Maia's Sweet 16 / Camille's baby shower

Confession # 342 :  I moonlight as a Party/ Event planner

(BTW - I am kidding about this being my 342nd confession. I have no idea what # confession I am at and am too tired to look back through this blog to find out! LOL)

Okay, so it's been a whirl wind couple of months. On the heels of my sister's baby shower, and my daughter's 3rd birthday, I was suddenly also planning and hosting my cousin's sweet 16 party and our youth pastor's baby shower.

It's been a crazy month! I've loved it and hated it all at once. Truthfully, I wish I could make a go of it (being a party/ event planner that is) . I'm pretty good at it, and I love doing it, but it's also exhausting and in between taking care of my family and running my 3 kids around to their various activities, and working at 52 + hour work week with my home daycare, I just don't have the time for it.

In order to make any money at it, it would take some real business planning and streamlining before it would be a profitable business, and I'd be re-couping any where near the time and effort it takes to create and execute these events.  So people keep asking me to do them and it's soooo tempting because I love it.
But right now, I'm just about run off my feet trying to do all these things and maintain a family and household.

Okay - another confession. In talking to someone at what I promised my husband would be my LAST event, I sort of somehow got talked into helping out with the decorations for another event. But at least with this one, I'm not planning or hosting the event. I'm just doing some decorations.  That's all.  I just haven't told the DH yet.  He won't be pleased.  But the thought of not having anything to do in the next little while is just painful. :)

So that's it for today. My family has been suffering from the stomach flu and I'm completely sleep deprived, but I'm posting the photos from the last two events that I made the decos for and hosted.
Enjoy!

Maia's Sweet 16 Party:

P.S. On a off - note can anyone reccommend a blog that is a little more user friendly for posting and manipulating photos? This one ROTS. I'm so frustrated with trying, usually half -way through I give up on trying to make it look the way I want it to. I'm willing to switch.... anyone?

Don't judge a book by it's genre

   Over the last couple of years I have noticed a disturbing trend starting in the evaluation of romance novels particularly by Christian publications and authors.

   Many blogs and magazine articles that I have read assert that romance novels for women are akin to pornography for men in their deceptive illusion of fantasy and the indoctrination of unrealistic expectations of members of the opposite sex.

   They argue that while romance novels are seemingly benign they are really just porn for women disguised in locqucious prose and fantasy characters.

  Caveat emptor for any who allow this genre into their home, for it is sure to twist and manipulate the hearts and minds of impressionable women who -will then not only expect their boyfriends and husbands to be broken-hearted cowboys with a soft spot for children and puppies- but will be sorely disappointed when they find their partners wanting. And, if that weren't enough,  romance novels are not only tarnishing the reputations of couch-dwelling, beer-swigging, God fearing, "woman -get -your- rear -back- in -the- kitchen" men everywhere, but it is single-handedly destroying marriages and relationships the world over.

  I'll concede that there is some smut out there under the "romance novel" genre that can absolutely be compared to pornography in it's content, and it's un-realistic and portrayal of both men and women. I would agree that it can be just as degrading and explicit, and should be avoided, BUT  I think that is true of many genres and is certainly not limited to "romance novels."
  As with many things in life that we consume, some are not fit for consumptions and discretion in necessary in any form of media that we expose ourselves to.

   I do however, have an issue with anything/ anyone that slaps generalizations on an entire genre and at the same time treats readers of said genre as if they are completely unable to read fiction without it becoming the basis for their expectations of reality.

  I no more assume that when I am reading romantic fiction - the word FICTION being my first clue that the content might be MADE UP - that the characters are realistic and in turn allow them to shape
my perception of reality.  You know - the reality that is my every day life- which I distinguish from the FICTION stories that I read for leisure.  And if any of you know me and my life - that right there - the LEISURE part would be the first distinction that might help me separate fact from fantasy.

 How shall I conclude... before I step off my soapbox.  Pastors, spiritual leaders, and well intentioned bloggers do critique books and put your opinions out there.  Make suggestions and rational arguments for and against, but don't just judge a book by it's genre.  Don't take one bad example, and label an entire genre of books as to be avoided or worse yet pin it as the downfall of mankind.
Not anymore than Christians as a whole should be judged by the actions of a few select people who choose hate-filled actions to commit in the supposed name of Christianity.

Alrighty - that's it. As you were!