text:
Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dr. Thunder: Raw

This marks the first of a several-part segment we will feature here at The Royal Treatment. In these features, I interview controversial - or uncompromising - bloggers throughout the Royals blogosphere. You know who they are. Lurking or posting around. At often times, they have an attitude. Many posters loathe them. Many posters love them. But they're always lurking around. Controversial, to be sure. Dr. Thunder is no different. And, man, has he captured the Royals blogosphere by storm. He has made his discontent for advanced statistics, Baseball Prospectus, and the concept of "Mother's Basement" well-documented throughout KC-baseball Blog Nation, in but an astonishingly short period of time.

He generated quite an uproar over at Royals Review when his blog, Hapless Royals, was launched almost two months ago. He has routinely cheered and jeered several posters on what I would describe his "home" message board - Royal Board. However, like the rest of the bloggers I will interview - he holds nothing back.

*Note* I do not or will not necessarily agree with all of the content posted by these bloggers. This is a controversial segment, to be sure. I hold nothing personal against anyone in the Royals blogosphere and, although I may not agree with all of you, I enjoy what you have to offer. Note that swearing and personal "calling out", so to write, might occur. The Royal Treatment remains committed to devoting a rugged appeal among these bloggers. This series is unedited....and, yes, raw.

This week, we present the sometimes polarizing but always adamant blogger Dr. Thunder. Thunder gained his blogging momentum from this site, where he posted for several months under the same moniker. He departed TRT several months ago and began his own blog, Hapless Royals, in January. Welcome back to the friendly pastures, Thunder. Take it away.

TRT: Introduce yourself. How did you become a Royals fan? Is it difficult tracking the Royals success out in California, and where do you get most Royals game updates (ex.: MLB Network, MLB Gameday, etc.)?

DT: Considering there are people who are plotting my demise as we speak, I'll just continue to introduce myself as Dr. Thunder. I'm a sexy young 30 year old man and am originally from South East Kansas, Pittsburg actually. I'm married to a woman WAY out of my league, and I have 4 beautiful children. When I say out of my league, I mean it. I fit the stereotype of a military guy. I smoke, I drink, I cuss all the time, work too much, and am always on time, for everything. But the only stereotype I don't fit, is having a fatass old lady. Its weird man. Drive up to Fort Riley some day and look around. Cows as far as the eye can see. Privates are so stupid. They hate living in the barracks so much, they marry the first pig that gives them a shot of ass. Luckily I didn't fall into that trap. I met my wife in Los Angeles and she should have never fell for a guy like me, but my charm won her over. I lived in Texas during my late teens and early 20's so I developed that Texasd rawl, and if you have ever seen the movie Ed Tv, you'll know that it don't hurt with the ladies.

As for how I became a Royals fan, it all started with little league baseball when I was in the third grade. Our coach had us all volunteer for a weekend washing cars and selling sandwiches, pop, and chips to raise enough money to take the whole team to a Royals game. At that point, I didn't even know who the Royals were, but I was still excited about venturing off to the big city. When we got there, I absolutely fell in love with everything Royals. I'd never been in a stadium so big, it was breathtaking. It was a Sunday afternoon game in August vs the Blue Jays. The Royals won that day but to tell you the truth, I couldn't have cared less, I was too awestruck to worry about winning or losing. From that day forth, they've been my sports heart and sole.

I keep track of the Royals now, mainly through the inter-webs. I have a desk job, so I always leave a Royals site in the background to check forthings, especially during the season, I use gamecast or whatever that thing is called on to track the game. I always order the extra innings package on cable every year. It's actually a really good deal considering the shear amount of games you get a year for just $150. My only complaint is that there are no pre-game or post-game shows. My wife and I yell out "GOOD NIGHT" as soon as the last out is made because if you've never watched a game on extra innings you're missing out. It seems like the moment the last out is made, they immediately cut to a blue screen with the words Good Night in huge letters, with the most ridiculous music playing in the background. At first its annoying, but after a while my wife and I made a game of it, to see who could predict the exact second it appears.

TRT: You're a military man. How did you get involved with the army, and what inspired you to join? Are baseball and the military related in anyway? In other words, has being in the military taught you, or can it teach anyone, about baseball?

DT: I wouldn't really say anything really inspired me to join the Army other than my family heritage. My father was a Staff Sergeant in the Army from 1948-1952, and my grandfather was a corporal in the Army during world war 1. Yes, you read that right, world war ONE. I never met the guy, he died in the 60's and I wasn't even born until 78. My dad always told the best stories about the Army and the stuff he did, so hearing that my whole life definitely planted the seed for enlisting. The funny thing though, is it wasn't my first choice. I wanted to join the Air Force, but the recruiter seemed like a shifty dirtbag, so I walked next door to the Army office and the rest is history. Baseball and the military are related in a lot of different ways. The military is all about leadership and teamwork. Those are 2 of the things you hear about most when you hear about a baseball team. The new guys don't talk to the established vets, and you know your rank and file, just like when a rookie comes up for the minors. You have to understand that just because a guy is a veteran, doesn't make him a leader, it just means he's been around for a while. I hate the word manager. I don't manage people. I lead people. I am a leader. The manager of a big league ball club has to wear a lot of hats, and I think the reason a lot of them fail is that they are really good at knowing the game, but not knowing the people. Some guys need to be coddled to do a good job, others need their asses chewed daily for them to just do their damned job. It's a fine line, you have to treat everyone with respect, but stay away from group punishment. That shit almost always backfires.

TRT: You are the current administrator and writer for the blog Hapless Royals. Give us a quick synopsis about the intention of the blog. How does it differ from other websites throughout the Royals blogosphere?

DT: The blog is my way of relieving stress. Its about 75% Royals related 25% other shit. It's the common man's blog. No advanced stats, no Vorp (I could write an entire book on that term alone. Where is this magical replacement player? Is there a replacement player farm where they grow these guys?).

It differs from most Royals Blogs in the sense that I refuse to hold anything back. If someone pisses me off, chances are they'll get whats coming to them on there. I don't write it to cater to anyone but myself.

I submit 90% of the material and my only friend left from childhood, Southern Lightning, will supply the rest. He isn't really much of a baseball fan, he's more into the NFL. He's a bandwagon hopper. He was on the Red Sox wagon for a while after they won the series. We play the MLB 2K series on xbox live and he always chooses one of the top teams, and I beat his ass with the Royals every time, because I know how to use each player to their best abilities and he just plays with the set roster. He always wonders why I'd start Gathright or Larue over Sweeney or Buck, and then in the 8th when he's up by one, I'll bring in Sweeney, Buck, or Lime Brown to pinch hit and jack a 3 run bomb. I swear it happens every game, he gets so mad! He currently likes the Chiefs, but during the stellar Cowboys run in the 90's he was all about them, starter jacket and all.

TRT: You make your discontent with the predominance of the concept of "Mother's Basement" blatantly known throughout Royals websites. What is"Mother's Basement", exactly, and where and how did this resentment begin?

DT: First off, who are we to question the GM? A bunch of middle aged armchair quarterbacks with nothing more than a beer gut and stores from the "glory days" to our name, sitting around our computers wishing we were at where they already are. There's a big difference between sitting in your garage having a beer with your buddies bitching about the team, and posting it for the world to see on the inter-webs. I mean seriously, why do you think I flame idiots like NYROYAL and JOBBER on my blog, it's a taste of their own medicine. They sit and bitch and complain and bellyache all day long about Dayton Moore. So I say they're fair game, too. If they can badmouth Dayton Moore, I can badmouth them. The funny thing is, you never see Dayton Moore making up aliases and blasting these guys bitching about him. But if I bitch about these fucknobs, they make up stupid handles like sallyanncavanaugh2 and get all up in my shit. Why? Because they're insecure. They can dish it out, but they certainly can't take it.

Another guy I have a problem with is this Rany Jazzayerli character. You do realize everyone on the internet takes everything he says as the gospel right? It's just a guy with a blog. I heard he wrote some bookor something, but that still doesn't mean he's always right. If writing a book makes your right 100% of the time, we'd all be speaking German right now, praising Adolf Hitler. I like his writing style and his blogs, because he still writes about himself and his kid's births andstuff that he really embraces, not just stats and shit. But I don't worship the guy like a lot of folks do. The man-crush a lot of people have on this guy is amazing. I've actually read people saying, I wonder how Rany feels about this? WHO FUCKING CARES! How do YOU feel about this. Have an original thought! Make your own assumptions and post your opinions, not some other guy's opinions.

TRT: Which of Dayton Moore's player personnel decisions and transactions have you agreed and disagreed with the most?

DT: The funny thing is, I try not to get too worked up about a trade or decision I don't necessarily like. I just shrug it off and figure they know more about it than I do, so good for the guy getting paid I guess. But since you asked, I don't like the Doug Waechter signing. I'm kidding I just figured I'd say that one because its one that I've never seen anyone bitch about. But seriously, though I don't get the Horacio Ramirez signing. No one else was going to give this guy any money above the minimum. Why we gave this guy over a million dollars is crazy to me.

For the one I agreed with the most, hand down the Coco Crisp trade. I like it on so many levels. Here's a guy that fell out of favor in Boston. But was an certified badass in Cleveland. In my opinion, first he hurt his finger, which hurt his status, then Ellsbury catches fire and the Sox win the Series. The guy had a foot out the door the minute Ellsbury stepped into center field. I think you're going to see a much better and much more motivated Coco Crisp this year. And yes, I see the Royals picking up his option for next year, and him tearing it up in his contract year. I may be wrong, I am a lot, but I think this move singlehandedly turned this franchise around for good. I mean come on, we got Coco Crisp for Ramon Ramirez, who we got for Jorge De La Rosa, who we got for Tony Graffanino. Any way you look at it, that's a good trade.

TRT: Which Royals message boards and/or blogs do you recommend?

DT: Royal Board. I spend more time there than any other website. Royals Nation is good for the casual fan. Royals Review can lick my sack, there is nothing but self absorbed cocksuckers that overload that board with their incessant rantings. I'm talking to you Devil_Fingers.

