For the Love of a Rabbit

Momma loves you soooo much!

Rugratz forever!

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

The Plan, buddy included.

I have been taking this class which has me at the end of my rope. I am so glad I am nearing completion. Winter break may actually be bliss.

Anyways, we have been talking about the Task-Centered Model. This treatment model is based on research and was originally developed for social workers, although it is used in other professions. The task centered model is a short-term problem-solving approach. It focuses on key problems early in treatment and helps the client develop specific goals and timeframes. What I like about this model is that it asks the clients what do they want. Although all clients do not work with social workers because they want to, using a model that incorporates their input may be helpful in building a vested client relationship.

Well, during class, we had to break off into pairs and "play" client and professional. Of course, I headed off with Shanbob to the comfy couches to begin our hour of "play". I was the client first and recited my "poor me, my mom stole my cat" story. After much discussion, we realized that if catnapping the Moo was not an option, that pretty much left praying for a miracle. There was even the thought of a web petition to return my furry fat guy, but that is probably not utile. Mom would say "sure hate it for you" as always. Guess it brings us back to Shanbob's suggestion of counseling and prayer. Oh well. I miss you Moo .

Next up, client Shanbob. I liked her target problem. She wants to lose weight. Don't we all. Well, I wrote her a plan as we discussed her wants and goals. We established a reward plan and timeframes. I did a fantastic job because planning is my forte. Shanbob really liked the plan to the point she decided that she is actually going to follow it. Wow...am I really that good? LOL!

Ok, here is the one part I can't leave out. Shanbob and I are sitting back in the classroom and she asks me the big question.

Dunt-dunt-dunt-ddduuuhhhh!

"Will you do it too and be my buddy? We can help each other."

Let's pause for a moment. I am a thinker and need a sec to realize that bathing suit season is in 7 months.

"Sure" I said.

Now, I begin my new life as a weight-loss buddy aka WLB. Actually, it starts tomorrow. I designed it to begin on Sunday. Why ruin my last Saturday.

It will actually be exciting to have to buy a new bathing suit for Vegas in March. Plus, I have a bet with the kids and I hate losing a bet. I'll give updates to track myself and Shanbob. Any encouragement is deeply appreciated.

See what happens when you learn about treatment models! LOL! I wonder what we will learn next.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Rez Humor

Found these jokes this morning. I needed the laugh and sure got one with this. Enjoy!

You have to love Indian Women....

For their ability to play rez ball, take care of 20 kids, and manage to make sandwiches at the same time when at a basketball tournament.

For their ability to make a rez car look good.

For their ability to keep sweat pants fashionable no matter what the occasion.

For their ability to make that all-tourney T-shirt and shorts into the one and only Indian "swimsuit."

For their ability to stay out all Friday night at the Indian casino and still hit the Saturday yard sales.

For their ability to give one "look" at their man to shut him up.

For their ability to somehow get her husband to ask for some of his money out of his own paycheck.


You know your ex is rezzed out if.....

1. You broke up with him five years ago and he still tries to fight guys who you are just talking to.

2. He broke the windows on your car because he thought that your cousin who was cruising around with you was your new man.

3. When you left him he had a bon fire with all of your clothes.

4. He tries to pay you back by snagging on all of your cousins, sisters, and your best friend.

5. He blames his drinking binge on your break up.

6. He comes to your house drunker than hell trying to get back together.

7. He tries to cause trouble by telling your new man that you and him were together and that you still love each other.

8. He tries to cause trouble by telling your new man that you're really pregnant with his baby.

9. Even a restraining order can't keep him away.

10. He makes his mom and grandma come talk to you about dropping charges.

11. He comes to reminisce about the good ol' days at 4 am when his "wife" is 7 mos. pregnant!

12. He drives by your house every morning to honk and wave at you and the kids, he "never" visits.

13. He asks the kids if you are seeing anyone right now.

14. He has his mom/dad/sisters tell you how unhappy he is because his wife can't do the things that you can, such as COOK

Does this sound like anyone that you've snagged out or who has snagged you?


