Comments are what inspire and fuel a blogger. I know; I was a commenter before a blogger. In fact I still comment when I read another person’s blog post if I have something intelegent to add or something worth sharing. We all have something to share. My readers could take valuable pointers from this one blogger & learn to”comment like a King (or Queen)“. My point being  Comments are exactly my brand of heroine (Thank you Edward Cullen for blog post title!)! As a blogger I need them to function, and it’s hard working without them.Needless to say I’m going through withdrawal.

Another thing is that the state of this blog seems in sad disrepair to me. My writing is completely random, and I have tried to fill up the site with content to see what you’re here to read from me. I’m still drawing a blank. Am I a mommy blogger, blogpire (blog vampire….I don’t know!), a reviewer, a giverawayer (I made that word up)……the list goes on. Do you just simply enjoy the randomness that is me?  I guess when I started this blog I had some notions of grandeur; hence the deep name “Deep-N-Thought”. It’s somewhat of a joke since most of my thoughts are not “deep” so to say haha.

Well it’s naptime here & I figure I may as well do something more productive then blogging since none of you love me **cough** leave me comments **cough**

• It’s not that I do not feel that everyone is entitled to be seen and treated by a doctor.  That is just the opposite of what I believe. The human life to me is the most valuable thing on this planet…..not gold,money, or that car or house I really want.  It’s that I disagree with how they are executing this so called “reform”.  It’s that I believe that a “public option” is not the answer, and they are rushing to find one vs. taking their time and making a sound decision. This decision will affect my child, your children, and their children.Take a long look at medicaid and medicare. That is a “public” option. Is that what you want? Where you’re looked down upon by doctors for having it? Some offices do not even accept it. Not to mention that from an insurance agent’s (that’s what I did pre-Vera) standpoint getting claims passed by the government is like pulling teeth.

• It’s frustrating to me that I can not even comment on the logistics of this legislation because they won’t share that with us. If this is for we the people, why are they not telling us the exact details of the bill?! What happened to the transparency that Obama promised?

• I don’t know if you’ve been to the doctor lately, but I have & I go often because I have young children who need vaccinations (I do vaccinate, but do not flu vaccinate. Whole OTHER blog post) and occasionally have some affliction that needs to be seen by a doctor. Every time we go we wait in the waiting room (after our appointment time) a good hour to hour and a half. Our doctor does not even accept medicare patients. Our previous pediatrician did, and the wait time there was out the roof.  My point being, I’m not alone in this aspect. I hear people bitching on twitter all the time about the wait at the doctor’s.  What is the cause for this wait time?  Simply put there are not enough health care professionals for the amount of people seeking care and that is right now. Imagine if we add those billions of uninsured into our doctor’s offices. You say, well Brittany, just because it’s going to crowd the doctor’s office isn’t a good reason to not agree with it. To that person I say, it is because it’ll be opening Pandora’s box. Why not focus on getting the health care system ready for something of that magnitude? You think well it’ll get people treated and taken care of & I beg to differ because it’ll take forever to get an appointment and be seen. People will still be thrown under the bus in the long run if the personnel issue is not addressed first. You can lump in lawsuit caps into this too.

• I think that if there is an issue with how people view Health Insurance it should be taken up with the Federal Trade Commission. Isn’t that that bureau’s  job? To protect American consumers? After all when you are purchasing insurance you are a consumer. They’re wasting their time going after bloggers when they should be focusing on how health insurance will not cover certain things or offered to certain people. Or going after the health insurance premiums since everyone argues that they’re not affordable.  I’m not arguing that Insurance Agencies are crooks. They seem to be a necessary evil…..that is why I left the insurance industry.

• To fine someone because they don’t take health insurance is criminal. Hello, there’s usually a reason why they don’t have it (*cough*can’t afford it in the first place/don’t qualify for medicare*cough*).

• That’s another thing…we have a public option in place. It’s called Medicaid and Medicare. It’s not working. Just ask your grandparents.  Why not “reform” that, and make the qualification more reasonable so people are not slipping between the cracks of Medicare and Private Insurance.

• Because I love my parents and grandparents and do not believe that they should receive death counseling vs. medical treatment.

