Sunday, March 29, 2009

Fun Monday-Easter Baskets



Our sweet Fun Monday hostess with the mostess this week is jMo at Wisconsin Candy who wants to know what we would like in our Easter basket:


The topic is Easter Baskets: Share a story, is it better to give or to receive, what would you like in yours?

Let me tell ya', I'm all over the Easter basket thing. I love a good Easter basket. I have great memories of childhood Easters, especially those annual egg hunts at church when we would scatter all over the grounds scrambling after brightly colored marshmallow eggs. I was always the child who wanted the WHITE chocolate lamb, which was not an easy thing to come by back in...well, never mind. Let's just say it was before white chocolate was plentiful. I could make that lamb last for days, sometimes weeks, while my brothers gobbled theirs up right away. (Psst. I was the annoying kid who still had Halloween candy stashed away at Christmas.) For this assignment, I started to list all of the candies I would like in my basket today. Then I remembered the three hours I spent in the car with my sixteen year old this weekend giving her driving lessons and thought I should ask for something other than candy in my basket. After all, we have at least three more months of practice driving before her test.

I'd like a thick soled shoe to stand up to all of those times I spend mashing my right foot into the imaginary brake pedal on the passenger side of the car.And an elbow pad for when I press my elbow into the door, trying to push us away from the edge of the road where there is no shoulder.A helmet would help for when I'm pounding my head against the dash, saying, "How many times do I have to tell you?And duct tape for my mouth to keep me from saying, "How many times do I have to tell you?" And to keep her from saying, "I know, I know!"
Let's top it off with a Humvee. That way when we veer across the center line, we'll have some protection from the oncoming traffic.
Oh, and a little white chocolate to sooth my clinched up stomach upon our return from each lesson.
It's a good thing I can hoard my holiday candy. I see a lot of chocolate in my future between now and and Independence Day.

*Images courtesy of: shoes.com, bulletproofme.com, injurysupplies.com, armyrecgonition.com and mackenzieschocolates.com.

15 comments:

Jeanna said...

That little white chocolate lamb is adorable and I can see why it would hold such an attraction for a child.
Funny that you're one of those candy hoarders we loathed so. How you tortured the rest of us.

Jeanna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeanna said...

Sorry, the same comment came up twice so I deleted one. Must be all the Easter candy I've been eating all night, giving me the jitters.

Hootin Anni said...

ROFL.....boy do I remember those 'driver training days' with our kids too. What a fright....literally.

Love the candy lamb.

My Fun Monday is posted. Can you find some time to stop by for a visit today? Hope so. Have a great week.

Kelley with Amy's Angels said...

Wow...that brings me back to when my mom took me on driving lessons. She did the same thing! Funny thing--she's a person who pushes the gas petal with the right foot and the brake with the left. I did that my first day of behind the wheel and got quite the lecture. Talk about learned behavior!

As far as the basket--we were in Target yesterday and I said, "remember when easter baskets were ONLY candy?" Ahhh...the days of digging for jelly beans under the green plastic grass. : )

ChrisB said...

I was never a fan of white choc and it was unheard of when I was a child-so you can tell that was a long time ago.

Had a good laugh at your basket- it is only be another year and my grandson will be old enough to drive so I can see what we might need in next Easter's basket!

Melli said...

Oh I am not so far past those days that I can't FULLY SYMPATHIZE with you! My youngest are 19 now... but if you're having trouble handling ONE child learning to drive - try TWINS! I'm sO glad that part of life IS behind me... and I do NOT feel responsible to teach any grand child EVER how to drive! You deserve that white chocolate... LOTS of it!

Sayre said...

I laughed out loud, but the joke will be on me in about 5 years!

Your lamb is so cute. If I liked white chocolate, I'd eat him up!

jill said...

yeah i got the white chocolate bunny, and it wasn't until i was older that i said i really didnt like it, its not REALLY white chocolate, anyway,mostly it tasted like milk to me. hm. and i wasn't picky so i ate it anyway. right now i'd like one filled with peanut butter. who knows. caramel. mm.. now THAT sounds good too. guess im just hungry. good luck with all the driving stuff. my parents really never took me, i did all mine through the school...

