Telling It Like It Is

Another year has rolled around and today is my Birthday once again. Happy Birthday to Me! Is it just me or does it seem that Birthdays seem to come a lot faster the older we get? Hmm

Anyway, since I’ll be out of the office and not spending much time online today, but basking in the sun of doing absolutely nothing but fun things with my husband and family, I want to share some articles from other blogs for your reading pleasure.

I also want to welcome new subscribed readers from the DFW area, especially those living in and around Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney TX and surrounding suburbs. Thank you and welcome to Telling It Like It Is!

How to Take Fireworks Pictures – by my friend Todd Morris. I’m not much of a photographer myself, so I appreciate the tips and advice offered on taking good fireworks pictures. Now, if I could just manage to keep my thumb from appearing in photos I take with my digital camera, I’d be a happy camper.

How to Get More Time to Blog – by another friend Michael Martine. Finding the time to blog and post articles used to stress me out, but I’ve come to the personal decision that I write as often as I possibly can and when I have something to say. If I don’t post an article for a week or two, so be it. Readers that are truly interested in what I have to say are very understanding and patient, and don’t mind a brief lull in postings.

Living Your Passion: What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur – by Jeff Nickles. I thoroughly enjoyed Jeff’s article on being an entrepreneur and the “grit” and determination needed to achieve our goals, ignoring the self-doubt or fear of success and just going for it! We really are our own worst enemies when it comes to creating and building our own success stories.

Enjoy your day! I know I will! See you soon!

Heard about the new Study Ball? The Study Ball and Chain contraption is an electronic device intended to make your kids study and do their homework. I heard about this study ball prison-style thingy on the radio this morning and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Seriously? Parents really need the Study Ball to get kids to study and do homework?

The Study Ball’s red digital display counts down the “study time left”, then the electronic ball beeps and unlocks when study time is up to release your child from “jail”. The Study Ball weighs 21 lbs, making it difficult for kids to stop studying and doing their homework, so they can of course go play video games and watch television.

The Study Ball cannot be locked for more than 4 hours at a time, and comes with a safety key to allow unlocking the device when desired. The Study Ball and Chain is sold online at Curiosite (www.curiosite.com) and costs about $115.00.

The website says: “Quite often, students who are having problems concentrating tend to get up every ten minutes to watch TV, talk on the phone, take something out of the fridge, and a long list of other distractions.

“Were they to dedicate all this wasted time to studying, they would optimise their performance and have more free time available.

“Study Ball helps you study more and more efficiently.”

Study Ball Designer Emilio Alarcon came up with the idea after a friend likened revision to being in jail.

He said: “Studying can be fun and enriching if you do it once in a while, but no one likes to study for days on end, especially not with an exam date looming overhead.

“The project was born of a conversation I had with a friend who was studying for a civil service exam.

“He said ‘I haven’t left the house in a week, this is like being in jail’.”

Wow. I bet kids won’t be adding this to their BillMyParents want list anytime soon. The old-fashioned “ball and chain” goes techie! What do you think about the Study Ball? Would you buy it?

Have you heard about GoFish? How about the Mom Song by the Go Fish Guys? GoFish is a Christian singing group of three guys, Jamie Statema (founder of GoFish), Jason Folkmann and Andy Selness. GoFish, also known as the Go Fish Guys, started out as an a cappella group founded in 1993, using nothing but vocals and percussion.

GoFish became branded as “a cappella with an attitude”, whose songs include the Mom Song, Christmas With a Capital C, American Kid, Superstar and many others. The GoFish website, www.gofishguys.com, is labeled as “Go Fish – Great Music For Kids That Won’t Drive Parents Bonkers!!”, which was enough to cause me to spend some time on the GoFish site and check out Jamie’s Go Fish Guy blog at www.gofishguy.typepad.com. Jamie must be a very cool guy, considering the fact that his blog logo includes my favorite Dr. Seuss quote “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind” which is my personal motto in life.

“Party Like a Preschooler” by the Go Fish Guys is a best-selling album collection of 11 songs kids love and won’t drive parents bonkers, and there’s even a bonus track for dads, “It’s hard to be cool (in a mini-van)!” This “Party” album contains song titles including “Do Your Ears Hang Low”, “The Wheels on the Bus”, “Pop Goes the Weasel”, “5 Little Monkeys”, “The A,B,C’s”, “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt”, “The Cow and The Peanut” and other kid songs moms and dads will enjoy just as much as kids do.
Read the rest of this entry »

This “Dear IRS” letter is an actual letter written to the IRS by Ed Barnett of Wichita Falls, Texas, by way of the “Letter to the Editor” of the Wichita Falls, Texas, Times Record Newspaper and I couldn’t help but share this funny letter. I know the I.R.S. has to do their job making sure we all pay our taxes, and chase down those who skip paying their taxes, but we also know there are those who don’t pay their taxes and get away with it.

