Identity: An Almost Perfect Escape is a suspenseful romance available in ebook form from Amazon. This is the first of a three part series. Continue reading “Identity Book Giveaway & $25 Gift Card”
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Has Social Media Become Anti Social Media
A friend of mine posted the other day about how Facebook has turned into a feed of others posting videos they have seen and no longer a forum for conversation. His comment was profound to say the least.
“Do people still actually post things here or is just a forum to share videos you found on the internet?”
Our social media venues have become more of the anti social media as we fail to engage one another. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) seem to have transformed into venues of mental masturbation to help pass the minutes as we exercise, exercise bowel movements and or exercise our lack of effort into our careers and selves.
Many a late nights I used to delve into Twitter and Facebook. Twitter especially, as I engaged on many a conversations, albeit some superficial “mom talk,” as my twins were much younger and I found an online community of other women who had the same subscription of life. Bantering, high level disagreements and even some catty non-sense. However, the result was all the same. Conversation.
Today I see Twitter as a monologue, at best. Almost like a telemarketing convention where all of the sellers are dialing out to potential consumers with their tweets in hopes someone will buy their sales pitch. I was saddened to see my own church guilty of the same actions. Services were provided with a hashtag to “join the conversation.” Really? Who would we be conversing with? Other members I suppose, but I found that to be very anti social as well with other members tweeting, never actually engaging in a dialogue.
Facebook has transformed itself into much of the same fashion…coupled with the sisterhood of Instagram. Timelines are littered with selfies and no longer original and or beautiful content. I have watched these two venues turn into a cesspool of narcissism interlaced into being “social.” Social would be how many likes you received for your newest photo and nothing really ever of a conversation.
Have we let our new technology and new forms of communication dilute, if not totally eliminate, any true forms of communication or dialogue? Or is this the way we communicate now these days with pictures, videos, selfies and emoticons? How do we begin to converse with one another again?
With advancements of technology and forms of communication have we catapulted ourselves into the age of anti social media? Recalling an email I received from my dad about 10 years ago, he provided me his new phone number when he was living in Iowa and said, “text me if you want to talk.” I replied and guffawed at such a request, “I don’t text Dad.” Was I flippant, naive, optimistic that communication would remain status-quo? Maybe a combination of all three, never in my wildest dreams would I consider communicating with my parents, let alone my friends in such a fashion. Never would I have imagined creating a blog when just six months pregnant to detail the chronology of my twins in utero, their lives thereafter, our lives in their entirety as a collective over the past eight years.
I suppose since our lives are so busy, social media helps to keep us abreast of all of friends goings-on. Maybe we help show them our interests with the different shares and social likes through Facebook and Twitter. Social media has helped us connect with one another instantly and receive updates on breaking events in the blink of an eye as opposed to waiting for the following day or the late evening newscast. Yet, we seem to be more anti social because we have updates so frequently, so immediate that we can even sever friendships with the click of a button, block the information we receive, filter our lives to seem, feel and look perfect.
Have these “social” venues created an opportunity of anti social behavior?
Social media has allowed us to avoid having meaningful and legitimate dialogues with the click of a button, removing people from our lives when conversations become crucial. While we can connect immediately, we can disconnect just as easily. As opposed to having a healthy dialogue, we just shut the conversation down with block, delete, un-follow, unlike. We can avoid sharing how our lives are imperfect by sharing some of the best photos of the day when the picture behind the camera would suggest normal humanity, beautifully broken. Suddenly we have keyboard muscles that we exert as our form of exercise, because to exercise our mental capacity to accept diversity that something is less than perfect or a comment is less than favorable we remove the threat. Our behavior on social media is dramatically different that in person, acting as if we lack any inhibition to hurting another because we may not actually have real life interaction with people.
Have you found yourself in the vortex of anti social media? Have you found you are only sharing videos and other posts and never really engaging in real, healthy conversations or dialogues? Has your social media become a monologue and not a dialogue?
February Eat In Challenge
Best of all is our giveaway this month. We are giving away THREE (3) copies of “What The Fork Are You Eating: An Action Plan for Your Pantry and Plate” where the author debunks food myths and misconceptions. Stephanie Sacks is a certified dietary nutritionist, dietician, who breaks down the best way to shop and eat foods. Her personal struggle with food allergies and conditions and extensive knowledge makes her rich in the topic. The book shares 50 mouth watering recipes that help you clean up your pantry and save time and money as well!
