The Gun Control Debate

Munch here... going on record about Gun "control"

Stop comparing this argument to Hitler's takeaway of guns or that Obama specifically, is trying to takeaway guns. That's not going to happen. The President does not have that power. Do people even read the constitution anymore or know what it takes to repeal an ammendment?

Stop blaming "assault" rifles as the problem. Is there a "polite" rifle, dumbass?
      a) a bullet from a .22 will kill you just as dead, as a bullet from a .308.
      b) a .22 rifle is just as semi-automatic, as an A/R-15... that means as quickly as someone pulls the trigger, a bullet is sent downrange. An A/R-15 may look more badass, but it is no more deadly than a .22 in the hands of a marksman.
      c) If a weapon is used in a tragic event and the perp is spraying down victims with a fully automatic weapon... that weapon was illegally obtained or was stolen from a citizen who was licensed to own said fully automatic weapon. The licensing process for obtaining a fully automatic weapon is heavily regulated. "You have to get what's called a "Form 4" from a class III gun dealer, fill it out, send a check for $200 to the Treasury Dept. and successfully pass a background investigation. Over and above that, on your form 4, is a space that has to be signed by the "chief law enforcement official" in your county. Without that signature, the form is not accepted. The Treasury Dept. will cash your check for $200 and keep the money whether you are approved or not. When the form is accepted and approved, and you pass your background investigation, the BATF will send it back to you, advising you that you can go purchase your weapon. You are then subject to inspection by the BATF at any point after that. You may not sell or give the weapon away without the prospective buyer going through the same process as you went through" <<< borrowed/plagerized.

So if someone goes to the trouble of obtaing an illegal weapon Do you think they give two fucks about what the "law" says they may own? <<< Not borrrowed

Look... I know that the framers of the constitution did not envision the weapons of today. The intent of the 2nd Ammendment was to establish a well armed militia, WHO HAD FUCKING MUSKETS,  and to not infringe upon the rights of the peoples / citizens to be armed and defend themselves and their property. For some people who own farms and ranches, this is still a very real and needed right.

This idea that people have, that Congress needs to pass legislation for "CONTROL" of guns. Why? Do the responsible citizens, who live their life following laws, need MORE regulation? My problem with gun "control" is that the control ONLY effects those who are already responsible and following the existing laws.

So... What we do need? How about we start by utilizing some common sense? More people concerned about each other? People that look out for their neighbors and their neighbors' kids? We need to get our heads up, put our cell phones down and look the FUCK around... FUCKING be observant. Be vigilent. If something feels or looks shady... IT PROBABLY IS. Call the police. Call the school. Tell them you see, what you perceive to be a threat and then let them make the call if it's a threat. They are trained to do so. Don't hope for the best or dismiss your gut feelings. Better to be safe and embarrassed than sorry.

You're an adult, trying to gain access to a school? Why? Do you have a child there? No, good... go fuck yourself. You're picking someone up or waiting? Great, please wait in the parking lot, where you will be monitored on video and if we think you're shady, the police will be called to investigate.

Parents... please educate your children on guns and gun safety!!! What guns are, what they are capable of, to respect them as being deadly if not handled correctly. That the killing they see on video games is not real life. It isn't glamorous. Bullets make big messes. The consequences are forever, never to be taken back.

Kids. My opinion is this. Criminals very RARELY shoot children. It's not their MO. Regardless of that, criminals dont give two fucks about gun control. They're still gonna have guns.

So who is doing this killing? What I am seeing is this... teens or kids barely into their 20s, committing these horrific acts. Why is that happening? I still think we're dealing with a lot of mental health issues. Kids that were abused or bullied. Think a kid is being abused? FUCKING call someone. See a kid being bullied? Throttle the little, punk ass bully, call his parents and hope his Dad whoops his ass again! Next, sit down with the victim. Make sure he is okay. Talk to him, smile, re-assure him that adolesence / puberty is the absolute shitiest time of his life, but in the end... it will work out with a little bit courage and the willingness to talk to someone when needed.