For blogs, MtRoyals' blog is pretty good. To be quite honest I can't remember the name (Editor's Note: Royally Speaking), Royal something. In Dayton we trust is pretty good, but not updated that much. Big League Stew is fantastic. Old man Duggan's blog is good "royalscentricity" or something like that. Everything on that MVN site is garbage. Minda33 and those douche bags. And of course this blog, hey, it's where I got my start.

For other teams, Drunk Jays Fans (Toronto) is a good read, along with Gas Lamp Ball (San Diego).

TRT: It seems I first started reading from you over at Royal Board. How did you discover the Royals webosphere?

DT: To be honest, Royal board is listed on the sports illustrated Royals website. That's where I found it, and have been going ever since. Except for that 8 months I was banned for flipping out on that eyeoftiger dude. During the time I was banned is when I became more involved on your site, Royals Nation. I really don't have a flashy answer for this one, its pretty cut and dry.

TRT: You're obviously not a fan of sabermetrics and other advanced statistics in baseball. Do you know, watch, or read from any national sports writers who share similar opinions?

DT: You know, I wouldn't really say I read any one person's stuff in particular. I just read whatever I see posted by people on Royal Board and your site. And I read the stories posted on the official Royals site everyday, along with Around the Horn and Kaegel's Blogs on there. I used to really enjoy "Royales with Cheese" but he quit blogging for some reason. I'm a big fan of big league stew, as well. Those guys get it. I hated fire joe morgan with a passion. The day they quit writing was a red letter day at the Dr. Thunder mansion. Blue Collar Baseball is a nice blog to read. The guy who writes it just simply loves baseball, period.

TRT: If Dayton Moore were fired today, and Dr. Thunder assumed duties of the Kansas City Royals, which players would you sign, trade, release, etc. etc.? Basically - how would you handle the team from here forth to (hopefully) the promised land? (Assume a David Glass-like budget).

DT: I like this question, but I'm going to give it a twist. If they are STUPID enough to fire Dayton Moore and hire Dr. Thunder, then they are stupid enough to give me all the money I want to run this club. Seriously, who would fire Dayton Moore to hire me? I'm an idiot.

But going on that, Tony Pena Jr. will be the first to get the ax. Outright released. And not with some "we wish him well in futureendeavors" type statement. The press release would read like this: The KC Royals today released shortstop / backup infielder / complete waste of money/ elf, Tony Pena Jr. GM Dr. Thunder had this to say. "The guy should have never been on this roster in the first place. He's garbage and couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag. We wish him nothing but embarrassment and humiliation, the same way he humiliated this club every time he came up to bat and swung at a pitch 7 feet outside of the strike zone. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out". Pena was not available for comment.

Next, I'd hire Matt Stairs as man coach. He has no duties related to baseball, he simply there to teach these metrosexuals how to be MEN. He has full authority to slap them silly if he catches anything bitch-like going on with Dejesus or Teahen or any of the other women. Traveling uniforms will be wrangler or levis jeans, chuck taylor tennis shoes, untucked tee shirts, NORMAL tee shirts not these Ed Hardy things I seerich douche bags wearing these days. Everyone on the team will be required to have a facial hair. Period. Acceptable forms include: Giambi mustaches, full beards, trucker beards (think lead singer of motorhead), or fu-man-chu's. No faggity penciled in mustaches, nojockstrap goatees, no soul patches. Hair will be unkempt at all times, 70's style. Black guys, the afro is authorized, white guys the mullet is authorized. Hispanics, just grow everything and we'll figure it out later.

Also, Matt Stairs will be Joakim Soria's personal bodyguard. He will protect him at all times, just one thing though. The braces gotta go. Messed up choppers will only enhance your aura as closer.

Powder blue road uniforms are back! The powder blue home jerseys with powder blue pants. These will no longer be worn with white pants at home. Also, the home whites are the only authorized home uniform, no dark blue tops. 2 uniforms, that's it. Simple.

That's about it. I'd just hire people who knew more about it than me and let them make the decisions until I became comfortable doing the job. I'd just be the figurehead who took all the flak for shit people didn't like.

TRT: How do you feel about the concept of steroids in baseball? Should steroid punishments continue to be instigated, or should players havethe freedom to use any performance enhancing supplement they see fit?

DT: Oh man, the million dollar question. This subject has been beaten like a dead horse by every major sports outlet in America. Here's what I'll say. Anything before MLB rules is a moot point, it wasn't against the rules so who cares, and if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Anything after the rules: suspend them for 1 season. If it happens Sept 6th, 2009... Your last day of suspension is Sept 5th 2010.

Drugs will never go away. Players have been using different forms of drugs to get an edge since the game was invented. Its now in this politically correct pussy society we look down on a guy trying to get an edge. There will be more and different ways to cheat, and if they get caught, they should pay the piper. If not, more power to them.

To be honest, I have much bigger things to worry about than who did steroids and when.

TRT: Which non-Royals baseball players are currently your favorite ones to watch, and why?

DT: Manny Ramirez- The guy doesn't give a fuck about what people think about him. His flamboyance is hilarious.
Derek Jeter- The consummate professional. Embodies what a leader should be.
Kevin Millar- Funniest ballplayer in the game today.
Josh Hamilton- His life hit the skids, but he turned it around and might just be the closest thing to Roy Hobbs we'll see in our lifetime.
Albert Pujols- The one guy I will say without a doubt we should have drafted. But revisionist history is douchey, so I'll just say he's a hell of a player, and I wish we had him.
Lance Berkman- Fat, long hair, nice guy. Perfect fit for my dream Royals team. There is probably more, but off the top of my head, that's all I got.

There is probably more, but off the top of my head, that's all I got. Thanks for interviewing me. I appreciate the support on my website. Once the season starts I will update it more regularly. Until then, Stay Classy, Kansas City.

And that is Dr. Thunder.

Join us next week.....when we present a certain poster with a burning antipathy toward a certain prominent ex-Royal. Stay tuned!

Monday, February 16, 2009

On The Turdburds: America's Joke

I just find many Cardinals fans I encounter to be holier-than- thou in their attitues when comparing St. Louis vand Kansas City. However, many fans from St. Louis are strangely insecure and overtly defensive about their hometown. If you gather three K.C. men and three StL. men, and hold a conversation about the two cities, chances are the conversation will be dominated by the St.L. men, and will center on the city of St. Louis.

Cardinals fans, generally, want nothing to do with the Royals. They are *above* the Royals. They don't have time to remotely care for them, except for making references about a Hall of Fame Royals player who retired 16 years ago - and notably, how big of an arrogant jerk he is, and how his sexual preference fits into the picture.

I know/knew many good Cards fans, including my grandfather (Lee & Mike's dad) and my dad's business partner. But so many are completely arrogant and ignorant to matters K.C.-related. My dad's business partner will tell you that willingly.I don't see the Midwestern pride with the city of St. Louis. They are supposedly the "gateway to the west", but St. Louisian Cardinals fans are either consumed with how great of a city Chicago is and how much they envy/loathe/ despise/hate the Cubs, or are consumed with culture of the east coast. Sometimes, it seems that entire city belongs in eastern Pennyslvania or New Jersey - not freaking Missouri.

Cardinals fans continuously deem themselves the "GREATEST FANS IN THE WORLD" and are obsessed with their throwback brand of small-ball, bunting, and double-switches that have proven to not work in a number of scientifically- based baseball texts, including the renowed Moneyball. Cardinals fans readily jump at anyone who questions their team or the city. I have heard two St. Louisians deem the Arch the tallest building in the United States in my lifetime.

There is still a rivalry between the Cards and Royals. My cousin admits it. Other Cardinals fans I have encountered - including a couple at a Springfield Cardinals game - have admitted it. Otherwise they wouldn't flock to Kansas City in the thousands and thousands to watch an evidently meaningless July game.

Their 2006 squad was worse than about 5 N.L. squads and 10 A.L. squads, yet they made the postseason. Their roster, since 2005, has been shot to Hades, and they still feel entitled as "America's team."

The arrogant Turdburds fans of which I speak are a joke. And I'm looking forward to watching that team drown in a Royal-like two decades of haplessness and misery.

Now I feel better.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Former Royals Throughout Baseball

Here is a list of former Royals throughout baseball and which organizations they are now affiliated with. Updated 2-14-09. If I'm omitting or skipping any player, then feel free to comment below, or e-mail me.

C - Jason LaRue (STL)
C - Paul Phillips (COL)
C - Paul Bako (CHN)
C - Gregg Zaun (BAL)
C - Sal Fasano (COL)
1B - Craig Brazell (BAL)
1B - Doug Mientkiewicz (FA)
1B - Mike Sweeney (SEA)
1B - Matt Stairs (PHI)
2B - Fernando Cortez (FA)
2B - Tony Graffanino (FA)
2B - Mark Grudzielanek (FA)
2B - Jason Smith (HOU)
2B - Ruben Gotay (FA)
2B - Donnie Murphy (BAL)
SS - Angel Berroa (NYA)
SS - Jeff Keppinger (CIN)
SS - Andres Blanco (CHN)
SS - Angel Sanchez (TOR)
3B - Jose Bautista (TOR)
3B - Gookie Dawkins (FA)
LF - Emil Brown (FA)
LF - Justin Huber (FA)
LF - Chip Ambres (BOS)
LF - Matt Diaz (ATL)
LF - Alexis Gomez (DET)
LF - Dee Brown (FA)
LF - Raul Ibanez (PHI)
LF - Endy Chavez (PHI)
LF - Johnny Damon (NYA)
CF - Joey Gathright (CHN)
CF - Carlos Beltran (NYN)
RF - Jermaine Dye (CHA)