If you haven’t signed up yet this month please do so! Otherwise please enjoy our giveaway and the great recipes from our fellow bloggers for our February Eat In Challenge.
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Disclaimer: Participating blogs were not compensated for this event, may contain affiliate links. No purchase is necessary to enter. One entrant per household, per address. Void where prohibited by law. Winner(s) will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. The sponsor will be responsible for product shipment to winner of this sweepstakes. This event is in no way administered, sponsored, or endorsed by, or associated with, Facebook and/or Twitter, Google, Pinterest. Contactus@networkingperks.com if you have any additional questions or comments.
$25 Amazon GC Giveaway Eat At Home Challenge #EatInChallenge
Networking Perks is seeking bloggers to join the Eat At Home Challenge. Sitting down and eating together as a family is important; we take this time to disconnect from all the daily noise, technology, and social media, while reconnecting as a family. Meal time is also important that we provide delicious and nutritious meals to eat. Finding the balance between work, day-to-day activities, and meal planning isn’t easy, which is why we at Networking Perks want to start 2015 with the Eat At Home Challenge.
We are looking for bloggers to sign up for a January Eat At Home Challenge – Blog Hop; if successful, this event will be repeated monthly. Here’s how it will work:
Each blogger will provide their own recipe for a meal (any meal) or dessert along with their own, original photo. From there we will supply you with the post, linky for the hop and HTML for the giveaway. You got it! A giveaway! We will be providing a $25 Amazon Gift Card for Giveaway.
This is a FREE Event with a single Twitter link. If you would like additional links included in the giveaway and event, they are available for a fee (purchase).
Sign Up Here! http://bit.ly/1zNTmAy
Dates: 01/05/15 to 01/31/15
Open: USA/Canada excluding Quebec
Must provide a recipe to Mr. Linky with original photo for participation and post on time. Must promote a minimum of 3x weekly using #EatInChallenge hashtag.
Sea Life Aquarium Arizona
This past weekend my family and I were treated to a behind the scenes look at the newest sea member of the Sea Life Aquarium here in Arizona. The aquarium recently “adopted” a green sea turtle by the name of Ziva who was rescued in Florida. We were met by the bodacious and bubbly Kelly who is the marketing coordinator who graciously welcomed our extra stowaway for the trip, my father-in-law who is staying with us, and courteously whisked us into the children’s play area. Only moments later were we greeted yet again by a most upbeat member of the Sea Life staff who escorted us to our viewing room to learn about Ziva and her arrival to the aquarium.
We were split into groups as we were guided to the tank where we could look in on Ziva as she swam and swam around waiting to be released into her new habitat to swim free of human harm and predatory actions. You see the sea turtle is a often harmed by boats propeller’s, as is Ziva’s case, and fishing nets and lines. Additionally, littering of plastic grocery bags also mimic jellyfish which are a delicacy for sea turtles. The turtles will choke on the bags due to the floating, translucent bags appearing to be a jellyfish.
Once guided into the tank area we scaled the steps to the top of the tank on the catwalk and peered in to take a good look
at Ziva. She is adorable! I wanted to touch her as her skin was very silky smooth looking and her poor shell had some extra “upgrades” to help her swim. Due to her incident with a boat, she experienced a collapsed lung which results in a bouie effect making swimming a daunting task for the little turtle. But she paddled around while everyone looked in on her.
Then the moment finally arrived after everyone received their turn to view the young sea turtle where she was set free into the giant tank to swim about with her fellow aquatic kin.
My kids had a blast, all the interactive games, displays for touch and feel, the learning kiosks, stations, and exhibits to stop and learn about all the fun aquatic life in the sea. My father in law also enjoyed himself, bless his heart for tagging along, we were highly informed by Dirk the aquatic curator who told us about sea turtles, how long they live and how big they get. Such a blast to learn about this amazing creature at the aquarium.
This is the second Sea Life Aquarium the kids have visited. In 2010 we visited the Carlsbad, CA aquarium location attached to Lego Land where the kids saw the sharks that they saw here in Tempe and they were able to touch real sea life such as sea sponges and sea stars to feel the different textures and appreciate all that the Sea Life Aquariums have to offer with sea life conservation and environmental awareness.
Have you visited either aquariums or a local aquarium in your area? What are your kids favorite animals when visiting local attractions and exhibits such as these?
