Blog roll and hello!!

I finally updated our blogroll. I added a ton of people so check it out. I also am alive just been very sick and am still recovering. I finally pulled it together and have an appointment with a new Rheumatologist so hopefully we get to fixing things. Phew!! I should be back to posting regularly unless I have a health setback.

My new baby

So, I went shopping today. Nothing unusual about that, right? Well, kind of. I went shopping for my first handgun. I walked into the store and zeroed right in on this little guy. Cute, right? Yeah, I thought so too. I liked it before I saw the name, then I loved it! Hubby tried to talk me into something much bigger but there would be no way for me to conceal carry with it unless I just stuck it in my purse. I am not real fond of that idea, I rummage around in my purse and if I ever needed to use it, I would never be able to draw it in time. The guy behind the counter pulled out both the Zombie Slayer and the bigger gun for me to try. I was right, the big gun was too big for me to handle comfortably. Then I tried the cute little Zombie gun (I still LOVE the name!) Dang it! The grip was too small to hold comfortably. Good bye Zombie Slayer, I wish it would have worked out for us, we are just not compatable. :(

Hubby asks the guy behind the counter if he has any Smith and Wesson Bodyguards in stock. They didn't. They are ALWAYS back ordered he said. He did have one that was already bought for someone else though and brought it out for me to see. It fit my hand like a glove. This is the one. The name is not nearly so cool, but obviously that is not what's important. The Bodyguard is small and compact and would be easy to conceal. It fits my hand well and I think I will really like this gun. I will post pics as soon as it comes in.

SOPA / PIPA - The protest

As most know there is legislation out there that threatens the very point of this blog and others. It threatens free speech. We will be going dark to protest along with many others. For info look in our side bar now. A few of our linked friends have posts up. Our black screen will also have a link. See you on the flip side.

Do you suffer from this disease?

Negativity.

Yup. I think it is a disease. I think that negative thoughts are poison. They fill you up to the point that they poison everything in your life and before you know it all you have around you are negative things and people.

I have to admit that I let this take root with me to a certain point. I love my brother-in-law. I love his children. They have been hit with some rough hits and honestly they are allowed to hurt over it. The thing it they have so much negative thoughts and feelings that it has swallowed them up. I honestly don't blame them. I have seen their devastation first hand. My issue is that Hubby and I have absorbed that negative energy to a point and let it drag us down as well.

For those who know me well I am the positive one. Sunshine and rainbows. If I get depressed it never lasts for long because I am to positive to let it. Stress brings out even more positivity. I see the problem and I battle it. I look for the solution and kick it back until I win and my family is okay. I forgive much, I love with everything I am, I try to have a smile or a kind word for people.

Or at least I did. We have had my BIL and his teens here for over a year now. Recently I went out of town with the girls to see my mom and sister and two of my husband's sisters. While I was their a couple things came to my attention though no one said anything to me really. 1- I had picked up a few bad habits from the live ins that i wasn't thrilled about and hadn't noticed and 2- I was not nearly as positive as I knew I usually was.

Picking up habits is normal but honestly isn't something that thrilled me. So hubby and I made a commitment to get back on track. We vowed to stop cussing. This was a huge one for me to pick up. I was the anti-cuss chick. For me it was only in majorly angry situations that a cuss words would pass my lips, especially after Bug was old enough to talk. Gracie and Mags can attest to my creative anti-cussing, hehe. We have also made sure to really step in if the girls are being parented by the teens or BIL that is in a way contrary to what we want. We had been going with a "No harm, No foul." type rule. They were trying to be helpful, especially with Monkey, and if it wasn't completely against our values we weren't going to make a fuss. We have realized though that the teens really seems to not only encourage but teach pretty inappropriate things. I think Hubby thought it was funny at first, when she was too little to really get it. Now though she is getting it and it can be harmful, so we are putting our feet down.

We also made the commitment to be more positive and encourage that in the girls. To compliment them when they do good and encourage them. We say "I love you "  a lot in our house. I think because Hubby and I didn't hear it a lot so we say it often, to each other and to the girls. It is so important to have that feeling flow in a house. I also have been trying to  ignore the negativity of the others. I have pulled back from the teens. They do not want me to parent them or give input so I am not going to. All it does is add to the negativity in that they treat me pretty horribly unless they want something. I doubt they even realize it most of the time so to just erase that negative influence I am doing my own thing more again. Hubby had a shift change so is not around as much which means I do my thing with the girls and go off on my own in my room or office and just let them be.

