Mama Dawg's Give Away, Part 2!

Whoo, hoo. There's this here Bloggie Give Away Carnival thing that's floating around. I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and throw my stuff out there. Hopefully something will hit!

As my regulars know, I make handmade beaded lanyards, glasses cords, necklaces and bracelets for sale. I have my own etsy shop and have posted about my products before.

Below are some samples of the lanyards I currently have for sale. These are perfect for that teacher in your kids life that is always losing their ID card or needs a place to hang their work keys while at work.

Great for office workers who also have ID badges and/or have a need for a place to hang their office keys.

To get more details, just click on Mama Dawg's etsy on the right side of my blog.

Now to the give away.

The winner will get either one lanyard that currently exists on my etsy or a custom created lanyard in the colors of your choice. If lanyards aren't your thing, you can always request something else in my shop.

This has up to a $25 dollar value.

In order to enter this contest, you can do one of the tasks listed below for one entry. If you do more than one, you get an extra entry. So, if you do all 3, you get 3 entries total!

1. Leave a comment telling me, "Hi! I love your blog. Your are the most talented of all dawgs in Mama Dawg Land and I wish I was as cool as you. " OR, you can just say "Hi!" Either one. I'm cool either way. I just thought I'd shake up the contest entries a bit.

2. Follow me.

3. Blog about this on your blog and post the link back here.

You need to list each entry separately in my comments.

Wait, there's more. If you can leave a comment with the links and/or names of some awesome Irish punk bands, I'll give you an extra 5 entries on top of your other entries. Why Irish punk bands? Cause they're my latest obsession. And it's my blog. I can do whatever I want. I already know about the Dropkick Murphys and the Flogging Molly's (both brilliant in their own right).

If you don't know any Irish punk bands, you can just leave a comment about your favorite artist/band. Either way, you'll get 5 extra entries.

Contest ends Friday, February 6th with the winner announced the following Monday!

Good Luck!

Open to US and Canadian residents only, unless otherwise specified. (I'm talking 'bout you, Kat)

Later,

Mama Dawg

Who Would You Do?

A good chilly good Monday morning to all of you! My weekend was nice and relaxed. I slept in on Saturday AND on Sunday. We watched lots of Buffy and ate some good food. I did a few odds and ends around the house, but for the most part, we didn't go anywhere. I loved it.

Here's your Monday morning jolt of revolting. Except this time, I got a decent one! Once again, "Who Would You Do?" (book by Susan Segrest). Enjoy!

Aren't you the lucky one? It can be hard to meet a nice guy and here you have more than a few good men. Men all hot and bothered for you. Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland are ready to do your bidding. But who will you pick? (a tip: try to let the others down easy, because word has it that this crew “can't handle the truth")

And as usual:

*Editor's Note---You HAVE to pick one of the choices. Even if you're a guy and the only choices are guys...same for girls...believe me, there are lots where it's only girls to choose from.

How was your weekend?

Later,

Mama Dawg

Friday Foto Fiesta Finish

Today's pics are New Orleans centered.

My favorite mode of transportation in New Orleans is the streetcar. We had the streetcar line running right behind our house.

I can remember when I first moved there, the sound of the streetcar running at night drove me CRAZY.

Then, I got used to it.

So much so, that when I moved out to the country and tried to sleep in the stillness that you can only get from not being within city limits, I discovered I desperately missed the sound of the streetcar.

Now, of course, I'm used to the stillness and love it.

But what I wouldn't give to hear that streetcar late in the night once more.

Here's a pic of the streetcar stop sign. You find one of these and just stand and wait til the next one comes along.



Here's two of them meeting at Calliope (pronounced Cal-e-o-pee) and St. Charles under I-10.

Here's the beginning of the streetcar line. I took this picture at the cross over on the neutral ground that took me down Sycamore Street. One block from where I used to live. This is where I used to catch the streetcar to take me downtown so I could drink all I want and not drive! It was so worth that $1.25 each way just for that reason alone.

This picture is on the outside wall of the Jewish Community Center on St. Charles. I love these birds. So peaceful.

This is my WTF? picture. This was taken in Metairie, LA which is a neighboring city to New Orleans.

