Mrs. Gus !!!!!

    We were married on a beautiful, warm, sunny May 5th, 2012.  It was a full moon, a Flower Moon, this was the brightest moon of 2012, referred to as a "super moon".  I'll explain the correlations between this kind of moon and our wedding (all of which was discovered after the wedding).  One of the colors related to the Flower Moon is yellow....our main wedding color. One of the flowers related to this moon is Lily of the Valley....worn in my hair and carried by the flower girl.  May is the month of sensuality, love and the power of life.....what better time to have a wedding?  As the ceremony began the birds started singing and they continued until the ceremony ended.  Our last dance was danced under a gorgeous full moon to 'I Could Not Ask For More' by Sara Evans.  

    Before I go on with my elation about our wedding, let me say that when planning your wedding....just go with your gut.  Planning our wedding was the most grueling, depressing thing I've experienced in a very long time.  However, when everything fell apart and we were cancelling our wedding, a dear friend/sister and her wonderful husband stepped in and saved the day by offering up their home. Then came the family and friends who pitched in to help with food, tables, chairs and even a loan. Then came the last bit of wonderfullness in which another dear friend brought my dress and saved me from getting "hitched" in jeans & a t-shirt. It brought me to many happy tears the way everyone we care about cared about us enough to pull together and make this day happen for us. The result was the wedding we had wanted all along but didn't realize it. We were so concerned with making our guests happy that we overlooked what we really wanted and, as it turns out, our guests all said they enjoyed the wedding more this way than they would have if we would have gone all out and been formal.

    So, here are some pics of the day....enjoy :)

Our handsome sons (the ring bearers) and my Matron of Honor's adorable flower girl

 My beautiful bridesmaid in her sapphire dress with yellow pom flowers

My beautiful matron of honor in her pretty yellow blouse with white daisies

Its blurry, but this is me with my gorgeous daughters (yes I'm biased hahaha) entering through the aisle of trees

My matron of honor's beautiful daughter reading "In and Out of Time" by Maya Angelou during the ceremony

The ceremony

Tah Dah!!!

Lily of the Valley in my hair (ala "Hunny") was a tribute to my Dad

My bouquet of daisies & yellow poms. I hand tied the bouquets and boutonnieres that morning.

The flower girl basket created by our hostess (aka "hunny") filled with wild flowers and lily of the valley picked by her and the kids <3

The first dance

Our wedding cupcakes *yum!*

Disaster averted  hahaha!

Gus just couldn't stop acting silly about this pose LOL



    There were so many personal things about this wedding, we couldn't have dreamed up a more meaningful, beautiful day and its all thanks to the family and friends we love.  So if you're having trouble deciding on a theme for your wedding or if it should be formal or casual, go with your gut, step away from the planning, dig deep into your roots and make it a reflection of who you and your betrothed really are. You and your guests will enjoy the day so much more. Had I realized this earlier I may have saved us all the tears and misery it took to get to this point.

PS: Thank you to my dear best friend in the world who tried her best to get me to see the light long before I drove myself & Gus (and her!) crazy. Love you girl!!!!

BSL: Shame Of The Human Race

Coco, our pit bull mix whose love & loyalty will never be forgotten

                                                             
    It never ceases to amaze me how cruel and ignorant human beings can be.  There is much debate over Breed Specific Laws and the truth is, BSL should not exist.  For the entire existence of humans we have found ways to discriminate, using that discrimination as a reason for killing. From belief in religion to the color of a person's skin, it all has led to ridiculous amounts of suffering and loss.  Now the human race has decided to target animals, not just one type of animal but an entire "race" of animals, with the intent to wipe them off the face of the Earth.  What happened?  Did y'all get bored with killing other humans for stupid reasons?  I may be a human but I cannot say I am proud to be.  The disgusting need to destroy anything and everything is a serious human flaw.  We, as a race, are destroying our planet, destroying each other, and destroying other living beings who cannot defend themselves.  We as humans have less "humanity" than those animals we are killing.  What or who will be the next target once all bully breeds are wiped out?  Will it be your darling Labrador or Poodle?  Will it be your cat because his fur is black?  Oh, wait, your cat's ancestors were already the target of the Pilgrims, anyone caught owning one was thought to be evil and would be punished or killed.  What about our children?  Will they someday be a target of hate due to their eye/hair color or weight?   When does the vicious cycle end?

