Ok so I do really like prince but now that I know he doesn't even wash his hands after he goes PP I might have to change my opinion again.

She looks so much happier then she did when she first got the nose job last year...I've always wondered though, what did she do with the old nose? That's right, the same thing all celebrities do when they surgically hack off unwanted body parts...

THEY PUT THEM IN MILEYS HUGE AZZ PURSE!!!!!!!!!!

I'm thankful and blessed to be back in the USA.

To see about our travel, look at Our Ethiopia Trip

From the topic this morning, I think it's great that now days more and more parents support what their kids are really want to do. It's a great gift when your parents believe in you; it's a special feeling. At the same a time a determined young individual usually succeeds therefore results in a proud parent (s). Then everyone is happy an nobody loses, it's a win win situation.

Good Morning all! Mark and I are at work but we just wanted to invited everyone to come check out our couple page. We will posts new pics up from tequila jack's last night later this evening. You can check out our other activities. Don't forget to join our group and leave comments if you like.

http://vipnetwork.kiisfm.com/mark_anne

Thanks,

Mark & Anne

I have not yet watched ECW! But from the look at the Blogs this morning Matt Hardy did not become ECW champion yet again. As this match as well was way to short. Then I have to question Having the John Cena VS. Dave Batista match at SummerSlam instead at Wrestlemania 25! The HBK Retirment how many times are they going to keep doing this angle before in my eyes it will Ruin the real retirement of this Icon ,HBK.Then There's Mr.Kennedy who I tell you is pound for pound techinically sound and has great mic skills! He gets these pushes and then nothing he should be a World's Champion by now.

I could go on about more, but here is my point! I made a comment on someones blog post talking about this same issue. I would like to take 4 of us (5 including me) into a WWE creative team meeting and exchange notes and idea's because right now i think the WWE is in need of some new blood when it comes to the creative direction of the WWE. So let me know how you feel on this issue. The WWE say's it listens to it's fans? I think it's time we speak!

Just a quick update for August......

I am busy working on new art, commissions and projects!

Also, I am currently selling some older faerie art prints at reduced prices on www.ebay.co.uk just search for 'Fairy Art Prints Esther Remmington' as there are several different ones. They are all matted prints in standard frame sizes backed with card and wrapped in cellophane.

I am hoping to clear the old prints and have some new things available soon! My website www.estherremmingtonart.com is also being updated and will have prints available to purchase from there soon too.

Faerie Blessings

~*Esther*~

                                              ?

I LOVE ALL MUSIC !!!!

Britain's Tasha Danvers added another medal to Britain's tally which now stands at 37, keeping it ahead of shocked Australia , in fourth overall. Earlier China had shared equal first place with America but silver medals in the mens' 200 metres and womens' 400 metres have put America back on top, albeit probably temporarily as China could clean sweep all the individual mens' and womens' table tennis medal as they have the top three seeded players in both events.

2 all my friends here at wwe fan nation: I wanna say i publicly wanna say I apologize 4 not being online very much lately,my internet is down at this very moment & will try 2 answer ya'll's e-mails as soon as I can alrighty.TY so very much 4 understanding my sistuation.ya'll have a great day.later ya'll!

We have the website that the guys in Georgia bought the Bigfoot costume from. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE SITE

Here's what the costume looks like...it almost costs $500!!!!

Here's what the costume looked like in the freezer.....

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE FAKE BIGFOOT PICTURES

Atlas Ortiz has the worst finisher ever what the hell are you suposed to believe that hte belly flop of doom is supposed tohuert you come on if it was the the Big Show or the world's fattest man then i would believe it but a wannabe like ricky ortiz come on who the hell fought that move up.

Phelps Dad not a mystery... just not involved.  JERK!!  From TMZ.com by TMZ Staff

Almost as ubiquitous as golden boy Michael Phelps has been his mom, Debbie.

But nowhere to be seen (or heard) has been Phelps' dad Fred, who tells the New York Post that he hasn't even talked to his son since he left for the Olympics. Turns out that Ma and Pa Phelps divorced when Michael was nine, and has been "in and out" of Michael's life.

"I'm very proud of him and all he's done," says Fred. "This is not about me, it's about him."

******************************************

...Well at least he knows his place.  It always cracks me up when Fathers ditch their familes....and then once they make it big, they want back in (ala Michael Lohan).

PUH-LEAZE!  At least this out of the picture dad seems content to stay that way.

