I'm just checking in. I hope you all understand my need for a sabbatical of sorts. I appreciate the kind words and e-mails I've received from many of you. Nothing is wrong, I'm just in what is typically my busiest time of the year.

I'm sure the perfect blogger would have already pre-written 30 posts to get through the month or would have guest bloggers every day. But as we all know, I am most definitely NOT perfect...at much of anything (despite my desperate attempts to become so). If, however, someone would like to guest blog, I'd be open to that. Shoot me an e-mail at amy@thoughtsofTHATmom.com with your ideas if you're interested. I have like, 3 readers...on a good day...unless you don't count my husband, my MIL, & my cat...so I can give you incredible exposure!

Those of you who don't homeschool know how busy back-to-school time can be for you. Now, imagine that you're not only sending your kids BACK to school, but YOU are the school! For the first time ever this year, we took an extended break in the summer. As a result, I have really been scrambling to get everyone back on track while getting us organized for the upcoming year which promises to be a busy one with a couple of trips to Tulsa & one or two to Chicago to visit family.

I have been working on finishing my line-by-line on the health care legislation (HR 3200). Due to my busy month, it has taken a LOT longer than it usually does for me to do something like this...not to mention the fact that it's over a thousand pages long! I've been writing about it & splitting it into several different posts. I had the first one ready to post a couple days ago when Blogger pooped out on me & lost all of my changes. I was tired so I just gave up & went to bed.

Note to Blogger: I love that you are free, but Wordpress is also free...and they allow me to upload a word file to my blog & be good to go. If you don't change this & quick, then you're going to lose me. I can also utilize the Wordpress platform & all of their many add-ons on my own server. Seriously, you need to update quick! 'Cause a lot of us are leaving you behind and not looking back. Yeah. I said us...I'm about to join the ranks! 'Cause I just don't have time for messing with your issues any more!

Anyway...back to the point of my blog. I will be getting at least the first one posted in the next couple of days. (Likely Sunday after we get back from camping this weekend.)

To help me focus more specifically on what people want answered, feel free to e-mail me at amy@thoughtsofTHATmom.com or comment here about what you want to know regarding the health care legislation. Is there a specific rumor you want debunked or proven? A specific section you'd like someone to analyze for you? If I can't find the answer, I'll use the powers at my fingertips (i.e.-Twitter & Facebook) to attempt to find the answer.

Come join me as I "mini-blog" throughout the day.

You can find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Come befriend me if we're not already online friends. You can see me mini-blogging as I go throughout my day.

While I take two days off of here a week, I rarely take a day off of Twitter. It's just so easy to send a quick Tweet through my phone.

You'll also be the first to hear about great deals I find throughout the week. Many of which you won't see here.

Tweet at you later! (Or see you on Facebook.)

-Me

Ever felt like this?



I have. A lot. Far too many times to count. I had a broken childhood and thought that everything would be different when I got married. In a way, they are. They are now different issues being approached from a different perspective.

I'd like to encourage you. If you are going through anything, or if you have hand are still healing, know that you are NOT alone. I can guarantee you that if I don't understand, then someone else out there does. I'll say it again. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!

I kno wthat for me that was so important. I know God is always with us, but I'm not talking about that. I mean there is another human being currently on this earth who understands.

Need to talk? Create an anonymous twitter or blog. I've done both. No, they're not connected to this blog or me in any way. So don't bother trying to look. You won't find me...until and unless I'm ready. When (if) I ever am, I promise you'll be among the first to know. I pray you'll be patient and understanding.

Yes. I have secrets...and that's okay. God has put in my path incredible people to help me. He showed me that I'm not alone when I most needed to know.

There are days still when He's holding me up. There are days when He sends a friend to help hold me up. There are days when I don't stand at all, but still make it through the day, by His grace.

No, also, there are days when I help hold someone else up. Let me tell you, THAT has done more to help ME heal than I could have ever imagined.

Please, just know, if you're broken today...whatever the reason...you are not alone. Trust me. I know. I have been where I never thought I'd be, and I'm here today...to blog about it. And that helps me. That gives me life. It helps me stand.

Thank you for your part...for hearing my heart.