Karie Is
Funny how life turns on her axis. While sitting at my desk today pondering my spreadsheets, making a difference in people’s lives by saving one home at a time, and pilfering through my emails I made the decision to be distracted by my personal email. A reprieve from the sometimes mundane. I received a friendly giggly email from my blog pal Tanya and couldn’t resist not reading what she had to say. Voldermort clearly struck again in the hearts of the wizards of blog land as they bewitched their readers with their words, Voldermort was back at her evil work again.
So I took sides in the battle of good versus the developmentally challenged. I cannot help myself, I am like a moth to a flame when it comes to this sort of juicy bits. You see a good mom who goes about with her wit and snark is in this cool little contest for a little well known Detroit car company. I couldn’t help but to root for these deserving moms, I always favor someone who lacks a reputation for drama, bullshit, and coercion. She mentions the wrong doings of Voldermort, which I cannot deny is not out of her character by any stretch of the imagination. No one needs to know her personally that her repertoire for being a spoiled rotten bitch crying wolf is par for the course. Oh I digress. But I comment to root her on that she was wronged and I commend her for standing up, taking the high road, and not lying down with the event.
Where am I going on this post, well and that’s the beauty of my ramblings; is being called a bully. I laugh at someone who is at the achievement level of an eighth grader and dares to call me a bully for supporting a mom who won’t tolerate the same shit I refuse to tolerate, but this less than an eighth grader educated, rambles on with his hate, for everything. Â I mean to read the Twitter stream I need to smoke a bowl just to relax because this dolt of a human being spews vomit and rehash of mutton. Nothing spoken is an original thought…and I truly pity that the lack of genuine thought for any person to not be a true individual. Oh my digression again…
But I have been called a bully…not once. Not Twice. Over a dozen times, so far as this fuckhead went to call me a racist. I wanted to come unglued on that hammering from him and just did…using vile terms does not make me a racist. Being a racist makes you a racist. Me, just a biggot at best to fuck-tards, morons, idiots, cocksuckers, oxygen thieves and the like. Albeit you could call me an equal opportunity individual with the lack of patience for the mentally developed. In basic terms for those who lack logic and reason:
I am bold, honest, and do not deal with bullshit well. I call shots where shots need to be called. I speak truths that often make people very, very uncomfortable. These truths are often the thoughts of the weak of heart and mind, because God for fucking bid we all have an honest, straightforward, no question in what the hell is happening conversation.
I am fierce.
And so I intimidate people with my intelligence, my ability to be forthright, be honest, in not sugar coating anything nor blowing smoke up your ass. If that makes me a bully then they need to add to their definition my goddamn name and the fact that I am pretty stinking awesome for not letting anyone walk on and or drive a bus over me.
Please explain how the above even correlate to “bully” or being a bully.
Because I hold myself to a high standard of communication and transparency as not to stab people in the back and act childish? That makes me a bully? Because I do not tolerate the rantings of someone of the male gender that doesn’t understand basic second grade grammar of to, too, there, their, and they’re? Because I am not afraid to use the word wetback? If that makes me a bully for being bold, rich with my words and colorful with my slang then you deserve to be weak, lack virtue, morality, standards and honesty. Never for one minute will I dote on anyone in a fashion that is passive aggressive and is not direct with my actions or words and if you don’t like me for it…oh, fucking, well. At least I do not exsanguinate on my wife for her “blog earnings & success” like a pimp…aka bully.
The Magic of a Blog
I have had my blog for many years now and during my ages of virtual verbiage and prophetic stories of motherhood that be told, I never once believed the magic to be lost. Where one day my Peter Pan syndrome of writings and ramblings of the inter-webs would eventually lose the lustre.
My children are growing and with their seemingly ageless passing of time, only so sadly marked by yet another wrinkle, another yawn, and an additional candle to extinguish I grow weary and sad with my online friend. I would retreat to her and share my woes, my triumphs, but now I find her and wonder what to say, what to share, where to start, what matters, and I ask myself why share. My magic will be lost.
How can the magic be lost though in sharing a story? No longer will the experience be mine to have and cherish but a commercial experience to share with random strangers who may revel in similar events or can relate. No longer will my memory in life be mine, be special, but it will be read, rehashed, scrutinized, or tossed by the wayside.
My magic is lost. I no longer miss coming to my old friend, finding my words was like water when the faucet was twisted on, they would flow, no longer will the words come. I question if this is my age, the lack of lustre for my online friend, stress, missed chances, or that I simply ran out of magic fairy dust, or maybe I simply ran out of lame motherhood stories of ass wipings and whine feasts.