SP - Brett Tomko (NYA)
SP - Odalis Perez (WAS)
SP - Jorge De La Rosa (COL)
SP - Billy Buckner (ARI)
SP - Scott Elarton (FA)
SP - Todd Wellemeyer (STL)
SP - Mark Redman (FA)
SP - Runelvys Hernandez (Korea)
SP - Chris George (FA)
SP - Paul Byrd (FA)
SP - Jeff Suppan (MIL)
SP - Miguel Batista (SEA)
SP - Glendon Rusch (COL)
RP - Ramon Ramirez (BOS)
RP - Leo Nunez (FLA)
RP - Horacio Ramirez (KCA)
RP - David Riske (MIL)
RP - Ryan Braun (CHA)
RP - Octavio Dotel (CHA)
RP - Denny Bautista (PIT)
RP - Bobby Keppel (MIN)
RP - Andrew Sisco (CHA)
RP - Elmer Dessens (NYN)
RP - Joe Nelson (TBA)
RP - Ambiorix Burgos (NYN)
RP - Scott Dohmann (Japan)
RP - Adam Bernero (FA)
RP - Chris Booker (WAS)
RP - Kyle Snyder (NYN)
RP - Mike MacDougal (CHA)
RP - Steve Andrade (FA)
RP - Jose Diaz (LAN)
RP - D.J. Carrasco (CHA)
RP - J.P. Howell (TBA)
RP - Jeremy Affeldt (SFN)
RP - Shawn Camp (TOR)
RP - Jonah Bayliss (FA)
RP - Nate Field (FLO)
RP - Dennys Reyes (FA)
RP - Rudy Seanez (FA)
RP - Ryan Bukvich (FA)
RP - Miguel Asencio (FA)
RP - Jamey Wright (KCA)
RP - Les Walrond (Japan)
RP - Brian Shouse (TBA)
RP - Chad Durbin (PHI)
RP - Jose Santiago (FA)
RP - Dan Reichert (FA)
RP - Tim Byrdak (HOU)
RP - Jamie Walker (BAL)
RP - Tom Gordon (ARI)

FA = Free Agent
If there are any errors, let me know, as well.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Odds 'N' Ends

I plan on visiting Surprise, Arizona in March for Spring Training. I will be there from Saturday, March 7 through Sunday, March 15. I'll attend 5 to 6 Royals games, and then probably do a family-oriented event, as well, as I plan on attending with several family members. Speaking of which, the S.T. forum (or sub-forum, to be precise) has now opened over at Royals Nation. Available there - and, soon, here - will be photographs from my vacation in Surprise, game summaries, and much more. Check it out.

I might be interning this summer for a reliable source. More information on that endeavor to come. Nothing is finalized, yet.

Roberto Alomar, meet the Family Guy Ragtime Quintet. In all seriousness, though, this act - if true - is a grotesque and evil act. Does this affect Roberto's Hall of Fame chances? I think it certainly does. But then who gets inducted from Baseball's Ongoing Steroid Era? McGwire? A-Rod? Bonds? Freaking Greg Maddux? Everyone's legacy is eclipsed, in my opinion. Furthermore, no player - not even Mike Sweeney - is immune from at least a small morsel of that lurking steroid shadow.

Would you juice for the benefit of being a bonafide Major Leaguer? I most certainly would not.
I compile weekly personal charts over at Pulse Music Board. The charts are posted weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly) at this thread.
I will soon begin multiple segments where I will interview uncompromising and sometimes controversial figures throughout the Royals blogosphere. I hope to land and interview several prominent names - names you have probably encountered in your short or long time frequenting message board and blogs Royals-related. The first interview could be posted as soon as next week. Stay tuned.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Murray Chass, You Are A Moron

Royals Nation Does Not Exist!!!

According to arguably one of the laziest and mis- or ill-informed sports writers in the last decade, the term Royals Nation does not exist. I find this insulting and amusing at the same time. Anyone who has done any research into the Royals blogosphere knows that I frequent many other Royals websites using this moniker. In addition, I'd like to think my site holds some relevance in the blogosphere. (Not as much as Royals Review or some others, but it's been linked on many occasions). 255 members ain't bad. And, believe me, I'm not trying to sound egotistical or naive, but it shows how much Chass truly loathes the blogosphere, "Mother's Basement" types, and how little research he actually puts forth in the vast majority of his articles. There are several dozen extremely active Royals message boards and blogs out there. Maybe he should do a little research next time.

Spread the word that Murray Chass is truly an awful sports writer who has no clue what he's talking about.

Some helpful links for Murray Chass, the moron:

I'm proud of my contributions to each of these fine websites.

Oh, and....

If anyone wishes to read an e-mail that I sent to Chass, e-mail me or respond here.

Murray Chass.


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Thursday, October 29, 2009

...for Marissa

The other day my friend Marissa said that she checks the blog every day waiting to see any news about baby Schreiner.  So this post is for you Mar-Mar: happy reading.

I am now officially in the second trimester and am 16 weeks along.  What this means for anyone that does not read pregnancy sites once a week like I do is that this is the easy trimester.  I have been extremely thankful though because nothing has been too difficult so far.  First trimester is supposed to be full of morning sickness but I experienced a few weeks of nausea and nothing else.  However, two days before passing the first trimester mark I had my first (and only?) vomiting experience - and really that was my fault for taking prenatal vitamins on a virtually empty stomach.  The best part was that I had mixed reactions: I could not decide whether or not I should be upset or excited that I finally participated in what most pregnant women go through.

We had our third appointment Monday and our baby's heart is still beating and my belly measured me to be at 17 weeks.  So I think that means everything is going okay.

On Wednesday the Downtown Church had a parenting night with a panel of some of the pastors of Walnut Creek.  It was great to hear from these men whom Jon and I have gotten to see their lives and their now twentysomething age kids lives closely.  We learned some good foundations but also know the real learning will come when our "Juan(ita)" is born.

Sometime soon I will get to feel our baby kick and move around.  The websites say that at first it just feels like a butterly or gas so at every little feeling in my belly I gasp and try to figure out if it is the baby saying hi.  But as far as I can tell, nothing so far.

Well, Marissa, hope this satisfies your excitement of the little one inside of me.  :)

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-164-221-253.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-43
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for October 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
How to Get Rid of Lice: 8 Natural Remedies

by Dr. Axe

If you’re wondering how to get rid of lice, I’m here to tell you that there are thankfully a lot of natural home remedies to kill lice. There are a few kinds of lice including head lice, body lice and pubic lice. While body lice and pubic lice can occur as a result of unclean living conditions and a lack of personal hygiene, head lice can happen to anyone, even the cleanest amongst us.

The CDC estimates that somewhere between six to 12 million head lice infestations happen every year among kids aged three to 11 years of age. In the United States, you’ll find the majority of head lice cases occurring in preschool and elementary school children and the people they live with. The good news is that head lice don’t carry or spread disease. But they will have their victims scratching their heads so intensely that a secondary bacterial infection can occur. This is why at the first sign of head lice, you want to spring into action to get the lice out of your or your loved one’s head, decontaminate your home and belongings, and make sure that no one else in your home gets this annoying parasitic attack. (1)

Let’s look at exactly what is lice, how to get rid of lice, and most importantly, what are the best approaches to natural head lice treatment, including the best lice-fighting essential oils.

What Are Lice?

What does lice look like? Lice are very small, parasitic insects without wings that feed on human blood. Adult head lice are are only about two to three millimeters in length. Since they don’t have wings, they don’t fly and they also don’t hop. Lice get around by crawling (this is probably making you scratch your head already, sorry!). (2)

There are a few different kinds of lice: (3)

  • Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis): This type of lice develops on the scalp and neck. The lice actually attach their eggs to the base of the hair shafts. So head lice always equates to lice in hair. Head lice is typically most obvious or visible at the nape of the neck and over the ears. An infestation with head lice is also called pediculosis.
  • Body lice: These lice live in clothing and on bedding and move onto your skin to feed. Body lice most often affect people who aren’t able to bathe or launder clothing regularly, such as homeless or transient individuals.
  • Pubic lice: Also called crabs, this variety of lice infestation occurs on the hair and skin of the pubic area. Less often it can occur on coarse body hair like that of the chest, eyebrows or eyelashes.

With head lice, the tiny lice actually attach their eggs, or nits, to the bottom of the hair shafts. These eggs can be difficult to see. They typically take about eight to nine days to hatch. The eggs that are most likely to hatch tend to be a quarter inch or less from where your hair comes out of the scalp. The eggs that are more than a quarter inch from the base of the hair shaft are likely to have already hatched, are dead or are empty casings. (4)

When you’re looking at how to get rid of lice, it’s important to kill both the lice and the lice eggs in order to be effective.

How to get rid of lice: signs & symptoms - Dr. Axe

Lice Signs & Symptoms

If you’re wondering how to tell if you or a loved one currently has lice, these are some of the lice symptoms to be on the lookout for: (5)

  • Intense itching
  • A tickling feeling when hair moves.
  • Seeing lice on your scalp, body, body hair or clothing.
  • Finding lice eggs, which are called “nits,” on hair shafts.
  • Small red bumps on the scalp, neck and shoulders.
  • Irritability and difficulty sleeping (head lice are most active in the dark).
  • Sores on the lice-infested area caused by scratching

So what do lice look like again? Full-grown adult lice are only around the size of a sesame seed or a little bigger. So, they can definitely be hard to spot. What about their eggs? Their egg, or nits, look similar to little pussy willow buds. They can appear yellow or white. Live nits also can appear to be the same color as the hair of the lice-infested person.

It’s important to note that lice eggs, or nits, are commonly confused with dandruff. So how do you tell the difference? While you can brush dandruff out of the hair, lice does not budge so easily and will remain in the hair/on the scalp. You might also mistake nits for scabs or droplets of hair spray.

Causes & Risk Factors

So how do you get lice? Head lice can spread extremely easily, especially among school children consistently in close contact. The number-one way that head lice spreads is through direct head-to-head contact with an infected individual. With kids, there are a lot of opportunities for this head-to-head contact on a regular basis.

