From the beginning....

For now, I'm gonna skip the message I heard a few days ago, and just start from the beginning of my story.... Because that is what I got out of the message -- that I need to share. :)
I've always been a night owl. My mom tried to MAKE me go to sleep when I was little, but it never worked, and I always stayed awake until I was ready to sleep. One time, she decided she was tired of trying to MAKE me sleep, so she would let me stay up "as long as I wanted to," thinking I would see that it is actually BORING to stay up all night... WRONG!!! She says that eventually, in the wee hours of the morning, she got me some puzzles and coloring books out, and told me to stay in my seat until morning. When she woke up the next morning, I was still sitting there with my puzzles and crayons!! Before I was even in school, I remember watching those Feed the Children episodes -- you know, the ones most people just turn off because it hurts too much to watch. I didn't know there was such a thing as "orphans" in the world... I thought all little kids had a mommy and a daddy they lived with, that loved them very much and took the best care of them. Little did I know.... In my childish innocence, I wondered why every family in America couldn't just take in one of those kids... Surely that would make a difference!! I would sleep on the couch, so that little Romanian girl with those big, brown eyes could have my side of the bed. No, wait, I would sleep on the FLOOR, so another could have the couch!!! Somehow, even then, I knew that people (adults) would think it was crazy, something that would never work, so I just didn't mention it to anyone.
Then I started school. On the first day of Kindergarten, I met a girl we'll call R. We became best buds at school. Turns out she had an alcoholic, abusive father. As a child, I thought that meant he drank a lot and hit her, which he did both.... As an adult, I don't even want to think about the other ways in which I'm sure she was abused. Her mom was just trying to survive as well. R came to my birthday party, and I still have a picture my mom took of R running through the yard, playing and LAUGHING. A smile was a rare occassion. She cried when the party was over, because she didn't want to go home, because my house was safe and fun and she COULD run and play. She felt loved. My other best friend in elementary school, M, also had an alcoholic, abusive father. M had 2 sisters, but M was the one who took the brunt of her father's abusiveness. Her older sister learned to stay out of the way, her younger sister was truly daddy's baby, but M always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When M and I played together, she always wanted to run away (but of course, there was that whole we-can't-walk-in-the-road-and-especially-on-the-highway-thing), or when my mom would come pick me up from her house, she would beg us to hide, because she knew things were better if she had company. She got treated a little bit better. I specifically remember getting warnings at her house about how her dad would be home soon, so we needed to be quiet. M was afraid, and her mom would tell her it would be okay if we would just stay out of the way, and not be too loud. Like it was her own fault or something?!?!
Fast-forward to now... I haven't seen R in a really long time, years, but last time I saw her, she was living between Georgia and Alabama, and had a son who she says looks and acts just like she did growing up. She wasn't married, and she still looked exactly the same, down to her dirty face and old, stained clothing. And it broke my heart to know that, even though she and her mom got away from her dad, R is probably still living the same life... She probably left one situation for another. M, on the other hand.... I am so happy for M!! If anyone deserves a happy adulthood with all of the children they could possibly handle, it is M! She has a boy and a girl, both under age 4, and is due again in August. They recently started going to our church. Her mom eventually got all of the girls and moved into their own house, away from their dad, who has since died a horrible death alone after battling throat cancer. I know, it sounds like a movie, but I swear that's how it happened. M seems to be doing great. I honestly believe the difference was a Christian mother and Christian family.
This is getting pretty long.....
Anyway, throughout school, my friends were those kids who needed some love and good examples of family in their little lives. As I grew up, I kind of "took in" those kids that nobody else wanted to talk to, that everybody else kind of turned their nose up and ignored. All throughout school, it's like God was whispering to me that one day those kids would be my kids. He was showing and preparing me all along that He made me to care for the uncared and love the unloved. But I didn't get it. When you don't listen to that still, small voice, um, God has other ways to get your attention.
Like the 18-wheeler in the rear end... I was dating a guy I knew I shouldn't date. He treated me in a way I knew I didn't deserve. I. Knew. Better. than to stay with him. But since I loved to prove people wrong, I was determined to make it work. I even heard that still, small voice of God telling me it would NOT work, and I needed to end the relationship, because He had something better. Um, I didn't listen, and you know what, I was going to prove it to GOD, too! Uh, don't ever. ever. EVER try that.... It won't work. Suffice it to say that after befriending all kinds of abused kids growing up, I became one myself. Then one summer afternoon between high school and college, I was driving home from my baby-sitting job, to pick up my sister to go to my second part-time job selling fireworks. I didn't make it home, because I was rear-ended. They said I was going into shock, so as soon as the ambulance arrived, they took me to the hospital. Let me just tell you, I knew the wreck didn't kill me, but I thought for sure I would