Baby names (and a contest!)

We have decided on a name, but we can’t really agree on how to spell it. It appears that my husband will win this little battle, but I am interested in your opinion also.

To keep things fair I won’t mention who likes what spelling most & if it helps the middle name will be Grace.

Charlee or Charlie

Vote by leaving your opinion in the comments section of this post. To make things more interesting I will be giving away a $20 Shutterfly gift card to be used at Shutterfly.com  to one lucky reader who speaks up. Thanks for your opinion and good luck!!!

Entry time ends Tuesday at midnight CST. Winners will be annouced on Wednessday morning.

Terms of use of giftcard, as per shutterfly, are as follows:

Code is good for a one-time $20 credit towards a purchase of $20 or more at shutterfly.com. The credit can not be applied towards the purchase of products pickued up at Target. Shipping, Handling, and taxes will apply. To redeem the code, you must have, or create, a shutterfly account, and enter the code in your account. The credit must be used by June 25, 2010. The credit can not be transferred to another shutterfly account and may not be combined with other offers, discounts, promotions or creidts. See code redemption web page for details.

*In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I was given several of these gift cards through the “Welcome Baby” promotion at Target. I did not purchase these cards, nor where they gifts to me. You can only use one card per account, so I felt like passing the extras on. Good luck!*

My take on the Swine Flu (H1N1 Virus)

This blog is more of a ramble than an actual blog, but i am really interested to know weather you are going to get yourselves and your children vaccinated this flu season… and what part of the world you live in… and the reason behind your decision.

As a pregnant woman, I am eligable for one of the first rounds of the swine flu vacines that are available in my state of Texas. I live somewhat close to mexico, and the flu has killed 94 (i think) people in Texas since the beginning of its outbreak.

I am choosing to not get vaccinated.

My son and husband won’t be getting vaccinated against H1N1 either, although we are all up to date on the other vaccinations required by law. (even though I plan on homeschooling and by doing so could easily skip Sam’s required vaccinations without getting in any kind of big trouble.)

I was yelled at early today by a friend of mine when I told her I was not planning on getting one. “You can die! Your baby could die! What makes you think you shouldn’t get it?!”

I have known of families that didn’t allow their kids to receive regular vacinations because they were under the impression that vaccines caused Autism (it doesn’t, there is proof) or because they felt that by getting vaccines you were allowing the government to place micro chips into your body so that they could track your every move (thats just nuts…) or because they felt as though God would not allow their children to get sick…

As I mentioned before my two year old has all of the other required vaccines, i don’t think the government is out to get me or anything strange like that. I am choosing to take OTHER precautions against the swine flu this year. For one, I will not travel to Mexico. I will avoid sickly places. I will not travel outside of my home often, and i will keep my home CLEAN. I will bleach the doorknobs of my home and all of the sink knobs. I will bleach my sons toys and carefully choose our play dates. I will eat healthy and prepare healthy meals for my family. I will take my vitamins, and ensure my family does it also. Doing these things almost eliminates any chance of getting the flu and therefore, i am not worried.

I don’t get the regular flu vaccine annually either, and it has been proven to be more deadly then the Swine Flu.

If we vacinate our bodies again every little thing out there we will not have immune systems strong enough to fight the every day things we come in contact with.

Not to mention the Swine Flu vaccine has high levels of mercury and aluminum – both are cancer causing agents.

The few people I have known to have had gotten the Swine Flu survived just fine. They were sick for about a week, but none died. It only kills people with weakened immune systems, and the three of us are heathy.

I am not against all vaccines, just the unnecessary ones (like the H1N1 vaccine, the regular flu vaccine, and the cervical cancer vaccine!)

I am just curious to know what you all think about it…. leave a comment!

First Sunday in September

Today is the first Sunday in the month of September. Today was my first time hearing the testimonies of the members of my home ward. There were many more children that spoke it seemed like, and a sister that I have befriended also spoke and brought me to tears with her words.

After the meeting I took Sam to his class where he was extremely happy to be left, and I headed off to my own class. This time the class was taught by our three, soon to be two, elders and the topic was families. I felt the spirit very strongly throughout the entire class, stronger than any other class I have been to before, and was given just enough strength not to break down and cry throughout the entire lesson. This is a very hard topic and sensitive issue for me because, as of now, I can not be sealed. Over the past few months I have seen small glimpses of growth, understanding and the desire to learn, but I have also witnessed a stubbornness and unwillingness/inability to give up habits and addictions. I’ll spare you the details, but at times it really is almost too much to bare.

