Perfectly Insane: 200601

MK Olsen's Ring

Can anyone tell me where MK got this ring? I love it!!

The History of Saint Valentine's Day

In case anyone was wondering...

In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour the Queen Juno, Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young Roman boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was the drawing of names. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feast. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

In Memory: Coretta Scott King 1927-2006

A triumphant woman that lost her husband after only 15 years of marriage but continued their work for another 38 years. Mrs. King was truly as amazing as her husband, originally studying music and education and concert singing at Boston Conservatory on to studying the techniques of non-violence of the Mahatma Ghandi, standing by her husband through their home being bombed and a few years after Dr. King's assasination, raising their four children and still standing strong shoulder to shoulder with other leaders enduring every battle of every inch of the civil rights movement.

Namaste Mrs. King, Namaste !!

Cupid's Arrow is Closing In Fast

Only two more weeks until Valentine's Day. This year I am actually looking forward to February 14th. Jay is such a good boyfriend. He deserves so much. You see, I worry about everything... excessively. I wouldn't say I'm neurotic, I just worry. And Jay has this way of helping me to, not necessarily forget about it but more like, think about other things. He loves me and I feel it and see how much he loves me in all the little things he says and does. And just as important he loves the boys and O my god how they love him.
Things are good.
Life is good.

I'm not one for blonde jokes...

but check it out if you wanna read the best blonde joke ever. It had me rolling!!

"Music is the shorthand of Emotion" ~Leo Tolstoy

From www.ltolstoy.com Leo Tolstoy is one of Russia's greatest authors. This site provides a biography, pictures, geneology, reading tips, and various other resources in hopes that more of us will discover Leo Tolstoy.

100 year old Tortoise, mother to a Hippo?

This, my friends, might actually be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

*Well not cuter than my boys but you get the idea.

**Friggin Cute!

Fate or Neurosis?

Have you ever lost something knowing exactly where it was when it disappeared? Then gone back to that spot every five seconds in your mind like that thing will show up if you keep going back.

In a parking lot or a pocket?
Maybe you didn't check that one small centimeter... yes, that's where it might be.

It's gone. There's no miracle for it to reappear.
If you return to that spot three thousand times it will not be found.

Nobody stole it, maybe it blew away, maybe it just fell into the cracks of the walkway, maybe a bird picked it up.

Is it fate that something is lost?
Like it wasn't yours to begin with?

Is it fate when people are lost?
Like they didn't actually belong to life?

I keep reminding myself....

"Promises mean everything when you're little
And the world's so big."
-Everlast

I found this quote on a weblog I was newly introduced, Lonely Road and Psycho Paths", delve into it, she's got some interesting works.

Sticks and Stones boys, Sticks and Stones

Apparently yesterday's airing of "Fox News Sunday" was not unlike any other: Arizona Republican Senator John McCain bashed South America by saying it's a country run by "wackos" and that we should be independently distributing our own energy sources. I agree with the independence part, and there might be a chance that it is run by wackos afterall you can't be fully sane to get into politics, but until we are fully capable of not relying on other countries for oil I don't think that we should be upsetting things especially not our second major oil distributor. Unless we're going to strong arm them into giving us oil too.

Besides Venezuala's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel actually brought up a good point today when he derided Johnny's comment by saying "It looks like they have nothing else to do in the United States, so many problems, 40 million poor people, 30 million drug users, and an American senator is paying attention to us. He can go to hell."

Don't worry Rangel the US is already going to hell.

Little Riders

J-baby put the training wheels back on Tre's bike that he got for his birthday last year. So he's been riding 3 or 4 times a week ~ mostly depending on what time we get home ~ if it's not dark yet I'll park my car across the street and he can ride up and down the driveway.

Santa brought Nathaniel a Spiderman Bicycle for Christmas. His first Big Boy Bicycle!! He wasn't pedaling so well, he kept hitting the brakes.

Lastnight, it was really early when we got home so I decided to take them around the block. I was going to make Nate take his tricycle so that I wouldn't have to pull or push him the whole way around the block but he insisted taking the SpiderBike. So I drug him around the corner while he tried to pedal, every fifth rotation he'd hit the brake **skrrrt** and I'd have to push his little feet forward but finally, with Tre leading by about thirty feet, he got it!! He can actually pedal without braking accidentally and if he does he can get his bike going again all by himself.

I'm so proud of them, my little bike riders!!

I'll post pics of them on their bikes tonight.

COACHELLA

If anyone was a teenager in the 90's, at any point in the 90's, I can't emphasize enough that you need to go see this film!! It's a recap film of the 2005 Coachella Festival in California. It's only showing one time! Go see it. Tuesday, January 27th :: 7:30 pm :: 10 bucks, I don't care what your doing, drop it. Go see this movie ~ you will not regret it! Go to this theatre listing to find out where you can view it. And I happen to know that the theatres here are almost already sold out so go ahead and purchase your tickets on Fandango.

I can't make it much easier people, seriously!

It's only one day, only 8 hours. I will overcome!

Duval County Public Schools are closed today and Monday. I don't understand this.

Monday, of course for MLK,Jr's birthday. But today?? Teacher planning day! UGH!!

