This is why we are failing.

People often wonder why America is failing as a nation.

I'll tell you why.

One of the "trending" topics on various internet news sites?

Snooki has lost her tan for her baby.

This is important to people.

I am PROUD to say I have never seen an episode of Jersey Shore.  What I know of Snooki and the rest of those morons I've learned from Conan.

These people get paid for being assholes on tv.  For being so ridiculously stupid and unbelievable.  And because people watch them, continuously, they gain fame for nothing.

I wish the story of the little girl, Isabel Celis,  from Arizona who was taken from her bed was "trending." Maybe then someone would be able to help find her.  This story shakes me to my very core.  A parents' worst nightmare.  This, in my opinion, is even worse than your child getting taken from you at a store or park.  This is from their OWN HOME. In her bedroom.  A place, where you assume your children are safe.

Since hearing this story, I've checked and rechecked the locks on the kids windows.  I've given them extra kisses good night.  I've checked on them in the middle of the night.  My heart aches for these parents.

But the majority of the people in this country, when asked who Isable Celis is, will look at you blankly.  Ask them who Snooki is, and they'll go on and on.

This is why we are failing.

PYHO: Judging Death

I've become extremely judgmental about death.

When you lose a parent too soon, it changes how you see lots of things.  I never imagined it would change how I feel about death.

My mom was 55 years old.  She should have lived another 30, at least another 20 years.  She died from a terrible, dreadful disease.  I lost my mother at 32 years old.  My children will never remember her.

So when someone loses a grandparent who was in their 80s, or even 70s, yes, I feel sympathy.  It hurts when you lose someone you love.

But I judge.  I just want to scream "Why are you so fucking sad?  At least they were old!  At least they lived to see retirement age, to see their grandchildren grow up, so possibly have great grandchildren.  They lived a long full life!"

It angers me.

I don't think people shouldn't grieve when someone elderly they love dies.  But part of me wants them to realize that they are lucky that this person lived as long as they did.  That their grandmother was at their kindergarten graduation, their 10th birthday party, their high school graduation, their wedding.

PJ and Maggie will have none of that.

When someone in their 50s loses a parent, yes it's sad and terrible.  But their parent was there when their children were born.  That parents held their kids, baby sat and spoiled them like grandparents do, watched their child turn into a wonderful mother or father and told them so.

It's not that I don't want people to be sad or to grieve their loss.  I want them to realize how lucky they are.

I lost my mom at 32.  I never was able and will never be able to call her for advice, to go out shopping with her, to tell her about the milestones her grandchildren are achieving.  I wasn't even able to do this for a small portion of their lives.

So I judge.  And that is one of the many, many things that has changed in me since I lost my mom.

I just don't give a damn.

Some of this you might agree with.  Some of this might make you pissed off.  Some of this might make you go YES!  Whatever it makes you, I don't give a damn.  If you read my blog, you obviously know how I roll.

I truly feel sorry for anyone who wants to have a child and has trouble.   Nothing makes me sadder than a couple who want to be parents and for some reason have difficulties conceiving, regardless of the problem.

That being said, why people give a fuck about Guliana and Bill or whoever getting pregnant is beyond me.  I just don't understand the obsession with celebrities and having babies and feeling bad/sad for them when they do or don't get pregnant.

Under the same lines, Dick Clark died. Yup.  An old man, an 82 year old man, who's lived a long VERY successful life passed away.

I am not saddened by his passing.  I didn't know him, and he was 82 years old.  That's a pretty good fucking life, if you ask me.  If he was 52, I could understand the sadness.

I think balance bikes are fucking stupid. I have a very good friend who got one for her kid, and she knows I think they are fucking stupid.  Give the kid a bike.

A little girl disappeared from her bed in Arizona, however, most people know nothing about this but know that Guiliana and Bill are having a kid.  I feel bad for that little girl's PARENTS.

I'm reading Fifty Shades of Grey, and it's pretty damn vivid.  However, I don't suggest reading it if you can't get laid soon thereafter. Big mistake on my part.

If you're not watching New Girl, you're missing out. DVR it, watch it on Hulu, do whatever.

My new guilty pleasure is the Client List with Jennifer Love Hugetits.  It's pretty good. 

