it is for others to hear, read, see or feel!

And so, as I sit at the computer, nursing my sweet little infant Whittaker.... I acknowledge that I have somehow entered into an unspoken but certainly communicated agreement by commenting on their blogs that I will pick up the gauntlet and comment for... Oh.. how to determine a time period that is long enough to show effort but not so long that I can't keep my resolve...


two weeks!...


ackk.. I've put it in black and white.. I've put it out to the masses...(the 10 readers!) and I will truly only be accountable to myself... but it's is done!

Keeping up a blog....

It has been brought to my attention that I must be neglecting important things in order to (I quote) 'churn out mountains of tedious details of day to day life !! albeit interesting at times and somewhat amusing tedious tidbits, nonetheless'

And so as it seems to be the pattern to this years blogging I find myself confessing to things once again....

Duncan sleeps on the mountain of dirty laundry with the dog for warmth since the snow drifts coming in his broken window have taken over his bed....
The contents of the chicken bucket have been consumed by the children out of hunger and desperation.
Sarah's hair now a mass of dreads will need to be shaved in order to keep the lice at bay...
The illiterate urchins that roam the streets begging during the day since I don't even send them to school are mine!!
Patrick has taken to working out of town so that he doesn't have to witness the demise of his family and home...
Channa... well I'm sure she'll tell of the neglect she receives at my hand.... how Derek isn't potty trained because I haven't taken the time to train him(that's true though... she's frequently telling me that I'm neglecting her now...)

So with all this neglect.... at least I can live in the blissful, happy world of blog....

Truthfully.... the blog like so many things in life came about at the right time in life.... when I could give it the time, energy and effort it deserves...
I don't know if it is because moving to this house created the right environment, if I have become more enlightened and mature as I've aged, if there is simply more time in the day now..., or perhaps credit should go where it is deserved.. to the two cleaning and organizing ladies that come every few days to take care of things around here.... Thanks Julie and Marla.. because without them instead of a life like this
I could look like this!!because the true test of whether or not my life is in harmony or things are running smoothly is to take a peek in my own bedroom... you see I can keep the rest of my house tidy but if things are out of control in my life than the chaos ends up shoved in my room... but if things are good... then even my room is peaceful.

The best thing is I can actually afford them!! Julie Mortgenstern worked inside my head and Marla Cilley (Flylady) put it into action... slowly but surely the caterpillar emerges as a butterfly... and so shall I...
So, no.. nothing is truly neglected in order for me to blog, the kids are clothed in clean clothes, fed throughout the day, the house is amazingly, tidy, schoolwork is done each day and we even play games and do puzzles some times... so the blog is just a little gift to myself after all the hard work to get to this point not something I do instead of other things...



other than my own personal sleep..... but that was happening before the blogging phase began!

The New Deal

New Year's Resolutions don't typically stand a chance ... so this year I opted out of spending any amount of time hassling with coming up with the same list as usual in order to disappoint myself.... the new theory is I already know what I need to work on and if I'm not working on it then I must be too busy!

However... I have hounded myself... yes I hound myself... beat myself up and talk to myself...
For some people motivation of one kind or another is all it takes... like... if I reach this goal I can buy that 'whatever' I've been wanting... , I'll plaster it in little notes everywhere to remind myself I'm working on something, or I'll tell everyone cause then I'll have people cheering me on, or the more pessimistic sort... I can't eat out for a month if I don't reach my goal.... ok.. so none of that really does anything for me...

So I don't bother with personal goals in a set way... I figure I know what needs work... I'll work on it and if after 21 days or whatever it isn't there.... I don't have to be all depressed that I didn't form a great new habit... because quite frankly I've made habits, broken them and then made em' again... I'm much more of a yo yo ... they're fun... challenging... cool....

But this year I KNEW... I had to do something about the sleep deprivation I was creating! I insist my children go to bed at night. Even poor Caleb goes to bed many nights by 8:30... and he's a 'teenager'.... I'm cool though.. on the nights when the posse comes to hang out... I just tell them I'll get him and go wake him back up... (that way if he isn't going to shoot hoops or hang out... he gets a good nights sleep instead!) My mother never got a good night's sleep.... not for as long as I can remember and now when she wants to, she can't... can't fall asleep, can't stay asleep...

