V is for Versatile Day

Today is Valentine's Day and I was surprised when I found my first one in my email this morning.  Kat over at Kat's Daily Inspiration was kind enough to send me the Versatile Blogger Award.  What an honor.  Thank you Kat!  It is so nice to be noticed.  And to be told one is versatile is great, of course us moms know that versatility is the key to running a smooth home.

First I have to tell you 7 things about me.

1. My nickname growing up was Tuzy.  I like it.  I have been Tuzy all of my life in one way or another.  Weather it be as a child or an Aunt or as a name other children can remember.  My grandfather bestowed the name on me at birth and I am lucky that it fits me so well. I use to ask him why he named me Tuzy and he would say I looked like a Tuzy.  Well I always wondered what a Tuzy looked like.  So I googled it in images and found I look like this and I have to agree. Thanks to ADQ.

2. I was once locked in a rabbit hutch.  You see as a child we had pet rabbits.  Being small I would climb in the rabbit hutch to pet the bunnies.  My folks were always telling me that I should not do that.  I guess they thought it was not the best of ideas.  But one time I did climb on in as usual and my dad came up and caught me there.  So he shut the door and closed the hasp on it.  Now he just stood there and looked at me.  But I was panicked.  I could not get out.  I was having to wait for someone else to come and rescue me.  It was a horrid feeling.  In just a few minutes he opened the door and sternly told me that I was not to climb in the hutch again.  I listened.  More so I let my bunnies out to play in their fenced in play yard much more often.  I did not want them to feel like they were trapped either.

3. I am double jointed in four of my fingers and in my jaw.  Now the fingers can make me look a lil wicked.  But the jaw can either make me a very good kisser or a great at eating yummy foods.  My Dear Hubby says he thinks it is both.

4. I have not seen all of my original hair color in over 25 years.  I have tried to not color my hair and let it grow out.  But someone has sneaked lil grey and silver hairs in there.  I do not know how this has happened but it must have been when I was not looking.  So thus far I am still best friends with Ms. Clariol.

5. I have been raped and sexually abused.  It is something that has happened to me multiple times and years ago.  It is also something that has made me become a very strong woman.  I have grown to learn how to forgive for horrid acts and know that in forgiveness I am the one who becomes healthier and happier for it.  I have also learned that rap and sexual abuse is not about sex and certainly not about love.  It is about power and control and fear.  In that I have learned that I do not have to give up my inner strength to anyone.  That I am in control of what I feel and that I have the ability to love and enjoy a healthy sex life that has nothing to do whatsoever with the acts that were performed against me.  I to have learned that most women have been through this in one way or another.  And it is not shameful nor something to hide.  Instead I have used the very strengths and forgiveness that has become part of me to reach out and help others who need a shoulder to lean on or a home to shelter them or an hand to clasp no matter of what they have done or had done to them.

6. I am fat.  I am round and rolly and polly and doubled chinned and thick thighed and big butt.  I have a tummy that is too big and hips that stick out.  There are arm flaps that wave when I do and crinkles that curl up at my eyes when I smile.  But I am also happy, soft and comfy, and more so loved just the way I am.  Gosh what girl could ask for more than that?

7. They say my eyes are hazel.  I am blue eyed when I am happy.  Grey eyed when I am worried.  Green eyed when I am excited.  And dark eyed when I am mad.  I say they are mood rings.

But another one of the benefits of this award, is that I get to pick 7 other bloggers to receive this award.  These are all very versatile and I love visiting with them.  Pop over and tell them hello, happy Valentines day and that Crazed Mind sent ya.

1. Andrea at Confessions of a Daydream Believer
2. Nikki at Furry Bottoms
3. Kaylen at It's Serious This Time
4. Jennifer at Just Wedeminute
5. Joycee at justjoycee
6. Lou Ann at Its Always Something Around Here
7. Kristye at LIFE WITH KRISTYEMAC  she is new and could use a lil bloggy love....go see her!

Please Be My Punny Valentine

Here are some ideas on making up your own Valentines.  I love a play on words.  You could add these to note cards and attach them as you own special Valentine.  I currently have 49 notes all over the house for Dear Hubby to find of this sort.  Can't wait for him to find them all.

