LSM Tuesday - Sometimes Sexy Wears a Shirt Dammit!

Ah, the many different looks of Russell Crowe. This man does not pose without a shirt, which is a shame. Just goes to prove that sometimes sexy wears a shirt. Dammit.

LOST Finale

Everything happens for a reason . . . we're just not going to tell you what those reasons are.

Did anyone else watch the Lost finale last night? My family and I started watching Lost three seasons ago. We started out with Season 1, 2 and 3 on DVD and caught up with season 4 online. By Season 5 we were excited and ready to see what happened next. Season 6 was it. We all knew it. The final season. Questions will be answered.

Uh-huh. Well here it is. The end of the series. Lost is officially over and I have more questions now than I did before. I'm confused. I'm baffled and quite frankly I'm a little disappointed. I think part of my disappointment stems from the creators and the network making SUCH a big deal out of the end of the series. Questions will be answered my ass. They should have stated it as selective questions will be answered or maybe questions will be answered. That would have been much more accurate.

I hesitate to get into too many details of the finale because I don't want to spoil anything for the people who haven't watched it yet; having said that, if any of you have some closure for me, please comment and let me know what the finale meant to you. For those of you who haven't watched the finale and are worried for spoilers, maybe don't check the comments.

LSM Monday will return tomorrow.

Validation

Merriam Webster defines validation as: 1 a : to make legally valid : ratify b : to grant official sanction to by marking c : to confirm the validity of (an election); also : to declare (a person) elected
2 a : to support or corroborate on a sound or authoritative basis b : to recognize, establish, or illustrate the worthiness or legitimacy of
synonyms see confirm

Who doesn't need validation every once in a while? I know I do. When it comes to my job, I don't need constant praise but a "good job" every once in a while goes a long way. The majority of people that I've worked for have lived (and died) by the "no news is good news" philosophy of supervision. I disagree with this. Everyone needs to know that they're doing a good job once in a while.

Of course, not every one feels this way...

Our dependency makes slaves out of us, especially if this dependency is a dependency of our self-esteem. If you need encouragement, praise, pats on the back from everybody, then you make everybody your judge.

Fritz Perls
American, Psychologist Quotes

But hey, they're entitled to their opinion right?

When I learned I was pregnant with my daughter I promised myself I would try my best to be a good mom. My mom and I have an excellent relationship. Now. When I was growing up that wasn't the case. I promised myself that I wouldn't be the same kind of mom mine was. The problem that I kept debating in my head though, was how to do this. How do you balance being a good mom and being a responsible one? You hear terrible stories of "those moms". Moms that are so busy being friends with their kids that they forget to be a parent as well. Moms that are so over protective of their kids that they go out into the world unaware of the realities of our society. Moms that are so ashamed of their behavior as a child/teen that they assume all kids behave the way that they did and don't allow their children the freedom that they probably deserve and have earned by their own behavior.

I didn't want to be any of those moms. I wanted to be the kind of mom that laid down the rules and didn't falter. The kind of mom that could be counted on to be at recitals, award ceremonies and such and could also be trusted to confide in. I didn't want their to be any subjects that were off limits. I wanted my child to be able to discuss anything with me and feel safe while doing it. I set pretty high goals for myself and thought I had done a good job of sticking to my ideals.

This past Mother's Day I got a letter from my daughter. I would love to share the whole letter with you, but I think she would be upset with me, so I'm only going to share bits and pieces of it. She told me...

...you're aren't just my mom, you're like a best friend. I know that I can trust you with anything, and I know that you'll always stand by me.

It was/is the best Mother's Day present in the whole world. One of the people that I love more than life itself is proud of me and thinks I've done a good job. Everyone needs validation.

Happy Friday my friends.

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To...

Today is my birthday. I don't tell you this because I want "Happy Birthdays" or gifts. (Okay, if you feel you must send a gift, cash is always nice.) I tell you this because I'm struggling with this birthday. A lot. I know I'm not old. Yet.

