Did anyone else get an email that says this:

Like seriously??? I’ve had a Netflix account for several years now, as have many others, and have already gone through a couple of pricing changes. But this one??? This one takes the cake. You are going to increase our cost by 60% for us to get exactly what we get right now. No better streaming video choices. No better streaming video quality. No quicker DVD releases. No nothing, but less money in my bank account. How is this a deal??? Who are these changes going to benefit??? YOU! What is the customer going to get out of this? NOTHING. Are you Nucking Futs???

Netflix, unless you decide to leave your pricing plans as they are… I’ll most likely be canceling my account… I mean… You state in your email that “You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.” So you don’t really care if I stay or go right?!?! That’s like saying.. Gee thanks for being a customer, but if you don’t like our new pricing plans… you can eff off… Screw you Netflix… Screw you… Your competitors are looking better and better…

**UPDATE: I finally got through to customer service, and they literally told me that they were not “holding me hostage with a contract and that I was free to leave their service any time” Ummm Wow… you said it… See ya…

This time last year…

I was counting down the days until my girls started school.

I was planning all the things that I would do with my new found “Free time”.

I was actually excited to go to the school and register them for Kindergarten.

I followed these signs around their new school to find the place where I was going to sign my girls away to some “stranger” for 10 months out of the next year.

I was walking the halls of their new school, in awe that they were soon going to be students there.

It suddenly hit me….. “Oh $h!t… They were going to be Kindergarteners.”

I didn’t know that their teacher was going to be someone my girls really looked up to, and a great friend to me.

Seriously. I had no idea what I was in for at this time last year.

*** This post was originally written in March of 2011. It’s been sitting in my drafts as I decided just how personal to get… I’m publishing it only because I’m sure there are others who feel similarly. I’d love to discuss with anyone… and now… on with the post…

If the title of this post is making you think that you may hate me after reading it… then don’t. I highly suggest closing your browser and checking out the cool reviews on Mommy Brain Reports… and coming back in another month or so… this is a long one.. You have been warned…

I remember that song from REM way back in the day… Sometime the words can be so fitting for how I feel in life. Is this a call out for help? Not so much, and a way to get some questions I have out in the open, and invite true and logical answers… I’m not looking for anyone to criticize me, or my thoughts.. altho I’m sure that will happen.. Go ahead.. Leave your thoughts in the comments…

So, my deal is this… Why am I still Catholic? Why am I not Lutheran, or Baptist, or Whatever? Why must I go to a certain building to worship God. Why is the Catholic Church, the Church I grew up in, and believed everything that was put in front of me… so … hard to leave?

Let’s start there. I’ll start with what I know. I was baptized Catholic when I was a little baby. I wasn’t given the choice, it was made for me. No biggie. I grew up and went to Catholic school, learned the Catholic prayers, and read Catholic scripture… I went to church every week, without question. I got married in the Catholic church, and baptized my babies Catholic… only for the cycle to start all over again. Sorta.. Is my hubby Catholic? No. He’s Lutheran… but it’s close enough… LOL. Maybe if I would’ve married a Catholic guy I wouldn’t have these issues… but I didn’t fall in love with his religion, I fell in love with him… so pttthhht.

So, anyway. Back to Catholic stuff. Like I said, I was born into a Catholic family, and thus baptized and raised Catholic. Sure. I still go to Catholic Mass once in a while, but I don’t feel at home there. I have the prayers and songs more than memorized, but it’s like I’m reciting something… lines from a play or something. I’m just not feeling it anymore. I guess the question is.. Did I really ever? Seriously?

Ok.. moving on… Buildings.. Why is it that when you go to church, there is so much shiny stuff decorating the place? Why do people think that the shinier and more golden the place is, the better it is for the people? Um, No. That money we donate to the Church.. Sure I guess you use it to pay your bills, but why waste it on such elaborate decorations. Did anyone see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom??? The Holy Grail was NOT the one adorned in jewels, but the cup of a carpenter..

Moving on… Why do I believe what I believe, and why am I so scared to leave my religion? I believe what I believe because it’s all that I know. I’ve only ever experienced a different church a handful of times, and each time it was “weird” for me. Not in a bad way.. just that it was different than what I was used to. The Stand up, sit down, readings, stand up, sit down, kneel, prayers, sit down, stand up, over, etc of the Catholic Mass makes any other service seem strange to me. Don’t tell me that things that are out of the norm are not strange to you. If the prayers and songs are different, than I’m totally out of my element. I’m grateful that hubby’s Lutheran church is very similar, and I don’t feel weird when I go there. Something else I noticed… I went to both the Lutheran church and the Catholic church… and had two extremely different experiences. We went to the Catholic church and everyone pretty much kept to themselves. No eye contact, no smiles, not a Hello or Welcome… We even went to the meet & greet afterwards and were completely ignored. People kept to their own groups, and it was just… well.. snobbish.. but we’ve continued to go there because the girls like their little class they get to go to during the first part of mass. We went to the Lutheran church and we couldn’t go a few steps without people saying Hi, and shaking hands, and commenting on the girls, and… well.. Welcoming us… Why haven’t we gone back more often? I don’t know.