I am tired today. I did not sleep well last night. Either did Justin. This house thing has us worrying about everything. Luckily Justin is the calm and collected one in the group. I am totally opposite. So I am stressing out and getting frustrated a lot. He knows how to calm me down (most of the time!). If it wasn't for him I'd be a nervous wreck!

We all safely made it back home, and are very thankful.  It was not without event getting everyone home, as we had a few snags.

So much has happened in the last week since my last post, and the family is still besieged by the Flu.  Turns out it is still Flu season in Africa and the kids caught it, after returning home.

Half the family is on antibotics including the family dog, who was lethargic and not eating when we returned home.

All that said we are still filled with Joy at having our complete family home in the Good old USA.

It would be hard to describe all the events as they unfolded, but i'll try to give a brief glimpse of some highlights.  I'll also reference a blog from our case worker which gives some information (this is about us)

http://www.homebyanotherway-ethiopia.blogspot.com/

We had some event packed days.  We ate local fare and watched local dancers from the various tribes.  Visited the zoo, and various other highlights.

We touring a village of the tribe of our daughter's birth mother.  Our car broke down with a flat tire, and we walked through the muddy streets to where the school facility is being built for the local children by Buckner Bright Hope.  We are surrounded by children and some adults, as the funny foreigners who don't like walking in the mud.  It actaully was great fun...

Children laughed, and people tried to help.  Some wanted their picture taken, so they could see it on the display on our camera's.  We saw a very brief glimpse of how the locals live, looking in there huts.

We even attended Church on Sunday.  We left after 3 hours, just before the sermon was to start.  Services in the states are barely a blip on the watch compared to Ethiopia services.

However sunday night our sweet baby, started to pull on her ears, and then threw up several times.  We thought she might have an ear infection, and were also concerned for her up coming air plane trip.  I found our case worker in the hotel business center, and was asking if any way we could get here to a doctor before departure. 

Then God stepped in and provided.  Another women overheard me, and said her husband was a doctor and he'd be glad to help.  Told us there room number, and told us to visit him.  They were from N. Carolina and also there to adopt.

We were relieved to get medical care, and get her started on antiobotics.  She perked up quickly and then turned out to be a real good traveler on the return trip.

However, the same family from N. Carolina told us their friends had traveled back via London as we planned to and they had to get a transit visa to do so from the UK.

So we started the next morn, the day before our flight to try to get one.  This turned out to be many phone calls, that confirmed (so it seemed) we needed one, and would have to visit the local UK office with entire family to get one.  We arrived there and begged and pleaded to get our visa for the flight the next day.  They gave us a 24 page form, asked for photo of baby, and money, then told us after taking everything after a long wait in queue, we'd have to wait 3 days to get it.  All this and we aren't even leaving the airport in the UK, and will only have 3 hour layover....

I continued to talk to UK staff, and beg and plead to get us home the next day.  Then finally assuming there was no more could be done, called our travel agent.  Travel agent confirmed my fears (having had trouble getting tickets in the 1st place on the return trip).  No available seats out of Ethiopia for some time (over a week).

Then God provided yet again.  We talked to another staff to get our application in, and prepare to send part of the family home, and one of us stay with baby for the remaining time till we could get a flight out.  Then UK finally after calling embassy and several more people, says you dont' need the visa.  This was then also confirmed by agency staff, that since we are not leaving airport we dont' even need the visa.  I'd already told the staff this numerous times in my pleadings, but apparently the rules aren't clear to everyone.

Then i asked do we need some letter or proof, it's ok and we don't need the visa.  I'm told "no, just tell them the embassy said your are ok to travel, if they question you"!!  Amazaing, then at the airport, no one even asked on the way back.....

We are so blessed and glad to be home, and most are on the mend.

I think the beatles were close, it should have been...

Back in the US,

Back in the US,

Back in the USA...

You don't know how lucky you are...

Bill

Arn't they taking Nick Cannons job? On a private yacht on Wednesday in Capri, Mariah gets dried off after going for a swim. Lifes gotta be really hard when you have to have a team by your side to ensure that you are properly taken care of.

So, where was I with this? Oh yea, the wacko family. I've found out more about my family in the last 3 years than I ever wanted to know. I'm admittedly not close to a lot of them, and never have been. But, I won't be trying to strengthen the bonds with them, either.

But, back to Mom. So, after the abortion incident, I move and things are relatively quiet. But, that's because I live on my own. I still see her, of course, but there's no control. Now, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I'm not proud of them, but each of them has helped me get to where I am today, and I regret nothing. I wouldn't be where I am, and who I am without those mistakes. My mother seems to dwell on these.