die in the ambulance!!! Scary ride if you've never had the "priviledge!" I spent the rest of the summer that should've been the best of my life, in bed. Severe whiplash, PTSD, migraines brought on my trauma that might or might not ever go away (8 years later, they're still here)... I didn't doubt the PTSD, but I knew it didn't come from the wreck. When I started to college that Fall, it was with way fewer hours than full time, and I was still sleeping all day. I struggled through, but made it. I got better as the year went on, but it actually took several years to get my neck and back stronger. I'm still supposed to be careful -- I still have neck and back pain when I do a lot, I have killer migraines several times a month, and I still get nervous around 18-wheelers. I spent a lot of time praying and thinking that summer and in the months that followed. God has a way of getting your attention, and when you can't get out of bed for more than a few minutes, He has your full attention. I went on to break up with the jerk, who has since been suspected of being a child molester (which I really don't doubt, all things considered), and swore I'd never date again. But once again, God had other plans. I took a summer job away from home the next summer, and was able to talk with some people about the abuse and such, and they encouraged me to talk to my parents. My brother-in-law kept my dad from going to find the dude and kept things from getting very ugly. Again God was preparing me. I hope and pray that my children never experience any type of abuse, but if at some point we adopt older children, chances are.....
Eventually, my never-date-or-marry (to prove, again, that it could be done... you'd think I had learned that already!!) turned into he's-gonna-have-to-ask-me-out-because-I-refuse. Hubby and I eventually started dating, and now we can laugh about lots of circumstances... Like the time he and another church friend rode with this younger girl when we were going out to eat one night. I rode with my aunt and uncle, and I voiced my concern that maybe he liked this girl more than me. My aunt was sure that he just liked her car. A couple of years later, I found out that it wasn't just the car, and the girl told him that he had to choose between her and me... He obviously chose me! Then there was the time I was IM'ing hubby and my friend J, and meant to send a message to J about the whole let-me-pretend-to-teach-you-how-to-putt-putt-so-I-can-really-just-hug-you-thing, and accidentally sent it to hubby instead! He just played it off and made some comment about the batting cages, so I agreed. Of course, we both knew that he had caught me hahaha!!!
Before we were engaged, we knew we couldn't have kids. Why? Well, really it's because we live in a fallen world. Sin, beginning with Adam and Eve, and trickling down through time, has caused lots of bad things to happen. It's not a perfect world. We won't really understand all the why's and how's until we get to Heaven. I could go into this long deal about diagnoses and treatments and blah blah blah, but really it all boils down to sin.
Now, like most girls, I grew up dreaming of finding my prince, getting married, and having all the beautiful children I wanted, that had all of our best features. 2.5 kids and a white picket fence kinda thing. (still haven't figured out how you can get half a kid...) Actually when I first found out, I just kind of laid back a little, I couldn't even sit up anymore... But my first thought and sentence was "Well, then we'll adopt... It doesn't really change anything at all!" Over time, of course, the realization and pain set in, and there are still challenging times. Almost immediately, though, I started catching glimpses of my life. God brought back to mind the childhood friendships. The smiles from kids who didn't smile. The safety when they were at my house. Good grief, I was gonna live on the floor so some kid I didn't know could have clean drinking water. And I realized that all along, from the childhood friends, to the abuse, to the wreck, God was preparing me for adoption. He was calling out to me what His plans were for my life, and I didn't even hear. It took an 18-wheeler with lifelong injuries for me to listen about trying to marry the completely wrong guy. You'd think I had learned to listen. It's kind of funny... People almost immediately want to know who's "fault" it is that a couple can't conceive. Honestly, we're in this together, so if one can't, then duh, BOTH can't!! ;) But I say it's probably mine, because God knew from my past, that without infertility slapping me in the face, I would never listen.
So there it is. That's the whole story of why we're adopting. It's not something we HAVE to do, we have the option of being a family of two. It's something I, and we, are CALLED to do. Because there is some little boy or girl, hopefully more than just one child, who needs US... God is preparing hubby and I to raise a certain child, He knows who this baby is and where he/she will come from. It is no surprise to God that Romanian adoption is closed. God doesn't get angry when yet another country closes its doors right as I was looking into their procedures. What more beautiful, perfect picture of God's love than adoption. When we were dirty, poor, and had nothing to give, God, our only hope, reached down and picked us up. He washed us whiter than snow, He gave us hope and a future, and adopted us into His forever family. I don't feel jipped (is that how you spell that word?) that I never get to be pregnant. I feel blessed that God has chosen me to experience the miracle of adoption. I get to live what God has done for me, and what God can do for YOU. God is not surprised that you're still reading this (although I might be!) All it takes is admitting you are a sinner, believing God can cleanse you of your sins, ask Jesus into your heart, and confess Him and Lord and Savior of your life. Then God can adopt YOU into his family. You don't have to be an orphan.


