Well, hush my mouth

Ok, so I am skeptical person. Very! It's hard not to be when you deal with psychotics and schizo's. So as some people know, I design signatures at a website with other ladies. Most of these signatures are women wanting something of their children that they can use at the end of a post on a bulletin board or parenting board. Well the other day one of our designers got a request with this in it...

i know you are away for awhile, but wanted to be put on the waiting list, i hope this is ok, i know it may be awhile, please let me know when you can, i hope you and your family are well..

i really want you to have creative freedom...i go by the name lynnxoxo, id love to have the "xoxo" in it....my oldest dd is ATIANA and my son is LANDON , my youngest daughter is ALABAMA...( i put in 2 of her and you can pick) i hope im writing this in the right spot! all the best

lynnxoxo

(Pics taken out by me)

Now some may not recognize the names, and I wouldn't at first either. But those names and the pics of the children were that of Shanna Moaklers and Travis Barker.

Ok, so I didn't believe it was her. Honestly we deal with fakes all the time. Mostly people claiming to have children who don't and steal pics of other children off the net. We don't look too highly on that. To me it's worse than identity theft because you are stealing someones children claiming they are your own. So anyways, I went against the grain of most of the women thinking she was real (I thought she was fake). So to proove my point I messaged Shanna through her MySpace page asking her this...

Hey there, I am designer at VIP signatures and we have someone requesting a sig with your children in it. We frown on identity theft and when children are involved it makes us pretty angry. If it is indeed you a siggy will be made, but we wanted to make sure it is you requesting before the order is filled.

here is the link to your request
link removed for privacy

Thanks so much,

I didn't think I would get a response because well she is pretty much famous and probably gets messages all day and night from crazies. Well, she did respond and this is what she had to say...

yes it is me! i go by (taken out)...on the (taken out), i just wanted it for me....i wasnt sure if i would use it as i figured people would reconize my kids! i love the (taken out) and it sucks i have to kind of hide who i am, but i thank you so much for writing me! i love all the siggys!
shannaxoox
aka
(taken out)

Sorry I replaced the sites names for her privacy. I have to say I am impressed with how down to earth she seems. She could get a professional graphic anytime, but instead chooses us self taught ladies. I also like that she tries to blend in with us normal mothers on a common parenting board (also one I frequent) and doesn't try to impress people with who she is. I don't know if I really had an opinion of her before but I do now, and it's one of respect. If this gets back to Shanna, I just want to say thank you for choosing us once again.

Trying to figure it out

The holidays are once again upon us and at an incredibly fast rate if I must say. While our plans for Thanksgiving are set with just our simple family and absolutely no traveling, I am still trying to figure the Christmas thing. We have also opted not to travel then either, at least not until the following weekend. Just staying home and again doing our simple family thing. However, there is the gift aspect that leaves me with a empty feeling. I think everyone understands the commercialism/materialism and everything and well when you have children it just makes it that much more noticible. I don't want Christmas to be this "What can I get out of it" type thing, but more of a memory making occasion. The kids are getting older and well it still doesn't make much difference to them what they end up with, however if we continue on the materialism road, it will eventually change. We are already doing the Operation Christmas Child .
Making 1 box for the age of our own children. We have done similar things in the past. Yet I still draw a blank for the kids themselves. If I had my wish, we would go to Ireland or the Mountains and just do Christmas simple, but in another place. I plan to do that one of these days, but until then, I stand at a point of utter cluelessness.
So far our traditions include... making Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve (how original I know), making a birthday cake on the big day, and the whole gift and dinner thing. But all that does is leave us with utterly full bellies and too much stuff to know what to do with. Kids never get to all the toys, so it's almost pointless. So I have sitting around racking my brain trying to come up with something, but I have no clue what I am even looking for. Less presents obviously, but in place of that, what? What would make it memorable? I need ideas. Something novel. Something different. Something besides baking. Maybe something that will make a difference to the kids this year.

Well obviously ideas are needed. And sorry I can't be more specific, just something to fill the holiday void.

Not too shabby

Today was the annual chili cook off at our church. So since Steven made deer chili last year I decided I would put my apron on this year. Well, since I have never made home made chili I decided to look around for some recipes. I found one that sounded interesting and decided to change it up a bit so as I wouldn't feel like I was stealing it. My additions included steak instead of hamburger, bacon, brown sugar, and oregano and some other secret ingredients. I tasted my concoction to see what else I may need to add, and lo and behold I felt like Baby Spice on that Preggo commercial, I didn't need to add anything. So I took my chili down to church and set up a quick little theme representing our couples class. Had a little picture put up stating it was Christian Couples Chili, and gave a verse from the Bible (with my own addition)...

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”

And together they created chili.
And together they agreed it was good.

And the bottom included a short poem by moi...

Something meaty for his taste, with a soft touch of
sweetness like her grace.

So some college guys from who knows where were invited to judge it. There were maybe 10 entries. So anyways, jumping to point, I got 2nd place for best tasting chili. 1st place went to the people who won for the last 6 years. Apparently a really spicy chili. Since I can't eat spicy I will never beat them I suppose. But then I got 1st for best presentation... SWEET!! So anyways I went to go get a second bowl of my chili and it was gone in a matter of 10 minutes. I clearly did not make enough. I think those college guys got way too much, lol. So after that the guys went and played football while I sat in the nursery chasing kiddos. Then came home, took a 4 hour nap, got up, went to practice, finally got to scrimmage (after going through withdrawel and wanting to hip check everybody who walked in front of me throughout the days and weeks prior), came home and now I am killing time before I do a paper. Small paper, but still needs to be done before tomorrow.

Anyway, this was my total BS and brag post...

Oh and here are my chili pics 10 minutes after the voting.





Now I know what to bring for potlucks.