Trailboss said...

I too stomped on the brake that was not there when I was teaching my son to drive. I swear he almost killed me twice! I literally took valium 30 minutes before we would go out for a driving lesson. I still don't like to ride w/him and he is 27!

Janis said...

That was funny, I remember well the pre driving days with my girls..real nail biters. How can anyone resist such a cute little lamb.

Living Life said...

Oh my! I am glad I am not there yet! My girl is only 12 soon to be 13. Best of luck to you!

Mia said...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the worst time is yet to come when you stand in the driveway and watch her drive away for the first time by herself!! YIKES! That one still gives me the willies......

Unknown said...

BILL WILSON: AGENT FOR SATAN
In 1958, Wilson wrote to Sam Shoemaker, Throughout A.A., we find a large amount of psychic phenomena, nearly all of it spontaneous.

Alcoholic after alcoholic tells me of such experiences… run nearly the full gamut of everything we see in the books.

In addition to my original mystical experience, I’ve had a lot of such phenomenalism myself. (24)

Wilson’s “original mystical experience” was his alleged “conversion” –a classic occult encounter:

“Suddenly the room lit up with a great white light. I was caught up into an ecstasy…it burst upon me that I was a free man…a wonderful feeling of Presence, and I thought to myself, ‘So this is the God of the preachers! ‘A great peace stole over me….” (25)

This was not the “God of the preachers” but the one who transforms himself “into an angel of light” (2 Cor 1l: l4) - a light that often transforms those involved in the occult.

Unknown said...

THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Filed under: Rants — spedman @ Jun 22nd, 2007

When you think about Alcoholics Anonymous you think of a group that helps those with an addiction break the habit and become sober.

You think of a program that betters someone with an addiction to alcohol.

What you do not think is cult. The truth is alcoholics anonymous is simply a cult, one of the longest lasting ones at that. Throughout this paper I will prove to you just that.

Alcoholics Anonymous was created by two alcoholics by the names of William Wilson and Dr. Bob in 1935. They wrote books on the subject and gathered at arranged meetings every week to talk about their addiction.

The program grew from there and they recruited many people with the enticing opportunity of becoming sober once again.

The problem is the program is so flawed and non-effective it is almost impossible to become sober using its set rules and guidelines.

Alcoholics Anonymous still uses these books as there doctrine today, even though they have proven not effective. How can a program be created around guidelines written by two men who continually fell back into alcoholism?

I see no way it can possibly work. Aside from its ineffectiveness, Alcoholics Anonymous runs solely on intimidation, false hopes, and the forced belief in god. Regardless of what Alcoholics denies it is very evident they promote religion.

As stated above Alcoholics Anonymous denies that they promote religion, yet constantly they say that its members must find god. It seems to me that that is promotion of religion. Federal courts even deemed Alcoholics Anonymous “unequivocally religious.”

Through out AA’s history you can find thousands of remarks dealing with religion and even the sole belief that the only thing that matters is the AA program.

Everything else must come second to AA. Here are a few things commonly stated at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings; “Alcoholics must turn to god.”, “Choosing to go to AA is choosing to find god.”, “Submission of the individual to the will of god is necessary.”, “Surrender your will to a greater will.”, “If you cannot manage yourself turn to god.”

If you cannot see that those statements are in every way religious I don’t know what will.
Aside from those statements the two founders often say that the member must rely on the program and the program alone.

If you read through their books you will be amazed at some of the things they say, often putting the program above family and other aspects of life.

I was truly amazed at this quote from William Wilson; “I decided I must place AA above everything else, even my family, because if I did not maintain sobriety I would lose them anyway.” A man placed the AA program above his family, regardless of the reason that is a very strong sense of commitment.

Many AA members read those very same words. If a founder gave up his family, would not a member do the same? “But there is one who has all power—the one is god! May you find him now?”, Simply put, AA is religious.

