Crafty Halloween

Went to get my mail one day this month and on the cover of the Woman's Day magazine shoved in my mailbox was the cutest idea for a Halloween wreath! With a little hot glue, a foam wreath, some black duct tape and candy corn, you too can make it! Here are some pictures of my experience.

1. You’ll need a Styrofoam wreath (ours is 16 in.), black duct tape, a hot-glue gun, a wide ribbon and candy corn (we used Brach’s).

2. Cover the wreath in tape.

3. To get a sense of how the corns will fit, lay them around the wreath in single rows, with one row pointing left and the next pointing right, but don’t glue down. (It won’t take long and your final product will be more polished.) Remove the corn from the wreath and hot-glue the pieces in the pattern one at a time, starting from the outer edge of the wreath inward, until you’ve covered the entire top and side.

4. Repeat the process in the center, starting at the same point as you did for the top so that you can cover any corn-free space with the ribbon when you’re finished.

5. Wrap ribbon through the wreath at the candy corn seam, tie into a bow and hang on a sturdy nail.

The Challenges of Being a Step Parent

It’s not easy being a step parent. You have no power, little authority and a lot of grudges. Some of them are even yours. At first you simply try to get to know the kids, learn their likes and dislikes. You are always in the shadow of the ex-parent and are more than likely being monitored by same.

So how do you handle all the stresses? Your kids melding with the step kids, ex-parent’s jealousy or plain and simple dislike or disapproval, new rules vs old rules, new routines vs old routines and the ever popular- finding patience with the step kids. First of all not all steps have problems with the ex-wife or ex-husband. If you do, you simply need to remind yourself that most of their issues are based on insecurity and a feeling of lack of control while the kids are with you. That will reduce in time, unfortunately it may take years but it should resolve itself IF you can remain patient and NOT engage in a dueling of wits when temptation presents itself.

Secondly, remember it’s easy to judge other peoples kids by your own standards when you are standing at a distance. When you are tempted to say, “If that were MY kid . . .” STOP yourself and think hard about what you are about to stay or think. I cannot stress more the importance of asking yourself HONESTLY ‘If that were REALLY my kid . . .’ Take the emotion and frustration out of the picture and you just might discover that the action your spouse is taking is the same action you would take. Step parents sometimes lack the rose colored glasses of real parents. Yes, they may actually see the situation for what it really is and when that happens you MUST be careful not to judge. Don’t judge your spouse for how they handle the situation, don’t judge the child without considering the cause of his/hers behavior. Remember you are not the biological parent and therefore your best position is one of offering advice when consulted. When that advice is offered it should be with compassion and understanding. You should also not expect your advice to be taken every time. The bio-parent needs to be the one calling the shots, it’s their child. Just remember this mantra ‘It’s not my kid, it’s not my kid.’ Keep in mind that you need to show a united front to the kids. Don’t ever let them see the two of you divided on any issue, believe me they will use that as a weapon.

Attempting to understand a child’s actions is just as important as responding to them. Sometimes it’s difficult for a child to accept a new parent, no matter what their age. Realize that it can take up to a full year for a child to recover from their parents 2nd marriage. All our of 6 kids had problems in school that first year and just as they began to come back around to their normal selves, their mother got remarried and it started all over again.

Just keep in mind you are not alone, there are a lot of blended families going through the same thing. There are also counselors out their that can help if you discover you have a child with separation anxiety or other issues. They really can help and you’d be surprised how well your kids/step kids will respond.

So the key to living through step-parenting is patience, honestly, being of one mind with your spouse and realizing the kids will someday grow up and move out on their own.

Courtesy Kimbra Townsend, Factoidz Writer

Light the Night

I'm raising money for a very important cause, through The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk: finding better treatments and cures for blood cancers so patients can live better, longer lives. I'm asking you to help by making a tax-deductible contribution! Please use this link: http://pages.lightthenight.org/dm/Phoenix10/KBoyd to donate online quickly & securely. You will receive an email confirmation of your donation as soon as it is made. I thank you in advance for your support which will make a difference in the lives of thousands of patients battling blood cancers.

I really appreciate your generosity!!

New look

So there we go, I spent most of the night changing the look and feel of this page. Hope more people will look to even notice the change! :) I am no longer working for the Cancer Center. I got an opportunity that I was interested in checking out and took that leap. It was such a hard decision. I loved my last job, I miss the patients sooo much, but I needed to better myself and this might be the next step up in the right direction.
I'm sure Dave and I will still be doing the walk for the Light the Night campaign as it is an event that is very near to our hearts... SOOOO be prepared to be bombarded with donation requests! LOL
Well now that it is officially Saturday morning and I have yet to go to bed, I will end this blog short for now.

Good night

**hugs**

A great song

One of my ALL time favorites!

Surprise

On May 16th, my baby sister turned 21. Can you believe it? She is now the age I was when I found my dad and met my sister for the first time.
I sent my dad a text after months of my sister begging me to be there for her birthday. Just something simple that said she had been bugging me and I would like to surprise her. Dad called me the next day with information on tickets for a flight out the PA. Thankfully, him and my step-mom, Donna, were offering to pay otherwise, I would have never been able to do it as I am very very poor at the moment.
I got the time off of work approved, and totally lied to my sister. Told her that there was no way I could get the time off even if I did come up with the money. On May 14 I began my trip...

It was the best surprise EVER!!! I love my sister and I am so glad I was able to be there for her birthday!!!

Prayer

We pray for the children who put chocolate fingers on everything, who love to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin new pants, who eat candy before supper and who can never find their shoes in the morning.

And we also pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who have never bound down the street in a new pair of shoes, who never played "one potato, two potatoes," and who are born in places that we would not be caught dead in and they will be.

We pray for the children who give us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleeps with their dog and who bury their goldfish, who hug us so tightly and who forget their lunch money, who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink, who watch their fathers shave, and who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those who will never get dessert, who have no favorite blanket to drag around behind them, who watch their fathers suffer, who cannot find any bread to steal, who do not have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures are on milk cartons instead of on dressers, and whose monsters are real.

We pray for the children who spend all their allowance by Tuesday, who pick at their food, who love ghost stories, who shove their dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the bathtub, who love visits from the Tooth Fairy, even after they find out who it really is, who do not like to be kissed in front of the school bus, and who squirm during services.

And we also pray for those children whose nightmares occur in the daytime, who will eat anything, who have never seen a dentist, who are not spoiled by anyone, who go to bed hungry and wake up hungry, who live and move and have no address.

We pray for those children who like to be carried and for those children who have to be carried. for those who give up and for those who never give up, for those who will grab the hand of anyone kind enough to offer it and for those who find no hand to grab.

For all these children, we pray today, for they are all so precious!