This is a new phenomenon for me... I didn't have a sleep problem all my life... ok.. so maybe I sort of kinda did... but not a deprivation one... I used to be like a clockwork, oh it's late, my body requires sleep... zzzzzzzzzzz.... wherever I was! (This I've managed to pass on to Miles... who would probably sleep standing up) I've fallen asleep in plenty of odd locales! Patrick even wondered if I'd be able to wake in the night to nurse when we first had Caleb because I was such a sound sleeper... but I managed just fine! In fact in wasn't until I was pregnant with Duncan that the pattern changed. It changed slowly.... I was on bed rest from February until August... and he was born in September... (shh... technically the bed rest wasn't lifted in August but I was actually due Sept 6th, so it's not like it was too early if I went into labor... unless of course you take into account that he wasn't actually born until the 26th of Sept. ... well.. all's well that ends well) The point is... for seven months I layed down. I napped with the kids, slept on a mattress on the floor in the same room as the kids. I watched a lot of movies with the kids, played a lot of chess with Caleb, read a LOT of books... but because I didn't exert any energy... and I napped during the day and slept in and went to bed early..... I started to wake in the middle of the night.... AWAKE... and watch old reruns of 'My Three Sons', 'I Love Lucy' etc.... from midnight until 4 am.... then I'd go to sleep again and wake at nine for breakfast (thanks again to Caleb) this went on for way too many months.... (Oh, yeah... Patrick was also out of town for practically this whole time, that's probably why it lasted so long)... then when Duncan was born... it was uncanny... he liked to be nursed at like 2am... while I watched T.V. hmmm... really bad habit....

But I broke the habit.. (I think I'd seen all the episodes by now anyway) But the damage was done... now I could burn the candle at both ends... 1 am... was a good new bedtime... and Miles has always been a 6am alarm clock. If only I had been productive and had something to show for all this insanity... but I guess that's why it is called insanity... Unfortunately after 5 years of pushing the limits for my body.... (it's not my age, despite what someone told me the other day... "you start to slow down around 30".... There's no hope for me at 50 if I slow down now!) I am tired.

I mean I am sluggish... wish I could have a nap in the afternoon, fall asleep if the kids ask me to read to them in the middle of the day, don't care, have no energy, memory seems to be a thing of the past, can't get myself out of bed in the morning because there are bricks on my eyes, TIRED! (Once again... I'd like to blame Patrick.... this just works well for me and he's cool with it...)... when he works out of town I don't know why, but going to bed at night just doesn't happen... I watch more movies, read more books, surf the internet, do anything but go to bed when he is out of town. I mean I can be falling asleep at the computer and I still don't pack myself off to bed... I'm pathetic. (and the theory, you eat more at night when you're tired!! SO TRUE) {I swear I single handedly ate all the kids Halloween candy... again Patrick's fault... he is supposed to eat it as his lunch goodie for work... but since he was working out of town... it sat here in the house hidden in a place only I knew about.... tormenting me... mostly after midnight!!} man, I'm rambling...see.. I'm tired... can't even form together clear and coherent thoughts!

So a few nights ago, when both my mother and I were up too late once again... online... we began to chat... and we discussed the need to truly get the sleep we need in order to restore order to our bodies, our lives, our families, the universe in general! We came up with a plan.... we'd owe each other a dollar for each night we didn't make it to bed on time... (already told you this stuff doesn't work.... next morning... we both emailed that we owed the other a dollar we'll try again tonight...) hmmm, so by the end of only three days owing each other $3.00 each... Caleb learned of our plot. After a little chatter we decided I can't blog if I don't go to bed on time the night before... and Grandma couldn't ask for any computer assistance (and she needs some). FINE... Caleb is like some kind of drill Sergeant... checking my log in times of the night before... I know how to get around him... I'll just get off the computer on time... and then I went to bed... ...... ..... and read a book til' midnight... With 8 days into January I've yet to go to bed before midnight! What is stopping me? Why don't I... during the day when I'm sluggish and blah... I'd love to go to bed but from 9pm til I finally crash after midnight (and I'm typically most unproductive) I stay awake! Last night I watched a performance of Cyrano de Bergerac and read 7 chapters in a book all after 10pm. WHY?

