Morning. Pint wrote a song on the way back from the Children's Museum. Uncle Brother is a musician. Uncle Brother and Pint worked on the song while he was here.
Then, he took it back to California and recorded it. Here, for your listening pleasure, is Pint's very first song. It is Uncle Brother singing, and he says he is not the best singer in the world. It is also Uncle Brother on the instruments, he is an accomplished musician.
But, the lyrics are completely Pint. And she helped develop the song tune. Not bad for an 8 year old girl I think.
Her Myspace music page is here
Free file hosting by Ripway.com
visit with Mom and Gifted Chidren School Testing
Saturday, I took the girls to go visit their mother.
It was actually, a nice day. Calamity was bright, funny and as much with it as she can be now. The girls played with their baby sister, and played a couple of games, (well TRIED to play a couple of games) with their Mom.
She stayed on task most of the time, and didn't appear to be too overwhelmed. We actually had a conversation about nothing which didn't involve tension in some manner.
Only one time, she was making lunch, I was in the living room, the baby was in her high chair and Calamity was in the kitchen, the baby crawled out of her high chair (she hadn't hooked up the seat belt onto the baby), and was literally in a crawling position on the tray of the high chair !! Calamity saw her in time (fortunately), and grabbed her.
This is one of the things that I talk about. In and of itself, it seems harmless. But, Calamity is not all there anymore, and it is these little things that can happen to any mom, but usually don't happen more than once, because your brain tells you “HEY!! don't EVER do that again...”, but only in Calamity's case, it doesn't seem that her brain tells her not to do it again.
She just isn't able to stay on task anymore for more than a couple of minutes. I think that is the part that scares me the most. You cannot turn your back on a one year old baby, or a nine year old girl, for more than about 2 seconds without courting disaster.
With the three girls together in the house, she was a bit flustered. I did have to jump in numerous times to redirect the girls from activity that wasn't good, to activity that was good. That's normal for me, not normal for her. I see things that she totally misses.
She reminds me of a 1950 sitcom mother, the kind that just sort of stands there waving their arms, totally helpless in any situation? Arms flapping around, the chaos ensues around her and she just rides with it.
That is the part the counselor was talking about, how ½ Pint doesn't close emotionally from chaos. How she was in a constant state of anxiety because her mother's life involved one chaotic event after another, even small events become chaotic. And so, little ½ Pint was in a state of constant flux when she was around her mother, and so was constantly emotional.
I sort of saw it on Saturday. I had heard about it from Counselor Lady, but hadn't really been able to see it in action, so to speak.
I am reading a book Counselor Lady gave me. Toxic Parents. To try to understand more of what happened to Pint, and what to watch for in the way of 'aftershock' or long term consequences of her mother's choices/behaviors/drug usage, or even if you just want to be a better parent and not make common mistakes!!
It is a good book. I recommend it to anyone who has issues left over from childhood.
Today was okay. Pint has the OAT test today at school. She has test anxiety. It's rough. She is one of only two children in the third grade who are in the gifted program. It is also unfortunate that schools teach to the 'test', but that is the way their funding is set up. Because of the “no child left behind' policy, the schools have no choice.
For the gifted children, their Achievement Test Scores mean a whole lot more than the non gifted children's scores.
By that, I mean, that the entire school is scored on two levels. The first is the number of children who actually PASS the test. In order to score well, all of the children have to pass the test. They don't almost always achieve that, but they try.
The second part of the scoring is the curve. It's rather like a GPA. You take all the scores, and divide by the number of students. The same way you did your GPA in high school.
The thing is, if you had all C's and one B, and one D, then your GPA was only a low C. But if you changed that D to an A, and threw in one more B, then your GPA would have been a low B.
So, when the top score on the OAT is 500, and two kids score a 487 (her practice score), and the majority of the kids score a 410, and 5 kids score a 390, then your average would be 444.
If you take out the high achievers.....you get an average of 438.
You might not think that six point difference is much, but the school does. Totally does. Because it affects their state scores, and their funding. It's not quite as simplistic as I make it, but it is along those lines.
So, they actually tell the gifted kids that their score matters for their school.
I don't know if that is fair, but it is honest at the least. And, for the most part, the gifted kids don't cave under the pressure, and they learn that the actions of the few can affect the many, a good lesson in life to learn.
The achievement tests don't start till 3rd grade anyway, so this is really her first year here having that. She did have one in her old school, in 2nd grade. She placed in the 99th percentile in the United States which means that only 1% of the kids in the US scored higher than her.
And, the school knows that.
So, she was nervous about the test. Can't blame her. Can't change the facts either. I told her, just do the best you can do and leave it go.
Here's to hoping she has a good day!!
Today, so far, went well. Kids got up okay, no major whines, or fights. Everyone got their breakfast, ate, picked out their outfits, got dressed and ready for school
No meltdowns before bus time, on the walk down the driveway, or onto the bus. Happy little faces all around.
DH slept in. Couldn't wake him up. God was good to me this morning, because when the girls are having a more particularly dysfunctional day, I need the extra person helping.
Today, leave the house at 1, pick up all three girls, head to the hospital to get an EKG on ¾ Pint, which her gastro Dr wants before she starts her on a new med, which is supposed to help with the stomach pains, but which is also a tricylic antidepressant, and which I am less than thrilled with giving her. Still, it is her mother's call. Sometimes, I think she exaggerates her daughter's condition, making it seem worse than it really is. Not like in a bad way, just in a 'over concerned' way. ::shrugging::::
Something else I was thinking about. ¾ is on 30 mg of Prilosec a day. Prilosec stops the production of stomach acid. Stomach acid causes reflux, which she has, but also is what digests your food. So, is stopping the reflux exacerbating the digestive problems? Doesn't seem to make sense to me. Hey, here's a kid who's stomach doesn't work well to digest the food. I know!! Lets put her on medication that REALLY SLOWS down the digestion.
Makes ya wonder. Just really makes ya wonder. If it were me, I am thinking I would be asking some hard questions of the Dr.
Then, after EKG, off to counseling for Pint. Then off to Karate for sparring and work. Then home.
Somewhere in there, I have to figure out how to feed three kids, with no bread at home, nothing to make sandwiches of, out of chips, grrrrr....have soup, but there is no microwave at karate, I need to buy one.
Out of money till Thursday next, so no eating out tonight or grabbing a pizza.
Have to think this one through. I will figure something out, I always do LOL.