The Relief Society meeting was great, and for the first time I verbally participated. When the sister who was teaching asked referenced a story from The Book of Mormon and asked the class a question I was actually able to answer. I had read the story she was teaching from last night (three times actually, because I read everything more than once to make sure I have read it correctly) and was able to participate in the discussion. I was also called on twice to read aloud. I remembered to buy (and actually remembered to bring to church…) extra toothpaste yesterday for the hygiene kits we will be assembling before the general conference. I met a sister that organizes play dates with mothers of children close to Sam’s age too. All in all it was a great meeting.

This week I have a lot going on, so I may not be around to blog much. I am house-sitting and dog-watching for a family in my ward that lives near by throughout the entire week. Monday is a holiday and Casey has made plans for us, but I am not exactly sure of what all they are. I am also volunteering at a missionary meeting on Tuesday morning, and although I really don’t have the slightest clue on what I’ll be doing there I am actually looking forward to it. Then on Wednesday night I have an interview with the Bishop – I am really looking forward to that, but as always with everything, I am somewhat nervous. I will probably use Thursday and Friday to prepare for my upcoming craft show, and Saturday I have been asked to share my testimony at a baptism. Its actually pretty neat that I was asked to share it because a few days ago during my last meeting with the elders at my house we quickly touched on the topic of the men in the ward that were going shooting together this upcoming Saturday and that my husband was thinking about attending. They asked what time it was going to be so that they could try and schedule the baptism at a different time so that any men interested in attending both could possibly do so. As soon as they mentioned having a baptism that day I immediately thought about volunteering to share my testimony (trust me, I have A LOT to say) but, being somewhat new and shy, I choose not to. So today when I was asked I wasted no time saying “YES!” Obviously, It was meant to be.

Please feel free to leave me your comments, or to email me directly. I love hearing from ya’ll – especially my friends that I don’t get to see much anymore!

Have a great week and a SAFE holiday. I know I have said this tons of times before, but please please please please please DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE. Also, just because you are sober doesn’t mean that the people driving next to you are. Don’t drive unless you have to!

Seeing strange codes???

I type all my posts in firefox, and they always look fine to me. Right now, I’m at my mom’s house and she uses explorer. I logged in and all my posts look strange.

Do they look strange to ya’ll too, or am I nuts?

Thanks for your imput.

My Etsy Shoppe:

These are some of the homemade items i have been working on. I’d love it if you checked out my shop and gave me some feedback.

My dotcom site should be launching soon. I’ll make sure to let you know when its up and running!

SodeePopShoppe.etsy.com

In case you are curious…

Here is a little peak at what I have been up to in the last 6 weeks since I resigned from my place in main stream corporate America. You know how I had said that I have been sewing a lot? Well, I wasn’t making it up.

My actual dotcom site should be up this weekend, thanks to a lot of hard work by my awesome sister-in-law, Miss Holly Kate. I am really excited about this, and I’d love to get ya’lls imput on the products I have listed already on my Etsy site. Etsy is a site that hosts individual’s (like me!) handmade products. I have been shopping on there for quite a while  and now I am actually a seller too.

My products can be purchased through etsy, or thought my personal site. I’ll post the link to my new site when its officially up and running.

Untill then please check out my products as shown in the link posted below. I’d love to hear any comments or suggestions you may have. Thanks!

sodeepopshoppe.etsy.com

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Randomness…

WARNING: I’m sleepy. This post doesn’t make much sense, and it ended up going in to a weird direction…

_

This post won’t be very long, I’m exhausted. I have been sewing in all of my spare time, and I feel as though I’m finally making progress. I still need to work on getting my site up and running, but that’s really the last battle I need to tackle.