And this is a house not too far from my old house that has been painted since we left.

Where is a homeowners association when you need one, eh?

If you want to join in on more foto fun, head on over to Candid Carrie's!

Later,

Mama Dawg

Spin Cycle

Aaaccckkk...I'm taking the plunge. I'm hooking up to the Spin Cycle hosted by Sprite's Keeper. To read more poems (good, bad and ugly) click on her name.

Instead of giving you a Mama Dawg original (I wrote really bad poetry in high school) I'll instead give you my favorite poem in the entire world.

I actually hate poetry. I don't connect with it at all. Well, not traditional poetry, but I do like songs which are poetry but to music.

Anyway, I digress.

Here's my favorite.

"Funeral Blues" by W.H. Auden:

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.

Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Yes, I know it's a poem about a lover.

However, if LOML were to ever die, I feel that a part of me would feel this way.

I would want to know why the world has not stopped turning. It should. It's only proper that the whole world grieves with me.

As a mother (or father), you know where I'm coming from.

I am not trying to make light of this. I know that there are those of you that read my blog that have lost a child. Whether in miscarriage, stillborn, a kid or an adult, the loss of a child is literally heartbreaking. No matter how it happened.

Like many, I was first introduced to this poem in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (one of my favs as well) when the character Matthew (played by the greatest actor ever, John Hannah) reads it at his lover's funeral.

It never fails to bring me to tears.

If you haven't seen this movie or this scene, I've got it below.

Enjoy!



Later,

Mama Dawg

Totally Unserious Post

This is a totally random photo post.

Why, you ask?

Cause I can.

Don't make me bust out the age old question about a dog and his balls. Seriously, don't.

I like this photo. It's a baby slug that landed on my shirt after I did some yard work. Isn't he sweet? Don't you just want to pinch his wittle cheeks?

Do slugs have cheeks? Are they some of the critters they do make-up testing on? If so, are there applicators tiny enough to swipe the cheeks? What season do you think a slug is?



On a totally non-make-up related issue.....the inner psychopath in me just wanted to dump a shitload of salt on him to watch him melt.

I'm going to hell for sure.


See, here's my punishment for that thought.

No, really, that's just a random Disney pic I had in a folder. Like my pirate bandana? I went pirate themed that day. Luckily that was the day I got to see the Pirate Tutorial. I was ready, y'all.

Unfortunately, no one told me they only pick kids for the tutorial. I wasted all that pirate lovliness for nothing.

Pirates suck.

No they don't. They rule.

Hey, you know what would be cool? An Irish pirate! Even better, a female Irish pirate! I'd call her Molly. And she'd have red hair and a big bosom. And a laugh like a drunk lumberjack. And I'd be her parrot sidekick.

That would be cool.

Remember when I told you I know how to shop?

Yeah, I wasn't lying.

This past weekend, Old Navy was having a sale that gave you 50% off the lowest clearance price.

The most I paid was $6.50 for a pair of suede shoes for LOML. The least I paid was $1 for a pair of shorts.

This entire lot pictured below is worth, at full retail price without tax, $130.50.

Guess what I paid? Guess.

Seriously, play along here. Guess.

Nope.

No to that, too.

I paid $28.25 before tax.

How's that for shopping? It's a pair of shorts, a skort, a skirt, 2 shirts, a tank top, a summer sweater tank and two pairs of shoes.

Yeah, I rock.

Later,

Mama Dawg

The One Where I Lose Half My Followers & Piss Off My Neighbor Who Reads This Blog

*Clarification......this is based on MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES that I PERSONALLY have had with several churches of two different denominations. This is NOT AIMED at ANY AND ALL religions and churches. I don't presume to assume that all religions are the same when it comes to their views and ideals. Having said that, this post is not about YOU. It's about ME and my realization that I was WRONG. Let's not forget that this is what this post is about.

You know, I’ve posted on here before that I’m not a deep person.

And I still stand by that.

I’ll tell you why.

Every time I have these deep meaningful thoughts, they fall to shit by the time I’m done.

Case in point.

I’m not a religious person. At all. I have major doubts about God, the Bible, the whole shebang.

But what really chaps my ass is organized religion.