Still worried about the kid? Talk to his parents! Scared of their reaction? Talk to the school! They will keep you annoymous. Some of these tragedies could be prevented. All we have to do is take care of  and look out for one another. Love one another. Do unto others. These steps aren't hard to take for cryin out loud and we could save lives in the process.

Stop making this a political issue, because it isn't.


MUNCH  

I am WOMAN!

While I am not actively involved with Blogger Idol, as I’m too lazy to check out how the whole process works, there was an assignment in Week 2… "a day in the life of me, but from the perspective of the opposite gender" Interesting… I mean maybe not a day of my life per se… but just to write a blog, about a day, from the perspective of the opposite gender. I mean... write the female version of me. This has got to be awesome. I apologize for the length in advance, but it was unavoidable. Apparently, I'm one of those "chatty" girls. As always... feedback is key. 

 

A day in the life of Danielle..

 

6:45am- A weight shifts on my husband and I’s bed.  My eyes slowly open. In the bright sunshine of our naturally lit and spacious bedroom, I see my husband sitting next to me on the bed. He has a smile in his eye and bends down to kiss me softly on the lips. A cup of my favorite morning blend coffee is in one hand. With his free hand, he tucks a strand of stray hair behind my ear. He says “Good Morning Beautiful, time to get up.” He sets my coffee down on my nightstand and gives my pert bottom a playful smack. As he gets up, he smiles at me mischievously, (reminding me of last night’s amazing activities) and then walks out the door, towards our children’s rooms. He has already dressed for work. I can smell his sandalwood scented aftershave, as it wafts across the room. He is so gorgeous. Still the man I feel in love with. He works out every morning, rarely drinks and his body is still as lean and hard as it was, when we first started dating. I smile to myself, as I swing my legs out of bed onto the floor. I reach for my peignoir robe and satin mules. I go into our large, marble master bath and complete my morning toilet. I wash my face, brush my hair and then my teeth. I step on the scale lastly and see the same number that has greeted me every morning, other than when I was pregnant. Some things should never change and I’m proud that my weight is still that, from when I was in college.  

7:15am- I go down the stairs and walk into our designer kitchen. I see my husband and my beautiful children at the table, eating their breakfast; which my husband prepared for them. He is such a fantastic cook. I say “Good Morning” to my children and kiss their cheeks. I think to myself how lucky I am, that my boys don’t turn or fuss when I kiss them. They go back to their discussion on who’s the better Superhero. "Duh", I think to myself, it’s Ironman; but I let them go on about Superman and Batman. I place a well manicured hand on my husband’s shoulder. When he looks up at me, I quickly plant a brief, but memorable kiss on his lips and graze my finger along his ear lobe. Something I know drives him crazy, but in our current situation… he is helpless to do anything about. I whisper into his ear “Payback for that smack, maybe later Mister”. He smiles and says “Count on it” 

 



Springtime Chic!!!

8:00am- I’m in my master closet deciding what to wear. My husband and the boys left for work and school a few minutes ago. I’m meeting with some Blogging Mommies today and we’re meeting at Easton for lunch. Not to dressy I think to myself, I don’t want to shove our wealth in anyone’s face. Hopefully our lunch goes quickly and I can do some shopping later. Let’s see, “what to wear or what not to wear”, I ask myself.  “Not too Nordstrom’s and certainly not too Old Navy” With that I choose

 

1:00pm- Lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. I choose a light Chicken Caesar Salad and a glass of White Zin. Soon enough, we’ve gotten caught up and we chose which Blog Her convention that we’ll all be attending. Yay!!! I can’t wait. We’re going to Chicago! I love the downtown Macy’s. It’ll always be Marshall Field’s to me… but things change. I’m just happy the landmark is still there.

4:00pm- I’ve just finished my Blog post for the day and regaled my followers with tales of today’s trip to Easton. I’m sure I’ll have to go on later and reply to comments.

5:30pm I’m in the process of finishing up dinner. It’s a new Pinterest recipe! Yay!!! I Can't Wait! It looks and smells FANTASTIC! 

