Oh Happy Day!

Dear Beneficiary,

These are your winning informationâ??s:

TICKET NUMBER : DZNL 492 - 714 - 027 / 2008
LUCKY NUMBER : 09,22,36,61,63,79,84
REFERENCE NUMBER: NUWL/DZNL/48326MST
BATCH NUMBER : DTOW 1396 62U7A

We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the
Dayzersloterij Malaysia (2.500.000) Two Million Five hundred Dollars program
held on 31th of August 2008 and that was released today 23/09/2008, you are to
DAYZERS MALAYSIA AWARD
KUALA LUMPUR 5, 2514 JA,
THE HAGUE, MALAYSIA

contact Mr Jeong Hassan Collins
Tel: +60173960135
Fax: +60321784711
EMAIL: cojeongkong@yahoo.com.hk
Sincerely Yours,

Mrs.Malam van Houd
The Lottery Coordinator.


___________________________________________________________________________
Mail sent from WebMail service at PHP-Nuke Powered Site




Can you believe my good fortune?

Things Rolling Around in My Head...Continued

K back, thanks for waiting, and now for the things in my head.

A weekend update:

Saturday, Whynot, Augie Dawg and I took TOF to the zoo. The weather was perfect, not too hot, sunny, it was a beautiful day. TOF had a great time, we talked about all the animals we saw, the noises they make. He had a blast petting the goats in the children's zoo. I took a great picture of a lovely family, that I choose not to post, because, well they may track me down and thank me for the picture LOL.....but just to give you a hint, we dubbed them Hoochie Mama and Thug Daddy. Good grief, they made an interesting pair to say the least.

We spent some time in the Ape house and that seems to be TOF's favorite part of the whole day. We climbed up some stairs and at the top we learned.....wait I'll let TOF tell it.

Oh no Mema! Bridge broken! Walk back down! Pa, mema broke bridge! Oh no bridge broken! Walk back down! Mama, bridge broken, walk back down.

Later at home.

Daddeeee, bridge broken! Mema broke bridge, walk back down.

Two days later when Glitter Gurl stops by on her way to work.

Hey TOF, did you go to the zoo?

Nana (he calls her nana as in knock knock) oh no bridge broken! Walk back down! Mema oh no, bridge broken! Mema walk back down! Nana, Mema broke bridge!

Four hours at the zoo, all those animals, snacks, a merry go round and the boy only wants to talk about the broken bridge in the ape house.

Priceless!

So there's more stuff inside here.....

Hey Direct TV, great idea to use two different types of satellite dishes on the rooftops. This way if I am a burglar, I know to go only to the houses with oval shaped dishes as they have HDTVs.

Oh Kohls.com....I tried to place an order Friday, you weren't calculating the discount correctly. I called and placed my order over the phone, the shoes I chose were out of stock...of course they were! THEY WERE IN MY SHOPPING BAG ONLINE!!! I chose a different pair of shoes. It was all good, except what are the chances that the cursor would have been precisely on place order when I grabbed the mouse? Pretty good I'd say, considering I now have 2 pairs of Mickey Mouse pajamas, 2 monster shirts, 2 pairs of Christmas pajamas and TWO DIFFERENT pairs of shoes winging their way to my doorstep. ARGHHHHHH But at least I got the discount both times and $20 in Kohl's Cash for next time.

RAIN! Enough already! Whynot had to mow the lawn twice last week and it still looked like crap! Here you are again and he'll be gone Wednesday and Thursday. The river is still a bit high. I'm really not liking you much right now.

Can you imagine if it were snow, how much there would be! I'll take the rain.

I'm not even gonna get into the PROPOSED BAILOUT! But I can't wait til next Monday to see what else JP Morgan bought over the weekend.

I've gotta run, there's laundry still on the couch and more in the washer and dryer, I'd like a nap, but it's time for GH. I know what happens, but I still want to see it. I know what the BIG SECRET is too. Leave a comment if you want to know and I'll get back to you.

Have a great Monday!

See ya tomorrow...maybe..........

Things Rolling Around in My Head Right Now

Ha, it's a blank post. As in my head is empty LOL......no seriously, I have thoughts, give me 20 minutes to get TOF down for nap.

A Small Request

Re: <noreply-comment@blogger.com>

Go here...do what Jenni says ( Jenni says to go here ) Don't forget to leave comments before you leave.

Thank you Jenni and Carissa, I'll post these useful tidbits as I come across them.