Alcoholics Anonymous as a group does many of the same things dangerous cults like the Manson family or Jones town did. But first we will talk about the founders of AA. Bill Wilson has become idolized.

Much like the way everyone in the Manson family did whatever Charlie said without question. His home has become a shrine, and his belongings have become highly sought after items by the 12 Step community.

Some members even believe that he could possibly have been the reincarnation of Christ. The core members, although they deny having any leaders in AA, are often referred to as “trusted servants.”

This label tags these members, the trusted servants, with a great amount of moral authority because the regular AA members believe that these members are representing AA’s history back to Bill W. and even to the Loving God AA obediently serves. Clearly this is cult like behaviour!

Let’s talk about the effectiveness of the program. The 12 Step program is NOT effective. If it were not for one leaked document there would not be much proof of to aide these remarks.

Alcoholics Anonymous never releases any sort of documentation on the success of rehabilitating alcoholics. So naturally they can say they are the greatest in the world or that they have a 100% success rate.

But, in 1989 an internal document was released, and on this document was statistics. It showed that 81% of AA members leave after one month, 90% of AA members leave after three months, 93% of AA members leave after six months, and 95% of AA members leave before twelve months.

Alcoholics Anonymous has a success rate of 5%! It gets better. A percentage as small as 5% is considered to be spontaneous. This means that those 5% would have recovered without Alcoholics Anonymous. Let me break it down one more time just to make sure you get it. Success rate with AA: 5%, success rate without AA: 5%.

A side note, Hospitals gave alcoholics LSD, a hallucinogen type drug, to break down alcohol cravings. This abnormal treatment had a 15% success rate, theoretically proving that LSD is three times more effective at recovering alcoholics then Alcoholics Anonymous.

A former Alcoholics Anonymous spokes person said; “A majority of AA members slip after one month. Others stay dry up to six months but eventually slip before the twelfth month.” Coming from a former spokesperson I think maybe people should take that into consideration.

Another quote from a spokesperson; “95% of newcomers do not ever attend a second meeting.” How great can your policy be if you cannot even entice people to come more than once? The 5% of people who join AA would quit on their own. No need for the middle man.

Despite this alarming failure rate, Alcoholics Anonymous claims to be the only path to salvation. Alcoholics Anonymous tells its members that they must accept its doctrine despite its discrepancies.

The 12 Step program provides no methods of quitting, simply to just quitting drinking. How many people do you know that can simply quit an addiction? One would think that they would revise their methods to get better results.

Instead AA just says their program requires an unquestioning belief in obedience. When the program doesn’t work they just blame the person for failing, it is never AA’s fault.

The original founders tended to classify alcoholism as a “sin disease”. This is not possible. For one the philosophy of a “sin disease” is not possible in a free society. This is not a country run on religion.

Therefore again proving AA to be religious. By slapping the idea of alcoholism being a sin on its members it again gains the upper hand and has the ability to control its members by saying anything they want as long as it’s in the name of god. As soon as you go to AA it is very hard to get away.

Remember, it is a cult. AA is very possessive. They go to great lengths to bring you back. There are documentations of intimidation tactics being used, continuous phone calls, members often telling you that you will be damned if you do not return. They take growing their ranks very seriously.

Let’s break AA down. Alcoholics Anonymous is a highly religious group that thrives on the writings of its founders and put all of their belief in the writings and the 12 Step program.

Regardless of if it actually works. The members put the core members and the program above anything else in their lives. If it were necessary for AA to have the deed of their house they would give it to them.

They do not second guess anything AA tells them to do, remember it is “gods will.” If a member becomes an alcoholic again, it is in no way the program’s fault. The program always works as long as the member has total dedication and full belief in the power of “god.”

Friends, if Alcoholics Anonymous is not a cult I don’t know what is. If you cannot see this by reading this paper then by all means go to any of the sources on my work cited paper.

They have plenty of links and valid information based on Harvard studies and trustworthy sources. You can make your own decision, but it is very evident: Alcoholics Anonymous is unquestionably a cult.