Loving Indian Style - How to tell if it's luv "NDN style"

1. He adds you to his welfare cheque

2. He'll buy pampers for your baby, even if the baby ain't his

3. He lets you give him hickies even when you've been together for awhile

4. He hawks his rifle to bail you out of the drunk tank

5. He don't try to check out any of your friends or cuzin's

6. He'll hang onto you while walkin' round the powwow or feast

7. He spends his firefighting check on you

8. He tries to find a job, even when it's not fire season so he can buy you stuff

9. He tells you that you have chokecherry eyes & bannock thighs!

10. He tells you that he luvs you, even when he's sober!


Liver and Cheese

There was these three guys fighting over this beautiful woman.
They were all fighting right, and so the woman said "whoever can make the best sentence out of liver and cheese that's the one I will marry!".
So the first guy said " I like liver but I hate cheese".
Then the second guy said " I hate liver but I like cheese".
Then those two started fighting.
Then the Cree said "Hey liver alone cheese mine!".


I hope you like them. Just wish I knew who wrote them. Somebody is really funny!

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

In Memoriam

My first Vine Deloria book I ever bought was Red Earth, White Lies. I really enjoyed the intellectual depth and passionate creativity found in his writings. His influence on me and many others will long be remembered and serve as inspiration for the next generation. He has definitely earned his spot in the NDN Hall of Fame for his dedication and activism on behalf of Native People everywhere.

The following was posted on November 15, 2005 by Editors Report in Indian Country Today:

Burn tobacco today for the wonderful spirit of Vine Deloria Jr., who passed into the world of the ancestors Nov. 13. Our sincerest condolences and warmest embrace reach out to his family and dear friends, and a great commiseration is extended to all of Indian country, where Deloria - author, teacher, lawyer, man - is universally respected and where his memory will live on for the generations.

Deloria, the world-renown Hunkpapa author and scholar from the Standing Rock Reservation, made a huge contribution to the Native peoples of North America and the world. His intellectual output, at once free-ranging with creativity and yet tight with academic rigor, pinned down the legal and historical bases desperately needed by the national Indian discourse. He provided a great piece of the intellectual locomotion upon which a moving platform of American Indian/Native studies research, publishing, production and teaching has been constituted.

His writing is legendary, launched by the classic ''Custer Died For Your Sins,'' which plugged directly into the common imagination of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s and early 1970s. Along with ''We Talk, You Listen'' and ''Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties,'' these early Deloria works informed, during those crucial years, the widest cross-section of activists, students and older community leaders and traditional authorities. For a movement that had disparate and very independent bases in Indian country, where political persuasions ran the full spectrum of left to right and front to back, Deloria's deliberate, well-reasoned tone, backed by acerbic wit and genuine self-effacement, hit the formative chord.

The best of the thinking, and the music of a movement of survival, started then, with Deloria's exquisite ear for media concepts and the lyrics and guitar of a musician brother named Floyd ''Red Crow'' Westerman. Anthems of a movement came out of that collaboration - again, now in Westerman's lyrics, ''Custer died for your sins - a new day must begin - Custer died for your sins,'' and in the old 49er stand-by, ''BIA I am not your Indian anymore.'' Targeting anthropologists, missionaries and bureaucrats alike, Deloria wrote to Indians and was heard by the national audience. He wrote popular narratives on the contemporary Indian world, backing those up with deep and far-ranging academic research, writing and editing.

Deloria went on to write and edit more than 20 books and ranged from Native contemporary issues in law and history to ponder on scientific and theological themes. A considerable risk-taker in an era of prudent assertions in academia, Deloria in his middle years took pleasure in exploding and deconstructing all manner of facile theories by would-be Indian debunkers, such as Sheppard Krech III's critical review of indigenous lifeways in his book, ''The Ecological Indian: Myth and History.'' With his Indian-take dissection of evolutionary theory and its many little-founded claims, Deloria willingly stepped out of the progressive boat and onto his own canoe, daring to follow his instincts into important theological and scientific questions in order widen the field for Indian scholarship. He piqued many in academia and government with his explorations and assertions, but this was the way he seems to have preferred it - in the arena, moving the ground forward for the people.

