GOING OUT ON A LIMB...LITERALLY

Tony Walker
I'm already looking towards next summer.
No this isn't a "I hate winter" bitch and moan session.
I have good reason to look towards next summer.

With Social Security paying me next to nothing then cutting my pay this past June (I am making less than nothing now!) and my discrimination lawsuit against Verizon moving at a slow pace, I need money now. I need to focus on my new career of performing. I need to move forward.
So I've come up with a business idea that may be the answer to my financial problems, which then means it may fix some marriage issues.

TRUE FAMILY...A SURPRISING LESSON

Tony Walker

What is the true meaning of the word family? Is family a parent, sibling, cousin, etc? Or is it your closest friends? Who do you rely on more? Who is the first person you turn to when you need something?
A buddy of mine was recently sick. His traditional family, the parents and siblings, were NOT there for him. For the first time in his life he asked for help. He didn't get much of it. He was so disappointed and let down. He said he now looks at his family in a much different light.
Another friend of mine is constantly fighting with her family. Her family does nothing but put her down. She recently had a scheduling issue with work where she needed someone to watch her kids for a little while before and after school. When you have something like that going on who do you turn to first? Your family right??? Well her own parents told her that she's crazy if she thinks they're going to watch her kids for her. Do you believe that???
This made me think. I hardly have anything to do with my extended family. I'd rather spend the Holidays with Salbo, Murph, and Boyle than my "real" family. Friends like them are my family as far as I'm concerned.
Tell us what you think. Almost everyone I know has a story about family. This one's fighting with that one over a will. This one is fighting with that one over who gets more attention. Blah blah blah. Do you have a story like this? Do you rely on friends more than family or is your family always there when you need them?

CABIN FEVER.....

Dawn Boyle

I am at the turning point of the summer. This is where I start wishing I had put the kids in camp. When I realize that I have not had a break from them - NOT ONE DAY- since June 26. We all feel it. Everyone is fighting, bickering, anytime they both are in the basement it seems like they are WWF wrestlers.

I have been stuck in the house all week with my tooth issue. Which also means the girls have as well. I am crawling the walls. I need to bust out. Thinking ladies night or maybe ladies weekend (ahhh...could you imagine). There is something to be said for "me" time.

I will never forget a friend who had a baby shortly after my first. She was going out three times a week at night with friends or her husband. Had a babysitter come in three times a week during the day as well for her "Mommy Time", she would say to me "a happy Mommy is a much better Mommy". I thought she was nuts. How could she leave her kid that often. Well, let me tell you how smart she was. That kid, now 11, is so well adjusted. Doesn't have any sleepover issues (both of mine do), the kid doesn't freak out when Mommy goes away for a night or two with the Daddy, so that relationship is also very good.

My house is run by the terrorists that live here. The ones I never wanted to be away from. The ones that got (still do) all of my attention every minute of the day. The ones who have the need to just walk in on me when I am in the bathroom without knocking and not even thinking twice about it.

It's not like I really want them back in school, yet. But would LOVE a little break. I wish that they woke up and said they wanted to have a sleepover at Grandmas. Absence makes the heart grow founder...in fact maybe Greg should go for that sleepover too! Can you imagine....the entire house to yourself overnight?

With my luck and they way I have been programmed, I would probably end up missing them too much and begging them to come home early. I am as dependent on them as they are on me in this crazy little nut house I call my own.

So with only a handful of weeks left til school starts, I will bite my tongue about needing a break (try to) and realize how wonderful this time really is. I look forward to the days when we can look back and laugh about how the two of them USED to beat the crap out of each other and when the end of the world was all because "she won't get out of my room". Until then...I ring the bell and tell them to get in their corners til the next round.

YOU ALWAYS HURT THE ONE YOU LOVE

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

I read a post on Facebook by a good friend. It read: “Why do people have to be so cruel?” She was talking about someone who was once a friend and colleague who has gone out of his way to say hurtful things simply to wound her. It made me wonder. What kind of person purposely says things to cause others pain? Then it came to me. Strangers don’t know enough about us to find our “weak” point, or something that would hurt. And even if they did happen upon a sensitive point, they’re strangers, so who cares? It’s only those who we have let get close to us in some way, those we care about, trust, and maybe even love, who can cause us this kind of pain.

