Empress Sassy

• Independence Day in the U.S., is an annual holiday commemorating the formal adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia.
• Although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the Fourth of July holiday has been accepted as the official anniversary of U.S. independence and is celebrated in all states and territories of the U.S.
• The holiday was first observed in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, at which time the Declaration of Independence was read aloud, city bells rang, and bands played.
• In July 1776, the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation was 2.5 million.
• On July 4, 2008, the nation’s population was 304 million.
• The chance that the hot dogs and pork sausages consumed on the Fourth of July originated in Iowa are more than 1 in 4. The Hawkeye State was home to 17.6 million market hogs and pigs on March 1, 2008. This represents more than one-fourth of the nation’s total. North Carolina (9 million) and Minnesota (6.7 million) were the runners-up.
• Potato salad and potato chips are popular food items at Fourth of July barbecues. More than half (52 percent) of the nation’s spuds were produced in Idaho or Washington state in 2007.
• The value of fireworks imported from China in 2007 amounts to $207 million, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($217 million). U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, came to just $14.9 million in 2007, with Japan purchasing more than any other country ($3.8 million).
• In 2007, $4.7 million was the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags. The vast majority of this amount ($4.3 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.
• The number of places nationwide with “liberty” in their name is 31. The most populous one as of July 1, 2006, is Liberty, Mo. (29,581). Iowa, with four, has more of these places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.

Are you making plans for the weekend?  Have you bought your fireworks yet?  My family is making some great weekend plans and we are looking forward to some fun in the sun.  We are having a big party on Saturday filled with lots of good times; Corn Hole, Hillybilly Golf, Bocce Ball, Slip-N-Slide, Swimming, Musical Sprinkler, Duck relays, Water Balloon Fights, Moonwalk Contest (yes that is what I typed), tons of food and a huge firework display to end our evening! 

We will have prizes for the winners and “gifts” for the losers!  We have Michael Jackson music to dance to all day long because we can and we have a motto that anything goes because it’s all about the “FREEDOM TO EXPRESS YOURSELF” HA HA.

I hope everyone is making plans and you have as much fun as we THINK we are going to have.  We have a lot of kiddos that are looking forward to a good time so we hope to show them that even the big kiddos can still have a good time too.  Two days and counting until the weekend!

   This is a diagram of an air conditioner coil and mine was finally delivered and installed.   Tonight is Penguin night at my house in celebration of having air.  I plan on wearing sweats and a sweatshirt all night and I’m going to make something in the oven!  Yep, I haven’t been using the oven because it’s been making my house too hot.  I might even make it so cold I have to break out the gloves!  When I go to bed I will SO need a blanket.  ha ha

Don’t get me wrong, I love summer and the heat, but I was reaching my peak with no air.  The worst part is just getting ready when you need to look nice; like church for example.  You try to get dressed, then get a four year old dressed and by the time you are done, you are sweating all over again.  It’s a mess.

I kept telling myself I was fortunate that I had a roof over my head (and I am), but a few nights I almost slept outside in my swing!  If you drive by my house tonight you just might see icicles on my windows!  Bring on the cool air and the good sleep!

Have you ever just tried your hardest to change something or someone and realized to no avail; you can’t help the situation or you just can’t help the person because they don’t want to help themselves?  In this case you just have to give it over to God.

Sometimes in life you have to believe in faith and trust that you have to give your life and your situations to God and let him handle what will happen next.  You can’t always control the outcome of your life and what will come around the next corner.  If I’ve learned anything; I certainly have learned you can’t control others and what they will do, but you can control how you will react. 

Reaction is an uphill battle, but it’s the biggest success in the battle.  Gain control of your reaction and your emotions and you can defeat most of your issues and problems.  Don’t let others get you mad, upset, angry, or in a situation that you don’t want to be in.  Stay in control of YOUR emotions.  It’s not always easy, you have to work at it. 

Selfish people tend to get inside of you and that is how they begin to control you.   Control yourself and lead a healthier life.  Pray daily and let God show you how.  It will make you a happier person.

Just tell yourself to Give it over to God!

What were we thinking?  We normally go on a Friday and now I know why.  The difference is unbelievable.  It was wall to wall people and the lines were just too much for me.  You have to stand in line for so much longer just to do one water ride and it waste so much of your day.  I would much rather give up a vacation day to sacrifice and get more out of our day.

We did have a great time despite the millions of people that were there with us.  Noah has advanced to the big rides now and we didn’t even go to the “baby ride” section.  He is a daredevil and a half since vacation.  He even wanted to ride the new water plunge ride but he wasn’t tall enough.

They have some strange height guidelines.  For example; you can plunge him, in a round inner tube, into a toilet bowl, but he can’t ride the carnival swings???  OK, whatever.  They sort of need to revamp the height requirements on all the rides.  They are a little silly with the danger factor if you ask me.

It was a very nice (and hot) day and we had a great time as always.  We have season passes this year so I’m sure we will be going a lot more.  Noah has his own ID card and exclaimed, “This is totally awesome” to the lady that took his picture and handed him the card.  It cracked me up!