I've tried setting the thermostat so that it gets very cold in the house around 10 pm so I'll WANT to snuggle under the covers..... but around 10:30... I click the override button, grab a blanket from the couch and make hot cocoa! I've set the alarm clock to go off at 10:30 so I have to go into the bedroom to turn it off so it won't wake the kids... I turned down the volume.... now it can go off and I don't even care if it goes off for an hour solid... (it makes Patrick mad though when he comes back to town... his alarm is always wrong and too quiet, 'How's that happening dear? I don't use an alarm to get up in the morning.. hmmm go figure?) {he's gonna be onto me one of these days}

Even Oprah is on to me! I haven't watched her in years but of all the weeks to pick up again this week she's going on about how to get your life back in harmony and one of the most important things Dr. Oz says... is "GETTING SLEEP". I'm not suffering from insomnia... that isn't it.. because once I lay down and turn out the light... I'm asleep! I just don't go to bed!

I thought maybe the blog moratorium had worked... because I didn't blog... I was honest... but truthfully... I was too busy these last couple of days with school stuff and dentists, and taking down Christmas and trying to catch up from that long Christmas break... which I did nothing... got sick and ALL this SNOW!

But my most loyal reader and most pestering sister! called as she does any day that there isn't a new blog posted to find out if I died in the night or if I just didn't blog!... isn't she nice... then she says 'oh... just don't have an interesting enough life to blog about'..... hmmm.... today in the middle of the day she calls very seriously and says 'I'd like to cancel my subscription!'

So maybe one of my... I think 8 readers now... out there, knows of a better torture device that will force me to go to bed so I can have my life in better harmony.... or at least so I can get up in the morning and stop wishing that Duncan would learn how to make breakfast. So I'm blogging... I guess I need another new deal... one that might work.... I'm open to suggestions... I just don't promise that they'll work...

I want to go to bed now... but it's not ok to go to bed before the kids...... is it?

In an Emergency...

I like to pretend that I'm organized and prepared and can handle anything.... but that would just be pretending.

What I am good at is researching things (to death), and making lists!

I am determined... or so I think because I start things with zeal and vim!! (love those words)... but it fizzles I guess. My neighbour doesn't pretend... She is one focused individual... maybe too focused! She decided that she wanted to get her 72 hour kits done. "Oh, says, I... I need to work on mine too it's been like 3 years since I've even opened the lid on ours... it probably wouldn't be much good to us, with diapers for Duncan and stale granola bars..." So we decide we'll tackle it together...

So I get out my list that I made when some bozo thought I knew a thing or two about survival stuff and made me teach a lesson in Relief Society about 72 hour kits... that was oh... 3 years ago... You know when I did lots of research and put the kit together for the first time ... and I was so pleased with myself and had great intentions!! Even made a check list and included it in the kit for easier rotation... Pride really does go before a fall....

So now as my neighbour does her research, gets in the zone and does nothing all week but do kits so that within a week she puts together her 6 kits one for each family member, one in the car and small ones for her kids at school, and they're totally complete and hung in the garage already, even having a survival meal food sampling night to see which foods her family would prefer to eat in an emergency situation...

I on the other had open my kit and realize I made 6 lists and only compiled one complete kit and the others are so woefully incomplete and outdated that I'm essentially starting over and become so overwhelmed with everything on the kitchen table that we eat at the counter and order pizza and ignore the dining room. I also play lots of games with the kids and entertain family and let the kids have friends over so that I'm busy and exhausted and use any other excuse to keep from working on the task at hand.

Now she's done and I'm back at square one... without a week without school and Pat home during the day to get the project done... I'm so like the ant who played and didn't gather food! I can remember the last time I thought I was going to be oh so prepared... for our move... boxing things up as soon as we decided to move and labeling things well and packing carefully... we still weren't quite ready on moving day and didn't get to sleep all weekend long and couldn't find anything the week before we moved or long after we moved in... and well needless to say... Duncan's outfit proves that in a real Emergency... I can at least make do with what I can find!


Odd shoes, Caleb's soccer socks without pants... yes underwear, Miles shirt and Sarah's hat for moving day... thank goodness he was invited to the other Duncan's house to play... I might have been picked up for an odd form of neglect or at least by the fashion police!

So I'm not focused like my neighbour.... but I know where I can go for everything we need in an emergency now!!

Confessions of a Blog Lurker

So I need to explain why the references to blog lurking and to Janet Shumway (a lady I barely know and the majority of my family don't have a clue who she is) are on my blog.

