Give Me an Understanding....

Of the things that has happened these past few days.  I am growing tired of this.   I want to understand how a person, or should say people can just take a life, a live that most of us hold near and dear, but I cannot.   The reason why I can't is because of my beliefs.  I read an article of a 16 year old girl on BlogHer two days ago asking the senate why they won't allow background checks for guns control.  In the letter she sent, she speaks about being ashamed to be called American, because the Senate, in her eyes failed to protect her as she goes off to school each day.   I do not blame her, I am still trying to figure that one out myself.   In my head, I am thinking that the senate is controlled by the NRA (National Riffle Association), and I am going to leave it at that.  These are just my opinions.
Some people are wondering where was God in all of this mess, and why doesn't He stop it?   If you look deep inside, He was there, you just have to know where to look.  Do not look for a physical being to just show up and take charge over the situation. Look for Him through others.  If God had not showed up at the finish line, how many people would have truly helped others?  When I looked at the footage of the finish line on television, I saw acts of compassion, not just acts of hate.   The end result was that only two people did the damage, as well as 3 people were killed, and you have to remember that in the 1990's, one man, Timothy McVay did one senseless act that brought down a federal building in Oklahoma, and killed many.  You may ask, What about 9/11?   To me, that was a horse of a different color, and I personally do not know how to explain that, except through the act of compassion in the end, allowed people to help others during that tragic time in American history.
I am not one who likes to talk much about things that are going on in our society, I am more of an observer.  I have my opinions and as I grow to become a better Christian, I have learned not to have the reactions I had when I was younger.  I guess because I know who has my future.  Does that mean I do not have problems?  No, it just simply means that I do not have a knee jerk reaction to a situation and I am learning to control my temper.  That does not mean I do not have meltdown days.  I cried Monday.   I want a world we can all just get along, obey God,  and a world where my niece, nephews, and future child can grow in harmony, but I also know that is not going to happen, as long as we have hatred in this world.
So, I am back to my original topic and title, give me an understanding and my understanding is this....As long as we know the rules of the land, serve and obey God, respect all mankind with their views and beliefs, this can be a pretty good country to live in after all.  My life is pretty good, and I hope you feel the same way about yours.  I feel sad and pray for others who do not have this belief about life, and I think we have forgotten the 10 commandments.  This also has to do with the last ones, Thou shall not murder; Thou shall not steal; and thou shall not commit adultery (paraphrasing Exodus 20: 1-17)
Anyway, have a blessed weekend, and be safe in everything you do.

I felt like a mom, and it felt good.

I have often blog about being without a child.  Well yesterday, I felt like a mom, let me explain....