Now that you’ve heard(read) me out ask yourself do you want that? Yes they say that it will not affect you if you already have insurance, but think about that too. Everyone is struggling financially. If someone is offering something cheaper elsewhere, what would you do? A good rule of thumb is you get what you pay for; In our case we get what we vote for.  My mother always taught me to be careful what I wish for, and I have learned that to be true. I would love to live in this perfect utopia where all of our needs were met, but I don’t. Certain strings are attached with having everything handed to you. I’m glad I live in America. A democracy. If you don’t like that your government isn’t taking care of you I say get out of my country there are plenty of others that are more then willing to take away your rights, monitor everything you do, and offer health care to everyone.

For the record for all you democrats attacking republicans….I am a democrat and am brave enough to stand and say I do not support this health care reform. Do I think something needs to happen? Yes, but if this “reform” is so great like the President would like you to believe why can’t he share the details with us?

I welcome all your comments on this. I would LOVE to hear what you think, even if you don’t agree with me…..because HEY! It’s American and we are entailed to speak our mind and have individual opinions. However I don’t support tearing into other people/flaming.

I didn’t want to completely delete this writing off the face of the blog, but I have decided to take down the page. Why? Well a few things are going to change on the site & taking down the Natural Childbirth Page was one of them. Natural Childbirth is still a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and I wanted to share that with you.

Natural Childbirth is an issue that is really important to me and one that is close to my heart. I feel that in the process of Medical Advances in America we have lost something really important;Natural Childbirth. Do not mistake what I am about to say though. Obstetricians are a blessing, BUT they have no place in a normal pregnancy. They are surgeons.

To explain a little bit of how I came to feel this way let me give you a little insight. When my sister and I were born it was pretty routine for an epidural if not a c-section, and breastfeeding was practically frowned upon. My mother didn’t need a c-section for either of us, but she did receive an epidural and decided not to breastfeed us. Growing up we’d play house with our baby dolls, and talk about our babies we would have like the vast majority of little girls do. I thought I didn’t want children because I had been taught that childbirth was extremely painful, and that I would have to have an enormous needle stuck in my back to help me even cope with the pain.I was also lead to believe that breastfeeding was disgusting. “Your baby ate from where ?!” haha is what I believe my response was. This I’m sure was not my mother’s intention, but when women in general would talk about birth there was so much fear surrounding it how could I not help but feel that way. My grandma even told horror stories of her twilight sleep births. I couldn’t figure out why doctor’s where doing these things when they were suppose to be the ones to “make everything better” right? Well growing up I grew out of the playing house phase and therefore having children was out of sight out of mind. Every now and then when a friend or family member would have a child the fear would bubble up again. It wasn’t until I was actually pregnant myself that I had to face that fear head on. I did what all the mother’s I knew had instructed me, call an obstetrician and set up your first pre-natal appointment. When I called the nurse on the phone asked me when I was due so I gave her my estimated date. She proceeded to set up on the calender a date that the baby would be born. I didn’t understand so I asked her to explain. She said oh that’s when the Dr. will do your c-section. I was floored. I didn’t know much then about birth, but I kind of figured that you were suppose to go into labor first before that was even an option. I hung up the phone without another word, and called several more doctor’s offices. They weren’t as extreme as the 1st, but something in their manner just put me off. It was like I was this terminally ill person or something vs. a woman having a child. When Matthew got home I explained what had happened, and he was upset that I hadn’t set up an appointment because my logical husband was thinking well where else are you going to have this baby? That was a good question that posed another one. Why not at home? I didn’t understand where all this fear was coming from. Hadn’t women been giving birth for thousands of years before obstetricians came onto the scene? I had so many questions so I began researching on the Internet, and praying about it. My answer came to me while in prayer. A midwife. It seemed so simple. A midwife would respect what I wanted out of birth. After all my research and understanding of birth my fear was gone. I knew I could do this. My first Google search for a San Antonio Midwife lead me to Holly(whom I used for both of my girls). I set up an interview with her. I asked her a ton of questions haha. The saying knowledge is power couldn’t be further from the truth. Convincing my family and friends of my decision was a lot harder then coming to the decision I had made. I could not believe how ingrained fear was surrounding birth. They were afraid for me, and why? That is why I feel so passionate about it. Fear and oppression is uncalled for, and this was unfounded fear. In all the research I did I came to understand . The most precious thing on earth(the birth of a child) had become about money. I don’t know why this shocked me, but I didn’t think that anyone was as low as that to play on the insecurities of a pregnant woman who just wanted the best for her child. So much knowledge that should have been passed down from mother to daughter or woman to woman had been lost and replaced with the unknown causing fear. Giving birth in Hospitals became a sign of status/feminism. Ever heard the term “To Posh to Push”?? We practically handed over our rights concerning the birth of our children as women to the Doctors who were more than happy to take our money. It’s not fair to them to say that they took away our power when we handed it over. However they didn’t “make everything better” instead they took something completely natural and beautiful and mangled it. They told us that we couldn’t do this ourselves therefore stripping us of our self-control just when we need it the most. Breastfeeding is another thing the formula companies with the help of the medical community tried to disregard. I am not sure why as humans we would be opposed to breastfeeding when it is so logical that we’ve nourished this being with our body for 9 months that we shouldn’t continue doing so after their birth. I could talk about these topics forever. I’ve included on this page some links so that you can learn and understand the history of childbirth from a more knowledgeable person then myself. Also “Creating Your Birth Plan” is one of my favorite books regarding pregnancy. It is written by a doctor who writes about all aspects of childbirth, and the importance of making your wishes clear to your care provider. I also want to share with you Vera and Naomi‘s birth stories. I hope that my experience empowers you to make educated decisions whatever those decisions may be. Reading Ricki Lake’s “Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience” and seeing the Business of Being Born is a good place to start if you are interested in finding more out about Natural Childbirth.