Happy Sunday!

Friday Five---Take Three

Sorry for the delayed post today, TOF was a tad uncooperative this morning, six hours and only ONE broken Rubbermaid container later, he is finally napping. I don't expect that to last nearly as long as I'd like it to, but I'll take what I can get. Damn the pharmaceutical companies for pulling that lovely cold medicine off the shelves, it made such a great sleep aide. JUST KIDDING!!! Don't go all nutso now. Put the phone down, there is no need to call DCFS.

Welcome back to Friday Five, where I acknowledge FIVE funtastic and thoughtful bloggers.

I discovered the Thoughtful Blogger Award here .

The Thoughtful Blogger Award

For those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.



For Friday, September 26th, I nominate:

#1 Georgie It appears that Georgie and I suffer from the same affliction....we are decisionally challenged, in lay men's terms that means we just can't make up our minds. It's horrible and I've finally found someone to commiserate with. I'm looking forward to reading more about Georgie and her dilemma.

#2 Deb Deb is a new follower of my blog, that in itself get's extra credit.

#3 Betsy I discovered Betsy through Leah's blog. She's a young mom of two, soon to be three.

She's headed back to school next week and I'm very proud of her decision. Good luck, Betsy!

#4 Cheryl Cheryl would be the second online person I know in Rhode Island. She also refers to my blog as BODACIOUS. Well mine and like 30 others, but who's counting?

#5 bv Another new follower, bv's blog is funny and has THREE columns. Oy the pain that caused me!

Winners, please feel free to snatch up that award and post it proudly on your blog. Readers, go check out their blogs and tell them I sent you.

Congratulations and thanks again!

Technical Difficulties

We're experiencing some technical difficulties here on The Avenue. Augie Dawg overslept, she was almost an hour late, TOF refused to go back to sleep and has been up and at em since 6:20 am!!!!

Therefore, Friday Five-Take Three will be delayed until at least naptime, ( 12/1 central) which cannot come soon enough. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves and please feel free to grab a rag or broom or vacuum and clean this swill pit.

Oh yeah, head on over here, it's a rerun, but a good one.

I'm Movin On Up...To the Flipside

I'm guest posting over here today. Thank you Kellan for having me.

Faberge Organics Shampoo

Look all the way down.....no, further down. More. ALL THE WAY DOWN. That stat counter. It almost says 500. 500 hits! ( It may very well already say 500, I haven't checked in the last 10 seconds) Back in the day 500 hits would have made for one heck of a high, not that I know about stuff like that personally, but I'm just saying. 500 hits (of the internet variety people) just makes me all giddy and warm and fuzzy inside. And instead of munchies in the middle of the night, I plot my next blog post.

So I got to thinking, member that old commercial, I told two friends, and they told two friends and so on and so on and so on. No, I don't want to become extinct like Faberge Organics Shampoo. I want you to tell two friends! Or 4 or 6 or 1000.

I'm getting greedy, I know it, but if you knew how very easily I am amused, you would gladly oblige. People read me, people leave comments and not one single nasty one yet. Not that I couldn't take it, I'm tough, I'd only cry for a month. And call them nasty names and prolly write bad things about them in my blog. But anyway, this is exciting for me.

Why on earth does spellcheck constantly point out that I have misspelled INTERNET! I have not! So what is the darn thing missing that I am really misspelling? Don't make me look stupid spellcheck, in front of 500 people and their 2 friends! Hmm you want uppercase I? Let's try that again, Internet. Dang! Internet, you have a bigger ego than I do!

Okay a quick note here and then I have stuff to do. Sheesh, ya think I sit here all day blogging? I have bon bons to eat too and I have to make time for my soap operas. Wordless Wednesday! NO MORE.......Wednesday will be Wordy, although maybe that wont' be the caption I use. Haven't thought that far ahead, but WORDLESS will not be found here on The Avenue.

Have a good one and go, shoo, tell 2 friends. Pretty Please!

Wordless Wednesday

Oh this wordless is soooo hard for me.

All Kidding Aside

This is serious stuff here.



I came across a blog today Cass, Just Curious, she had a little scare last week and has decided to donate $9 to the Susan G Komen Foundation for every comment left on her blog. My comment was #309. I think this is a great cause and worth taking a peek and leaving a comment. Do it for your moms, your daughters, your sisters, do it for YOU!



And when you're done posting a comment, go feel yourself up! You didn't think I could be like all totally serious did ya?