It was only a couple of hours, I know, I will get the nay-sayers, but unless you walk a mile in a mother's shoes, you do not know even a fraction of what they go through with children.   I will tell you, it will be worth  every red cent I will have shell out to adopt a child.   I will call this one, "two hours with the niece and nephew."  Now before I go into today's little problem, I do want to let you know that I have kept these two before, but on separate occasions and separate from each other.  Some during the day, some in the evening, and sometimes overnight.   I have kept them as babies, so you cannot tell me that I have not kept them before.   What makes yesterday so special from the other times that I have kept them?   I am sure you have seen siblings fight before.  This one is for the ages for me.
So my sister wanted me to take her to get her temps, and she laid out the plan.   This was an unexpected trip for me, because I expected to work on business things.   No problem.   So I go to pick them up.  My sister brings the car seats out, and following her were the little ones, Mr. "I had to cut my hair in the middle of the night so my mommy can give me a buzz cut", and Miss "I do not want my mommy to comb my hair so I can look like Don King's child."  The niece was pouting for that reason and sucking her thumb (She's 4).   Ok, the four of us start riding and get to the BMV.  My sister goes in, and that is when it starts.  the nephew says that he is 6, and since I know when his birthday is (May 25th), I told him that he has another month to go.   He blurts out, "I hate you", which he has never said to me before.  So I told him that hate is such a strong word for a little boy.  I knew that he meant, which was "I did not like what you said to me auntie." Then he turns into Mr. "I'm hungry", and starts crying, only to suck it up two minutes later.   Niece, on the other hand, likes to pick at everything in the car, and then decides to pick on older brother.  Before I could say something to stop her from doing this, nephew tells his sister, "stop it, I hate you".  She says, "I do not like you either."  Now I know where this is going to , because as a child, I said it to my siblings, and I even threaten them before.  I have gotten in trouble more than once, because I was the oldest, and the oldest child  never gets away with murder.  
So here I am, the adult in this situation, and I issue out the "do not talk to each other or else" speech.  I threaten to have the child who speaks to the other one stand outside if they do not leave the other child alone.  besides that, they were supposed to be watching a video the whole time.   Just then, my sister calls and tells me to meet her in front of the building, so I drove over, and she hands me money for me to get some food.   Yay!   So I decide that I was going to Mickey D's (McDonald's nickname) and when we get there, I asked the two of them what do they want in a kid's meal.   Let's see.... niece still eats like a preschooler and she wanted the cheeseburger happy meal with no onions, nephew wanted the hamburger with everything on it (standard Mickey D's burger), both got High C orange drinks, and nephew wanted the standards teen's meal of extra chicken nuggets, which I did not order.  He got mad and issued the "I hate you" lingo.  He got over it.    I ate a fish sandwich (which is the only thing I eat there now (I have not gotten over the pink fluff in the hamburger report of 2011) ), and an iced mocha.   I drove back to the BMV to wait on my sister.
She emerged 20 minutes later, having failed the test, which she is going back on the bus to take today.
I can see myself being a mom everyday.  I want to be that nurturing person, who can get the job done, and my kids happy, fed, and for the most part, satisfied.   I also have been dealing with the oldest nephew by driving him around, and issuing the "you are not drive to such and such place with me sitting next to you, just because you have no temps" speech. (he's 17)  Believe me, I do not want to be put under the jail for any thing involving him and my car.
So, I do not envy mothers (and fathers) one bit.  In the meantime, if you have been keeping score, I have one more nephew I did not mention.   He is 2, cute as a button , and is still scared of the garage door opener.   Will he ever get over that?
Have a blessed day and comment below if you have sibling, driving, or garage door issues with your children and how to handle it.   It could be any issue.   Talk to you later.

Mommy Bloggers Unite (and I am glad I can join in the fun)

I love mom blogs.  I especially love the ones that give advice to everyone.  Oh do not get me wrong, this is not a rant post like the last one.  I do apologize for my wording on that post.  More on that apology on another day.

Really, you can learn a lot from mom blogs, especially if you are a woman.  I get great recipes, organizational tips, financial advice, and how to decorate your house, while having a baby on your hip and one in school.  One of the best advises I have gotten from mommy bloggers is how to take care of yourself.   The reason why I am saying this, is because as a single person with no one living with me, I tend to forget about time, because I do not have that 2-year old that needs to be changed, a husband who needs me to do something with him, or that I need to attend a parent-teacher conference while in the middle of a product review deadline.   Other than reminders that I am hungry or that I have to go to bed to prepare for the next day, my time management is shot.  No folks, I don’t have a pet to keep me warm and fuzzy inside. 

I do belong to many mom groups, because they have accepted the fact that I do not have a child living with me 27/7/365 days out of the year.  I have what they want, and I read intently and respond as best that I can.  That does not mean I do not want to be one.  At 48, that is still a goal I want to achieve before I die.  No really, I have a thinking “bucket list” in my head of things I want to accomplish before I die, and being a mother is one of them.   I have several posts on this blog on why I still want to and what was the cause of being childless in the first place, so I will not rehash it on this post.  What I do have is a niece who I love to do girly things with (since I want a girl), and three nephews in various ages that I can practice on.  Being an aunt is both a joy and a curse for me, because they do go home at the end of the day, and it is just me.

On my Simply Organized Crafts blog, I do offer my wisdom on how to do many of the things that some of these mom blogs (not all are focused on the household) do offer their readers.  The difference is there aren't too many articles on family.  I am currently not dating either, which is a choice I did not make either.  I just do not go too many places that I have opportunity to meet a man, and I do not like dating sites.  Again, this is another personal goal of mine. 

