Is it Just me?

Is it just me or is 6 and 7 years of age WAY too young to be going to a shooting range and firing off deadly weapons?  My husband, an avid hunter, and myself seem to have very different views on this topic.  I prefer to keep my children protected from harm rather than put them in it's way, while he sees this as an extremely unreasonable argument from me.  I in no way, shape or form have any desire to have my children out hunting, and have even less of a desire for them to have the skills to operate firearms at such a young age.  Apparently this is not something that is unheard of as the shooting range has all kinds of "goodies" for first time kids, such as badges, key chains, etc!!  They make it seem as though they are in a fucking toy store...way to hook them in and keep them coming back.  How many of these kids do we think end up owning and operating firearms legally and safely later on in life?  I was appalled when my son came home from the shooting range for the first time a few weeks ago, as he had gone with my husband without my knowledge.  I was even more appalled at how much he seemed to have enjoyed it...and why wouldn't he have?  After all don't all of his favorite super hero's sport guns and ammo of some sort?  Isn't my 7 year old daughter suppose to have pictures of Justin Bieber and High School Musical on her wall, not the test papers from her first target shooting?  Is it just me or is this something that I am overreacting about?  I hear other people telling me to relax, that it is the best place for them to go, they learn all about gun safety there, blah, blah, blah.  Is it just me or what, but why do they even need to know this in the first place, and why at this age?  Is hunting that important and do they really start this early...seriously?  Please someone give me your insight because I'd love to know an outsider's opinion.  Am I too overprotective or is this just plain ridiculous?

A Long and Hairy Battle

If any of you have a little girl or multiple little girls you will be able to relate, if you do not have a girl let me just tell you it is not always all ribbons and bows.  At some point those damn ribbons & bows have to come out and the hair must be brushed.  This encumbers brushing out any number of tangles from a day of sweating at the park, rubbing balloons all over their heads to make them stick to the wall, getting any number of sticky items, not just stuck, but completley rubbed in and made a part of MANY strands of their hair (these items include, but are not limited to, gum, sticky tack, tar (yep that's right), melted jolly rancher, rubber cement, glue and these are just the items I can think of right now). 
Now maybe I just have an extremley clumsy girl, but I am dealing with this on a pretty regular basis and a daily basis ritual would be the dreaded MORNING HAIR BATTLE.  Now, if you have never had to wake a child up from a slumber when they are clearly not ready to be awake yet, well you'll just have to try it sometime.....it's loads of fun, kind of like accidentally tasing yourself, (especially when you aren't particulary fond of the fact that you have to be awake yourself!).  When you start your morning off with a pint size child screaming and crying at a volume that is considered illegal and would for sure get me a citation issued (that is if the police were brave enough to even approach the situation which grows into a bigger monster every second) let me just say you start your day feeling a tad bit stressed and a little less than "pumped, energized and ready to face the world!".  I have fought this battle for a good 4 years now and as much as I was holding tight to my dream of my daughter having long hair and trust me I love her long hair.  I love the braids, the pig tails, buns and all of the fun you can have styling it, but the battling just plain wore me down.  So I fought the battle, I gave it my all and I must admit I have lost.  I finally broke down yesterday and cut her hair off.  The worst part is I know myself well enough to know that we will just grow it back out and dear god start this battle again someday.....but for now I rest.  I rest for the next hair battle. 

The before picture



I think she may be tired of battling in the morning also???




All done and minus quite a bit of hair or stress, whichever you prefer to call it.



The finished product.  She looks so much older to me now.                           

