Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

...or is that rut...:)

I found an article by that title at Mommysavers. I had a link to it, but trying to get it to fit into the coding here was a problem. Now the entire thing is gone. But you should be able to find the article if you are interested on the Mommysavers website.

The main categories where the author suggested stepping out were:

1. Take care of your image
2. Nurture friendships.
3. Plan a weekly adventure.
4. Never stop learning.
5. Face your fears.
6. Make time for fun.

My biggest concern about my image or physical appearance at the moment is my hair. It is long-past my waist. But there is a humungous tangle at the base of my neck and it is taking a LONG time to get out. But it's better than it used to be. I went through a bad patch with depression a couple weeks back and didn't wash my hair for a while...and I only combed it as much as I absolutely had to...so I wasn't taking care of myself. On one hand, getting the tangle out is an exercise entirely outside of my comfort zone. *groan* Talking about it here is another. Normally I would be too concerned about what people thought about me for admitting that. Now my only concern is that I treat myself better.

I have a large number of on-line friendships. Since I don't work outside the home, this seems to be the majority of them. Not that that's a problem, per se, but having some women friends to get together with every once in a while would be nice too. I'm going to find some. Actually, at the family reunion, the daughter of the hostess was quite a hostess herself and we talked for quite some time about home, family, homeschooling and nutrition. She lives in Ohio, but I wouldn't mind a penpal. And I went to the nearby church which Chris's father's family has traditionally gone to. I sat with his Great-Aunt Edith and her son, his wife, their daughter and son-in-law (I guess) and their two children. There were quite a few kids there actually, and I think I will take the kids next week.

Maybe my adventure for this week could be a trip to city hall to see what opportunities exist.

I'm homeschooling the kids. Think I have this covered. :) But for myself, I'd like to get back to reading Shakespeare's plays. I LOVE THEM! I also want to learn more about earning money online (websites, traffic exchanges (including running them) and blogging.

Fears? D-E-N-T-I-S-T. I figure falsies are in my future. (I do adore alliteration.)

What I did a lot before having kids that stopped cold afterwards was doing live theatre. Mostly acting, but other things (directing, stage managing, light board op, etc. etc. etc. Maybe Lincoln County needs a theatre group! *hmmm***

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It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to....

WHAT A WEEK!

About a week ago, CPS comes a knockin' on our door. For all of you who don't know, either an in-law aunt with paranoid schizophrenia or a disgruntled CPS worker from Texas reported us here. I tend to think it was the aunt because the "report" included no food in the house, and holes in the floor. WELL, said aunt came to Kentucky with her sister for a family reunion. They both, unasked AND unneeded, brough us nearly a carful of food. We have at more than one time been rather thin in terms of food supply BUT MY CHILDREN HAVE NEVER GONE HUNGRY! And the "holes in the floor" were two floor vents that were missing when we moved in. Not that I'm not grateful for the food, but c'mon!

Anyway, one lady comes out the first time. NO I.D.!!!!! She seems human so we let her in (I know, DUMB DUMB DUMB). Then she says she will come back in a couple of days. We were all feeling like cow cookies on that day, so I called and asked if she could come another day. I left a message as she was not in, could we reschedule for the next Friday. Friday comes and goes. 6-8 weeks come and go.

About a week and a half ago, two different CPS ladies come knocking on the door. I was out with Brian on a nature walk (we homeschool) at the time. When we got back, I heard the WONDERFUL news that they were closing the case! On Monday (or tuesday) of this last week, the first lady comes back with another woman, and they were RUDE, ASSUMPTIVE and HOLIER-THAN-THOU. The 2nd lady said things like "Well, he (meaning our son Brian) just seems happy to see other people," like homeschooling is keeping him tied up in a cave and never letting him see the light of day. Maybe she should contact those people with the "glowing reports" from Social Services, who kept their foster children (i.e. state-subsidized) in wooden cages painted BRIGHT PRIMARY COLORS. *sheesh*

The thing that got me the most....we mentioned that they did not have the "right" to enter without a court order. She said they could go right now and get the police. I said even the police did not have the right to enter a private home without a court order, and I knew this because I used to transcribe reports for the FWPD. She said, "Well, this is Kentucky, not Texas." I suppose this woman, who thinks she can care for my children better than I can (because that IS their implication), has never heard of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (the 4th Amendment being part of the Bill of Rights)...you know the "unreasonable search and seizure". So we told them we were contacting a lawyer.

So what about the ladies who told us that our case was closed? Apparently since they weren't our "assigned" agent, she did not have the authority to close the case.