The author and professor was an impeccable social activist, supporting Indian movement activism in all fields faithfully, always giving of himself through lectures and strategic seminars and court testimony wherever Indian tribal people called upon him. Executive director of the National Congress of American Indians early in his career, Deloria radicalized and activated the foremost Indian advocacy organization while creating lobbying campaigns and providing strategy for court cases: often while also defending major community treaty activists such as Nisqually elder and fishing rights legend Billy Frank Jr.

Deloria straddled the generations and carried the perspectives and perception of the generation of leaders who saw Indian country through the Depression, World War II and termination. He often reminisced fondly about the old-timers of his formative years.

We remember the beloved teacher for his generosity of spirit. As a professor, Deloria mentored and touched many people across all ethnic and religious persuasions while always managing to teach and guide the work of scores of Native graduate students and young activists, many of whom went on to gain success and prominence on their own. He wrote prefaces and introductions and recommendations by the dozens in careful assessments of the work at hand, but was always ready to add his considerable gravity to the work of newer hands. He would not tolerate fuzzy thinking, however, and could and would hold his students to task.

No strangers here to the inspiration extended by the existence of Vine Deloria Jr., we are ever-thankful to have had the opportunity to have celebrated his accomplishments earlier this year at the ceremony for the 2005 American Indian Visionary Award, which Deloria received in March.

In every generation, to paraphrase the late Creek Medicine Man Phillip Deere, there is one who hits the click-stone just right, and sparks the fire. In his generation, Vine Deloria Jr. sparked the intellectual fire of political, legal, historical and spiritual illumination. He lighted the path to the fountainhead of knowledge, which points the way ahead.

We are deeply thankful for the gift of this man who taught, in the evidence of his own life, that a gift of intellectual power is only given spirit by service to the people.


The following was posted on November 14, 2005 by Jim Adams in Indian Country Today:

TUCSON, Ariz. - Vine Deloria Jr., the intellectual star of the American Indian renaissance, passed on Nov. 13, after struggling for several weeks with declining health. His immeasurable influence became immediately apparent in an outpouring of tributes from all corners of Indian country.

''I cannot think of any words I could possibly say that even begin to capture the significance of this man and his work among Native people and on our behalf for the past half century,'' said Richard West Jr., director of the National Museum of the American Indian in a message to his staff.

''He has been our ranking scholar and intellectual light for all of those years.''

The NMAI was only one of many Native institutions that Deloria made possible or deeply influenced during his 73 years. From the activist end of the spectrum, a tribute on the Colorado AIM Web site said, ''It is safe to say that without the example provided by the writing and the thinking of Vine Deloria Jr., there likely would have been no American Indian Movement, there would be no international indigenous peoples' movement as it exists today, and there would be little hope for the future of indigenous peoples in the Americas.''

Deloria wrote more than 20 books, starting with his best seller ''Custer Died for your Sins'' in 1969. His powerful, acerbic criticism made a deep impression on the dominant culture as well as the activist movement then erupting on the scene. But he has an even longer career working behind the scenes of Native organizations.

He was drafted, as he put it, to be executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in 1964. He was a founding trustee of the NMAI when it consisted of the Gustav Heye collection in New York City and helped guide its sale to the Smithsonian Institution. He was a major thinker for the movements for sacred land protection, for treaty rights and for the protection and repatriation of Indian remains.

In spite of his trenchant criticism of European Christianity, he also served for a time on the executive committee of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. He was the fourth generation descendant of the Yankton Sioux prophet Saswe, and his father and grandfather were both prominent Episcopal churchmen.

TIME magazine once called Deloria one of the 10 most influential theologians of the 20th century. This March he received the second annual American Indian Visionary Award from Indian Country Today. In a self-deprecating acceptance speech abounding in anecdotes and teasing humor, Deloria gave credit to the remarkable generation of leaders that it was his privilege to work with, beginning with his service at the NCAI.

