I thought my stalker had moved on. It's been months since he's been seen around my place, but apparently we've relaxed too soon. Two weeks ago I discovered my car was stolen. It was recovered a couple of days later. This morning I go out to go to work and my car's gone again! The days my car were stolen on, holds a special significance for my stalker & he would not have been happy. He's messed with my car before, but he's never gone as far as this. I have to get away from this lunatic without having to give up my life like a did before. I

Just checking in...

Things are going pretty good. I am still searching for full-time employment. This part-time thing just isn't getting it done for me. I want to buy another car and move by early next year, but that will only happen if I get a better job and get some money in the bank. I'm accepting prayers in that department.
My "stalker" is gone. There has been no contact in over a year, but he has been seen driving by my place. Along with his girlfriend and her son, it's a whole family of crazies, which is why I want to move. My restraining order expires next year, and because I have proven that I will have a fool arrested, it has keep them at arm's length, but I need to be long gone when they have the freedom to come back around.
My kiddo's are getting so big. Lady Day turns 12 in a couple of weeks and will probably be taller than me within a year. At 5'6" I'm the shortest one in a family of giants. Bubba is steady losing teeth and acting right in school, even being named Student of the Month and given Kujichagulia awards (they attend a school that focuses on Africentric culture). He is currently suffering from Nintendo-itis, since he has played the DS or GameBoy non-stop for days. AJ is growing into a pensive little thing. A boy after my own heart, but if I have to watch another Pokeman video, someone may not make it out alive! Bear should have been named Dennis the Menace because my days are spent undoing everything he does. The Poet should have been named Baby Bear. Not only does she look just like him, but she shouts for joy when he wakes up each morning and follows him around all day.

OBAMA WON!!!! I still get teary eyed when I think about it.

Bristol Palin named her son Tripp. Why do they curse these boys with such names? What's next? Triangle?

And now we find out that her 17-year old daughter is 5 months pregnant?! You have got to be kidding me. What happened to the "moral majority" who blasted Brittany's little sister (can't remember her name) for being such a bad role model? Where was the forgiveness then? Wasn't it clever how she was almost always hiding her tummy by holding Trig? Granted Bristol's not running for office, but I watched CNN last night amazed when it was dismissed as a "childhood mistake" and everyone needs to stop making such a big deal about it. While you're pregnant it's a mistake, once you have that baby, it is no longer a mistake, it's a lifetime commitment. Shame on these people for wanting to dismiss it like it's no big deal. Teenage pregnancy (and the shotgun wedding to follow) is a huge deal and I just think it would be respectable to say, this girl screwed up, but let's not hold her mother responsible. Except I bet mommy's re-thinking that abstinence only and no sex in schools thing, huh?

I'm mad that she named her daughter Bristol anyways. And I pray that Track and Trig are just nicknames. My friend and I had this discussion the other night. Do parents really not care what they name their kids, or the nicknames they use? I have nicknames for all 5 of my kids. I do not use them in public. I don't want AJ to abandon me in the old folks home one day because I called him Tootie Booty in public. My neighbor calls her son Fat Fat. He's not fat, it's just what she called him as a baby and it stuck. Cute at home, not cute in public. And I was flipping through the channels and there was a lady who called herself Pokey Jones. What? If you can buy a beer in a bar, it's not cute to refer to yourself as Pokey, or Peaches, or Honey Bear. And be mindfull of initials. I don't have to know her to guarentee Piper Palin was called "Pee Pee" in school.
And to my friend who named her son Teddy Graham Jones, no one's amused but you, and yes, I'll share my magazines my kids bring me to the old folks home because ol' Teddy Graham is still bitter from years of childhood torture.