It is uncommon, but the sharing of items that come in close contact with the head or body are also another way for head lice to make the rounds. This method of transmission can occur since lice crawl and lice eggs can be in hair that sheds and then the eggs hatch. Sharing combs and brushes is another way for head lice to spread. Other items that can carry and spread head lice include: barrettes, hair ribbons, hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, towels, blankets and stuffed animals. You can also pick up head lice by lying down on a carpet, couch, bed, pillow or blanket that a person with head lice recently spent time on. So there are many ways to pick up head lice. Thankfully, pets like dogs and cats cannot spread human lice. (6)

As I already said, head lice is not a sign that someone is dirty or not washing their hair enough. Truly anyone can get a case of head lice. But there are some groups that are more likely to contract lice. When it comes to lice risk factors, especially head lice, age is definitely a risk factor. Lice infestations are most common in young children, especially preschool and elementary school-age children. Head lice can happen to a child of any age, hair length or socioeconomic background. But, it’s more prevalent among girls than boys and it’s also more common in Caucasians than African-Americans. (7)

Now, it’s finally time to talk about how to get rid of lice. There are several conventional and natural options. And, actually, some of the natural options have even been shown to be more effective than the conventional ones.

Conventional Lice Treatment

To determine whether or not you have lice, your doctor is likely to look you over using a magnifying lens. Your doctor is also likely to employ a Wood’s light in his or her examination. This special type of light helps the doctor check for nits because it makes them appear pale blue in color. This makes them much easier to be spotted.

Do you know how to get rid of lice the conventional way? Conventional lice treatment typically includes an over-the-counter (OTC) topical medication to kill off the lice and the lice eggs. However, these medications are known to not kill off recently-laid eggs. This is why a second treatment (often nine days later) is typically needed.  If a second OTC treatment is not performed or not performed at the right time, then your doctor may suggest a stronger, prescription treatment. This prescription treatment comes with more serious side effects compared to OTC options. (8)

Examples of common OTC head lice treatment medications include permethrin (Nix) and pyrethrin with additives (Rid). Side effects of Nix can include burning, itching, numbness, rash, redness, stinging, swelling or tingling of the scalp. Pyrethrin’s additives increases its toxicity. Possible side effects of products like Rid include: skin irritation, skin rash, skin infection, sudden sneezing attacks, stuffy nose, runny nose, wheezing or difficulty breathing. (910)

You should never use pyrethrin on a child with a chrysanthemum or ragweed allergy. Pyrethrin contains a chemical compound extracted from the chrysanthemum flower, a member of the ragweed family.

How to get rid of lice - Dr. Axe

How to Get Rid of Lice: 8 Natural Remedies

The better and more thoroughly you treat an outbreak of lice, the less likely it is to become a recurring problem. Figuring out how to get rid of lice naturally takes some continuous effort, but so do conventional options. Plus when it comes to how to get rid of lice naturally, you may already have many of the ingredients you need on hand. Because of this,  natural lice remedies can also be more cost-effective.

1. Wet-Combing

How to get rid of lice naturally pretty much always involves a fine tooth comb. Wet-combing is a natural lice remedy that you need to repeat every three to four days for a minimum of two weeks after you don’t see any lice present. How do you wet-comb for lice? The person with head lice needs to have their hair completely wet. It’s also a good idea to add some conditioner (ideally a natural anti-lice conditioner). Next, using a fine-tooth nit comb (available at stores and online for under five dollars) you need to comb the entire lice-infested scalp starting at the scalp to the hair ends. Conduct this careful combing at least two times during a session. (11)

It’s important to know that if your child has lice and is only two months of age or less, then you should not use any medicated lice treatment products. Also, you should only use your hands and a fine-tooth comb to remove the lice. For a child of this age, wet-combing, as I just described, is recommended every three to four days for three weeks after the sighting of the last live louse. (12)

2. Sanitize Brushes & Combs

When it comes to how to get rid of head lice, you definitely want to address the tools that have been used in a lice-ridden person’s hair, especially before and after wet-combing. So take all of the combs and brushes and wash them using very hot (130 degrees F at the lowest) water and soap. You can also soak the brushes and combs in rubbing alcohol for at least one hour. You can even do both the washing and the soaking if it makes you feel better. And to be on the safe side, include all the hair-styling tools in the household. Also include any and all objects that go into hair like barrettes, hair ties, headbands, etc.

3. Get Out the Vacuum

If you want to know how to get rid of lice naturally (or conventionally), you can’t focus only on the infected person and overlook their physical surroundings. Any good conventional or natural head lice treatment advice will include advising you to vacuum thoroughly and often during a lice outbreak and afterwards. You should give all of the floors and furniture in your home a good, thorough vacuuming. Vacuuming your furniture and floors can remove a lice-infested person’s hairs that could still have viable lice eggs attached and about to hatch. You also may want to cover furniture after vacuuming. You can use a plastic painter’s drop cloth to cover furniture for two weeks to prevent a reoccurrence of lice in your home. (13)

4. Wash At-Risk Items

When you learn someone in your household has lice, you need to do more than just treat the lice on the person. You also need to make sure that you wash any items that could be contaminated with lice. Not only will this help naturally treat the current lice outbreak, but it will also prevent transfer of lice to someone else or reinfestation of the same person.

What are some of the items in your home you should make sure to wash? I’m talking about clothing, bedding, blankets (not just in the bedroom) and stuffed animals. To ensure that you thoroughly de-lice these various items, make sure that you wash them in soapy water that is very hot (at least 130 degrees F). Dry them at a high heat setting until thoroughly dry, with a minimum dry time of 20 minutes. If you have anything that you can’t wash, but you think could possibly be contaminated, you can seal these things in an airtight bag for at least two weeks. (14)

5. Natural Anti-Lice Hair Products

The hair products you choose for yourself and your children can contribute significantly to your efforts when it comes to how to get rid of lice naturally. There are natural options for anti-lice shampoo, conditioner and conditioning hair sprays on the market today. I recommend finding natural anti-lice hair products that score well on EWG’s Skin Deep®  Cosmetic Database and using them as part of your lice treatment and prevention plan.

6. Lice-Killing Essential Oils

According to Mayo Clinic, clinical studies have demonstrated that some specific essential oils can have a toxic effect on lice and lice eggs. Some of top choices for anti-lice essential oils include tea tree essential oil, anise essential oil and ylang ylang essential oil. (15) Lavender and eucalyptus essential oils also have been shown to be effective.

A 2010 study found that a topical lotion that contained 10 percent tea tree oil and one percent  lavender oil resulted in a 97.6 percent elimination of lice after the final day of treatment. Meanwhile, only 25 percent of study subjects using a common conventional lice treatment containing pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide got rid of their head lice. (16)

You can combine these lice-killing essentials oils with coconut oil for a natural anti-lice treatment. A study published in the European Journal of Pediatrics revealed that a combination of coconut oil and anise spray was a more effective natural alternative to permethrin lotion, a commonly prescribed lice treatment. While 82 percent of study subjects had success with the coconut anise mixture, only 42 percent of the permethrin users had relief. (17)

Yet another study published in the Israel Medical Association Journal found even greater success using a combination that included coconut oil, anise oil and ylang ylang oil. This mixture was applied for 15 minutes at a time three times at five day intervals. This natural lice treatment was successful in 92.3 percent of the children and caused no serious side effects. (18)

7. Oil/Smother Treatment

Many natural lice treatment plans will recommend using food items like mayonnaise and butter to smother lice. These can work. But, I recommend using something a little less messy and a lot less offensive to your sense of smell. I’m talking about multi-purpose oils like almond, coconut and olive.

First, coat the hair in the oil of choice.You can put the oil on your hair and comb it through. Or you can try coating the comb and putting it through your hair. Just choose whatever works best and gets your scalp and hair completely coated. Using hair clips, you may want to separate the hair into more manageable sections. Make sure to do this under good lighting. Rinse the comb frequently under very hot water as you’re working. Once you’ve combed out and coated all of the hair in oil, shampoo and rinse your child’s hair twice in a row. This approach is recommended every day for a week. For the two following weeks, continue to perform wet-combing (#1 on this list) every night to make sure the lice are all gone. (16)

8. Head Lice Coconut Oil + Essential Oil Treatment Recipe

  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon each of ylang ylang, anise and tea tree oils (can swap for other anti-lice oils according to what you have on hand/what agrees with you or your child)
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup water

This should be enough for shoulder-length hair, but double the recipe for longer hair.

  1. Apply the solution all over the scalp, massage in well and pull it through the ends.
  2. Comb through the hair with a fine tooth comb.
  3. Cover head in a shower cap and allow to sit for 2 hours. If possible, sit in the sun or use a hair dryer to periodically warm up the cap.
  4. Carefully remove shower cap, and seal in a Ziploc® bag for disposal.
  5. Comb hair again before washing and rinsing thoroughly, twice.
  6. While hair is still wet, combine 2 cups of apple cider vinegar and 1 cup water in a small spray bottle. Saturate the hair, spraying ½ the bottle on the scalp and hair.
  7. Lean over the sink and pour the remaining mixture over the hair, massaging lightly.
  8. Rinse thoroughly and comb hair once again with a fine tooth comb.
  9. Follow with a light application of coconut oil.  Style as desired and allow to remain on the hair until next washing.

As with most lice treatments, you need to repeat the process every 5 to 10 days for a couple of weeks. This helps to ensure that you eradicate all lice and their eggs. Between treatments, comb hair morning and night with a fine tooth comb, and use coconut oil as a leave-in conditioner. As coconut oil both repels and kills lice, at the first notification of a lice outbreak, start using coconut oil as a leave-in conditioner.

Contact your health care provider if OTC or natural lice treatments do not work after two weeks or if there are signs of an infection. Symptoms of infection include pain, tenderness, redness, swelling, fever or sores that won’t heal. (17)

Never use an essential oil on your child before performing a patch test. Some children may have allergic reactions to essential oils, especially tea tree oil. If a patch test fails, then do not use that oil on your child.

You should not cover your furniture in plastic if you have a toddler. It’s possible for him or her to become tangled in the plastic sheet and suffocate.

Not only do I advise staying away from health-hazardous fumigants, the CDC also advises “Do not use fumigant sprays or fogs; they are not necessary to control head lice and can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.” (18) You also should never use flammable products, like gasoline or kerosene, to kill lice or to remove lice eggs.

