It's the end of the world! (as we know it)

After much consideration, I have decided to write this blog, inspired by a conversation that I had with a friend not too long ago. She called me up, quite concerned about the idea of the world ending in December, 2012. She wasn't ready for the world to end, wasn't ready to lose her children. She was really upset about it, and rightly so. That's a scary thought! Knowing that we all have a mere 3 years and 2 months left here? That's an ENORMOUS burden to worry about!

So. I thought that I would present you all with my thought and feelings on the subject, backed by hundreds of hours of research. (This subject has intrigued me for many many years.)

Let us start off our Apocalyptic journey with all the strange coincidences, occurrences, and predictions that are for sure implying that the end of the world is indeed nigh.

The Mayans. It has been long said that the Mayans predicted the end of the world, date December 21, 2012. In fact, they had a calendar that said so. That calendar has been around since the Mayan culture flourished, about 2000 BC- 900 AD. That calendar ends abruptly in 2012.

Nostradamus. This guy was an astronomer, astrologist, and practicing physician that lived in the mid 16th century. He is FAMOUS for his grisly predictions, of which many of them have been fulfilled. He predicted the death of Henry II, the great fire of London, The French revolution, Hitler and WWII, etc. Some of these predictions he got dead on, even to the date! So of course it has been a source of panic with his prediction that the world will end December 21, 2012. (Creepy! Same date the Mayans said!)

Let's talk about the world for a bit. Many religions believe that the end of the world is soon at hand, due to all the wars, natural disasters, and climate changes. So, in the last century, we have dealt with Hurricane Ike in 2008, The Evansville Tornado: 2005, Hurricane Rita: 2005, Hurricane Katrina: 2005 Hurricanes Ivan, Frances, and Charley: 2004. We've got fires, ice storms, floods and tsunami's.

Then we've got the wars! We've got WWI, WWII, The Cold War and Vietnam. We've got Desert Storm and a half dozen other wars in the middle east.

It seems a bit forboding when you look at the frequecy of all these disasters and wars. It seems as though the world is just getting worse and worse...perhaps that means we are reaching our end?

Now, there is a theory that in 2012 the Earth will align with the center of the Milky Way, throwing off Earth's rotation that will, in essence, result in the destruction of the planet. Or how about that "planet-comet" that is on a direct course for Earth? That's some scary stuff!


And now, I am going to completely dismiss each and everyone of those ridiculous theories by presenting you with THIS:

What many people don't know (or choose to ignore) is that the calendar that the Mayans have been made so popular for is in fact one of three different calendars. This PARTICULAR calendar is what is known as The Long Count. In Mayan terms, this calendar would last for, AND RESET every 13 Baktuns, or roughly 5,126 years. The current Long Count began in 3114 BC. And it will end very soon. This calendar is more like an odometer on your car. As each section reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle.

Sigh. Nostradamus. Ok, so he made predictions. He made them in the form of Quantrains or, POETRY. And let's be honest here folks, he made HUNDREDS of them. And about 90% of them have not come true. In fact, there really aren't many at all that HAVE "Come True". AND all of THOSE quantrains were referred to AFTER a disaster, in which people respond by saying, "Oooo look! He was trying to warn us!" Take this one for example. What do YOU think Nostradamus is warning us of here?

"The year 1999 seven month,
From the sky will come a great King of terror:
To bring back to life the great King of Angolmois
Before after Mars to reign by good luck
(Century X, Quatrain 72)"

Uh-oh! Sounds ominous, doesn't it? Many scholars believed this would mark the end of the world, referring to a great comet that would crash into our planet. Hmmm. THAT didn't happen. Then, after 9/11 happened, they all looked back on that prediction and smacked their foreheads saying, "Ohhh....THAT's what he was talking about, our bad." Ok, maybe he predicted 9/11. Except the only thing that would match up is month 7, 1999, and I SUPPOSE you could consider an airplane "A great king of terror"... Basically what I'm saying is that EVERYTHING is open to interpretation. For the record, I have NEVER been able to find a SINGLE prediction with the date 2012 and the end of the world. The funniest thing of all? Nostradamus has made predictions up until 2038...

You know that the most DEVASTATING natural disaster happened about 65 million years ago? It was a mass extinction of the dinosaurs, perhaps by a comet. Or volcano. Since that time, (65 million years ago) we have had COUNTLESS natural and DEVASTATING disasters. 1500 BC the entire Minon civilization was wiped out, due to a volcano. in 1737 over 300,000 people died in India, thanks to a typhoon. Should I mention the Tambora, Indonesia volcano of 1815, in which 80,000 people died of the subsequent famine, or the famous Krakatoa explosion, again in Indonesia, in 1883 in which more than 50,000 people perished, many of them like Sumatra engulfed in a tsunami? Yadda yadda yadda?