The Little Black Box

Have you clicked on that little black box yet? It's entertaining. Go ahead it won't hurt you. I promise. I forget where I found it, so I'm sorry but I can't give proper credit. It's sort of like a blog version of those fortune tellers we used to make as kids. Picked 6, then 4 then 3, then blue, then spell your best friend's name backwards and when you marry Brian, you will have 6 kids, all boys. But instead the Little Black Box will lead you to a blog you may not have ever read before. Go ahead, it'll be fun, it's not like those 3 piles of laundry on the couch are going anywhere soon.

Now a public service message from the Blog Police...

Dear Bloggers,

I like order, I like to go to one place, preferably Google Reader, and read all my favorite blogs in one fell swoop. Some of you have obliged, putting that nice little orange icon on your blogs so I can click 3 times and voila, you're in my Google Reader. But some of you are a little more defiant, thus confusing this feeble little mind of mine. If you're in my list of favs, I can't be orderly, because I forget where I left off the last time I checked. So please, help an old woman out if you will, and add that little orange icon to your blog, if you can. It's not like those 3 piles of laundry are going anywhere.

Thank you!

And finally, lookie, down there, straight under this post....see how pretty.....it's so me isn't it? I love it. I got it here and it was free!

My Favorite 4 Letter Word

Starts with F.

Um yeah, no, get your mind out of the gutter! It's FREE. If it's free it's for me! So now I am searching for a free stat counter. I had one, it broke, don't ask, I dunno. It just wouldn't load the page anymore, so I switched. This one said free, but it's only free for 500 hits and then what?

So I want a totally free all the time stat counter, that I can actually understand. Any suggestions?

Everyone having a great weekend? Enjoy, there's only about 4 1/2 hours left. Cram in all the good times, it's almost Monday. Groannnnnnnnnn.

I had a fabulous weekend! TOF and I were hanging while Whynot and Augie Dawg cheered the Cubs onto victory. Did some grocery shopping, some yard work, some cleaning.

Today TOF joined Whynot and Augie Dawg at Wrigley and he brought a friend. Flat Stanley! 1 of 3 asked if I would be so kind as to send Stanley to the Friendly Confines for her son Jikity's school project. Can't wait to see the pictures.

I shopped today! Lately I hate to shop. But off I went to Kohl's for new Nike's. IN MAGENTA!! Magenta shoes people. I know you're all green with envy. Then to Penney's where I picked up a new purse, some bling earrings and a ring for Glitter Gurl. Who I just happened to bump into on my way out. Surprise surprise! She must have smelled her present and came to claim it.

We did lunch at Panera, where I thought longingly of 1 of 3 and 2 of 3. It was a year ago that we had our girly weekend in St Louis and ate Panera and got free pop. A whole year. We need a repeat.

I came home to grab some cash, cuz I had this itch.....the itch. I hate the itch. I snuck over to the casino and lost $20! SHIT! I'll show them! I pulled another $20 and headed to another machine, $10 into my play I hit for 816 quarters! Woohoo! I snatched that ticket and walked right out! I'm a lot of things, but a fool isn't one of them. That many quarters is half my car payment. Woohoo!!!

Enjoy your evening everyone.

I Killed My Blog!!!!

GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

I tried to make 3 columns. I saved the template just in case. Three columns didn't work, I went to replace my template and it wouldn't work. Something about needing > I didn't see where. Over an hour of CPR and this is all I could put back :(

I'm totally frustrated!

But!!!!! CUBS WIN!!!!!! Woohoo!!! Congrats to the NL Central Division Champs.

Go Cubs Go!

Friday Five---Round Two

Welcome back to Friday Five, where I acknowledge FIVE funtastic and thoughtful bloggers.

I discovered the Thoughtful Blogger Award here .

The Thoughtful Blogger Award

For those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.

For Friday, September 19th, I nominate:

#1 and #2

Anonymous 1 of 3 and Anonymous 2 of 3

My dear friends, Donna and Susan, who share an equal part of my brain. Although I'm sure they got the part that is clearly smarter. We are sisters of heart, married to brothers related only through their lazy asses. I love you guys!

#3 OHMommy

Who doesn't love a nice Polish girl? This girl is classy, clever and witty. She has a major shoe fetish and quite frankly I'm trying to figure out what all the fuss is about Manolos. Total Nike girl that I am.