Final Thoughts

Any parent is likely to come in contact with lice at some point since young school-age children are the most likely candidates for lice. If your child has a friend with lice or is the lice carrier, don’t panic. All respectable sources will tell you that head lice does not mean that your child is dirty, your home is dirty or you don’t wash your child’s hair enough.  It’s important to remember, whether it’s your child or yourself, that lice isn’t something to be embarrassed about. It can happen to anyone. Lice is simply a very common parasitic problem and there are so many natural ways to deal with lice.

Emotionally, it’s also important for a child to know that he or she didn’t do anything wrong and that the problem might not be gone overnight, but it will be gone soon! It is definitely key to be patient with lice treatments. Whether natural or conventional, they often need to be carried out for weeks and repeated at certain time intervals.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

63 − 53 =


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

"Bike Path!", Starring Harrison Ford and. . . .

So far as I can tell, this is completely serious.

There is an article in this morning's Times on the problems a proposed bike path along the river is having as it passes NBC Universal. NBC Universal doesn't want it anywhere near their property. Why? I quote the Times:

One bike advocate said Universal executives told him they feared that people would use the path to lob unsolicited screenplays onto the studio's nearby production lot - something that apparently happens at other spots when a Universal film scores big at the box office.

You can find the rest of it here, if you're interested. But it's just about bike paths.

I wonder if I flew to New York, cycled by Doubleday, lobbed the novel into the lobby. . . .

No. Probably not.


text:
Sunday, September 18, 2011

Reforms -- Ready or Not

Today's New York Times shares a story about a tug of war between unions and politicians in Chicago. The issue? Longer school days. When the teacher's union failed to approve a longer school day, politicians took the issue directly to schools, offering teachers a 2% bonus if they agreed. In a surprising move, many teachers and schools agreed, even over the objections of their union leaders. The union is pursuing the issue before the labor board, but it is far from resolved. Clearly, public sentiment nationwide dictates that unions provide more visible reforms on their own lest politicians and legislatures try to override the process. Educators can no longer sit back and teach, but we must continually reflect upon our teaching and the educational process to make sure we are doing all we can to help our students succeed. Doing anything less means that others will make those decisions for us.

Here's the article that I'm talking about:
The New York Times

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Remembering 9/11

For me, the events of 9/11 became a catalyst that changed my thinking about the world we live in.

While living in South Jersey, removed from direct contact with the events of the day, I nonetheless was shocked to see them unfold on tv. I was incredulous--could this really be happening in my country, a bastion of safety and security?  My fear erupted, and I scrambled to gather my children from their schools, uniting my family so that we could escape if necessary. While I made every effort to reassure my children that everything would be ok, I struggled to remain composed. I was shocked, scared, and confused. My husband and I could do nothing but continually watch the news coverage, exacerbating our fears.

As time wore on, and American patriots responded to the distress of our fellow countrymen, I became energized with the unity of our American spirit, the ability to persevere even in the face of ultimate despair. I saw local first responders renew their dedication to service, and I saw neighbors step up to provide the necessary support to heal our fellow citizenry. Yes, we were still afraid of unknown threats, but we were united in our healing process.

It has been a long, arduous journey for Americans, and many of us still bear the scars from that fateful day. Yet it has proven to me that the resiliency of the American spirit lies within us all. We can overcome the fear and hatred that threatened to destroy us, then and even now. I, for one, have determined that it is my duty to help combat the ignorance that leads to divisiveness. I have taken it upon myself to educate my own children about the need for tolerance and acceptance, even when others' ideas are in conflict with my own.

As an educator, I work to build pathways to bridge the divides that separate us. I work to help my students resolve their differences, even when our ideological foundations appear to be threatened. I celebrate the uniqueness of each of my students and celebrate our respective cultures. Most of all, I celebrate the fact that I am an American. I am proud of my fellow countrymen, and I know that we share a bright future, even in the face of adversity. Together, we can achieve greatness!


text:
Monday, November 22, 2010

1 little, 2 little, 3 little indians...well just 2

John had his Thanksgiving feast at school on Friday. His indian name was Standing Rock John, which is pretty appropriate since the child never sits down and he's as stubborn as a rock! heehee...

John played with Wyatt while I cleaned house on Saturday. He's so sweet with his little brother and Wyatt just loves John. He smiles and giggles everytime John talks to him.

I took this video yesterday while John was playing with Wyatt. It melts my heart!

Blogger Andrea said...

Sweet,Sweet boys! I love them sooo much.

9:50 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home


text:
Friday, April 9, 2010

Friday's Feast is Healthy and Mucho Deliciousosooooo !

Hungry ?

Yes we're going to start making this a regular feature, so that folks know where we eat and where to go get the goodies. This particular restaurant is one that we've patronized over the years. Lots of Mexican Restaurants are competing to be the best at this and that. But this place is hands down the best in chicken. they put it on the grill outdoors - year round. even in snow storms they're out there barbequeing that chicken. And Yes they only barbeque chicken. no beef or pork. that's also why we like this place. we never have to worry about pork juice on the chicken.

It's Taqueria El Rey - Ten Years and still going strong

The rice is fluffy, and always well seasoned and the sides are just plain wonderful. The Tortillas are handmade daily. the salsa is a secret family recipe that is unbelievable. Honestly we just can't say more except that the help is friendly as all get out.  The lovely lady who makes the flans daily - well she's a sweetheart. she makes those fine sweet flans from scratch; each morning at 5am right in the kitchen of the restaurant.  and you know that everyday they sell out of flans. obtw, yes we did take two with us.

The neighborhood in Mexican Village may not be the best economically or the most beautiful; but it's got soul and community spirit. you can go there on any day of the week and find families walking and shopping. there are always folks filling the restaurants, stores and little businesses located along vernor;  in abundance. there is just a spirit about Mexican Village that makes you enjoy just going there to do your errands. I often go there instead of to the larger supermarkets. it never bothers me to spend a few cents more to support a minority rich community, within Detroit.

Friday's Feast Today is Mexican and Healthy - No Cheese, Nothing Fried.
So Tell Us, Where do You Shop when You want to support Your Folks ?

Loading image
Click anywhere to cancel
Image unavailable

Loading image
Click anywhere to cancel
Image unavailable

askcherlock said...

Oh, that all looks so yummy! I love little neighborhood restaurants, and what a good way to help boost the economy. I always find the prices to be reasonable too. Now I'm starved and will have to scour my kitchen and settle for cheese and crackers. :(

Dorothy L said...

Nice idea RE....everyone loves food not to mention those mouthwatering photo displays.
No matter where I have ever is an asset to know where all of the worthwhile smaller local diners are hidden. When I was in New York...I was more thankful that I knew someone from there so as to not waste time and money not to mention bad experience trying to find goo eateries.
Your topic will most certainly be a welcome to travelers~


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
About Mentors

You may also like...

3 Responses

  1. Darlene Unsett says:

    It’s always best to have experts to guide you when starting a new venture. No matter how well you know your stuff, unexpected problems will crop up that you’ll need answers too. If nothing else it’s nice to have someone to talk to who understands what you’re going through. I have a friend who’s recently started a candy making business and she belongs to ‘women in business’ group. They provide classes in everything from book keeping to website building, but she says the best part is the mentors who volunteer and help people build their confidence.

  1. December 13, 2014

    […] have a business mentor, because listening to a person who went down this path before us is extremely motivating. He also […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Tomorrow Holds Wonderful Things for a Princess...

Well more new stash arrived in the post today (naughty me) so I had to use it lol. This time they were Sugar Nellie Gorjuss stamps which I have had my eye on for a while.  So much for my stash amnesty - I'm now amending this to be just paper, ribbon, embellie's and the biggest of all.... Digi anything (please don't bring out anything new Pink Petticoat)....
I'm going to see how long I can keep this up for, but I'm aiming for end of July lol (Yes Lizy I will be able to do it..... honestly) and the new LOTV stamps are excluded completely from this amnesty lol.... Anyhow enough of my waffling, here is today's card...

The image is Sugar Nellie's Party Princess and I've coloured it in with promarkers (Cocoa, Tan, Cinnamon, Walnut, Almond, Antique Pink, Dusky Rose, Pale Pink, Buttercup, Carmine). I've followed the sketch from The Sugar Bowl challenge #58 this week (but oops I didn't finish it in time doh) as well as adding the theme of button with some lovely ones I picked up from The Ribbon Girl.  The DPs are from First Editions Love Letters Stack.  The sentiment is from LOTV and it's finished off with a little twine and a touch of glitter.

I'm also entering this into the following challenges:

Passion For Promarkers - Fit for a Princess
Diva's By Design - #1 Anything Goes
My Mums Craft Shop - #4 Cute & Girly
Top Tip Tuesday - Open

Hope you like it...

Jen xxx

  1. Gorgeous these images and great layout too hun...

    enjoy your new crafty stash lol...and yes I NEED the new lotv stamps too hehehe...

    hugs Vicky xx

  2. beautiful card and gorgeous colours, love the clean crisp finish to this one:)

    Thank you for joining us at MMCS

  3. So pretty, i love the Gorjuss stamps too!

    Thanks for joining us at MMCS Challenges and hope to see you again!

    Kitty xx

  4. Lovely card!
    The gorjuss girl is adorable and your coloring is fab!
    Thank you for playing with us at PfP,
    hugs from Maya

  5. stunning card jen.your colours and papers are gorgeous and i love your sweet gg girl.
    thanks for joining us this week at PFP :D

    xx coops xx

  6. The pink and green papers work so well together here. Gorjuss girls are hard to resist!
    Hugs, Alison x

  7. Gorgeous card, and a cute image.
    Thanks for joining us at PfP this week :o)

  8. Oh Jen it's beautiful, the little girl is so sweet and the colours are fab!
    I spotted your gorgeous guest design on Cupcake Craft Challenge so thought I would pop over and take a look at your blog (I'm now a follower too)

    Have a great weekend
    Hayley x

  9. I really like your card. Pink and green is really a fabulous colorcombo. Love your coloring to...

  10. Hi Jen, what a gorgeous card. I love the beautiful image and your colouring is perfect. Great papers and layout. Thanks for joining us at PFP this week. Hugs, Denise x

  11. Hello, Lovely card, your colouring is just perfect. I've been trying to keep to a budget, as I know I couldn't stop buying! So far I've spent the whole months' budget in 6 days - it's not my fault tho, it's the companies fault for keep emailing me! Thanks for joining us at Divas by Designs first challenge. Sarah

  12. Beautiful card Jen, love the colours!

  13. Really cute card!

    Thank you for joining us at Top Tip Tuesday!  Hope to see you again next week!