The girls are getting to the age where they are asking a lot of questions about God, and Jesus, and religion. We take them to church whenever they ask to go, but, in all honesty, I feel like they’d get more out of a bible and me and daddy explaining things to them than they would sitting in a chair in a church for an hour. I don’t know.. I hate that I feel this way.. that I don’t feel at home in my own church.. I would love to find a place that I wanted to go to.. every Sunday, but I haven’t yet. Would I leave the Catholic Church? I don’t know. My girls are baptized Catholic, (yes the cycle has already started again) and I want them to learn more about it… but I’m not sure if I should remain there, or let them explore various churches and religions… Would it confuse the hell out of them? I don’t know. After all, aren’t we all Christian, and believe in the same God???

OK.. I think I’m done venting. For now. Please don’t judge. Please don’t hate me… I’m struggling… I love God, and I love that I have Faith… I just need to find a place I’m comfortable with… Thanks for listening.

So, every night before we go to sleep, Daddy and I check on the girls to make sure they’re ok… You know.. like they were still babies… Make sure they’re tucked in all cozy, not falling off the bed, give them kisses and whisper “I love you” in their ears…  the usual… Anyway.. sometimes, they’re all over the place… last night… this is how I found them… One on top of the other…

I had to laugh my ass off… All of the stuffed animals were in Monkey See’s bed.. none were left in Monkey Do’s… Made me wonder if they were playing when they fell asleep.. so I asked them this morning…

Me: “Sweetie, do you remember getting into sister’s bed sometime last night?”

Monkey Do: “Yes. I had a nightmare.”

Me: “Oh no, a nightmare? I’m sorry. Did you carry all of your animals over with you?”
MD: “No, we were playing with them for a little bit before we fell asleep.”

Me: ” Were you playing, or did you have a nightmare?”

MD: Silence… “Um.. Yeah, I had a nightmare… ”

Me: “Well you can’t have a nightmare if you were up playing… ”

MD: More Silence

Me: “Honey, I’m not upset. I actually thought it was very cute and a little silly.. I just wanted to know what happened.”

MD: “Oh, we were playing. But I think I had a nightmare later too.. I can’t remember.”

Boy… I could write a book… LOL…

So it’s days like yesterday that make me really think about how lucky we truly are. So much happened last night. We thought it was totally going to be a normal evening, but it wasn’t. How to begin… Well, at the beginning I presume.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a pack of tickets for all of us to go see the Northside High School’s production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on April 16th. Our girls were very excited. We had decided to go to Red Robin with our friends before hand, and then head out to the show… It was going to be a really fun night!

Fast forward to April 16th. The weather folks on the news kept warning of unstable air, of severe thunderstorms, and even possible tornadoes. I didn’t think anything of it… We had been here 2 years, and never saw a tornado. Bad thunderstorms, sure.. but they usually roll through pretty fast. Well, the day started off sunny and pretty. As it turned to late afternoon, some darker clouds started to roll in. Still, all I thought about was a lot of rain and some lightning.. No biggie. We all went out to dinner at Red Robin, and that’s when it all started. My friend and I were on our phones. She was getting Facebook updates from friends, and I was getting WITN Weather Alerts. Tornadoes had been spotted near Fayetteville, Raleigh, you name it… and they were heading Eastward. Well, we’re pretty far away from those places, so even though we were concerned, we weren’t that worried. The night continued.

After dinner, we drove over to the High School, and just as we pulled up, it started to sprinkle rain… Not a big deal. The hubbies parked and ran in just as it started to pour rain. The rain was just coming down in sheets, it was crazy! Our phones were still getting alerts every few minutes. New tornadoes touching down, making a path Eastward. It was getting a little spooky… but the show must go on.

We got seated for the show, and I tell you, every crack of thunder scared me. We could hear the rain hitting the metal roof.. and then the hail. The emergency lights flickered. An alert hit my phone, and my heart jumped. Onslow County was in a tornado warning. These storms were coming to us.. I saw a facebook message from a friend that said a funnel cloud was spotted on Western Blvd. We were just off Western… Granted Western Blvd is a very long road… but still… The storm was raging outside. All I could think of was what if… I planned that if we started to get hit, I’d jump over and cover the girls, knowing that we’d end up with a pile of kids and parents huddling under the theatre seats. It was not pretty. Then the alert came that a tornado had actually touched down in Jacksonville. I didn’t know where, but I knew this was too close for comfort. The show continued on, and the kids had no idea what was going on…

The show ended, the rain stopped, and the skies started to clear. It was hot and humid outside, but we were all ok.

