Surname Origins

This is just one of those random nights where I can't sleep...and obviously that means im looking up random things on my phone. Well, i ended up coming across a nifty little thing on ancestry.com where i can look up surnames and not only find out what countries they originate from, but also the type of work people with those surnames did when they immigrated to the USA.
So, i started looking up the surnames of my great, great grandparents to get a general idea of my diverse families history.
Turns out the surnames can be traced to Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Spain, & England. Also, the two top types of work every branch of my family had in common were laborers and farmers.
Anyways, just some random things about me that I plan on exploring more as i can/have time. If this type of stuff interests you, then I 100% recommend ancestry.com above all other genealogy sites.

Fighting A Pizza Roll

The other morning my husband woke me up with a plate of pizza rolls in his hands for me. *For all you health freaks, this post may not be for you.* 

Me, having just woken up and therefore not thinking very clearly; decided to instantly bite into one and a stream of oily hot cheese streaked down my chin. The pain should have forewarned me that there would be a burn, but my half awake brain told me there was no way the cheese could have actually been hot enough to truly burn my skin. Ignoring the pain, I continued to eat the rest of the plate of pizza rolls. Why? Well, to put it simply, they are delicious.

Of course, when I looked in the mirror a few minutes later, I saw that I had a very nice sized burn going down the left side of my chin. There was no way makeup could hide this, so I would just have to wear my battle wound for all to see. On top of that, now that it's been a few days, I know for a fact it will still be there for any pictures taken when I visit family during Christmas.

Oh, and as if to add icing on the cake, my boss literally busted up laughing when I told him what happened after he inquired about my injury. 

So, for anyone else who has burned their face while eating a pizza roll, you are not alone and I feel your pain.

For those of you who actually wanted to see a picture to get an idea of how bad the burn was, mine was significantly longer than this, and a brighter red from the flesh that literally got burned away. 

*No, I'm not dumb enough to share a picture of my own for all the world to see and for some to use as a meme later. 

Photo Credits:

Whisper

The Power Of Santa

Just a random tidbit from my day so far...

This morning I was attempting to get my daughter ready for school, just like any other average weekday. Half of the time she loves going to school; the other half of the time she hates it. I'm sure many of you other mothers can relate. Well, as it happens, this was one of the mornings she decided she didn't want to go to school, and I quickly saw it would be a struggle to get her to do anything in a timely manner, (which was another problem as we were already running late). 

As she stood there arguing with me about going to get the hairbrush from the bathroom so I could brush her hair, an idea came to me. 

Me: "You need to get ready for school, and if you continue arguing with me I will call Santa and tell him you are being naughty by not listening to your mommy."

My Daughter: "You don't have Santa's phone number."

Me: "Yes I do, and I can call him right now."

My Daughter: "How do you have Santa's phone number?"

Me: (while thinking about how Santa's number is making it's rounds on facebook) "Because I'm your mother."

The look of shock on her face was priceless. Needless to say I had no further problems this morning with her getting ready for school. Now no judging; for all of us parents have used that threat at least once in our child's life. Let's be honest, we all need a little help from Santa every once in awhile to have a peaceful morning. 

*For those who need Santa's number, here you go...

If for some reason the number listed above doesn't work, the link for Image 2 will take you to another blog with a different number for Santa.

Photo Credits:

Image 1: Free Design File

Image 2: The Balance

Image 3: Money Saving Sisters

Christmas Countdown Traditions

Hey everyone! I know, it's been months since I have posted anything, but my family and I have been making many transitions lately. We made a move across state, I went back to work after two years of being a stay-at-home mom to my baby girl, and that same baby girl has started Kindergarten. (Where has the time gone?) I swear it was just yesterday that she was learning to walk, and now she is learning to read and write!

Well, I wanted to get back into the blogging spirit by sharing a Christmas Countdown tradition that my Stepmother used to do with my sisters and I, (which I now also do for my daughter). 

Every year we would awake on December 1st to see a chain of green and red paper rings hanging from the wall. Each child gets their own, but they will all say the same thing.

Every day has it's own activity to get the family in the Christmas spirit, and it's also a great way to get even the teenagers partaking in family time.

There are certain days that were always the same every year. 

December 1st- The ring always said Look in oven. Inside the oven we would each have a chocolate countdown calendar.

December 24th- This ring would say open one present early. This present would always be a set of warm Christmas pajamas (believe it or not, I still have a couple of the pajama sets because they were so comfortable).

Other rings would consist of, but were not limited to: set up the christmas tree (christmas carols and christmas cookies were always a must during this activity), decorate the house with christmas decorations, pull out the christmas books, pull out the christmas movies, go ice skating (if you have a rink near you), go drive around to look at christmas lights, make christmas cards, read the first Christmas story, and go see Santa.

For those of you who have some children who aren't with you every day during the countdown, you only put enough rings for the number of days they are with you and plan the activities according to what works best for you and your family. It really is a fun tradition. My daughter loves it just as much as I did. It does take a bit of planning, but it is truly worth it. 

