I Love My Online Friends ~ Blog Hop

It's that time again for the 'I Love My Online Friends Monday Hop'. I hope to see lots of new blogs participating this week and I hope that everyone gets a few new blog followers and friends from this week's hop. 

Okay so let's get started.

RULES

1. Follow the host (me) and the guest hosts on GFC. For this week, we are the number 1 and 2 spots on the linky. (We will follow back.) Leave a comment to let us know.

2. Follow as many people as you can and be sure to let them know that you are from the 'I love my Online Friends Monday Hop'. 

3. You are not required to, but it will be great if you could grab our button and make a post about this hop. (At the bottom of the hop, you can get the code so that the same linky list will appear on your blog).

4. Every week I will pick one person to 'Guest Host' the hop with me. If you would like to be considered for the guest host position, all you need to do is grab our button, write a post about the hop and follow me on GFC. Leave a comment under this post to let me know if you are interested in guest hosting.

The Untouched Subject

I just realized that I talk about my kids but never really about parenting...and today you are in for a mouth (or finger tip) full of my parenting frustrations.

You see that little girl in the above picture? Isn't she just beautiful? Do NOT let that fool you. That hormonal teenage terror little girl is going to make me gray, wrinkle and go bald by time she's 18. She's had me to the point of calling my dad and begging for his forgiveness for my teenage years. I honestly don't know how they made it through. I'm so ready to throw my hands up in the air and just say I give up but I don't give up that easily. So lets start with a little back history from November:

Lexi talks to me a lot about her friends and what not and what's going on in their lives. Well she comes to me and tells me that her best friend (we are gonna call her Sue for the sake of this post) is going out with this boy (we'll call him Butt Head Bob) and BHB tells Sue she can't talk to Lexi anymore because he doesn't like her. So Lexi is all upset because Sue has stopped talking to her and they've been BFF's for years. I told her that eventually Sue and BHB will break up and the only thing she could do is be there for her friend even though she made a stupid decision...because that's what friends do. Which of course being high school students they broke up. End of story right?? NOPE!

Now we move on to Christmas break. Our home phone rings at 3:00 am and I immediately go into panic mode because certainly if my phone is ringing at that our someone must be seriously injured or worse. So Prince Charming gets up and answers the phone. Some stupid boy dared to call my house at 3:00 am and ask for my daughter...oh we were in a rage. When Prince Charming asks who it is, he tells my husband "it's none of your business." Really kid! So we write the number down and when I get to work, tired from being jerked awake by some idiot, I have someone call the number from their cell phone and find out who it is. It was BHB! I was mad...told her she was not allowed to talk to him, text him or FB him. That boy is disrespectful and not allowed to speak to him on anything that I pay for.

Fast forward to 2 or 3 weeks ago: Prince Charming and I are sitting on the couch enjoying one of our favorite TV shows when the phone rings. We look at the number, don't recognize it and ignore it. They hang up and call right back. I asked Prince Charming to answer the phone because what if it's an emergency. That's the only reason you would call, hang up and call right back right? So he answers the phone and it's BHB who claims he's Lexi's boyfriend. WHAT?!? That can't be possible, she already knows he's an idiot because of how he treated her BFF and I told her no talking to him. Prince Charming goes and grabs the iPod Touch and we start looking through it (did you know you can text on those things?) and sure enough she's been texting him and he's her BF. I'm sure you can picture the steam coming out of my ears right? So I being the smart mom that I am start digging further. I look at our phone records and it seems she's calling him at night after I go to bed. I was speechless...angry...furious! Well she got in trouble, we took away the iPod and TV and forbid her from carrying on with this relationship. 

A few weeks goes by and I have a spy in her school...she informs me that Lexi and BHB are still dating. She's seen them holding hands and kissing (so glad the school offers them the time to do this). I asked her to take a picture and send it to me which she did last Friday. Prince Charming and I sit her down on Sunday and ask her if she's still dating him. She insists that no she isn't. He asks her if we can trust her, she of course says yes. He asks her if she knows what will happen if she is lying, she says yes she will get in trouble. Yet insists that she's telling the truth. That's when I bust her...let her know I know the truth. Ask why she lied and what does she say...."I don't know." I REALLY hate that answer. So we take away everything else...all her makeup, nail polish and radio. This kid literally has only her clothes and books.