Taxed to Excess

Dear IRS,

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost.

I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog licence tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting licence tax, fishing licence tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle licence registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can’t recall but I have run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest.

P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Ed Barnett

Wichita Falls

He’s Just Not That Into You has hit movie theaters by storm since its release on February 6, 2009, with quotes from “He’s Just Not That Into You” giving girls and women a funny but true reality check about dating guys in the real world. The ‘he’s just not that into you’ movie, starring Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long and Kris Kristofferson may be “chick flick” some guys may decide to shy away from, but seeing this funny and romantic movie with your lovely lady just might win you some brownie points for Valentine’s Day.

He’s Just Not That Into You brings back memories of the book Don’t Be That Girl, with the movie rated PG-13 for “sexual content and brief strong language” according to the MPAA movie ratings system. Kids In Mind should be a parents first stop before taking children and/or teens to any movie in order to have an objective, comprehensive and unbiased review of movies.

He’s Just Not That Into You Movie Trailer

He’s Just Not That Into You Movie Quotes

1. “A girl will never forget the first boy she ever likes.”
2. “Why did you do that? – Because you smell like a dog pooh”
3. “Connie, do you know why that little boy did those things? Because he likes you.”
4. “We are all programmed to believe that if a guy acts like a total jerk that means he likes you.”
5. “How stupid is that a girl has to wait for a guy’s call anyway, right?”
6. “He’s totally gonna call.”
7. “If a guy treats you like he doesn’t give a s— it’s because he doesn’t give a s—.”
8. “An excuse is a polite rejection. Men are not afraid of “ruining the friendship.”
9. “Don’t get tricked into asking him out. If he likes you, he’ll do the asking.”
10. “If you can find him, then he can find you. If he wants to find you, he will.”
11. “Just because you like to lead doesn’t mean he wants to dance. Some traditions are born of nature and last through time for a reason.”
12. “Hey, let’s meet at so-and-so’s party/any bar/friend’s house” is not a date.
13. “Men don’t forget how much they like you. So put down the phone.”
14. “You are good enough to be asked out.”
15. “I just need you to stop being nice to me unless you gonna marry me.”
16. “Am I… will I be Al Pacino in this scenario?”
17. “Maybe he lost my number or is out of town or got hit by a cab- Or maybe he is not interested in seeing you again?”
18. “MySpace is the new booty call”
19. “What if you meet the love of your life? Are you suppose to let that pass you by?”
20. “I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.”
21. “So I also have a magical name – its Brother Pheonix East Horse”

He’s Just Not That Into You Soundtrack

“Into You”, by Carolyn Dawn Johnson, is the movies soundtrack which was based on the He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys book by Greg Behrendt. “Into You” is the original motion picture movie soundtrack for the movie, which was released to the public on February 3, 2009.

Song titles from the soundtrack include:

1. I’d Like To, by Corinne Bailey Rae
2. I’m Amazed, by My Morning Jacket
3. Don’t You Want Me, by Human League
4. Supernatural Superserious, by R.E.M.
5. Madly, by Tristan Prettyman
6. This Must Be The Place, by Talking Heads
7. By Your Side, by Black Crows
8. I Must Be High, by Wilco
9. You Make It Real, by James Morrison
10. If I Never See Your Face Again, by Maroon 5
11. Can’t Hardly Wait, by The Replacements
12. Fruit Machine, by Ting Tings
13. Smile, by Lilly Allen
14. Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane
15. Love, Save The Empty, by Erin McCarley
16. Friday I’m In Love, by Cure
17. Last Goodbye, by Scarlett Johansson

He’s Just Not That Into You Lyrics

If he doesn’t call when he says he’ll call
Or if he doesn’t even call at all
Well he just might not be that into you

If he’s too busy to see you on the weekends
And he doesn’t introduce you to his friends
Well he just might not be that into you

(Chorus)

“Cause if he was
He’d be hangin’ on your every word
He’d put away his little black book and put you first
He’d be doing double back flips to make it work…..out”

If he’s a month late for your birthday
Or if he calls you by another girl’s name
Well he just might not be that into you

(Repeat Chorus)

If he says he’s not the marrying type
And he only calls you in the middle of the night
Well he just might not be that into you

Yeah, yeah

I got your back, yeah
You gotta listen, girl
If you’re not the centre of his world
He’s not that into you, yeah

(Repeat Chorus)

If he says she’s just a friend, like a sister
Then one day you see him up and kiss her
Well he just might not be that into you
Yeah you just might wanna find somebody new
Yeah that’s what I would do
Girl if I were you

Yeah, yeah, find somebody new
Yeah he’s not that into you
Yeah, yeah, girl find somebody new
You know you’re gonna find someone out there who loves everything about you
It’s so great
Just hold out
It’s worth it

Now that is funny! Regardless of how you voted or how you feel about President-Elect Barack Obama, you have to admit Mrs. Obama’s warning to her husband about Monica Lewinsky is quite humorous.

