This, that, and life's joys

Updating

2012-02-01T08:41:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been a whole week since I posted. I had no idea. Let's see, I'll do an oldest to youngest update.

T went to his first deacon's meeting, or "dickens meeting" as J calls it, last night. First one for this time around anyway. He had rotated off for a couple of years. He's been busy at work but still enjoys it for the most part. And he's doing the play Camelot with me. We've spent a lot of time rehearsing and learning songs and even a dance for that. And we get to chase each other onstage at one point. I'm working on his "Mack the Knight" costume. Please pray for willpower for T to eat right and get fit.

I am busy with the play, work, praise team, keeping house and getting costumes made for T and I. I have a mild sore throat and I sound kind of croaky this morning. I'm trying not to talk much to save my voice for tomorrow night's practice. Please pray for me for physical strength and healing.

A is quite busy with work and school plus she likes to work out as often as she can. She only sees P on the weekends as he works all day and then goes to school in the evenings 5 days a week. She had her tonsilectomy post-op visit yesterday and all is well. She had about 8 miserable days and then recovered quickly. She's into a no/low carb diet for this week and brought a bunch of food home and labeled it with her name. Poor J is never sure what he can eat because he doesn't want to eat her food and make her mad. I think it's funny. I played wii dance with her last night and beat her. I was thrilled. She is a much better dancer than I could ever hope to be so it's quite funny that I won. Weird, but funny. Please pray for A to do well in school and to seek God's plan for her.

J is doing well with school and with his attitude. He's been complaining of stomach aches a lot and I haven't figured out what that's about and he has a cold. But this is only his 2nd or 3rd one since this school year started. Huge improvement over the last two school years when he had a cold every month or so. He still wants someone to sit right by him and "help" with his schoolwork. He can do it himself but he still needs lots of directing. He's reading so much better all of a sudden and that helps a lot. He's been going to the play practices with us and behaving well. He wants to help build the set when it's time too. Pray for his continued good attitude and adjustment and that he will have the desire to learn and retain information. And for his stomach aches.

The animals are all fine. Misty still likes to make Diesel's life miserable. The horses are still fat and so are the dogs. The dogs are getting better though now that I've made it clear to the kids how much food they should be giving them. And the bag lasts a lot longer too. The horses will look their best in March.

I got word of the death of an old friend yesterday. So sad. It was an apparent overdose but I don't know anything besides that. satan is a liar and a jerk. Don't believe his lies!

And something lighter to end up on. J's skin is dry and he has eczema but he hates to put lotion on. I used to do it but he's 14 for crying out loud, he can put his own lotion on. But he won't unless he's wearing shorts. I always tell him to put lotion on and his usual answer to everything is "why?" and then I tell him, "Because you're a little dried up chip." Yesterday I told him that I put lotion on every day and he asked, "Why?" So I said, "Because if I didn't I'd be a little dried up chip. Or a big fat dried up chip." He said, "You're not fat." And I answered, "Well I'm not skinny." Without missing a beat he said, "You are medium." So there you have it folks, I'm not fat, I'm medium.

The phone pics

2012-01-25T16:47:00.000-06:00

Ok, apparently blogger is letting me upload pics again. At least for now. Yay for now!

This is the mess that greeted us the other morning after A left for school. She has a 7:00am class this semester and she was looking for coffee. She finally found it but left this in her wake.

The other morning this is what...

my computer screen looked like...

while I was trying to view it.

Someone suggested that it might be a cat virus...

but I think she just wanted "her" chair back.

We got one of those wii dance games the other day. Talk about funny. Here is J and a friend "dancing".

Diesel fell asleep with his toy the other day. I woke him up when I tried to take a pic but he was actually sleeping with the toy.

See that other little glob to the left? That's a piece of the toy and the floor was littered with glittery strands. Apparently destroying toys is exhausting work.

And this is one of my favs. Took this in town today. Little old lady driving the car. Think she forgot something when she put gas in her car? I especially love that the cap is hanging there.

Still here

2012-01-25T14:09:00.000-06:00

Well, I was going to post some phone pics but blogger is being stupid. Maybe I should change hosts?

Anyway, we are still here. Quite busy with school, work and the play but still here.

I have a lot in my head but nothing that wants to come out on the blog just yet.

