Teaching Apologies is an Art

It’s been a long week at the Hope home. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. Living with 4 boys under the age of 8 will always be eventful and tiring. That said being a parent is also hard, tiring, and often humbling.

As an adult, especially a parent there is a very special and fine line between ego and the greater good. In all actuality those things are miles apart but human nature presides in times of trial.

How often do we show children that we are wrong? Do you admit to not knowing everything? Do you apologize for wrong doings and misunderstandings? Do you argue and try to fix things in front of your children?

Are you leading and teaching by example?

From the talented Alireza Yavari's Google+ Click to see

We want our children to do and be many things. Love their siblings. Be friendly and respectful. Handle criticism with integrity. Not curse, drink, or smoke. We want them to be responsible, be accountable, be forgiving, be compassionate, and be confident. Ultimately we want them to grow into a great and happy person. Well guess what people! That means practicing what you preach. That means being and DOING the things you want to instill in your children. This means being the change. Trust, Gandhi was on to something HUGE.

Practicing what you preach is hard. More importantly, including your children to keep you accountable is harder. Many people disagree with my take on this. They feel children shouldn’t have a say in adult matters. The way I see it, adult matters are just as much the matters of our children for this is their world, future, and life we are shaping. Plus, children are the uncut geniuses who have yet to be told “that is impossible,” “that isn’t the right way,” or “you are crazy.”

Living Dreams Within Dreams

 

Smells like Rain

 

To say I went on vacation would be a dream. With much ado I have worked harder in the last few weeks than I have since summer. Actually, summer is never that bad because it is SUMMER; hot, fun, and most importantly SUNNY! Well it has been Spring Break here. YAY! Four boys at home get some much needed R&R in the rain. Wait. What?! Yes, that is right the freakin rain.

The Last Week +

 

So, with my boys rain does not equal fun UNLESS there is not thunder and lightning involved. There has been LOTS of thunder and lightning involved. Plus since the inclement in weather, our satellite and internet has been haywire. So this week I have had to be VERY creative and VERY interactive to keep the cabin fever at bay and keep the boys from going Lord of The Flies on each other. 

Not a Screw You but a Thank You

I am done pleasing others.

Never have I received such an audience. You all are very warm, welcoming, and accepting. I couldn’t ask for better readers. I am beyond grateful for the community of writers and readers I have found myself surrounded by. I’ve been caught up writing award blogs, tag blogs, interviews, and viewer driven pieces. Since, I have felt like writing is a burden.  I have put off my own ideas to fulfill the obligations that I took on, but now is a time where I say, no more. I have been writing since I was 7 years old. And in those 22 years, I have never felt this crappy about my writing.

I need my inner carrot back, please and thank you.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!

My readers, My Friends!

As you can only imagine I have been busy. If you haven’t caught on by now, or it is your first time reading, I am a very busy woman.

The Mystery of The Disappearing Chap-stick

Disappearing chap-stick is the equivalent of the dryer eating ONE sock. It sucks. Especially since it never seems to turn up. You buy a few and stick them in obvious places. A week later, they are gone. You go buy more and more and more. Then you find one in the dryer eaten alive… Damn dryer. You buy more. A dollar here. A dollar and change buying a fancy kind. All vanish. It is something we just accept. We even laugh about it.

In line at a local grocery, I saw these little egg looking things near the row of chap-stick. Luckily I read in a magazine (most likely while at Jakin’s therapy which is mostly the only place I read mags…) about these little egg-shaped guys. They are USDA certified organic lip balm.  I wondered if the reviews in the magazine held to their words which were VERY high. I also wondered about the texture and taste.

The EOS spheres (I call them eggs)

I have issues with texture and taste. I also often bite or lick or rub my lips. Some say it is part of an oral fixation. Anyway, I don’t like my lips to be sticky, waxy, or smothered. Original Chap-stick is too waxy. Carmex is thick like Vaseline. And most lip glosses are slick at first then they gum up to a sticky mess. If the textures weren’t bad then typically the tastes are. Medicated and Carmex taste like vitamins you that get stuck on your tongue by accidental non-swallow. BLEHH. Original, Cherry, and many more taste like your licking a candle. No, not an edible massage oil candle… Now I find some that do taste good but then they have the texture problem. See my issue. I know there are more out there with these problems. 

Glitter, Anuses, TMI, Versatile, Ninjas, Phenomenas, And Angelina Jolie’s Leg! AKA The Epic Awards

I hope you have on your best tux and formal dress.

No?

Okay, I’ll settle for a clean pair of underroos straight of the drawer and something covering your nipples.

Ready. Let’s do this!

Hi! I'm Angelina Jolie's leg here to present three awards to TheFutureOfHope. Why? Because She's a Ninja. (Click Pic to see more of Angie's Leg!)

If You Read This You’ll Die

Full on rage and your heart will explode. Promise.

You will hate me for like a DAY. Seriously.

Your blood will boil and your head will start aching.

You’ll laugh so hard you might pee a little.

Keep scrolling down ’cause this is a chain letter…

…

…

…

The Grammy, Oscar, Tony, and Emmy’s of The Bloggasphere

Welcome to the Red Carpet event of the century! I am going to be blasphemous and say something you all will crucify me for later!

Ready.

Set.

Blogging awards aren’t so much about merit as they are about community.

WHEW. Okay, here’s some nails and a hammer. But while you’re busy with that I am going to yammer on! You should try and pay attention! Trust me I’m a Doctor!