I guess the moral of all of this rambling is that negativity can do a lot of damage but when you make an effort to combat it and let in the positivity that honestly surrounds you your life improves so much. I feel better even though I have been sick and sleeping horribly. My emotional health is peaceful and so much more calm. I feel that returned by my guy and the girls and take great joy in that. I think that keeping that spirit in our house is a huge thing because if TSHTF having a positive mindset could very much save us.

Parvo

I have been fostering a litter of bottle fed pups. Their mother was hit by a car and killed when they were only a few days old. This weekend I had to go to a family function in Utah. The pups all seemed healthy and full of energy...until Saturday morning, the morning I left. I called my friend who was going to be taking care of them for me and let her know that one of the boys seemed just a little off and would she please keep an eye on him. She stopped in later that morning and all was well. But when she came over that evening, Paris the only female was not doing well at all. She was refusing to eat or drink. She force fed her a little bit of rice and chicken and got her to drink a little bit of water and went home. Yesterday she came over in the morning and found Paris dead in the crate. Bernie and Royal were lethargic and weak. She bundled all three boys up and rushed them to the vet. Today I picked up the third puppy, Mario who smells of Parvo but has no symptoms at all. He is happily romping through my house while his brothers fight for their lives at the vet office. We will know tomorrow if they will make it or not.

I was not so attached that I couldn't have given them to new families, but to have them die in my care is devastating. All I can do now is hope and pray and snuggle the one who seems to be ok.

I feel sorry for the anti-gun crowd.

After our candlelight vigil on the 8th there has been a lot of back and forth on the web. Joan Peterson (yes the link goes to her post) and others of the anti-gun community were not thrilled by our effort to hold a vigil for the victims of violence. There has been lashing out at many of the bloggers we all love and read.

Do you know what gets me? The sheer sadness of it all. Truly. When it comes to wanting to see less victims we are on the same side. The difference is that some have let their hatred of an object obscure any other thing.

I think we can all agree that horrible things happen to people who don't deserve it. Scary terrible things. Every day lives are lost senselessly. Our goal has never ever been to take away from any victim the trauma they went through. It has been to empower them. If you have read our blog for long then you know that my posts have only really entered the realm of  gun blogging over the last year. I am fairly new too this. Even having a very close call with an armed gunman didn't immediately change my views. I came to this pretty gradually but once I did I embraced it and I read everything I could. I asked questions. The more I discovered the more empowered I felt and the more I wanted to share that with others. I learned that this community is all about protecting people. It is about helping someone defend themselves.

So I am sad. I am sad that hatred for an object that is just metal and sometimes plastic can create so much discord. Demeaning those who do something to protect themselves in a way different than you does nothing but make you out to be a jerk. Making those who faced the demon and came out alive and then decided they were going to up their personal odds out to be some sort of villain is as shameful as the accusations being hurled around. I know that pain and loss and violence have touched lives on both sides of that fence. The difference is that we want EVERY person to have the choice and the right to protect themselves irregardless of the violence they meet and you are so blinded by the object that the victims that are trying to talk to you get nothing back but hurtful words. If you care about victims then LISTEN. Truly listen.

People like Jennifer and A Girl and yes even Weer'd are trying to tell you that there is more to the story than the object. 

So......yeah.

So I pissed off an assistant principle today. I also let him know in no uncertain terms that I will not put up with his crap.

He called to tell me that he was giving Crash a full day of detention over yesterdays issue. I asked him to call the teacher and get his schoolwork for the day because I was taking him home. He thought that was a bad idea, (shocker, right?) and asked if we could sit down and talk about this situation. I told him that would be a good idea but I couldn't do it today because Hubby would want to be there and he had just gotten home from a night shift.

I went to the school to pick up Crash. The assistant principle never even came out of his office. I was standing three feet away from his open door when I asked if I needed to sign my son out. I even said Crash's name (which is almost as distinctive as his nickname) so he would know I was there.

When I got out to the car my son told me that he had said to him "Wow, your mom is cranky!"

I called the school and asked to speak to Mr so and so. He wanted cranky, he got cranky. I asked him if he seriously just said that in front of my son. He backpedaled saying "No, ma'am, I did not!" Now I don't know what was said, I wasn't there. All I know is that the word cranky is not one my son usually uses. He could have made it up to get back at the guy, or he could have actually heard it. No matter, I wanted the guy to know I wasn't going to roll over on this.

We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon to make sure we are "all on the same page".

Now, I don't have any problem with my kids getting punished for something they did wrong. But in this case, he did nothing wrong other than forget that his teacher had asked him not to do something. I am not going to let ANYONE walk on my kids like that. Not going to happen.