9:00pm The boys are in bed. I’m laying on our large oversize, sectional couch and reading a book. I'm enjoying some wine and my new book, "Gone Girl". I can’t believe the nerve of this guy Nick! I just know that he killed his wife. "What a jerk!" I think to myself.. "Poor Amy"  I look to my own husband. No... my guy could never be like Nick. He is watching some football game. Fortunately though, it’s mostly background noise, as he is giving me the most amazing foot massage. His hands feel so good and now I’m starting to lose interest in the book, in favor of his touch. After about 10 minutes, he moves up and straddles me and begins to rub my back. I just love he is so in tune with the little things I enjoy. Foot massages and back rubs... I love the way he always just spontaneously does it with no prompting. :-) Oh GAWD… his hands feel so good. I mean REALLY good. Time to pay the Piper I think to myself, as I did say "Maybe later Mister" earlier today. I turn over and smile sweetly at him. I then reach up around his neck and fiercely pull him to me, kissing him hungrily on the mouth. The backs of his hands softly graze my breasts and....

 

 



DEH DEH DEH DEH DEH DEH

 

OH Shit…. 6:45am? That bastard hit the damn Snooz button on the alarm. Fuck! We’re all late. I fight and untangle myself from the sheets, which  I’ve managed to wrap myself up like King Tut’s mummy in. Quickly I kick at my husband’s back and yell at him to get his ass out bed. Shit, shit, shit … I hate being late! 

 

I run into my son’s room blinding him into awareness and in the process stepping on several fucking Lego’s, which my son can’t be bothered to put the hell away. Note to self.. throw all this shit away while he is at school. Fortunately, my somewhat loud and wholly unintentional “FUCK” as I stepped on the damn Lego’s, has awoken him and he is now scurrying to get ready… bonus. Maybe today won’t suck.

Hello... I'm Marty and I'm here to scare the
beejeebus out of you. Our specials today include...

My teenage daughter is fortunately already up and getting ready… bonus… wait no.. I have to use the downstairs restroom and I REALLY have to pee. Shit. I run down the stairs and make it to toilet in time. (barely, why the fuck do the drawstrings on women’s pajama pants get so fucking tight?) Ahhh... Much better, thank you. I reach out for toilet paper… OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! There is a fucking spider on the damn toilet roll! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit… don’t scream I think to myself, as I’m sitting here helpless with my pajamas and panties around my ankles and nothing to blast this mother fucker to kingdom come with. Damn teenagers… it’s her fault. Why did she use our bathroom to get ready I wonder. "Okay, think Danielle, you can do this." I grab a spare roll from under the counter, finish my business and pull everything into place. The spider hasn’t fucking moved… I think maybe it’s dead? Smart mom then chimes in and says “Don’t fool yourself girl, that motherfucker wants to eat you! Kill it! Summon your Xena: Warrior Princess and smite that sucker into oblivion!” Yeah.. I think to myself, I can do this. BULLSHIT!!! This is my husband’s job and one of the few things he is good for. He deserves to deal with this, especially after hitting the snooze… and after the not so amazing night he thought it was. I quickly grab a glance in the mirror, smile smugly to myself and let loose like a little girl. I scream… loudly. My husband comes huffing and puffing, from the one flight excursion of stairs looks at me and yells “What the hell is wrong?” I point at the spider and say “KILL IT”. He smiles at me and laughs… he says “Really? Oh my God, Danielle, it’s JUST a spider!” “It is not, JUST a spider." I say "It’s a disgusting hairy thing that has eight fucking legs and probably has 50,000 baby eggs inside of it, waiting to hatch all over me if I touch it. I will NOT KILL it! YOU do it!!”. He smiles at me, looking at me tolerantly (I swear at this moment I want to stab him… after sex maybe, like a Preying Mantis) He looks at me, grabs the spare tissue tissue roll, tears off a few sheets and uses it to squish the spider. I look at him and say “Thank you, now I’m not going to die”

7:15am- I'm standing in the kitchen, while my son is eating. I've just tasted the first sweet drop of caffeine nectar in my coffee. In that moment, I know I will not die today. I throw a Lunchable into my son's Transformer lunch box.  “I don’t want anything to eat for breakfast. I'm dieting", states my daughter. Fuck, I don't have time for her drama this morning and I'm still kinda pissed at her for the whole bathroom/spider thing. "Fine", handing her five dollars," just get breakfast at school" At least I know she'll get something there... she always does. Unfortunately I'm out $5 bucks for my smokes... A bad, nasty habit I enjoy because it keeps me sane.