*****Post-baby-shower update******
I feel like I need a t-shirt that says "I survived a baby shower" or something!!! I know it's going to happen one day, and I'm not really concerned about when it finally will happen for us.... But the waiting just might kill me. :rolling eyes: I'm sure I won't really die, but geez, louise. I did manage to keep it together, as long as I had food in my mouth (so much for that whole diet thing, right?), or kept my lower lip from trembling... I knew if I ever started, I was a goner, and of all baby showers, this was NOT one I wanted to mess up. They have been where we are, and she totally deserved this day to be completely focused on her and that beautiful baby girl. I watched some of the gifts being opened, but thankfully there were lots of times where our view was blocked. The pictures they passed around of the baby, well, I did okay with that too. The real kicker was all of those (mostly well-intentioned, I'm sure) women who kept coming up to me asking me when they would be doing this for me, or how long it would be before we started a family, or some variation of a tactful way to let me know we've been married long enough, it's time for a baby. Thankfully, though, I was not alone, as a fellow infertile friend who knows about our difficulties was also there, and we stuck together. Good to have a friend like that on such a day!! When we went to throw our trash away, she told me just to not pay any attention to all those people, that's what she learned to do.... Then my sweet sister-in-law came back to where we were and hugged me and told me I did good... (She was around during a couple of the times someone was asking me a bunch of crap) I told her thanks, and that I was running. I kept it together until I got outside... Really glad I didn't drive (we live really close to the church), and came in and went straight to the bed. Didn't wallow all afternoon, just had myself a good cry, then I got up and read the paper. (I'm such an old woman, really!) I hate that I didn't say good-bye to the new mom, as she has been one to encourage me (she's the one who made me cry in Wal*Mart), but like I said, this was her day. I knew if I talked to her again (at least I said hello) I would lose it big time.
So now, we gear up for the birth of 2 church babies next month, at least 1 of which we'll probably be going to see in the hospital.

Coming through....

... Received an awesome message tonight, from the "R" part of the R&B radio show. You know, R.i.c.k & B.u.b.b.a. You don't know? What?!?! Check them out... Anyway...
At a local humongous (for our county, anyway!) church, they were having some kind of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) "thing," where Rick was the speaker... Now, I honestly don't think I can call myself an athlete any longer... Once upon a time, but, well, ah, that whole 18-wheeler thing kind of ended a lot of stuff for me! But I am a Christian, so I went.... Hahaha, just kidding (wait, no I'm not) actually the public was invited so hubby and I made plans to go with my older sister, who didn't get to go.... So hubby and I went. Good times, good times... Great message, he really shot straight from the hip. And mentioned adoption and how it doesn't matter if you're the biological mom or not, that "mama" connection is still there, so that was an added bonus! ;) For now, let's just say things are really looking up.... And since things are looking up, I'm about to go get the best night's sleep I've had in almost a week... Hey, 4 hours or less a night for multiple nights only worked in high school and early college years... Be back tomorrow or Saturday with mucho more details. Suffice it to say, it brought about a conversation between hubby and I about sharing our story and being more open about the adoption thing, in order to help other people in similar situations, and point others to Christ. Because that's really what it's all about anyway... Going to snooze!

You know it's bad when I blog 4 consecutive days....

