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Parental Advisory

Ha! What I find funny is that the first word that got "tagged" for the R rating ...

'pain'

So, all that time I went through all my stomach issues?? That was R rated, huh? Interesting.

What happens if I start saying things like cock or tits or .... gasp, porn!? LOL

Seriously. I think I'm going to have to re-rate my blog now! ;)

Two Monsters, 6 Lives

The monsters I speak of are Christopher Vaughn and Bobby Cutts, Jr. Two men all over the recent nationwide news .... names that are now known from coast to coast.

Christopher Vaughn, arrested for the murders of his wife, and their three children. Bobby Cutts, arrested for the murder of his girlfriend and unborn daughter.

These two stories sucked me in, and I waited for new developments, more information; surfing the web and watching the news. I prayed for Jessie Davis and her unborn baby girl, hoping upon hope that she'd be found alive and well.

Much to my dismay, just hours after learning that Christopher Vaughn had been arrested for the murders of his family, we found that Jessie's body had been recovered.

Why these stories pulled at heartstrings? The Vaughn family was from a suburban Chicago town, not far from me. When something of this magnitude happens this close to home, it sticks with you. And when a young woman, pregnant with her second child disappears, with the awful reality looming that foul play was involved, it hits you. She was my age, and a mother at that. I can't imagine there being many women out there that this didn't hit home to.

Imagine, these lives .... all taken by someone they loved, and thought loved them in return.

Christopher Vaughn, shooting his family in cold blood, and moreso, from what I've read, those children were each shot twice, yet his wife, only once. Why? As if it weren't enough to murder the family, inflicting more gunshot wounds to those that were the most innocent. Children....all under the age of 13.

It sickens me, upsets me and makes me fear the future. Do we know who we can trust? When stories like this come to light, how do we really know we can trust those that are closest to us?

My heart breaks for the families and loved ones these 6 lives have left behind. For the grandparents of the Vaughn children, and for their family and friends and those of Kimberly Vaughn's. For the family and friends of Jessie Davis, and most importantly, for the 2 year old little boy, Blake that she leaves behind.

May you all find peace and comfort.

Rest in Peace:
Kimberly Vaughn
Abigayle Vaughn
Cassandra Vaughn
Blake Vaughn

Jessie Davis
Chloe

And may those responsible for their deaths rot in hell.

Tag, I'm it!

Lacey tagged me, so I guess it's time for me to pop in here.

These are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. So, time for my 7 random facts:

1) I met Mike online in January 1999; we officially started dating that March; we'll be celebrating our 7th anniversary this year (good grief!) ;)
2) Some of my best friends are 10+ years older than me
3) I have only lived in a total of 3 towns my entire life .... the first for 23 years, the 2nd for 2 years and almost 2 years in the current
4) I fell in love with Disneyworld during our trip there last September....I CANNOT wait to go back
5) Photography is my escape....I love it, and it depresses me when I'm not able to shoot
6) I have ingrown toenails and they are a b@t#h
7) My cat's name is Cosmo -- but he's often called MoMo, Mo, Mo-Man, Mousetafats, Herman, Raymond, Mo-Dog, Mochie, Humphrey Mogart or whatever else springs to mind

So, with that I tag ...... Katrina, Rose, Mackey, Hippy, and that's it because others on my blogroll have already been tagged by Lacey!

Cubs Win!, but my mood just took a turn to quite shitty

Saw the Cubs play today. With the current losing streak they were on, I was hopeful it wouldn't continue and that I'd be attending a winning game. When they opened the game with base hits and a Grand Slam all in the first inning, I had an idea that it was going to be a great game. We watched as some dark clouds and cooler breezes rolled in off the lake, but the rain held off and the clouds rolled by to bring in sunshine for the rest of the game. The skies opened up as we were on our way back home after seeing the Cubs beat the Braves 10-1.

It was a nice day, but of course, there's something that can bring my mood back down. Reading up on some current events in some friends lives on myspace, and I come across someone that just started a new job - and their salary is listed as $75,000 - $100,000 a year. Yeah, I know you can lie (I've seen kids list $100,000 + and they are barely out of high school, so I'm sure they're full of shit), but the salary listed while at the previous job was almost as high. A college & grad school graduate, so I imagine there may be some hefty student loans to pay off, but with that pay scale -- how long could it take while you're single, renting an apartment and living the high life with nearly no responsibility other than some bills.

I guess I'm bitter. It's hard to be happy about something like that when my husband doesn't even have a salary right now, and likely will never make anywhere near that kind of thing. Not that I expect him to, but how is it that people just "fall" into these things?? Yes, there's the degrees and all that, but trust me when I say that I know good money was being made even prior to having the degrees to back it up.

We're barely making ends meet each month, and only because we're getting unemployment. That doesn't last forever (and it's been nearly 5 months), and I have no idea what we'll do if a job doesn't come our way soon.

I've been really trying not to fret over this, but I'm starting to really worry; really starting to get stressed. How much longer can we make it? Moreso, are we going to be forced to take a job that will take priority over family time?

I think that might be what worries me the most. I can't go back to him being gone weeknights and missing dinner with the family. I can't go back to him working all weekend long, missing out on chances for visits to the zoo, or playing in the backyard, or going over to the rec center pool. I can't do it ..... I enjoy the things we can do as a family, and as much as it has sucked for him to NOT be working the last 4.5 months, it's been wonderful being able to do things together.

Is it possible that he'll find a job, so that we can get by and that we'll still be able to spend time together as a family?