Oh, and for the official blog record, Jerry got his turkey dinner in Thanksgiving Land so he can no longer whine and cry!  It’s a done deal!

Because I’m just dying for more hard work I’m finally going downstairs to refinish my basement and dang it’s hard work.  It’s actually finished, but it will need a new floor.  When I moved in the guy had it decorated with a “Miami Dolphin” theme.  Don’t get me wrong I’m all for the NFL theme, but it was a basement and it was dark blue walls.  Come on, it as so dark and damp!

We are putting a primer on and going with a much lighter color to give it some space!  Nobody wants to be doing refinishing work in the summer, but here we are doing it!  Whatever!

I loathe painting and we all know I loathe painting, but it has to get done.  I also need to SERIOUSLY be dating (or sleeping with) a plumber. Yeah, I said it and I don’t care who thinks what about me!  ha ha.  If it would get me what I need I think I would almost be that girl at this point.  Hey, I’ve been watching the Housewives of NJ, don’t think I don’t know that’s how to get things done!

Anyway, instead I’m downstairs working my A** off and doing it myself.  Life is just not right for some reason.  :)  I guess in the end I can say we did it all ourselves and be proud right?

SHUT UP!  I’m still in shock as I know most people I have talked to our tonight.  Now I know how my parents felt when Elvis died.  This has been pretty huge for me and I had no idea it would be until it hit me later tonight.

Michael Jackson WAS the 80’s and for me that was a huge part of my music existence.  Just watching the footage tonight is overwhelming.  Back then you couldn’t wait for his next song, album or video and you loved them.  My personal favorite was the Off the Wall album.  He was young, new and fresh and I loved the music. 

Thriller was of course just over the top and how can you NOT like it?  So many songs to name, you can go on and on.  He could make you want to dance, he could make you pay attention to serious issues and he could make you just want to respect music for how he could express himself. 

It’s so sad when the entertainment business sucks the life out of an entertainer.  The heartache the family must feel and go through to deal with all the media and tragedy. 

I will miss Michael Jackson and I completely loved his music.  It will be listened to for decades to come.

I was sad to hear about the passing of Farrah today.  Not really because of  her journey with cancer, or even the fact that she chose to put her life in the documentary (those do matter), but mainly because she was an icon from my past and I also think she was a truly good person.  It’s very sad to know she has friends and family that will miss her and have a void in their life due to her passing.

I actually was a huge Charlie’s Angel fan in my younger years and I even collected the Charlie’s Angel’s trading cards they sold from the show.  I was the perfect age to want to be a spy/detective just like one of the Angels.  How fun to play/ imagine you could live that kind of life when you are just a kid AND be that pretty doing it?

Life was more simple back then; play outside, come in to get your bath and then you were allowed to stay up and watch shows like Charlie’s Angel’s as a treat.  Aaaah the good ole’ days……….how we miss being a child! 

It’s always sad to lose our childhood icons.  I was very sad at the loss of Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo and as I get older I see so many others go and it just means time is passing.  People get older and you realize life is short.  When your childhood begins to fade because your icons are older and things happen you begin to realize life is catching up with you.  It’s nice to reflect back on the good times with shows, movies and fun times we had as kids.

Wild at Heart - This is an awesome book, not only for women to read because it’s honestly a book for men.  John Eldredge does an amazing job of explaining the male species in a way that both sexes can understand totally.

My cousin recommended this book so I could relate to Noah as he is growing up and I have to say this is the best book to date I have read concerning boys and men. I recommend this to any man out there if you have ever had any issues in your life (who hasn’t); loss of a father figure, loss of love, family issues, etc.  It teaches you how to deal with wounds and healing.

The best part was understanding the development of a boy vs. a girl and why boys are the way they are, and more importantly why we should let them be real boys. We shouldn’t always try to calm them or constantly tell them to be careful or shield and protect them from trying daring new things.  I needed to learn this as Noah is branching out in this new dare devil phase of his life!  ha ha.  Again, either sex can benefit from reading this book and it has a great Christian tone to help you learn to pursue your healing through God. 

This is a great book and I’m now reading a second one called Captivating:  Unveiling The Mystery of the Woman’s Soul.  I can only imagine it will be just as good as this one.

Since I have been seeing the chiropractor I have been headache free.  It’s been almost a month now and I’m excited!  I even did the vacation thing; traveling through the mountains, climate changes, humidity at the beach, etc.  All these things usually trigger headaches and yet, nothing!

I’m not going to try and take fewer dosages of my daily medication to see if I can eventually ween myself from it all together.  How awesome would that be for me?  First of all no headaches and secondly, less money per month on prescription drugs.

When I think of all the silly things I have gone through with my Doctor to rid myself of these headaches it’s crazy.  Oh it’s your neck, lets take this pill (muscle relaxer) and then do physical therapy (rolling around on a ball) and I’m sure it will get better (NOT).  Oh wait, it’s your back, let repeat the same procedures.  Oh, it could be that you will grow out of them in your late 30’s or early 40’s (NOT). 

Two visits to the chiropractor and poof, they just disappeared.  Can’t beat that can you?  All I know is I’m blessed with them going away and I’m praying that they will stay gone.  I’ll keep you posted.