Why is it people that claim they "hate" drama and try to avoid it, 9 times out of 10 are the people causing the fucking drama in the first place?  And then they get pissed off and whine when you call them on it?  For fuck's sake.  I love starting drama.  I fucking admit it.  Especially when it's pointless, not really going to cause anyone harm drama.  It's the nitpicky, annoying drama that needs to go the fuck away.

Having 4 martinis and 2 Hurricanes in one evening is probably not the best decision I've made recently.  But I lived to tell the tale.

Help to create a world without ALS

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I lost my mom to ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, just a couple months ago.

ALS has been around for 70 years.  We are no closer to curing it now than we were then.

ALS is a debilitating, devastating, horrible diease.  In less than three years, my mom was stripped of her ability to walk, talk, eat, smile, move a finger, scratch an itch.  She was completely paralyzed save for blinking her eyelids.

I watched it destroy her body.  I watched it destroy her spirit and her mind.

I watched it take her from me.

We participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS, and have for the past 3 years. This will be our fourth walk, and our first walk in her memory.

I hate that my mom suffered through this horrible disease.  I hate that other people are still suffering, and still more will.  I hate that because not "enough" people have ALS, the government provides no funding for research towards a cure.  It's up to donations.

I know many of you donate to other causes.  But if you can, please consider donating to me in my quest to help find a cure for this disease.  We shouldn't have to live with this in the world.

To learn more about ALS, please visit the ALS Association.

To donate to me -- and no donation is too small, please click here. You can also donate to PJ or Maggie.

Thank you.

PYHO: Just shut the F#@$! up. (Warning - foul language)

I am so tired of the moms who seemingly only complain about being a mom and their kids.

We all have our bad days.  We all complain sometimes.  We all wish we just had one fricking day, hell, one fricking minute to get out of mom mode.

But the moms who all they ever do is complain?

Shut the fuck up.

I have a friend who complains about how hard it is to be sick and take care of her kids.  This same friend complains every time her son doesn't pee or poop in the potty, every time he wakes up in the middle of the night, every time her kids do anything.  Sometimes it's vague.  Sometimes she rants about how her husband doesn't do anything, and why can't SHE just relax.

Another friend posts on FB 85% of the time complaining about her kids.  How she has a whiny two year old.  Why oh why do the kids sleep in when she has to work but when she's home they wake up early? 

I'm tired of it.  You are a mother.  You have been given pretty much the greatest  and most difficult job in the world.  It's relentless.  It's 24/7.  It's not always appreciated, it's unforgiving.  It's not always glamorous.    It's frustrating at times, disheartening at times, and sometimes it's just fucking hard. 

But it's also the most amazing thing in the world.  It's sloppy kisses and little hugs.  It's "Love you Mommys" and "One more song please"?  It's giggles and tears.  It's kissing the boo-boos to make them better.  It's tucking them in at night.  It's watching them learn, grow, and become who they are to be before your very eyes.  It's never having clean pants, never having a clean house, and never being able to just get up and go.

All the not so awesome things about being a mom don't even come close to measuring to the amazing wondergful things about being a mom.  There are women in this world, who all they want in life is to become a mother.  They would be sick every day for a year if it meant they got to have a child who called them Mommy.  They would wake up every two hours for 5 years if it meant they got to get baby cuddles every single day. These women?  Think you are an asshole when all you do is complain about how hard being a mom is.  Not that they don't think it's hard. But not much in life that's rewarding is easy.

So the next time you want to complain about being a mom, stop and think.  How many hugs and kisses did you get today? How many "I love you Mommy!" and how many giggles did you hear?  And appreciate the fact that some of the amazing women in this world will never get to experience that and YOU DO.  So shut the fuck up about your bitching, and be grateful you've been given the best job in the fucking world.

Everybody poops...

As we continue to try to poop on the toilet, we find ourselves starting to poop in our undies and finishing on the toilet.

This morning, after such event occurs (and every time such event occurs), we must checkout what we've deposited in the toilet.

This morning was a long, skinny turd.

"SNAKE POOP MOM!!! I MAKE SNAKE POOP!!!  SNAKE POOP!!!! SSSSSSSS!!!!"

And then proceeded to tell his sitter.

And this is why potty training won't kill me.  Yet.

Over You

One day, I'll be able to listen to this song without crying. One Day.

I love you and miss you Mommy.