People have been testing my Christianess--and, yes, that's a word in Ebony's world.
I've been in a foul mood, as if my last post didn't tip you off to that. Here's why. I'm may have mentioned it before, but I work for a temp agency. Great way of getting back into the business world after my husband and I separated and I was pregnant. The flexibility was what I needed with frequent pre-natal visits and then baby check-ups, start of school, etc. Since I started temping I've become the go-to person for a certain company. I enjoy working here, it's a very laid-back atmosphere, the people are nice, the work is good, and the benefits can not be beat. Besides excellent health benefits, during Christmas, the office closes for a week, and that's time-off with pay. A paid week off, in addition to regular vacation, sick leave and personal days? Oh, I'm in. They love me here. So much so that when my agency sends me on another assignment it's with the understanding that if this company calls me, I will leave that job and come here. They will accept no one else. The position became open and of course I submitted my resume. Everyone from the janitor to the president of the company encouraged me to submit my resume. They (I say "they" but it's really just one lady who's new to the company) interviewed 2 people and find her woman. I'm sure you can guess that it wasn't me. I suspect it was someone she knew. By the time anyone knew what was going on, she had this lady hired. I was upset because I need benefits for my children, but I'm confident that God knows best and there's a reason why I didn't get this job. The woman can't look me in the eye, and actually enters and exits through a different door in order not to pass me. Obviously she's not feeling right and I wouldn't want to work under her anyways. Now here's the testing my Christianess part: They asked me if I could stay and train the new hire. What?! I'm not good enough for the job, but I'm good enough to train the person you hired instead? Lord, give me strength. No matter how good it feels, violence never turns out good in the end.

And since I'm in a ranting frame of mind, can I just say that someone should have told Aretha by now. I love me some Aretha Franklin. I have mad respect for her, but when she gained all that weight and showed up in public in spaghetti straps I looked the other way. I'm no fashion icon myself and everyone's entitled to look a hot mess on occasion, but come on. Y'all saw the Grammy's right? Is Aunt Re letting "Cracked Out Whitney" tell her that she looks good in spaghetti straps? I thought these people had professional's dressing them.

I've been reading alot of mom blogs lately and I'm always amazed by the way parents (mothers especially) think. Sometimes we give ourselves way too much credit and other times not enough. One lady lamenting about spanking her son and the message it sends. Does she really believe that her swatting her son on his behind is teaching him how to hit? He didn't know how to hit before then? I doubt that. Maybe what she's teaching him is that there's a line he might not want to cross again. And that's okay. I don't advocate giving your child a beat down every time they step out of line, but I don't see anything wrong with a quick swat. Nanny 911 be darn, I'm not wasting my time trying to reason with a 2 year old.
A breastfeeding site praised Mayor Bloomberg for cutting out the free samples women receive in hospitals after giving birth. What? And that's a good thing because? That's all good for women that do breastfeed (and it is the healthiest option for mommy and baby and I really encourage it), but what about the women that can't? When it became clear that I couldn't nurse my daughter and son, that free sample really helped out, especially with my daughter when I didn't have the money to buy the formula. It held me over until I was able to get to the WIC office. Even with my daughter now, whom I'm currently nursing. AJ, my 3 year old, split his head open and I had to rush him to the ER, I was able to grab that sample can of formula to leave with my neighbor.
One forum was discussing whether or not celebrities (specifically Amy Winehouse with her recent Grammy wins) were a bad influence on children. Here's an idea: Why don't you be an influence on your children and not worry about those celebrities. I don't shield my kids from much of anything. My mother didn't shield us, and my sister at 20 was the youngest one of us (my siblings and cousins) to have a baby. I grew up watching anything I wanted on TV and at the movies (I remember going to see rated R movies at the drive-in with my family when I was still in elementary school). My mother's message was very clear, "I don't care what you see other people doing, this is what does and does not go down in my house. When you get grown, you can make your own rules, but as long as my money put food on your plate, this is what you're going to do." End of story. When my kids start to buck the system, I go to my desk and hand them a bill. They already know that means that if they plans on changing my rules, they have to pay a bill. Every situation is a learning opportunity. Everything you say sticks with them. It's when you go to college, not if. My daughter asked me once if I knew that some people don't go to college. I told her that yes, I did know this; however, "some people" don't live in my house. When we heard about Jamie Lynn Spears getting pregnant, Lady Day (who just turned 11 and is already a little sage) said that she's crazy because "First of all, she don't have no husband and that's just wrong, and no matter how much money you got, it sucks having to take care of a baby all the time. I hate watching my brothers and sisters." Mind you, she only has to watch them while I'm taking a shower, or using the bathroom, or whatever, but that little bit has taught her a little about the responsibilities involved with having a baby. She ain't having it, no matter what she sees others doing.
Then I read about women who get all bent out of shape because they can't do something that they really wanted to do. Well, they just piss me off. So what if you had to have C-Section? I understand about doctors performing C-Section's to save their butts and all that jazz, but when something is truly wrong and it's imperative that a C-Section is performed, why do they get all upset? Isn't the goal a healthy baby after all? Trust me, I've gone the natural route, it ain't all it's cracked up to be. It hurt and I lay there wanting it to be over, not bonding with the baby.
Other women who tick me off are the one's who talk about how difficult parenting is. No, it's not really. It's pretty much what you should expect. Of course it sucks not sleeping through the night (The Poet has sleep through the night for the past 2 nights-yea!), potty training is a headache, sometimes breastfeeding hurts (The Poet is obviously thinking her 2 new teeth are cool, me, not so much), my house is always in various states of needing a good scrubbing (long gone are the days of putting down a book and expecting it to still be there when I return 5 minutes later), and running to the store for a gallon of milk, now takes a hour when it used to take 20 minutes, but you know what? I expected all that. Some days I want to pull my fro out. I expected that. Some days I'm thisclose to calling the Salvation Army to ask if they accept children as donations, I expected that too. Some days I get a whole lot more than I ever knew was possible. You know what? I expected that too. A lot of these women have husbands, family near by, etc. I'm a single mother of 5 kids ages 11, 5, 3, 2 and 7 months. My husband is an alcoholic, so I get a whole lot of stress, but no support from him. My sister (my closest relative) lives in Arizonia, I'm in Ohio, from her I get an ear to listen and that's it. I know how hard it is to raise children. It's not the end of the world if your boobs start leaking in the grocery store.
I also hate mommy bloggers whose blogs are nothing but pictures of their kids. It's okay if the pictures are accompanied by a story, or a funny joke, then I like the pictures, but believe me when I tell you that no one cares about Little Sally playing with Toto the dog. She's your kid, you're supposed to think she's cute, the rest of us aren't so easily impressed. So either include witty comments with your pictures, or, well, there is no "or". Write something interesting to accompany the pictures.