While I do enjoy reading this type of blog, sometimes I do wish that there was an article or two that focuses on the woman herself, and not on trying to find time after the 4-year takes a nap, or how to find time for your mate.  The other day, I realized that these women write about what they know.  What they know is to be part of a family, the challenges of finding that time of being mommy, wifey (as my sister says), or a partner to another person, as well as being an individual.   So while I might have women who envy me because I am still single, and they would love to recapture that singlehood they lost when they were married or had a baby at age 18, let us all strive just to be happy within ourselves.   No one said that being single is a bed of roses, nor being married with children is happiness on a silver platter.  We all need to find balance, and in the meantime, I want to say thank you to those women who own these blogs or have online groups that allow single, childless women play on the same playground with married with children women.   As an aunt, I am getting the best advice of them all…. How to handle a brother/sister tag team who ask for everything in sight and an older brother/much younger brother bonded in love.  Now, how do you handle a 2 ½ year old who is afraid of the automatic garage door opener? 

America should be the home of all...

Ok, strange title I know that, and I may get some comments after you finish reading what I have to say on the subject.   There should no reason why any American should be starving, have lack of healthcare, lack of a job, and lack of a home.  I should repeat it, but I will not.  If you want it repeated, re-read the last line.
I am an American, and I feel blessed to be one.  I could be in some third-world, dodging bullets, waiting for some westerner, like an American, British, or French person to rescue me, and trying to find food.   Instead I live in a house, drive a car, and I can go pretty much where I want to go in this country, but there are those in this country who feel like they are being treated like a third-class citizen.
This post is not about anyone's right to do something, nor it is about the government and the current president, who I support, but that does not mean that I agree with everything that he or his cabinet does.  I will save that post for another day.  I will not turn this blog into a political arena.
What I will say is this:  If your situation is on the downside, why are you there?  There are so many ways that a person can get out of a situation, but maybe you were never shown how to get to what you want.  I do not know you or your situation.  I am not going to ask you that question.   What I am going to do as as you a futuristic question, what are you doing to get yourself out of the situation?   Do you have any ideas on how you are going to make it?  
For instance, I was working at customer call centers for a number of years, but I kept getting fired from these positions.  So instead of staying in that industry (not that I did not like the positions), I concentrated on getting a degree in Marketing, and graduated in 2003 with a bachelor's degree on the subject.  I decided to put it to somewhat good use by becoming an independent consultant with Longaberger and finally decided to use my passion and love for creating scrapbooks and cards in 2010.  does that mean that I do not have struggles?  I still do, and I temporary do get help, but I do not plan on staying that way.  I hope that this is the year that I do get to make more than just a an order or two, or someone hiring me to type something for them every once in a while.   I also have a business coach who is teaching me to draw money from my blogs and to do other things.
This is what I am talking about.  Find something that makes you happy and to bring you income.   it does not matter if you think that the government cares or does not care, the point here is do something that allows you not to depend on them every. single. month.   If creating a business is not your thing, do something temporary until you can have income enough to open up a bank or credit union account.  Take pride in yourself.   This is directed towards my race, African Americans, especially people my age and younger:  It is not a white thing to be educated, intelligent, and have pride in yourself to do good.   To have a sense of not being told how to spend your money and where to spend it, to get things the legal way, to respect something you believe in, and not taking something that was not yours to take in the first place, including a life is a beautiful thing.
So that's it.   I know it is hard, and life has never been easy for me or anyone else.  Heck, even the wealthy have their problems.  Life is not all about material things anyway.  We as humans just make it that way.  It is how you can make it in this world, to help others, and to do what is right by God and mankind.   To that end, I will talk to you later, so be blessed today and always.

