Brooklyn turns 3

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From 289 FB friends- to 90...

What kind of FRIENDS are we?

Are we 'once-upon-a-time' friends? (If YES- see "A" below)

Are we 'I-knew-her-once' acquaintances? (If YES- see "B" below)

Are we family or distant family or long-time-ago family? (If YES- see "C" below)

Are we current friends, recent friends or gonna-be friends (If YES- see "D" below)

If you're wondering why we're not facebook friends anymore- please read more so that you can understand my decision a little better...

A: HI! Long time no see! I really enjoyed the relationship that we had, however long ago that was- but unless we're going to rekindle our friendship, let's just let by gones be by gones. No need to pretend that we're friends JUST for the sake of facebook. I invite you to friend me again if you really want to be FRIENDS but if you never visited my page and I never heard from ya, I'll delete ya! Sorry... I just wanna keep my life private to my true friends - fb or not. :o) Thanks for understanding!

B: I know, I know- I'm a victim of this silly game. "OMG, I knew her a long time ago! I'm gonna friend them to say WAAAAASSSSSUP!!" I did this for sooo many years but truth be told, I could've just sent a message. I don't need to know every detail of your life- espeically when you and I didn't know eachother very well. So unless we're going to build on a friendship, I just wanna keep my life private to my true friends - fb or not. :o) Thanks for understanding!

C:Family? Heck ya! I've ALWAYS kept my family as 'fb friends' why? 'Cause FAMILY will ALWAYS be FAMILY- why delete them? Well, I'll tell you why- 'cause I want MORE than JUST a facebook relationship with you. I want to hear from YOU every now and then. I wanna get a Christmas card or a phone call or be able to ask you "How is so-&-so doing" without the typical "Oh, I posted it on facebook, didn't you see it?" response...

I absolutely HATED going to a family Christmas party last year and 90% of my family didn't ask ONE THING about me or my kids. They already knew it from Facebook. Those get-togethers, (however rare they are) make up the WHOLE PURPOSE for my visit. If you and I agree on a back & forth facebook relationship- great! But if I never hear from you and you're just stalking my pages all the time, I feel a little disconnected from you. I want MORE of a relationship with my family than that.

So- if you want to have relationship with me that's primarly though Facebook - great, please FRIEND me back! But I was hoping we could build from something a little more personal. Whatcha think?

D: Current friends? Recent friends? Future friends? Well- here's the deal, if I deleted you and YOU NOTICED ENOUGH to CARE- then PLEASE friend me back. Although, I have a feeling that more than half of the peeps I deleted will never even know I'm gone. *Until they're prompted to friend me again that is. So- if you wanna be JUST facebook friends, please friend me again, otherwise- I'll reach out to you when I wanna be in contact with you. Again... I want MORE out of my friendships than what facebook pages are offering. Therefore- I've deleted to spark an interest- almost like a JUMP start to our friendship. Does that make ANY sense at all?

Am I hiding anything?-Nope. I'm just done sharing EVERYTHING with EVERYBODY. I have always hated sharing my life with unknown readers. For example, I typed up a VERY PERSONAL poem the other day about how my kids and I don't have any food in our house. We had to go to the food bank and out of all of my so-called "friends" not a single person responded with kindness/caring or concern. I'm guilty of being 'blind' to my facebook friends too- that's why I decided to go about this differently-

I started off with 289 friends this evening and now I'm down to about 90. That's 90 people that MIGHT or MIGHT not read what I write, read my true thoughts- comment on my posts. But then those 90 people are the 'facebook friends' that I have already established having a relationship primarily on facebook .They contact me, I contact them- I read their posts- they read mine. It's a back & forth relationship.

I don't wanna sound like some almighty anti facebook loser- but I just want to make it clear... I WANT MORE from my relationships- this is MY small way of making it noticeable.

If you read this- please send me a message- or if you didn't DON'T- and then BE FRIEND ME again. lol

A Letter to Dexter's Parents

hey there-

ok, so I know that this email/message might appear to be a rambling mess but just bare with me. (It DOES have a point... at least 2 of them somewhere) I promise!

Many many weeks ago, we were surprised when we fell in love. I'm not talking about the kind of love two people have when they kiss and want to spend the rest of their lives with eachother- I'm talking about puppy love. haha- yes. We were honored to watch Dexter for you guys as you went out of town and we were surprised how quickly we fell for the cool dog you call DEXTER.

I'm not sure if you've heard through Robbie (who would've been told by Jim) but I've been telling him all about Matthew and his crazy stuffed puppy that he's been calling Dexter. (Picture of this puppy HERE:

Matthew has found himself some old block bucket and he puts the top on it and puts the stuffed puppy inside and then says something like "Good Dog Dexter- thank you for going in your cage" it's really quite cute.

Here's a picture of the block bucket/cage thing 'cause I can't quite explain it very well.

2ndly- Brooklyn will get on all-fours and stick her tongue out and start panting. She crawls around the house until she finds her brother and he'll put a leash on her and walk her around. When they finally break from their 'walk' they find me to tell me that his puppy wants some food and I should be feeding "Dexter" his food.

Brooklyn (still on all fours) takes the Cheetos from her bowl and eats them like a dog would. HAHA - So Cute!

Anyhoo- I've enjoyed Matthew's & Brooklyn's imagination so much- it's obvious they love your pooch Dexter. I too wouldn't mind seeing him again.

