I’ve been Tagged

My friend Leigh over at Liable to Change tagged me, so as per being tagged, I am supposed to write 6 random things about myself. I’m trying to come up with random things you might not already know about me, but that’s hard but here’s my attempt!

1. My parents are still married to one another. In today’s society, that kind of makes me a minority. Most of the people that are my age, their parents are divorced. I know of a few other people my age who’s parents are still married.

2. Speaking of family, I only have one sibling – a brother named Andy. He lives a few hours away and gets to travel a lot for work. Noah’s middle name is after my brother and they are great buddies. Noah really looks up to his Uncle and Andy is sweet and brings Noah things whenever he goes somewhere neat. I think Noah’s favorite thing was the pictures of the baby rhinos Andy emailed him from San Diego.

3. I love any type of reality television. I’m not crazy about Survivor, but love Big Brother, The Apprentice, American Idol, America’s Got Talent, etc… (And even a few that I am embarrassed to admit that I watch!)

4. And I also love Food Network! I guess that is actually a form of reality TV too though, eh? I LOVE Paula Dean although her food isn’t the healthiest, she is a hoot to watch. I really like Rachel Ray too but most of her food is to spicey for me or too weird for J! The person who’s food I cook the most though is Sandra Lee from Semi Homemade. I love that it looks so pretty but really takes no time at all!

5. I was born and lived in Mississippi until I was 11. My Dad got a new job and we moved to the Carolinas not long after my 11th birthday.

6. I love to read. My Mom taught me to read when I was younger so when I was in the first grade, I skipped up a reading level. When I was younger, I could speed read. My Mom used to buy us books to read on the car ride to or from Mississippi and she’d have to put them up from me so I didn’t read them. The Babysitters Club were my favorite as a middle schooler! Nowadays though, I love to read books like the Chicken Soup for the Soul series as they are little short stories and since I don’t have huge blocks of time to read like I used to, I can read a short story and then put the book down and pick it up again when I have more time to read later on.

Ok, so now I am tagging the following:
Jen at Team Hulbert
Nicole at Holding on to Every Moment

 

 

 

Update

I’m here, still alive, just SUPER BUSY! Between the cards I make for Heartmark Designs and preparing for the Birthmother’s Day event that BIrthMom Buds is hosting this weekend as well as all my normal day stuff as a wife, Mom, and writer, I really haven’t had time to sit and blog which stinks because it is very therapuetic for me. I have some craft things as well as some Noah related things to share as soon as I have time. When things calm down a bit though, I will catch up!

 

We got a face lift!

The blog got a face lift today! What do ya think? I’m not 100 percent happy with it yet, but I’m tired so it will do for now and I’ll probably continue to tweak and play in the days to come.

It is nice and springy though, since it is officially spring now, whether it feels like it or not!

 

Let’s Party like it’s 1999!

Did you find this blog from the 5 Minutes for Moms Blog party list?? If so, that probably means like to party too, eh? This is the first year I have participated in one of the 5 Minutes for Moms Blog Parties so I guess that makes me a blog party virgin, doesn’t it?!? So welcome, if it is your first time here!

If you haven’t guessed by the title of this blog yet, I’m Coley. I’m Super Mom to Noah, an 11 year old little boy. Noah has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and is such a blessing in our lives! I never knew how much love my heart could hold until I heard that little boy call me Momma! I’m also a birthmom and an angel Mom. I live in the south, originally hailing from Mississippi.

I work from home by writing and doing other things in the adoption community. I began blogging over a year ago when I became a “professional” blogger writing about unplanned pregnancies and open adoption. I enjoy blogging so much that I finally decided to start a personal blog so I’d have a place to talk about things other than adoption. I talk about special needs children here a good bit as well as use it as a place to rant and reflect on my life and worldy events.

In what little spare time I have, I love writing, blogging, photography, crafting, and spending time with my family and friends. Leave me a comment with your blog URL, so I can come “meet” you and if you are regular reader yet have no clue what this blog party business is all about, go here to learn more.

 

American Idol: Brooke

I love American Idol and usually get into it each year. This year though I didn’t pay too much attention to it until they got down to the final top 12 contestants which was this week, so on Tuesday night I tuned in and watched the Top 12 compete for votes as they sang songs from Lennon McCartney Songbook.

I think I have a favorite: Brooke White! I already kind of liked her; she reminds me a great deal of Carrie Underwood. But, when she sat down at the piano and sang “Let it Be” I knew she was my favorite. Noah really liked her too – he likes it anytime he gets to watch someone play the piano!

Another one of the Idols sang while playing the guitar. I really like that they are letting them do things like that this year. It gives you more of an idea of what you might see from them if they “make it big.”

 

Praying for Patrick

If you follow celebrity gossip, you may have heard that Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer! I feel sad for this person that I don’t even know.

It also makes me feel old! Dirty Dancing, which is probably the movie that Patrick Swayze is most know for. came out in 1987. I was in the fifth grade and LOVED the movie. I mean come on, what girl my age didn’t at that time? Hot guy, pretty girl, romance, and dancing! The hairstyle that “Baby” (Jennifer Grey’s character in the movie) became really popular at that time and I already had my hair in that sort of bob style. That summer, I lived at the neighborhood pool in cut off jean shorts – just like Baby in the movie wore. I think I sorta resembled Baby at that age too – or at least I thought I did. I do remember that coming up into conversation at the pool with the neighborhood kids a time or two.