On a good note, the IRS is AHEAD of schedule on the Economic Incentive Payments. Instead of going out starting May 2nd, they are going out starting April 28. So those of you breathlessly awaiting that payment (as am I), check your bank accounts next week. I believe there is a link to the payment schedule on the IRS.gov web site. It goes by the last two of your social security number, and in the case of a married couple, buy the SS # of whomever's name was listed first on the tax form!!
Have a great weekend all.
Parenting is hard work. Even in your twenties.
The first kid is easy. Learning experiences and all that, but relatively easy. You rest when the kidlet rests, and have lots of energy.
The second child is a bit more difficult, especially if the first one isn't potty trained yet. But manageable. It's the third child that throws a monkey wrench into the whole works.
And so it goes as ¾ Pint joined our household.
Girls, are well, prone to hysterics. Girls ages 5, 7 and 8 doubly so!! And, they FEED off each other. One of them goes hysterical, then the other ones jump on 'hysteria highway' and go right along for the trip.
But, it is refreshing in a way.
I had thought that Pint and ½ Pint still had along way to go, behavior and emotional control wise.
I was wrong. They have come miles and miles and miles.
¾ Pint is a mess. A virtual walking, talking, raging, screaming, emotional nervous breakdown in a 7 year old body.
Makes me appreciate in a new light, just how far my girls have come!! They too were total wrecks five years ago. Well, not ½ Pint so much, she was an infant...But Pint, definitely!!
Most days now, in any given situation, Pint reacts appropriately, goes to sleep at night without toooooo much trouble (she has now gotten the later bedtime I promised her when she went to bed and sleep by herself for three days in a row!!), she is making friends, she helps out her little sister when there is a problem, she has a sense of humor, and doesn't get overly emotional anymore, unless it is, infact, an emotional situation.
She is now, a normal kid!!
½ Pint hasn't had too many problems, since I have parented her from the beginning. A few minor things, like just not living with your mother, but still 'seeing' your mother will do to a child. How weird, I say 'minor' problems like it's no big deal, but in reality, it cannot be easy for any child to be separated from their mother, being raised by their grandmother and having a mom with a drug problem, and a few other problems that go along with the drug problem, and having their dad, and then their step dad in jail. But, in the greater scheme of things, she is a delight to be around, sunny disposition, funny sense of humor that is way to old for her to have, artistic, self taught, and very loving.
I am truly blessed.
¾ Pint, is the most 'emo' child I have ever seen. She has witnessed way too much. Both her parents are Cancers, and even though I don't really believe in astrology, when two cancers to at it, it is NOT a pretty thing.
On top of all the emotional shit caused by her parent's divorce, (quick recap: town of 3,000 to town of 3,000,000. School of 10 in a classroom, 162 in entire student body of 8 grades to school with 24 kids in class, k-2 and 675 kids in student body; house to apt; parents as primary caretakers to 18 year old aunt as primary caretaker)....she also is the one with the severe case of 'gastroparaesis' which means her entire digestive tract does NOT work. Doesn't sound like a big deal, until you realize
a. most kids her age with gastroparaesis are either dead, or on a feeding tube, and she has one of the more severe cases.
b. it is a life long disease, with no cure and not much in the way of help
c. if your digestive system does not work, most of the other systems which derive their energy from food that is processed in your body, also don't work right...she does NOT get much nutrition from the food she eats, due to the disease.
yeah. so. anyway.
Yesterday, we had a total of like 8 meltdown's. All were dealt with appropriately, with compassion, humor and cuddling. Still, it takes one heck of a toll on an old woman.
Dave was mostly busy playing a video game.
Mornings and bedtime are particularly difficult.
And now, I watch my two girls, well, be compassionate. When it starts, they sort of hang back and give me the room to deal with 3/4 Pint, who needs me much more right now. They aren't bitter about it, they are understanding.
I am so incredibly proud of them.
Yesterday was a good day. She got right on the bus with no problems. Today, was a sort of bad day. The hysterics started right before my phone alarm went off to signal 'time to walk down the driveway'. She needed to puke. She needed to poop. She needed to call her Dad. She needed to call her Mom. She was frustrated. (we are trying to get her to talk about feelings, instead of react.) She needs Pappy to help her get through the day. I didn't let her hug Pappy. She was sick to her stomach. She has a headache.
My back tensed right up. My headache was all of a sudden RIGHT THERE.
I picked her up. Held her. Grabbed her coat. Grabbed her bookbag. She is crying, I want to hug Pappy. I relent. She jumps on the bed and holds onto the bedpost. I gently disengage her hand, pick her up, and out the door we go. She is crying the whole way. Down the stairs. Door shut. I put her down and tell her that she needs her hoodie on, its cold outside. She allows me to put it on.
We walk, me holding her little hand. All the way, she is sort of crying. I cannot do this Meemaw. I want my Mommy and Daddy to live together and I want to go HOOOOMMMMEEE.
I know Baby love I say. I wanted Mommy and Daddy to stay together too. But it is not going to happen. We have to accept it. I can't she says. I can't accept it.
I need my Dad to live with me. The bus comes, she asks if I will walk her up the stairs. I do. She gets on, the bus leaves. I cry going back up the driveway.
Right now, I hate them both. I want to beat them over the head and call them idiots. I want to tell them how much pain they have inflicted on a very small, very delicate child.
I want to tell them how fucking selfish they have been. How their inability to be adults has caused extreme pain to a little girl. How they need to grow up. How they could have worked it out, but now it's too late, and the damage to her little psyche has been done. And, it is THEIR fault.
Two adults who only thought of their own needs. Two parents who should have put the baby's needs first.
And mostly, I am mad at my own daughter. She could have made other choices that wouldn't have been so hard on the baby. But when they were suggested to her, she stonewalled them. It had to be HER way. She is like that.
But, she COULD have done it differently, for her daughter's sake. For ONCE, it could have been about someone else, instead of her. But no. She only saw the solution she wanted to see. And now, her daughter suffers.
Badly.
And HE could have helped more to make those choices. But she refused to have him in the house cause he was an asshole. (he was, then. They were both under huge amounts of stress, and she was a bitch.) She couldn't find a job locally that paid enough. He wouldn't help out. She had to move to Pittsburgh to get a job. It is too far to commute.
There are no good solutions, and perhaps I am just being hard-assed. Who knows. But it is MY grandaughter who suffers and I do NOT take that lightly. You do NOT mess with babies. You do NOT cause pain to babies when you have other options. That is part of being a responsible parent.