Thank you to all who prayed for Friday’s court appearance. I lost my appeal, and I haven’t decided weather I should appeal again (this time with an attorney!) or if I should just wait it out until April of 2011 when I’ll be eligible without having to jump through all of the hoops I’m currently going through. I realize that to some of you the latter of the two options seems like the better way to go, but I just feel as though I shouldn’t have to wait that long. I feel as though I’m a good law abiding citizen and I deserve to have my rights now. I have already taken the classes, the tests, and paid all of the fees that are required. By waiting two more years I’ll have to re-do everything I’ve done and will have lost all of the time and money I have put into this effort thus far. My whole life I have been submissive. I have done what I was told, and how and when I was told to do it. I respected my elders and my government, and, of course, men. I am beginning to ask more questions and get angry more often. I’m not sure this change is a good thing. When I arrived at the courthouse and saw that the judge was a female my heart sank. I have never respected women in authority, although I have honestly tried (don’t hate me girls!). I have tried many times to, but I just can’t. I don’t see female doctors, I don’t attend churches with female preachers, and I will never vote for a female president. I wasn’t necessarily raised that way, either. My mother is very independent. Although my father was Pentecostal, my mother has almost always had short hair. She wears pants and shorts, and never leaves the house without makeup on. She has always stood up for herself and done what she felt was right for her. She visits female doctors, and to my knowledge, never looked down at women in leadership roles in the church or in the government. I am so very different from my mother in so many ways, but this is turning into a different topic…

As far as the fire is concerned, we still haven’t replaced our stove. Finding a decent refurbished one is proving to be more difficult that we had originally thought it would be, but we are still searching. I bought real food this week (nothing for the microwave or the crockpot) and went to my parents house tonight to cook it and bring it home for the week. I enjoyed cooking (its been a while!) and I am excited to not eat out of a box or from taco bell over the next week

Church. I really have wanted to go to church again. I have built up my “re-visiting” so much in my head that I’m almost nervous about returning. I realize that it is ridiculous to feel this way, and am making plans to return next week. Hopefully, my husband will be joining me this time. He told me he’d go once, and I’m going to attempt to “cash-in” that promise this coming Sunday. I really miss going, and I feel as though I’ll be happier once I return

So what about you? What have you been up too? As always, I welcome your comments. Mabye you disagree with my stance on females in authority, or maybe you want to leave me a verse to study… or you could just say “Hi.”. I enjoy hearing from ya’ll.

I’m back, as promised.

Well, the biggest change recently has been my employment. For years I wanted to work in the oil field. I’m a conservative Texas gal, what can I say. Anywho, I got that dream job at the end of last year, and loved it. I loved the work I was doing, and I loved the company I worked for. I did not love my co-workers, though. I tried to befriend them. I tried to fit in. I tried to make it all work. I was polite. I prayed about and for them. After several months of enduring their grotesque behavior (including being assaulted and having a death threat made against me at work) I finally filed a police report, a formal complaint with my HR manager, and turned in my resignation.

Although it was a hard decision to make, I feel as thought it was the right one. I have a pretty good resume and when the time is right I plan on starting a job search. In the meantime though I have decided to try and be a stay at home mom again. This is ultimately my goal in life. If you had asked me what I wanted to be when I was a little girl I would have said very matter-of-factly “a wife and mother OR a secretary, but not both”. I am not sure why I wanted to be a secretary as a young girl, but I did. I knew that if I ever worked it would be in an office setting working for other people. I love helping out, I have great customer service skills, type fast, and don’t mind answering phones. The truth of the matter is as I got to be a little bit older I realized that, more than anything else, my family came first. I am not the type of person that can leave work at work. I am emotional, and feel the need to vent to my husband every night about the day’s happenings. We have the same conversation every night, and have since we began dating. “How was your day, babe?” It’s the same when we call on our breaks. “How is your morning going?”. We encourage each other in everything we do, and we have great communication skills, mostly. When Sam cries when he’s left in the morning it breaks my heart. “Mommy, I love you. Please, mommy, please!” ::insert sweet Sam kisses here:: I hate leaving him. I hate knowing that I am not the one teaching him, and that I am missing so many ‘firsts’. I would tell Casey this when Sam had a hard morning, and almost always end up in tears. It’s so hard to leave him when he doesn’t want to be left. Its even harder to pick him up when he doesn’t want to come home though too. He is in good hands, but they aren’t mine.