Really wish I could have posted the pics. Sigh....

We are suppose to learn a dance tonight for the play. That should be very entertaining. I still don't have a costume and neither does T. Hopefully we will soon. I'd hate to be the only lady in waiting wearing jeans and a hoodie.

Well, hopefully blogger will get their junk together soon and let me upload pics. We shall see.

Phone pics and L.I.T.

2012-01-17T09:56:00.001-06:00

We have been busy, busy, busy. It's kind of nice to have the play to practice and look forward to. I'm not sure how we'll ever remember the words to the songs though. So far, as part of the ensemble/chorus we've only sung tra la la and yah, yah. How are we going to keep straight whether we tra, la or yah? This time of year can get you bogged down without something to look forward to though so we will work hard to do our best tra la yah's.

Yesterday T and J helped our friends work on the dining room of the cafe they are opening soon while I worked.

A's interview went well the other day. The lady was so impressed with her that she said if she had an opening she'd give her the job and when an opening comes up, A can have it.

Fibro is whooping me again, this time in the sleep area. I haven't slept well consistently for a few months. I just get a good night every now and then.

Lost in translation. This is a conversation we had at the dinner table last week; T-Did you see what the dogs brought home?

Me-That huge bone?

A-I saw that. It's really big.

Me-I don't know what it came from but whatever it was, it was huge.

J-Maybe it's from a dinosaur.

Me-Maybe.

J-We need to get a psychologist out here to look at it!

Hahahahha! Psychologist/scientist. So close.

We have had some strange weather here lately. We've gone from sunny days...

to rain and clouds with a rainbow...

to snow!

My birthday present from my parents came the other day. A ukulele. It's so little and so cute!

Diesel loves to cuddle.

And he's still amazed at the water dripping from the faucet. He knows that one day,

if he just keeps trying,

he will catch that stream of water!

And because this is too cute not to share, this is my SIL's cat, Frito. His name is Frito because that's his fav food. This is his "hands up or I'll shoot!" pose.

And this is his "Ah, you got me!" pose. Isn't Frito too cute?

No real title, just some randomness

2012-01-10T14:19:00.000-06:00

Wow, I had no idea it has been 9 days since I posted last. Maybe I should do a quick little review of each one of us. Let's see. How about oldest to youngest.

T. Well, he helped me get the Christmas decorations down and was happy to go back to work on the 3rd. He's been working on some computers and tonight is our first Camelot practice. He is going to be a knight.

Me. Well, I've been working a lot as one co-worker has been out of town with a family emergency. And then the store owners both came down with a nasty stomach bug. I turned a year older since I posted last and was having some weird feelings about that but when I came home from work my hubby and children had made a beautiful birthday dinner for me, and my parents and aunt and her new hubby joined us. I was very blessed. And we start Camelot this evening. I will be a lady in waiting. Why yes, some of us have been waiting longer than others.

R and JT and Skylar got back to CO safely. JT is in sergeant school and R is back to work. And they found a TN walking horse for free. In CO. She is thrilled. I will have to post a pic of Andy soon.

A is doing quite well after her tonsilectomy. She is back to work and will be back to school Friday. She is also job hunting.

J is back to school and so far, so good. His attitude is good and it seems like he's reading better all of a sudden too.

The cats are glad that Skylar's gone. The dogs are liking the warmer temps we've been having but none of us are liking the rain. My dad, brother and niece get back from Haiti today. They were on a one week mission team. I think that's about all the randomness for now but how about a couple lost in translations? We were looking at pics of a parade and J said, "What's dat dog? Oh yeah, Bloopy" Bloopy/Snoopy. So close. Then another pic came up and he said, "Hermit de frog!" Hermit/Kermit. So close. And my favorite one was when he shouted, "Chef Kazowski!!" which is what he calls himself in the kitchen. It was the pillsbury dough boy.

Christmas-New Year's Eve phone pic dump

2012-01-01T13:50:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! We had a nice party here last night with our annual blowing up the Christmas tree. Let's just say this year's tree went out in a blaze of glory. Best one we've had in a while. Big tree, nice and dry, right amount of accelerant, well aimed roman candles. Woot!

I'm not even going to try to recap the whole year. It was a pretty good year for us even if it was on the strange side. You can look back at the blog posts if you really want to recap.