Yes, as mentioned on here before, I attend church.

I go pretty much every Sunday.

But…I mostly go because of my daughter.

She’s expressed an interest in church. I suspect it’s mostly because of Sunday school and not the sermon at 11.

However, I’m willing to take her every Sunday until she gets to the age where she can make an INFORMED decision about religion and beliefs and church attendance.

It’s my job as a mom to make sure she’s well rounded. Other than a Methodist church in town, our religious choices are slim to none.

It’s a nice church. I know several people in the congregation. They’re good people. You won’t find me complaining about them on here.

I even like Bro. D. He’s a nice guy.

Now, church is a voluntary activity. It’s not mandatory in order to, well, be an active member of the community. It’s helpful, but not mandatory. You don’t get in trouble for not attending (I’m talking legally here, folks, not religiously).

And, if you live in a tiny southern REPUBLICAN town, a majority of the folks that you interact with on a daily basis are of the same mind when it comes to their politics.

With the inauguration happening today, a topic that was broached at church on Sunday was to pray for the new President (and my mind interpreted the tone of this being said, not the words, as to mean they want to pray for his heathen pagan soul, not a general “make everything work out OK” prayer).

Now, I’m real prickly when it comes to separation of church and state. Religion doesn’t belong in the White House and the White House doesn’t belong in church.

Back when the election was going on, there was some talk up at the pulpit about the Democratic nominee. Nothing outright was said, but you could tell what he WASN’T saying and you could see heads nodding in agreement in the pews.

I was thisclose to getting up and walking out the door. But, I chose not to make a scene.

This past Sunday, I had a feeling something might be said in regards to Tuesday’s festivities and history making occasion.

And, I wasn’t wrong…but I wasn’t right either. Nothing big was said and my hackles laid down and rested from being raised for so long.

But, it got me to thinking.

This is one of the reasons I don’t like organized religion.

The incredible feeling of moral superiorority.

It’s their way or the highway.

No tolerance for other religions.

The incessant need to gather more and more followers (sounds kind of like blogging, eh?) and to convert non-believers.

I’m a huge proponent of letting people believe what they want to believe. I’m a big believer that no one religion is right OR wrong.

It drives me insane and I can’t stand it that they are not tolerant of others. I dislike people like that.

And then…..I actually listened to my thoughts and realized…I’m just like them.

I’m sitting there in the pew feeling all morally superior because I have tolerance for others.

When in reality, the joke was on me the whole time. Cause I was sitting there judging them for THEIR beliefs.

How fucked up is that?

So, from now on….no more deep thoughts.

Or if I have any, I’ll make sure to spin them so I rival Jack Handey.

Hanging Head In Shame,

Mama Dawg

Who Would You Do?

It's a lovely Monday morning once again (ever notice they're kinda like sunrises...inevitable?) and time for your Monday Morning "Who Would You Do?" (book by Susan Segrest).

I took pity on all of you and gave you a semi-good one. I say semi cause Meggie's not looking too hot these days. Not Courtney Love nasty, just over injected.

Would you rather be Meg Ryan's secret sex slave (but she never acknowledges you in public) or Julia Robert's man about town (including her date to the Oscars) but not get any action with her between the sheets?

And as always:

*Editor's Note---You HAVE to pick one of the choices. Even if you're a guy and the only choices are guys...same for girls...believe me, there are lots where it's only girls to choose from.

Have a good Monday, y'all!

Later,

Mama Dawg

Good Saturday Morning!

Good Saturday morning to all of you!I had some more housecleaning to do, so....off we go!

First off, Light of My Life has gotten the jewelry making bug from her mama.

Santa brought her a bunch of jewelry making stuff and she's been working like a demon.

She's decided that she wants to put it up on etsy to sell. I told her I would make her her own etsy shop to sell her wares.

When I asked her what she was going to do with the money she makes, she told me (and no joke here, all her ideas) that she is going to put half towards her Disney money (we're hopefully going in May) and the other half in her savings account.

I am so proud of her.Anyway, here's the link to her shop. There's also a few pics for you to view.








I also received an award from someone that I WOULD LOVE TO MEET in real life. I "met" her through a RL friend who also blogs. Small world, huh? Anyway, she's awesome. She just had a baby a few months ago. She also has killer recipes on her blog.