I lay this one right at her feet. It's her fault and she could have made it better. And failed to do so. Hard words. Hard choices.
But, I am her mother, and I have that right.
copied from coni
What is your full name?
Ma, MeeMaw
What are you most afraid of?
Suffocation
What is the most recent movie that you have seen on bootleg?
Some stupid french film I didn't like
Place of birth?
Bourne MA..how funny is that? Born in Bourne
Favorite food is?
Crème Bruleee
What is your natural hair color?
Red
Ever been to Freak Nick?
Sigh
Ever been skinny-dipping?
Lots and lots of times :)
Love someone so much they made you cry?
Yes!
Been in a car accident?
several
Croutons or bacon bits
both
Favorite day of the week would be?
Friday
Favorite restaurant
Anyone that allows drinking, smoking and no kids
Favorite Flower
Daisy
Favorite sport to watch?
Gymnastics
Favorite drink
I only drink four things. Water, Black Coffee, Dark Red Wines and Milk. Like all of them
Favorite ice cream
Breyers Natural Vanilla
Warner Brothers/Disney
Willy Wonka NOT Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Ever been on a ship
hmmm. no. lots of boats though
What color is your bedroom carpet
Raspberry
How many times did you fail your driver's test
Never
Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail.
N/A
What do you do when you are bored?
Read, so I am NEVER bored. Ever
What time is bedtime?
When I am finally done and fall exhausted into my bed.
Who will respond to this the quickest?
N/A
Who will least likely respond? ; ;
N/A
Who is the person that you are most curious to see their response.
All my tlbog friends
Favorite TV shows
Torchwood, Little People, Big World
Last person you went to dinner with
Oldest daughter
Park or Zoo
Zoo
What are your favorite colors
Brown, brown, brown and brown
How many tattoos do you have
None yet, but tat's are becoming popular in my family, DH 2, Baby 2, Nursey 1
How many pets do you have?
Way to freakin many
Which came first, the chicken or the egg
God
What do you want to do before you die?
Quit smoking
Have you ever been to Hawaii?
Twice lived there
Have you been to countries outside the U.S.
Yes
How many people are you sending this to?
Posting on a blog
Brother and 3/4 Pint
Well, I can finally breathe a bit.
Brother Mine left Friday.
The visit was...nice, weird and exhausting.
I don't know what other people feel when something like that happens in their lives, because I am not other people.
The closest thing I can equate it too is perhaps a sibling group that is separated as children, put up for adoption or taken to foster care, and then find each other 25 years later.
There are a few memories, mostly painful, none good really. There is a physical family resemblance. There are some mannerisms that you find you have in common. You discover you have the same acerbic sense of humor. You both have a love of music that manifests itself differently in your lives. Still, I was glad he took the time and energy to come and reconnect. I do miss him. I do love him. I do NOT love my other two brothers and have no wish to see them whatsoever. Of the three, us two were the closest in age, and personality, and also experiences.
We didn't so much grow up together as we occasionally interacted. Our groups of friends included people in common, so we did see each other as children, older children I mean. The teen years. But, other than small children, we have no real history at all together.
I had a very weird childhood. Which led to a very weird adulthood LOL
It was sort of like that.
It kind of opened Pandora's box, which needed to be kept tightly closed LOL. I managed.
The kids enjoyed the visit, both young and old kids.
Currently, today is Tuesday.
¾ Pint has now joined the household. She was still refusing to go to school in Pittsburgh. Nursey signed the Power of Attorney, and we enrolled her in the same school with Pint and ½ Pint. The first day went really well. There is already a kid in her classroom that she goes to karate with. She knew people on the bus. She liked her teacher and her class. She had a good day.
The weekend went fine. Monday morning came. She got up, got dressed, and everything was fine. Till it was time for the bus. Then, she sat in the chair and grabbed hold. DH was up because we knew this might happen. I told him to grab her and go to the door. He did, she was screaming. He carried her to the door and gave her to me. I put her over my shoulder and we trucked on down the driveway with her kicking and screaming the entire way. We stood there, she calmed down, I held onto her little arm. When the bus came, she started again, trying to run. I picked her up, over my shoulder, and up onto the bus we went. I plopped her skinny little butt down in the chair, said “hi Pam, how are you this morning?” to the bus driver, the other kids sat down and off the bus I went. I heard Pam say as I went down the stairs, “honey, you have to stay in your seat, I am driving and shutting the doors....”
I picked them up at school, off to karate we went. Got home, ate, went to bed.
This morning she awoke. Got fed. Meds. Dressed. Hair. Bathroom.
Watched TV with cousins. Alarm went off, I said “c'mon girls, time to go.” Put on her hoodie. Got bookbag. Out the door she went. Turned and said “Meemaw, will you walk me down to the end of the driveway?”
I said of course I will. And did. The bus came. She held my hand. I walked her to the stairs, and up she went.
I turned around and went back into the house.
It's a good day. ¾ Pint seems to be doing well. Big sigh of relief.
too tired to blog about it yet.
family picture of most of the family. missing neice/DIL and son
from left to right... top row. Baby, Calamity, 1/4 pint, Nursey
from left to right bottom row. Pint, Uncle Brother 1/2 Pint, 3/4 Pint.
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and since everyone is bugging me about it... a pic of Me and Nursey. I am exhausted. and she is skinnier than me.
" />" />
The Brother Arrives
Oh yeah. The brother is here.
" />" />
Today I awoke to 1/2 Pint puking on the kitchen floor. She stays home today. Pint, of course, says her stomach hurts. I am hoping there is not a stomach flu going around school. No matter, DH has car as brother is driving all the way back here (45 minute drive) to pick me up and drive right back to Canton and then on to Cleveland.
We had an AWESOME visit. Sat around and BS'd for a bit, then took off to town to have lunch, then over to Son's house so he could meet him and niece/neice-in-law whom he had not seen since she was about 6 months old. He and oldest brother (neice/daughter in law's dad) live in the same town but do not speak. it is a long story.
Then, came home waited for babies.
Today, he and I take off shortly for Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!
3/4 Pint is not doing well. She is still refusing to go to school. Sunday she refused to go back. There is just too much trauma. We may have to bring her out here to finish out the school year and go to school with 'cousins'. then, during summer, when Nursey is off work, 3/4 Pint can be in Pittsburgh with her mom, integrating into city life. Hopefully, this will help her to be able to accept the many, many changes in her little life a bit easier. She turns 7 years old on Sunday next. And, her dad, Cop, is getting transferred to Travis AFB in Vacaville CA. He leaves June 1.