Do you ever get the feeling that someone is out to get you? Do you ever get tired of turning the other cheek? I don't know what to do. I just need for these people to leave me alone. Everyone around me says it's my husband and his lady friend, but why? I don't call, don't go over, in fact their names rarely cross my lips. I'm over them, why can't they get over me. Nothing they do has any long term effects, but it's like that fly buzzing around your face all.dang.day. I'm about to go the dollar store and buy a fly swatter.

I really don't like extremists. I had a lady at church who is pro-breastfeeding try to convince me to continue nursing my daughter as long as possible. Yeah, that's kind of a personal decision and I'm thinking I'm going to make it without you. I was explaining to someone that I couldn't nurse my 3 year old and she wouldn't hear it. She kept insisting that I didn't try hard enough, that's the problem with the formula industry, doctor's not taking the time to properly teach their patients, blah, blah, blah. She kept talking long after I stopped listening.
For the record, I believe that every mother should attempt to nurse their children. It is natural and the healthiest option for your child. And it's crazy how much easier it is at 2am. However some mothers cannot nurse and they should not be treated like crap because of it. Some say I didn't try hard enough with my oldest daughter who never latched on properly. Maybe, but I drew the line in the sand when I saw blood. There are parts of my body that I don't ever want to see blood coming from and I include my breasts in that. I successfully nursed my son for a year. My third son (whom the lady a church took issue with) refused to gain weight. At 2 months old he weighed less than he did when he was born. We went through everything. He failed to thrive with my milk. Who knows why. I wasn't interested in starving him to death and maybe discovering the reason when they performed the autopsy on him. All I know is when I nursed him, he lost weight, when I gave him formula, he gain weight. He's healthy, happy and driving me crazy and that's all that matters.
I also believe women need to be discreet when they nurse in public. I agree that breastfeeding is natural and all that jazz, but the bottom line is we live in a society that sexualizes the breasts, so cover it up. I understand babies that pull the blanket away because they want to see (The Poet is as nosey as they come), but I pull my shirt down to her cheek so that I'm not exposing myself to people. Respect goes both ways.
Now I'm going to go ADD on you, what would you do if you won the lottery? I never play, but I like to dream. Seriously, after you paid off all your debt, brought your moms and sister a new house, traveled to France, told your boss to kiss off and whatever else. When the dust has settled, what would you do?