Photo Credits

Blog: Our Family Lifstyle

Suicide

*Quick disclaimer: this was a poem I wrote when I was 14, so no this isn't about any current situation in my life. This was just my way of expressing the darkness in myself at that age.

Suicide

The screams drown out the lessons she was supposed to learn

People just watch as her skin begins to burn

The moans fade into the silence of the pitch black night

Ashamed that she gave in without putting up a fight

Plunging headfirst off the cliff into the crashing waves

Smashed against rocks for the end of all days

The knives cut into her scarred up skin

She's way too weak to even try to win

She gives into her now half-crazed mind

Going towards the light to never again glance behind

Photo Credit goes to Deviant Art

The artist's gallery page is in the link below

Lucas

The Offer

I've been reading this book called Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook, and I have to say it is one of the most helpful things I have read in terms of writing tips. I will be referencing it for a few more posts and highly recommend you taking the time to read it if your looking for useful writing tips.

Throughout this book the two authors give you random prompts for you to practice different writing ideas/techniques. One of them was to take two people you admire, write down one thing you admire from each person, and use those qualities to make one character. Then they give you a situation to have that character respond to. So I wanted to share my short story stemming from this prompt.

The two people I chose were:

Mom- her admirable trait was her perseverance (seriously, she has been through Hell and back and I have never seen her give up or slow down)

Dad- his admirable trait was honesty (he was the kind of guy who would rather tell you I will answer you when you're older, instead of lying to you)

Anyways, here is the story......

The Offer

Lisa was on her way to Grand Central Park to go for a quick jog before work. She pressed the button on the pole at the intersection and began to wait for the light to indicate she could cross the street. Looking around she saw a short bald man with an umbrella hat and beach clothes on moving quickly in her direction. As he got closer, he made eye contact with her and gave her a relieved smile. Then he handed her a small sealed carton she hadn't noticed him carrying a moment before and said, "Don't let anything happen to this!" Before she could say anything to him, the man ran off in the opposite direction.

Looking down at the carton, Lisa's mind raced about what could be inside. The man hadn't really looked dangerous, just strange. After standing there looking dumbfounded, she finally came to a decision. She would give the man one hour to return it before taking it to the police station as a lost and found item. She would be a little late to work if he didn't come back before the hour finished, but the man had decided to trust her for some reason; and she really wanted to ask him what was inside.

She walked across the street and sat at the first bench she found to wait for the man. After 45 minutes passed, Lisa began to think he wouldn't come back; but just as she got up to look around, the man came across the street towards her with a huge grin on his face.

"I knew you would be the one lawyer in New York City I could trust!", he exclaimed. Now she was nervous. Who was this man and how did he know she was a lawyer? And how did he know she ran in Grand Central Park every morning before work? Realizing he had been stalking her or having her followed, she started to back away.

"Don't be afraid! My name is Matt Hamilton from The Prime Ink Corporation and I've been looking for a lawyer to handle my private and business affairs.", he said.

Her interest had peaked upon realizing who he was, but she was still feeling a little unsettled.

"Look, I don't care if you're the owner of a billion dollar company or not, you can't go around stalking people! You could have just as easily called me at my office if you were looking to hire me.", she told him angrily.

"Yes, but I needed to know if I could trust you to look after my affairs. If you open the box, you will see how much I am willing to pay you per month to work full-time for me with benefits.", he replied smugly.

Getting annoyed at how he seemed to think she would just instantly agree, she looked down at the carton Opening it, she glanced inside. Struggling to swallow, she looked back up at him.

"This would be my monthly salary?", she asked in disbelief.

He just smiled, nodded his head, reached into his pocket, and handed her his business card before turning around and walking away. She turned it over and saw he had written her start date and time for two weeks from today; giving her just enough time to give her firm two weeks notice. When she looked back up from the card, Mr. Hamilton was gone.

Lost Innocence

Live above the influence

Don't let life bring you down

Be the best you can be

If you fail, try another round

Listen to the words of your broken dreams

Beat yourself up over every little thing

Fall, fall, fall into a deep abyss

Soon all you'll see is pure darkmess

Watch as your life turns inside out

Let pain cloud every judgement with worry and doubt

Have rage take hold of your life's wheel

For soon it will be all you can feel

Hold on to a moment, then let it go

Give into temptation and watch the lies grow

Twist reality until it matches your worst nightmare

Then life will no longer hold anything to fear

Contort your inner self until your unrecognizable

Spin, spin, spin out of your own self control

Enjoy every moment of complete ecstacy

With the pleasure comes the illusion that your free

One day, you'll look in the mirror and see

It's too late; you can never return to who you used to be

Photo credit goes to writer J.W Kash

A link to the exact page on his site this picture was used is below. It's worth clicking on the link guys because he has a pretty interesting/funny post along with this picture and a few others.

J.W. Kash