Never ask the advice of whom you wouldn't want to trade places.

This was actually a Facebook status by one of my sister in laws, and I can't get over how true it is. Do you really want advice from some you wouldn't want to trade places with? No, not really. Simply because you don't want to live in their shoes and taking that advice, would mean that your doing just that. It puts a spin on who you should get advice from and who you shouldn't get advice from.

For example, and just for fun, you wouldn't want advice from a homeless person about getting work, you won't want marriage advice from someone whose had nothing but divorce in their lives, and you wouldn't want advice about being happy from someone who is depressed all the time. Why? Because they haven't experienced what actually works. Sure, they might be able to give you an opinion, but as for the actual functionality? I doubt it'll work in the long run.

The other thing about advice, nothing is more annoying, being asked for it, then giving it and the receiver of said advice doesn't listen or discredits it. This has happened to me and I just want to take a hammer to their brain. Good advice, sometimes/most of the time, is something you don't want to hear. Especially lifestyle changing ones. I think Lifestyle advice is often the hardest to sallow and often the most needed. If your not happy, you might need to change your lifestyle. If you don't have enough money? Might be time for a lifestyle change. Lifestyle changes can mean giving up something you like, it could mean you need to change the friends you hang out with, it could mean a lot. Who wants to give up something they like or stop friendships? Lifestyles are comfortable, being told you need to change it seems more like being told you suck at living. Which is why, I think the best way for lifestyle advice to work the receiver must be ready to hear something they don't like, be ready to change something in their life and want a better life. If you don't want to hear something you don't like, your not ready for advice and shouldn't be asking for it.

Is there such thing as bad advice? Based on the meaning of the word which is an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct, etc.: I shall act on your advice. Totally, there is. Only because advice is often givin with limited information. Their are exceptions, example, Go jump of a bridge = bad advice. If you want good advice from someone, don't hold anything back that you want advice on, or talk to someone who really really knows the situation (unless you really don't want to trade places with them). Advice can only be given from what the other person knows, and what they have experienced for them self (which is where the advice will be drawn from). So if the person giving the advice has a crazy drama filled life that you don't like, don't ask them for advice. You probably won't like what they have to say. Basically, it's important to think about who you go to for advice. Don't go and ask everyone and their dog for advice, unless you want a Dog's guide to action (Pee on that fire hydrant it's a great one and makes my day better every time). 


That said. There are people that just live to give advice. It's their calling in life to tell you how you should live, act, dress, wash, and even breathe. We all know someone like this. They cannot be escaped (maybe avoided for a while), and they are the Borg of the advice world. Resistance is futile...(Dun dun duuun)  Now given, they do have good advice, sometimes. A lot of the time they don't and it seems that they just like to hear themselves talk. How on earth do you deal with that advice overload? Personally, I smile and nod, then become that person that I'd want to smack over the head with a hammer. Thankfully, I never asked for the advice in the first place so I don't feel so bad.  

Lady Gaga, the Marlyn Manson of pop.

What did I just say? Ya, that's right. Lady Gaga's shocking looks are nothing new. From her PVC outfits, shocking meat dress, to her latest horns upon her face and shoulders for her last performances follow in suit something done by another musician. Marlyn Manson. When I first saw the video to bad romance, all I could think about was some of Manson's videos. The dramatic costumes, the art and the story. I honestly thought that he was an influence over the pop star. Sure enough, one day in Chapters I found a book looked into it and lo and behold. No Manson.

Manson shocked the world with his "Shock rock." The basic idea, to blow peoples minds with the strange and odd things he would do on stage and in his videos. One of my favorites is "I don't like the drugs but the drugs like me." Where he parades around in white, with red eyes carrying a cross made of television sets, headless cops chase him, and everyone else has giant eyeballs from learning from the television. In the song he actually talks about how society seems to force drugs upon lower classes. It also talks about how confessions will be televised and we'll have "15 minutes of shaaame" This really to me, reflects our world today. (Charlie Sheen anyone?)

Now lets look at "Bad Romance." In this video we have women "grown" out of containers wearing PVC, we have the bath tub where she looks very amine with big eyes, big hair more PVC, we have her show to a group of men wearing black with different ways of expressing their wealth and they buy Lady Gaga. We can't forget the random Micheal Jackson groin grab, Bat hair, and the very glamorous secondary presentation with her in black, sparkling gems everywhere. The whole video is about the sex trade of women only difference is the ending where she roasts the dude. The song however, is all about sex. Free, dirty, nasty sex.