#4 Dawn

Because you were my first (wink wink) I've been following Dawn's hilarious antics for over a year now and things couldn't be funnier.

and

#5 Kellan

Kellan is another mom just trying to survive the chaos of life with four children. She's kind and thoughtful and whether she believes it or not she is VERY INTERESTING.

Winners, please feel free to snatch up that award and post it proudly on your blog. Readers, go check out their blogs and tell them I sent you.

Congratulations and thanks again!

Call It What You Want......

........my head hurts, I've watched too much baseball (12 innings, that we are actually re watching right now), at least they WON! And the MAGIC NUMBER IS TWO!!!! But all that wouldn't fit in the title box and the latter really has nothing to do with my post anyway. Cept the headache part, maybe a little.

I started reading blogs a little over a year ago. Among other things, I care for TOF while Augie Dawg works. He gets here before the crack of dawn and I'm often not tired enough to go back to sleep. Besides I like the peacefulness of this quiet house, (before all hell breaks loose) as I sip my morning coffee. In come the blogs.

I started with Rosie's blog and then discovered Dawn over here. I followed Juju's story on CarePages and from there it gets a little fuzzy, because it spread like wildfire. A click here and a click there and I was sucked in.

I added these blogs to my list of favs, in a nice neat folder labeled Blogs. I returned every morning, coffee in hand, eagerly awaiting new posts. I had no idea what a Google Reader was or how to subscribe to posts at this point. Every morning I went through my list of new friends, hoping to get a smile or a chuckle or some kind of update. I laughed some, I cried some. A few blogs put things into perspective for me, the grass isn't always greener. I have no idea how I even arrived at some blogs, but there are no accidents.

Each of the blogs I have stumbled upon made an impact on me. There are many amazing bloggers out there. Blogs about anything and everything you can imagine. Family blogs, money saving blogs, sports blogs, craft blogs. Blogs about how to keep TOF amused so I can read more blogs!

I was too shy to comment back then, didn't think it mattered. (Oh my how it matters!) I was afraid of rejection. One of the first comments I left was on this blog. I didn't get rejection at all, I got me a genuine dose of southern hospitality, in a email reply. To my comment. I was sucked even deeper into this Land of Blog.

It was about then that I realized................

Hi, my name is Megryansmom and I'm a blog-aholic.

This Totally Baffles Me!

Today in my worthless local newspaper, I read this:

Jim Mc F and his wife, Lauren, are parishioners at St R's They live in J-town with their two adopted chocolate labs, Boscoe and Scout.

I kid you not, it said that, well not exactly that, the human names and town have been altered to protect the innocent (me) But the part about the ADOPTED chocolate labs, all true. I am so glad they pointed that adopted part out in the article, had they not I surely would have thought the Lauren McF had given birth to twin chocolate labs!

Stuff like this happens all the time in our backwards paper and yet I continue to subscribe. It's only $1 a week and I get more than that in coupons on Sunday, besides it makes a good liner for the pig cages.

P.S. Magic Number is FOUR!!!

Late Breaking News!

Cubs win!

Magic Number is 7!

Big Z pitches first Cubs no hitter since Milt Pappas in 1972!

Just thought you'd want to know.

Good night, jeem jeems (sweet dreams)

Shhh.....

Are we alone, or is he in here? Quick close the door and sit down. I strongly suspect that the person who has invaded Whynot's body has been reading my blog.

Why? How you ask. Remember the dishwasher and sippy cup incident? Yeah, well yesterday, Whynot or whoever this alien is, emptied the entire dishwasher. Everything. Sippy cups too! He even put the little rubber flanges into the lids, and placed them in the cabinet. The. Right. Cabinet.

Shh he's watching the Bears game right beside me, but when it's over.....hang on to your hats.....we're going to tile my bathroom floor! Actually it's almost done, cept for an itty bitty I can't reach behind the toilet and along the tub, so we have to move the toilet. But today's the day! TWENTY MINUTES, unless Bear's go into overtime.

Either he's reading my blog or one of my loyal readers is a double agent. Take that all of you seasoned bloggers, Mata Hari reads my blog.

Rain Rain Go Away

I shouldn't complain, I really shouldn't. But I can't help it, I do it so well (and so often) Despite all the rain we've gotten, life here on The Avenue is good. The house is dry, the power is on, it's cool inside. But outside, oh my, it's humid as all shit and the rain keeps falling and falling. One third of my backyard is submerged in water. The side yard is very sloshy.