Deloria was born in 1933 in Martin, S.D., on the border of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Although his lineage was predominately Yankton Dakota, his grandfather Philip, an Episcopal priest, had enrolled the family in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where he was stationed.

Deloria served in the U.S. Marine Corps and received a master's degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Rock Island, Ill. After his stint at the NCAI, he pursued an academic career, culminating in the position of professor of history at the University of Colorado.

He remained an incisive writer and social critic to the end. He refused an honorary degree from the University of Colorado because he disapproved of its performance during an athletic scandal. During his last year, he was at work on a major book on the miraculous deeds of American Indian medicine men.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Word Junkie Confession

I am a word junkie. I love learning new words. I especially love the big ones that are diffcult to pronounce. I go online daily to Merriam-Webster's site for their Word of the Day. Sometimes, I have to listen to the pronounciation of the word several times to be able to say it correctly. I don't mind one bit. I actually find much joy in the challenge. I try to use these words in my school papers and in my blog as practice. If I can use the word everyday for a week, I feel happy. If I can incorporate it into my normal vocabulary, then I feel damn special. It is my own personal challenge....my own personal word game.

Today, it was all about two new words....

I had a brief discussion with a classmate yesterday during our class break. I was given a copy of a guide to visiting Las Vegas by another student and was reading a review of a restaurant/lounge. It describes it as being cacophonous. I had never heard of the word cacophonous and neither did the other graduate students sitting around me. I knew I would have to look it up at home and shared my love for big words with my classmate. She proceeded to tell me how she felt that people who like to use large words that other people didn't understand were stuck up and snobby.

Wow.

I am not stuck up or snubby at all. I just like words. Too bad her nescience of an expanded vocabulary and lack of comprehension of large words like cacophonous stimulate her to make inaccurate judgment calls. We are students by the way, so learning should be our forte.

I believe nescience isn't bliss afterall especially when trying to get your scrabble or boggle game on. It is then that my vocabulary knowledge is my guiding light to victory.

BTW, I am always ready for a challenge to exercise my letter tiles or my lettered dice. I got the games. Wanna play?

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Blog Tag & Cold Weather

As I was reading one of my favorite blogs called It's All About Me! Deal With It! by Mon, I saw a link in one of her stories to check out.

I clicked away and it led to Random Thoughts and Confessions of an Urban Woman by Femi-mommy. On there, she listed the following on her blog and I thought it would be interesting to do here:

1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Post the fifth sentence (or closest to it).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing.

I haven't really gone through some of my old stories in a long time. It was even more interesting to see what story was #23 since I never numbered them. I started at the beginning and counted them all off until I reached number 23. Well, we have a winner after all....

#23 turns out to be from Saturday, November 20, 2004. It was called "Sunrise"

Here's the fifth sentence....

I love to see the light sparkle on the clouds and on the lake when it enters the horizon.

I remember when I wrote this. I use to go out to the lake in the morning and watch the sunrise. Since the lake is across the street, it is easy to do. Lately, I haven't been home when the sun rises here. Tomorrow it rises at 7:23 a.m. and just maybe, I'll make it down by the lake in time except there may be a small problem. They have predicted many clouds will be hanging around here in the morning making it difficult to see the sun. Plus, we are suppose to get snow tomorrow and have a high of 33°F. By 4:44 p.m tomorrow, the sun will be gone and the cold temperature will drop even farther. I can't believe it will be dark before 5 p.m. This seems so crazy to me. I go to work and come home from work in the dark. What fun! =(

Maybe making snow angels and busting out the hot cocoa and marshmallows will make everything even out. I'll let you know how it goes....

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

QOTD 5

?Question of the Day?

You take a trip with your best friend in Vegas. It is bright lights and everything you expected. One night after gambling and partying at a local club, you head back to your hotel room. When you enter the elevator, you spy your favorite actor riding alone. After several stares and a few quick winks, you realize you are being hit on. You are shocked and flattered, especially after receiving the invitation to eat breakfast in his/her's hotel suite. Do you decline or ditch the best friend?