Financially speaking, I need to have an income of some kind. We are prepared to make whatever sacrifices are necessary, and we are still committed to living debt free. This means no credit cards will be opened, or loans will be taken out while I am out of work. This also means that I will go back to working weekends (something I really didn’t want to do while I am trying to commit to a church). However, I do have a little plan. I am opening my own business, and I’m giving myself a few months to start generating income with it. I’ll blog more about it later, after its official. I’m going to the courthouse Friday morning to register, and I’ll go from there. Mostly I plan on making and selling hand-made items, like crafts, soaps, and candies. I like to consider myself crafty, and I really hope this works. I know that I am the best person to be teaching Sam, and although I would have preferred this to have happened under much different circumstances, I am ready to give it a shot.

Worse case scenario I go back to work in a few months with soap-making under my belt, but at least I can say I tried.

On a different note, I am still chasing conviction. I am continuing my studies, and reading over the materials sent to me by some friends. I want to commit soon, and hopefully I won’t have to work to many weekends. Maybe I can find a way to work and attend church – that would be AWESOME.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress, and I promise to blog here much more often.

I’d love for you all to leave me some comments – anything. Your favorite scripture, a recent blessing, a testimony, a prayer request…. Or just “hi.”

To give, or not to give. That is the question.

I have been a blood donor for years. I also recently applied to join the bone marrow registry, pending a tissue test.

I honestly enjoy doing these things.

I love helping other people.

I have recently been given the opportunity to consider becoming an egg donor as well. This would mean that a couple could be given the chance to have a child, who wouldn’t otherwise have that opportunity. The woman would carry a baby that was made from my egg and her husband’s sperm. She would carry this child for nine months, and give birth to it. I have been pre-screened and submitted tons of paperwork thus far, and have my first in-person interview with the fertility agency next week.

As a mother myself I know firsthand the blessings a baby can bring, and I want to share that with a deserving couple.

My question for you – is it wrong, biblically speaking, to help another person in this way? I have gotten mixed responses thus far, and am curious as to your thoughts as well.

Goal setting & advice seeking…

I have known since before Sam was born that I would want to home school him. I have been working full time (and very often more than full time) since he was 6 months old, and although it breaks my heart to leave him each morning I know that it is the right thing to do right now.

So here’s where I need some advice…

Have any of you quit working full time to stay home with your children?

What sacrifices did you make and when did you start preparing yourself, financially as well as physiologically, for the transition?

Are you part of a homeschooling group?

Are your children still involved in social activities with children their own age? If so, what types?

I don’t plan on staying home just yet. If everything goes as planned I’d like to work up until the birth of my next baby, hopefully spring of 2011, and stay home full time afterwards. I want to home school for several reasons. The first and most important reason is so that I can control what my children are taught and the setting in which they learn, and secondly so that my children get the one-on-one that they deserve and need to thrive in their studies. I also want a flexible schedule so that we can learn at our own pace. I have done a lot of research and found plenty of homeschooling groups in our area that get together on a regular basis for social activities such as sports and field trips.

From a financial standpoint I really do need to work. We could probably get by if I didn’t, but just barely. Right now my focus is becoming debt free and building up a savings account for whatever emergencies come our way. We have completely paid off every credit card we have ever had, and our only remaining debt is the house, car, truck, and whatever medical bills find their way to my mailbox on a weekly basis. I know I will not be completely debt free by the time I want to start homeschooling Sam. I hope to have both cars paid off, but I can’t reasonably foresee the house being paid off. I want to look at this goal realistically, and make it reasonable to achieve. In fact, we also need to move to a larger house in a safer part of town, preferably in the middle of nowhere. This has become more of a necessity than just a ‘want’. My personal goal is to move on or around April 29, 2010. This day will be the 5 year anniversary of the date I closed on the house I am currently living in. The house I bought when I was an unmarried and childless teenager. The house I bought before I knew who my neighbors would be, how badly it floods, and how often we lose power for no apparent reason. The house I bought with no way of knowing that everything would eventually break in. We can’t turn on our bedroom ceiling fan or we lose power in the living room, as an example. I had it built – brand new at the time, mind you. I haven’t even really started looking for a new home, or preparing for the move… and it’s less than a year away.

I have a lot to get taken care of in a short amount of time. I’m trying to follow the plan that Casey and I set up when we took FPU, but I welcome any advice that you may have.

Thanks! J