So why so those we care about set out to injure us?  I believe that some people who tend to be cruel have it deeply seated in their nature. They’re mean hearted and just enjoy causing pain. Others are just manipulative and use insults and slurs to gain emotional control over another in order to get what they want. I also think some people hurt in exchange for what they feel was a hurt aimed at them.
Whatever the reason, it’s destructive and I’ve gleaned from personal experience that it’s something we must teach ourselves to put a stop to. In my learning process I tried to ignore the cruel remarks and inferences that were aimed at me by loved one. I reminded myself that the things he said weren’t true. I tried pointing that out, but realized that you can’t reason with an angry person while he’s angry. With my husband’s help and support I started to build a shield against the abuse I was receiving from this person. I hung up , walked away or deleted the message as soon as a negative comment was made. I regularly remind myself that others can only hurt me if I let them. I’ve chosen not to let them anymore. It also helps to remember the old song “You always hurt the one you love” so at least I know that this person loves me somewhere deep down!

There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.

                                                                                          Ella Wheeler Wilcox


I hope the experience of working through this will make me a person who thinks before she speaks and will help me to refrain from saying anything that might cause pain to those I love. I hope it will inspire you to do the same.

SHE SAID....

Dawn Boyle


Tony...Tony...Tony....if only I could clone you!

I have this conversation all the time with my friends who happen to "STAY HOME". It amazes me how much more you benefit from leaving the house to "WORK" for 8 hours instead of doing it out of the house.

If I had a dime for every single time I heard "but I get up at 4:00AM and go to work", I would NEVER have to work again! For some strange reason the caretaker gets the short end of the stick. My husband thinks that I lay around all day long getting my hair and nails done when the truth is I am usually up the same time he is, but my work day does not end the same time. I never get to leave work, in fact the only time I leave here is to go get MORE WORK! I am up way past his 8:30PM bedtime and do not get "UNION" breaks throughout the day.

The lame excuses crack me up. Hell would freeze over if I had the opportunity to actually beat him to the punch of getting alone time or the chance to blow off a family obligation and have him at the reigns.

I am seriously thinking about going away for a week, without a phone to be contacted on, without all my family and friends around to give him a hand and see exactly what would happen. I am sure the laundry would sit, the sink would be filled and the menu would consist of take out, no one would go to school and they would never get to after school activities.

NOW THAT'S MY KIND OF CHALLENGE, THE SEVEN DAY MAKE THEM DO SOMETHING CHALLENGE!

TONY I SALUTE YOU & THE OTHER MR. MOM'S WHO KNOW HOW MUCH HARDER IT IS TO STAY HOME!!! MUCH LOVE WALKER!

HE SAID....

Tony Walker


Before my rebirth into a career in comedy I worked at a major telephone company. I put in poles, put the cables on those poles, etc. Basic construction type work. That field has a high population of men in it. So I used to hear a ton of complaints these guys would make about their wives.
One thing I heard all the time was the fights over family obligations.
We need the money but yet she bitches that I'm always working.
I just wanna watch the game for a little while.
I only stepped out for one beer.
It's your family why do I have to go?
Why do you have to go now?
Can't you take the kids with you?
These are just a few of the complaints all of us have heard right? I know I've heard them over & over from guys I know.
For me personally things are a little different. I work mostly nights & weekends so I have a "Mr. Mom" type role since I am home during the day. Since I lose a lot of weekend time with my kids I am just about there 100% of the time during the week. I get them on & off the bus, take them to all their after school activities, etc. Sometimes I find the roles of my wife & I switched. She works all day long & then wants to spend her time after work doing her own thing like going to her hot yoga classes. For a while she was going 7 days a week sometimes twice a day! I was the one nagging about being home. I became the wife who bitches about the husband never being home. It allowed me to see what the stay at home moms were complaining about. Sure the one who goes to work all day deserves some time to unwind, but so does the stay at home parent who took care of the kids' needs. I want my time for a play date with Boyle damnit!!
What do you guys think? What is a valid reason for getting your own play time over family obligations? How do you guys handle who gets time? Do you parents out there feel that both parents are getting a fair amount of play time?

WHY???

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

When I read Dawn’s post about Oil changes for men and women,

I thought it was funny and clever and I was inspired. It made me think of some of the things women do and why! That’s when I came up with this woman’s ” WHY” List

1. Why am I the only one in the house that knows how to change the toilet tissue roll when it’s empty?

2. Why, when they don’t believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, do my family members still believe in the Dish Fairy (they leave dirty dishes which magically disappear when I can’t stand it anymore!)

3. Why do people leave a totally empty soda carton in the refrigerator and then get mad when I didn’t buy more soda when I went shopping?

Lunch Time Poll

Dawn & Barbara

Today's Lunch Time Poll is about holidays without major family obligations, ie., presents to wrap, people to see, food to cook, traffic to sit in... What is your favorite thing to do on a holiday that is actually a "play" day??