My Perfect Sister...a Post to get me in Trouble for sure

My sister has always been the perfect one, and I have always been the fuck up.  I will admit that since having my children I have been given much more credit by my family than I ever had before, but the fact still remians that Jessica is the perfect one and Abby is the fuck up.  I have always been very aware and reminded of this throughtout my life in ways no matter how big or small, it was something that was just a given or known, sometimes spoken in such words, sometimes just subtly thrown out into the air for me to breathe in and absorb into my being and becoming a part of me the way that nicotine becomes a part of you when it is inhaled into the body over extended periods of time.  No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you work that damage is done and can never be 100% reversed.  That being said, I will go into the part that will for sure get me into trouble.
Everyone who knows me knows how desperatly and badly I want to have another child and how that is not going to happen for me.  Yes, unfortunatley the reason this will not happen for me is all because of my own free will and doing.  My children are 17 months apart and my 2nd was a terrible baby.  Needless to say I was stressed, tired, out of my mind and in no shape to be making any kind of life altering decisions, but did I?  I sure did....I walked right into that Dr's office with my husband and watched as his Vasectomy was performed.  Watched as my future hopes, dreams and livelihood were sliced, clipped and burned away from him in a matter of 30 minutes.  This is very important for you to know because I have the perfect sister that will say to me "Hey, I told you not to have it done." and "Hey, it isn't my fault you can't have any more babies and I still can".  I cannot recall my sister ever having made a bad decision...I mean a truly bad one.  I, on the other hand, have made more than I care to count, and she will be the one of the first ones to throw them out there and in my face for me to chew on, remember, feel bad about & then bask in the fact that she herself is such a great level headed person who takes calculated risks and makes decisions only after weighing them out, blah, blah, blah.  Don't get me wrong she loves me very much, but that love is very much conditionally based on the person I became once I had my children, and also very much based on the fact that she loves my children, therfore she loves me.  This is what I believe to be true anyway, and I don't even have the energy to get into why!  Either way, I hate to sound like a whiner and complainer but sometimes those old sibling rivalries and those old demons of growing up together get the best of us and take over.....this is definatley one of those times!  I feel as though I have never measured up to my sister nor will I ever and I have accepted this, what I have not accepted is that she is going to take the one thing that I feel that I have done right, am damn good at, and definatley as good as her at and upstage me with it.  I cannot be the person who lives with regret and I cannot be the person who holds a grudge, but damnit I want my 3rd, 4th, 5th (whatever the case may be) child.  I want my chance, I want my turn to prove who I am & what I can do and be, I want my family for once to throw me in the category of my sister, instead of the one just below her, as always.  So in all of my shame and embarrasment, yes I left my perfect sister, her perfect family, her perfect house and her perfect future last night got in my car and sobbed the entire way home.  I cannot believe I cried when I should be happy, I cannot believe I cried when I have every reason to be grateful, I cannot believe I cried when I thought I had matured and grown past my jealousy and envy of my perfect sister (ha...guess not).  I just plain cannot believe alot about last night, I do believe, however, that I cried so much that my eyes were swollen and my husband found the need to hug me (this is VERY rare!)I am happy deep down I really am, I will be more and more happy as time goes on, but I fear I will always look at my perfect sister, her perfect life and know that I will always be just the runner up, #2 or just plain the fuck up, just as I have always been.

My stab at Poetry

"Dont Take my Soul"

Don't take my soul and run away

you know you are too fast for me to catch.

Don't put my heart out on display

you know cracks run deep and some are unable to be repaired.

Your hands may be calloused

your heart might betray...oh God, Betray!

Your words will cut like a burning knife

on any randon, sunny turns to deadly storms, day.

Don't tell me one thing, expect another, yet then portray..

portray that "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN".

As tough I've become one with palm reading and fortune telling

do you see a Crystall Ball, or Tarot Cards to play?

Don't judge me  or call me a liar due to an answer delay.

Assume guilt and ask questions later?  Hey it seems reasonable to me!

Don't tell me "Don't", Don't think I won"t

Don't underestimate me and Don't take me for granted,

even you stand to be amazed and in shock....believe it or not.

Don't think I won't run, yet Don't think I won't stay

and for God's sake, please,

Don't take my soul and run away!

                                                                            

                                                                      Abby Redmon

I think I want "The Thinker"

I have the idea in my head that I want to get a new tattoo of "The Thinker".  Those of you that know me have either cringed,smiled or started thinking about what you will get if you go with me.  Either way, whichever one you did you all have one thing in common...you know that I will get this tattoo.  It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen.  When I get these ideas I cannot get rid of them until I make them happen, it is a problem that I have (hey everyone has their quirks!).  I have not gotten extremely far in my planning process,as I never really do.  I just get the idea in my head and make it happen, sometimes against my better judgement, enter the giant flower on my lower abdomen done about 1 year before I got pregnant!  I still think I would be a great candidate for a free tummy tuck due to that sucker.  I'll keep you posted if I ever find a taker for that one - ha. 

Yes, in hindsight this "may" have been a "bit" of bad judgement on my part.  Oh well, we live and learn. 
"It's a beaut Clarke It's a beaut!" - Clarke Griswold Christmas Vacation

So I'm just putting it out there for anyone who may need to get prepared, get on board or just plain get one with me...I think I want "the Thinker" and therefore I will get "the Thinker"