So, Chris and I are going CRAZY after that "bad cop" set of agents came out. We were calmer the next day because these ladies were HUMAN. We actually wound up letting them in. She wants to come back one day this week...just to make sure things are still ok. There was a bag of garbage sitting by the back door that would've gone out later in the day and she needs to make sure it's not still sitting there. And we need to spruce up the back room (where the children are not allowed to go) because it's where Gabby had her pups and where ten puppies have been living for a month...need I say more?

Speaking of puppies, Gabby had TEN. We moved them out to the barn because they were just too darned big to stay back there anymore. Well, one of them (the runt) got injured and on Saturday..we had to have it put to sleep. We haven't told the kids yet, and there are so many puppies, if you don't like line them up and count them, it's easy to miss one. Frankly I don't know what I'm going to tell them. I, myself, am heartbroken. I stayed home with the kids while it was going on and Chris was with the puppy. He's pretty torn up about it too. Said he's been having nightmares. So, if you've got razzes for the dog not being spayed or whatever...please save them for another time.

Oh, and Sunday (Oct 2) was more birthday.

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I'm not sure I like this...

Nickname Generator

I just went to the above address and entered my name. Here's what I got:

"Narrow-minded Genius"! *LOL*

There was a bit of code I could've copied and pasted to put all the above in, but I think their page is right-click protected. :(

[link=http://worldwidebloggies.hollandindia.nl/in.php?id=173][/link]

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Hey, does anyone know if javascript will work on these blogs?

I can't believe it's been two weeks!

Two weeks since I logged in! That's horrible! Bad mommie! :p

I've been blogging elsewhere...mostly on my homeschooling blog at http://www.blogestates.com/blog/LuAnn. I put (mostly) a weekly lesson plan and then the blow by blows each day. I've been mostly regular on that one except I did not put in a lesson plan for this week.

CPS was out again the other day. They closed the case! You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had gone on a morning walk with Brian. We fed the neighbor horses apples, said hi to their cow, walked over to see Papaw and Granny Phyllis (who weren't there, said Hi to their pets Gar and Sheba (the dogs) and all the various cats. Brian saw a little frog down by the creek and we had a discussion about the various types of frogs and toads and which were likely to be poisonous. Brian is so inquisitive.

Anyway, we were wearing sandals so our feet got muddy and grimy and we went to the well to wash them off. There was an official car in the driveway. I sent Brian home and went to check with Mamaw. I thought maybe it was CPS pumping her for info. She didn't know the vehicle was there. So I went back to the house and the ladies were just leaving. They were the first CPS agents that had ID on them...and they were wearning it around their neck. Both Chris and I commented on it to them. Of the 3 other ladies we've seen, none of them had shown, nor offered to show ID, and only one of them had a business card. Dont' even get me started on the 2nd lady in Texas.

We had just gotten a notice from the Lincoln County School District, which I had assumed and stressed over that they were going to hassle us for homeschooling. It was to tell us that the boys could participate in the federally funded "Reading First" program, even though they did not attend public school.

Speaking of homeschooling, anyone (and there are many, many people) who gripe about parents not being skilled enough to teach their children as someone with an education degree, should take heed of the fact that often trained chimpanzees can pick high-perfoming stocks as well as degreed and licensed stockbrokers. *ppbbtt*

If you've got a minute, I would really appreciate a vote at one (or more) of the following blog raters:

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Thanks, U rock!

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST pt 2

I was working ad Domino's pizza during this time, and went after work one day to see if I had made the list. I did, as Lady Bracknell! I was thrilled and scared. It was only years later that another woman thought she had the part all wound up unil I came along. I'll have to admist it was really "out of the blue"

I did fairly well, and thank goodness for that young self-described "lesbian trapped in a man's body" man who played Jack who covered for me on opening night when I forgot my words during one of the final scenes.

About four days before the play was supposed to open, the director/professor did not show for the rehearsal. We were concerned, as no one could reach her at her house, etc, but we had a line-through for the play anyway. Except for instead of affected British accents and the brother passing in Paris, it was affected Southern accents and a cousin being carried off in Atlanta due to syphilis. We were rolling, it was TOTAL chaos, and one of the most fun rehearsals I've ever been through.

As it turned out the director had OD'd on whatever she was into at the time. She went in and out of rehab for years after that and finally the college had enough and had her replaced

I remember seeing some staged shots and maybe a shot from a curtain call around in the pictures. If I can find it, I'll post one or more of them.