Whynot was out last night checking the neighbor's drain for their sump pump. It's between the two houses and they didn't have a hose long enough to drain the water into the street. We were concerned as this standing water could possibly run into our utility room and family room. I bought a hose, still not long enough, so in the dark last night, Whynot grabbed the hose to the shop vac and ran it into the street. It's doing the job and every so often he looks out the front window to make sure his idea is still working. He's so proud of himself. That's my guy, he usually needs a fire or in this case flood up his ass to get him in gear, but golly, he comes up with some good ones some times. He's a prince :)

There's more silver lining to this cloud. Cubs game in Houston, cancelled. Dang, no baseball. What's a man to do? Why help his wife get a start on fall cleaning of course. Our lower level is CLEAN. Seriously clean. We even had a service come out to clean our duct work this afternoon. Like busy little squirrels foraging nuts, Whynot and I.

I was so grateful for all Whynot's help that I even offered to dig up some VHS tapes of past games for him to watch. No need, looks like there's a Milwaukee/Phillies game on. Yeah, go Phillies!

If you're reading this, please take a moment to pray for those more seriously affected by Ike. My heart goes out to all of those families displaced by this storm.

Have a great Saturday night everyone and stay safe.

Friday Five

Something a little different, at least for me. On Friday's I would like to send out awards to five bloggers who have gotten me through the week. Either by making me smile through their blogs or leaving loving comments on mine.



There's just one itty bitty problem. I don't know how :( Yes dear readers it's true, I am deprived of the power to perform one or more natural blogging activities. How's that for political correctness?



I have the little button part all figured out. I found it here the other day.

The Thoughtful Blogger Award

For those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.

So now I will make my nominations and hopefully one or all of you will know how to post this award onto your blogs.

#1 Leah

For having added me to her blog roll. That totally rocks! For me to think that there is someone out there that cares to click back to see what I have to ramble about. Thank you, you have no idea how happy you've made me. P.S. You're kids are soooo darn cute!

#2 Megan

This girl cracks me up. When I read her blog I have a southern accent. She makes me feel so Scarlett O'Hara. Not sure she's stopped by to read my blog yet, but I'll give her a pass for a few weeks as she's tending to a new baby. Another one I could just eat right up like sweet potato pie.

#3 Jill

A Chicago girl transplanted recently to the burbs. She's the originator of WTF Wednesday and well quite honestly I have WTF My Life, so I feel like we've bonded through her blog. Always a good laugh there and more adorable boys. (Yikes I hope I'm not coming across as a pedophile)

#4 JenniBeanV

What's not to like, she taught me how to cross stuff out on posts, although I haven't tried yet. Soon, this whole award thing is making my brain hurt enough right now. She also gave me my first recognition, a BFF Gold Card. Mwahhhh thank you again.

and

#5 Kaci

Kaci comments regularly and let's face it, comments are wonderful. Besides, when you don't comment Fairies DIE! GASPPPP! Thank you Kaci, for keeping Fairies alive and making me smile.

Ok, now I think I'm supposed to email you to let you know I've given you an award, but I think some of you may not have emails on your blogs.....see above where yeah, I'm just deprived or maybe even depraved. I will try my best, here goes.

Congratulations and thanks again!

Is It Just Me?

Or do you have husbands like this too?

Let me set the scene......GlitterGurl moved out on her own in Dec, and since then I have been ragging, er gently trying to persuade Whynot (can someone btw please tell me how to cross out characters) to help out more with the daily chores. This has caused some major discord in our home, as Whynot is sometimes, actually quite frequently a pig headed Italian who still lives in 1960, where a man's home is his castle. Think Ralph Kramden without that big belly LOL. Sometimes he surprises me and empties the dishwasher.

This amuses me because we have lived here on The Avenue for nearly FIFTEEN years, we don't have a lot stuff and it's always been in the same place. For crying out loud TOF knows where stuff belongs here and knows the difference between this house and his house, which is identical to ours, cept his mama seems to think the drawer below the microwave is better suited for silverware instead of baggies and wrap and such, therefore leaving the proper silverware drawer for the wraps. Anywho, I digress. So Whynot attempts to empty the dishwasher, he puts away some things with ease, some things get put in the wrong place, like TOF's plastic plates and bowls, we don't stack bowls on plates, too hard to get at when you need them and you would have seen that when you opened the cabinet. And some things, for whatever reason, perhaps they frighten him, don't get put away at all. Like TOF's sippy cups.