    Leanne xx

  14. Such a gorgeous card Jen. Love the image and the colours also. Thanks for joining us this week at PFP. Hugs Michele x

  15. Fabulous card Jen, love what youve done with the card design and your colouring is gorgeous. with hugs Shirleyxxx

  16. Oh this is a lovely pretty card. Thanks for playing at MMCS this week. x

Thank You for visiting ... please leave a comment so I can come visit you back...

Jen xxx


text:
Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Waiting on Anxiety

The Torah in the first words of this week's parsha tells us "Judges and officers you must make in all your gates which Hashem your G-d gives to you". Rashi points out that the terms 'gates' here refers to the cities Israel will inhabit. Other commentaries interpret the text similarly. But then why does the Torah use the word 'gates' when it might better have used the term "cities". What is the hidden message the Torah is trying to teach.

The holy Shaloh understood the use of the term 'gates' by taking the Torah imperative and personalizing it. He notes the Torah does not say "you must make..." employing the 'you' in the plural form. On the contrary the 'you' in the text is in the singular form as if the Torah is giving the imperative to each individual Jew, that each individual must set up "judges and officers" in his/her gates. He goes on to interpret the verse in a creative way saying that the 'gates' of the text intimate the 'gates' within the individual. Each person has seven gateways to the body, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and a mouth. These are vulnerable places. We can do much damage to ourselves and to others if we don't guard what comes out of them and what goes in carefully. It is about these gates that the Torah calls on us to protect. We must put in there proximity inner judges and officers lest we misuse them and cause harm.

In the context of this blog in which we personalize the Torah text to reveal things we need to know for our spiritual and emotional well-being, I would like to adapt the idea of the Shaloh to make it personally relevant. I would suggest that the 'gates' of the Torah text not only be thought of as parts of the body, in keeping with the view of the Shaloh. We need to see the 'gates' in the context of our experiences. 'Gates' then would mean places of transitions in our lives, places that mean change, new ends and new beginnings. It is precisely in these times where our world is in transition that we may well regress and make mistakes of judgement we normally would not make. It is in these time that might well do something that will compromise both ourselves and other and later severely regret.

And why would be more vulnerable to make serious errors in times of transition? Why are these 'gates' so important to protect? The answer is that transitions bring with them anxiety. We become afraid of what will happen to us when we have left the past and have not yet a secure future. In transitions we don't yet know what's expected, we don't yet know whether we will succeed or fail, we don't yet know what will be the implications of our going and coming. Most transitions only happen because we either have no choice or feel we have no choice. Otherwise, even to our own dis-ease, we will choose to stay put, rather than leave and risk the change and the anxiety it brings.

It is hard to hold tight in this situation of anxiety. We want to escape it as soon as possible. Ideally we will contain the anxiety and find the ability to wait.Difficult as it is, we will bear the feelings of instability. We will trust G-d and our own abilities to let time bring us to the other side and the new beginnings it affords. But occasionally the anxiety feels too much and along comes a quick rescue.In our healthy and settled mindset we would reject the 'rescue' as inappropriate for us and damaging. But in our hurting state we see the option before us as a potential great relief. We don't have the stomach to wait any longer. We are too ill at ease to wait for peace and settledness to come naturally and bring with it the opportunities we sought when we made the transition in the first place.
So much effort goes down the drain, all because we are too anxious to wait.

Waiting on anxiety is a huge challenge. So many lives are ruined by the inability to wait. Think about it. Men and women after one failed marriage so typically marry early and make the same mistake again. The reason, they could not wait for the anxiety of the transition to pass. They chose to relieve it prematurely and rather than make their life better they wound up back in the same place or worse. Psychologists tell us one should not remarry for at least two years after a divorce or being widowed.

After losing a job its so tempting to take the first job offered us, even when, somewhere inside, we know that job will not make us happy and is not what we are meant to do. The anxiety of living in the state of transition is too much for us and we choose any means possible to escape it rather than wait for the healing to happen.
I am sure you can think of many more cases where we are tempted to cut the short the healthy process of change in our lives. And the price we pay is that we surrender the gifts the process of change was meant to realize and sometimes the new becomes worse even than the old

It is to the difficulties of living in these gateway times in our lives that the Torah at the outset of the parsha demands that we have "judges and officers". The Torah wants for our well-being. It wants us to be able to grow. In order to support our process and help us wait on anxiety the Torah calls on us to have friends who will remind us of our situation and disciplines that will keep us grounded, our 'judges' and 'officers'.

May we find through our faith in Hashem and in our belief in ourselves the courage to wait.

Shabbat Shalom

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Limits of Love

The Vilna Gaon is reputed to have remarked that the most difficult mitzvah for him to observe was the Torah's call that on the Chag of Sukkot we be "only happy" and for seven days! For me the most difficult mitzvah is found in this weeks parsha of Re'eh. Let me share the passage in the Torah.

"If your brother the son of your mother or your son or your daughter or the wife you love or your friend who is like your own soul entices you in secret saying.
'let us go and serve other gods' which neither you nor your fathers have known of the gods of the peoples around you whether near you or far off from you, even from the one end of the earth or the other. You should not consent to him, nor listen to him, nor should you have compassion on him, nor should you spare him or conceal him. Rather you should kill him, your hand being the first to put him to death and after the hands of all the people.You should stone him to death because he made effort to draw you away from the L-rd your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

There are several mitzvot that devolve from these verses in the Torah. But in essence they amount to the same call. If someone tries to get us to commit idolatry, even in secret, no matter how close we are to them, no matter how much we love them, even if they are our own children, even if they beg us for mercy, we must turn them in and even participate in the death they receive for their crime, throwing the first stone.

I must admit I cannot imagine turning my child in for the crime of being a 'mayseet', the term in Hebrew for someone who attempts to seduce us into idolatry. Of course its a grievous crime, but for me to bring about the death of my own child! S/he spoke to me in secret. It would be so easy to let it slide especially if s/he begs for mercy and forgiveness. I find the Torah's challenge to me almost impossible to keep.

Yet I think we need to explore the mitzvah for the messages it imparts. First its important to note that the Torah insists that we turn in the 'mayseet' not because of his/her perversion. Rather the Torah demands we turn him/her in because of the harm s/he attempted to cause us. Its because G-d loves and wants our wellbeing even more than we do that He demands the we care for ourselves and get the influences that threaten us out of our lives. One needs to hear in the core challenge of the mitzvah how much our G-d wants for our spiritual health and that we not do anything to jeapordize our rightful place with Him.

Still more I hear the message to me in a very personal way. In telling us that no matter how much we care about the seducer and love him/her we must not show them any mercy even to the point of participating in their death, G-d is teaching us the limits of love. We can love another, indeed we must love another. Yet that love of the other can never be at the expense of the love of ourselves. If loving another compromises our self-love then its not only not noble. It's wrong!
The Sages state it very simply "if one needs to choose, either your life or your friends life, your life takes preference." It is simply not okay to love someone else if that love brings about harm for us.

I can think of any number of real life situations that relate to the above. The woman who is married to the abusive husband who keeps doing violence to her in either words or deeds and then begging her for forgiveness, she stays with him excusing her behavior as love for her husband. In keeping with the values learned from the laws of the 'mayseet', taking back her husband is misplaced love. He is harming her. He does not warrant her love or compassion. Her love for herself must take precedence. Taking him back is not only not a noble self sacrifice, its wrongful and dare I say a sin!

But their are so many cases where we might apply the values the Torah imparts. The older son who comes home and in his callousness violates the spirit of our Shabbat. Yes, we need to love our son, but not at the expense of giving up the Shabbat spirit that is so vital to us. We need to keep him close and show our love. He can come and should come any other day or agree not to publicaly desecrate the Shabbat in our home. We must put love for ourselves and our needs first, the exception being young and dependent children whose needs come before our own.

And what about the parent who wants us to pursue a certain career path,one that would make them happy but would compromise our sense of what we are meant to do and what would make us happy. Its not heroic to fullfil the dreams of our parents at the cost of our happiness and fulfillment. We need to put ourselves first. Not because we want to but because this is what G-d wants us to do.

The situations are endless. The principle is the same. G-d wants us to put the love of ourselves above the love for any other save our love of Him. At times that's not as easy as it seems. Yet that it can be difficult doesn't make it less important. On the contrary it underscores its importance for the quality of the life G-d wants for us.

Shabbat Shalom

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Learning from Mistakes

What is the key ingredient of success? What characteristic does every successful person share? Interviews with highly successful people have shown that the one quality all had in common was that they were dedicated to learning from their mistakes. It wasn't that they didn't make mistakes. Many had their lives littered with them. Rather is was that they were determined that the mistakes they made would serve as lessons from which they would learn and grow.

In the parsha of Eikev that we read this coming Shabbat it seems the Torah is revealing to us this great truth. In the course of Moshe's words of challenge to the Israelites before his death Moshe tells them that they need be wary lest they come to think that the land they are about to inherit was given to then due to their own merit. Moshe is emphatic in stating that they need to recognize that they the People were essentially undeserving of this great gift and only the wickedness of the Peoples who lived there prior and the promise G-d made to their parents were reasons Hashem gave them the land to inherit.
The warning concludes "And you should know that not due to your own merit does Hashem your G-d give you this good land to inherit because you are a stiff necked nation". Moshes then reviews the recent history of Israel's wilderness journey where they committed one sin after another beginning with the worship of the Golden Calf and ending with the story of the spies.