Waterbirth
History of childbirth in America
The Business of Being Born
Breastfeeding

My windows movie maker skills are highly lacking, but all joking aside haha….I think this product would make a great gag/white elephant gift for that special someone on your Christmas list. I mean everyone I know complains about that missing sock, and this would give ‘em a laugh. I know it made me laugh. The packaging is full of little hilarious one liners, and the instruction manual had me rolling. Making that video though was good therapy….I highly encourage stomping on the sock and talking smack talk. It did wonders for my morale and ego haha. I do however highly regret the sock not making it out of the dryer alive. I’ll have to check the lint trap -_- lol.

Ok people….there are 265 of you currently subscribed to my RSS feed. I better get a damn birthday comment on this blog post hoes! Oh, and I haven’t mentioned it yet, but if your going to buy something on amazon I’d appreciate it if you use the search at the top of my website because I get a referral bonus if you. That might inspire me to keep blogging ^_^.

“What would you like for dinner,”-mom
“Justice…(takes out mom)…with a side order of spaghetti”-max

“Where is he!!!!!!!!”

ahaha that poor doggy :(!

He said it worked, and his sinuses didn’t bother him at all after that. Also he said it was a two for one….colon cleanser and sinus clearer haha…..I’m sure you wanted to know about my husband’s bowl movements, but take it for what it’s worth Matthew did regret it in the morning haha.

This week’s Girl Talk Thursday’s topic is one I find humorous; “Getting crafty. Yes? No? HELL no?” . I find it funny because I’m “sorta” crafty. Not a full blow “Yes” or “Hell No”. I enjoy doing it (when I’m not rushing to finish), but am not always great at it. Like I’m creative, but not talented haha. My husband is the talented one, and I somewhat direct him in what to do if I feel I can’t execute the task. I’m bossy like that. I loved everyone who posted’s pictures so I encourage you to check them out, and I thought I’d add some of my own “getting crafty” ventures to the list.

First on the list, and if you read my blog you’ve probably already seen it. Our Art Box to store all our craft junk in it (minus my scrap-booking stuff that I haven’t touched since I was in 8th grade which is under my desk in our room haha):

Craft Box/Art Box.....supply junk

Then there is exhibit A of me trying to be crafty, but was too ambitious. I did an under the sea theme for two year old’s birthday, and had been working on sewing the said seaweed canopy for almost a year(during & after pregnant with Nogi). It turned out cute, but later realized it was a strangling hazard lol. Now we only bust it out for supervised play time.

Seawead Bed Canopy

On to exhibit B; submarine. Use your imagination people! Inside Vera and I made a control panel which you can’t see from the picture, but this was at her party too. The little kids loved it.

Submarine

Fortunately there isn’t much evidence of my other “getting crafty” expeditions, but let me tell you I LOVE hot glue guns, I once made these really ugly extra long burp cloths (thought it’d catch spit that somehow ends on the back of your shirt…you know what I’m talking about) as a gift, and I love using garbage to make stuff (weird I know). So there you have it, my sorta craftiness in it’s full glory.