-Me

Something happened last night that disturbed me. It’s not often that I get rattled. I’ve had some interesting comments on my blogs before, but never did I get rattled. I’m just not easily rattled. (I’ll say it one more time: rattled.) I believe in the 1st amendment and the right of every human being to free speech. However, just as I believe in the right to free speech, I also get to dictate what and how people say things in my private residence. In this case, my private residence…is my blog. I have only ever asked that people be polite and respectful. I have countless times encouraged anonymous bloggers to reveal themselves. I find it hard to respect someone who won’t put their name behind their thoughts. Do you really believe those thoughts if you’re not willing to stand behind them? I have never, in 5 years of blogging, ever deleted a comment. Not here, and not on my old blog.

If someone doesn’t agree with me, I will sometimes (usually) respond. I always do so respectfully and tactfully. I don’t believe that calling people names or berating them does anything to further my views or theirs.

Last night, however, I drew a line in the sand. No one can question that line;
especially the person who decided to cross it. I guess I, like a lot of bloggers, had always believed there were certain unwritten rules about blog etiquette. No one really talked about them, but everyone seemed to follow them; with few exceptions. One of those hard and fast rules is, “DON’T MESS WITH THE KIDS!” Sure, you can say the kids are adorable or precious (as they are), you can tell your story, you can give advice if it’s solicited, and you can voice a genuine concern. I find that last one is violated a lot as people who don’t believe in homeschooling bash the socializing skills of the children who do. That’s happened on my own blog, and I didn’t delete those comments. Why? They were not directed square in the face AT my children. Those comments were fairly general &/or it was obvious that the poster was just mad and ranting.

Last night, I had someone post a completely unnecessary…and mean…comment on this post. Of all of my posts to comment, they chose THAT one. Whatever. It became quickly apparent that the post content was really irrelevant to them. They also left a comment on this post which I have not deleted. I think, for some reason, that they were just in the mood to rant. The problem with that?

It doesn’t matter how much you want to rant…you DO NOT RANT DIRECTLY AT A BLOGGER’S CHILD! And on a completely benign, harmless post no less!

Honestly, it floored me. What disturbed me even more was that this person was local. It didn’t take me long to narrow it down to being one of 2 or 3 people. There was no one else it could have been. We suspected based on recent events that perhaps it was probably one of those people. This morning, after looking at things in a fresh light…and seeing this person visit my blog again, I began to realize it wasn’t who we had thought it was. It was worse. It was one of the other people. It wasn’t just someone we knew personally, but someone we still had a relationship with.

My husband was really hurt by this. He wasn’t going to forgive this man until God reminded him that unforgiveness only hurts us. My husband was ready to take action to ensure he’d never have to see this man’s face again…at great expense to our family.

Me? I was shocked. I couldn’t understand how or why this person said what they did. Perhaps they were trying to make a harmless comment. It wasn’t threatening. Still, it was just plain MEAN! And who does that to a 6yr old? Plus, the comment was so wildly inaccurate it’s somewhat humorous.

Like I said in one of my comments, I have absolutely no problems if you post again. However, I will NOT tolerate comments like that about my children; no matter how harmless you may intend them to be.

I probably won’t stop using CAPS to emphasize points. That’s just me. That’s how I write. I’m a passionate person in real life, and when I write. It just comes out. If you aren’t happy with that, then read another blog. If you can deal with it, then I’d welcome you to continue reading.

Because you know who you are just as much as we do, you also know that your relationship with my husband will continue. It will likely never be what it was before. By admitting who you are (even though we already know) and apologizing you will go a long way towards helping to restore that relationship. You have been forgiven, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still apologize if you’d like. I know from experience that just because someone has forgiven another person doesn’t mean that person they’ve forgiven recognizes they were wrong &/or wants to change.

If you’d like to never speak about this again, that’s fine as well. As long as nothing of this manner ever appears on my blog again, then I’ll not speak another word of it. And the pieces? They weren’t hard to put together. Analyzing your blog stats is more than just getting an IP address.

I don’t want someone to get the wrong idea and think I’m stalking my readers. Far from it. If you think that you aren’t being tracked every time you visit a website, you are sorely mistaken. MOST bloggers have trackers on their blogs. Most, like me, usually just use those numbers to see how many have visited their blog and to analyze which blogs are read the most. Those are the 2 features I use daily on my tracker. I have absolutely no need to look at the IP address for anyone visiting my blog unless there is a problem. Plus, I don’t have the time to go into that much detail every day. Still, because of anonymous posters like yourself, that is a necessity. We need to protect ourselves so that if problems persist we CAN go to the appropriate authorities to take action if necessary. I know few bloggers who have ever had to actually utilize their tracker for such a purpose.