What should I do Kel? Mr. Bloom needs breakfast companionship. I bet she would "ditch" me to make sure I went. She loves me that much. BFOE!


Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

You'z Got 2 Chill

It is taking over my house. Everybody is ill today.

I knew last night that today was going to be bad. I was having trouble breathing and was feeling wiped out. I've been on anitbiotics since Monday with no improvements. Now, the very airway I appreciate so much was trying to shut the doors and put the closed sign up. If your air capacity is the size of a basketball, mine was feeling shrunk to a plum. I tried hard to not panic and kept using the inhaler the doctor gave me. This morning was even a harder battle to get the air in. I knew I was staying home today to try to recover.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

My son's school. It was the nurse. Please come get him she said. Really? Ok.

She found me when I got there. She asked if I was ok. I must be really looking beat up as I gasp for air. I guess my baby was spending some time at a puke party and needed some TLC. With his bag in tow, we were off to the clinic to upgrade my meds. After an hour and a half of sleeping in the waiting lounge, I informed the staff we were heading home to bed and they would have to call me when they could see me.

Fast forward 3 hours...

Hello. The doctor has changed your meds. Please come pick them up. The pharmacy closes in 15 minutes.

I can drive fast when I can't breath. I was there in 7. There was even an outfit change squeezed in there. I'm bad butthere was no way I was wearing my new jammies into a public building full of sick people. It's bad enough, I have my own germs to spread.

After a inhaler demo by the pharmacist and a run through on my new med schedule, I head home. It is time to check on the son still making dashes to the bathroom. Thank goodness he can sprint when he wants to. He thinks the meds he took two days ago is the the yellow stuff he sees. This turns into a long talk about body functions and fluids. What joy! I just want to breath.

Next, my other child walks in. She wants to me to fix her foot. She has two sores on one of her feet, which after close inspection looks like warts. Great. I treat my baby up and move back to snuggling the other child.

In the background, I hear my mom hack away. She came to visit and is now too sick to drive back to the Land of Buckeyes. She is hoping to get over this soon to get home, but was told today to take her time. I guess my step-dad wants nothing to do with the germs in my house. Who can blame him.

I guess I am going to go back in the other room and snuggle with my child and keep sipping my diet ginger ale. And although I do not have the flu since mine is bacterial, I would just like to remind all out there who are able to get their flu shots, to do so. I hear the flu this year is nastier than our gas prices.

Take care....

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Break & Pause

Sorry for my brief absence. I needed to take a break and work on some projects for school. When I finished, I needed a little pause to catch my breath and to get antibiotics. I guess I am really sick afterall.

I found out someone else had a break recently. A nice guy I met awhile ago recently departed from his girlfriend. I guess they had issues they couldn't work out. Now, he is on his own again. I guess it is time for him to take a pause.

A good friend of mine may be heading towards a break. Her and her man have been together forever or so it seems. We are talking years and years and years. After being a part of her children's lives and helping support her when she needed it, he still won't commit. She loves him and has given him her support, but never knows what his real intentions are. I guess he likes the status quo, but sadly it really isn't good enough anymore for her. They have reached ultimatum status and a deadline looms in the horizon. I hope they can work it out especially since her children are involved. If not and a break is unavoidable, I hope she pauses a bit.

BTW, I heard Vegas is the perfect place to pause. I'm heading there in March. Wanna come?

Anyways.....

He said he loved me. I thought he did. He just kept mentioning her name. I didn't know why.

Initially, he seemed to care. He was strong and supportive. But soon my eyes were opened and I began to see. I would have missed it if I didn't notice the small missteps he took. He thought we were going in that direction. I guess he never really knew me. He didn't get my true reality. He was so not in the know. He kept going back there. He couldn't let go. His stories repeated and my warning flags flapped. I tried to encourage, but he couldn't see. He wanted me to be part of his life, but he had no future. He was stuck in the world that existed before me. I had to let go.

He said he loved me. I thought he did. He just kept mentioning her name. Now, I know why.

Just to let you know....the nice guy from earlier....is here!

LOL!

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.