Image via Wikipedia

After Shave.  Your scent-cational
Apple. You are the apple of my eye 

(Put this one in their lunch box.)

Bit-O-Honey (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

Bit-O-Honey You’re my Bit-O-Honey 

Bread Anyway you slice it, you are the best 

(Try this on your fresh homemade bread.)

Bubble Gum. Don't burst my bubble, be my Valentine 

Cake. Loving you is a piece of cake 

Candy You’re sweet, Valentine 

Image via Wikipedia

Coca-Cola. You’re the real thing 

Coffee We are the perfect blend 

Cool Whip. I'm whipped over you 

(For the topping on their favorite dessert.  Just place on a card with dessert.)

Image via Wikipedia

Dr. Pepper You are just what the doctor ordered 
Eggs.  Your egg-ceptional!

Fish. I'm hooked on you 

(Remember fish is good for the heart.  Make a special dinner that is from your heart and for theirs.)

Fortune Cookies. I’m fortunate to be with you 

Grape... You are the grapest 

Hot Cocoa. You warm my heart 

Image via Wikipedia

Hot Tamales.. You are the hot to my tamale 

Lemon, Lime. Pucker Up 

Lettuce Lettuce be together 

Lifesavers. You are my lifesaver 
Light Switch.  You light up my life.

M&Ms. You melt my heart 

Mints We are mint to be 
(Or on the toothpaste)

Nectarines. I’ll stick my nec out for you any day 

Nuts Here’s to all the nutty things we’ve done 

Olives. Olive you Orange Orange you amazing 

Image via Wikipedia

Peach. You’re a peach 

Image via Wikipedia

PB & J. We go together like peanut butter and jelly 

(For the perfect after school snack.)

Pear. We are the perfect pear 
(Or in the sock drawer)

Peas. We are two peas in a pod 

Pie. You’re my cutie pie 
Pizza  Pizza be mine

Popcorn You are pop!-pop!-popular 

Potato. I've got my eye on you 

Red Bull You give my heart wings 

Image via Wikipedia

Red Hots You’re red hot 

Root Beer Float.You float my boat 

Salt & Pepper We are the perfect pair 

Snickers You satisfy me 

Soup. You’re souper 

Spices. You spice up my life 

Tea. You suit me to a tea 

Tootsie Roll:  I like the way you roll Valentine

Image via Wikipedia

Twix. I’m not playing twix, please be mine

Sharing our Families

Today has been a great day.  It was the birthday day for my in-laws.  4 of them have their special day this month as well as an anniversary for another couple this month too.  We traveled over to share the day, gifts, laughter and of course cakes.  But was surprised at the freak snow that showed up here in Central Texas.  Not a sight we get very often at all.  No it was not much at all but still those big ol fat fluffy flakes falling from the sky is always a surprise for us.

On the ride home I started telling Dear Hubby about a book that had some neat tidbits in it.  "How Eskimos Keep their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting around the World" was great in showing all the different ways we parent.  And raised questions I had just not thought of too.  Seeing where so many children around here feel they are the center of the world (and of course we want to let them know they are loved), it was refreshing to know that many cultures still have their children learning the responsibilities of the home and family.  That bed time does not have to be a stickler of an evening when they do not have to raise at the crack of dawn.  And more so there is not baby food per say.  Instead you can introduce your child to different foods as they are able to handle the texture of them.  If we were able to hold international parenting courses what would change.  Would we use the method Chinese do in potty training?  Would fathers change their roles in child rearing?  Could we open up to new ideas and share some of our own too?  What results would there be in the maturity of our children as they grow?  I loved this look at different cultures written with enough heart to share.

This all reminds me of the resilience that we have as parents.  Somehow once we have a child our ability to bear pain becomes a deep well.  Weather it is from the moment of child birth or hearing those first harsh words spoken from anger of an upset child to doubling over in agony when we can not save them from themselves.  My own mother lost a child at birth and my mother in law lost a son in his teens as well as my Dear Hubby lost a step son in his teens too.  Soul wrenching grief overtakes a person when they are bearing this loss.  And in time we start to heal.  But if this happens and then your other children take paths of personal destruction then it is even deeper pain that you have to overcome.  "Snapshots" is Cathy's memoir of just such a life.  