We had "secret church" this morning in honor of all the christians around the world who are not permitted to openly meet and worship Christ. It was a good service and really made you think and to be thankful for our blessings.

I've shared a few pics through the season already but I went back on my phone and dumped a bunch of pics here. This is Skylar with a bow in her hair. She doesn't look real impressed with it, does she?

And another one of Skylar just because she's so cute! We need no other reason to take and post pics of Skylar.

I think this was the night before A got her tonsils out. R won. I wouldn't have thought that because of how much A works out but apparently R is pretty strong from lifting saddles and keeping kids on their horses. Or something.

The cats were not impressed at all with Skylar. By the end of the visit Diesel was playing with her some but for the most part, they avoided her. This was best accomplished by staying outside or up out of reach. Misty was much more tolerant of Diesel with Skylar around, so much so that they shared my chair with me. One on each arm.

JT did a little artwork on J's face. He could barely color it in for all of J's laughing. J said it tickled.

And his contemplative look.

A passed out puppy...

...and a cuddly kitten. Look, he's actually hugging my neck. How sweet is that?

A bunch of us tried on JT's bullet proof vest. It weighs about 20 pounds the way we were trying it on. That's without all the other stuff they add to it. I was supposed to be showing my muscles but I'm not sure I have any. Definitely not anything worth showing off.

And then the guys arm wrestled. This is JT and A's boyfriend, P. P won. Those Coloradians are scrawny but strong and JT gave it his all but P finally overtook him. Both the girls and the guys were kind of "locked" in these positions for a while. It was fun to watch both arm wrestles.

Skylar says, "Hey, that's my dish!"

Diesel says, "Ok, I'll let you have some too."

And the New Year's Eve party. We had so much food and so much fun. And we watched some fireworks.

The kids played with sparklers while the big kids got their roman candles ready. One of the roman candle bursts lit the tree and it was engulfed in this huge flame. It was so hot, so big, and burned so fast that it truly went out in a blaze of glory.

And that's all the pics for now. 2012 is here. Zoiks! Prayers for health and happiness for you and yours for this year. And that even when things don't go the way we'd/you'd like them to that we allow God to work all things together for good. He will if we let Him.

Li'l update

2011-12-28T18:29:00.000-06:00

Let's see. So far it's been a pretty good Christmas. A is doing ok but didn't expect to feel this bad for this long. She is still not able to talk or eat much but she did manage to eat a whole bowl of oatmeal this afternoon.

I saw the doc who did my wrist surgery today and he confirmed that I have varicose veins in my wrist. Oh joy. I'm to see a surgeon to see if they can sclerose them like I had done in my leg several years ago. I had a good outcome from that so that's encouraging.

T's wrist is sore. I think it's sympathy pain for me. He doesn't think so.

We are getting ready for our New Year's Eve tree blow-up party. We picked up some fireworks today. The tree is drying out nicely.

That's it for now.

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T11:40:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! From our house to yours! Remember the reason for the season.

Before.

After.

We are thankful for God's gift that we are reminded of during Christmas. We are thankful for friends and family and little furry blessings, not the rodent type but the four-legged pet type. We are thankful for God's blessing and provision.

Surgery

2011-12-22T14:43:00.000-06:00

A's surgery went well but they had to do some cauterization because they were "very infected and needed to come out". He had hoped to just do the coblation. She is resting in her bed. We are hoping and praying the pain doesn't get too bad.

J is cracking me up. He said, "De plan is, to have a plan." He was "making gadgenators 'cause if secret agents don't have gadgenators den dey are just secret." Whatever you say, son.

I did go upstairs while A was getting her tonsils removed and asked about my wrist. At first they were just trying to figure out what it was. Then they thought I should have it looked at like, next week or tomorrow. Then they decided that I should continue the advil and warm compresses and only come in if it got worse. Sigh...when you stump the professionals, it's not a good thing. My crazy body has been stumping them for a while now.

It's raining. Again. I'm tired of the rain. At least it's not snow. I still have presents to wrap. I better get busy.

Whew!

2011-12-21T20:51:00.000-06:00

Life is happening very fast around here. It's so nice to have all the kids in the house again. I played Phase 10 with my three kids last night. J won. You know how mom's say things like, "I brought you into this world, I'll take you out!" when they are exasperated or just teasing with their kids? Last night I told J in a teasing way, "I brought you into this country, I'll take you out!" He was only half listening and knew I was teasing, I just thought it was funny to say.