I think the key difference between the art forms of "Shock Rock" and what I'm going to start calling "Shock Pop". Shock Rock, is more gruesome. Showing the distortions for what they really are. Ugly, repulsive and nasty while still being art. Shock Pop, is glamorous. Making the ugly into beautiful art, desirable and even sexy. Both cover G words but one is deceiving and the other honest.

Now I'm not going to compare their music. They clearly fall into very different categories there. I do enjoy music done by both. (Yes, I'm a Mormon who likes Manson, I have a history you know. Baby bubbles is gonna have a heck of a time trying to be a rebel with mommy.) I just can't get over the similarities between the two in their performances. I'm sure I could go deeper and compare some more video's but some of them by both artists I can't handle. Example, Lady Gaga's "Telephone" where she gets stripped down and makes out with a she-male and there are a few of Manson's, not gonna try and find them.

Five months down Four more to go.

Pregnancy.

The Woman's frontier, these are the voyages that many take. Our continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to bring about new life and the next generation and to boldly go where some never dare to go.  

(Cue music, and yes I'm a nerd.)

Yes, pregnancy is it's own little world of experiences. Or at least it feels like it.

The never ending sickness.
Aka, the first Trimester:

Now given this, I feel very blessed that I didn't have a real rough first three months. However, I did not escape the very inappropriately named 'Morning sickness.' I felt sick all the time, spells of dizziness and weakness. Some days it felt that it really would have been better to vomit my insides out then to keep the constant nausea. The two times I did manage to vomit? Came so out of the blue that there really wasn't much warning other then my brain telling me that, 'Hey, you're gonna puke now.'

As a result, I made the discovery that my time was better spent sleeping. Apparently, this helped me feel better during the times that I was awake. This is also where I was very glad and thankful that I left my job at Sport Mart, asides from the fear that I'd faint while up on the ladders, and that my husband took on the office aspect of my job that Apx (now Vivint.). Once that was set up, I could sleep, and work, and sleep some more, and sleep. You get the idea, I tried to sleep away my morning sickness.

Then there's the other things. Your body changes. When I got upset, things got and still get a little ugly. Mostly my eyes develop this never ending leak and I can't do anything to stop it, which then upsets me more. It's been a good thing I don't get to upset often. Your body chemistry changes too. Which is always fun when your favorite perfume suddenly sinks horribly with you. All sorts of other joys go with that too.

Sore body, and you can't even have a nice hot bath anymore to help. Thankfully hot showers are still okay. I celebrate the fact that I live an big apartment complex, there is never a shortage of hot hot water. (Fist pump!)

Holy crap I feel fat, look at that belly!
Aka The second Trimester:

Let me tell you, after being this tiny tiny toothpick of a person for so long, discovering that your clothing no longer fits is a bit of a shocker. No matter how cute you look with a baby bump when most of your clothing turns into sweat pants, old work shirts and the loosest church clothing you had are now tight enough that it feels like they risk cutting off blood flow is just a foreign concept. I still look at myself side ways and have a minor Wow moments. One day for giggles, I decided that I'd see how far I could suck my tummy in. The results, I did pretty darn good and also discovered Bubbles didn't like the idea. Not repeating that one I tell you, but it was a very interesting sensation. However, I will get use to the fact that having a preggy belly does equate to supper cute. It's fun.

However the extra curves are fun. Because that means I'm really feeling bubbles move around. Means the joys of being kicked. Thankfully Bubbles isn't big enough for rib cage shots but bladder shots are very fair game. Ow. Being kicked is nothing like the flutters and I really can't think of words to try and describe it, it's really something you have to feel. The closest is it's like a super little heart beat that goes off just once by your belly. What's also fun, is how Mike reacts to it. My favorite is when I came up behind him and then Baby bubbles started kicking. I like to think he was trying for Mikes bum.

Most of the really cool things happen in the 2nd Trimester so far. Where the first you feel like the parasitic relationship you got yourself into is not worth it, you eat those feelings during this time. Well, at least I have. All of my gross feelings have been removed, well, all but the dizzy and only if I stand up to fast. Apparently blood flows a little differently while pregnant. Hormones also stick around.

