Spotlight Saturday Blog Hop

It's Spotlight Saturday Hosted By

Between the Lines and Survey Junkie

How it Works

1) Link up your own blog.

2)Link up a blog you want to spotlight for the week.(ex. Spotlight: Roslyn's Closet)

3) Follow your three hosts.

4) Grab our button and post it on your sidebar or in a Spotlight Saturday Post.

5) Follow as many blogs from the list as you like and leave a comment so they know you stopped by.

6) Return the favor by following blogs that followed you.

(Be aware that URL's cannot be duplicated so please have a second spotlight choice in mind. If your blog's URL has already been spotlighted, just add one you'd like to spotlight. And don't forget to leave a comment with the blog you spotlighted so they can come and join the blog hopping fun! )
Click here to link up!

For those who's been wanting an iPad2, Prowling Books in the Lair and 19 other bloggers are having this cool giveaway. Check it out, you might get lucky ;)

Friday Hops

Co-hosted by Crazy about My Baybah, Family and Life in Las Vegas, and SAPsMaMa.

This week’s featured co-host is Living at Whitehead’s Zoo!

Click here to link up!

Brought to you by SmookieStyle AND Mom vs The Boys!

  (Special thanks to @katieb38, @ByGollyMsHolly, @MarandaLamping, Sandy, and Pam for their question suggestions!)

1. Vow renewal ceremonies-yay or nay?

 I think it's sweet, and I wish one of my friends would do it so I could be invited to one, but it's not something I'd do myself (although right now it looks like it's about time to remind my husband of his vows. LOL)

2. What sound/s annoy you the most?
I'm clearly becoming a grumpy old lady... I get annoyed at the slightest sounds!  Ugh, pretty much anything that disturbs my peace and quiet is annoying!  Oh, and for some reason, other people's mobile ringers annoyed the heck out of me.

3. If you had to pick, would you have only all boys, or only all girls for kids?
I have only one child, a daughter, so I'll have to go with all girls.  I love playing dress-ups and go all pinkalicious.  It's true.

4. Do you believe in alternative medicine?
I do, but I wouldn't rely on it solely.

5. Would you take a family members children and raise them if they needed it? 

Absolutely, without a doubt.  I think it's important to provide children with a stable environment where they can grow knowing that they are loved unconditionally.  When I was small, there was a time, after my parents' divorce, when I came to live with different aunts because my father was out gambling for days.  My mother was away pursuing her studies.  If it weren't for my aunts and their families, I'd probably end up on the streets.  I would do the same for any of my family members.

Divorce Journal Entry #4: Cease-Fire, For Now.

He said he didn't love me anymore.  He's given up on our marriage.  He has even talked about giving me the full custody of our daughter should we proceed with the divorce.  

My husband was also too chickenshit to end the marriage right away.  Yes, you read right.  The dude had the nerve to tell me he no longer loved me, but he's too scared to be the one who ended it.  I knew he wanted me to be the one who took the first steps into making that "divorce" happened, just so that he wouldn't have to feel responsible for having ended our marriage. 

And what did Sweaty do?  Well, what Sweaty DID was different than what Sweaty WANTED to do.  What Sweaty WANTED to do was:

1. Tear off Mr. LA's hair one fistful at a time until there's nothing left.  Or maybe I'd play nice and leave a few strands behind.
2. Shove Mr. LA's shiny golf sticks up his arse.  Elin (Tiger Wood's ex-wife) would be proud.
3. Scream a long string of curses on top of my lungs right in front of his face.  Possibly covering his face with my spits...  after I chewed a handful of garlic.
4. Kick Mr. LA's balls until they're black and blue.  You betcha I'd check.
5. Wrote a huge L with a permanent marker on Mr. LA's forehead while he's asleep.
6. Throw him out of the house and change the keys (ala Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive").
7. Play darts with his face (or his black and blue balls?) as the target.
8. Empty his bank account.  Ha! Who's gonna want you now, Mister?

What Sweaty DID was:

1. Took a really, really deep breath.
2. Count to 65.
3. Told him no, I did NOT want to get a divorce and that I wasn't going to give up on us that easily.    

I know that I don't say this often, nor did I ever write much about it, but I love my husband.  Despite all my rants and ramblings, my sarcasm and my jokes, I could never imagine a life without him.  When I fell in love with him for the first time, I fell in love with him for life.  Lord knows he's far from perfect, and he had done some pretty shitty things, but he's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.  Always has been, and still is.

Here's what I didn't tell you before.  Four years ago, our marriage was forever altered by a certain life event (which, unfortunately, I cannot disclose).  Since then, I had built a wall so high to protect myself from being hurt, I was emotionally (and physically) absent from my marriage.  I was so ridden by fear, that I had trained myself not to care about my husband "too" much.  I had ceased being a wife; the only role I played in my marriage was that of a mother to our daughter.