Here we are two weeks into the new year (which they just had a two week vacation) and now the little rats get a four day weekend! What a life! I should be a teacher! Except the money is crap.... but the vacation days would certainly make up for the compensation! I could live on 30 to 40k anual salary with 4 months off a year.

The point was Tre is in my office with me today and already driving me up the wall!! I brought crayons, legos, writing tablet, Narnia, we even stopped at the Bagel store this morning and got him a muffin.

Today I am asking the Higher Powers that be Please Please help me get through this day being Baker Acted! Please!

Where do pizza's come from??

Well, this was the question that my two gorgeous little art critics were pondering last night while sitting in Joseph's, a small, friendly, family owned pizza joint that we visit weekly.

See, there's a painting that a local artist did sort of poking fun at Dali's Persistence of Memory , shown above. Instead of timepieces the pizzaria work has Pizza's. One of the pizzas is hanging from the tree just as the timepiece.

Tre says "mmm. a pizza tree"
to which I replied "do pizzas grow on trees"
he answered "Nope"
So I presented a question "Where do Pizza's come from?"
& Nathaniel chimed in with "A Box!!"

Seems as though the Mobley family enjoys pizza delivery a little too often!

2006 = Simplicity & Balance

This picture is from RockHawk.com

I Pray to the Higher Powers that 2006 be the year for simplicity. I want less things to worry about. Scratch that. I want to worry less.

I've finally realized that I've made my own hardships in the past two years. I've taken advantage of the wrong situations and made them worse.

This is the year for change.

I will become a better person this year. A better friend. A better home owner, business owner, bill payer. I will become a better citizen.

But most importantly to me this year I will be a better mom.

A mother's life should not complicated, it should be Simple and Balanced. Sure, mothers always have alot on their plate. They've to be balanced.
This is what I'm lacking ~ Balance.

I promise myself I will make changes. I promise my children I will make changes. We will all have a simpler, more balanced life this year.

Collage of Friends!

Nolan&Beason

Rest In Peace Lou Rawls

Rawls died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was hospitalized last month for treatment of lung and brain cancer, said his publicist, Paul Shefrin. His wife, Niña, was at his bedside when he died.
One">Rawls' family and Shefrin said the singer was 72, although other records indicate he was 70.
Rawls' deep, smooth voice was his trademark, and he used it in a variety of genres.
"I've gone the full spectrum, from gospel to blues to jazz to soul to pop," Rawls once said on his Web site. "And the public has accepted what I've done through it all."
A longtime community activist, Rawls played a major role in United Negro College Fund telethons in the 1980s that raised more than $200 million. In the '60s he often visited schools, playgrounds and community centers.
Rawls' introduction to music came in his hometown of Chicago from his grandmother, who loved gospel. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s to join a touring gospel group, the Pilgrim Travelers.
After a two-year stint in the Army, Rawls rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers in Los Angeles, where he sang with his childhood friend Sam Cooke. Rawls performed with Dick Clark at the Hollywood Bowl in 1959, and he later he opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
Rawls was playing small blues and R&B clubs in Los Angeles when his four-octave range caught the ear of a Capitol Records producer, who signed him to the label in 1962.
His debut effort, "Stormy Monday," recorded with the Les McCann Trio, was the first of his 52 albums. In 1966, his "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" topped the charts and earned Rawls his first two Grammy nominations.
He won three Grammys in a career that spanned nearly five decades and included the hits "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)," "Natural Man" and "Lady Love." He released his most recent album, "Seasons 4 U," in 1998 on his own label, Rawls & Brokaw Records.
But his trademark will always be "You'll Never Find," released in 1976 and written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, architects of the classic "Philadelphia Sound."
Rawls also appeared in 18 movies, including "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Blues Brothers 2000," and 16 television series, including "Fantasy Island" and "The Fall Guy."
In 1976, Rawls became the corporate spokesman for the Anheuser-Busch Cos. breweries.
Rawls was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2004 and brain cancer in May 2005.
Besides his wife, Rawls is survived by four children: Louanna Rawls, Lou Rawls Jr., Kendra Smith and Aiden Rawls.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete, Shefrin said

From the San Diego Union Tribune

Happy Anniversary J~Baby!!

Today is our 8 month anniversary! Amazing how time flies when you're having the time of your life and sharing it with someone wonderful! Here are some kisses just for my Man. Love you J~Baby! Mwah!

Suwannee River New Years 2006

J~Baby & I could not for the life of us figure what to do to ring in the 2006 NewYear as our first new year celebration together. As it came down to the wire J~Baby's friends, Angie & Lue, said they were going camping. And we both thought no better way to remember a NewYear than to getting back to nature.

Hence forth, the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park New Years Celebration with Melissa's own Fireworks Spectacular!! It was great, No limo rental, No expensive little black dress (which I've already 5 or 6 of), No bars, No lines for a drink, No drunk idiots, etc!

I love Campfires!

crazy campfire embers

J~Baby gettin GREAZY by the fire

Lue & J~Baby

This is a pic of our camp taken from my kayak in the river... That's Angie & Lue on the bank. O and J~baby wanted me to make a big deal of how you can't even See our tent because it's camouflaged! Ok? there.