Give my article some love! Here it is my first article that is exclusively on Technorati

“Natural” Childbirth vs…..um “UNnatural” Childbirth?

^_^

video was removed-revamping blog

Yeah….I’m raising a rock star. She even has the diva attitude to go along with it. She’s already got her stage name picked out; “Eva”. For those of you who haven’t met Vera, that is what she calls herself lol. I don’t know. Don’t ask.

• Location
• Decorations
• Food
• Cake
• Games
• Present your getting your child-It’s fun to tie that into the theme.

I may have just picked this up from my mom. Even though 1/2 of me and Haley’s parties were together and the theme was always Halloween costumes(October Birthdays suck) there was always some sort of theme to what we were doing. It’s  hard to tell though because in High School my friends were always adamant about having a theme too. Either way themes have worked for me.

I haven’t exactly found what works for us though in the birthday party location/time department. I’ve only had three(Vera had two 1st birthday parties. One was in Illinois) to plan so far so cut me some slack.  Here’s what I’ve learned though. You don’t want to have it at any of those Pizza Arcade type places i.e. Chuck-e-Cheese’s, Happy Joe’s, or Peter Piper’s Pizza. There is just to much going on, and I don’t even know if I’d want to try it when they’re in grade school with a bunch of their little friends to keep track of. Yeah, NO. Another thing I’ve learned is don’t invite more people than can fit in your house if you decide to host it at home.  Then onto the lesson I’ve learned about time span of a party. Definitely make sure it’s after/before your child’s nap, depending upon when they’re in a better mood. Also parties that exceed 2 hours are doomed to fail. By that 1 1/2 hour mark your child is either cranky or passed out from all the excitement. So those lessons left me with very limited options to throw a party haha. I did manage though to decide to host the party at our apartment complex’s playground area, and the party will be an hour and a half. It’s still close to home, but not in my tiny-ass apartment. Problem solved. Plus there are swings, volleyball court (sand for parents to freak out on), and a little climbing gym thingy. Tons of outdoor seating so I don’t have to worry about dragging up tables and chairs. Here’s the only downfall; nothing is covered so if it rains I will again be hosting the party inside my home.  Oh well, let’s keep our fingers crossed. November here in Texas is usually lovely; cool, but not cold. That’s another thing to keep in mind when planning your party. What’s your weather going to be like?

I forgot the most important part of planning a birthday party though; the budget. I know I can speak for the majority when I say “We’re broke” so budget plays a huge role in what you do/get your children for their birthdays.  You decide how much you’re able to spend on the party & plan within those means. Use stuff you may have lying around for decorations or make your own vs. buying expensive ones at party stores. Same goes for invitations; get creative and make your own. That’s what we’re doing. We are even making them postcards to save money on postage. Matthew and I also set a price limit on what will be spent on present(s)(the same for each child).

Have fun too! Planning things out is fun for me, but I’m sure for some it may be stressful too. Your children pick up on your mood though so chances are if you’re not having a good time they won’t be either. Just something to keep in mind. Another tip that I always have to remind Matthew of is that “it’s your CHILD’S birthday party, screw the adults!”. What do I mean by this? I mean it doesn’t have to be extravagant with h’orderves and sushi. Something I’ve learned about Texas though….they think at get-togethers that food is required. What do I think about that? It’s crap. What happened to good ole fashioned cake and ice cream. That’s how we’re rolling this year. I’ll post a final layout/plan of Naomi’s birthday once we have every finalized and a facebook event up(also highly recommend doing that!).

When you are breastfeeding you are occasionally fortunate enough to continue your winning streak, and by winning streak I mean no monthly visit from mother nature. Some mommies aren’t so lucky and get their period back immediately. When I was nursing Vera mine came back when she was around 6 months because she changed her nursing habits and was only nursing 3 times a day until she stopped nursing at 13 months. Then when she stopped nursing my period disappeared & I thought something was wrong….incidentally it was. We realized “Oh crap! We’re having another baby!”. Somehow nine months of tampon free months turned into twenty, and then sadly the other day I got a visit. How ignorant and blissful I was to be period free. Those were the days. Now I feel crampy, grouchy, and bloated. OK, so not too much change in behavior….just now I have to buy dreaded tampons & pads again. I forgot how much they cost! At least they’re cheaper than diapers(children’s! NOT depends).
I’m kinda curious as to what dictates when you get it back because Naomi is still nursing pretty regularly. I mean it has dropped off a little, but not a drastic change. I’ll probably start weaning her next month. This kid has developed a horrible biting habit, and it’s a chore to keep her focused on the task at hand.
However had I known what keeps you from getting your period I may have just continued to do that LOL. Periods suck. I forgot just how much they suck.