He got in trouble for WHAT!?

So after a long crazy day involving a (mock) disaster complete with helicopters, ambulances and fire trucks, and a rogue mountain lion (for real), I went to pick my sons up from school. I was also picking up a neighbor kid because his mother didn't want him walking home with a mountain lion on the loose. I went into the office at school to inform them about the cat so they could inform the bus drivers when I saw a pair of feet that looked.....familiar. I leaned around the parent in front of me and was met with the sheepish grin of my middle son.

Me: "What the heck are you doing in here?"

Crash: "I got into trouble."

Me: "AGAIN?"

Crash: nods

I had to go find the neighbor kid before he got on the bus so I told Crash he was in big trouble and went down the hall to find Spike and the neighbor boy. (He needs a nickname too as he is over all the time).

When I got back to the principles office, Crash and I went in and sat down. Here's where the story gets ridiculous.

The principle proceeds to tell me how my son had formed a gun with his thumb and finger and (gasp!) used it like a gun! His teacher asked him to stop and he did. A few hours later, he did it again this time using the desk for cover. He informed me that Crash had insisted that over the course of a few hours he had forgotten. (So.....?) The principle didn't believe that he could have forgotten in just a few short hours.

I just stared. I didn't know what to say. For one, IT WAS HIS FINGERS! That is almost the first toy a little boy ever comes up with. Seriously!? Two, my son can't remember what he was told to do five minutes ago and he was surprised that he didn't remember after three hours?

I asked if he was disrupting the class and was given the run around and told the same story. How he shot, stopped, forgot and shot again. The principle will call me tomorrow to let me know his punishment. If he gives Crash detention, I swear I am going to go get him. I don't think he should be punished for something all kids do, especially boys, as long as it wasn't disrupting the class. I just think this is stupid. Am I over reacting? I honestly don't think I am but then again, I tend to go Mother Bear when someone is picking on my kids.

Since when does killing someone mean people should feel sorry for YOU?

Okay I love my CNN Justice News. I have thought Van der Sloot was a murdering coward since his involvement in Natalee Holloway's case. The guy changed hs story more than a tabloid. He confessed and took it back. He tried to blackmail the family.

Then Peru. A girl is murdered on the anniversary of Natalee's disappearance. She in in his hotel room and they had been seen entering together. He is found days later on the run crossing a border. Then he goes to jail and it takes ages to get him brought on charges. He refuses to acknowledge what he did. Now today he enters a guilty plea and his lawyer begs the court to consider HIM and all he has been through in their sentence because he doesn't deserve a harsh sentence.

WTF? Forget that there is no life in prison for this. There is no death penalty. Already Peru's system is lenient to killers. Now he wants more leniency. He brutally killed Stephany Flores. He admits it but claims some sort of weird PTSD because of the scrutiny on him over Natalee.

Well you POS you BLACKMAILED the Holloway family, you admitted to killing her on tape, you kept yourself in that spotlight by bringing things up concerning her constantly. BS to any sort of trauma or stress. You are a killer of women and I really hope that civilian justice is more lethal that the legal system there and someone at least teaches you what it feels like to be a victim.

Ahhhhhh....... I know I am probably a bit harsh in the thought but it really gets to me when someone who is a predator tries to play the victim. He may have admitted guilt but asking for lenience based on his own stress and horrible life belittles Staphany was put through. She deserves justice. Her family deserves to see the man who killed their loved one suffer for what he did.

No more negativity.... "Guns saving lives - Nevada Style"

So I had my little "Gun Death" posts inspired by Weer'd but limited to local stories. I posted only a couple. Not for lack of stories but honestly because it was so dang depressing. This area is full of violence. Vegas was ranked as one of the worst for crime in the country recently. Ick!!!

I decided I wanted to highlight stories that show where a gun saved lives locally. We have those too!! So no more negativity!!! I give you my new positive series. "Guns saving lives - Nevada Style"

Robbery attempt and shooting at pawn shop surprises neighbors.

That one left the robber dead and the shop worker unharmed!!! Score a point for us!!!

Homeowner packing heat: burglar "lucky" to be alive

This one left the burglar one lucky duck. The gun wasn't fully loaded. Still saved the homeowner though! Those are the two most recent. I plan to post them as they happen from now on. Sometimes we only have a moment to defend ourselves and I would rather have the force to truly put the odds in my favor than just the hope we get out of it okay.

 Guns Save Lives!!!