I, like many girls, had a huge crush on the dancing heart throb. I had a few pictures of him hanging on the wall in the dormer part of my room. I had a lot of blank space in the dormer of my room so that wall became the “wall of stars” and I put up posters of pictures of cute guys from my Teen Beat (haha!) magazine which included Patrick, Kirk Cameron, Scott Baio (who’s 46 and pregnant!), the Coreys, Ricky Schroder, and I’m really sure I’m forgetting others! So it just makes me feel old to think about one of the guys I had a huge childhood crush on has cancer!

 

New Cards

Some of you out there reading, may know that I have a line of cards that I make for Birthmom’s Day. I started doing this about three years ago. Making the cards is fun and takes some creativity. They usually sell pretty well so life gets kind of hectic at this time of the year.

I have been working hard the past few days trying to get everything ready so I could re-open Heartmark Designs on March 1st. I’ve added 10 new cards to the Bmoms Day line. I also added some new things to the site this year! Like a new page with cards (that were requested!) that are appopriate for birthmothers to give their children’s adoptive mother as well as a page with a few small gifts.

I invite you to check out Heartmark Designs!

 

This ticks me off!

This story out of Florida really ticks me off! If you haven’t heard or seen the clips on TV, a quadriplegic man (paralyzed from waist down) was DUMPED out of his wheelchair by a deputy police officer when he was arrested for some sort of traffic violation.

He was not being violent, but would not comply with the officer after she repeatedly asked him to stand up out of his wheelchair. He wouldn’t comply because he COULD NOT! He wasn’t being defiant, but he couldn’t do it because of his disability. The officer didn’t believe him so she goes behind the wheelchair and DUMPS him out on the cold, hard floor. Then, she goes on to search him while he is lying there on the floor!!

All of this was caught on the police department’s surveillance video camera. As if this wasn’t bad enough, several officers were around when this occurred and none said anything to the officer, to this man, or did anything at all. In fact, one even laughed! At this point, all involved have been suspended. I say FIRE THEM!!!!

As a mother to someone in a wheelchair, a friend to an adult in a wheelchair, and someone active in the special needs community, I’m outraged! Noah’s 11 and he’s already a speed demon in his wheelchair often racing and going as fast as he can, so the thought of Noah committing a traffic violation at some point in his life isn’t a far fetched idea. If he were to be arrested and someone did this to MY SON – oh my! I’m a nice girl until you mess with my kid! Then I kick bootie, take names, make a list, and KICK BOOTIE AGAIN!

 

Sick of Sickness

It seems like someone has been sick in our little family all the time lately. First, it was Noah’s seizures, then I was sick and now it’s been Noah again. He started feeling poorly on Friday – stayed home. Seemed a bit better Saturday but was worse Sunday so we took him to the dr. and of course, were there forever because going to the dr. on weekends is never quick! Now J isn’t feeling well and my ulcer is acting up! BLAH! I hate to whine on my blog, so I’m going to stop! Just wanted to let any regular readers (do I ever have any, haha!) know what was up!

 

For the Love of Pete…..

Ohmygosh People! I am so TIRED of hearing about Brittany Spears! Must this pop singer and her ordeals be in our news, the top news at that, every single day! Must they run a little blurb across the bottom of my screen telling me that she has been taken to the hospital in an ambulance yet again! Are there not more important things going on in our world – like politics, crime, gosh – I’d rather hear fluff stories than Brittany freaking Spears!

Sadly though, some people find her ordeal fascinating and continue to buy magazines that feature her, watch programs about her, etc. she is going to remain a top story because she is selling magazines and making the media money!

Ok, done venting for the day!

 

Dollywood USA

Birthday parties are too stressful for Noah and although we have attempted them each year, this year, it was really more for me, because as his Mother, I wanted to give him these big birthday parties but finally I decided ENOUGH is ENOUGH!

So, we gave him options and we ended up going to Pigeon Forge, TN. He was out of school on Friday for a Teacher Workday so we left as soon as J got home from work. It was such an amazing, relaxing time!! We were in the beautiful Smokey Mtns, saw amazing scenery, had a posh hotel with an indoor pool and hot tub. Although silly me, forgot her swimmie! Mainly though, we just enjoyed family time. We rode go carts, shopped (Ok, I shopped!), took pictures (Ok, again, I took pictures) and went to Dollywood.

Dollywood was probably Noah’s favorite activity. His new nickname is Fearless. That boy would ride the upside down roller coasters if I let him. He’s wild!!

 I’m in love with our family picture that they took when we went in the front gate.

The whole time while in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area I kept talking about this restaurant I used to go to there when I was younger and with my family that had the amazing chocolate chip pancakes. I’ve never had chocolate chip pancakes anywhere else other than Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. On our first ever trip away together, J and I went to Gatlinburg and ate at the same restaurant and you guessed – it I had chocolate chip pancakes. So I was sad thinking this trip I wouldn’t get them since Noah probably wouldn’t behave in such a crowded restaurant with such a long wait – sometimes you’d have to wait 2 hours for BREAKFAST! So Sunday morning, J wakes me up banging on the door because he couldn’t get the stupid key to work again and he had gotten up and gone and got me – yep you guessed it CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES! Do I not have the best husband in the whole world!!!

We didn’t want to come home! We are ready to go back!! I think we found a new favorite vacation spot.