The tornado had stayed away from us, but had torn through the base housing and Piney Green area. Houses were destroyed… We were all very lucky. As we drove home, we saw dark clouds and lightning off in the distance. It was very pretty, but somewhat eerie at the same time. We kept an eye out on the roads and houses on the way, and saw that we were very lucky. We didn’t have any damage, and our neighbors later told us that nothing had happened at all up where we live. The news about the Southern end of Jacksonville wasn’t going to hit us until later. All I know is… we suffered no fatalities in Jacksonville, NC on April 16th. God was watching over everyone.

Ok, so I’m moving my pity party over here… LOL

I’ve been working my @$$ off… literally. I’m wearing jeans that I can buy in the store… I’m buying XL clothes. Something I haven’t been able to do in so long… and now I can’t go to Kisado, or TaeKwonDo… Why? Because I’m a klutz..

I was practicing my super duper jumping, spinning, flying thru the air kick or something for the EXTREME Freestyle Forms for the next tournament… and .. umm.. ok, not really… But this story would’ve been much more interesting than how I really hurt myself.. read on…

Sunday was a great day. Hubby and I were cleaning out the garage.. that ongoing process that is finally getting easier to do… We make some serious progress, and were super excited about everything we got done. It was getting dark, so I ran inside and asked the girls to turn on the front porch light. I turned and was walking down the steps and somehow missed the bottom step. I landed on my left foot awkwardly, and my foot rolled inward. I tumbled onto the garage floor, doing some crazy fall/roll thing… straight outta my TKD training. LOL. It seemed like it all happened in slow motion. I tried getting up.. thinking it couldn’t have been that bad… No go… Hubby came in from bringing the truck up the driveway and realized something was wrong. He helped me up into the house and onto the couch.

All I could think about was ‘What if it’s broken?’… It was bruising a little bit, and we put my foot up on pillows… I was flipping out… and I’m usually pretty tough.. sorta.. but this hurt like hell. I updated my Facebook status to ask for everyone to pray it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and just a short minute later, my phone rings… It’s Mrs. Ashton from Tiger Rock TaeKwonDo… She’s an OR nurse… and gave me all kinds of tips… I felt special.. like I had my own Triage Nurse and I didn’t even have to go anywhere ! *teehee* Anyway.. R.I.C.E.  was the name of the game…

I actually got brave and went in to the doctor on Monday morning, right after I hobbled around to take the girls to school. I waited… Unpatiently.. and finally got called in for an x-ray. A few minutes after those were done, the doctor came into the exam room and I hobbled over to sit up on the exam table. He looked at my foot, and just shook his head. Ugh, I knew it was going to be bad. He pushed around on come parts of my foot. I wanted to kick him with my good foot, but something about him having a decent grip on the bad foot told me that it probably wasn’t such a good idea. After all the prodding I could handle, he finally told me he thinks I tore a tendon. *Thinks* being the key word… I guess the x-ray doesn’t show that…  I was ordered to stay off of it as much as possible, and told that I had to wear a CAM boot… (otherwise known as a walking cast) for 3 weeks. I immediately started crying… I had my TaeKwonDo tournament in 3 weeks… exactly. I’ve been waiting, preparing for this tournament… I was so upset. He told me that there was pretty much no way I’d be competing.. Not happy..

Anyway.. I’m off of my foot. I’m hobbling or hopping, whatever I need to do.. The crutches are already killing my arm, and I have a long way to go. I figure I can add photos from my nightly photo shoot of my bruised foot.. blah.

Here’s to hoping I can heal quickly and as near to completely as possible…

Oh, and thanks for listening… at this point I’m just whining …. because I can.

This conversation just happened… A little background… Both of my girls got in trouble today for talking too much in school (I don’t know how their teacher held out this long)… Thus bringing on the punishment at home of no TV or Computer time (best punishment evah)… Their time can now be spent cleaning their room. Anyway… Monkey See and I were sitting on the couch while she was eating her snack, asking if they could watch TV just while they were eating, and I said no, because they are in trouble. The following conversation ensued…

Goodness… Now that we’ve got that cleared up… hahahaha

Well, we are all home, and it’s a Tuesday… School was canceled yesterday and today because of the weather/road conditions. It has been crazy here at home. And now, I just got the message that school is closed for Wednesday too. I’m seriously going to go crazy. I have been dying to get to the store. I’ve been praying for the girls to stop arguing, and fighting. I’ve tried keeping them busy, but I’m running out of ideas. God bless our teachers.. I don’t think I could ever do it…

Monday was fun… We got to play in the snow for a while. It wasn’t snowman building snow, but it was fun to try to make snowballs to toss around and make snow angels in. The snow was super fluffy, and just beautiful. Today was more dreary. It was icy outside. When we first got up, I couldn’t walk down our front steps because of the thick layer of ice on them. We just stayed in all day.

