Back from Our Much Needed Vacation!

It's amazing how a few days of leisure can help us calm down and enjoy life as it should be. No plans just whatever happens...

We went to Ohio and visited family we hadn't seen for a long time. It's amazing how much you miss your relatives, especially when they live 2 days away on a road trip! We were thrilled to see for the first time in person, a new member of our family, the sweet little boy named, Nolan. His smile was so precious!

We lived in Ohio for several years and although we love our relatives, we don't like the frozen winter weather... I guess we are getting too old for that kind of weather.

We hope you are enjoying this summer, drinking a lot of Kool-aid or Piña Coladas!

Getting Hooked on my Ancestry.com

A few weeks ago, I decided to add my name to Ancestry.com. Ever since then, I got hooked and am always trying to find a new ancestor!

Beware, the Ancestry.com website is addictive. You find one ancestor and you are hooked for life! If you are interested in finding your ancestors, there's plenty of info to guide you through it. It's more interesting than facebook and way more exciting!

What do you need to do to start, you might ask? First of all, you need to contact their website: https://www.ancestry.com/. Then, simply pay with a credit card and wait for their package to come. The package can take from 4 to 6 weeks. When you receive the package, it comes with a tube that you have to spit into, many times, THEY WANT A LOT OF SPIT!!! Then you send the box back to them and wait... and wait... Eventually it will show up at your front porch or mailbox. I waited 10 weeks to get my results. But it was worth it!

First, you build your family tree and follow with your ancestor's tree! Eventually you will search for people you didn't know were your ancestors and the tree grows and grows. I even crashed with one of my cousins that is also an Ancestry.com fan!

I'm still exploring for family and probably will keep exploring for more... FYI, Ancestry can be addictive, but it's worth it!

Some Family Traditions Are Lethal

It's the stuff that bonds us together. Memories are made with them and they define us through family traditions, from one generation to the next.

Photo by pocketwiley

Do you remember the first time you took a puff of a cigarette? What about the first time you took a sip of beer? Or the first time you held a gun, were you scared? Did you like any of those things? Probably not, and that first impression should have deterred you from doing it again… But peer pressure and family gatherings, changed your attitude and you went along with the firearm "tradition". Even though it went against your natural instincts.

If your father or mother drank, smoked or had a gun, you most likely were taught by them on how to drink, smoke and shoot a weapon. Basically; monkey see, monkey do! That is the never ending cycle of why most American families carry firearms. It's a tradition, carried from one generation to the next.

If you're reading this blog and are getting angry about it's message, you are most likely teaching your child to "carry".

It's no wonder that Americans are hooked on guns and other firearms… But, a family can be very powerful, without the use of lethal weapons. We are not saying to stop using weapons, just consider the non lethal ones, such as a Taser. This way, you won't land in jail and nobody gets permanently hurt or killed. And… No, we are not pushing Tasers, we're just tired of seeing the lives of Americans, especially children, wasted away by all the bullets flying around.

Pennsylvania Man commits suicide and takes his wife and 2 daughters with him.

Here we go again, another LOOSER, this time in Pennsylvania, that feels he has to take his entire family with him! Some people say that men that kill their families and commit suicide, do it because they don't want their family to suffer economically in this cruel world... This is far from the truth. These men are just weak. They can't take what life throws at them and just give up and drag their family in with them. They are not only weak but also have big egos, to think that they are the only ones that can take care of their family. They assume that their wives cannot get help or are not capable of taking matters into her own hands, if need be.

This trend has got to stop! We no longer live in a patriarchal society. Women and children shouldn't be put to death, just because the husband is having a tough time. When was the last time you heard of a woman taking her husband and children's lives, just because she thought there was no future for them? This mentality is very archaic and has no place in today's society. Entire families do not have to die, because one of them is weak and has a huge ego.

Read MSNBC article here. Mind you, this is not the only article about this subject, this month and of course, it doesn't just occur in Pennsylvania! This is an on going problem that has been going on for too long, and must be stopped.

Shopping for a Gun or Taser?

There has been an increase of firearm purchases recently in the U.S. Whether this increase is due to the government administration considering the return of restrictions on semi automatic weapons or the increase in crime, Americans are buying ammunition and firearms by the thousands.

If you are a person considering purchasing a self defense product such as a gun or a Taser, here are a few things you need to take into consideration.

First, your family as well as yourself are priority number one. The weapon you choose should be reliable and safe to use. A break-in, in your home can take place at any time and you may or may not be there. It's important to learn how to use and take care of a gun or self defense product. A question you might want to ask yourself is, how comfortable do you feel teaching your spouse or significant other how to use this self defense weapon?

Second, is the weapon you want to buy lethal or non lethal? This is an important question. Do you want to kill your perpetrator(s) with a gun or do you want to temporarily incapacitate them with a Taser? Ask yourself the following questions:

• If the perpetrator gets a hold of your weapon, will they be able to turn it against you or your family?
• If the perpetrator uses your weapon, can it incapacitate you or kill you or your family?
• What repercussions with your state laws will there be if you incapacitate or kill someone under these conditions?

Third and lastly, how easy or difficult will it be to buy a weapon? Will you need a special permit? If you are considering a firearm, you will need a permit to carry it. Depending on the state you live in, it could be as little as 24 hours or maybe 30 days. If you are considering a non lethal, self defense product such as a Taser, you will need to pass a felony background check, and that only takes a few minutes.

It's your choice on how you want to protect yourself and your family, it's not an easy decision to make. Please keep in mind that, whichever weapon you decide on, it could help save your life and also your family's life.

Hurricane Childhood Experience

Hurricane Fay set the stage for this season, jumping all over Florida and crossing over it 2 or 3 times. Gustav still is influencing Louisiana after landing there over a week ago. Now Hanna is coming up the east coast and headed our way towards North Carolina. Ike is targeting Florida and will be a force to reckon with if it makes landfall there as it is being compared to Andrew... Somehow mother nature makes sure that there never is a dull moment. Be it fires, snow storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, the list goes on and on.

While growing up in Florida, snow storms or earthquakes weren't an issue, hurricanes were a different story though. As a kid, I found the whole experience of a hurricane coming, to be a fun one. Grant it that while during one, and listening to the strong winds outside, did get me scared, the time before and after the hurricane got me excited and made them very memorable to me. The preparations prior to them, such as boarding up or taping all the windows was a time when the family got together and shared a common goal. Going to the grocery store with my mom and getting all the goodies for the event was my chance to eat junk food! During the hurricanes, our house was always dark because of the boarded up windows. Most of the hurricanes that I lived through hit during the evenings and we all would gather together on the floor with our candles and flashlights and talk and eat our candy, sodas, pastries, chips, etc., while the wind was blowing all around our house. Most of the time there were cousins, aunts and uncles that would join us for the event. The next morning, after the storm was over, all of us kids would go out and see how many trees were blown down. This was one of the most exciting things I loved about hurricanes. All the trees that had fallen down gave us kids a lot more things in our back yard to play on. The fallen trees were like a whole new playground for us! We loved to climb on the now reachable branches. The new playground lasted several weeks, until the trees were hauled away by cleanup crews.

I guess, I was one of the lucky kids, who never experienced any REAL harm done to my family or our home by a hurricane. I realize now, as an adult, that many families aren't as fortunate. Hurricanes are not all fun and games. Families can become emotionally, physically and economically devastated. My hope now is that we all help each other as much as possible, so that more children experience hurricanes in awe, as I did when I was a child.