I think next entry I'll try to do a list of all the plays in which I've acted.

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The Importance of Being Earnest 1

After a 10 year break from college, I went back to finish up my degree in Finance. My dreams of a career as a stage actor had been successfully crushed, both by my mother and my own lack of confidence.

Then one day I saw sheet posted in one of the buildings. It looked interesting so I went up to see what it was. It was an audtion notice for "The Importance of Being Earnest". Mild heart palpitations. So I continued to read.

Then I saw that the very day I read the notice was the last day for auditions. My old mind-set and my mother's voice (as well as the voice of the man at the U of U saying I should find something else to do because I would never have a future in live theatre) started SCREAMING, "It's too late. You can't get anything 'ready' in time." But the notice said "cold readings". I hated cold readings.

If there was ever a time that the following saying applied it was now:

"If I am not for me, who will be?
If I am only for me, who am I?
IF NOT NOW, WHEN????

*stay tuned*

Blogazoo

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This n' that

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I'm learning about "pinging", so I thought I'd better get back here and update on "this n that".

Gabby and the puppies are doing fine. We put the pups in an oversized suitcase so that Gabby could get out and about and we wouldn't have to worry about the puppies rolling off and getting lost or hurt. Last week, when they were born, all 10 puppies and Gabby fit in the case with room to spare. This week ,there's barely enough room for the puppies themselves! #1 I can't believe they were all inside her at one time and she could still MOVE let alone RUN! #2 She must be doing well in the milk department.

I've done quite a bit of work on my website, Invisible Women. There's a couple more pages, and I've finally gotten some stuff moved off my "notes" file, site content etc. I added a new pageLaughaday, but it isn't hooked up into the rest of the site yet. But you can go look at it using the above link! Lucky you! :D One of the more interesting features of this page is that you can see I'm roughly 3600th in line for the Presidency! (J/K) I found it online, from surfing someone's blog, I think, where you could go add yourself to the list of whom the country could call on should the 1st 18 people (VP, Speaker of the House etc etc) all vaporize or something. You can also move me up on the list, which I think would be okay, now that I'm over the withdrawals from Effexor. (OK-Am I the ONLY one trying not to laugh my guts out here?)

I'm finally getting the email dragon until control too. I only have 3252 unread emails at yahoo, 35 of which are in the "bulk" folder.

I was going to say something else, but I'm tired. Good night.

Blogaholics Anonymous

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As I've got networking mad, I started yet another blog over at yahoo360 beta specifically for networking. No, I don't feel like I'm betraying My Old Kentucky Home, it's just I've maxed out the categories I could have here wih a free account, and getting another blog was easier than coming up with more $$$. Maybe someday.

Anyone who's made more than one trip here may notice that there is another link/img at the top. I've been a member on the Mindful Mothers community for a while now. I lke the people, they're CRUNCHY! *LOL* If you don't know what I mean by that, you'll have to visit them. See the link to the right. Each post gets you "Mom Bucks". It was the first time I'd come across a point-based system like that on a forum. I have been a member of another forum (ok of several, but this one in particular) for more than 2 years now. Sometimes it gets a bit "samey".

Did I mention yet that our dog Gabby had 10 puppies on the 2nd?

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WTG Mama! We suspect she came to us preggers. But now I feel this terrific responsibiity to make sure that she and the pups are "done right by". I downloaded an application from the Kentucky Humane Society for $50-60 off a spay or neuter fee for two of the dogs...that'll help. Chris's Mamaw might take one. Someone on one of my groups asked about getting one. There are some no-kill shelter/rescue programs nearby. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Another Day, Another 3000 emails

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Ever since I "discovered" traffic exchanges and networking, my emails have gone through the roof! So here's what I've done to try and stem the deluge, especially with the depression button stuck in the "on" position:

1. Created some "wide" category sub-folders:
a) Click4: which is the place where I put any traffic exchange or ptr emails to get them out of the inbox.
b) MomChat: non-business related forum responses, etc,
c) Mompack: business related forum responses, etc.

2. Go to the sub-folder and delete just about anything that as "re" anywhere in the subject. Sometimes I track a subject, and then of course these don't get deleted. Some places, like on certain Ryze groups, the "re"s show up on the same page as the original post, so if a topic gets a lot of response, I'll click on one of the "re"'s once a day and get the whole scoop.

3. As stage one and 2 above have helped but it's getting out of hand again, I've taken to "clearing" the inbox and bulk mail in the morning, and then concentrating on one of the sub-folders during the day.