    I'm sure this will be met with much scrutiny, but, two of my own children have been bitten by other people's dogs (my youngest daughter and youngest son) and my oldest daughter was scratched on the face, leaving a scar, by a dog in a pet store.  Not a single one of those incidents involved a bully breed.  The pet store dog was a Dalmatian, the dog who bit my youngest daughter was a Jack Russel mix and the dog who bit my youngest son was a Wire Haired Terrier mix.  Myself and my children have had many wonderful relationships with bully breeds, including our own treasured pit bull mix of four years, and never once has there been a problem.  The only dog I have had living in my home that I had a problem with was not a bully breed but an Akita/Coonhound mix.  If any animal of any breed is mistreated, neglected or mishandled it will have issues.  We as humans are responsible for the behavior of our animals.  If you abuse or neglect your dog or do not train and socialize the animal you greatly increase your chance that the dog will develop behavioral problems.  It is the same scenario with humans, if a child is abused, neglected or not taught how to be a good person the chances that the child will become an adult criminal increase as opposed to a child who had a healthy upbringing.  The simple fact is ANY living being has the potential to become a killer, human or animal.

    To see the terror and confusion in an animal's eyes when they are about to be euthanized is something that scars the soul of anyone who truly has one.  How people can impose such atrocities on any other living thing, especially without valid reason is appalling.  How many innocent animals must suffer and die because a few had an improper upbringing?  To do this is the equivalent of saying every high school student should be punished for the tragedy of Columbine since it was a high school student who did that.

    I believe it is the lack of knowledge, the quickness to overreact and the lack of common sense which runs rampant in a large number of humans that has allowed this to happen, just as it has done countless times before in our history.  I would love to believe that someday humans will evolve and learn from the wrongs of the past but the truth is, in all the time Humans have inhabited this planet, we have not come very far.  All you need to do is watch the news once and it becomes blatantly clear........we are still the most dangerous, deadly and arrogant of all living things on this planet.

    This is my own opinion but I felt a great need for it to be heard.

When Our World Stops Turning

                                                                 

    When someone we love dies, our world comes to a halt.  It seems only right that the rest of the world stops too, but that's not the way it is.  As family and friends grieve for the one they have lost, the rest of the world goes on around them, happily unscathed and it feels so unfair...unfair that someone was taken away, unfair that the entire world doesn't share in this great loss. But, I think the fact that loss doesn't effect everyone is a prompt for the bereaved to go on with their lives, to not spend the rest of their days grieving, to let their own lives pay homage to the one that has gone.


    A beautiful woman, full of life, was laid to rest yesterday. She loved life, loved her family, loved her friends...but most of all, she was LOVED, loved so deeply that the loss of her seems unbearable. Her inner light shown so brightly that one could not help but feel it. To see her children, husband and family so tenderly comfort each other during this difficult time, trying to understand why it happened and how they could possibly live without her, is a testament to all that she was. She passed her love of family on to her children and it will live on in her grandchildren. Though she was taken far too soon, she will live on in every person who's life she has touched, in every conversation had over a cup of coffee, in every moment of laughter, in every act of kindness passed, in every memory of her life retold. Her loved ones may not be able to hold her again but they can hold tight to their memories and the knowledge that they were all blessed to be part of her life. Her light did not go out, it was dispersed to every person touched by it, inspiring us all to be better, to do better, to leave a path of love and light for those who will someday grieve for us. 


    In tribute and memory of Deb

                                                                photo by Daniel Krepsky

WELCOME

   Alright. So, since this is my first post, I'm going to tell you what's going on at the moment so everything to follow won't seem totally out of left field. Other than my own name, alias's will be used for all other humans mentioned here.
   In this house there are 2 cats (Bagheera & Oliver), 1 dog (Henry), our 14 year old daughter (Maia) & 11 year old daughter (Rose), our 4 year old son (Wub) & 3 year old son (Q), my wonderful fiance (Gus) and then there's me, the crazy one. Maia is a teenager with her first boyfriend & preparing to enter high school, um..yeah, can you see the gray hair yet? Rose is a sensitive, affectionate, adolescent girl who loves to dance. I am currently home-pre-schooling  Wub, our studious little thinker. Quinn is the wild one who does and says the funniest things and causes the most destruction, if any of our kids are going to make us bald he definitely has it in the bag. Gus is a Navy veteran turned corrections officer who is a technology smartypants. He's the other half of my soul and, even when he thinks I'm insane, supports me in everything I set out to do. I am on a quest to shrink this family's carbon footprint and fulfill my own personal goal of helping abused, disadvantaged and abandoned animals. I have a great love of nature and will be returning to hiking this spring...so excited, its been years! I am also on a journey to find my pre-babies body...I know its in there somewhere.
   We embrace our heritages so you will sometimes read things regarding Irish, Polish, African American/Soul Food, and Native American information, influences and recipes.
   Gus and I, almost 6 years later, are getting married this May so that is the biggest thing going on right now. I did not employ a wedding planner so to say it is time consuming and sometimes stressful would be an understatement.
   We live in an area prone to floods, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes and droughts so the weather here will often be mentioned. We have an ongoing joke around here.....We have 2 seasons, Winter and Road Construction.
   So there it is. I hope you enjoy future posts and welcome your comments, the good and the bad.

L to R:  Rose, Wub, Q & Maia

Bagheera

Oliver

Me

 

Gus

                                                                               Henry