The “Mom Song” is sometimes referred to as the Mum Song, and after hearing a variety of songs about moms over the years, I must admit the Patti Harshey version of the Mom Song is by far the best.

Anita Renfroe did a nice version of the William Tell Mom Song too, but I personally prefer Patti Harshey’s version. Patti Harshey, from the Northland Church in Longwood Florida, recently sang the mom song and I wanted to share it as it is simply priceless.

This song goes well with my recent Mean Moms post too. This mom song does an excellent job of describing what a typical mom says in a 24-hour period, but this mom says it in less than 3 minutes flat.

The Mom Song lyrics are displayed as this song is sung, but I thought it would be fun to include the Mom Song lyrics in full text version below for anyone interested in singing along. If you can keep up, that is.

The Mom Song Lyrics

Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepy head
Here’s your clothes
And your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now
Get up and make your bed
Are you hot?
Are you cold?
Are you wearing that?
Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat
Don’t forget you got to feed the cat
Eat your breakfast
The experts tell us it’s the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at three today?
Don’t forget your piano lesson is this afternoon

So you must play
Don’t shovel
Chew slowly
But hurry
The bus is here
Be careful
Come back here
Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside
Don’t play rough
Would you just play fair?
Be polite
Make a friend
Don’t forget to share
Work it out
Wait your turn
Never take a dare
Get along
Don’t make me come down there
Clean your room
Fold your clothes
Put your stuff away
Make your bed
Do it now
Do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn?
Would you like some hay
Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone
Get Off the phone
Don’t sit so close
Turn it down
No texting at the table
No more computer time tonight
Your iPod’s my iPod if you don’t listen up

Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me
Makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You’ll appreciate my wisdom
Someday when you’re older and you’re grown
Can’t wait ’til you have a couple little children of your own
You’ll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now
I thank you NOT to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew
Would appreciate
Take a bite
Maybe two
Of the stuff you hate
Use your fork
Do not you burp
Or I’ll set you straight
Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an egg A, Get the door
Don’t get smart with me
Get a Grip
Get in here I’ll count to 3
Get a job
Get a life
Get a PhD
Get a dose of reality
I don’t care who started it
You’re grounded until your 36
Get your story straight
And tell the truth for once for heaven’s sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff
Would you jump too?

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said at least a thousand times before that
You’re too old to act this way
It must be your father’s DNA
Look at me when I am talking
Stand up straight when you walk
A place for everything
And everything must be in place
Stop crying or I’ll give you something real to cry about
Oh!
Brush your teeth
Wash your face
Get your PJs on
Get in bed
Get a hug
Say a prayer with Mom
Don’t forget
I love you
**KISS**
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom’s work never ends
You don’t need the reason why
Because
Because
Because
Because
I said so
I said so
I said so
I said so
I’m the Mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
Ta-da

I’ve been searching for grandparent names and names for grandparents with various search terms, but I can honestly say that the typical grandparent names are just too old-fashioned for someone like me. Grandmother? Grandfather? Grandma? Grandpa? Bleh! Seriously, where are the cool grandparent names for us hip grandmas?

You may recall my announcement about becoming a grandparent several months ago. I’ll be visiting my grandson James in February for his 1st Birthday, and I still don’t have a grandparent nickname yet, so if I don’t choose a nickname soon I’ll be in big trouble.

Considering the fact that the chosen name or nickname will stick with me throughout my life and beyond, I figure I need to have some say over what I’m going to be called. I’ve searched for “grandparent nicknames”, “nicknames for grandma”, “names for grandmother”, “alternative names for grandparents”, “unique cute names for grandparents” and various other terms to find different names for grandparents to choose from, but the results have been disappointing to say the least.

Do an online search for “grandparent names” and you will find such hideous names for grandparents like Big Mama, Bucket Head, Butter Butt, Chicken Nana, Grumpy, Chippy, Blah-Blah, Dodo, MooMoo/PooPoo, and Peaches and Pitts. Are you kidding me?!

If anything, such nicknames for grandma or grandpa would make my list of the worst grandfather and grandmother nicknames anyone could ever name their grandparents. I can honestly tell you that any child or grandchild who calls me Butter Butt or Big Momma is out of the will. And don’t call me Grandma!