Now my big worry is.. .when are the girls going to make up these snow days? I’m praying they won’t be losing Spring Break days… I don’t know.. I’ve never had to deal with this kind of stuff…

Anyway… I’m going to be up later than usual, trying to catch up on everything. I know there are other moms going crazy too… Let’s all be crazy together! LOL

1. I WILL continue my TaeKwonDo & Kisado classes. They’re fun, and I can kick ass if I need to.

2. I WILL continue to opt for natural foods rather than processed foods. Who needs extra junk in the trunk anyway?

3. I WILL NOT eat fast food, no matter how easy, quick, or yummy a Sonic Slushie sounds… especially during Happy Hour..

4. I WILL use the treadmill I made my hubby buy me. Adding it to my fitness routine will *Help* me, not hurt me.

5. I WILL work my butt off… literally..

6. I WILL also work off other parts of my body, my tummy, my thighs, my love handles… because I need to.

7. I WIL NOT give in to late night snacking. A glass of water is my new best friend.

8. I WILL drink at least the recommended daily suggestion of water… more if I’m near a bathroom

9. I WILL train for, and run a 5K sometime in 2011. After all… I should be able to do it.. right???

10. I WILL NOT EVER buy clothing that is too large, or baggy, just for the sole purpose of “hiding my rolls”….  They make me look fatter…

11. I WILL buy clothing that fits well, is the proper size, and makes ME look awesome.

These things I swear to myself for 2011… If you agree.. Let me hear a “Hell Yeah!”

Got other vows for yourself… I’d love to hear them too!

UPDATE: So I went shopping today, and I bought clothing… in regular sizes… Yes, I shopped at my local Old Navy, and bought jeans… I didn’t have to buy online (since that’s where their plus sizes are). WOOT! These vows are so going to stick

It’s almost 2011. Wow. Where did 2010 go? I remember last New Year’s Eve, our first here in NC. It was pretty quiet, but a ton of fun. Our friends were here with their kids.. including their twin girls.. Our girls were in heaven. We smoked baby back ribs, we had glasses of wine, we played games, and watched movies. Doesn’t sound like much, but spending my birthday in excellent company is my idea of fun!

Throughout the year, lots of cool things happened.

In January, I attended a totally cool event with EA SPORTS Active in Beverly Hills, CA .

February brought an amazing and truly magical trip to Walt Disney World courtesy of Hanes.

March was quiet, but a lot of fun here at home.

Easter came in April, as well as finding Tiger Rock TaeKwonDo, and signing up with them .. TaeKwonDo for me, keeping my Black Belt, and Tiger Cubs for the girls. I jumped head-first into classes, and found my love for TKD hadn’t changed during the 14 year hiatus…

May brought the awesome Air Show at MCAS Cherry Point, where we got to watch the Blue Angels in all of their glory.

June was fun, with a trip to Bentonville to see Walmart’s Home Office, meet some of the people that make decisions there, and attend the Annual Shareholder’s Meeting. I learned a lot about Walmart as a company, and grew a greater respect for them.

July brought fireworks, beautiful sandy beaches, and a visit from my parents… or Meemaw & Peepaw to my girls… The girls turned 5… and we had so much fun showing them North Carolina..

In August, I went to BlogHer in NYC... What a time that was! I met some celebs, and got my fitness groove on with Skechers. August also brought the girls’ first day of school… Kindergarten.. the official OH EMM GEEE they’re growing up- smack in the gut. I cried.. I admit it.. I’m a baby… I cried that my babies are growing up.

In September, I started a new fitness endeavor… Kisado.. High Intensity Interval Training. Along with my TaeKwonDo.. I lost 4 inches... Yeah.. I’m getting there.

In October, we celebrated Daddy’s birthday.. and Halloween. The girls were so cute. A-chan was Belle, and V-chan was a Pumpkin Fairy… She made that one up all by herself.. and I went with it.

In November, we marched with Tiger Rock TKD in the Veteran’s Day Parade. We brought breakfast for everyone courtesy of Eggland’s Best, and it was a hit!

December brought a visit with Grandpa Mark, and Christmas, and SNOW! Yeah.. it’s been a fun year… and today.. well, today is my 32nd birthday. I’ve lived 32 years.. and they’ve been amazing.

I have so much to be thankful for, especially in 2010. An amazing family, great friends, and a career that I absolutely love. I can’t wait to see what 2011 has to bring. Cheers to all, and see you sometime next year!

明けましておめでとうございます

Happy New Year!!!