How about wars?
Ancient Greeks: Battle of Marathon
Ancient Greeks: Battle of Thermopylae
War for the Roman Empire: Battle of Actium
European History: Battle of Tours
European History: Battle of Hastings
Ottoman Empire: the Battle for Constantinople
European History: The Invincible Armada
War of Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenhein
Sweden Vs. Russia The Battle of Poltava
French vs. English The Battle of Quebec
French vs. English The Battle of Trafalgar
Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo Part 1
Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo Part 2
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.


This is the ebb and flow of LIFE, people. Wars and rumors of wars have been around since the beginning of our species. Natural disasters have occurred since the beginning of our WORLD.

I'd like all of you to click on my little link here. NASA Questions and Answers. Why not go straight to the source and actually ASK an astrobiologist about planetary alignements, comets hitting the Earth, dark rifts in the galaxy, etc. There is absolutely NO indictation of ANY of this happening in the near future, and especially not in the year 2012.

To further "de-bunk" any doomsday accounts, let us consider a few words.

Apocalypse. It's a scary and threatening word, yeah? No. It's a Greek word, which translates to "To reveal" or "The great unveiling".

Armeggedon. That's a scary one too. Did you know that that word is only mentioned ONCE in the King James Bible? Revelations 16:16 "He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armeggedon." Well, THAT just sounds like doomsday, doesn't it! (And a little FYI, Armeggeon, in the Hebrew tongue, is har məgiddô (הר מגידו), meaning "Mountain of Megiddo", located 25 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.) Armeggedon is a PLACE. Not an EVENT.

There is no "Great Cataclysmic Event" that will happen in 2012, ladies and gentlemen.

It didn't happen when Charles Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church, predicted the year 1794 to be the year the world ended. Or when that didn't happen and he changed the date to 1836.

It didn't happen when the Jehovah's Witnesses predicted the year 1914. And then 1915. Then 1918. Then 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975, and 1994.

It didn't happen when the Baptist Minister, William Miller prepared his people for the end of the world between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.

It didn't happen on May 18, 1910 when There was apocolyptic panic caused by Haley's comet which was scientifically thought to have deadly poisonous gas coming from its tail, endangering humans.

It STILL didn't happen when respected meteorologist Albert Porta predicted that December 17, 1919 a conjunction of 6 planets would align, causing a magnetic current that would pierce the sun and engulf the world in flames.

And last but not least, it CERTAINLY didn't happen in the year 2000, even though wide spread panic gripped our species and survivalists took to the hills and went to the extremes.

In closing (Finally) your future is what you make of it. Let loose and live it up. Our greatest inhibitor is our own fear and panic. We were given this ONE body, for this ONE life here on this ONE planet. Let's not live in fear, scared to go out of our homes, scared to accomplish anything for fear of everything being obsolete in 3 years.

So let's just live it up, yeah? Let us just tuck in and get ready for the Zombie Epidemic, which, REALLY, is what we should be worrying about. ;)

Been a long time, Been a long time!

Phew!

After taking quite a break from the online journal-ing, I have returned! (Even though I'm REALLY not a fan of this particular blog space...)

Points of interest since the last blog:

My children now live with me and Mark! And WHAT an amazing, disastrous, and all around beautiful adventure it's been!

Mark and I are thriving beautifully together, growing closer in a such a comfortable way that I didn't think was actually POSSIBLE for people to do.

Ok.....Wow. I can't think of any more points of interest. Those are the basics :)

Having the kids with me everyday all day has been...(I don't have a word to describe this, so I'm going to make one up.)

Fulstresiring [fuhl-stres-ire-ing]

-verb
1. completely and utterly fulfilling while simultaneously inspiring one to want to pull ones hair out piece by piece and additionally causing lack of proper sleep resulting in the necessity of a full pot of coffee each and every morning before being capable of general comprehension.

2. general motherhood.


Realistically speaking, I didn't actually think that I was strong or capable enough to be a Mommy. (See also: Things I should have considered before giving into the "baby hunger").

I quite literally had the idea in my mind when I went full force on getting my kids back home with me that it would be all work and no play. I was prepared for that grisly fate, and more than willing to resign myself to it, thinking it would be proper karma for me, considering the many ridiculous mistakes I have made in my life. (Call me a terrible person for thinking that way, but hey, no reason to not speak candidly, ey?)

What I honestly didn't realize is that you also receive what I like to call "Mommy Fuel". Mommy fuel is also known as the little things that happen on a daily basis that fully recharge me and those tiny things that get stuck in my head at the end of the day that make be giggle myself to sleep.