Here's the rules for this one:

Here's the Friend Bloggy Award Scoop:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Wow. So cool. Thanks again Lisa over at Growing Up Mo' for the beautiful award.

I'll have to think on this one and get back to you guys.


Then, Diane over at Good Mourning, Glory tagged me with this:

Go to my fourth folder & pick out the fourth picture. No cropping or editing allowed. Here it is.

This is a picture of LOML and her cousin whom she met for the very first time a few weeks ago. This is my cousin's child. They hit it off right away. I have more pics from this trip, but haven't posted about it yet. I love their rosy cheeks and you can see the windswept hair.

That's all I got today, folks. We're heading to the big city for some birthday shopping (my mom's b-day was Thursday) and dinner. Plus a little Chuck E Cheese for LOML and her friend. I think I'm more excited about Chuck E Cheese than they are!


Later,

Mama Dawg

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta

This week, LOML's school had their reading fair. It's not mandatory for any of the grades in the elementary school except for 4th grade. However, LOML loves to read and really wanted to participate. She participated last year and won second place for the whole second grade individual division. She was pleased as punch. She got a trophy and a ribbon and couldn't have been happier.



This year, she chose to do her project on The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler. It's a wonderful book (I had to read it so I knew how to help her). She really enjoyed the book and she had so much fun working on her project.

She entered her board in the individual category which means minimal help from anyone. The only help I gave her on this board was the spray painted background, I had to help her cut her mermaid tail cause it was too hard (it was that thick foam poster board) and I had to do all the hot gluing.

Otherwise, it's all hers!

Here she is with her ribbon looking pleased as punch. Oh, and I should mention...she took 2nd place AGAIN! I'm so proud of her. She did a bang up job and she's pleased with herself as well.

Here's the board by itself so you can see it in all it's glory.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures. Not because there's anything great about the shot. You can't really see LOML's face or anything.

However, this is her "boyfriend". You will notice how they're not standing near each other, but they are in each other's periphial. While she was "studiously" looking at the other projects, he would walk up and down the aisle next to hers and look at her out of the corner of his eyes. He'd catch me looking at him every once in a while and would duck his head in shyness. LOML knew of his presence the entire time but acted surprised when she saw him right next to her at one point.

I caught this picture so you could see what I'm talking about. I could never get one where he was watching her. Maybe next time.

Just for the record, these two have been "boyfriend and girlfriend" since almost the beginning of second grade. That's when we moved up here. He laid claim to her almost the minute she walked in the door. She's gotten a watch from him for her birthday last year and this year at Christmas, he gave her a Hannah Montana silver heart necklace. My kid's 8 and she's already gotten more presents from a boyfriend than I ever did! This kid likes her so much. I mean, I've never seen an 8 year old boy like a girl as much as he does her. He talks to her (sometimes) and if we're out in public, he'll actually come up to her and talk to her.

One time, we were in a city that's about an hour away. It was before Christmas and we were in the mall. We had just finished eating lunch and were making our way to Claire's (of course) when we ran into him. I backed off and let them have some privacy but they actually stood there and talked for about 10 minutes. It was the sweetest thing.

Anyway, if you wanna join in on more Foto Fun, click on over to Candid Carrie's.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Sacred

As most of you know, I got sucked into Facebook. I "befriended" lots of people. Most of them are from high school but a few are my new found bloggy friends.

I've enjoyed seeing what everyone from high school as grown into. And by that, I mean either their careers or their family life. And for some, their political parties. Those make me laugh the most.

However, I've really reconnected with two people that I considered to be my closest friends while living in Florida.

One of them is Jenny, who knew me in high school. We probably met in middle school, but didn't become friends til our Freshman year in high school. However, once we became friends, it was hard, fast and furious. Our friendship, I mean. We clicked and bonded and giggled and dreamed for 3 years.

We grew apart our senior year. She was heavily involved in Drama and by that time, I didn't give a crap anymore about school. I still had my activities, but by then, I was just going through the motions. There was no fight, no falling out. Just a gradual decline of the friendship. Very organic.