A gets her tonsils out tomorrow (please keep her in your prayers) so we went out to eat to celebrate her "last supper". Bahahaha!! A couple of the "CO ladies" joined us too. We had fun. And then we went to Walmart. Because we were in town. What else would rednecks do when they go to town?

I got a part in Camelot. I'm in the ensemble, which is what I wanted. I've been wanting to do a play again for a while and the timing was good.

I need to go make white choc dipped pretzels. Maybe I can get some gifts wrapped in the next couple days. Otherwise we might just have to lay them under the tree naked with tags on them. I need to stir up sourdough tonight too. I better get busy.

What is this?

2011-12-20T14:15:00.000-06:00

We are busy with all of us coming and going all the time. T, JT and I got chiro adjustments this morning. Made my neck feel like it was going to swivel right off. Ahhh.

I forgot how noisy a house full of young people can be. And how much they eat! Wowzer! I love it though.

The cats are not fans of Skylar. They've spent a lot of time outside or up high since she arrived. She keeps trying to engage them in play but they just don't get it.

I showed this to the chiro this morning and I called the doc the other day. Look at my left wrist. What is this? The doc said it's probably superficial phlebitis and to take advil and use warm compresses. The chiro says there is some swelling down inside the wrist joint. I think I will head up to the hand therapy people while A gets her tonsils out on Thursday and ask them. If they say it needs to be seen, I will make an appointment. If not, I'm not going to worry about it.

Picture post

2011-12-18T14:28:00.000-06:00

R, JT and Skylar are here. They got in around 2 this morning.

A is scheduled to have her tonsils out on Thur. She's ready to get them out.

And now the pics from the last couple of weeks. One frosty morning the horses had frost on their backs. Proof that their fur was working for them!

And I snapped this pic of a bush at my parents' house that same morning. It was all so beautiful but soooo cooooold.

The tree is still standing up straight. I don't know what T did to it the second time around but it's working!

And thank you, blogger, for putting this one in sideways. Misty is so fat that she squishes the top of the chair down.

When we were at the beach we saw some nativity scenes out of palm tree thingys and seashells. We collected several and mom, friend K, J, A and I each made a seashell nativity. We had fun doing it and love the results. This one is mine.

This is K's.

J's.

And A's. I failed to get a pic of my moms.

And here is Misty with her "joker smile" as she sleeps on the folded laundry.

And here is Peaches, the feed store cat. Now if we could get her to make change we'd be doing well.

J was in a Christmas program at church this morning. Sorry for the cruddy pic. Cheap phone. And T was taking vid on his. J is in the white shirt.

Much ado about nothing

2011-12-12T10:27:00.000-06:00

I know, it's been nearly a week. Life is crazy.

A has a cold, or something. And she has some weird red splotches in the back of the roof of her mouth. Sigh...she's suppose to get her tonsils out in 10 days. We are going to have her gargle with warm salt water and see how it is in the morning. Any ideas?

My parents are back from FL. Woot! They had a good time and are now trying to settle back into life here.

J did not earn his gum on the first day of his testing. The reading part threw him for a loop. He did ok the rest of the week though. He's trying to decide what to do with his hair. If you pull it out straight it's about 2 1/2-3 inches long. We could lock it. We could have it braided. Or if he would just brush/pick it out he could have big hair. That's what I'd prefer but he doesn't like to pick it.

I had a better week last week with fibromyalgia. Thankful for that. The doxycycline doesn't seem like it helped much this time as I really struggled last week. Sigh...

I recently used Loreal Healthy Look semi-permanent hair color. It's suppose to last through 28 washings and doesn't contain ammonia. Loved it! Recommend it! It's lasted at least 28 washings and covered the gray well. The time before that I used a "mousse-like" color that was fairly easy to apply but just didn't color like Excellence cream or Healthy Look and it didn't last well either. Go figure. That's my product review for the day.