Do you think that stops her....NOPE! Now I'm ready to lose it. Really....what is it gonna take?

I talked to a few people at work and ask them, they say "Well the more you tell her not to do it, the more she will. So stop telling her not to do it." REALLY people....she gets to call the shots. I'm just going to ignore the fact that she's disobeying me and just accept it because other wise she will do it more. I don't think so! 

So I ask you...what would you do?

I know I should have made this a 2 part post...this is short compared to my really long post the other day right?

I'm also joining in for the first time withVanessa @ Dilly Dally on Picture This Thursday. She will give us a theme each week to post pictures on. This weeks theme is Winter.

So there you have my pics...go link up with us her!

Womens Heart Week

February 1-7 is Women's Heart Week and it's such an important week to educate you on. So I come armed with some information from Womensheart.org.

Heart Disease is the number one killer of American women. Recognizing symptoms and risks, making lifestyle changes and getting timely care can save a woman's life. Women's Heart Week is a national outreach campaign aimed at improving women's outcomes from this deadly disease. Heart disease is America’s leading killer of women over the age of 34. Most women are not aware of this fact and fail to recognize their own risk factors for heart disease. Women’s symptoms, especially those that are milder, often go ignored. Women often miss out on critical opportunites to save their own lives. Women's Heart Foundation (WHF) recognizes that women are busier than ever as they juggle career, family and care-giving responsibilities. For many, each day resembles a jig–saw puzzle in which a woman is required to piece together her time and obligations. Now, more than ever, women need to take time out for themselves and be given a reminder: Take Care of Your Heart.

Some scary statistics for you to think about as well:
Less than one-third (31.8 percent) of U.S. adults get regular leisure-time physical activity (defined as light or moderate activity five times or more per week for 30 minutes or more each time and/or vigorous activity three times or more per week for 20 minutes or more each time). About 10 percent of adults do no physical activity at all in their leisure time.

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight (BMI > 25, which includes those who are obese).[7] All adults (20+ years old): 129.6 million (64.5 percent) Women (20+ years old): 64.5 million (61.9 percent) Men (20+ years old): 65.1 million (67.2 percent) Nearly one-third of U.S. adults are obese (BMI > 30). All adults (20+ years old): 61.3 million (30.5 percent) Women (20+ years old): 34.7 million (33.4 percent) Men (20+ years old): 26.6 million (27.5 percent)

About 25 percent of young people (ages 12–21 years) participate in light to moderate activity (e.g., walking, bicycling) nearly every day. About 50 percent regularly engage in vigorous physical activity. Approximately 25 percent report no vigorous physical activity, and 14 percent report no recent vigorous or light to moderate physical activity.

So I ask this of all my readers. Get check ups, make sure you are healthy and know your family history. I can tell you that in my moms family we have a ton of heart disease. My mom passed away at 49 from a heart attack, her sister passed away at 48 from a heart attack. This hits close to home for me.

A Really Long Post

Ok y'all I know I've been MIA but we've had some stuff going on. I'm taking today to play catch up and will be back to my regular posting tomorrow.

A New Home

Do you dream of moving somewhere far away from where you are. Maybe to see new things, or get away from the stresses of where you live? I do! I have all kinds of dream places that I want to live. I dream of living somewhere that is warm year round or living north for the summer and south for the winter.

Moving to somewhere like Santa Cruz, CA would be nice. The temperature averages in winter months is in the 60's! I could handle that. 70's during the summer...that's lovely. I think that may be the perfect place to live. Imagine perfect weather year round. Ok so I know it's not perfect, but I could really deal well with mild temperatures.

Then there is the beautiful scenery. Have you seen the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk? My goodness it looks beautiful in those pictures. I could walk out on that every single day. Oh and the romantic walks at sunset with Prince Charming! I'm practically packing my bags now.

The average home value was $649,572 in 2009. Now I know that may sound like a lot but I'm sure there must be a pay difference in the area...right? When I think of a home like that I think of a castle. So a castle in Santa Cruz I could live with.