8:00am- Thank God the husband and kids are gone... I can breathe. Think, what needs to be done today? Bathrooms? Meh.. Laundry? Eh... yeah I can get another day out of this bra. New Blog Post? So much pressure.. Facebook? oh who am I kidding. Let's do this thing! Coffee? check! Clean sweats? check! Logging into my page as the: puttogetherbloggingmother.blogspot.com? Check!
No traffic... "Shit' I say to myself. I call my only real blogging friend Stacie and ask her to please give me some "love" and promote my page on hers... I finish the call and tell her "Thank you sooo much! I owe you" I hate that Stacie is so cool and I'm not. 

1:00pm- Lunch... I'm not hungry. I'm thirsty. I want something sweet. Hmmm,, wine is sweet. Shit, I just drank half a bottle of wine. Oh well, might as well kill it. 

4:00pm- I've finished my blog post. I'm starting the screen and hitting the F5 refresh key every minute. No comments. "I suck at this!" I scream out loud and look down to see our dog nodding his concurrence. I starting to cry. I hate being unpopular... Then I realize, Wait, that can't be it, because I'm awesome. "I bet Stacie forgot to promote me. That's it. I'm sure of it" I say to myself. Where did that new glass of wine come from? Oh well, waste not, want not.

5:30pm- Disaster... STUPID PINTEREST! I hate you!!! The recipe I wanted to try is an unmitigated disaster and it taste like shit. Christ, is there anything else we can have? I look in the cupboards... empty. I look at the clock...silver lining... Hubbie just got the kids and he can pick something up. I dial my husband's cell. "Hey sweetie, can you please pick up something for dinner?" I ask. "Yeah, sure" he responds. "But why? I thought you were trying some Pinterest thingy out" he continues. I lie and say "We were out of the right ingredients." He then asks "Why didn't you just go to the store then and get them? I mean you had all day, didn't you?" I don't answer. I hang up. Sometimes cell service in the house is spotty. 

9:00pm- The kids are in bed. I'm bushed. I'm tired. Hubbie and I are on the loveseat in the den and this fool is looking at me, like he wants to go a round in the sheets, which still haven't been washed. "Be a trooper" I tell myself. I lived through college and I know I NEVER washed those sheets my Freshman year. Fuck it... I'm feeling two bottles of wine and I'm bloated and gassy from all the salt in the takeout, which hubbie picked up for dinner. I explain that I'm not feeling well and ask him to rub my back, he responds with "I have something for you that needs rubbed" Great... Thanks Mr. Romantic. I just told you I feel like shit. Would it kill you to offer to rub my back or my feet? It's not like I spend my days fucking off and doing nothing... well excluding today. But a girl needs her mental health days and such was today for Danielle... female, stay at home blogger Mom.

My Christmas Musings

 

My post today was inspired by Justin over at Daddy Knows Less and his post So This is Christmas. I've been following Justin for awhile now and I am proud to call him a friend. At least an acquaintance... He lives on the East Coast, we've never met and his Blog is way cooler than mine. I don't know if our witty comments back & forth on our respective Blogs and FB qualifies us as friends, but I like to think it does. Merry Christmas DKL. I wish you, your Director, Peanut and Luna the very best that the season has to offer.  

And with that....

Christmas... I love it; I hate it; I want more of it; I want less of it... all at the same time.

I love the spirt of the season. I see JOY. I see HOPE. I see LOVE for our fellow man / woman. I see families loving each other & coming together, I see random acts of kindness, people smiling at strangers and treating others as they would be treated. I love seeing these looks on my kids faces...



Buzz is so fricking cool!!!

Nope... NOT UGGS!!!

 

 

 

I love my family. I love spending Christmas Dinner with them.... and I loved it when Special K tried to camp out, to catch a peek at Old Saint Nick. (she didn't make it... do they ever?)



Twin going in for some green bean casserole!