Oh it's not like he doesn't try to put the sippy cups away, he starts, and then that's where they must scare him or something. Because I will come home to a few cups on the counter and the lids, now these must be the scarey parts, in different places in the dishwasher than I had originally placed them. As if Whynot, picked them up, they shouted BOO and he dropped them back into the dishwasher. Oh to be a fly on the wall during this stressful time for my beloved. I have to wonder does he do this because he is truly chore challenged, or does he do it to piss me off in hopes of my saying, "oh it's ok dear, you don't have to help anymore?" Cuz that just ain't happenin!!

The other chore that Whynot has recently resumed is grass cutting. Oh how I miss Glittergurl's lawn mowing skills. She was far better at it than her predecessor, Big Mouse. She was damn good at mowing the lawn that girl was. Whynot, not so. The same individual that stressed the lawn must be mowed weekly before we go gallivanting with our friends, has forgotten that golden rule. It's been 10 days or so, closer to 12! Today I reminded him the grass needs mowing, his excuse was that he was waiting for me to mow the front. I scoffed at him and he whined, "but you did it for Glittergurl" Big baby!

Catch ya later, I'm off to mow the front lawn. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I Have Nothing Blogworthy :(

I am a pathetic existence and grumpier than all shit! My house is a swill pit and I have no motivation to clean. On a high note, my laundry is complete. Washed. Folded. Put Away. No easy task for me. I like the clean underwear to lay all over the couch for several days, just in case someone comes over. So I can cringe at just how much of a pathetic existence I am.

Not much happening on The Avenue. TOF has an ear infection, thank God for those tubes. Instead of fever and screaming, we now get ear gunk of gross proportion and we know it's time to apply "the drops" Loving those tubes. Gustav brought some monsoon like rain on Monday, took with him the humidity and left behind some deliciously cooler temps.

Spent the weekend in Cincy, three ball games, two losses. So sad. Leaving the park Sunday afternoon with our tails between our legs, Whynot and I encountered "Obnoxious Reds Fan" Rudest M-F er I've come across in a long time! We were just minding our own business and he screams at us "that's right, go back to Chicago Cubs fans" So Whynot replies, "it's ok, we're going home in 1st place" ORF continues about how the Cubs lost the last 7 of 8, when's the last time they went to the world series, a couple other things I just can't recall right now, but amazingly, for a Cubs hater, he sure knew a lot about their stats. Anywho....... HE JUST WOULDN'T SHUT UP. I couldn't take it anymore, I had that glorious 4 1/2 hour ride home with Mr Grump, I mean Whynot, I turned around and screamed "just shut up already asshole" To which he replied, "oh you can dish it out, but you can't take it?" I remained silent, it was bad enough I stooped to his level of stupid by screaming at him in the first place, but I was completely confused by his reply, he started it. Grrrrr, my blood was boiling, I wanted to kick his ass!!! Oh yeah and he had his young (about 5 yrs old) daughter with him. She prolly went home and said, "Mommy, some crazy lady from Chicago called Daddy an asshole" And Mommy prolly replied, "He deserved it"

Mommy Wars

Appropriately, it all begins on Labor Day. The great debate of whether to be a SAHM or to continue working outside the home.

There are no right or wrong answers here. Sacrifices are made on both sides of the fence and neither of the two choices should make a mom feel superior or inferior.

My mom was a working mom long before I was born. She worked out of necessity while raising two young boys on her own. When she married my dad and had me, she could have easily become a SAHM, however she continued working nights to contribute financially towards the well being of our family.

I have worked since I was 14 years old. I married, worked, had a baby, took a six month leave, returned to work. I worked part time, had another baby, worked part time again. Divorced, worked full time, back to part time, full time yet again. I started working at home out of necessity. When Big Mouse started college, I also took on a part time job to help with tuition and I loved it. Until I got fired. But that cloud had a silver lining as I was able to collect six months of unemployment and take a look at the bigger picture.

A lot happened in that six months, the biggest and bestest being the birth of TOF. Six weeks later, Augie Dawg returned to work, out of necessity. She has entrusted me with what I consider to be my greatest blessing, the day to day care of TOF. I'm working at home again and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Mothering is hard work. No one can make this decision for you. It comes down to doing what is best for your family and I applaud you for your choice.

So tell me how you feel.

Are you a SAHM or do you work outside the home?

What were some of the factors that lead to your decision?