May 19, 2016 at 1:53 pm

@peachpurple I am so sorry. That is just a sad situation all around. You and your husband gave it your best by living with her for so many years. I am sure you worry about her now since she is older. I hope things get better.

May 19, 2016 at 1:42 pm

I have two children that are seven years apart. When my oldest was growing up, I was very strict on him. Maybe even overly strict at times. He did get a few spankings along the way, but never anything severe. However, he was a bit of a handful at the time and I really did not know any other way to be. I was only 21 when he was born, so I was learning to be a mom as I was raising him like most first time moms do.

By the time my daughter came along, I had mellowed out a great deal. She was also a much calmer child and very soft hearted, still is actually. I think I may have lightly swatted her fanny all of two times that I can remember. Normally, I could raise my voice slightly and she knew to perk up and listen to me.

My kids are now 14 and 21. My son just got married in April to a wonderful young lady. I am very proud of the fine people they have become. I may have done a few things wrong when raising them, but I honestly feel I did a lot of things right too. They are both caring individuals and I would want to know them even if I was not their mother.

If I were my son’s age, I do not know if he would think I’m cool or not. I guess it would depend on where he knew me from. If we worked together or were neighbors, I am sure we would get along fine. His wife is like a daughter to me and we are very good friends, so I am sure we would be good friends if I were 21 like her.

If I were 14 like my daughter, she would probably be my best friend. We are a lot alike and we get each other’s personality. We like many of the same things and she is just such a loving soul that I know she would be as kind to me as she is to her other friends.

If they do something that disappoints me now, I normally have a talk with them about it and explain why it disappoints me. Although, sometimes my teenager gets her phone taken away for a day or so depending on what she did.

I hope that I have had a positive impact on my children and have made them better people. I know they have had an amazing impact on me and have made me a better person.

May 19, 2016 at 1:12 pm

@peachpurple I forgot to mention, that I am sorry your relationship with your MIL was not better. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, there is no way to get along with some people. Usually those people are very unhappy within themselves and therefore, they try to make others miserable too. I could not live with someone like that. I am sure your life is less stressful now that she has moved out.

May 19, 2016 at 1:06 pm

@peachpurple No, my husband has a brother that is three years older than him. But yes, my in-laws are very humble and kind. They claim my children as their grandchildren and are much better to them than their own grandparents ever were.

My MIL is the sweetest little lady. She teaches kindergarten students at a Christian school that is right up the road from us and her little students absolutely adore her. My FIL worked at a steel manufacturing plant for many years, but is now retired. He stays busy all the time working around the house and outside.

They raised both of their boys to be kind, hard working and honest men. Not to brag or anything, but my husband could not be  better person and I know it is all thanks to them. They are just two of the finest people I have ever known. I am truly blessed. 🙂

May 18, 2016 at 7:02 am

I worked in the local school system here in Kentucky for several years. I can say without a doubt that many teachers here spend money out of their own pocket on their students. I was a teacher aide and I worked directly under many teachers. There was never a time that children had to do without if their parents could not or would not provide for them. This included school supplies, money for field trips, daily snacks, lunches and even some of those children were given clothing, shoes and coats when needed.

In my opinion, you simply cannot work in a school system if you do not love children. Those of us who loved those children did everything we could to make sure they all had what they needed and a lot of the time what they wanted too. By no means was I able to buy as much for the kids as those teachers did because my earnings were much less. But, I never saw a time when children went hungry, cold or without learning materials and rewards for hard work thanks to those selfless teachers who adored them.

May 18, 2016 at 6:46 am

I am still waiting for my first two blogs to be approved. But, I am just curious about the pay. Do they ever pay you over $1 for one blog post or are they all usually less than that?

May 17, 2016 at 4:13 pm

I would like to say I am not in favor of it. I know that killing a criminal is just as wrong as a criminal  killing an innocent person. However, I also know that if one of my family members or close friends were murdered, raped or molested by another, I would want the person who did it dead and dead soon.

Not only that, our prisons are extremely overpopulated here in the United States. Our taxes are supporting them and many of them are given privileges they do not deserve even though they are behind bars. I do not think prisoners should have televisions, outdoor time, conjugal visits or any of the luxuries that people who do not lead a life of crime. However, many of them do.

So, with that being said, yes, I guess I am in favor of the death penalty. That is, as long as there is not even a shadow of doubt that the person is guilty. You hear of people that were found innocent after spending many years in prison. Although, I do believe that we have many, many more guilty people in prison today than innocent. People are just plain evil in our world and if they take a life, they do not deserve to keep their own life.

May 17, 2016 at 3:15 pm

My daughter does not have school today. YAY! Therefore, I was up most of the night last night writing here and there. I now have many goals for today. But, I am sure that I will have to go to sleep for awhile first. As of right now, I am going on 2 hours of sleep only. Would have been more, but my dogs woke me up wanting to go outside.

Anyway, here are my goals for today:

• Write at least 2 blogs and 10 comments on Literacy Base – I am already on comment number WooHoo!
• Write 2 articles each for my two main writing gig sites.
• Do around 20-30 posts on my forum posting jobs.
• Check out a couple of other new posting jobs I just discovered and possibly get some work done on those.
• Take care of my dogs off and on all day, as usual.
• Cook supper because I was lazy and picked up pizza for supper last night. It will probably be spaghetti or chicken tonight.
• Watch some television with my husband and daughter because I love just hanging out with them after the work is done. I may also have laundry to do because I ALWAYS have laundry to do. LOL
• Try to find time to do a hour or so of my genealogy searches that I just became totally addicted to.

So yeah, it will be a busy day, but also a very accomplished day hopefully. Hope you all have an awesome day too!

May 17, 2016 at 10:10 am

I work as an online freelance writer. I currently do article writing, forum posting, blogging, and other types of freelance writing. I love to write and I am always looking for new writing eggs to add to my basket.

May 17, 2016 at 10:02 am

Believe it or not, I am actually on my third and FINAL set of in-laws! LOL The first set were only good to me if I did what they wanted all the time. They have not seen my son (their grandson) in over 20 years and it was not because I did not try to encourage it. They simply had no interest in him when they found out I was not going to raise him to be their little slave farm hand like they wanted.

My 2nd set of in-laws was better. I kind of had an up and down relationship with my MIL, in the beginning but it got better. Then sadly, she got sick with cancer and I helped take care of her. My FIL was awesome and I still care a great deal about him.

My current in-laws are wonderful people. I could not have a better MIL or FIL. They live right across the road from us and they treat me and my children like we have been their family all our lives. I wish I had met their son and them 25 years ago, but I am very blessed to have them all now. Here’s a pic of my handsome Hubby and his amazing parents. <3

May 17, 2016 at 9:35 am

Thank you so much! I actually had the Boxer for two years before I got the other two. Then I got my Kirby in January of this year and my Edgar at the end of March of this year. They do not fight. They play a lot! They are all inside dogs and all housebroken. I did not get any of them as puppies though. When I got Sugar, she was almost 4 years old and I got the boys when they were both 2 years old. I feed them all the same type of food, but I do feed each of them in a separate room. None of them have ever had any food aggression though, I just feed them separately to ensure that they all get to eat all of their own food out of their own bowls and that the food isn’t hogged up by one or two of them.

May 17, 2016 at 6:54 am

I have never been a big coffee drinker. During the cold weather months, I might drink a little, but I always have it loaded down with flavored creamers. When it comes to tea, well I do live in Kentucky! Sweet tea is a favorite for many people in my area. However, we prefer to drink it extra sweet with lots of ice. I like hot tea on occasion, but not very often.