Right when I was about to give up hope of ever finding a great nickname for grandmas to use, a friend told me about this newly released book called “You Can Call Me Hoppa! The Grandparents’ Guide to Choosing a Name that Fits” by Lauren Charpio, written specifically with the baby-boomer grandparents in mind. With somewhere around three hundred grandparent names found in this book, surely us grandparents can find a cool nickname that doesn’t make us feel so incredibly old before our time.

Come to think of it, the nickname “Chief” sounds pretty good to me right about now. No? How about “The Boss”? G-Ma? Okay, the grandparent book of names is on its way to me, so surely I’ll have something picked out soon enough. Are you a grandparent? What do your grandchildren call you? What were your grandparents names?

Related Posts:

I’m Going To Be A Grandma
How to Be a Good Step-Parent
Mean Mom 101 – Lessons Learned From My Mean Mom
Support Groups for Parents with Grown Adult Children Living at Home with Parents

Thanksgiving, Maxine style, always brings a smile to my face. Are you familiar with the Maxine comics? On Maxine.com, you can find many Maxine cartoons to share with others, as well as Maxine e-cards to email your friends and family.

Hallmark’s Maxine cartoons is one of my favorite cartoon figures, and I always get a kick out her sarcastic humor, so I decided to share these Thanksgiving Maxine cartoons with you. Enjoy!

Maxine comics and cartoons are the best! I can’t get enough of Maxine!

I am a mean mom. Not just a mean mom, but the meanest mom on earth. I must admit, I’m so proud of being a mean mom that I believe there should be a National Mean Mom Holiday to celebrate all the mean moms just like me.

Hearing the words “Mom, you are sooo mean!” might hurt some mom’s feelings, but not mine. Fortunately, there are mean dad’s in this crazy world too.

“Say what you mean and mean what you say” is a quote I remember hearing from my mean mom many years ago. I’ve been known to repeat those words numerous times throughout my life and I will continue to be a mean mom saying what I mean and meaning what I say with my children and grandchildren until I take my least breath.

I proudly “stand” before you today to announce that, Yes, I am a mean mom. Fortunately, I’m not alone. There is a mean-mom movement taking place across the country and other mean moms just like me are saying Enough Is Enough.

A mean mom isn’t physically or emotionally abusive to her children, but she is tough and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound like Superman bring a group of rambunctuous kids under control with a stern warning or “the look”.

Mean moms set rules and boundaries for their children. Mean moms know how to say no to her children and mean “no” without compromising or negotiating standards of behavior.

Celebrating “Mean Moms”

(Author Unknown)

I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different than the other kids’ also. (Picky Eaters: Getting Kids to Eat Healthy)

But at least, I wasn’t alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. You’d think we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we’d be gone an hour, that we be gone one hour or less–not one hour and one minute. I am nearly ashamed to admit it, but she actually struck us. Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. That poor belt was used more on our seats than it was to hold up Daddy’s pants. Can you imagine someone actually hitting a child just because he disobeyed? Now you can begin to see how mean she really was. (How to Discipline Children)

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insults because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did we have to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends? (You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Say About You)

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn’t sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept-my mother actually had the nerve to break the child-labor law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us. (Are You An Enabler? Identifying Early Warning Signs of Enabling Behaviors)

She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if it killed us- and it nearly did. (A Child’s Ten Commandments For Parents)

By the time we were teenagers, she was much wiser, and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the horn of a car for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates and friends come to the door to get us. If I spent the night with a girlfriend, can you imagine she checked on me to see if I were really there. I never had the chance to elope to Mexico. That is if I’d had a boyfriend to elope with. I forgot to mention, while my friends were dating at the mature age of 12 and 13, my old fashioned mother refused to let me date until the age of 15 and 16. Fifteen, that is, if you dated only to go to a school function. And that was maybe twice a year. (Let’s Talk About Teens and Sex)

Through the years, things didn’t improve a bit. We could not lie in bed, “sick” like our friends did, and miss school. If our friends had a toe ache, a hang nail or serious ailment, they could stay home from school. Our marks in school had to be up to par. Our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks. (Sometimes Kids Can Drive Parents Nuts)

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have ever been arrested, divorced or beaten his mate. Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country. And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You’re right, our mean mother. Look at the things we missed. We never got to march in a protest parade, nor to take part in a riot, burn draft cards, and a million and one other things that our friends did.

She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults. Using this as a background, I am trying to raise my three children. I stand a little taller and I am filled with pride when my children call me mean.

Because, you see, I thank God, He gave me the meanest mother in the whole world.

Are you a mean mom or dad? Shout it out for the whole world to take notice saying, “I am a mean mom” or dad. How about a Mean Mom Club?! Yeah!

The Mom Song – Mum Song With Lyrics