I've been very uninspired to post lately. Things have just been hectic at home. I've been working consistently for the past 3 weeks. While this is good for the pocketbook, it's taken some adjustment. None of us are morning people and we've been having to get up at 6, which is only an hour earlier than normal, but like I said, we ain't morning people. I'm normally wake up around 5 (I do have a 6 month old baby and I work on her schedule, not mine), but it's one thing to be half-awake, laying in bed feeding a baby, it's a completely different story when you have to funtioning at that hour. I'm trying to get hired on permanently, but the fee they would have to pay the temp agency is posing a problem, I can't get things to fall into place to get to the DMV so that I can get my car licensed (that would save me an hour in the morning and evening), my babysitter is acting flaky (did I mention I want hired on permanently? I can't be walking in late because you want to not be home when I need to drop my kids off) and the phone company conned me out of $32, because being a single mom to 5 kids, I have extra money laying around for big businesses.
On a completely random note, I don't like Eddie Murphy any more. A co-worker gave me the latest Ebony to read (I have a lot of down time at work) and he's on the cover. Eddie knew that baby was his. I don't care what the reason for breaking up with Scary Spice was, he knew that baby was his and he didn't have no business doing my sister like that.

It's cold outside. I hate cold weather, so I'm always bundled like I'm in Alaska, my kids are a different story. I had to give Lady Day the eye when she tried to walk out the door in capri's and practically ripped the shorts off my 3 year old who is the worst offender. Shorts? It's 10 degress with the wind chill! They are either 1/2 or 1/4 white and maybe that has something to do with it, but they don't like to wear coats and I always get looks. Every year I read about it on someone's blog, and I just want to say that I try. Really I do.

I have 5 kids and the hardest thing about getting them out the door is timing. If we have to leave at noon, I can't get them dressed before 11am because I can guarentee they will be undressed by 11:45. Why do kids hate to wear clothes? If our ride shows up or the bus is due, I can't fight with them over putting on a coat. My kids are not Satan's spawn. They don't run me or my house, they just don't like to wear coats. I will put their hats on, but as soon as my back is turned they come right off. My husband was the same way. Try fighting the "Daddy's not wearing a coat" argument. In fact, I've never known him to own anything more than a heavy jacket. He's the fool you see walking down the street in a t-shirt while everyone is talking about how chilly it is. My kids are the same way. But I still try. I know they are going to take off as much as they can, so I make sure to layer their clothes. I used to stress out about it until their doctor very bluntly said, "The only thing you get from cold is cold. Not a cold, but cold. You catch a virus from being around other people, not from being outside. If you're going to be outside for a long time, insist on gloves. When they get cold enough they'll put their coats on." So if you see me out and about with 5 kids in various bundled states, don't give me the evil eye, blame it on the White Man.

I have a stomach of steel. You could puke in my face and as long as it didn't splatter on my plate, you can bet that I will keep on eating. As I was riding the bus this morning a "gentleman" sat down next to me and started to pick at the dead skin on his hand. Whatever. Why did the MF put it in his mouth and start chewing like it was a Big Mac? Needless to say, I went straight to my desk and skipped breakfast this morning.

I stopped at Wendy's on my way home and as I approached the bench to sit and wait for my bus, a little boy about 3 or 4 says, "You got fries?"
"Yeah, I have fries," I respond as I smile that "isn't he cute" smile you give kids. A couple of minutes later, he comes over to me again asks if "I got fries"?
I respond the same way, except this time, he responds by saying, "You give me your fries?"
What? I pretend not to understand because his mother will surely tell her son that's it's rude to ask strangers for their food, but she just laughs that "isn't my son cute?" laugh.
No, he's not really as cute as you think he is. In fact, I don't think he's cute at all and that fact that he's in my face begging for my fries, makes him a little brat too.
"You give me your fries?"
"Hell nawh, Shorty. We ain't cool like that, so back up off my fries. And tell your moms to take a parenting class."

I don't usually post about important life stuff because I'm not a writer and I feel others can say it a lot more eloquently than me. I cannot however let this Imus thing pass. He has tried in vain to justify what he said, but there is just no justifying it. I've heard few comment that the word 'ho is used all the time in the black community, especially in song. This is true, but is it ever in a positive way? Is Snoop rapping about wanting to marry that 'ho, or is he commenting on her sexual abilities? And how could that in any possible way be translated into a compliment about a group of women pursuing a college education displaying their athletic abilities on a basketball court? So instead of Imus talking about the black kids in his camp, maybe he can explain that to us? Then I can explain how 10% is only 10 out of 100 of the kids in that camp are black and those numbers are nice, but not really so impressive.