I've been through a lot of failed relationships, spanning 3 children. But, I have 3 children because of those relationships and I do not regret that. My mother thinks that this attitude is a psychosis of some sort. That I should have repented and resented the fact my kids existed, which I think is a bit twisted.

During those relationships, one thing was always a factor and that's that each one of those men despised my mother. I've only had 3 relationships in my entire life where my mother was not a factor, and each of those are cases where I didn't live anywhere near her. Like now. I've been with my husband for 4 years, I live 2000 miles away from my mother. I believe that this is large part of why my life is significantly less stressful. She still calls me everyday, but she doesn't live here. Yet. And I'll get to that later.

Among the other mind jobs my mother has tried playing on me there was one other. It started in the mid 90's and is waning, now. She decided back then that she needed help, and that since I also seemed to need help, we should move into a new house together. No, that's not the mind job, but it started shortly after this because that deal was an absolute tragedy resulting in us being evicted and my winding up with a $3500 judgement on my credit, but I'm not going to elaborate on it because it would need it's own entry. But, needless to say, I ended up trying to help. As a gift for that I got that judgement, anxiety disorder and panic attacks. I was a complete neurotic by this time. So, once we were evicted, I moved in with someone connected to my job. A female.

This female was studying Wicca. When I first heard this news, I stopped dead in my tracks and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Pagan. That's what I'd always been, and I knew it at that moment. I'd been spiritually dead until the abortion thing, and didn't know what was leading me, but at that moment I did.

I won't go into living with this person because, as a whole, it was a huge mistake and a really bad time in my life but I did get something out of it and it lead directly to who I am today. She wasn't serious about her path, in fact, I'm not even sure she saw it as a spiritual path or a religion. She'd gotten into buying books on Wicca after watching "the Craft" and I would laugh at that, but it's the truth and it makes me cry. That's the point in time where I first saw that movie, and apart from perhaps 1 or 2 scenes of entertainment, it was a waste of 101 minutes of my life. But, back to the roomy. I'd be very surprised if she actually stuck with Wicca, or practices it with any degree of seriousness, today. I haven't seen her since 1997, and our aquaintence didn't last long. But, it really was an important part of my growth, and I'm thankful for it. But, it leads to this other mind job.

It was around this time that my mother turned to Christianity seriously. But, not seriously like someone who goes to church every time the doors open, I mean seriously as in trying to beat everyone over the head with her Jesus figurines. I call my mother's faith "the Televangelist Religion" and for a very good reason. That's where she gets all of her information and worship practices. Even going so far as to send these people large sums of cash, and I'd laugh at that if it weren't the truth and disturbing. To walk in my mother's house today, is a very scary experience.

Now, I'm not against Christians in any way, but there are some out there who scare the shit out of me and I won't lie about that. My mother is one of them. To be in her home is so uncomfortable that the last time I was in there, which was in June, for all of 2 hours, was so bad that I literaly had a panic attack standing right in the living room floor. There's no peacefulness in her house it's like lying down in a casket, closing the lid and burying it while you're still alive and then suffocating. There are Jesus pictures and paintings all over the walls. About 10 or 15 of them, I lost count. I think she's got one of the "Last Supper" which is a nice painting and I like it but added to this mess....oi. She has so many curio shelves and cabinets that I've lost count on how many are crammed into a two bedroom house, but all of them are lined front to back, side to side with Jesus figurines, Angel statues, Bible verse nick nacks, etc. And she has the televangelist TV station, TBN, blaring at top level. 24/7. 365. I don't think I've ever been more uncomfortable in a Christian setting before, until that day. My in laws are Baptists, my husband is a Baptist.....but on this day, my comfort level was breached. I've even attended church with my in laws and never once felt odd. I realize that all that stuff makes my mother happy and that's great, but I doubt I can ever go back into that environment for anymore than 45 minutes. It's just stifling. But, I'm getting off track.

Anyway, so, she embraced Jesus. Well, I was totally up front about the fact that Jesus was not my savior. This didn't go over well. And I knew it wouldn't. So I wasn't surprised about that, but what she did next did surprise me. She got this friend. I know where they met, and it was at work, which is normal. But, what wasn't normal was the nature of this friendship. The girl was 22 years old. My mother, at the time, was 50. The girl had a small child and was single. My mother completely ran this girl's life. Telling her how to raise her child, trying to control her just as she had everyone else. And this girl allowed it. Her whole life totally revolved around my mother. Coming over everyday, going places everyday, etc. My mother even started taking her child along with my children places. And being this child's "grandma" even though he had two of those already. Now, this isn't all that disturbing, but it started to be when she started making comments about this relationship with this girl.