In short? Just play nice. You can say pretty much whatever you want about me and I could care less. You can rail all day long about my politics, my beliefs, my thoughts, or my blogs. The worst you’ll get is a lengthy comment response from me; which you may not even read.If you cuss I will alter your post to delete the cuss words. (Again…haven’t ever had to do that.) If you are hateful about or to my children, your post will be deleted. There’s no excuse for that. NONE!

I’m sorry to my other readers for this temporary blog interruption. It’s the first time a blog post has ever rattled me enough to steal some of my time. I probably shouldn’t have let it do that. Now that it’s happened, though, I’ll know better how to handle it should it ever happen again. Honestly, this would have been next to nothing had it been someone we didn’t know. But when it’s someone in your backyard (not literally), then it’s a whole other story.

-Me

Isn't it fascinating how life gets to us?

I've been very busy recently. First we had sickness strike our family. That came while we've been trying to prepare to send our 3 children to Tulsa...without us! AARGH! Mama's gonna need some prayer during Christmas week! (My SIL and her husband are taking them to Tulsa along with their 2 children...brave fellows they are.)

Since my SIL and I help each other find curriculum, I also have to get what I've purchased for her ready to go. Plus, my son's old clothes go to her son so we're trying like mad to get everything that's too small for him ready to go to her. (But first we have figure out WHAT those clothes are. Fun!)

To top all of that off, I've been re-doing my coupon organization system. If you've ever done that...when you get 3 sets of the paper every week, pull blinkies from the store, and have manufacturers mailing you coupons, then you understand the task that has been before me. And all of this while trying to keep up with current sales so we still have groceries!

In the midst of all of this, I have 3 book reviews written but not yet entered into the computer. (I hand write a lot of my stuff because I'm often out & about when I get the chance to or have a "moment" of inspiration.)

PLUS, I've been really going strong the past couple of weeks on a book I've been writing for about 3 years now. Yes. I'm really writing a book. I don't know when it will be sent to an editor (we have a friend I plan to hire), or to a publisher. That will depend largely on outside factors that are not within my control right now. Nope. I won't tell you a bit about my book now. You'll just have to wait. Suffice it to say it's about my life. Good enough? Tough. It will have to be. I promise. I'm not trying to be mean.

Bottom line? I'm sorry I've been neglectful the past couple of days. What can I say? That's just life sometimes.

I've got a great guest author for tomorrow. I am kinda partial, though. He's one of my brothers. (I've got around 25; give or take.)

I had a couple of people express concern since I'd been gone. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. They are needed right now. If nothing else so I'll get everything done that needs to get done...and keep my sanity while doing it.

-Me

I think this archived post from October 25, 2005 speaks for itself. And no, I still haven't fulfilled that dream...

Ever have a dream, a passion, a deep desire burning within you that you can't do anything with? It's there, you KNOW what you'll do, but you can't do it yet. The time's not right. You have to prepare first.

I understand this, but it's still so hard. I want so desperately to start fulfilling this dream NOW. I don't want to wait. I don't want to prepare. Well, I do, but I don't...because I don't want to wait...I want to start NOW.

Why can't I start now? I guess I could, but I really can't. I HAVE to have the preparation. I NEED the preparation. AARGH!!!!!

I'm so FRUSTRATED! I just need to be patient. I need to hold out. I need to do the preparation that I've been called to do FIRST. THEN I can act...in the proper time.

I have plans. For my blog that is.

To understand my plans, you'll need to know a little more about me.

I've told you I'm a SAHM. (That's Stay At Home Mom...for anyone out there who might not know. Trust me, those people are out there. Don't ask me how I know.) I'm also a homeschooling mom, part-time nurse, and am still in school to eventually become a Nurse Practicioner. Granted, my kids will probably be grown by the time that actually happens. But who's counting? One step at a time. Right?

Here's what you don't know. (And may later regret you do.) I am a very opinionated person. 'Course having a blog is sort-of a give-away for that one isn't it? I love politics. Actually. That's not true. I hate "politics" with a passion. I love standing up for what's right and wish "politics" didn't get in the way so much. I believe that my voice does matter. I believe that one person can make a difference. You will see that reflected throughout my blog. If you don't believe this, then stop reading...but don't come trying to convince me otherwise. With the exception of this massive bailout plan, I have SEEN my voice make a difference first-hand. And that's all I'll say about that. That whole bailout plan is a horse for another blog.