If I can ever located a nearby dog park, I think it would be awesome to meet up so we can visit with the crazy mutt.

Side note- but the primary reason for my message is... Thank you SOOOOOOO Much for the Papa John's gift card. I hadn't even known about it until last week when Jim was pondering what to make for dinner... it was a football night and I could tell he didn't wanna do nothin else. So I mentioned "Do we have an extra $20 to order pizza?"

Ding! (like a lightbulb) He searched and searched his desk and handed me your card.

We thought- cool. $25 or so, that's great! Just what we need. We ordered and was surprised we didn't have to pay anything 'extra'. The card covered right at $26 something.

Curious- we called the 1-800 # and they said that the card originally had $45 on it. HOLY SMOKES! Who gives gift cards in that amount these days!?!?! We were and still are sooo VERY grateful.

We just spend the last of it this past Monday. I have been meaning to sit down and type to you JUST to let you know that WE are very appreciative of the gift card. It came in handy. However- please know that we would have been happy to watch Dexter just the same. No gift card required.

But still-again Thank you!

Ok, last and final paragraph- I promise...

In the few days/couple weeks after watching Dexter I had some bug up my butt and wrote a poem for Dexter. lol

Re reading that sentence makes me sound a little nuts- huh?

But I promise, it's cute. Jim comments that I'm always makin up poems about depressing/serious subjects so this Dexter poem has GOT to be the "cutest one yet". (His words, not mine)

So, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sending me a link to your most recent Dexter Album on Shutterfly.

I thought about getting some pictures off your Facebook album- but I don't think the quality will be the same as photos uploaded to a Shutterfly album.

"Why in the world would you want those?" you ask...

Well- of course Sonja- I wanna make a cute Dexter book for you guys that will have my AWESOME Dexter Poem in it- But you can't read the poem until I make the book. That's why I can't have previously used Dexter pictures. Just about 10-20 RECENT ones will do.

I regret not taking pictures of him while he was here. The only one I have is this one:

And that's not a picture of HIM at all! lol.

anyhoo- I'm done. Now, if you've read this message (which I'm sure will take you QUITE a bit of will power to muster through my randomness) I'll expect to see a link to the Dexter Album very soon. -okay. Maybe not 'soon' but hopefully sometime before Christmas??? haha! I know, I'm so demanding!!! lol

My email address is: Cjwells@cox.net

Thanks again Sonja- you Rock.

-Crystal (and family)

2/17/2012 - UPDATE: I finally got the book done and FINALLY showed it to Sonja and Robbie. They loved it (as expected) lol- and now I'm ready to share it with you all! :)

Click on this link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0SasmTlsxYsTu

"1...2...3... SURPRISE!"

Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday is coming up- and she knows it. But little does she know WHAT DAY IT IS TODAY or how many days away her birthday is. That's why on Brooklyn's actual birthday- I'll see if I can get Daddy to take her to get her pictures taken and while they're gone, Matthew and I will be decorating and welcoming guests. Then, when the birthday girl is about to come home- we'll all hide and as soon as Brooklyn and Daddy come through the door we'll jump and shout "SURPRISE!"

Now why on earth would we try to surprise a 3 year old for her birthday party? Read on and I'll tell you why. . . :o)

Matthew has been practicing and practicing a 'surprise party' that he wants to give his little sister. Every night, he mixes a bowl of toys together and calls it 'cake'. He has cubes with toys inside that he call 'Presents' and he has pillows all around that he calls 'balloons' and he'll grab at LEAST one person to join in his imagination as we duck behind furniture and call out Brooklyn's name. As soon as she walks into the room - Matthew quietly whispers "1, 2, 3" and then we jump up and yell "Surprise!" But that's not it! He makes her 'open' the presents and blow out the candles. Once we think it's all done- he won't let us leave until he's had a chance to serve the cake! He'll pretend to cut the birthday cake with a toy sword and scoops it up on toy plates and hands each one to everyone in the house. Of course, by now- we're all tired of this game but the 1st few times- it was super cute. It's even CUTER to know that he thought up this idea all by himself- (okay, maybe Nick Jr.helped him. lol)

That's why, I've decided- I'm going to get Matthew's help with his sisters ACTUAL Birthday party. :o)

Queen of my Castle

If I were the queen of my castle

The first order of business would be

That all decisions would be mine to make

Or at least have to pass through me

If I were the queen of my castle

Everyone would do their share

Whether it be taking out trash and recycle

or at least cleaning up their shaved hair

If I were the queen of my castle

they’d ask “anything else before I go?”

I could wave them through if they’re worthy

or I’d ask them to do one more chore

If I were the queen of my castle

The food I buy would never disappear

And if anyone would like to eat something

They’d at least TRY to bring more food here

If I were the queen of my castle

Jim- my king, would support every wish

And everyone would keep a clean kitchen

and not expect ME to clean every dish

If I were the queen of my castle

I’d be greeted each day of some kind

And then maybe the king or the princes

would ask me to speak my own mind

If I were the queen of my castle

I’d never have to yell, scream or shout

But it’s because I’m not even a princess

I just watch kids, clean all day and then pout

If I were the queen of my castle

I’d be lovely and beautifully GREAT

But because I am stuck with just wishing

'Requesting' would just lead to debate