Double Rainbows

I took the above two pictures on June 15th after I noticed the most brilliant, complete double rainbow after an afternoon shower on the way home from the grocery store. As soon as I parked the car, I jumped out, grabbed my camera and ran to the porch so I could capture it before it faded away. I've seen double rainbows, and sometimes complete ones a few times in my life before, but this time I actually had a camera close and was able to photograph it. Of course, the photos do no justice to how amazingly beautiful this promise from God actually was. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. :)

I even updated my status on FaceBook that same day so I could brag about it to all my friends! ;) LOL!



And then what happens a few weeks later, this guy comes along (who I'm following now, natch). Mr. Yosemitebear aka Hungrybear9562.



If you dont know what I'm talking about, watch this video. I'll wait. ;)


Once you have regained your composure, I'll continue. :D Ok, no doubt this guy is awesome, hilarious, and on a serious of narcotic supplements. And this guy is everywhere! He was featured on Jimmy Kimmel and Opie and Anthony, as well as plenty of other nationally recognized shows, etc. One group of people, that I wish were my friends, actually made a song about him!

Awesome, right? Hilarious, no? My husband and I are constantly singing this song to each other. And Adventure Time, one of my favorite cartoons, even did a parody of this guy. Jake the dog, who is voiced by the guy that voices Bender from Futurama (another one of my favorite cartoons and characters!), videotapes a double "Rainicorn" and flips out about it. Awesome! Check it out here.

So what am I getting at with all of this, you ask? Besides the sheer hilarious-ness and awesome-icity of the whole thing? What I'm getting at is I could have been double rainbow guy!!! I mean, yes most people are laughing at him and not with him, but his insane video has almost 8.5 million views! That could have been me getting made fun of on Jimmy Kimmel and O & A! I would have almost 8,000 people watching my every move on YouTube! I would be all kinds of awesome! I would be an internet meme! If I had only grabbed my video camera instead of my digital camera, and really let my emotions go into orbit, well, I would be sitting on all kinds of internet monies right now. Sigh. ;)

So has anyone else had a brush with fame? :D

So incredibly sad. Please pray for these families!

A C-17 crashed yesterday in Alaska. 4 Airmen/ Aviators were killed. It was a total loss.


It's believed to be the first fatal crash involving the Long Beach-built C-17 since the massive cargo jet went into circulation around the globe for military and humanitarian efforts in the mid-1990s.


If you are the praying sort, please take some time today to pray for those affected by this horrific tragedy and their families.

So heartbreaking.

Ace and Twilight

My 8 month old is just about the chunkiest little thing anyone has ever seen. He is all cheeks and ham-hock thighs and I love it. His name is Atticus and we call him Ace for short. And he is sweet and easy going to boot! The ladies fall in love with him where ever he goes.

But wouldn't you know it? My chunk faced sweet little angel baby is already committing tiny acts of vandalism.
Apple sauce on his shirt right before we leave for church.
I turn my back for two seconds after I finish putting his toys in the toy bin, and boom! I turn around and they are scattered far and wide. (Poltergeist anyone? lol! ;))
Piles of folded laundry mysteriously ending up in jumbled messes on the floor.
Mysterious marker stains on his fingers, toes, and socks.
Moving heavy furniture around. (Kidding! Or am I? I don't even know for sure! :D )



Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking- those are just typical baby messes! And yes, I'm pretty sure the majority of the incidents had more than a little to do with his big brother Gunner. But I see that mischevious look in his eyes, and I just know. Mommies just know. ;)

Just look at this face, these eyes, and tell me he's not up to something! :P





But his latest acts of messiness have gotten a wee bit more serious. They have now affected my good standing with the library. :O

At six months, Ace defaced his first book. His first library book. By ripping out a bunch of pages. What book you may ask? Why this one!



Look, I love all you Twilight fans. I however, preferred to read them in anonymity. Now the librarians are going to look at the pages that are all ripped and say to themselves, "Well this woman clearly has issues. Who rented this book last? Let me see, oh her. Well she looked stark raving mad when she came in here. What normal adult woman gets so caught up in this tweenie romance that she starts ripping the pages?" And then they put a red flag on my library card that warns all library workers that I am unstable and can only be trusted with cardboard books. Paranoid? NO WAY! I know how libraries work! ;)

The worst part? I was in such a hurry to turn it in before the due date, I forgot to TAPE THE PAGES BACK!!! Argh! Thanks Ace. A once perfect record of treating library books with respect, ruined! I should take out a library book in your name and color on a few pages! Take that tiny, precious, 8 month old who has a mother too dumb not to leave her library books on the floor!! lol ;)

The even worst-er part? His book vandalism did not stop there. There was another library book. Another library book left on the floor. Another bout of page ripping. What book was it this time? Do you have to ask?



