Good Birth Control

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You can participate at Wordless Wednesday & Tell Me Thursday.

Lousy photo of me, I know. I was goofing off after a long day of Christmas activities with family and showing off the pink camo hat my sister gave me as a prank gift. Check out the pose that was nearly cut out by the photographer focusing on my bad hair day and the strange hat on my head.

I loved watching Farrah Fawcett on Charlie’s Angels when I was a girl. Ask anyone which angel was their favorite and you’ll almost always hear Farrah as their answer.

Boys may have hung the Farrah Fawcett Red Swimsuit Poster on their walls but I wanted to BE Farrah. Or at least LOOK like her (didn’t you?). Even in movies where she was supposed to look worn out and used up, like The Burning Bed and The Substitute Wife, I’d still love to look that good! Actually, I’d just be happy settling with her bad hair day. That would be better than mine!

I’m impressed with her cancer fight until the very end. I’m looking forward to seeing the last of her story documenting her cancer fight that was she was working on. I was saddened to hear that she lost her battle last Friday.

It’s been a bittersweet week of thinking back on my personal childhood memories in many ways. Goodbye Farrah. Thanks for being a part of my good memories!

In the past, I’ve had some harsh things to say about Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Before you think I’m waffling on those words, I’m not. Here’s a refresher, because you probably missed what I had to say a few years ago on the subject:

http://www.goodbirthcontrol.com/blog/random-rantings
http://www.goodbirthcontrol.com/blog/my-apology-to-martha-stewart

I’m not a total Michael Jackson hater. Really. I grew up with Michael and sang along with him just like many of you did. I attempted his moves and I giggled every time he squealed and grabbed his crotch area. Honestly, I still can’t believe that my mother bought his music and allowed us to watch his videos. I guess in some way she thought he was my generation’s Elvis and didn’t want to deprive us of the moment.

I watched Michael evolve into a human freak show as I grew up. I think he was HOT before he manipulated his face and his skin mysteriously whitened. I honestly believe the pressure to do the next unbelievable thing for attention and keep him in the media was really the reason for most of the things he did.

I think Michael’s success and attention grabbing antics greatly contributed to making him a victim of frivolous lawsuits and blackmail.

EXCEPT…

All the negative, shady speculation and accusations about his inappropriate behavior with children can’t be untrue. I could see maybe one or two children being manipulated by their parents, stretching the truth or blatantly lying. Again, in those cases, I said manipulated by their parents for monetary opportunities.

BUT…

My instinct says Michael took advantage of his celebrity position to be inappropriate with children.

Here’s something you probably don’t know…

As a victim of child molestation myself, making a huge national news story of the situation is probably the last thing you’d ever want. It’s embarrassing enough to tell your parents. It’s too shameful to tell your friends about. It haunts you forever, even when it’s a secret between only you and your violator.

There’s only a few reasons to motivate you to tell someone.

1. You don’t know how else to make it stop.
2. You want to protect others – such as your siblings.

I was violated by two different individuals as a child. The first I never reported because I stayed clear of being put in the situation again. The second offender couldn’t be avoided. I told because I wanted it to stop and I wanted my sister and other young family members to be safe. The situation was handled quietly but I still had to see the offender often enough. To this day, my own children have been in this person’s presence about three times, and I have never been sweet to the person or left them alone with my children.

I have great respect for families that prosecute child violators and protect their children and future child victims. I have the greatest respect for the victim for speaking up and making it stop.

I don’t think there is any excuse for being sexually inappropriate with a child in any way. I don’t care who you are, what your past experiences are, or what pressures you face in your daily life. This includes Michael.

That being said, rest in peace, Michael. Goodbye to a wonderful childhood memory that made me giggle and pushed me forward to be unique and awesome despite the odds.

And finally, good riddance, Michael. Goodbye to the man that awakened my childhood nightmares that I longed to forget. Goodbye to the man that reminded me every bright person has his own dark side.

Tell Me Thursday for: Flex-ible Options

It’s almost comical the way you can post a photo of an automobile on your blog and say absolutely NOTHING with the photo and people will assume you bought a new car!

Or, as my friend Nell says,

“So, you either are a pimp (ya know, they make lots of money.) or you got this ride for free for awhile. Either way, you’re super cool.”

Hehehe… Um, no, I’m not a pimp. Really. Because all my friends know that I hardly make lots of money!

But I am super cool. Just like Nell would brainwash you to believe!

Actually, I did get a free ride in the previously pictured Ford Flex, but the lucky driver was Erica Mueller. She decided to scope out Twitter to see if there were any mom bloggers in the area that she could make insanely jealous by torturing them with a test ride. I was the only slob local mom blogger that she could find.

We had a ton of fun and took the sexy, flexy ford flex to our local grocery store for some flexible impulse junk food shopping.

At the end of the day, Erica drove off in the lovely pimp mobile of my pathetic dreams and left me wishin’ for one more ride…

Hear us chat about our test ride and our thoughts on the Ford Flex.

View photos from our test drive and shopping spree on Flickr:
My Ford Flex Flickr Photos
Erica’s Ford Flex Flickr Photos

Come back Thursday for the story behind this photo!
You can participate at Wordless Wednesday & TellMeThursday.

Tell Me Thursday for: Get Off My Back

Remember when I lost my mind and allowed the boys to buy baby chicks with their Christmas gift cards? And then they made the move outside and adopted the family dog as their new mama?

Yeah. The bird-brains now think they rule the roost. Literally. My loveable, sweet dog has now lost the title of guard dog. We now have ferocious attack chickens… so don’t even THINK about breaking into my back yard!

These chickens are so big for their pants, they even think it’s OK to crap all over the patio. You know, because they own it or something. David brought a special attachment over to put on the water hose and power wash the patio. It looks pretty good for about 5 minutes. I can sense his frustration already. He mentioned something about shooting a few chickens with his bow…

Come back Thursday for the story behind this photo!
You can participate at TellMeThursday