1. Slice
2. Note To The Unknown Soldier
3. Tuesday
4. Chances
5. This Dance
6. Above The Timberline
7. Transfer
8. Hope
9. Story Of Your Life
10. Love Can’t Change The Weather
11. Augie Nieto

I’ve been a fan since way back…. um like since Hero’s have had the right to bleed :P. My two 1/2 year old is even a fan! She loves the cover he did of “All I know” that plays during Chicken Little. She sits there glued to the screen when the song comes on haha. Ok, maybe she’s a fan of Chicken Little….hard to tell. Either way I don’t need to build up this guy. His reputation precedes him. The new album Slice has a couple of patriotic songs (Slice,Note To The Unknown Soldier) that clearly seem inspired by the work he’s been doing lately with the USO. What makes Five For Fighting one of my favorites is that the lyrics generally tell a story.Take the song “Augie Nieto” for example. That song tells the story about Aguie‘s fight against ALS. “Transfer” and “Love Can’t Change the Weather” just didn’t sit well with me for some reason. They weren’t bad songs; just won’t be going on the play-list. Usually I tend to gravitate towards the singles that are released(cause you hear them on the radio all the time), but surprisingly “Chances” wasn’t my favorite. My favorites had to be “The Story of Your Life” and “This Dance”. Some of the lyrics from “This Dance” really spoke to me; “You put the beautiful in life”. It made me think of my daughters. Someday they’re going to grow up, get married, and their daddy will share that dance with them. I like good songs like that. They leave you all warm and fuzzy inside haha.

The album in it’s entirety is nothing less than what you’d expect from John Ondrasik. He’s more than just a “slice of American Pie”….. it seems like he’s got the whole pie down so to speak and wrote lyrics to all the slices. If you like Five For Fighting I think you’ll like this album (or at least a couple songs on it).

This is my favorite part of doing a review; when the sponsor provides a copy of what I got to test out for one of my readers ^_^. That’s right! One lucky reader is going to win an autographed copy of Slice!! Now here’s how this is going to go down. I put your name on a piece of paper, Matt draws it outta the hat, and I contact you to get your info to pass on to One2One Network(they handle the prize…I unfortunately never get to see John Ondrasik’s John Hancock ;(). Now, just so we are all clear I am ending this little contest November 1st, and will notify the winner on the 2nd. If the winner does not respond with their contact information by the 5th we move on to runner up, and so forth (not to exceed the 15th because that’s the ultimate deadline). In order to win this autographed CD you can do one of two things (or if you love me you can do both). You can leave a comment letting me know which Five For Fighting song is your favorite or you can follow me on twitter. If you decided to follow me on twitter @deep_n_thought just send me a retweet once you do to let me know you’re entering this contest…again if you love me you can include the link to spread the word to your friends ^_^

Adventureland

Comments: I’m sure a lot of people my age could relate to this film even though it was placed back in the 80′s. You having to get summer job to save up for college because Mom & Dad reneged because they’re experiencing money troubles, and then you have that summer fling that just blows you away. Only for it to end tragically, and then you track down that person and it’s like it never happened. WA-LA, you get back together; a happy ending! So what’s not to like about this romantic comedy, right? A LOT. Let’s start with the acting. Jesse Eisenberg (James, leading man) was ok, but it felt like this role had been written for Michael Cera and maybe he had read the script and thought it was complete crap too. Who knows. It seemed like that’s who Jesse was acting like. He didn’t bring anything special to this role. Do not get me started on Kristen Stewart. I am going to have abunch of hate mail from Twilighters I can see it now. She isn’t an actress…..she’s just herself. In every movie I’ve seen she’s just being herself (Twilight is no expection)! It’s irritating. The role of Em had a lot of potential. She had just lost her mom two years ago to cancer, her dad re-married this evil bald lady(ironic) who he had been cheating on with before his wife died, and then hypocritically she was involved in a relationship with a married man. Kirsten Stewart seems to never have the appropriate emotional response to things. I often wonder if she doesn’t have Tourette Syndrome since she often runs her hands through her hair and has odd hand movements that look involuntary. Anyways enough bashing. The supporting actors is what saved this film; Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Matt Bush, Margarita Levieva. When you got right down to it the movie wasn’t really that funny at all. James is broke,works at Adventureland (I’ve been there, it does really suck!), and his love interest is having sex with a married man. Then when shit blows up in her face i.e. everyone knows about the affair James still takes her back. I think I laughed once when Bill Hader’s character ran after this guy with a bat….Yeah so I’m giving this movie a C, and that’s for the supporting actors. I wouldn’t waste a dollar on renting this movie, and am regretting that I did so.