More change for her. We have found her a counselor that accepts her insurance, but it is in Old Town, out here where WE live. Nursey cannot find anyone in Pittsburgh, other than downtown (which NO BODY will drive too, it is a mess down there...), so out here she could recieve three times a week counseling if necessary.
Time will tell, as always. DH is on the phone with her now, she is allegedly getting on the bus today. Hope it works!!
Have a great day all.
Brother
SHITBALLS !!! My brother just called for directions from Canton. He will be here in 45 minutes.
I just put the girls on the bus
I gotta go clean!!
Oh my.
Where to start?
Pint is now a Black Belt, 1st Degree in Tae Kwon Do Karate.
She nailed the form part of her test, was awesome on the self defense part, and biffed her board breaks. They get three tries, and she nailed it on the third try. Of course, she had done them first try in all the practices...but was a bit nervous. They have several 4th and 5th degree Black Belt's there judging you on your Black Belt test. So, it would be a bit of a nerve wracking experience for an 8 year old!!
I think it was when, after the practice kicks, which you can see in the video, she has to stop completely, turn to the judges, and raise her hand in the approved form, be acknowledged say
“Sir, I Pint, respectfully ask permission to attempt a back round side kick and a whatever it is called front kick......”
Then, they say, Permission granted Ma'am, please proceed...
and then she does the thingy.
She missed the first one, but nailed the second kick on her first attempt. Then she reattempted the first kick, then missed.
Finally, on the third try for the first part of the kick, she broke the board.
And, lest you think (as I did, in my ignorance way back when before I was a karate granny) that the fiberglass boards are an easy break....
They are harder to break than a 1 inch pine board.
Anyway, here is the video of her board breaks, ignore the part where i film the carpet, i am trying to get closer. sorry about that part LOL.
The Destination Imagination State Competition went very well. Their Structure took 220 pounds before it collapsed...and the play was highly scored.
The instant went well.
The kids are in the elementary division (K-5)and their team consists of one first grader, two second graders and two third graders (of which Pint is one of them). They competed against 13 teams, literally ALL consisting of fifth graders.
They took fourth place. Which is GREAT !!!!
For the rest of the weekend, a quick recap, and believe me when I tell you, I was too emotionally exhausted to even blog about it last night. I was numb emotionally, physically and my brain had died sometime during the late afternoon on Saturday, and had not recovered yet. I was...
drum roll please....
too fucking tired to even have a glass of wine...
so, here we go.
Friday, take Baby to doctor appt, drop her off at her friends house, make it to the school to pick girls up, go to counselors. Phone call during counseling, Calamity. She is slurring words and there are long and large gaps in conversation (like she is stoned....and dozing off, one of the major signs of heroin use...) She asks when my brother is coming in. I tell her Tuesday. She asks what we are doing. I say, one of the days we are going to Rock and Roll hall of fame. She asks if I am bringing the kids to her for that day. I say. um..no, you get supervised visitiation according to the court custody papers.
She says, WHAT custody papers. I say the ones the judge signed in November 05, when we went to court. She says, We never went to court. The only time we went to court is when they assessed child support to the kids dad. I am like, well, that WAS the time I was talking about, but we went to court and took custody of the kids away from you, and yes, they DID in fact assign support, and they also awarded custody of the kids to me and daddy, and gave you supervised visitation only.
She hung up.
This becomes relevant when I tell you that over the course of the week earlier, she had been corresponding with one of her sisters, email, and had told her this long drawn out story about how her counselor said we couldn't keep her from seeing her kids, and that if their counselor had recommended that, Calamity could sue 'her pants off', and that she was ready to get the girls back, and I had better not fight her on it, and that she is receiving methadone for pain management, NOT heroin addiction....(here me sighing...) and that she has been clean and passed every drug test, and that she is working, etc etc ad nauseum.
She totally does not remember that year. Small wonder, brain full of holes of heroin.
Anyway, after counseling I apprise Counselor lady about the phone call and off we go to karate.
Calamity calls later that evening, clear headed, asks what time is the karate test tomorrow. Makes no reference at all to the earlier conversation.
Nursey brings ¾ Pint to karate to drop her off for weekend. ¾ Pint has not had a good week. She made only one day to school on the bus. She is having regular meltdowns every single morning, even with her mother.
Take a xanax. Work. ¾ Pint has not been fed yet, my girls have. Nursey goes to get her food. Brings it back, drops it off, tells me about new gastrointestinal meds she is on, must be taken with food, tells me she has been puking, kisses baby and leaves.
¾ Pint takes her new meds, eats, and is sick the rest of the night.
Take kids home. Put all to bed. It is late. They finally all three are asleep by about 10. Put Karate uniforms in washer and dryer so they will be clean and pristine for testing tomorrow. Sit with DH a few minutes then we head off to bed. I have to be up at 6, having determined that it is about an hour and a half drive to the DI tournament tomorrow.
Get up, all kids wake up at the same time. Feed them, get Pint dressed, get me dressed, try to go to bathroom, my body isn't ready, oh great, THIS WILL BE A FUN DAY......
(why can't women poop anywhere but their own toitey??) Men don't seem to have that problem??
Drive the 1 and ½ hours. Stop and get Pint some breakfast at Mickey D's on the way. Grab a coffee. Get there in plenty of time. Call DH and tell him to throw a big roast in the crock pot on high. Frozen. Add one cup of water, pepper across the top, half an onion with skin on it, one tablespoon of beef bullion powder, put lid on and go away, leave it alone.
Do Destination Imagination. Leave at 11:30. head for home. Get home at 1. DH showered the other Pint's.
Calamity calls, can we stop and pick her up on the way to karate.
Sorry, no, car is full with three kids and two adults and PT cruiser's only seat five.
She says she will take a cab. Okay, good, fine whatever.
Grab the kidlets, grab the uniforms, grab my purse and off to karate we go.
Get there, get kids into uniforms, they go in to warm up and practice.
Make small talk with others. See my friend who's husband at age 38, choked to death 4 weeks ago on his own vomit while suffering from stomach flu and then she comes home from work at 11 to find him dead. They have a 9 year old son who is friends with Pint. I couldn't make viewing because THAT was the day DH stuck the car in the driveway in the snow.
We talk. Autopsy is finally back. Asphyxiation. From vomit. There's a shock. We all knew that.