Family and Backbone

It has been a long two weeks since I have posted anything on this blog.  I did not mean it.  I do not have a topic at this moment, and I will have one by the time I finish this post.  I keep coming up with excuses.  For the last couple of weeks, I have been dealing with family drama, family needing rides, family not listening to other members, and so forth, yet I am the only one living in my home.
How is it that the single, childless one get stuck with all of this, and I have two able parents, both in their mid-70's, who can help them, if they let them?  I have so much on my plate, but yet every time I get ready to put pen to paper (Yikes, I meant to say...open up Blogger or MS Word to type), I get a phone call from my sister to pick her and her kids up, so she can look at a house (She has no car), yet she cannot keep $2 in her pocket, so she can ride the bus that stops in front of her door.  I would love to have that extra mode of transportation, in case something happens to my car.  I do not live near a bus stop.  The taxi is my extra mode of transportation, and they start off at $2.75 the moment you plop your bottom on the seat.   If I want to go to the North Market (my favorite place), it would cost me $21.90 to ride, and $21.90 to come back, making my total trip $43.80 (which how much it costs to fill up my gas tank Saturday).  I am sure that mom would give me a ride, but I do not want stop her from doing what she needs to do.
The oldest nephew, who wants me to pick him up from school or from a friend's house.  At 17, he still does not have his learners permit, and he has been staying at his friend's house more than he stays at home.  He lives with his grandparents (My parents), and they have legal guardianship over him.  Today, it was the "Can you pick me up from my friend's house, so you can take me to my mom's house, to get the money she wanted to give me, and then take my back to my friend's house."  "I understand you are working, but you really do not need the money."  That was his reasoning with me.  My mom want to pick him up so he can go to the store to buy something he needed, and she just wanted to make sure he bought them.
I have a planned work schedule for the most part, and when things come up, then Saturday is a day of make-up.  When that does not happen, it has to be real crucial when I work after coming home from church on Sunday.   I try my hardest not to do that, because it the Sabbath Day, and if the Lord rested on that day, so should I, and we have family day on that day too.  I eat dinner over there, and we all try to do something together.
I do things for my family because I love them, I am blessed to have them, but I refuse to be taken advantage of.  This is the only family I have who lives in the same city as I do.   While I do not mind doing things for my sister (who is actually my foster sister), she takes advantage by calling me to do something for her, then she has me take her to several places, or has me pick up someone.  Saturday, she called me to see how I was doing, and then dropped a bombshell on me, by asking me to pick up my other foster sister (Her bio sister), who had just given birth to a baby boy.  Towards the end of the conversation, she corrected herself and added that her brother in law (the baby's father,who I barely know) will be coming along, and oh...yeah, I need to go by their grandmother's house to pick up my niece, who had been staying with her.  On top of that, neither kid (newborn nephew and the niece) will have a car seat, which both are at my sister's house.   God must have intervened, said no, and gave me backbone, because yesterday, after I came home from a wonderful service, I called my sister back to tell the other one, that I have things to do today.   30 mins ago, I told my nephew that his grandmother WILL be picking him up instead of me, IF he wanted to get that money from his mom.  he called me back and said, OK.  So now I am working like I should, and I do not feel guilty for saying NO.
Now I need backbone to get these ingrates to help me with moving furniture.   Lord help us all.

Advertising on my blogs

Disclaimer:  This is not an inspirational post by any means.

Up to now, the only thing I have in terms of advertising on my blogs are any affiliates that I endorse or that are run by Adsense.  So far, no good.  No one is hardly clicking, and I am stuck on $34, which is a total of 5 blogs, Hubpages, and YouTube.  After all, a girl has got to eat around here.  I can sit here and beg, beg, beg, but that could and will turn some people off.  So, I am going to start having advertisements on my page from people.  I have not set up the pages yet, and it is going through PassionFruit.  I will let people know on each blog (and soon to come website (Over a year in the making ) who I am looking for in an advertiser.  If you are a business person, start thinking about if this is a good fit for you...

Below are my Blogs:

My Ambiance Life:   You are presently here.   I am looking for people who freelance anything:  Writers, Artists, speakers mostly.  State who you looking to work with and what you do (article writing, blogs, jewelry maker, scrapbooker, etc)

Simply Organized Crafts:  Even though I have not written anything in over a month on this blog, I do writing in it more than you know.   This blog is mainly on tips that deal with the house.   I have the blog, and I am working on the website to which the blog with be attached to.  I have not decided if I am going to make the advertising page on the blog side or the website side.  I will let you know.  In either case, I am looking for people who give tips and or services that have to do with organizing, interior decorating, cooking, and financial advise.  I do have a little tech knowledge on there, but I am finding that it deserves its own blog, but I have not decided if or when I am going to start that.  For now, tech has been put on the blog side of Simply Organized Crafts.

P. Lynne Designs.  This used to be named MDN Creates, and I felt like I have out grown this name.  This is my scrapbooking business.   I offer tips and tricks to creating the most beautiful pages on a budget, as well as making cards of all sizes, and altering things like notebooks, clothes pins, and boxes.  I also show what I made, in hopes to inspire the crafter in all of us, or at least try to.  In the near future (or when I get the money) I will become a Stampin! Up Demonstrator, and that will be present as well.   I am looking for like minded business people who do craft (it does not have to be paper crafting) who are looking for a way to get their business out there.