Yet the words still flow, even if pointless, meaningless and nothingness they are something to me, to someone, they are true and felt which is what I have always prided with my blog. Raw, pure, honest, no bullshit, no fluff, and those qualities are what have driven away readers and engaged them all the same. Maybe, just maybe my unbridled magic for the blog will return, or maybe my fairy blog-mother will come and get me ready for the ball again.
GMO HFCS Organic and Bullshit…OH MY!
Proud to say I have detached myself from the mommy blog cancer that explodes rather cyclically with the mud slinging and pettiness. I admit that every now and I again I will hop on Twitter anxious to maintain connections I have made only because I have had the opportunity to interact with some truly amazing women.
But when I log on and see women, acting like little girls, and encompassing their family in their small-minded attacks on trivial life items. The title should tell you what situation I refer. Come on ladies…first it was stay at home versus the working mom…now this?
I suppose a scattered number of posts have gone up on blogs recently regarding HFCS – High Fructose Corn Syrup. Then I saw the attacks go up with women who are stoutly against this food dominating additive.
Then I did some research….and then I had my last laugh.
In particular, I saw a mom try to laden her entire Twitter stream with #organic hash tags and  minutiae and just laughed harder. Why?
Do you see where my bus is rolling? Oh yes, right over the top of the bullshit I caught a whiff of, where a mom and “influencer” made a weak attempt to state that she feeds her family NOTHING but organic. Really?
Let’s take a gander at the ingredients of the new PF Chang’s Home Menu haute cuisine that was overlooked in the organic revolution:
Holy heart stopper Batman! Can you read this? If not I can send you some phonics that spells out nothing in this package suggests “organic,” furthermore can you NOT see the sodium levels in just ONE, yes ONE serving of dim sum. Over 65% of your daily allowance in that tasty treat. Excuse me….I must go hurl over the bullshit ingested in that. Oh and the fact that this qualifies under “pre-packaged and boxed meals” only makes me want to shove my wrist in my throat to induce MORE vomiting. Add the ogenated, preservatives, gluten and other miscellaneous non-organic and non-natural items. Hurl-a-licious baby. Makes me want to run out, buy it, eat it, and then lie that I never bought it, ate it, and gained some extra poundage to my weight loss venture. Gag me with a spoon Valley Girl. Seriously that meal could make me bulimic reading the ingredients.
Moving on now to the whip cream in a can. I love this topic, because the same mom boasting #organic like the Dems and their “ObamaCare” had NO IDEA, or maybe she did and she was too much the beguiler. Which yes, I used that word from my mostly online university education you whoreson. Ah, I digress. Task at hand, yes the ingredients of the CANNED whip cream.
So the cream is generally sweetened by…wait for it…wait for it….corn syrup. Please refer back to the first picture so you can see the canned goodness derived from cream and corn syrup.
There I said it. Now this mother was let me state again, a STOUT Boswell, or better a beguiling backer. She supports without merit. For those still in the 10 year undergraduate program, this is an unsupported citation. Citing information with no merit or with fault. Again, I digress. Regardless, she is pushing the fact that she ONLY, Â yes ONLY goes organic. How can you say you ONLY do organic in your home but then post a picture of your shopping cart that supports high fructose corn syrup in your diet? Because you are full of shit, that is why.
So I beg the question? Why the hell if you are such a strong opponent to high fructose corn syrup and GMO (genetically modified) foods are you eating the strongest offenders of shit in your diet?
Oh did I mention the heart stopping sodium which also leads to obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure which also leads to kidney failure among other health issues? Oh and alcohol consumption…did you know there are over 760 calories in one margarita? Drink on ass wipe. It’s not high fructose corn syrup making you fat you fuck, its the margarita and canned whip cream. Why are you going on the offense to attack other mothers who are embracing capitalism at it’s finest by agreeing to sponsored posts on behalf of the Corn Refiners and Mom Central?
Because you think you have a soap box, so let me show you some critically acclaimed information for your soap box next time you get on a rant. Which is clear your Twitter stream of posts about eating junk food, drinking high calorie alcoholic beverages, clear the fact you are a high school drop out, haven’t held a real job in years, and that your real job is as an amateur blogger..yes…I said amateur. Because when you ramble on and contradict yourself, you are a dumb fuck. Period.
If you want to know more about genetically modified foods, organic (which is merely a matter of marketing because at the base of the matter, everything is organic, everything is “organic” matter. In closing, next time you try to step up onto a soap box and preach your higher living be sure to check your soap box is not a steaming pile of bullshit.