Burial is Wednesday next. Finally. Son will still not return to that house. They are staying with her parents, two houses down, and tearing the old house apart, literally remaking it so it will be different.
We have Other Nursey and Other Nursey's husband coming up from Hundred WV for the test. They get there in time. We have Baby and Baby's BF. They get there in time. We have Son and Daugher-In-Law/niece. They get there in time. Best friend who went with me to Children's Museum does not get there in time, or at all. It's okay, I know what HER life is like. We all try, but do not always succeed. Calamity does NOT show up.
After test, everyone comes home with me. Roast is thankfully, perfect (by the way, THAT is the recipe for perfect roast every time....
Grab a bag of baby green beans (aldi's 1.19 a bag), poke a hole in them, put two teaspoons of water and nuke for 5 mins, grab a bag of asparagus (aldi's 1.99) do the same thing, take roast out, pour liquid into pot, make gravy, make Potato buds mashed potatoes with all milk and butter, (they are really good that way, do NOT follow the stupid directions, or they taste like shit)....
Make a noodle dish that ¾ Pint can eat that does not contain milk...
Put dinner on table for 12 people.
Clean it up. Half of them leave, Other Nursey and her DH stay for the night.
Calamity calls. She fell asleep. :::shaking head::::::
WE have a few glasses of wine/beer, I put the kids to bed. ¾ Pint is sicky. Stomach hurts. She pukes.
Finally get into bed at about midnight, ready to sleep, lay down.
Phone rings. It is Baby's ringtone. That means I actually HAVE to answer it.
Girls are like that. With boys, when you are tired you can turn off the ringer. With girls, you cannot do this.
Answer cell. She is freaking out. She was at girlfriends apt, they threw an impromptu party. Someone called the cops. Friend's little brother heard it on the scanner. Called them. Baby is the only one sober. She is on medication for sinus infection and Daddy told her not to drink while she is on it and she didn't.
She tells me she got everyone out of the house, but is barefoot, has no cell phone and left her purse inside the house. I tell her to get to a friends house and go to bed.
She calls back ½ hour later hysterical.
The cops came, went INTO the empty apartment, went into a BACK BEDROOM, went through the purses in there, took her license and cell phone.
Then, the cop, starts calling everyone in her Contacts. Telling them that his name is Chad and are they coming to the party and what are they bringing to drink???
She calls her brother. He comes and gets her (leaving work to do it). DH and the other nursey's jump into the car. Drive to town (45 minutes) to meet Baby. They meet and she gets in car. There have been many phone calls made from her cell phone.
She admits there was beer at the party, and one of the other girls brought pot.
I tell DH to call her cell phone and ask WHAT THE HELL AREYOU DOING WITH MY DAUGHTERS CELL PHONE????
He does, the cop brings the cell phone and the license to DH. They get them. They leave to come home.We have a really long talk with Baby about choosing friends and places to be more wisely. Explain that even though she wasn't doing anything, she could have been arrested. She gets it.
It is 3:30 am before I get to sleep.
Sunday. Do not make church. Feed everyone. Get kids dressed. Try to keep up with house. Son and DIL/Niece show up for a visit, it goes very well. Everyone is having a good time. Kids are playing fine.
Other Nursey's leave for their 3 hour drive home.
BF shows up to pick up Baby and ¾ Pint to take them home. We spend the next THREE hours trying to get ¾ Pint out of the house.
It totally doesn't work. She screams. She cries, She says she hates Pittsburgh. We call her mother. She says the saem things to her. She says she hates Aunt Baby, that she is mean to her. She hates living where she is living. She wants to stay here. It goes on and on and on and on.
Finally, I just tell Baby and BF to leave.
Everyone eventually leaves. I make dinner, bath girls. Dh goes over to recliner and falls asleep. Must be nice.....
I remind him to take out garbage. He finally does, cause I refuse.
I fall into bed, quite literally exhausted.
I wish I was twenty again.
Children's Museum and Hectic Weekend coming
Got kicked out of bed this morning at five by the two cutest little girls in the world!!
There was a loud and busy thunderboomer that moved through here last night and both girls ended up in our bed, first Pint at about 2, then ½ Pint at about 3. Finally at five, I gave up when I realized I was about to lose ½ Pint over the edge of the bed, and there was no way for me to move to get comfortable and go back to sleep.
Throwing one arm over Pint's body, holding onto ½ Pint with the other hand, and then with my third hand I grabbed onto DH's thigh to pull myself up.
Grumbling a bit, I got up. What the hell. The day has to start at some point anyway. This way, at least I am up.
Gonna be a long day though. Yesterday, I kept Pint home from school and we played hooky and went to the Children's Museum with my best friend and her 9 year old daughter. We had a BLAST.
Here are two pics. They are of me and the kids, and I know, **nodding** you can't tell, but they are wicked cool pics anyway. The first, we are standing against a wall, watching letters falling on a wall sized screen, which has a TV camera in it, taking film of US standing opposite. And the cool thing is when WE lift a part of our body, like a hand, the letters STOP falling and rest on the image of our body part. I don't even begin to understand the technology in all this, but it was cool as shit. And the sort of washed out black and white image is awesome!! Pint is the shorter kidlet, and I am the adult sized body in the middle.
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The second pic is the two girls (the parts that look like birds at the bottom, and me in the middle. It is done with the same sort of wall screen technology, but this time with a light show. We look like we are in the middle of a kalidescope.
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Baby has a Dr appt at 11, which means leaving the house by 10:15 to get there. Then, back home or at least as far as the kidlets school, to pick them up at 1:30 for counseling appt's at 2 and 3 respectively, then after counseling, zip on over to karate at 4 and work there till 8. then home to bed.
Tomorrow morning, Pint and I have to be up at 5, leave the house by 6 to drive the two hours to the Destination Imagination Competition, where we have to be at weigh in for the structure at 8:30. Our competition starts at 9:30, with the instant challenge scheduled for 10:30, then we should theoretically be able to leave Barberton by 11:30 to head home. Arriving home by 2:30 hopefully.
Pint can nap in the car on the way home. If I am lucky (and I won't be) I can nap when I get home, then leave the house by 3:00 for Karate studio because testing for the big
B L A C K B E L T
begins at four.
Pint will do a reverse round kick and an elbow smash for her board breaks. She tried them Wednesday last, and nailed them first time. She is okay on her form, and knows her self defense.
½ Pint is testing for the second half of her Purple Belt.