.... But it could be worse!! I was feeling okay, until I got to work. Since it's a slow week, I can go in between 10-12, just whenever I want to... Usually I go in no later than 11, but this week it's just been better for me to not go in any earlier than I had to. Took some Ben.adryl last night, went to bed 1-2 hours earlier than the past few nights, so maybe tonight it will be BEFORE midnight!! (Better be, gotta be @ work @ 10 tomorrow, it's just me and the pharmacist!!) Today I worked with the other tech and our temporary (for one more Wednesday) fill-in pharmacist, and talk was largely centered on not getting to go to NYC because she was pregnant and her upcoming trip to D!sney W0rld with her 2 kids, and his girlfriend and her 5 kids, and theis other girl he's still in love with who is married and has 2 kids... Yeah, it was that fun! Tomorrow will be long and boring, but the regular pharmacist is a ***lot*** more sensitive and understanding. Didn't make it to church/choir practice tonight... Still thinking I'm gonna skip out on choir for a while. Still thinking about the baby shower on Sunday.
Weekend plans..... Have so far all been shot down, because everyone else has plans!! This reminds me why we don't usualy plan our weekends! ;) Looks like hubby will be going to the movies Sat night with some friends... I may hang out at home or steal a niece or some nephews or something. I need to clean house, because this certainly has NOT been a productive house week! We have clean clothes and dishes, and I've cooked if we've been home... The end.... :) Hubby actually is the more productive one... He bought the rest of the door knobs and is currently taking door knobs off throughout the house. (The front door knob had been replaced a few weeks ago, when it fell off in my mom's hand!!!) Soon we'll have new (as opposed to like a billion years old) matching door knobs inside and out!
My friend K and I are trying to get together soon... For now we just send messages on my.spa.ce, but even that is a comfort... We both are in similar situations, and we both are sadly enjoying finally having someone else who knows how we feel!!
Life is a little better, here's hoping for a much-improved tomorrow!!
Keep a new friend KC in your prayers, she was seriously injured recently and might be making a trip to a rehab facility tomorrow! Pray for safe travels for her (I think she is being flown?) and for her family that will be driving an 8-hour trip.

It's amazing...

Its amazing....
What one extra Exce drine mi graine will do for you, 5 hours after the first 2.
How your hubby just seems to know that you need an unplanned mid-week date night.
How many babies you can pass from the back of the restaurant to the front... And still be okay! ;)
How stupid that movie was, but you sat through it anyway because hey, it was free, and it meant snuggling up next to your honey for 2 hours.
How good your new lotion smells.
How you seem to find that one blog post that seems to be written just for you, just when you need it (thanks Janne, if you're reading this!)
How in 24 hours you can go from ready to just run away from it all, just for a day, to a glimmer of hope that you're gonna make it.
How you can take 50mg of diphenydramine and STILL not be falling asleep.
How, even though the insomnia isn't over, and the major migraine will probably be back in a few hours, and you've felt like you could puke most of the day, you still can look on the bright side.
It's amazing how God uses just a couple of people, one who knows you most intimately and one a complete stranger, to start bringing you out of this funk.
:)

Oh, I don't care how it happens, just give me a baby....

Been googling infertility again. Randomly, sporadically on the search for the latest news in TESE follwed by IVF with ICSI, you know, the alphabet soup of fertility. That probably costs more than some adoptions. That hubby isn't too crazy (read: refuses to go through the pain) about anyway. I. Want. To. Eat. Scrwe the diet, give me more chocolate and another DP!!! I would love to go to the fridge and finish off left-overs from supper. This sucks. Sorry.
I don't know why I do this.... I know the options that are available, both with tx and adoption, and I know that neither are options we can take right now, albeit for different reasons. I can't sleep. I want to sleep. I'm tired. But I. Can't. Go. To. Sleep. I lay down and toss, turn, stare at the ceiling, get up, get online, and bam, it's 3-4 am and I know work is gonna totally blow in a few hours. What the crap is wrong with me people? Last night, you know, the 2nd time I went to bed after 3 am, I was thinking ya know, I do need help. I will get help. Counseling may not be such a bad idea after all. Then today after some sleep, I thought whatever, I've done it by myself for this long, I can handle it on my own. Tonight it's back to the maybe-it-wouldn't-hurt side. Am I just absolutely losing it? (Apparently not.... The people I deliver medicine to, you know the REALLY certifiably crazy ones, all think they're normal!!) I need a vacation... Or a weekend get-away... I hear the crickets or whatever is making noise at 1 am in the middle of summer, and think a trip to my former summer job would be the ticket. It's just an hour away. I could probably crash on someone's couch, or perhaps an available room, for a night or two. I need somewhere with no phones, no internet (or at least no google access hahaha), and nobody asking me pregnancy-related questions.
At this point, the baby shower this weekend is looking highly unlikely.

Baby, baby... Where are you?