Laughter ensues. The hubs makes all kinds of witty comments like "Maybe he's on to something!" and "Haha! It's a sign!" Siiiigh.
All I wanted was to read the Twilight series in peaceful anonymous-ness. But my hubs is too witty and my kids are too wily.

But hey, at least I remembered to tape the pages back in that one. Sigh.


What are some of your child's first 'vandalisms'? :D Or am I the only one? ;)

Quick art

So the other day I needed to get some work done and my oldest son really needed something to do besides watching SpongeBob :)
What I needed to do was time sensitive, so I had to think fast. We just moved so a lot of his stuff was still packed, and he was pretty tired of everything we had for him to do. And coloring was out cause that only keeps him occupied for about 20 seconds, and after that we usually end up with some beautiful wall art ;)

My first thought was "Why not set him out on our porch on this gorgeous day and give him something to do out there?" So my next thought was that if he was outside, he could do something messy, which he loves of course. He is the epitome of boy-ness. And really, what 2 year old doesn't love to get their hands in goop and make a mess? :)

"Finger paint! That is the answer!" He's never really painted much before and I knew he would love it. But alas, there was no finger paint readily available. Of course. I usually have great, grand ideas, but they usually fizzle out when it comes to the actual execution. But I was just too sure about this craft-ivity that I wasn't gonna let a lack of Crayola deter it!

So I grabbed a few plastic sauce containers, some food coloring, and some dish soap. Now I know what you're thinking- FOOD COLORING??? Yes it was quite messy, but all evidence was erased the next night at bath time :) So while this experiment was a ton of fun for him, it was rather stain inducing, so I don't recommend having your kid try it right before church in their cute little blazer with the elbow patches on it. It is, however, the perfect thing for a gorgeous day right before bath time :)

My recipe was crude- five drops of food coloring to five drops of soap. Just enough for him to paint with and not spill every where. But more than enough to leave him looking like he just got home from a toddler paint ball tournament as evidenced below:



But trust me, it got MUCH worse :D

So I definitely recommend this crafty project, even if it is messy, cause the results are totally fridge-worthy. :)



And he absolutely loved it :)



But you might try different ratios- more soap and less food coloring might give you better stain results! :)





So what are some of your favorite messy (and non-messy if you prefer :)) summer craft-ivities?

Where the music be at?

So you may be thinking, "If this is a 'punk rock mommy' blog, wheres the music? You say you're punk so music it up!"

Like I said before, I think punk is an attitude, but punk just wouldn't be what it is without the music!

Here is a great site called True Punk that has news, reviews, and interviews of and with punk bands from today and the days of yore. ;)

One interpretation of the punk rock philosophy can be found here. (It's from wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. I believe that attitudes and philosophies are always adapting and changing. So I really think it's up to the individual to decide what punk means to them.)

And here are some pretty neat-o quotes from musicians about punk and punk's perception these days and older days:

Even though we're not the most punk rock band, the way we've done things is pretty punk rock. Just kinda say it with a big middle finger to the record labels and do it ourselves.
Brandon Thomas

I can play punk rock, and I love playing punk rock, but I was into every other style of music before I played punk rock.
Travis Barker

I come from the home-grown punk ethic, where it doesn't matter if you can't play a note, it's how you communicate.
Siobhan Fahey

I've always been spiritual but I've never had a proper context, and it took me awhile to find the proper context. It's hard to realize you can have any kind of relationship with God you want... and so I now have a punk rock relationship with God.
Billy Corgan

It's all magic to me. Country to punk rock, all of it. Chopin to Kurt Cobain. But it always all comes back to punk for me, because that was the last time, punk rock or grunge rock, was the last time that passion ruled the airwaves.
James Marsters

Mozart was a punk, which people seem to forget. He was a naughty, naughty boy.
Shirley Manson

Punk has always been about doing things your own way. What it represents for me is ultimate freedom and a sense of individuality.
Billie Joe Armstrong

Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.
Kurt Cobain

Punk is not really a style of music. It was more like a state of mind.
Mike Watt

Some of my favorite bands range from the not-punk-at-all (Band of Horses) to pretty traditional punk (Minor Threat), from bubble gum (MxPx) to Oi (Dropkick Murphys), and from big-name-radio-friendly punk (Blink 182) to who-in-the-heck-is-this (Spud Gun)? I like my punk in all shapes and sizes, and plenty of other styles, too (rockabilly, grunge, Ben Folds Five-esque, etc).