Tricia's Baskets.  This is my Longaberger business.  I am an Independent Longaberger Home Consultant, and that will not go away when I start demoing Stampin! Up.  I show people on this blog how to decorate, organize, and entertain with the products, as well as any specials the company has or of they want to join my team and the Longaberger family of consultants.   For this blog, I will be honest and wrestled with it a bit.  I want new customers and I want people to come to my team if they want to sell Longaberger products, but would I be taking that away from me if I invite other direct selling companies to advertise on this blog.  No I will not, so this the type of business person I am looking for....consultants of any direct selling company, except adult companies.  Sorry, I do have to draw the line somewhere, and I do have family friendly blogs.  I am sure there is a place for companies like Passion Parties, but I do not want to draw attention to that either.

Traveling to the Mouse's House is my last one in the blog area.   This blog is about traveling to Disney, and money saving tips that makes even the most budget conscience person want to go.   I drawing my inspiration from three trip experience to Walt Disney World, and several trips to Disneyland, as well as what is trending at the parks, and my own spin of what other bloggers writing about on their blogs.  I also draw inspiration from my current planning to visiting the resort in December 2013, and the obstacles I am facing with a family of 10 (4 adults, 3 children, 1 teen, and 2 seniors).  This is frustrating at its finest.  I am looking for travel agents who not only specializing in Disney travel but any travel.   If you specialize in giving advise to travelers, that would be nice too.

Now, what do you get when you advertise with me:   That is the mystery part, but I will spill soon.  I do know this, If you do, you get to guest post on my blogs.  This means exposure to your site and your business.  You will get to link back to your site, that means more exposure.   If you have a video, even better, and more exposure there too. When you have more exposure there is more money.

Now there is a price to advertising as well.  Did I mention earlier that a girl's got to eat?  Do not worry, I will also offer free spots if you are just starting out, but those will come on a first come, first serve basis. Same with the other spots, but either way, you will get to advertise if you want the exposure.  So if you are just starting, get you ads ready.  I want to start around the mid April if I can, and the ads will run for the rest of the year.  Starting January 2014, you will get a full year, but the price may not change. I will send you details via email or in a Facebook message.  
Well, go to go.   Talk to you later, and have a blessed day.

Phrase of the week (word of the Week)...

"Nothing you’ve ever given has gone unnoticed. Every sacrifice you’ve made, every time you stopped to help someone, God has seen it. " Joel Olsteen

This week, I thought I would try something a little different.  I saw this on Facebook, and I follow Mr. Olsteen (I do not know him well enough to call him by his first name).  I love reading about what he has to say about God's word.  This leads up to the word recognition, attention, and the "look at me" syndrome that certain celebs have about them.   We all grew up with it, and it seems that our children are doing the same.  I am not going to bore you with the usual definition of these words, because these words were ingrained in our brains from the time we were very small.  It starts with words, "look at my little baby, isn't she precious", and it goes on from there.  Every dance or music recital, baseball game or gymnastics meet.  I was the kid with the dance and music recitals, my brother was the sports one, and my sister was the dance and gymnastics kid, and wee all wanted friends and relatives to come to see every single last one of them.  We wanted to let everyone know about the different fundraisers our schools had, so we can be the kid with the most funds and get lots of prizes, and get all the recognition we could get.  Hum, I think another word just came in under the radar, and that word is jealousy.

I remember once when I was a teen, I got mad, because no one at church praised me for the good job I did with the children's choir.  I was playing for them alone with an older lady, who is now our oldest member living at 103 years old.  Again, I was a teen, a typical teen, I was at home sulking about the concert, because they clapped for her, and did not say my name not one time.  My mom said to me, as I stood in the hallway pretty much what Pastor Olsteen said in this passage, "God saw it, and he was pleased."   I looked at her as if I was saying to her, "so what."

Mommy was right (yes, I do still call her that), It should not matter, but it did matter that no one said to me, "Look what Patti did" (My childhood nickname).  You should not want people to praise you, but to praise God that you were able to do it in the first place.  In fact, what you do for others just proves that you have learned not to think of yourself, but for the other person.

Now, I do not want people to say what I did, or that I helped, unless it gets someone else to do the same, and it is not for my own self worth.  I just want to see people happy, healthy, and whole, so that they themselves can do something meaningful.  The important thing is when someone ask you to do something, and you do not grumble about it, it does help.  Everyone should want to help another person without an attitude.  God loves a cheerful giver as well. 

So comment below, have you ever done something that you thought you should have been recognized for?   I would love to see what you wrote.

Have a blessed evening.