Special K waiting for Santa



I hate that these feelings and acts don't last all year. I hate that in the days leading up to and on the one special day we celebrate the birth of Christ, we are at our best. The next day and the days after... not as much.

Most of all, I hate that my parents are gone. Gone to place where I can't call them and say Merry Christmas. Gone to a place from where they cannot visit their grandkids & children on Christmas. Christmas 2004 was the last Christmas we would spend with my Dad. It was also the first and only Christmas that he got to celebrate with his only granddaughter.




Dad and KK in the only photo I've been able to find of them together








 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a Christmas surprise I'll never forget, as I didn't know my Mom and Dad were coming into town. It was the best present I've ever gotten. One I'll never forget. Especially as I ran into my Dad as I bounding down the steps in a rush. Why was I in a rush? Good question... Pants in The Family tricked me... she implied that the surprise guests were people I hadn't seen in years. I scrubbed this bitch till it shined cleaned this house from top to botttom in order to make a good impression. I think Pants in The Family just did it to get a free house cleaning out of me. I'm onto you woman!

Christmas 2009 was the last we would spend with Mom. It was the last time she baked cookies with Special K and Pants in the Family. Christmas Cookie baking days have been hard since. I didn't stick around for it in 2010. I couldn't. I kept seeing Mom sitting in her chair decorating cookies and gabbing with KK.

    


This year I stuck around. I even decorated a cookie for my Mom. I still saw her sitting there at the table. She was smiling. That's how I get through the Holidays. I know my Mom and Dad are still there. Smiling and Laughing. Wishing us the best and looking over us.

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad.

 We love you and we miss you.

Munch



Rescue Heros - My best friend Alex

If you've been around the parenting block for any length of time... you may remember some action figures, TV show and a movie titled Rescue Heroes: The Movie... if you don't, it was popular in the early 2000s. Before some of you really cool parents and fellow bloggers had your spawn, things, peanuts and boos.

I must have watched this movie on VHS a hundred, thousand, one million times with my son, Alex. We watched alot of stuff together back then... Scobby Doo, Disney's Hercules, Richard Scary, Blues Clues, Pokeman, Rolly Polly Olly... Don't judge. Mrs Munch was working at Macy's back then, during many evenings mostly, and it was just Mr Munch to handle dinner, baths, reading and bedtimes. Entertainment was obviously part of the package too. Movies and imprumtu home movies were the norm back then.... I digress though. It was Rescue Heroes that was by far the favorite in his small, little three year old world. He had tons of the action figures and several impossible looking rescue vehicles to go with them.

Throughout the movie...there is a massive, super, electrical storm which is collecting and converging over Greenland. The world must come down together and devise a solution to safely harness and collect the storm's energy before it can unleash further storms, fires and whatnot.... The solution is well.... no spoilers here... go watch the movie. In any event, this is the song that plays during the climatic finale.
                                                   
                                                    http://youtu.be/kbxf64t5hNM

This song often plays in my head. The song brings back alot of memories of Alex and I. The days when we would ask each other everyday "Who's my best friend?" and respond in kind "Me Alex" or "Me Daddy". I miss those days. Those were days of innocence... him as a 3 or 4 year old boy and me as a young father still trying to find that damn manual that my own Dad said he had for raising me.

But... A 10 yr old son in today's world is over those times and his Dad's influences. We Dads are no longer the best friends or coolest guys ever. We're the guys whose advise and experiences are outdated and secondary to those of his obviously smarter 5th grade friends. Sure, I know he'll be back when he gets past this nuisance called adolesence.  A far away day when he is older and becomes a father himself.  I really wish my Dad was still here to bounce this stuff off of and ask how he got through it. He was my best friend too. I miss him. I miss talking about fatherhood with him.


In the meantime I guess I will have have to get by on memories and pictures. I miss you Alex. You're still my best friend.

Circa 2004

7 years later

Love,
Dad










One Bad A$$ Barbie

Her little dog, Cac-ti scares me a bit....

Good Morning Dear Readers...

I keep coming across these rants or snippets of moral outrage over the new Barbie. Anger over Barbie being inked... Disbelief that Mattel would allow such a thing to happen to the beloved, fashionista Icon... Outrage by parents that this Barbie is not a proper role model for their daughters....


