Future Miss WV Teen USA!!

Check out my cousin Sarah Elizabeth Thorne. She's vying for the title of Miss West Virginia Teen USA. She was 2nd Runner Up last year and first at the Strawberry Festival and is presently the reigning WV Three Rivers Teen Queen! The pageant is October 21!

Go Sarah! Good luck! We love you!

Survivor: Cook Islands and Stereotypes

Stereotype: : something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially : a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment

Ok so I'm probably one of the few who still watches but I wanted to get a few things out that irked me.

Everyone knows this season that the twist is the teams are divided by race. I heard this and was not really affected by it. Thought it was just another gimmick. But having watched it I can't help but notice that all they're doing is playing into and pointing out the racial stereotypes. My main issue is of course with the Asian tribe. Now being Filipino myself it bugs me that either people are being "portrayed" or that the stereotypes are really true.

Stereotype: Asians are good at fishing. They always show the Asians fishing and getting the fish. This is funny to me because my grandparents and a lot of my Filipinos are great fisherman. So is the stereotype true then?

They've also shown some personality traits of people. I dunno if they could be considered stereotypes or not though. For example some Asians I know are pretty nerdy. All the Asians except Cao Boi are pretty nerdy but again I don't know if this would be considered as a stereotypical trait of Asians or not or if it's just my observation being Asian myself.

Ok well I'm ending this because I feel like I'm rambling and am probably confusing.

just my thoughts

Potpourri

Oh I'm gonna lose my friggin mind. My kids are driving me absolutely batty. Gabriel has just been punished for bringing his toy mower up and trying to mow my dining room table. His shrieking ear drum piercing screams have totally put me over the edge. I decided to take the kids to Winchester which is about 35 minutes from our home to get some retail therapy and get out of the house. Mom needs new jeans!! Well I should have known from prior experience that my 2 youngest(4 and 2) + mindless wandering trying to find jeans that have the right wash= pain in the ass. *sigh* If they were not opening the dressing room doors on me they were fighting with each other. I need one of those Clix Counters to count all the dirty looks I got but I really don't care. GRRRRRR

Anyhoodles....

Poor Terrell Owens....the reports are that he tried to kill himself. I don't think he would although I don't know him personally or what his personal life is...It just does not add up? Ya know? The man has a $25 million dollar contract and I believe he's a father. So I don't get it. I really think his antics are over the top but whatever he's a human so I wish him the best.

It is quiet now. The kids are playing nicely. Thank God for that. We're having Chicken Quesadillas for dinner. Oh papi!! Yum O!

I really hope tomorrow is more peaceful.

Should Be Required Viewing

If you have not yet seen it, run don't walk to catch When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts on HBO. It's a brilliant documentary about Katrina and the aftermath. It moved me in so many ways. My emotions ran the gamut from rage to just incredible heartache. I'm not normally a huge Spike Lee fan but this is probably his best work to date. He focuses strictly on the people of New Orleans and gives them an outlet to speak their anger, frustration and misery over this ongoing tragedy.

It's mind boggling that a year later most of New Orleans is still in ruins.

Catch this if you can. Really.

PMS Bitchfest

Oy PMS!!! Give me strength! I'm on BCP's so I assume that I don't ovulate but I still get the stupid cravings, acne and my metabolism goes right out the friggin window. I can't stop eating!

Everything pisses me off or makes me cry. Right now I'm watching the View (thanks Rosie!) and they're doing a segment on picky eaters. Well I'm sorry but if I serve my broccoli hating 8 y/o broccoli in a Sun Dried Tomato Tortilla cut out like a Jack-o-Lantern he'd laugh his head off. Kids are way smarter than we give them credit for.

Today my food intake is as follows:

1 piece whole wheat toast w/ peanut butter
1/2 a Red Delicious Apple
Pretzel stick
Red Fat Ritz Cracker dipped in yet again peanut butter
1 Sandwich of Turkey on Whole Wheat
2 Oreos (Damn you Ron!!)
1 Kirkland Fruit Snack pack

And of course we're having stupid Sloppy Joes for dinner. Repeat the mantra "DO NOT EAT OREOS, DO NOT EAT OREOS!" Seriously I'm half tempted to chuck them but my frugal self would say "what a half bag of Oreos! don't you waste!" Or I'd chuck them and retrieve them and eat the whole bag. What I'll have to end up doing is chucking them and squirting them with dish soap just like Miranda did w/ cake in Sex and the City.

Who wants to join me at the Betty Crocker Clinic?

Dr. Phil-Exploitative T.V.? Chime in!

Ok so I'll admit it. I used to watch him RELIGIOUSLY! Lately though it seems to me as if the show has taken a very exploitative turn. It seems more Jerry Springer than trying to help people. His new project is The Dr. Phil House which seems so unnecessary and just down right wrong. He takes a family in "trouble" and puts them in a house where he tapes 24/7 in order to intervene and yell at the couple whenever there's a moment.

I thought it would be guilty pleasure but it's more like watching a grisly car wreck. Blech. Give me Springer anyday. At least he's out there and makes no bones that he's not out there to "help." He just puts crazy people on because he knows we'll watch.

Oh Dr. Phil...where and when did you jump the shark???

Food for Thought

So as I was making a pan of scalloped potatos and thinking back to a comment on Karrie's blog I started obsessing over food and nutrition and kids.

You see a frequent a certain parenting website (would I call it that?) well whatever so I go there and have been there since Gabriel (my 2 y/o) was in utero. Most everyone there is great and love them but I think sometimes I'm a masochist because I let myseslf be bothered by things I read w/ regard to food and kids.

Let me travel back in time for a minute. We were lower middle class growing up, hell sometimes we were just poor. We had box dinners. We ate Ramen and Velveeta and things with trans fat. Gasp! So fast forward to today. I'm a mom myself. I have 3 kids. Jake 8, Bella 4 and Gabriel 2. I do the best I can to make sure the kids eat somewhat healthy foods. But here's the thing that bugs me. I always feel like I'm not doing enough and it's because of my stupid insecurities coupled with the competitive nature of parenting.

I'll admit. I have not always made healthy choices. I am also a creature of habit. I stick to what I know and love out of fear of the unknown. Now as I've matured I've tried new things and since losing my 60lbs over the last three years I've been more healthy. I'm trying to promote a healthy lifestyle and better eating habits.

That said. Old habits die a slow hard, tortorous death. Trying to get my 8 y/o to eat an apple is a friggin nightmare. Quelle horror (thanks Ted )that I might actually make mac and cheese from scratch and try to sneak whole grains in. *sigh* It's a constant battle and some days I win some days I lose.

I'll admit my kids have fruit snacks, they eat peanut butter and jelly on white bread, they sometims even eat Kraft Mac and Cheese. I also admit that when I read what some kids and parents will eat some of it doesn't sound all that appealing to me. Not to mention that I live in rural WV and if I went to Wal Mart to ask for something like sun dried tomato hummus they'd probably a. ask me what it is and b. laugh me right out! So I'm not against healthy or different things, but I'm also too limited by geography.

In closing I do the best I can and as long as my kids are active and healthy I do not begrudge them a Pop Tart if their little hearts desire....as long as they have a piece of fruit later on....here I go again................

The Birth of my Blog

I tried writing something witty and it came out sounding weird and forced. Soo here is my second attempt.

I have many thoughts and things to say so I finally mustered up the courage to write them down. Why muster courage? I hate being judged, who will read this that maybe I don't want to read and am I really that mundane?

Well look out blogging world....here come the deeeeeep thoughts...