Ugh... It's almost midnight... My head hurts (again!)... I feel like I could puke.... And I had a 2 hour nap, so there's no sleeping happenin'! It was one of those distractable days where concentration was at a minimum. Possibly left-over from yesterday, when I saw lots of babies and toddlers, and held/played with most of them at the fire hall? I taught the 4- and 5-year-olds in Sunday School. They helped each other put a puzzle together, then we had their little Bible story, then they got to color until their parents picked them up. I was asked yesterday if I would be interested in taking the "big girls" (I believe 2-4 grades?) on Sunday nights, instead of pre-school. I'm thinking about dropping out of the choir for a while. I stand and sit up there during the first part of the service, and I'm looking out at all the families with their babies and kids and grandkids, and some days it's just too much... Hubby doesn't understand--he wants a baby sooner rather than later, but it doesn't necessarily BOTHER him that we don't have any. He doesn't get why I'm not confirming whether or not I will be at a baby shower until nnext Sunday when it occurs, because I need to see what kind of day I'm having. Our Sunday School class is shrinking again, as a girl who recently moved back into the state, is leaving for another part of the state for a teaching job. The other guy who comes is liekly going to be offered a job within the next few months a couple hours away, which means he would be moving, too. Which leaves me and hubby in the singles' class, AKA college and career, AKA we really don't have anywhere else to put you, so we'll put you together. Which means we can join another class... The one meant for parents of toddlers and pre-schoolers. Because in our church, you're either a child, single, or married with kids... We have a few new couples who also don't have kids, so I was thinking it would be nice to make a new class, but who knows...
Wow, this has been pretty scattered.. I'm once again at that place where I have a strong desire to be someone's mommy, and it's hard to be around families, then come home to a family of two, but I also know that now is not the time for us to become more. I want to tuck my little girl into bed. I want to rock my baby to sleep. I want to answer silly and not-so-silly questions. I want to read books with my kids. Something, or someone, rather, is missing from our lives... Don't get me wrong, we have a good life, and we definitely enjoy each other's company, but it seems like life would be more complete with the pitter patter of little feet. At the same time, I know that children do not really "fix" everything wrong in life, and with children comes a whole new set of worry/difficulties/responsibility... I guess it's just post-AF blah.

In one year and ten months.....

....We can start the process of adoption! ;) Actually a little less than 10 months. I can handle that.... For today anyway ;).....
So, for all of you "seasoned professionals" so to speak, what can I do NOW to prepare for that day? I know a lot of documents would expire before we needed them, but are there things I could be doing NOW that would still be good in 2 more years? I know I should be working on some sort of scrapbooking, because we're at least rhwoing around the idea of domestic adoption the first time.... I'm a bit more open to that since a church friend just adopted a NEWBORN baby girl, that she got to bring home from the hospital!! I still want to do international adoption, and one day I will, but we still haven't really decided on what we will do for sure.
I'm wiped out from a busy, kid-filled weekend. We went out with my older sister's family Friday night b/c someone spread chicken litter over a field behind their backyard, and she and oldest nephew weren't keeping anything down when they went outside..... And kids need to go outside and run around! We went to a little park, where my sister and I were disappointed in the huge slide we remembered from childhood.... You used to slide a lot faster down that thing!! ;) Then we went to play putt-putt and grab a snow cone. Which also wasn't as good as I remembered... Hahaha.... Saturday, we cleaned house in the am and went out with just older sis and b-i-l to see The Happening.... I covered my eyes a lot.... It was an okay movie, but that's not really how I wanted it to end. Sunday, my side of the family came over for lunch, then the plan was to go to the pool at a local camp that used to be open until 5 in Sunday afternoons... Lunch was great, we sent hubby to check on the pool times @ 3, and it closed at 3:30, so we went to some friends' and got in their pool. Oldest Nephew FINALLY knows God put another baby in his mama's belly, there was absolutely no hiding it in her swimsuit!! He was so cute, very excited and blew her (and the baby) kisses. Baby-Fest didn't end with the weekend!! Last night we kept Niece and Youngest Nephew while hubby's sister and b-i-l went out with some friends.... It's always a good feeling when both kids want YOU at bedtime... I got to give the 9-month-old his bottle and rock him to sleep (my favorite baby-thing to do!), and 4-year-old chose me over hubby to tuck her in and read her a bedtime story. Needless to say, I didn't mind a bit!! I love spoiling all my babies!!
I've been having some hillarious conversations with 4-year-old Oldest Nephew about "Chinese babies," and whether or not Aunt NotTheMama can have one some day. He says no, because "Day awah WOBOTS!!!" (translation: they are robots).... Of course I harass him like crazy.
Anyhoo, before I fall asleep @ the computer.... For anyone still reading.... What can I be doing (besides practicing on other peoples' kids hahaha) to prepare for our little ones?