We briefly connected a few years ago but other than a couple of Christmas cards, nothing happened.

When I got on Facebook, we found each other again. And I swear, it's like no time has passed. We've both grown. In different directions, but we've both grown. I am enjoying getting to know her as an adult.

The other person that I've reconnected with and which has pleased me to no end is my friend Mimi. I've posted about her before. She's a trip.

Mimi and I met when I worked at Disney. I started working there when I was 17 and the day I turned 18, we were out in the clubs. Dancing our fool asses off and living it up like only an 18 and 19 year old can. We hit every club that we heard about. We danced and laughed and lived.

We became tight real fast. She was the first friend that I actually said "I love you" to. Before her, I knew that I loved my friends, but never said it. Because, well, we were in high school. She was the sister I always wanted and never had. I told her things I had never told anyone before. We had experiences that I had never had before. I took my first road trip with her.

We moved in together and life happened. We disconnected and moved our separate ways. Years later, through the magic that is the Internet, we found each other again. It was great but we only half heartedly stayed in touch. I was busy with an infant and still new to the whole Internet thing. She was busy going through life stuff and trying to raise 2 boys. We lost touch but amicably.

With FB in the picture, we found each other again. And it's different this time. This time, we have time for each other. We are not just doing the same old BS on Facebook. You know, the "how have you been" and "oh, such a sweet family" stuff. We are talking like we used to. Making each other laugh. Making plans to meet up this spring and maybe do a trip together in the late summer. We're really making an effort to re-connect.

I'm feeling all these warm fuzzies and my heart is happy.

I know you're probably wondering where all this is going, aren't you?

During all these conversations I've been having with these two friends, I have discovered how they viewed me during that time that we were younger.

When you're in high school, you really don't care what your friends think of you. You're friends. You don't need to know what they think of you. If you didn't like each other, you wouldn't be friends.

So, I never had any clue what their perceptions of me were back then.

A few comments here and there during some conversations have brought to light what they thought of me back then.

And it makes me want to weep.

For joy. And I love them for it. For seeing in me who I really am. For seeing in me the person I always wanted to be.

They saw confidence. They saw a free-spirit. And even back then, they saw someone who really didn't care what others thought of me. They saw that spark.

I was never a traditionally pretty girl. When you saw me, you didn't think "Wow, what a stunner". But, there was something always there. Some little spark.

I never saw this of course. I'm going by what others told me.

The other thing I've discovered is that I knew who I was all along. Even through high school and those early adult years.

I had this guy friend in high school. His name was Chris. He is a Native American.

He made me this lovely Indian medicine bag. He told me to put sacred items of mine inside. They would help to keep me calm and centered.




So, I did. When I was 16 or 17, these are the items that I put inside.

I had forgotten about this little bag, but when I was reliving some memories last night, I remembered it. I pulled it out and opened it up.

Inside were the following items:

The ring you see on the left is a ring that an ex-boyfriend gave to me. He was the only guy in high school that I dated for more than 2 weeks. We actually dated for 2 months. We met while on the track team and I fell head over heels for the guy. He was on a club soccer team and they went to England. While in England, he bought me some presents. These were actually the first AND last gifts I got from a boyfriend. He got me a teddy bear, but he also got me this lovely ring that has an Irish saying on it. Don't ask me again what it says. It's in Gaelic. I wore it until we broke up. After Chris made me this medicine bag, I had healed from the break up enough to recognize that I would appreciate this when I got older. So, in the bag it went.

The next item is a Canadian penny. I can not, for the life of me, remember why this is significant. But, at one time in my life, it was.

The next item is an alexandrite and gold ring from my childhood. It was my first piece of real jewelry and was given to my by my mother.

The next item is an alexandrite and gold earring. The mate is missing. They were one of the first pairs of real gemstone and gold earrings I got when I got my ears pierced. Again, they were a present from my mom.

The next item is a shell. No clue on the back story to that one. But, it must have meant something at one time.

The last item is what brings this bag and the reconnection to my old friends together.

It's a folded up piece of paper. When I opened it up, this is what I found:

At age 16, I knew enough to believe in myself. To write it down.

To make it sacred.

Later,

Mama Dawg