Really now??? C'mon...... wait for it..... wait for it.... ARE PEOPLE OUT THEIR EFFING MINDS?

This Barbie is not being actively marketed to young girls, although maybe it should. More on that later. This Barbie is part of the Adult collectible series with a price tag of $50.00. If you're a parent shelling out $50.00 for a Barbie... you need to have your fucking head examined.

Did I mention she is an eight inch plastic doll? It's not Mattel, nor Barbie's, job to be a role model for your daughters. That would be your/our job as parents. Moms and Dads.... if you don't want your little girls to grow up to be skanks and strippers.... well then be a role model. Teach your daughters to love who they are, about having self respect, and dressing age appropriately for starters. Don't rely on TV / cartoon characters or toys (Barbie's) to act as your child's role model.

Let's actually look at the doll for a minute here... She like all Barbies is pretty cute. She is also much more tastefully done that those whore Bratz Dolls, which ARE marketed to young girls. I'm looking at the doll and seeing something in it, that reminds me of someone else. Ahhh, that's it. The pink hair and tats. The doll reminds me of Pink, who is one bad ass rocker, hot wife and Mom.

Pink. A woman that does not let society tell her how should she "appear" or "be". A woman determined to be who she is. A woman who is unique, confident, self-respecting, strong and fun to name a few. In fact, the kind of qualities that I hope that my daughter has one day. It's not about her tattoos or pink hair people.

It's about OUR jobs as PARENTS to be proper role models for our kids. Eating right (Everything in moderation folks. You can still go to McDonald's once in a while) Teaching through example (Not cutting people off or driving like a maniac) Being respectful of others (Talking to people. Not yelling or talking down to them)

As best you can anyway. None of us is perfect... we slip up. We yell at our kids unnecessarily when we are stressed out, we let profanity slip or we let our kids play video games for too long sometimes. The trick isn't to cover that shit up or being a hypocrite and telling your kids not to, while you do it. The trick is just to be as honest as possible, when possible, and on an age appropriate basis. To let our kids know.... that even though we do our best to be good role models for you, sometimes Mom and Dad have bad days too.

Parenting is hard and they should know that. However being a teenager is hard too and we should remember that.


Munch

Hot'lanta.... A Grad and a Dad...

Disclaimer... This blog is a little long, even by my standards. I still hope you stick around and read the whole thing. It was a emotionally hard blog to type write.

I traveled South this week to Hot'lanta, which I suspect may be a gateway to the inner circles of Hell. While some may suspect that I was offered the chance to see what the purgatory of Hell looks like, so that I may have a chance to redeem my wicked ways and lead a more pure and chaste life, that was not the case.

I was in Hot'lanta to see my not so little, (32) brother's graduation. Sean Patrick Collins. One of the 2011 graduates of Kennesaw State University. Sean, I can't begin to tell you how proud I am that you graduated from college and that you are going onto Law School in the fall. Your drive and ambitious nature WILL propel you to the top. I love ya Perry Mason. (even though you did what you did and you should go to Church and ask for forgiveness)

Some folks reading this blog may be a little confused at this point and may be asking themselves or no one in particular: "Dude has a brother"? Yes party people, I do. I also have a sister from another mother, Melissa, who is a feisty, take no shit, always ready to rumble (think I'm joking? I'm not) young woman; who is also, more importantly, a gentle and loving mother to two wonderful and  handsome boys named Toby and Ty. This was the second time I had met with her. This time, she and I got have some alone time and connect on our own. I'm happy we did Melissa. Thank you for being open with me and trusting me. I know it had to be hard. I love ya.

Reflecting in hindsight... these Collins kids are wrapped pretty tight and do not give trust easily. (With good reason) They have however always stood back to back looking out for each other and believe me when I say... these two are not to be trifled with, as they only put up with shit from the other.

That brings us to our shared commonality, our biological father: Patrick Lee Collins. Some people are really shitting their pants, as they had no clue that I was born David Lee Collins after my paternal Grandfather. I'm not going to lie... before going down South... I was nervous. Very nervous. I didn't know what to think about meeting a man that I had no recollection of and who hadn't seen me in 37 years.