Valerie and Sparky have been blogging for a while now and encouraging me to blog. Back in April I blogged about the clothesline.... a grand entrance and then .... nothing. July I blogged again.... Then Valerie came to visit and I had to know why she was laughing at the computer!.... She introduced me to Janet Shumway's blog. Janet is married to Aaron Shumway... aka... Shumz from Texas days. Janet's blog was entertaining, enlightening, honest, inviting, dramatic, realistic and just plain wonderful.... I ended up staying up until 3 am reading back archives of her blog.... She has been blogging for a little over two years and has over 400 posts. The post I read at 3 am let me know that she could track who was reading her blogs and could tell that very few people ever comment. She was considering taking her public blog off the public road and going private! After reading almost 300 of her blogs without any permission I began to feel some guilt and knew that I hadn't commented... so I went to bed!

However... sad as it is my stalking doesn't end there. I just couldn't get enough and so the next morning when I woke up I was back on the blog trail and spent most of the morning and much of the next evening/night finishing all her blogs. I felt like I'd made a friend... and yet she isn't anymore aware of me now than she ever was. I just knew all about her. I was making enemies through all this too. Patrick wasn't impressed that I was spending so much time reading some persons blog... Channa wanted nothing to do with this amazing perfect person that I was raving about... I wasn't a very nice hostess to Valerie or the girls... and my own children were completely ignored.... (they say they're used to it from the days of me reading books... they can be so ... honest sometimes!) I had finished every post and felt the need to let her know how incredible she was and that I was completely inspired... but first of all I'm not that outgoing, and secondly didn't want to freak her out that I was some strangoid. So I mulled it over for a day or so what I might say and how.. .

Meanwhile, I began blogging in earnest. I was just going to treat blogging as though it was an online scrap booking journal where anything goes. With each blog that I posted I wanted to post more and I am completely hooked! Now I knew I had to let her know that I appreciated her. I wasn't sure which blog to comment on or what to say... but I had to get it off my mind. So I decided to email her. I found some old photos of Aaron from our Texas days and sent off the email to let her know that I felt entitled to be reading her blog through my association with Aaron and the photos should prove that I did know him or prove that I am a complete freak! I complimented her and invited her to read my simple blog of what was then 6 posts! I fully expected some type of response.

I began checking my email every few hours and refreshing her blog to see if she was posting or not. No I don't have much of a life.... She was very busy I knew because according to her blog she is getting ready to move into a new house and she was counting down the days to her high school reunion that just happened to be here in West Jordan. It became a blogging epidemic... Channa decided to give it a whirl and Sparky updated his blog... However in one of Sparky's updates he mentioned my blog and linked to mine. Becoming a stalker of course I was gathering all sorts of useful information and learned that Janet had checked Sparky's blog, linked to mine and then commented on Sparky's about mine. So I knew that she was aware of me and that she was online... I was waiting with baited breath for an email response now!...... But NOTHING!.... Janet's name became a 5-letter word in our house... she was still blogging and not responding... not commenting when she herself is a self-proclaimed commenting advocate!

I realize that I have a problem... I've spoken to my Bishop about it already... the fact that he is my neighbour and good friends husband is not the point!.... besides... he just laughed and hinted that if I have that much time on my hands he was sure he could find something for me to do ...

All those around me knew of my frustration that Janet was blogging and therefore connected to the internet and could for all intents pop me off an email at least... until after ten days of stalking and almost going so far as to lurk at the site of her high school reunion staging a sort of paparazzi... don't worry I said almost... I didn't do it!... (I was busy that night). but then the blog that put me in my place!.... She blogged about being homeless (hopping from hotel to friends and family) for a month because they're waiting to close on their house and how she had time dated the last few weeks of blogs to automatically post without her having access to a computer!.... oh.... so she wasn't technically online any of those times.... and she isn't ignoring me.... (this wonderful woman who doesn't even know me....) she was in fact proving to me how out of her blogging league I truly am.... that even homeless for a month she was keeping up with her posts.....

How can I ask her to forgive me for the thoughtless remarks (truly made in jest, just ask Valerie)... for the scheming that I never carried out mind you... (toilet papering her parents home while she was in town for her reunion, since it's just up the street from my house, commenting on her every blog with long and confusing comments, posting a poll on my blog of what I should do to get my revenge on her... (oh wait... that one I did do... for a couple days only)

I really don't know what came over me... I'm normally a very quiet and reserved person who would never even contemplate stalkable thoughts toward anyone... but I was possessed... yes that's it... possessed by a blogging spirit.

So... JANET SHUMWAY.... I'm SORRY!!! I will cease and desist... I will refrain from any and all negative blog stalking ways... I do still lurk on her blog though... I just can't resist!.... It's a Wonderful Life is her blog.... just make sure you COMMENT!