Immortality is starting to fade away and I'm realizing that this great ride isn't going to last forever. My kids keep getting older even though I've asked them to stop. I'm starting to notice that I'm getting some wrinkles (ACK!) at the corners of my eyes and I'm saying things like "damn kids" to people who must be in their 20's. *sigh* I was not looking forward to getting older. I had my first child when I was 22 years old. I was excited. I told myself, when she graduates from high school I'll ONLY BE 40 years old. ONLY. Why is it that 40 seems so much older now than when I said that?

So my question to all of you is this, is there a birthday that you struggled with? Is there a point when you realized your immortality was fading? Are you willing to share that with me (and the entire internet)? Happy Tuesday.

Maxine on Aging
"Take every birthday with a grain of salt.
This works much better if the salt accompanies a large margarita"

LSM Monday

Yesterday I took my kids to see Date Night, while it was funny, I mean who doesn't love Tina Faye, there is only a couple of scenes that I remember. Did anyone else know Mark Wahlberg was half naked through every single one of his scenes??? Totally made it worth the $7.50 to see it.

LSM Monday (kind of)

Thank you Cosmo for keeping excellent photographic records. These guys have all appeared in Cosmo. I guess they have a hot shirtless guy contest every year. Who knew this and didn't share??? :) Happy Friday Eve ladies!

LSM Monday

We interrupt this LSM Monday for this late breaking story . . .


SUNS WIN! SUNS WIN! SUNS WIN! SUNS WIN! SUNS WIN!

The Phoenix Suns swept the San Antonio Spurs to make their way to the Western Conference Finals!!!!!!

Despite the lack of calls from the BAD referees....



Despite the fact that the Spurs are once again beating up on our star guard....




































Despite all playoff history to the contrary . . .

And due to amazing defense . . .



Off the charts offense . . .



And heart that would make any fan and team proud . . .



The Phoenix Suns have FINALLY beat the San Antonio Spurs! This could be the year my friends, this could be the year!

Reality in Advertising

Now this is what I'm talkin' about . . .

Seriously?

When I was in junior high I saw a girl wearing a button that said "Stupid people shouldn't breathe" and I remember thinking that she must not be a very nice person. To this girl, I owe an apology. You were right, I was wrong, please accept this most sincere apology.

In case you haven't heard, Arizona passed an extremely controversial immigration law recently. (I am not going to discuss the law or my opinion) The Phoenix Suns played the second game of the second round of the NBA Playoffs tonight against San Antonio (GO SUNS!). Suns General Manager Steve Kerr made a comment on the news that the Suns were going to wear their "Los Suns" jerseys tonight to show that they do not support this new law.

Prior to the start of the game tonight TNT announcer Chris Webber made a comment along the lines of not being surprised that Arizona passed such a law because we didn't want MLK Day to be recognized either even when John McClane was in office......

Seriously? John McClane? The guy from the Die Hard movies? If you're going to rant and rave about our politics you should at least get the names of our politicians correct. While John McClane was a kick ass cop in the movies, I don't think I'd want him as Senator. Also, I feel the need to point out that Senator McCain didn't have anything to do with not making MLK Day a holiday in Arizona. It was Governor Mecham (who was impeached in 1988) who rescinded MLK Day in Arizona as his first act of office in 1987 until 1992 when Arizona voters brought it back. Maybe someone should tell the TNT guys to stick to sports. I hope someone slapped Chris Webber up side his head when they went to commercial.

Happy Hump Day my friends!

LSM Monday

So I spent Saturday afternoon with a friend of mine working on crafty things and watching X-Men. *sigh* It was a good day. THEN my friend tells me she doesn't know who Taylor Kitsch is. In my defense we were talking about Wolverine Origins, not just randomly discussing hot men. ANYWAY, in honor of my friend I am dedicating this LSM Monday to Taylor Kitsch.