Now, I haven't had any real weird cravings. No pickles and ice cream here. It's more of I want a lot of something. For example. Milk. I couldn't get enough of it and I would pound back a 4l jug in two days. For now, that's gone away, but I'm sure I'll be pounding milk again soon. That and oddly enough Pespi is another thing I can't get enough of, but I can't drink a lot of it. Caffeine is one of those things that become a slight no no when you have a little one growing on the inside. So I'll have a small glass once in a while and I really space it out. It also seems that the caffeine goes right to bubbles for in a few short hours after wards there's a kicking party going on.

The random other things!

You can read, and read and read and still find out things you can and can't do. If discovering that Hot Baths and sushi are things you can no longer enjoy, they needed to let you know you can't have 90 min Massages and even an hour is a stretch. Apparently the toxins that those tight, knotted muscles release into you blood stream don't agree very well with pregnant women. I did pretty good after wards, til I sat down. Gross feeling washed over me, so I downed some water and had a nap. I'm excited for my Epsom Salt bath, pull out those nasty toxins! I also learned that having an Epsom salt bath is like having a massage for pregnant ladies, so my fellow pregnant lady's. Go get some Epsom salts and enjoy a warm bath.

Also, maternity pillows. A gift from above. I've greatly enjoyed my Snoogle (it's funky and C shaped.). There's just something about the way it hugs you. It also doubles as a nursing pillow when Bubbles comes to the world. I love multi-purpose things. If you don't have a maternity pillow, I highly recommend it.

I'm sure the list of things, will grow as I get closer to the due date as I make other random discoveries or find somethings that are really interesting.

Til next time!

Welcome to my world

Well, here I am. In the world of blogging, I've spent a few days trying to figure out the direction I want to take this. I've finally settled on a few things.

Sometimes, I have a lot of things to say. Often, I lack the vocabulary to portray the things I want to share and I lose my points in the midst of distraction. As some of you know, or don't know. I'm mildly ADD with Dyslexia. This is why I have some of these struggles. I recognize that I have made great leaps in overcoming the Dyslexia, but I still struggle with it from time to time. So with this, I hope to focus, overcome and grow for the better. So please excuse any spelling or grammar errors, I'll try to edit as best as I can.

While, in the goal of self improvement in the way that I display my thoughts, I also want to help others. I'd like to inspire, uplift, humor, and entertain with this blog. So expect a variety of things to inspire from this.

In the spirit of Sunday, and more importantly fast Sunday, I'm going to share a bit of my testimony.

March is a special month for me spiritually. It's the time of year when I willingly invited Mormon missionaries to my apartment with the real goal of learning something about it. The previous encounter I had with missionary's was 6 months prior and mainly was done in jest. I realized in the few months before that I was dying in my morals, beliefs and my personal integrity. My personal younger self would have been so ashamed of what I was in 2007. So I invited them to help restore some of those things I valued as a younger child and not join the Church. (Who wants to be a Mormon really. They all have creepy smiles.) Instead, I was brought something I wasn't expecting.

In those lesson's in March 2007, I learned about the supposed existence of a prophet of God and this conference held at the start of April where he speaks to all of us. I was invited to attend. Skeptical, I went. There, I heard some of the most profound words, statements that started a great change in my life. I'll never forget those two talks. After that, the missionaries had my full attention. In a few short months, with more and more different and life changing events that where so personal, I ended up joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Almost four years later, I'm a different person. I had my fair share of bumps, falls and issues during those years. What can you expect when you make such a change. Going from Wicca to Mormonism is a huge lifestyle change. I can tell you it was worth it. I know that God lives and that he loves me. I know that all of the events in my past led me to this point. It was with the great help of my missionaries, God, Christ and the Church that helped me make this great change.  With out it, I know I would have ended up a much different person. Being a Latter Day Saint, has changed me forever. I know that there was a restoration of the priest hood happened. I've felt the difference between having the spirit once in a while to having it all the time. I know that it's all true.

I'm excited for the journey I have a head of me. I'm expecting our first child. I could not ask for a better husband. Mike is amazing. He works so hard, supports me and lifts me up everyday. Home would not be home if he wasn't apart of my life.

Also, Congratulations to both of my Missionaries. (Elder) Brett Alred and (Elder) Mitch Dumke  on their engagements this year (It's about time! <3).

Til next time!