My Life is NOT My Blog
Lately I admit I have had no desire to write, blog, share. PERIOD. When the sudden change of life events happened I haven’t even had a chance to digest my options, weigh pros and cons, the event horizon landed and now I am left to deal with my spinning.
I talked with my sister the other day (GASP, I know…we may fight but she’s still my sister) and we both agreed on one thing (GASP…I know, we agreed) which is we could shut our blogs down and say “Who gives a fuck.” Because really that is who I am. Â I came to the conclusion that my writing has been driven based on what my audience wants to read, what would be “PG blog material” for PR or whomever. Why do I give a shit about that? I DON’T!
My life is NOT DEFINED by my blog, my blog defines my life.
My writings talk about my feelings, my life, how my life is like everyone else. Struggling to sometimes get through the day feeling unappreciated, alone, at times feeling unloved with the effort and hard work we put into our homes, working an ever thankless job that is glorified to be some great fucking experience. Not everyday is a picnic.
Granted, motherhood has MOMENTS that are to be cherished. When Grant told me when I was 6 months pregnant with the twins and as huge as a house and we went to a wedding, he told me how I looked like a princess. I melted. When the twins told me for the first time “Lub yoo,” I got teary eyed. But other moments and days are robotic, insane, going through the motions of day-to-day. Seriously, we can take a licking and keep on ticking.
I also began to ponder how asinine the parent-child relationship is defined. I mean, our children can hit us with no repercussion but if we spank them, child services is banging on our door calling us “abusers.” Do you see the insanity? I am not suggesting we go wail on our children, but come on, the suggestion just screams what the shit. Â I digress. Back to my rant.
Someday’s I find I would rather not blog. Being a mother of twins is challenging. To say the least. Sharing how dealing with two toddlers wears away at every inch of you brings on nay-sayers about “Well I have two toddlers…and they aren’t twins….I can do it.” Good for fucking you. When you deliver two at the same time either through your vagina or an intricately cut incision into your perfectly uncut skin, then let’s talk. It’s not a damn competition…
And that’s where I find myself lacking motivation. The constant judgment of you are only as good a mother as you share on your blog. You are only as good as your blog. I can’t access your blog, blah blah fuckity blah. Let me say this again:
MY. LIFE. IS. NOT. DEFINED. BY. MY. BLOG. MY. LIFE. IS. DEFINED. ON. MY. BLOG.
Which leads me to the fact that if you don’t like that I drop the “f” bomb, don’t read it. I try to limit my use, but why? It’s my blog, these are the feelings and thoughts in my head and really, I use the work fuck as a proposition, noun, verb, adjective, hell, even as a conjunction in my sentences when I talk at home. *GASP and yes….in front of my children. I would rather they hear the word from me than from Billy down the street, then I only have myself to blame for my child telling sixth graders they are “fuckers” and throwing rocks at them in a taunting fashion.
So I beg the question, why worry so much about what other people think? About the language
used? Because Barbara Bible-thumping Bozo doesn’t like it? Well go pray for me Barbara. Because some Linda says I won’t get opportunity. Cry me a FUCKING river Linda and write some letter in your basement, since opportunity does not motivate me to write. Or my audience does not appreciate what I am writing about….the fact that my kids do not shit rainbows and sunshine, singing like harmonic angels, and I with my perfect hair…I am just missing some pearls to top off the air of perfection right?
Get the hell outta here. I find that my audience is not who they used to be anymore if in fact my audience even exists. Well, Ellen I know you are reading this, so big hugs to you woman. I am finding I am sick of being like everyone else and their damned canned sunshine, or no, sorry, bottle of sunshine with Xanax or whatever fucking concoction your doctor prescribed with this medicated mommies bullshit. Really? You are proud to be hyped up as a way to deal? Shit…then by all means blog. I have no bottle of hype, I have no medication. However, I have great stories, I have great experiences, I have lots to share that have not been touched on because God, Allah, Buddha, Higher Power, forbid I offend, scare, or not play by the rules. Heaven forbid I admit that some days my life feels like a pile of shit and the people who are my friends abuse my kindness. That some days I want to blog about how my husband could do me the fucking favor of putting the butter knife used to make his sandwich in the dishwasher that is three feet away, rather than leaving it on the counter for HOURS. Other days I want to scream about how my twins are Tasmanian devils when they float from room to room making messes and I wish they would just sit and play with me because I won’t be able to do that later in life with them. Why I do care about these blogging rules and playing by them. I never played by them in real life. So why should I play by the rules now?