We have out of town company (other Nursey daughter and her Nursey Husband) coming in for the test, along with a host of in town attendees.
THEN, after the test, we get to go out for a congratulatory dinner, and then home, showers real quick and into bed, where hopefully I can get the littles to go to bed....
Then I get to sit and drink with the family LOL.
So yeah. Let me think. Will this go the way I planned?
Nope. But it's all good anyway.
After a few days of bright sunshine and warm afternoons, we are back to grey skies and cooler mornings. Good on then, because I am totally not ready for summer. Spring? Perhaps. Summer. Definitely not.
Got both girls rooms done. Finally. Spring cleaning bug has finally bitten my old and wrinkled butt. It usually takes awhile.
One of the mysteries of life is that all winter long, we will shiver and put on sweaters in the cold and greyish damp weather, snow falling quietly around us, setting the thermostat to a reasonable 70 degrees (I am the heat nazi in our home, as is anyone who actually does the bill paying).
Then, come the first days of spring, when the temperature is a balmy 45 outside, but the sun is shining, we throw on our first pair of capri's or shorts, or even sweats pulled up a bit at the ankles, throw open the windows to let in some 'fresh air', turn the furnace down to like 40% so it won't come on, and
G L O R I O U S L Y waltz around the house singing, happily cleaning, and feeling quite wonderful in 45% temperatures, when a few weeks before, we would have frozen our asses off.
Must be something hormonal in women. What do men do at this time of year? Mine stays up all night watching old reruns of Law and Order LOL, then I let him sleep till noonish so he stays out of my way. But, does the imminent spring affect men as well as us?
Who knows?
Tomorrow Pint and I are playing hooky and going with my best friend and her 9 year old daughter to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. Just a MeeMaw and Pint day sort of. I am (GASP) lying to ½ Pint and saying that Sissy has an appointment. I am NOT being specific as to the nature of the appointment however, so I don't really think it constitutes lying?
Splitting hairs, I know...(nodding), but what the heck. Minoring in religion in college gave me a really functional background in semantics – ROFLMAO, I might as well use it??
Getting a bit tired of waking up every morning with a headache. No, readers, I do not have an undiagnosed brain condition or tumor. It's just a bloody damn stress headache. It will go away the day after I die, because I don't really believe any of the stress will leave until then. Normal now. Take BP pill, take Thyroid pill, grab two ibuprofen, swallow all with first sip of very hot coffee. Usually gag in the process.
You'd think, (but you'd be wrong) that I would have the smarts to go over to the sink, which is approximately, um...four feet away? And grab a glass of water to take the pills. No. I am not that with it in the morning. There are entire processes that go totally unnoticed by me first thing in the morning. If it is not in my routine, I will NOT notice it at all. I do not want to notice it. I will refuse to notice it. If I do not notice it long enough, I am figuring it will simply give up and go away??
I have a list of thingy's to do. Reading Surrogates latest effort which he thoughtfully emailed to me a few weeks ago is high on the list.
OH. Forgot.
T h e G R A N D A M is on the R O A D and R U N N I N G !! Whoooohooooooo!! 36 MPG here we come!!
She looks a bit rough, you cannot roll down the driver's window, the stereo still cranks **smile**, all the gears seem to be okay, although a bit loose. You can never QUITE trust Tatooed Love Puppy From Hell. When he works on a car, he tends to um, change things around or leave things out? But his prices rock...and he is always there for us when we need him.
We had the radiator replaced, so I will check to make sure he actually PUT antifreeze in it? She is making a funny sort of wheezy sound....which makes me nervous.
But, regardless, I am happy to have her back up and running.
Maybe I will take her into town today and see how she drives, then, if I am feeling particularly blessed tomorrow, use her to make the run into Pittsburgh to the Children's Museum? Who knows **evil grin**
Calamity wrote Baby an email on MySpace, and in it, she says how we are 'keeping' her from seeing her 'babies' and that she is getting ready to try and get them back legally.
Well, good luck with that. Just another stressor. I am not appreciably worried about it. She has a long way to go.
She did tell her little sister that she has been **clean** for two years now. Funny. Firstly, it has been 18 months, not two years, and secondly, she is still going to the clinic daily for her dose of methadone. I do not consider that **clean**. I consider that a junkie who is not, oh hellfire, I don't even know how to describe how I consider that.
Clean, to me, means drug free. Methadone is heroin without the buzz. I don't think that's clean. That would be like me quitting smoking cigarettes by changing to cigars. Not quitting at all. Does that make sense?
Not much in life does anymore.
Spikey is in heat. Spikey weighs about 10 # and is approximately 8 inches tall. Monster is an un-neutered male. Monster is 40 inches at the **shoulder** and weighs slightly over 200#'s at the moment.
We don't need TV in this house. It is an entire show watching him try to hold her still and mount her. He considers her his 'woman'. He whines incessantly when she goes out to go potty. After she goes out and comes back in, HE must go out to mark everywhere she went so that no other male dog comes around and pees on her spots.
When he tries to get 'romantic' with her, he just goes to town. She walks out from under him and turns her head, looking back at him with a slightly confused look, as if to say...
“was it good for you? Cause I didn't feel a THING !!”
ROFLMAO.
Not being a good week all in all.
Bit of a nervous wreck this week, and it's only Tuesday.
Recap.
My two Pint's are fine. They went to Mrs. Freud (counselor lady) after a hiatus of one month due to the fact that I had forgotten to schedule more appointments after the last batch had come and gone. If it doesn't go into my Palm Treo, it doesn't happen in our life.
I actually set the ALARM to remind me that the kids have to go out the door at the right time to catch the bus. Sad, isn't it?
So anyway, we had a condensed version of a counseling session, both girls and I split into a one hour session which was, quick. LOL.
Normally the girls each get an hour.
I explained to Mrs. Freud that Pint had already achieved (or so it seems) the situation that we both hoped she would someday arrive at.
She has come to simply accept her mother the way she is and not...
make excuses for her
look for promises from Mom to be fulfilled
relegate Mom to the status of a slightly weirded out close family friend.
This makes me glad, and a little sad.
Yesterday, in the car, Calamity calls. Wants to talk to the kids. I explain that the kids are in the back seat, and we are heading down Wellsville hill and will not have a signal for approximately 15 minutes. She asks if they can call once we are down the hill. I say yes.
Hit the Calamity button, hand over phone to back seat. Each girl has a conversation with their mother, very brief and one worded. Hi. Yes. no. okay. I miss you too. Bye.
