Blogs, Bombs, and Boobytraps
By Gina Sanford
rev 7.22.10
Copyright Gina Sanford 2008-2010
License Notes:
This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.
Cover design by H.Joy
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Abbreviations
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
BTW - By The Way
FYI - For Your Information
LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
*muahs* - A kiss
:0) - A smile sideways [also : ) or =)]
OMG - Oh My God
OY - The beginning of “OY Vey”
ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
R&R - Rest and Relaxation
ABOUT THE AUTHORGina R. Sanford was born in Helena, Montana in 1978 and was an only child raised by a single mother in Drummond, Montana. At the age of 19 she married Rusty Sanford and three days later became a military spouse when he entered basic training.
Rusty and Gina divorced in 2005 and were remarried in 2006. They face the everyday challenges of raising an Autistic child, managing military life, and living as a family of five in these uncertain times.
In 2008 Gina was diagnosed with degenerative nerve condition called Neuropathy and is currently undergoing treatments to manage the symptoms. Yet she is still bringing laughter to her family and friends in the midst of her trials.
Gina is a born again Christian with an unmovable faith in a God of mercy and compassion that has guided her through the storms of life, yet kept her safe in His loving arms with laughter through it all.
The following are a collection of blogs collected by those who would call her “friend”! Enjoy!!!
“If we can't share our knowledge and experiences in and of the world
by laughing at ourselves.......then what's the fun in sharing??”
Foreword
"The book is going to be finished up, and sent off to the publishers by Friday", My friend ‘M’ says. I'm feeling a sense of panic here! I have a deadline?! I don't make deadlines! I don't make it anywhere on time either. I figure that fashionably late looks good on me. Thank you God for ‘M’ who cheers me on and gives me dreaded deadlines, or this portion would never have been written (my first two Thank You's as well! *wink*).
I am never without things to say trust me, but an "assignment" requiring me to write about myself for a possible "About the Author" section of this book quite frankly freaks me out. It feels like I am writing College Grant applications again. It's very hard to write good and serious stuff about myself. Scary and funny (in an ironic way). I want people to read this far more then I cared if anyone read my Grant Applications. I can't bear to sit here and write something that will only be skimmed through and will gain none of us anything. So here is the long and short of…me.
I like to think of myself as a "Wordsmith”—a title given to me from one of the best bosses I have ever had. Writing is…expression. I write to express my opinions, feelings, and experiences. Sometimes others can relate to me. Relation brings emotion and when that happens I know I have done well.
I am a daughter and only child to a single mother who has been a great source of strength and inspiration…and always will be. We grew up together. I am a Mother of 3 and they truly are my "Salvation". When God blessed me with them, (all by the time I was 23 years old), I thought He was nuts. As it turns out, I think the fine line is not only drawn between Love and Hate, but also Wisdom and Insanity. My children save me every day and give me reason in this insane world. They give me a reason to live.
I am a soldier’s wife, (and best friend), and I have been since I was a 19. My husband is enlisted in the United States Army which gives me two titles… ”Wife” and “Military Spouse.”
Last and foremost I am a friend. The Military has blessed me with friends from all over the world. It is the cause of the greatest love, the greatest joy, and the greatest heartache, I could ever have experienced in life. I love and miss you friend....Come home soon.
Finally…I am an enigma! And...I am seriously out of things to say......
—Gina Sanford (Wordsmith)
Non-Traditional Mom That I Am
Current mood: Annoyed
Category: Life
I am in a "funny" mood. Here I am…(no joke) on the phone with my sometimes-not-so-wonderful cousin having a ‘gripe fest.’ I am blogging while she looks for 2 ducks, 1 knife and a snail shell. Yes, I know I have no idea either. Something about 5 minute downloadable games online. At any rate, I was discussing how I am not a "traditional" mother.
See…It all started today as I was preparing to take my children to the pool. I HATE the public pool. It is more that I hate the swim suit that I have to wear to the pool than the pool itself, which is another story for another day.
I don't enjoy doing the things that "normal" Mom’s do. I hate baking. I don't sew. I do not listen to Sesame Street in the car, (my children and I raise the roof and shake our money makers, and bang our heads. Yes, it is a sight to see). So, knowing that my kids would love the pool and knowing that I can't stand another moment locked up in this house with them, we ventured off with a friend and her kids in tow.
The children had a wonderful time as I had my fill of large women in bikinis, hippie women with straw hats in the wade pool, teen aged kids with no respect for the others around them, and the constant gawking at my chest (yes, people stare, I have been well blessed which isn't such a blessing at times). At one point, I was lathering sun screen on my transparently white children when another child asked why I put sunscreen on them, (this was a nicely tanned child that had no idea what happens to transparent people in the sun), and my comment was, "I do this so that if the children grow up and get skin cancer they can't blame it on me". That can't possibly be a "traditional Mothers" response can it? Anyway… *******
When we were all just about water logged and I had listened to my kids saying "I'm hungry" at least 100 times, we decided to leave. We all went to my friend’s house for dinner. Just as we got the kids dished up, our husbands (The Men) came in from their day of dirt biking with big toothy grins. Proud and happy to have burned off some of that built up testosterone. I, on the other hand, was seriously grumpy! And what made me grumpy was the fact that if given a choice, I would have rather gone motor biking then go to the gosh awful pool! I would have loved to ditch the kids and go play in the dirt. Oh, what fun that would have been!
I then feel guilty for not being happy with taking my kids to the pool. Isn't that what I am supposed to do? Go to PTA meetings, be a Cub Scout leader, and bake cookies for the soccer Mom bake sale? Well, it just isn't in me to enjoy that sort of thing. I am who I am...and who I am would much rather play cards, ride dirt bikes, and listen to loud music, splash in mud puddles, make truck drivers honk, (with arm jesters.....sheesh!), and skip in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. Oh well, At least my children will grow up with a sense of humor...they have no choice!
Some Thoughts On Motherhood
Current mood: mellow