Murder, July 4, etc

Random-ness from the past few days....
****There was a murder less than 5 MILES away from my house. This just doesn't happen around here. Ever. Especially "just for the thrill" of knowing you killed someone. This kid went missing after an arguement with his step mom. No trace of him anywhere. Hubby and the firefighters joined in a search through the woods near his house. This was in March, and there was no sign of the boy until this week. Two boys ages 19 and 22 had been planning to kill him, just for the thrill. they shot him, took him to another location, dug a grave, apparently check on it several times, then dug up his body and put it in a freezer for a couple of weeks. Found out a friend of mine used to date one of them. Yikes.
****I was supposed to be getting a lot done today... Hubby is selling fireworks. His family was eating lunch, my family was selling fireworks, putting a new roof on a house, otherwise being productive, so I was staying home and cleaning house all day. It was going to look soooo good. Like invite-several-friends-and-cook-out-good... Which has yet to happen in the 14 months we've been married.... Except for the big family Christmas thing. And I kind of like my nice, quiet house, it's sort of an escape from the world (doesn't that sound weird?) Anyhoo... Younger sister called last night and desperately needs someone to work with her today. So I'll be spending way too many hours (actually about 6, because she found someone to help her for part of the day) in the 90-plus degree heat, with no air conditioning, no fans, just the blazing sun, selling fireworks to drunks and people who can't speak English and poor, nasty little children who have saved every penny they found on the sidewalk since New Year's to buy a few packs of firecrackers. I swore I was done with this. That's how we spent every New Year's Eve and July 4 from the time we were about 12 until I was in college. Did I mention the stand hubby is working at has air conditioning?
****I'm losing weight!! No, really this time... So far, I've lost 4 lbs. My secret? I stopped eating like I'm still the teenager who played softball, ran 2 miles for track, marched in the band, went hiking for fun, rode a bicycle all over the neighborhood, etc.... It's amazing (read: disgusting) what almost 10 years of teenage-like-appetite will do to a not-so-teenage-anymore body... Hubby swore on Wednesday that he had lost 9 lbs since Sunday.... Without changing ANYTHING.... Somehow he didn't think it mattered at all that Sunday NIGHT, he had on dress pants, long-sleeved, button-down, collared shirt, dress socks and shoes, tie, etc, and Wednesday MORNING, he had on..... Boxer shorts.... Hahaha. I'm going for at least 20 lbs for myself, more would be nice, but we'll start with a somewhat more attainable goal. 16 lbs to go!
****Last, but certainly not least.... I taught Niece how to "raise the roof" last night!!!!! An amazing feat... So far I've only been allowed to teach the nephews such nonsense, because hubby's family is somewhat more refined and reserved than mine. (Family function for mine: everybody goes outside and plays with the kids. Even Grandma. Usually adults have way more fun than kids. For his family: men play with kid(s) in yard, while women sit quietly in house or under shade and have polite conversation. Ugh) My sisters' boys know sign language for "What's up, cracker?"... Say "duh"... Learn how to 80's dance.... etc.... And so far they have dissuaded me from teaching their 4- and 2-year-olds "Yo Mama" jokes, but trust me, it's coming... Hey, I'm not the Fun Aunt for nothin'! ;) (I'm also the aunt who is frequently reminded that one day, I WILL have children some way, and they WILL return the ahen "favor," and THEIR (much older than mine) children will teach MY babies sooooo much more than I have taught them....)
Did I say I was gonna clean house today?

"Nobody wants to see your underwear"

I'm driving down Ghetto Street today... The one I try to avoid, because I see way too many drug deals and gang activity, and have heard of a lot of robberies, and read in the paper about shootings, etc.... Because it was a little faster to go that way, and got me off of a very busy 4-lane major highway with rush hour traffic... (Take your pick, die speeding down the road, or in gang activity gone wrong... hahaha) Anyway, I saw a sign I wanted to take a picture of, and on any other road I would have stopped, but c'mon, this was Ghetto Street. It was one of those "professionally" made signs, similar to all those darn election signs. Here's what it said...

"Young men, pull up your pants, because nobody wants to see your underwear!"

I am SO not kidding!!! I wish I had a pic, but there's that whole getting shot thing I really didn't have the time for....