We began to lead separate lives.  The thing that attracted us to each other at the beginning--our very different traits and personalities--became the very thing that killed us.  As an extrovert, my husband has many hobbies and interests.  He's also social and has many friends.  On the other hand, I am quite the introvert.  I prefer to stay home because being around many people exhausts me.  I have a group of close friends whom I meet with regularly, but other than that I don't socialize much.  At first, I used to accompany my husband on his many activities.  But it all changed four years ago.  

I stopped going with him, whether it was to have dinner with his friends, to visit some art galleries, or to just have a nice Sunday brunch at some new restaurant.  Always opting to stay home, I immersed myself in raising my daughter, in my books, in my own little world.  His hobbies no longer interest me, and after a while I've lost touch with what he likes and what he doesn't.  With nothing else in common other than being parents to our daughter, we found ourselves unable to connect or communicate.  We've become strangers living in the same house.

So what happens now?  

For me, it has been hell to be living in such a limbo on a daily basis.  It hurt every time I remembered what he said, about no longer loving me.  At the same time, I reminded myself that when I married him it was for better or worse, in sickness and in health, and if this was what it meant, than so be it!  Despite my bruised ego and pride, it is time for me to step up and fight for my marriage.  I owe it to myself, to my husband, to my daughter, and most importantly, to God.  It's an uphill battle that I must struggle with, not only day to day, but minute to minute of each day.  But I am a wife, one half of the marriage equation.  I have just as much power to build or to destroy my marriage as my husband, and I choose the first.

And what about my husband?  His response was a no response.  I honestly don't know what will happen in the days ahead.  

All I can say is that it's cease-fire.  For now.

  

Thoughtful Thursday and Other Thursday Hops

Rules for Thoughtful Thursday: Link up your favorite post from the past week and check out some of the other great sites in the linky.  That’s all there is to it!

Hosted by Look Who Found the Marbles and Do Sweat the Small Stuff

Also linking up with:

Hosted by Obviously MARvelous and SmookieStyle

Hosted by hosted by Rondi from WAHM Resource Site and Crystal from My Life as Mom and Wife

Wordful and (Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Fun In the Sun

For those of you who have read my post, A Wedding Unlike Any Other, y'all know that Mr. LA, Miss Chatterbox, and I were in Bali last weekend.

Here's sharing some of the beautiful weather and scenery we enjoyed there with all of you here...

Linking up with:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

A Little Bird Told Me...

   
This post is based on this week's RemembeRed prompt by the Red Dress Club, which is: Write a post that either starts or ends with the words "Lesson learned."  Word limit: 400 words.

A Little Bird Told Me...


Mother, what are you doing? Why did you wake me up from my nap?  Please don't push me out of the nest!  It's cold out there... 

No, no, no... I'm still sleepy, Mother.  I can barely open my eyes.  Would you please stop nudging me?  Fine, fine, I'm moving!

W-w-wait a minute, where do you want me to go?  There?!?  But I thought...  Ha! Mother, you are so funny!  Of course I won't go there.  Wh-what?!?  I have to?  No, that's too dangerous, you told me so before!

NO!  Mother, why aren't you listening to me?  Would you STOP that??  I can't do that yet, remember?  Besides, I'm hungry, Mother!  Why didn't you bring me any food?  Ss-sst-stop please... whoa, be careful, Mother, I almost fa--

(shrieking) Aaaaaah!!!! Helpppp!!!!  Help me, I'm falling!!! 

(swooshing sound)  Oh thank YOU, God!  Thank goodness you're good at flying, Mother!  You saved me!!  I would've died if you hadn't caught me!  Please take me home now... I want my nest!

Ah, there it is!  Home sweet home.  Boy, what was that all about??  Can I go back to sleep now?  No, no, no... what are you doing, Mother?  Stop pushing me!  Why are you doing this?? Oh no, not again... Wait, did you do that on purpose the first time?!?  What's wrong with you, st-sto...

(shrieking) Aaaaah!!!! Helpppp!!!  You want me to what??  I can't, I can't fly!!  Oh God, oh God, I AM moving my wings, Mother!!!  Nooo, I'm still falling... Help, somebody help!!!

(swooshing sound)  Mother, thank God you've come to your senses!  Please don't let me go!  Yes, I want to go home!  It's much safer up there... and I'm hungry. 

Just drop me off at the nest, will you, Mother?  We'll just forget this ever happens, ok?  Oh no, not again!!!

(shrieking)  What the...?!?  Fine, you want me to fly?  I'll show you 'fly'!!!  See... see... I'm already moving my wings, but I can't fly!  I'll soon die and it's all gonna be your fault, Mother!  I'm SO gonna... hey, HEY, lookie here... I'm not falling... Am I... Mother, I'm flying!  I'm flying!!!!

Lesson learned.

Tuesday Hops

Hosted by Busy Mom's Tips

Time Travel Tuesday by Word of Mouth Musings

As always Follow Me Back Tuesday is Hosted By:

Survey Junkie, Little Yaya’s &

With Guest Hosts:

Jodi from Makes Mama Smile

&

Leslie from Live, Love, Laugh with Leslie

  

Link-up with  One Little Mister & Mommy PR every Tuesday!