I have a child with Celiac and I have Graves and am "gluten-intolerant". I had too little gluten in me to do a full test for Celiac. That's because our home is gluten-free and I only "cheated" when I go out. I believe healthy eating CAN make a difference in your health. As can exercise and GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP!! (That's a HUGE one!) Yes. I do recognize that you'll see blogs posted in the middle of the night. I also have insomnia...I can thank the Graves for that. We try to eat Organic, locally-grown produce as much as is humanly possible. I make as much as I can from scratch. I saw first-hand the results of eating healthy on your body when I became a raw-vegan for 6 months and saw my lab values go down TREMENDOUSLY (to the point my doctor was surprised) and had my symptoms subside &/or go away...all without ANY medication. However, I am ALSO a nurse. As a result, I think there is a balance to be found between natural healing and allopathic (or "traditional") medicine. I think medicines are massively over-used by BOTH camps. Diet can do SO much for our bodies! I am considering a regular feature regarding health & diet. Thoughts?

I am also an early-reviewer for publishers. What that means is that I am sent books by publishers and asked to review them before the book is released. I then send the publisher my reviews and publish them on http://www.librarything.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/.

It is this passion for reading and the resulting reviewing of books that has led to my first regular feature. I will have a "Review Day" every week. This day will be on Saturday as I have tenative plans for Sunday. However, I will not just be reviewing books on this feature. I have also reviewed baby toys, health & beauty items, household appliances, cars...and the list goes on. This will truly be a review day. I will review something...whether it be a book I've just read (or read in the past) or another item.

I started yesterday with my first archived post from my old blog. I will continue to weave those in with my new posts. As promised, I will state that they are archived within the first line or two so that those who followed my old blog can stop reading should they desire, or enjoy them a second time. I hope those who are new will enjoy them also.

I am brutally honest in my blogs. I try to be tactful, but can't stop from offending everyone. Someone won't like what I have to say at some time. If you feel that way, I only request that you state so respectfully...even if it's privately through e-mail.

If you have any suggestions for what I should include in my blog or a regular feature you think I should consider, shoot me an e-mail or comment below.

-Me

...to here!

It's finally official! I'm moving my blog to Blogger.

I have another (anonymous) blog here at Blogger and have loved the features here compared to what my other blogging platform offers.

In the next several weeks, I will be alternating between archived posts on my old platform and new posts here. That way, those who have been reading me for awhile aren't forced to "rehash" all of the old without getting some new. I will state if a post is an archived post so those people can skip that day should they choose.

There really isn't an easier way at this time to move my old posts from the old platform to this one.  Lesson learned!

If you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail.

-Me

I have an affiliate or advertisement relationship or agreement with any of the companies you find displayed on my side bar.  As a result, I may have in the past, do currently, &/or will in the future receive free products, services, or cash compensation from any or all of the companies displayed on my side bar. 

In addition, I will receive compensation for any purchases you make at Amazon.com that originated through a link on my site. (The links are there for your convenience, but I do highly recommend that all purchases be made through Ebates or another rebate site instead. FYI: That is a referral link. I WILL get credit if you click that link & sign up for Ebates.)

In addition, I may hold an affiliate or advertisement relationship with any company that is linked to in an individual blog post. As such, I may have in the past, do currently, &/or will in the future receive free products, services, or cash compensation from any or all of the companies linked to in an individual blog post.

Some companies require that you directly state which products, services, &/or cash compensation you receive from them when/if you do a blog post relating to or reviewing their product(s).  In those cases, I will individually state before the closing of said blog post which products, services, &/or cash compensation I received from the mentioned company.

Although there are companies linked to in individual blog posts with which I do not currently hold an affiliate or advertisement relationship, I may have had such a relationship with that company in the past or may form such a relationship with that company in the future.

I'm a SAHM w/3 wonderful blessings (so far) whom I homeschool. I am also a part-time nurse and forever student.

I am also THAT mom. You know, the homeschooling, opinionated, imperfect, stubborn, non-Martha Stewart mom with children who are not always perfect. But then, am I? Still they are the most precious blessings in my life.

I couldn't have asked for a better life because my life has made me who I am today. It's in those imperfections that we have become who we are and will continue to grow into the people that God wants us to be.

I pray you realize what a true blessing "troubles" are in your life. I have been there. I have been burned. I am still standing by the grace and might of God.

Full Disclosure