What can I say about Pat or Pops as I've come to know him as? 48 hours in Hot'lanta really wasn't enough time to discover and uncover the total sum of his being. I'm glad we finally did meet though. I've always carried some baggage around about it. What did I discover? DNA is pretty powerful stuff. After meeting him, I can say that I do understand myself a little bit better, as he and I share traits. Some good and some not so good.

Pops is a good man. A man that is proud of his kids. A man I could see bursting with pride that one of his kids was graduating college. A man that was happy to have all of his kids together under one roof and getting along like brothers and sisters should. I hope we made him happy during this brief time together.

Pops is also pretty quick to react negatively or defensively. I can say that because I'm same way and I can recognize it when I see it. It's one of those not so good traits I mentioned before. He is also a bit neurotic a crazy, old man, who looks a bit like Emmett "Doc" Brown from the "Back To The Future" with his wild ass long hair.

Pops... if you are reading this and I hope you are... I'm grateful that we finally met. It resolved the "I wonder" that I felt and thought about for much of my life. If I may... I'd like to offer an observation and give a small bit of advise. You seem unhappy with your life, like you've given up on anything good happening to you. I understand that there is a bad past out there. Fair enough, but the past is the past. We can't live in it and we sure as hell can't change it. What we can do however is try to better ourselves. 

If you are asking "Why?" Because you have three pretty good kids who care about you and want you to be happy. You also have four grandkids that although you don't know them very well, are going to go out in the world and make their mark. You have every reason to be proud of your family and to take joy in their accomplishments. Make that your happy place everyday and just enjoy life. I know there are physical limitations, but I'm sure there is something out there that would make you happy to do and to fill your time, while enjoying the Florida weather.



and those my friends, are the Musings of Munch for today.... out

Turning Seven… Is this supposed to be Heaven?

So my baby is turning seven today…. Kaitlyn Paige Mundschenk arrived at  10:16pm on 06/17/2004. It was a beautiful summer evening. Beautiful, in that it was literally a beautiful summer night AND because I won the wager between the delivering OB and myself, on what time Kaitlyn would arrive… Experience Schmerience pal… pay up.

Seven years…. Where did it go? The time I mean? She was just taking her first steps… Getting teeth… (for the first time) Keeping us up all night due to a formula sensitivity issue… (Karma for her brother sleeping through the night at a month and a half)

Now it’s about silly bands, riding her bike, looking at yearbooks with her girlfriends, and listening and talking about all things Bieber! WTH??? Who is this little Tween? How did this happen? She is seven.  She should still be about dress up,  fairy tale princesses, and boys should still be gross and dumb! It’s that too much for a Dad to ask??? 10 years… Give me ten years of my little girl being .. well a little girl…

You know what it is? I blame tweens and teens.  Little girls are being exposed to the antics of tweens far too early and then want to emulate them.  It’s bad enough that she is going to grow up and discover I’m not a superhero, nor am I the strongest man in the world. With all hyper development* going on… she is going to find this out when is she like 12. SO NOT COOL!

*-Totally trade marking that. Hyper Development can not to be used anywhere without the express written permission of Musings of Munch. Thank you.



Fortunately, I still get many glimpses of the comedian she is and always has been. From the get go, my baby girl was Daddy’s Little Comedian. She has never stopped trying to make our family laugh. Her perfect day would be spent all day laughing and playing games with just her family.

She has also always been Daddy’s Little Snuggler. She seems to be growing out of this… Something I strongly dislike…. But like all fathers, I have no choice but to accept, as she'll eventually find someone to replace me.  

Describing Kaitlyn…

K -  Kind Hearted

A – Amusing to all

I – Intelligent and introverted

T – Tomboy

L – Loves her animals

Y – Yells when you hurt her

N – Nosy. Always up in yo business!

 

Hey KK… if you are reading this on a day, in the not too distant future, when you are much older…

I hope you had a great 7^th birthday. I love ya baby girl with all my heart.

Daddy

P.S. I’m sure I’d like a call. You should totally pick up the phone and call your Daddy. Better yet, just come over and snuggle with me on the couch, while we watch some Ninja Warrior reruns.