Much more of an, um.....necessary phone call than one in which the child actually wants to participate.
My brother, who is one year younger than am I, and whom I have not seen in 23 years will be here Monday next. The last time I saw him my mother died. We lost touch. We are not a close family. (that would be an understatment).
My niece/daughterinlaw found my nephew (one year younger than Calamity is, last time I saw this child he was turning ONE year old !!) on MySpace. We started corresponding with each other whilst he was in Iraq. He is a (now) civilian who is an IED expert and was working for a contractor in Iraq.
He gave me his Dad's phone and address. We started corresponding.
It's a little weird. So, next week, I will pick him up in Akron at his hotel, and go to the Football and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame...and he will meet his other niece and nephew whom he has never seen (that would be Baby and Son who is married to Niece/Daughterinlaw), meet Baby's boyfriend IF they are together that day and not broke up, meet his three great niece's, meet my other foster daughter and her four children......and reconnect with the two niece's that he DID meet when they were seven and five ish, and has not seen since. I am sure it will be a shock for him, since they are now 30 and 28..and that is a lot of years inbetween.
I have warned DH that my brothers are, well, as not normal as am I, only in much different ways.
This brother is the one I was closest to growing up. I think he is the one most approaching normal human condition.
The other two, the oldest (niece/daughterinlaw's dad) is an anti social, libertarian genius who is condescending to the point of being unable to function well in society at all, and the youngest is a, well, Moonie. (Disciple, follower of the so called reverend sun yung moon). I don't capitalize his title or name on purpose.
The youngest has visited twice. The first time he acted like an ass. The second he taught my son to shoplift. He was asked to never return.
We were all considered genius. The parents had our I.Q.'s tested. Yuck. And, we were expected, actually forced to perform up to the parent's expectations. Not the parents. The Father.
My oldest brother, a year older than me, received a beating in Kindergarten because he brought home a B.
I started Kindergarten and never brought home more than a B occasionally, mostly a C. So did my next brother down. We learned early to NOT show success, because once shown, you could never go back in our family. Never.
I left home at age 13, tired of the beatings. The brother who is visiting next week left not too much longer I think.
We did stay in touch, and I moved back after my Dad left some four years later. At that point, we were all just people, sort of living in the same house. Not a family, if you know what I mean. It was easy to fall apart.
Probably one of the reasons I try so hard to hold my family together now.
Nursey and Cop are irreconcilable so to speak.
¾ Pint is NOT doing well at all. I cannot even go into it, it stresses me out so much. She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and she isn't even 7 years old for two weeks yet.
My heart is broken to what she is going through. It is very stressful. But, really, what can you expect when you take a small child completely away from everything she knows and feels stable with, and stick her in a large city, a new school, with no friends, no karate, different doctors, different rules, different caretakers, different clothes (no small Catholic school anymore, LARGE public school), have to ride a school bus with street smart city kids....no cousins, no familiar coffee shop where she is treated as a favored customer when she goes in to get her sugar free, dairy free, decaf latte? No familiar parks, no familiar routine. And, no Dad anymore. And Mom is working too many hours to pay the bills, and the only other caretaker is your 19 year old Aunt Baby who does not have the skills yet (but tries very hard) to deal with an emotionally wrecked 6 year old!!
Then, when she has a meltdown and runs amok at school, to the point where they put the school on lockdown, where she bites and kicks the Vice Principal....and then refuses consistently to go to school...
Yes, stress is running rampant in my body right now. Nursey is ready to have a nervous breakdown, Baby is ready to have a nervous breakdown, and ¾ Pint IS HAVING a nervous breakdown.
And, in absentia, so is MeeMaw.
My idea is to bring her out here, live here till school is out for the summer, go to school with cousins, see Mommy when Mommy has days off. Attend twice weekly counseling sessions with counselor here. See same pediatrician she has always seen.
Then, when summer starts, go back to the apartment with Mommy on the four days a week Mommy is not working..and have Mommy take her to the playground and pool everyday where she can make friends and integrate herself slowly into the big city apartment complex society. The theory is, by the time school starts up again, she will have friendships established that will help her out with riding the bus and going to school there. Also, start integrating her into the new doctor regimes, and the new counselor, so that she sees both the old and new concurrently, and makes the transition.
Nursey has not decided yet what to do. New pediatrician is saying (he has seen her exactly twice) that to do that might be giving the message to ¾ Pint that she can control the situation. Okay, I can sort of see that.
My theory is “who gives a flying fuck?” There is a Baby in meltdown. We fix it. We do whatever is going to be best for the baby. That's all that matters to me.
I'm very glad I don't have to go anywhere today. I need a long, soaky bath with about ½ bottle of good Cabernet (not as fruity as Shiraz), and need to sit and watch old re-runs on TV. Brain Veg.
Thursday is Children's Museum day with my best friend, her daughter and Pint.
Saturday is Destination Imagination State Competition day (9:30 and 10:30 am) then drive two hours home, then Black Belt test at 4 pm, with lots of family coming in for the test.
Busy week.
Pray for ¾ Pint please. She really is hurting badly.
Dawn's Gnoshing Diet
Gnoshing Diet.
After several of my friends have requested this.....
This is a diet I developed some 35 years ago. It works. Every time. Without fail. This is NOT a joke.
It is a way of permanently and effectively retraining your body and mind to keep you at your chosen weight.
It is more of a philosophy of eating. It is neither difficult, nor painful.
The weight loss is fairly rapid, consistent and works for years and years and years.
Day One. Throw away your scale. THROW IT OUT.
When you arise, get your coffee, or orange juice, or tea. Grab something like
½ bagel, with or without cream cheese. A piece of toast, with peanut butter, cream cheese, or plain old butter. Something fairly small, but something you LIKE to eat. Limit it to a small amount. I have grabbed a pork chop left over from dinner, a handful of M&M's on the run, a piece of bread, the TYPE of food you grab makes NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever. The amount DOES. Think of what you might give a three year old for a snack. THAT SIZE.
One hour later, do the same thing. Even if you ARE NOT hungry at all. Do it anyway.
One hour later, do it again.
One hour later, have your choice for lunch, a piece of pizza, a salad, an ice cream bar, doesn't matter.
One hour later, eat a couple of chips, or some nuts.
One hour later, eat another little snack.
And keep doing this all day long. There IS a reason you are doing this.
You will probably have to FORCE yourself to eat these snacks. It's okay. Do it anyway.