The lesson Moshe is teaching his nation is easily understood. They need to recognize their flaws and not take accomplishment in inheriting the land as a sign of virtue.
But the question we might well ask is why does Moshe tell the people that the reason they are undeserving is because of their "stiff-neckedness". Surely that flaw pales in comparison to the flaws of a lack of faith in G-d, a lack of gratitude, a national cowardice, all flaws that Moshe seems to remind them of in the stories he recounts to prove to the People their essential unworthiness. Why does Moshe say it is the nation's stubbornness that makes them unworthy to the gift of the land on their own merit?

I believe the answer to our question has very much to do with the opening idea of the blog. Yes, for sure the Israelites made mistakes. They sinned time after time.
But it is not the individual sin, no matter how grave, that makes them unworthy in their own merit to inherit Israel. On the contrary, they likely did t'shuva and repented after each sin. Surely they did after the sin of the Golden Calf. Moshe brought down the Second Tablets with the Decalogue on them on Yom Kippur. And after the debacle with the Spies immediately the nation asks for forgiveness and to enter the land. No, its not the sin itself that made inheriting the land of Israel beyond their grasp. It was the fact that the nation refused to learn from its mistakes. They were stubborn. They repented but it did not prevent them from making the same essential mistakes time and time again. They refused to learn their lesson.

It is for this reason Moshe recounts the stories of the nations failures, one upon another. Not to show they are a sinful people but rather to show their stiff- neckedness. One failure did not serve to prevent another. They would not learn from experience. And if to succeed is to learn from our mistakes no failure can be greater than to resist that learning. To refuse to use ones failures to make correction and grow means to be condemned to repeat the failures. A nation doomed to repeat its sinful pattern of behavior is not one worthy of being master of the land of Israel.

The lesson the Torah is teaching us is critical to the quality of our lives. Most of us have the same resistance to learning from our failures that our stiff necked ancestors had. The question is why? We often feel guilty. We even repent with tears and regrets. Why then do we not learn from our mistakes and so often repeat them in one form or another again and again? Why do we resist the learning?

The answer is that to learn from our mistakes we have to do more than acknowledge our sin or self destructive behavior. We need to analyze it, investigate it, explore our motivations. To learn from our mistakes we need to understand why we made them in all their nuances. We need see what in us got hooked into this error and why. To do that work is painful. It means we have to sit in our failure and swim around in it. To do the work of learning our lesson from failures confessing regrets, no matter how sincere, is not enough. We need to learn from our mistakes about what tempts us and to what we are vulnerable. It would be so much easier if we could express our guilt and resolve to not err again and move on. That avoids the shame and embarrassment we feel in having to mull over our wrong and live for awhile mired in the muck.

Yet not unpacking the fullness of the story of our failures including why we made them serves to keep us stuck in a pattern where we are doomed to make ths same mistake or one similar to it again and again. Only a full self and circumstance evaluation affords the chance to learn the precise lesson we need to learn so we don't repeat the mistake and so we indeed can grow from our experience.

Stiff-neckedness is a trait that belongs to most of us in the face of mistakes whether they be in sinful behavior, in personal relationships, or in matters of money. Over and over we err in a similar fashion. Each time we pledge it will be better next time, but to no avail. We simply struggle to tolerate sitting with our failure so we can see the precise causes of it, discern what we need to learn, and how we need to grow.

To inherit the promised land meant for us as persons we need to learn the lesson taught our foreparents in the wilderness. We can make mistakes in life, indeed many mistakes, and still reach the promised land. Only our refusal to learn from our mistakes bars our entry. Only our refusal to explore our errors and discern the precise nature of our vulnerability limits our potential.

Shabbat Shalom

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Right Lesson

In the haftorah of the second week of the period known as 'Bain Ham'tzarim', Between the Afflictions, the mourning period between the fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz and the fast of Tisha B'av, we read from the early chapters of the prophet Yirmeyahu. There, in the name of G-d, the prophet rails against the wrong-doings of Israel, wrong-doings that threaten to bring about the destruction of Judea. Yirmeyahu does not spare the leadership of the Jewish people. On the contrary, he condemns the establishment in no uncertain terms. We read "The Kohanim do not say where is Hashem, and those who sustain the Torah do not know me, and the leaders rebel against me, and the prophets prophesy to the Baal and go after that which will be to no avail."

Priests, Torah sages, leaders, prophets, they all are found wanting, and in the worst terms. On this the Shabbat that falls on the eve of Tisha B'av, Shabbat Chazon, the words of the prophet feel haunting and true.

It has been a terribly difficult time for our people in the last few weeks and days, and in particular for the religious community. First we were shocked and deeply saddened by the murder of Leiby Kletzky and in a most gruesome manner. And the murderer was not an outsider, but one of our own, a Jew and indeed a religious Jew.
Then the end of last week Rav Elazar Abu'hatzaira, a tzaddik and mystic, spiritual mentor to so many, was stabbed to death. There too the perpetrator of the unconscionable act was a frum Jew.
And if that were not enough, this week the newspapers in Israel are reporting the story of a Breslover Hasid, who was married to 7 women and over the past 15 year is accused of the worst kind of abuse and sexual wrong-doing. If the crimes in each case were not awful enough, we are left with the newspaper images of those who committed them. All the would-be criminals wearing kipot, some in full hassidic garb.

The tragedies are fresh. The tears are still wet. We are still reeling from the events. Its too soon to draw the lessons we need to learn from these horrific episodes or to now know how we need to use them to make social improvements.
But if the true lesson is still elusive I know wrong lessons when I hear them. I am told soon after Leiby Kletzky's murder there were rabbanim in the States who already put out the blame and a collective call to teshuva. Problem is they went in the wrong direction. They said the murder of Leiby Kletzky is meant to show us the harmful consequences of the internet and of the media in general. They put forth the call to clean-up the negative influences that invade our home and family.

Problem with that approach is that the murderer of Leiby Kletzky was in no way influenced by the media. It was not a sexually based crime. And how would that lesson fit the other crimes experienced by the Jewish community.
Too often leaders take the easy way out and speak of t'shuva for sins unrelated to the horrors we have experienced. Some may call for us to stop speaking 'lashon hara' or to be more careful in Shabbat observance.I can see it coming even if not yet. Those kinds of lessons while wonderful in themselves have nothing to do with what we experienced. I think it is to leaders who take the wrong lesson and are afraid to see the hard challenges put before us by our painful conditions that Yirmeyahu, the Prophet is criticizing so sharply.

What do the murder of Leiby Kletzky, the murder of Rav Elazar Abu-hatzaira and the horrific acts of family abuse have in common?

The answer is that in each case the one who committed the terrible sins lived within the community and yet was disconnected from it. Think about it. I am in no way excusing the murderer of Leiby Kletzky, but he was clearly mentally ill, troubled, alone. He took Leiby to his house because he was so lonely, not because he was a child molester. If he had had friends and community I really doubt whether this could or would have happened. Likely he went to shule each Shabbat and yet no one knew him, no one knew his angst. The man who killed the great rav was troubled over an impending divorce. Who knew his heart? Who did he confide in? What friends did he have? From every indication he was alone and his upset and anger unknown. I am in no way excusing him. Yet as a community we need to ask did we provide the care that would make sharing burdens possible or did we each mind our own business. And the Breslover Hasid who abused 7 wives and many more children over 15 years, how can it be that no one knew the story of his domestic circumstances. Where were the friends? Where the community? for him? for his wives? for his children? Its unimagineable that such could go on and no one should know. And in truth, one way or another, that the abuse went unrecognized or unmentioned is a strong condemnation of our community.

We know from the Torah that if a corpse is found murdered in the fields and we do not know the murderer the closest community to where the murder happened must seek atonement. The Torah describes a whole ritual in which the elders of the nearby city need to confess and gain forgiveness for their lapse in allowing someone to be murdered in their midst. The question we need to ask ourselves is what do we have to seek atonement for in the aftermath of these tragedies. For what do we have to atone.
And when I say we I mean as much the rabbanim as the ordinary Jew, as much the Rosh Yeshiva as the am ha'aretz. Saying we need to teshuva for some unrelated sin is taking the easy way out.

I think the answer here is clear and compelling. In the wake of all the horrors we have witnessed we need to claim some culpability. The ones who committed the crimes lived amongst us yet we never reached out to them in such a way that they might have felt cared for and the crimes might have been avoided. Or in the case of the abused women we never took enough interest to learn what was going on in this awful domestic environment and over fifteen years. We don't need abstract lessons here. The challenge for us as community and individuals lays right before our eyes.

Tradition tells us that the Second Temple was destroyed because of social sins. We did not care sufficiently for one another. One would have to be blind not see the striking parallel to the conditions we live in today as evidenced in the debacle of the incidents we discussed. Sad as each story is in itself still more each story reflects the weakness of our communities and our failure to provide real care for the marginalized. We need to be less concerned with excluding the suspected unsafe and more concerned with including the ones left adrift. Our tendency to seek homogenaity in our environment in order to feel safe has the exact opposite result.
By failing to extend ourselves to those who are different and alone for whatever reason we not only harm them. We compromise the very safety we yearn for.

So as we come to Tisha B'av now nineteen hundred and forty one years after the destruction of the Temple and the onset of the exile what lesson should we take?
May I humbly suggest that we use the tragedies we are currently experiencing to motivate us to extend ourselves to the compromised and alone. I mean each of us looking around us to notice at least one person who seems isolated, without friends, different, alienated. And that we make it our business to talk to him/her, befriend him/her, ask about his/her circumstances, make his/her life and needs whether they be emotional or physical matter to us. What greater response could there be to both our historic loss and the current tragedies. Real caring makes all the difference in the world.

May this year be the one in which we the find comfort that is our destiny. May there be no more strangers in our midst!

Shabbat Shalom


text:
Monday, 3 April 2017

Without the Price Tag

This article features clothing from Shein, an affordable Chinese wholesaler which sells trendy pieces at a lower price point. As you know trends come in and out so splurging on a high-end clothing piece can really break your bank account and not be worth it. I have composed collages of items which you can purchase from Shein to get a sophisticated Office Look, Blogger Off-Duty and an Autumn Look.