And let me just say I'm not a music snob. I respect your choice to like what you like, even though I might think it's crap. I won't shove my opinion in your face, cause there's a pretty good chance you think a lot of what I listen to is crap. And I think music snobs are just so obnoxiously fake. Like, "Hey! Look at me! Look at all these weird, unknown bands I listen to! And here's a pic of me with Mr. Random McGuitarguy hanging BACKSTAGE at SXSW! Woah! I rock!"
LAME is all I have to say about that. :D And don't get me started on the ridiculous micro organizing of music genres these days! Also stupid.

So now I ask you dear punk ladies (and gents if you're out there :)) - What are your favorite bands, songs, and/ or thoughts about punk these days?

Neo Punk Rockers

Banksy image from irishstreetart.com

Like I said in my 'about me' section, I believe that being punk rock is more of a state of mind, not necessarily how you look, although your style can be a great form of self expression.

I identify with punk rock because I feel I have views and feelings that flow against the popular opinion of the tide of our government and views about true morality that may make fellow Jesus followers look at me in shock! And because of this, I want to help and change what I see as group thought in politics and religion. And those are just two examples.

Of course the music and fun style doesn't hurt either :) Although I think most would categorize me as bubble gum or pin up or rockabilly in my stylings. Which is fine with me, cause those styles really rev my motor :)

Anyhoo... I think the real punks of this day and age aren't necessarily the kids walking around with ironed and glued mohawks, but those that see the real problems in our society today and aren't afraid to rage against them. And not just because your favorite band tells you to.

A few of my favorite non-traditional neo punks would have to be Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They wear suits and are pretty 'professional' on their respective shows, not easily identifiable as 'punk.' And even though I don't agree with some of their views, I applaud their outrage at injustices they see going on around them and they aren't afraid of the repercussions that may occur from speaking out about them. I also love the imaginary debates I have with them when I don't agree. (Hearing voices much? LOL!) I want to have that same passion, and I feel it is growing stronger in me daily. So watch out! You may find a rant blog on here soon ;)

Of course I may be biased with Colbert since we are both from SC. SC represent! Woot! (I would have voted for you Stephen! :P)

And I can't forget to mention the South Park guys- Trey Parker and Matt Stone. In recent seasons of their show, their social commentary has been so spot on. I love it! And they continue on despite death threats they receive! I desire that determination to change my world.

So who are some of your favorite non-traditional or neo punks of this age?

Hello all you gorgeous punky moms!

I originally purchased the 'www.thepunkrockmom.com' domain (which I still own and am developing. That will one day be my main blogging site.) when I was pregnant with my first son in 2007.
I was still pretty young and REALLY freaked out about the prospect of becoming a mom. In my mind, I kept hearing "You are now a mom. All previous identities will cease to exist. You can now be nothing but a mom." This completely devastated me. I wanted to be a great mom, but I wanted to keep my identity, too.

So I sought out other punky or rock and roll moms online, certain there would be plenty out there to set my mind at rest; that you CAN be a mom and still keep your self.

However, I didn't find too many resources. There were a few blogs and a forum, but not the out pouring of punky support I was looking for. So I decided I would start a site to supplement what was already there. However, as life began to evolve, the plans to develop and launch my site quickly got set on the back burner. I'm sure all you moms know what I'm talking about as far as plans and kids go. ;)

I was disheartened to find plenty of places where moms were saying that they gave it all up and were now 100% mom, their old identity be dammed. Which I totally respect if that is the path you chose. It just wasn't what I felt like was for me.

So now I am in a place where I have the time and energy to finally bust out all of these ideas and stories that have been rambling around in my head!

And if you're a punky lady who is going to have a baby soon or has had one and is looking for a place to go and be lifted up and have your mommyhood and rocker-ness celebrated, you found the right place! But like I said, ALL mommies are welcome, no matter what path they may be on.

<3tprm

*Note*
Since I began searching for punky moms online in 2007, I have found that several great blogs have popped up and I want to share the links to those as well:


* Punk Rock Mommy This is a very inspirational and touching site of a punk rock mommy who lost her life too early to inflammatory breast cancer or IBC. The site is still up and even though they no longer update it, I encourage you to read it. It is beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time. (Please remember to get regular breast exams so we'll stop losing mommies to this vicious disease!)

* Punk Rock Parents

* Diary of a Punk Rock Mama

* Punk Rock Momma

* Mommy Blogs (You can find punky moms and their blogs here.)

* Punky Moms (This is kind of a blog/ forum combo for punky moms. I found this forum during my search in 2007. Great site!)

There are a ton of other great punky mom sites out there! Let me know what your favorite punky or non-punky mommy blog is!