This is partially my fault….see Vera actually thinks that she is a real princess. My husband warned me several times about this. Since he grew up with “Princess Olivia” that we shouldn’t encourage the whole “princess thing”. I guess he got bossed around by the princess one to many times. BUT I disregarded his warning, and since the day she was born told her that she was a princess. Once she turned two we allowed her to watch the movies, and from that point on she was hooked.
This year Princess Vera has had it tough, and I believe she somewhat relates to Cinderella or at least sympathizes with her. Her majesty has had to share the spotlight this year with her new baby sister that showed up on the scene, and suddenly she wasn’t the only princess in town. This means she had to take her turn for meals, baths, bedtime, and even Mom and Dad’s attention…..granted she wasn’t sweeping floors or doing dishes, but this was tough for Princess Vera. Despite all that she has learned a lot of good things from having to share her throne. She’s learned to be kind and caring. We’re working on the patience, and she’s even learned that part of ruling over your kingdom is about being fair and letting your sister play with your toys too.
However this year has left me, Mom, feeling a little like the evil Stepmother. Here I’ve told her that she was a princess and could go to the ball if she got all her chores done(i.e. go to Disney World is she’s good), and now Mom and Dad have extra responsibilities (i.e. another princess/living off one income) and it looks as if we’ll never make it to the ball(at least not for a long time!)

“Oh, well. What’s a royal ball? After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull, and-and-and boring, and-and completely… Completely wonderful.” -Cinderella

Couldn’t have said it better myself….Please make this princess’s dream a wish come true, and vote for Vera as “the fairest of them all” even though all the princesses who’ve entered are fair and deserving.

1. I Loves You Porgy   featuring Chris Botti
2. Come Again   featuring Sting
3. Oblivion   featuring Carel Kraayenhof 
4. Cinema Paradiso   featuring Josh Groban
5. Para Tí   featuring Tiempo Libre
6. My Funny Valentine   featuring Kristin Chenoweth
7. Maybe So   featuring Edgar Meyer Sam Bush and Mike Marshall
8. Grieg: Sonata No. 3   featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff
9. Eleanor Rigby   featuring Frankie Moreno
10. O, Cease Thy Maiden Fair   featuring Nathan Gunn
11. Il Postino   featuring Carel Kraayenhof
12. Left Hand Song   featuring Regina Spektor 
13. Chovendo Na Roseira   featuring Dave Grusin
14. Look Away   featuring Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile 
15. Variant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin (abridged version)  featuring Anoushka Shankar
16. I’ll Take Manhattan   featuring Marvin Hamlisch

My taste in music is very eclectic, but as a general rule of thumb whatever just sounds good to me gets added to my playlist. I enjoyed a couple of Joshua Bell’s previous albums, but I must say this one takes the cake! I thoroughly enjoyed this CD .#’s 1,4,14, and 15 go’n on the playlist. I like ‘em all, but those are my favorites.I don’t think this album was like any of his compositions I’ve ever heard. I don’t think it had anything to do with his playing though. I mean he’s a great violinist, and that wasn’t what was different. I think it had a lot to  with the mission behind the album. You could feel the warth and friendship oozing from their music. It embodies the title At Home With Friends;you truly feel that you’re at his home listening to him jam out with friends (and man does dude have some awesome friends!**cough**Sting**cough**).  I’m a nerd, but I always read the lil book/jackets whatever you call them when I get CD’s. Being as that I am an artist (or at least I’d like to think so….yes I’m delusional at times) I respect and find it interesting what other artists have to say about their work.  Joshua Bell’s introduction to this album was no exception. He talked about how as a young child his family would have friends and family over and host musicals. Then as an adult he enjoyed having his friends over and doing the same thing. Well his parents should be estatic because something they did just inspired the best music I think their son has ever made haha. Don’t take my word for it though. I’d check it out on his website. I am kinda envious of my family and friends back in my home state of Illinois because next month he’s going to be in Chicao performing -_- lol.