When you eat dinner, you will most likely eat smaller than normal. This is also okay.
Then have your snacks after dinner and up until you go to bed.
DAY TWO
Do the same thing, stretching out the time between to an HOUR and FIFTEEN MINUTES,.
DAY THREE
Again, do the same thing, stretching out the interval to one and a half hours.
DAY FOUR
Stretch it to One hour and ¾.
DAY FIVE.
Stretch it out to Two hours. If you get hungry before the two hours, go back to whatever interval you did NOT get hungry at all using.
Day Six.
Continue. You will most likely find that when actual societal mealtimes come, you are eating a child sized portion.
DO NOT FORBID YOURSELF ANY FOOD AT ALL. NONE.
If you want a caramel pastry bar, then eat it. Only ONE though, as one of your snacks.
If you want a piece of Pizza, eat it.
Snickers bars are totally okay.
The secret is to eat OFTEN, and only a small portion.
Day Seven.
Start some type of exercise. Doesn't matter one bit what kind. As long as it qualifies as exercise. Sex, walking, gym, lifting weights, running the sweeper through the whole house at a faster pace than normal, anything that makes you breathe heavy qualifies as exercise.
Day Eight.
Continue at whatever scale of time seems to work for you. Anything between 1 ½ hours to 2 hours is effective.
As you prepare dinner for your family, (or if you are a man who has a wife that cooks), stroll through the kitchen and grab a handful of the dinner selections that are safe to eat while being prepared. A piece of tomato that is going in the salad. A piece of vegetable. Whatever.
By now, your portions at the actual dinner should be quite small as you are never really hungry.
Your stomach size is shrinking. You don't feel hunger pangs anymore. You can eat whatever you feel like. You may have desserts. You many have gooey, nutty, caramely snacks.
After one month, you should need new clothes. The portions you snack on should have slowly gotten smaller and smaller. Now, instead of ½ a bagel, you only eat three bites in the moring. Instead of a half a bag of M&M's you eat ¼ of a bag. This is normal, and we WANT this.
Keep to the every two hours.
After six months, you should REALLY need new clothes.
Don't EVER stop eating this way.
You have now re-trained your body and mind and stomach. Your stomach is much smaller. You cannot eat a large portion of anything anymore.
Your body has started to burn fat, instead of storing it up.
The problem with other diets is that your body says “WHAT???? NO FOOD??? I don't THINK so. We might suffer. We are going to store fat for the famine!!
Do NOT let your body do this.
Tell your DNA that there IS NO FAMINE COMING. Give it food often, and consistently.
I know this sounds whacked out, but it works.
You will eat this way the rest of your life. And, you will stay at the weight you desire.
Last night at dinner, I ate a half a bag of Frozen Asparagus. With Bleu Cheese dressing. Not your typical diet.
I have eatin this way now for about 35 years. I have maintained a weight of 140# for the entire time, except when pregnant.
I put Dave on the diet (finally, after 17 years of trying other things and not losing any weight consistently), and in the last six weeks he has FINALLY lost 28 pounds.
He fought and fought, kept saying But I'm Not Hungry. I forced him to eat anyway. He was going on and on starving himself all day, and then eating HUGE portions at dinner and then all night long.
He is now learning to retrain his body. But, he has seen results and is liking it.
There you have it. Dawn's Gnoshing Diet. A new way to live.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial -No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License." />
The Philosophy of Blogging
There are certain things I love the most about blogging.
The interaction, of course, with others in a time and place of MY choosing, when I can sit and reflect, in my p.j's. But it is still interaction in an age where I do not get out much to have meaningful conversation.
Today, I have to clean. Yesterday, among the driving everywhere, doing all the regular stuff, I managed to 'do' Pint's room, which needed to be condemned!! Today, it is the 1/2 Pint's room. And, ultimately, the rest of the house as well.
But not quite yet. First I get my coffee, and my blogs.
My days are filled with Dr. Appt.'s, driving a car full of young children, karate lessons, where I do interact with people, but those people have said to me things like...
“John McCain? Who is he?”
Or, "No, I don't know or care what the economy is like", “ or “What could biofuel possibly have to do with rising prices of food”...
Sigh.
And I leave my destination wondering if truly, 90 % of the world's population ARE certifiably morons.
Then, I come home to my own little world, which is expanded via the internet and the blogosphere.
And I am eternally grateful that I don't have to live in a world constrained by only those with whom I interact in a physical manner.
I think I like the comments best. Writing my own blog is fun, certainly, but it still doesn't take me out of my life, rather, it brings others into my life. No, it is the comments that I make on other's blogs, which truly end up enriching me.
Right now, I am involved in a rather deep and profound philosophical discussion with Kurt Maddox. It is interesting, thoughtful and very provocative. I cannot simply jot off a quick answer to his (or a host of other's) comments on my comments and so forth.
I like that. I appreciate some of my more, shall we say, 'friendly adversaries'? I appreciate them a lot. They take me out of my comfort zone, and require me to continue evolving as a human.
There are certain blogs I read because I like the person, or I like the way they write, or they put pretty pictures up.
And, there are certain blogs I read because the writer challenges me.
And, there are times I comment quickly, without thought, in a snappy and smart ass manner, LOL, and am brought up short by the author!
Thank you Surrogate, Cutter, Pastor Dave and Kurt Maddox, Thoolou, LoriShuster, and Doc Savage, to name but a few.
That is not to say that I do not enjoy the other blogs. I do. I like hearing about the day to day struggles that some make, or seeing the lovely pictures that some post, hearing about the daily struggles to find a job, or go to grad school, or simply get through another day. They challenge me to 'empathy' something that is easy to let fall by the wayside.
I think as a society, some of us are evolving into the next phase. Some of us are still way out there, only interacting physically with those closest to us, and therefore, (making the assumption that eventually most of us are surrounded only by those closest to us) are not challenged to think. Not challenged to rise up to a new idea and investigate it. Not challenged to try to make a difference.
So, for all of you out there who read the blogs, be grateful that you have them!! They are keeping your brain alive. Something you will be grateful for LOL.
Mr. & Mrs. Kung Fu's wedding where our little 1/2 Pint is the flower girl, one of her karate friends is the ring bearer!!
The Little ring bearer and the lovely flower girl
someone who looks WAY to old to be my little Pint !!
Dance Hall Diva
coming down the aisle
little princess
having the time of her five year old life !!
three good friends
and they even danced the bridal party dance
my stupid sister is getting all the attention!!