We only follow people that interest us. We only read the posts that interest us. So, we have pre-selected the cream of our crop. When a blogging award comes up, yes we hand them out to blogger’s who deserve it (Again, they wouldn’t be followed by us if they weren’t great-DUH). However then it comes down finding someone who A: Doesn’t already have the award and B: Someone who will accept it graciously and pass it on! That covers why this isn’t about merit. Now onto the community part. 

Countdown to The Worst Holiday: Valentine’s Day (Updated Daily)

In accordance to the Hope Household Rules of Chrystalyn Says SO #13.7: Valentine’s Day is the lousiest holiday EVER.

Down with the Mushy BS

I’d willing support Super Bowl Sunday EVERY year (Not just those the Broncos, Jets, or Eagles are playing) if VDay would disappear. Personally, I side with the men on this one. The V shouldn’t stand for Valentine but for a part of that female anatomy we ALL love to hate and hate to love! Chaucer knew what he was doing when he wrote that bit of fiction on Valentine tradition; trying to get some V. Oh and if you want to throw churchy stuff in there; The church doesn’t even know who the hell St. Valentine was or what he did.  There are just a bunch of stories in martyrology (like mythology but for martyrs… Hmm) about him AKA rumors and tall tales. ( Doubt me? Here’s some knowledge brought to you by wiki Saint Valentine).

So, what is this holiday about? Cards, flowers, chocolates, dates, gifts, dinner? About flaunting the fact you got something and/or someone?  Oh yeah it is about L-O-V-E. Now, I could go on and on about how great love is and how we should show it all year round… This isn’t THAT post.  I am counting down the days till Valentine’s day with a few Youtube videos that will make everyone appreciate what they do have while being extremely thankful that like Jay Z, you may got 99 Problems but a *itch ain’t 1. 

Be My Valentine!

Dear Readers & Friends,

Hi! I’m Crazy!

There is no denying I am crazy. No, not as in a bunny boiler. No, not as in psycho. No, not as in I sleep in a padded room. Not any of those bad stereotypes of crazy. Even then, are those really so bad?I am what people refer to as a good type of crazy. What this means, I have no idea. Maybe they forgot to take their pills or something?

Perhaps I don’t follow the ‘rules’ of establishment and society. Perhaps I have more quirks about me than most. Perhaps I am a bit unpredictable. All I know is I am me. And, I like that.

A new friend of TFOH, Big Mike, wrote a little post called Something To Sleep On. This reminded me of how even I consider myself crazy. Since a few of you reading have found interest in me ( my About, Bio, Random Facts 1, and RF2 stats are sky high) I figured I might share some of these things I do that I find crazy and yet somehow others find endearing or funny…

Short Stories, Poetry, Life, LOOTUBE?

You. Yes, You. Quit it already. YES YOU! You are reading this. So, yes, I mean you.

HI!

Howdy!

I need you. You are a reader and I adore readers! What I adore more than readers, feedback. I appreciate feedback in any form. However, I rarely NEED it.  Right now I do need YOU and YOUR FEEDBACK!!!  So get ready to form some opinions and commentary.  Don’t you freak out. Don’t you turn away. Suck it up, put some big kid pants on, and DO THIS. For me? PLLLLEEAAASSEE!!!

So you notice that lovely red bar of words up there ^. Those are my menus of how I categorize the things I put on here. Some may say ambitious; truth is I get bored easily of doing the same old, same old. I have added LooTube. It has actually been hidden for some time because I didn’t know how I was going to incorporate video onto here, but now I have with My Video Response to The ABC award. Quite a few of you have mentioned liking it. One lovely blog, OuttaMyBox, went as far as following my channel and posting a comment “Just in case” I start a Vblog. Now that may seem stalker to some but my inner girl (who my inner tomboy still is sitting on, probably tickling till she pees) was freaking. the. F. out. Inside squeals of OMG and everything. Ya’ll kinda like me!

SO. I know. I know. As if you haven’t done enough by reading my blog once or twice. Maybe liking something. Or even following here, on Facebook, or Twitter. Just a few minutes and thoughts from you- JUST this once (I may be lying but you’ll forgive me, right?).

Should I have LooTube up there?

Would you like to see home videos?

Would you like me to vblog?

Would you want commentary?

Would you want me to do interviews?

If I were to VBlog in true blog style, would you want me to read stuff I have written OR just on the fly ideas and thoughts?

How often would you like to see a video on this site?

What types of topics would I rummage? 

What would you think of small skits?

What if I had random co-hosts?

What are your favorite things on my bloggage site?

Anything I should do more of or less of?

Last but not least the next test run of video I would like to do before making any decisions is answering any questions you may have for me. SO GIVE ME SOME QUESTIONS YOU WANT ME TO ANSWER!!!! Be creative. Be personal. I’ll answer!

You. Yeah, you. Still there? If I could hug you I would. Then I would try my best at puppy dog eyes. It’s never perfect, my eyes aren’t brown. Bam’s eyes are brown and he can do PDE  perfect…. Why is that?!

Anyway.

YOU. BIG KID PANTS. OPINIONS. ANSWERS.

Ready! Set! GO!!!

 

xo Chrystalyn!

 

 

 

 

The I Now Want Alphabet Soup Award

This is crazy! You bishes been dishing out awards like there is a red carpet with every click on a blog. Which is kind of exciting… So instead of watching all these shmancy acting awards, keep your hawk-eye on the blogs! I have now received my second award. The Awesome Blog Content Award given to me by Lizzie (she runs naked with scissors!)! Let’s skip my Freak Out Ritual and jump on in this ish!