****UPDATE: on 11|23|2009 I won a $25 gift card for participating in this One2One event

I love this question:

If you were in a romance novel, what would be your name/story?

I have not read very many romance novels. I tend to stick to my science fiction or fantasy. In fact I’ve only ever read one romance novel my entire life(Twilight definitely doesn’t count). I had the privilege of reading “Deceive Not My Heart” after having a very similar discussion with my mother-in-law a couple of years back. Bianca couldn’t believe that I had never read a romance novel. She gushed about how as a teenager she had read every romance novel she could get her hands on during her summer vacations, and how if I was going to read one I was going to read THAT ONE. She ran back into her enclave only emerging until she had the said dusty copy of the book, and was like “There’s no hurry. Just return it to me when you’re done.”(emphasizing the return part….I understand why now) Even though I didn’t want to, dude, I returned that book in less than a week. I could not put it down. Being as this is the only novel I’ve read to base my answer off of I’d have to say that my story would be set in a historical period equally filled with suspense like this one was with lots and lots of ahem sex! My name would be something from the 1900′s; Kittie. Something that lends itself well to the romance genre. I think I’ve been reading too many Bond Novels. So ask yourself, what would your name and story be?

Interesting tidbit that is completely unrelated. Both of my daughter’s names were extremely popular in the 1900′s. It was such an eloquent and romantic time period.

Do  you shower in the morning or shower at night?

This thought has recently plagued me because being a stay at home mom when do you have the opportunity to shower? Sure Sure you can get up at 6 in the morning before the kiddos get up, but who wants to do that? OR you can shower when your kids nap, but what if the shower wakes your kids up or they don’t take naps at the same time (one is napping right now while the other is staring at me with drool all over her face for example)? Matthew is irritated by the fact that when he gets home he’s recruited to watching the kids while I go and take a shower. He does get 10-15 minutes before to unwind. I am not sure as to why this irritates him, but it does. I think it has to do with the fact that pre-children Brittany was a shower in the morning type of gal. I’d get up, get in the shower, and head off to work. I enjoyed showering in the morning because it made me feel clean when I put on clean clothes. Also I liked that I wasn’t the “smelly person” at work….you know you all know one! However, now that I’m at home my job requires me to do some pretty disgusting stuff throughout the day. I’ve thought about submitting my job to Mike Rowe to be featured on Dirty Jobs quite often. Do I need to give you a mental picture? I administer a 10 month old and 2 year old meals, I change 10+ poopy diapers, I give baths (Hey, They’re splashers!), and occasionally we go outside or bust out the play-dough. Then lets not forget that throughout the day I am also occasionally cleaning (chemicals leave nasty residue on your skin) or I’m working up a sweat from chasing the kiddos around. Need I say more? SO by the end of the day I’m a pretty disgusting schmuck. It’s nice to be able to take 15-20 minutes after 9 to 10 hours of taking care of my children to clean up and relax. However when I sleep I do kinda sweat and then I just roll out of bed and function the next day in what I was wearing when I went to bed haha. I am kinda curious if this routine though is what is causing me to be in this funk I’ve been in lately.  I’m tired in the morning, and barely have enough energy to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear or stay up through Imagination Movers (and I even have a mom crush on Smitty!). I don’t have a solution so I thought I’d ask when you shower and why? Just figured I’d poll the audience. He’s the big kicker though! When do you give your kids baths, how often, and why? I’ve been bathing the girls everyday in the morning, but washing their hair during bath-time every other day. However even with the use of lotion after bath each day I’ve noticed that Naomi is developing dry skin patches.  This made me rethink about bathing them daily because you’re washing away essential body oils every time you do which the lack-thereof of oils is probably causing the skin to dry. Also Vera takes 2+ hours to put to sleep at night, and the only thing I can think of that we haven’t tried to remedy this problem is bathing at night.  We haven’t tried it before because we don’t like messing up her routine because she is VERY into her routine. That’s something I’ll talk about another time.  So I am at a draw as to what to do regarding my family’s personal hygiene dilemma, and could use some feedback.  I haven’t given the girls baths today so we’ll gage Matthew’s irritation at having them bathe before bed tonight haha. I’ll let you know what happens.

100% you $100 off!