If anyone has any further tips, I'd love to hear about them!

And if anyone can tell me how to make the following actually show up here I would be grateful:

var data, p;
var agt=navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();
p='http';
if((location.href.substr(0,6)=='https:')||(location.href.substr(0,6)=='HTTPS:')) {p='https';}
data = '&r=' + escape(document.referrer) + '&n=' + escape(navigator.userAgent) + '&p=' + escape(navigator.userAgent) + '&g=' + escape(document.location.href);
if(navigator.userAgent.substring(0,1)>'3') {data = data + '&sd=' + screen.colorDepth + '&sw=' + escape(screen.width+ 'x'+screen.height)};document.write('[link=http://www.bloggingstats.com] target="_blank" >');
document.write(');
document.write([/link]);


Instead of the regular "a href" business, here they use [ img ] and [ link ] w/o the spaces, of course. I just can't wrap my mind around it at 4am. :)

Ok. this is additional to the original post. It's almost 5 am now and I have tried using the above to switch out the html code. When the entry is published, the link/img info disappears. I think I'm going to blogstats and see what they can do for me. :)

Miscellany

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And a new fun button to click on, thanks to a comment on a previous entry!

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Not sure on the spelling of the above...but I feel a stream-of-consciousness post coming on and I did not just want to put "misc" or "miscellaneous". Sometimes I wonder why I am so concerned with spelling and grammar. Not that they're not good things. But sometimes the letter of the law can get in the way of the spirit of the law, and I think the spirit is much more important.

Yesterday was a dark pit of hell for me. Over the weekend my feet had swollen more and more. This is a blood pressure reaction for me. They hurt unbelievably badly. I had to use one of Trinity's little foam "Dora" chairs to prop my feet up on while lying down to get any relief at all.

In the morning, Chris wanted me to call/go check to see if the money from the check my mother sent had cleared the bank. I asked him in the morning if he could ask his Dad if we could borrow it for the day because I did not think I should drive all the way to Somerset. I'm probably over-dramatizing due to lack of Effexor, but I seriously did not know if I would stroke out. It REALLY SUCKS being out of anti-depressants AND labetalol (bp) at the same time. I know the blood pressure problem is not "all in my head".

On a lighter note, Chris and I talked about naming one of Gabby's girl-pups "Katrina" in part just for the heck of it and in part in case the hurricane caused Gabby to go into labor. We're watching hour by hour for her to start having her puppies. Every time we don't see her for a couple hours we start a low panic.

Being in Kentucky, we are well out of the brunt of things, but we are under a flash flood watch until tomorrow morning at 4:30, unless that's been updated. When we drove to town yesterday in the afternoon (and the trip down, although I did not drive, I did not feel well at all), we went through "Butt Creek Bottoms" (yes that's the real name) and the creek was almost up to the bridge. Luckily we live on higher ground, and Mamaw and Chris's Dad live on even high ground. Chris went over to Mamaw's yesterday to make sure there was a clear path to the basement as Lexington (1 hr north) was under a tornado watch (because of katrina).

It's actually about 0645 hrs (I'll use the 24 hour clock...got used to that when I did transcription for the FWPD) on Tuesday now.

Oh. During our 4 hour absence from the trailer yesterday, I went from about 30 total email in my yahoo inbox to 347 unread email in the same inbox, plus about another 161 bulk mail. I'm getting flooded by rain outside (the window I'm by in the kitchen was dripping so badly yesterday it was getting on the computer and I was praying the thing wouldn't short out) and inside by electronic communication.

I remembered while sitting in a Chinese restaurant yesterday early evening with the family that Scotty (James Doohan) was no longer among the living this side of the veil. I wondered out loud who played the bagpipes at his funeral (a reference to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) and Chris answered, "I don't know, but Spock read poetry". Seems only fitting, like returning the favor. Scotty was like a Highlands Good Ole Boy. *LOL*

About the depression...I am going to try St. John's Wort until we can get back on insurance and I can get back on Effexor, as needed. Chris says his Verapamil works on blood pressure, so I'm filling another gap with that. Speaking of filling gaps, we still have some of that triple expanding foam stuff that I can spray around the window when it is dry enough to hopefully seal up those cracks. The can we first had when we moved in here was stuck once in an open position and we got some wonderful, hilarious free-form foam scupltures.

My feet itch and I just told Chris (who has gone back to sleep) that yes, I would make some coffee for him. Why would he want me to start coffee now if he is not going to be awake to drink it for another couples hours? Men. What a concept. :p