Office Look
I made this collage for those who work in offices and want to have an edge in their style. Office attire can be boring but to amp it small details in each piece worn can bring attention such as the eyelet detail in the dress pants and the asymmetrical dress shirt. The links to the items are listed below the collage.
Asymmetric Dress Shirt -
Eyelet Detail Dress pants -
Cut Out flats with heel detail -
Black Tote -
Circle Hoop Earrings -

Blogger Off Duty
This outfit is to achieve that blogger off-duty look where you can still look fashionable and comfy to run everyday errands or to grab coffee with a friend. I had to include a pair of slides in this look as it is something I opt for to be comfy and fashionable and to bring a backpack where I can fit my laptop in as if I was rocking this look, I'd be out at the library studying. You can find the links to the items below.

Embroidered Tee -
Side Button pants -
Bow Slides -
Black Duster Coat -
Grey Circle Detail Backpack -

Autumn Look
As we are currently in the beginning of Autumn, dressing for this weather can be a bit tough. One day it could be sunny and the next, raining well the weather down here in Adelaide is. Carrying around a lite weight coat or jacket can help to prepare for the unknown just in case it gets cold or starts to rain. I paired this look with a knit skirt as we associate knitwear with the colder months as after autumn it will be too cold to rock a skirt.
Black Flared Sleeve Top -
Khaki Knit Lace up Skirt -
Khaki Trench Coat -
Black Vintage Box Bag -
Black Pointed Boots with Heel Detail -

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Center map

The Vein Center of Maryland – Westminster

Our Westminster office features state-of-the-art technology including the Cutera Laser. We are central to Westminster, New Windsor, Finksburg, Hamstead, Manchester, Taneytown, and Union Bridge. We also serve much of the Frederick area out of this office. Our Westminster location is conveniently located a short distance off 97, close to The Carroll County Farm Museum and 140. Westminster is the main office to The Vein Center of Maryland.

No one should have to live with painful or unsightly spider and varicose veins. Call us to schedule your free evaluation today! For your convenience, we also offer laser hair removal and age spot treatment, with a free first treatment.

Your first step is to schedule a FREE consultation visit with our experienced physicians today!


text:
Monday, February 02, 2015

Good morning my lovelies..... this morning we're talking about Charity and helping people out......

Our focus today is THE DUSTBIN ESTATE. As the name denotes, THE DUSTBIN ESTATE is a community in Ajegunle, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area, Lagos where the inhabitants build their houses with planks on these dumps. They have only 3 toilets in the entire community and they're not the normal toilets we have in our homes o, that zinc cubicle is a toilet.

Now, my major cause of worry, is the fact that kids actually live and grow up here..... Sometime last year, OAP Tolu Oniru @Toolzo visited this place and shared some very tears provoking pictures.

After which the HOPE 4 LYFE FOUNDATION @hope4lyfefound, have taken it upon themselves to find a way to help these people who live there, most especially the kids by visiting often and donating stuffs they might need.
So come 7th February, 2015, the HOPE 4 LYFE FOUNDATION will be making THE DUSTBIN ESTATE MOVEMENT to the dustbin estate, and would like y'all to be a part of it. So if you're interested, whether to be there or to send donations, contact for details.
If you will be present, please come along with anything you think these people might be needing; food items, clothes, books, writing materials, water, anything at all. Then go to all social media networks and use any of these pictures, write whatever you feel is necessary with the hashtags #Hope4Lyfe #DustbinEstateMovement and tag @hope4lyfefoundation on Instagram and @hope4lyfefound on twitter.
God bless you as you give to these people.

  1. Poverty rate in this country is high.i feel terrible when young girls and guys come begging for me,I hate it when I see them hawk on the street of Lagos,I hate it when I hear ma I have not eaten there is no food at home.this is really sad.Our Government, owners of conglomerate, and some well to do Nigerian should assist. It's not until you show to the world,there are some neighbours in your hood who need your help.Start from there

  2. Heard about this a couple of times. Good move (Y)

  3. MY! Esther koko, the pictures above are troubling.. I cant believe this is Lagos!! I cant believe people leave like this on a daily basis, not cause they choose to, but cause they have no better option.. It breaks my heart Bubba, it really does... :(

I appreciate all your lovely comments....... Don't leave without dropping a word

You May Also Like

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...


text:
Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

As you know, fine readers, yesterday I said that I would be consolidating my collection of toy soldiers by, well, selling a lot of them off.

I intend to (re)focus my collection largely on skirmish games, as they a) usually require less figures, and b) are more fun, I find. So with that in mind, I sat and thought about what I will be disposing of, and what I'll be keeping.

I will be selling off most of my bizzare and eclectic collection of Warhammer stuff, with the exception of my Undead (and associated army books), and figures that I have an attachment to - like my Dwarfs, for example, or my Oxenford Bretonnians. I can justify this with reference to Mordheim (hurrah) and Song of Blades and Heroes.

Equally, whilst I will be parting with my Pirate crew, I will be retaining my armed SF/near-future civilian mob for use in Gangs of Mega-City 1 (most likely as Total War terrorists and the like). The gist of it all is this:

Out go the armies and forces that I haven't used in years, if ever, and in come (or stay) the skirmish warbands, gangs, and platoons that I have and will use in the future. I have, of course, one eye on my son - it is an inevitability that I will end up playing wargames with him relatively soon, and  I want to have something in every scale that I can pick up and run with - and another on my father, with whom a wargame is seriously overdue and to whom my VBCW stuff is going.

I am actually quite excited, and am raring to dive into my shed and my parent's loft to "rationalise and downsize my assets" - keep an eye on here, the Lead Adventure Forum, the Forum of Doom, the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour, Warseer, and - of course - ATP Painting Studio for sales in the near future.

To the bright new dawn and the end of Rabid Butterfly Syndrome!

Oh, and to maintain the picture-per-update ratio, have some Dark Eldar:

Photobucket PS: I forgot about the Gran Chaco War - if I can ever get hold of 'Green Hell' I will take the plunge and do it in 15mm. Mainly to annoy my friend who lives in Bolivia by reminding him of Paraguay's great victory!

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Good Grief, Charlie Brown, an update!

Good lord the interface on this webular doohickey has changed.

Anyway that's besides the point! I have been concentrating (rightly so) on my business, ATP Painting Studio, of late, which is why I have not updated in almost two months. The reason I'm updating tonight is twofold:

1) I intend to return to daily updates as of tonight.

2) I am coming down VERY HARD on my excess of enthusiasm for multiple projects, with the intention of selling off a large part of my model soldier collection via ATP Painting Studio's shop. So,to that end, here is a list of projects that I will be continuing with:

Epic 40,000

AK-47 Republic (1st Edition)

Cold War Gone Hot/Ultra-Modern Imagi-Nations

Seven Years War Imagi-Nations

Judge Dredd: Gangs of Mega-City 1
Warhammer 40,000
Mordheim/Song Of Blades and Heroes
Inquisitor/Dark Heresy

And that's it. So I will be getting rid of: Pirates, VBCW, Chinese Warlord, Vietnam War, Ancients (yes I have some!), all my SF stuff that isn't compatible with either my GoMC1 stuff or my 40K stuff. All of this - except possibly the VBCW stuff - will be sold off via my business at ATP Painting Studio. To keep you entertained, I attach some pictures of my Dark Eldar that I have resurrected: Photobucket Photobucket

And there will be more tomorrow! If you want to see what I've been up to between September and now, check out ATP Painting Studio.


text:
Title: Gameboard of the Gods

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Publication Date: June 2013

Genre: Adult Fiction/Sci-Fi

Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book One

Synopsis can be found here.
NetGalley review.

Mae, a member of the most elite military team there is, is assigned to guard Dr. Justin March, a once exiled professional when he is welcomed home to solve a series of unexplained murders. Set in this futuristic society, where everyone stays within their caste system, and secrets are hiding everywhere, can Justin and Mae find the killer before they strike again? Without killing each other first?

I am a huge Richelle Mead fan so I was literally, jumping up and down, up and down, up and down, when I was approved to read this ARC. I mean, I love Vampire Academy. I love Succubus series. I thought it was a sure bet.

Sadly, I was mistaken.

Wait, wait. Let me explain why before you start throwing tomatoes at me!

The world building is interesting. There’s a lot going on and while this new society’s rules and flaws are intriguing, it’s not enough to make up for, what I feel, is the big piece missing in this book.

Any book I read, I want to at least have some sympathy for the main character. But Mae isn’t the woman for me. She’s too cold, almost totally unfeeling. As the book goes on, and her story is revealed, it is understanding why she is the way she is. But I still can’t get past the sad fact that I don’t like her. She’s almost, I’m sorry to say, uninteresting. She’s flawless, beautiful, a killing machine, and emotionally detached and withdrawn. Even during her emotional outbursts, I failed to feel the real human behind them.

Justin March is no better. He has the most personality of anyone in the book, yet he’s over the top. His vices and self indulgence is too much for him to be sympathetic. I’m not saying every hero has to be shy or humble or even likeable, but there has to be something in him that attracts the main character (and reader) and why you root for them. There’s a small moment in the beginning of the book when all of this is possible. You can see them together. You can see how they would be attracted to each other.
And just as quickly, it’s gone. Through misunderstanding and stubbornness, their attraction is flung away for almost the entire rest of the book.
And frankly, by the end, I didn’t care if they got together or not. I just couldn’t feel the chemistry.

Tessa, the young teenager that Justin brings into this new country as his protegee, has such a minor story that I wasn’t sure why she was around at all. I’m sure Mead has plans for her in the upcoming series but in this one, she reminded me of a someone’s little sister who lurks in the background, just enough to be annoying.

I won’t lie. I was not impressed with this story. Maybe this world or these characters just weren’t for me. The secondary characters fell flat and I wasn’t invested in the mystery or plot.

I will probably pick up book two because I am such a fan of Richelle, and because I know sometimes it takes a while for a series to find it’s stride.
So I hope future books in this series will make up for this one.

Rating 4 Not My Cup of Tea

You can win a SIGNED copy of Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead.
Please fill out the rafflecopter below

a Rafflecopter giveaway