Today, for example. I was introducing my 5 year old, Connor, to a little Michael Jackson via Thriller. I explained who the King of Pop was, and he took one look at the video and said "I know Michael Jackson! He's the President of the United States!" We moved on to talking about The Beatles (His music tastes have matured from Sesame Street to The Beatles and Journey, yes....MY child through and through.) He'd asked me once if we could go see The Beatles in real life, so he could hear their songs, and I had to explain why they were no more. So today, Connor asks how The Beatles died....What do I tell a 5 year old? I decided to be honest, and I told him that someone shot John Lennon. His reaction? "Why would anyone do that! They are like, the best singers! I would NEVER shoot The Beatles!" *heartstrings, tug tug.

Go ahead and have a gallon of Mommy Fuel for that one.

Papercut for Connor today, thanks to his enormous Spongebob Squarepants coloring book. A tiny little thing, I couldn't even see where it was, but you'd think that the boy was suffering a long and painful death. He was cradling one arm while dragging himself across the floor with the other, sobbing woefully. (Am I a bad mom because I laughed?) I told him to go wash it off in the sink and I'd get him a Band-aid, and his papercut turned into a limp that made him gasp everytime he took a step the whole way to the bathroom. :)

There's another gallon.

My 3 year old, Salem, is the "Little Mommy" of the house. When Connor is in school, she has taken on the task of helping me clean the house. As I'm bustling around making things comfy, I catch her every now and then singing to herself as she meticulously cleans Mark's shoes one at a time with Lysol wipes. She's always so proud of her progress, and has adopted terms such as "Aw snap!" and "Wicked cool!"

I didn't accomplish anything I wanted to today. For every mess I cleaned, there was another one waiting, and the previous mess starting all over again. I divided my time between one dirty dish, helping find the elusive black crayon, which repeatedly disappeared, taping up drawings in the kids bedroom, one more dirty dish, mediating "He said-she said" disagreements, looking up online what color Spongebob's work uniform was, another dirty dish, making specialty sandwiches (PEANUT BUTTER ONLY WITH NO CRUSTS!), supervising one or two time-outs, until I have finally arrived at this point. Looking back, it's relatively sad to think about how proud I am that I completed ONE load of dishes.

Enter every single day of the week. If it weren't for the Mommy Fuel that I got to aquire during the day I would feel SO incredibly worn down, like a total failure, and overall just beat.

Ah......Mommyhood.

About a Little Boy

When it comes to my son, Connor, I have to almost walk on eggshells. That's a tough thing to do when you're trying to remain a figure of authority/disciplinarian.

At present (and for the last little while) it seems as though my 5 year old is more or less addicted to his Grandpa, who he currently lives with. I have my own opinions as to why that may be, but I'm not going to turn this blog into accusations and finger pointings. Let's just say it's made things increasingly difficult when it's time for the kids to come down here every month.

Back to the walking on eggshells. I almost literally have to coax him into coming to see me with ideas and projects and fun stuff we're going to do. Because if Connor doesn't want to come see me, his Grandpa won't make him, and will cause a scene if I (technically his custodial parent) try to make him. It's had too, because when he's NOT here, and I call, more than likely he doesn't care about talking to me, and when he does, he's in robot mode. "Hi. Can we go to the Childrens' Museum. Where are you going to take me. I don't want to go to your house. Bye." Robot.

As it were, we just got done having the kids for the week. It was such an amazing time, and I think a lot of it had to do with the new house, and the space we have here. Salem was practically bouncing off of ALL the walls she could find all day, every day. They had so much space, their own HUGE room, a giant backyard where we had a BBQ with friends, and the men cooked and chased the kids around the yard. We have a park 2 blocks away that the kids loved walking to, flowers to plant, canvas' to paint, and they even helped me "paint" the house! (I was busy cooking, so I gave them bowls of water and paintbrushes, they went wild on the house and fence for an hour and a half.)

But I have to say. My favorite moment. It was the day we had to take them back to Salt Lake. Salem just finished her bath and was busy with her Barbies. I got Connor out of the bath and he wrapped up in his towel and sat in the warm square of sunlight coming in from the living room window. I sat behind him and played with his hair (something he NEVER let's me do) We sat in silence for a while, then he started talking about staying here, about not being ready to go back to Kim's. I was almost afraid to say anything and ruin whatever he was thinking about.

"Well," I started, "You are coming back next month, and when you start Kindergarten, you'll be here all the time"

"But I don't want to go to Kim's yet" He said, "I want to stay here for 100 more sleeps"

I looked over at Mark to make sure I wasn't imagining all of this. This had been the most that Connor has ever, EVER opened up to me, cuddled up against me, and just REALLY expressed true feelings and didn't auto-answer with his typical "I wanna go hommme!" It was like my son, MY son finally shone through the robot he'd become. I could feel how warm and loved and comfortable he felt. And I knew right then that he doesn't feel that way very often. I just wanted to cry, wrap him up in my arms and shower him with kisses and all the love in my heart that I have. So I did. (Not the crying part, though.)