Cathy Sosnowsky not only experienced the loss of her son, Alex, at the young age of 17, but also her two adopted children, Michael and Tanya.  However, these two younger children weren't to a freak accident, but to the allure of drugs, alcohol and the mean streets.  Cathy tells of how she dealt with her pain and suffering through her poignant and, sometimes humorous, memoir; Snapshots A Story of Love, Loss, and Life.  I know that many tears graced my cheeks while I was reading this one.  But more so I loved the message of how love can heal.  There is always that gift given to us to bear up with the trials of life.

I enjoyed my day of family.  More so when I remembered just how families come to being.  Weather if be from birth and being siblings or by choice in marriage.  The best part of families are that we choose to love each other however we came to being connected.

I love the key chain my daughter gave me for Christmas.  When she saw it she knew is was just right for me.  Not only PINK but of course it has my passion....

YOU!  

Loving Being a Mom

Wow I am still reeling from the week I have had.  But oh how I love that things are beginning to fit into place bit by bit.  Gosh I can even enter my 'new' office without the fear of boxes falling down on my head.  Now there are still boxes, don't get me wrong.  But they are now only waist high.  Whew!

Image via Wikipedia

What else?  Well I am feeling for my dear College Girl who in her very last semester of college is now rushing for the honor theater fraternity.  And it has her frazzled as can be.  Being ADD is not of a benefit at this time for her at all!  In doing so I am thinking so much of her as she has grown up and speculating as to what it will be like for her future.  Jobs, apartments, partners and maybe one day children but no holding my breath on that one.  I do have my adorable grandbabes that my other two (step) kids have provided for me.  Such great moms and dads they are.  Aging from under a year to almost eight we have a good range to enjoy.

I am always looking for things to help out for them too.  You know being a parent does not come with a hand book.  Lord, knows it should though.  So I have been lucky to find a few that might just hit the spot with the parents though.  I want to send to my Turtle and his mom '201 Organic Baby Purees'.  He is eating his first foods and seems to be thrilled in all he can grab.  And of course we want him to have the very best as all parents do.  I know that I made all of College Girls food when she was a babe.  But with the options available today it is easy not only to make their food but to have it free of pesticides, hormones, additives and such.  Tamika Gardner created SimplyBabyFoodRecipes.net to help moms and share these recipes.  And now they are all collated in one book.

Beside making sure there is good food for my Turtle, I pray he is instilled with a love of reading.  His mom loves to read so I know she understands this importance.  I am going to send him a lil cardboard book that him mom can read to him at night.  It is one of Lisa Tawn Bergren's classics "God Gave Us Love".  This will be my Valentine's gift to my lil Turtle.  When Little Cub and Grampa Bear’s fishing adventure is interrupted by mischievous otters, the young polar bear begins to question why we must love others…even the seemingly unlovable. Grandpa Bear gives tender explanations that teach Little Cub about the different kinds of love that is shared between families, friends, and mamas and papas. Grandpa explains that all these kinds of love come from God and that it is important to love others because,

“Any time we show love, Little Cub, we’re sharing a bit of His love.”

In sharing that love I have been blessed to have the children that were born to my husband and his previous wives.  When I first met the two oldest as teens, I knew I would never be their mother.  That at best I would one day get to be a friend to them and someone they could trust to share with.  I hated the view of step moms but I decided to use just that to break the ice with them.  So I told them they did not need to call me mom or even my own name but instead to just call me Step Monster.  They laughed so and embraced the name as a gift to me.  It has never been looked upon as a negative.  College Girl calls her step mom The Other Mother (you have heard me talk well of her here all the time).  But I have found the right name thanks so to Tami Butcher.  She has a book explaining the blended family to children, "My Bonus Mom!"  Isn't that the perfect way to think of it?  I love that it is so well put and a great joy to share the love of extra parents.  My own transition in divorce and remarriage was one that I wanted to be pain free for College Girl (then high school gal).  We kept a good line of communication between us and her father.  He is now the best friend to my own husband.  Our families are so blended that we feel it is only normal and natural to do so much of our lives together.  That is the present we have, gosh, otherwise I would never have had a Princess Emma to enjoy.  That is College Girls lil sis.  We joke that we are extra wives, hubbies, moms and dads so that it confuses many.  But for our family it works best this way.  And even better so the kids get to have all the love in the world from all of us.