My 23rd birthday is almost a month away. I have lately been drooling over T-Mobile’s My Touch 3G, and mentioned to Matthew that I would love nothing more than to own this phone that I could tweet from hehe.  He decided that since we had to upgrade our phones since our two year contract was up anyways that he would splurge and get me the phone I wanted as a birthday gift. What a great husband huh? ^_^ Last week (I know I haven’t been posting anything lately) he was looking online, and noticed people were talking about how Oprah was offering $100 off the exact same phone I had my heart set on. I need to start watch’n Oprah or at least leave her show on while the kids play lol. In disbelief he called T-Mobile as soon as he got home from work, and sure enough if you order the phone with a two year contract before the 24th  you get $100 off. I was jumping up and down with joy (internally)! Not only was I getting my phone for my birthday, but I was getting it sooner and for less. We each ended up getting one. It worked out for us pretty well, so well that I would like to formally thank Oprah.

Thank you Oprah Winfrey for my larger than life coupon on the phone I wanted oh so badly. Without you my husband would have paid an arm and a leg just so I could check my facebook and tweet from my phone!

Feels good to have that off my chest and gush about how happy this phone is making me; which it is making me very happy. As you saw in the previous post I am even able to update my blog from my phone. It was pretty funny seeing my website on a phone. Kinda odd in a sense. The applications on this phone are a lot of fun too. There is so much to pick and choose from I didn’t really know where to start. Of course I’ve got a facebook and twitter app. I also found a halarious Austin Powers soundboard, and a fortune cookie. You shake the phone, it breaks your cookie, and wall-ah you get a fortune. And what phone wouldn’t be complete without a magic 8 ball? Yeah I got one of those too! I’ve even got a coloring book app for Vera. Now all I need is some good games. I enjoy a good RPG. Anyone got any suggestions??!

Sunshine Cleaning

Comments:This movie is hard to describe and review. For 1) It is about nothing I’ve ever seen in a film before(cleaning up bio-hazard material) and 2) the Characters are likable and easy to relate to yet what they do and accomplish throughout the story seems pointless. With that said I give the movie a B. From the moment I sat down I felt compelled to watch as these people’s lives unfold in an unconventional fashion, and found myself cheering them on because the characters deserved happiness because they had been dealt such a shitty hand their entire lives. This movie brought a little sunshine to my otherwise sunless rainy Saturday.

I Love You, Man

Comments:I’ve never seen a Bromance, but there is a first time for everything. Maybe because of my own social awkwardness I found this movie painfully hard to watch, but I did chuckle here and there. Peter (Paul Rudd) has no man friends or a best friend for that matter and his goal is to make friends before his wedding so that he can create a wedding party and a best man. You can’t help but feel sorry for this seemingly wonderful guy who has got everything going for him except friends. Throughout the film you find yourself cheering him on in his endeavor to make friends, even when he goes on “man date” after “man date”. Yeah sure he ends up blowing chunks in one dudes face or ends up on the receiving end of a french kiss, but in the end he finds a true friend in Sidney (Jason Segal). This “bromantic” comedy gets a B- from me. It was funny, but at times excruciatingly painful to watch. Is it just me or did like everything Paul Rudd say, not just “slapping the bass”, sound like he was a leprechaun haha?

This exclusive new moon trailer has left me speechless. I am excited. Release the movie already! Why are they waiting until Nov. 20th?!

Burn After Reading

Comments: You have to have a special kind of humor to watch a movie like this. I think the quote at the end of the film

“What did we learn, Palmer?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“I don’t fuckin’ know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m fucked if I know what we did”
“Yes, sir, it’s, uh, hard to say”

summed up pretty much the entire film. How does that sum it up you may ask? Well the film has no purpose. No one understands how or why they are doing what they’re doing. Two of the most innocent characters in the film wind up dead while all the cheaters go on their marry way; excluding Osbourne Cox. It’s a great “ride” though haha. Matthew and I were cracking up. The film is very poignant. When you’re done watching it your left wondering “What did we learn”, what was up with Harry and his kinky sex toy, why when throwing a fit did Harry run out of the house with his sex wedge, what did Mr. Cox’s memoir contain that was of any interest to the Russians, and why for heaven’s sake was Chad making that dumb-ass face while being shot. On a happy note Linda gets her plastic surgery. Are you confused yet? You should be…..just rent the movie. I’d give it an A.