Today, I called to talk to the kids. I know that I was hoping for something else, but I got Robot Connor on the phone."Hi. Can we go to the Childrens' Museum. Where are you going to take me. I don't want to go to your house. Bye."

Sadness. But next month I'm hoping for more love and warmth and for him to feel "HOME". It will happen, I'm confident. I just gotta keep trying, one foot in front of the other, never take a step back. It'll happen.

Happiness Is.

Waking up at 6 am to "Mommy, can we watch cartoons?"

Eggos and Orange Juice for breakfast.

A warm comfortable home with snow flurries outside the big living room window.

Teaching the kids how to plant flowers in their own little flower pots. Sunflowers for Connor, Sweet Peas for Salem.

Watching them count out little flower seeds while I sip on a hot cup of coffee.

Waving through the big window with the kids to say goodbye to Mark as he heads off to work.

Helping Connor play computer games on NickJr.com while explaining to Salem that a little baby Angel up in heaven needs to use her Binkie for a little while, because she doesn't have one of her own.

Listening to Salem's pride on being able to share her binkie with a little baby angel, and how that's ok, so long and the baby angel shares back with her, when it's her nap time.

Man, I sure feel complete when these little rugrats are around me.

Greetings, mortals.

Exciting news!!!

Mark and I just got approved to move into a new house! I"ll be posting pictures as soon as I can, but we will probably be moving in a couple weeks.

It's a SUPER cute 3 bed/2 bath house, with the upper floor as a loft (where the kids will be able to sleep and play). In addition, we now will have a HUGE back yard, complete with a firepit and GARDEN.

Exciting, no?

That combined with the kids living with us full time come August, our New York and river rafting trips this summer, and the idea of experiencing all of it with my better half? The idea gives me butterflies.

Life is such a beautiful disaster, is it not?

On a side note, and less of a cheerful one: Just because I'm a mother, doesn't mean that I have to love ALL kids. My neighbors bratty kids need to be locked away from the public, I think. From them constantly knocking on my windows (or sticking their heads IN my windows and yelling!) Placing wood with nails sticking out of it in our driveway at NIGHT (and bikes too!) and making countless scratch's on my car with their fake swords, it's all I can do to not want to drop kick them.

As it were, I should probably go talk to their mother. But..... she's intimidating. The kind or...bigger woman, that just seems SO ornery. I'm afraid she'll yell at me for even saying a kind "hello". You know the type I"m talking about?

SILVER LINING: WE'RE MOVING OUT!!!!!

-KissKiss-

Sunday, Sunday. Happy day.

Mark and I had an incredibly great, incredibly lazy day. We never left the LoveSac (or our pajama's for that matter) And had a marathon of watching America's Next Top Model. What other guy do you know that could stand to watch 8 hours STRAIGHT of a reality supermodel show? Geez, I'm spoiled.

Additionally, we took commercial breaks to take the opportunity to plan our budget and goals for the next 6 months. It feels GREAT to make goals together.

Anyways, when all said and done, after chasing each other around the house like monsters, relentless tackles and tickles, and making funny faces at each other, I can't help but appreciate that my partner is my best friend.

We can't wait for tomorrow! We're supposed to find out about the house we've looked at. Cross your fingers!

-KissKiss-

I suppose this is it.

I've always been somewhat of a blogger, I suppose. Typically a "Myspace Blogger" though. It used to be that I only had a tendency to write only when I was emotional in some negative way or another, as many people are prone to do. I came up with oh-so-witty and clever combinations of nouns, verbs, and the like, strung together in such a way that I had developed quite a following of readers.

Well.

Life, as of late, has no longer provided me with many experiences to produce negative emotions. Life has just gotten too good! The result? My blogging trickled into becoming a lazy creek than the massive flowing river of words it used to be. As it were, when I attempted to blog about the new happy goings-on in my life, it just didn't come out with the same creativity or flow. Readers stopped reading, and this writer all but stopped writing.

Have I lost it? Have I lost the ability to entertain with nothing but stories of my life and experiences typed into a silly computer? Not a clue.

I suppose that is why I have started this blog. It's a brand new space, for a brand new life, and brand new readers. I want somewhere people can go to find out about what's going on in my life, my brain, my dreams, my heart. (And where they don't have to read a dull account of my trip to the grocery store.)

Well. I'm pleased that I started this, and I hope you will be just as pleased reading it. We'll see. And if not, you can always navigate away from this page, and I'll never know....or WILL I? (insert devious laughter here)

-KissKiss-