"Oh, she's so nice, I can't wait for you to meet her, it's like she's my long lost daughter!" "We get along like a million bucks, just like the daughter I never had!" "Oh, she got me to go to her church! It's a wonderful place and she's going to heaven someday, that's for sure!" "The boys really love her son, just like brothers!!"(this was an outright lie, my kids attest to this to this day). It was distrubing on such a level that even my own brother commented on it to me one day. He was mortified about what was going on. What he, and my mother apparently, couldn't figure out was why it didn't seem to bother me. And it didn't above and beyond the fact that it was nutty on a level that is staggering even from an outsider's point of view. Why? Because I'd already detached from her on an emotional level. Her acceptance of me, and her affections didn't mean anything at that point. I love her, and loved her then, but was not concerned about whether or not that love was returned because I didn't need it. For her to "replace" me wasn't an issue. It still isn't and it's still something that my brother doesn't understand. Even my middle son, who just found out about all those things she said to me, thinks it was rude and disturbing and doesn't understand why I have never confronted it, or cared. One thing he is adamant about, though, is that he hated that girl's kid, and that kid being an "interloper" as he calls it. So, in a way, she was kind of perpetrating that on my kids, too. I see that now, but didn't at the time.

It was at this time that I knew where I needed to be, and that was far away from the negativity of this lifestyle. I went through 2 more relationships during that time, and met my husband. We were friends for 4 years before we ever got together, I think that's why it works. We just mesh well. My mother doesn't know him well, when she does she'll realize that she can't run him, he'll tell her to step off. We live far away, but that's not going to last because she now wants to move closer to us. This makes me stressed out. It's amazing how things work when you don't allow negativity near you because the closer you get to a person who's negative, or emits negative energy, you can actually feel it in every single fiber of your being. I got exponentially sicker, physically, the closer I got to her house this summer. I suffer from a lot of things, but all of it is stress based I fully and 100% believe that. Exponentially sicker to the point of having a panic attack in the middle of her living room. And now she wants to come stay with us for a month over the holidays. I'm not sure how I'll deal with this. I don't think there's a broom big enough to sweep out the astral negativity from a month of her being here. I'll be cleansing and fortifying my sacred space for 5 years after a visit like that.

After moving away 4 years ago, she tried to control me over the phone. Telling me what I should and shouldn't eat, drink, do, how to raise my kids. It doesn't work. And that's why she wants to move, now. She calls me almost everyday. Sometimes we have nice conversations, I won't lie about that. There are days when it's almost like she's a different person. But, those are few and far between. She didn't mention my religion for almost 11 years, until recently. She's always tried to drag me to church, or she'll talk about some televangelist that I need to watch from the TBN channel and what good work they do. I don't really talk about my spiritual path much to people, because it's personal and I don't feel like I need to. The straw with this issue was my mother sending 5 copies of the Bible home with me this summer for my kids. 5 different copies, I'm not kidding. So that means that we now have 8 copies in here now because we already had 3. I have one son who's an atheist, one who "just believes in God" and one who can't tell us because he's handicapped. We didn't need 8 copies of the Bible. I finally told her that she was well aware of the fact that I wasn't Christian and she could stop trying, now. I think she thought I was going through a phase back then, because she seemed surprised. And horrified. And then she told me that she didn't really care about my religion. I was happy to hear that, but I know it's a lie also. I know she cares about what my religion is because if she didn't she would be trying to stuff me full of the Televangelist Religion. I have decided that I just won't worry about it, again. And I'll just let it go in one ear and out the other.

I've detached from her on a level that is almost scary even from my perspective. I care about her, I don't want her sick or hurt or harmed, but I'm not emotional over her beyond being stressed out about her presence. I need to learn to sheild myself more, I think. Perhaps if I were sheilding properly, I would not be affected by her negativity and her somewhat evil personality. I've tried to just avoid negativity, rather than face it and sheild from it. So, I guess I'm in need of a good sheilding meditation or something. I definately need to sheild my home, that's for sure.

There's so much more to this than what I've relayed here. But, it'll come out in time. My mind races 500 miles per second when I try to write about my mother. There is so much depression and anger and disturbance on that subject that it's hard to relay it without it being jumbled and jumping around all over.

More later.

Rock on Michael Phelps!!!