Oh wait, I have another one. I've been using my homemade laundry soap for over a month now. I have a hard time with the lack of sudsing (it's "between the ears") but the clothes come out clean and it's so economical that I will keep using it. The recipe is; 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, 1 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda, but it is made by Arm and Hammer) and 1/2-1 cup of borax. My cousin started out with 1/2 cup but had upped it to 1 cup by the time I made mine. I've only made the 1 cup version. You cut the Fels naptha soap up into small pieces and then process in a blender or food processor. I used a blender because I don't have a food processor. Add the borax and washing soda and process a bit more. Or that's how I did it. Use 1-2 tablespoons per load, adjusting to load size and how dirty the clothes are. I'm also using vinegar in place of liquid fabric softener. Actually, I got some Dollar General brand liquid softener and use it with the vinegar so it's about 1/4 softener and the rest vinegar. Clothes are clean and soft and don't smell like vinegar. So economical! Love it! Recommend it! Oh, and the washing soda, borax and fels naptha can be found in a very small section of the laundry section in your local walmart or whatever. If I had blinked I never would have found it.

Thank God all the vehicles are running right now. They all have weird tire issues, but they are all running.

R, JT and Skylar will be here sometime on Sat. Woot!! We are all looking forward to that.

Ok, must go change out the laundry, paint some Christmas gifts and get on with the day.

Busy, busy, busy

2011-12-06T09:59:00.000-06:00

Busy, busy, busy. That's our lives right now. A is getting ready for finals and working and doing whatever she can before she gets her tonsils removed.

J seems back on track at school. At least for now. He's doing some state mandated tests right now and has a chance to "earn" a pack of gum a day with a good attitude. Hope he makes it. He cut his finger the other day with a pocket knife. I have hidden it from him as this is the 3rd time he's cut himself with it.

I failed to bring milk home yesterday. And whoever emptied the jug failed to throw it away. Oddest thing, none of the people I live with can throw empty jugs away. Why is that? My parents are in FL right now so I'm helping out with their household, business and ministry. And fibromyalgia is still whooping me right now. Yesterday was good though, and so far today. Yay for that! I'm excited about playing keys for a friend tonight for special music at a meeting. Should be fun.

T has been working on computers for people, besides what he does for his job. Thank God, all the cars are running right now. They all have wonky things going on with their tires, but they are all running at the moment.

Check out this link; http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-history-year-three.html This was one of the Livesays' Christmas productions. I loved this one.

I'm happy to report that our tree is standing up straight now and has been for the last 3 days. Woot!

In the crazy "busyness" that is the Christmas season, remember to stop and think about the reason for the season and to spend time with loved ones.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-02T08:47:00.000-06:00

Wow. What a difference a couple days make. T was in Nashville this week and J wanted to get the Christmas stuff out while he was gone. I agreed. He and I did some decorating and when we all got home yesterday afternoon we went out and cut a tree. You know how they look smaller when they're out in the middle of a pasture in the wide open space? Yeah, we had that come in to play with this tree. We got a new stand this year but it just isn't holding well. And now we have a big fat tree that has become the Leaning Tower of Treeza. And I need a bigger tree skirt.

While J and I were decorating, A was taking the seats out of her car.

Why? So she could clean under them, of course. And taking the seats out is easier than vacuuming underneath them?!? She is her father's child.

And J had a lightbulb moment. Or a double lightbulb moment in this case.

My Christmas cactus even got in on the decorating. It's blooming about a month before Christmas but it hasn't bloomed in a couple of years so we'll take what we can get.

And now I have to figure out what to do with the tree.

More November stuff

2011-11-29T19:21:00.002-06:00

Busy, busy, busy. That's been our lives lately. I've come down with something, I'm not sure what but it's forcing me to slow down for a day or two. I hate feeling wimpy. Fibromyalgia has been whooping me lately too. Sigh...

We had a bad day with J yesterday. Interesting that it happened as we are finishing up Adoption Awareness Month. We are thankful that J hasn't dealt with attachment issues like Reactive Attachment Disorder. He does deal with abandonment issues. He's kind of in a "perfect storm" situation right now. He's 14 and in 7th grade, he's an older adopted child who spent 5 years in an orphanage, and he is in puberty. Zoiks! He had a meltdown at school and several more at home which all came to a head as a big fit. But after he calmed down from that he was able to engage, think, talk and smile. It was like a big zit that popped all over everything and then he was ok. Weird. Anyway, my adoption links for today are http://www.welcometomybrain.net/ . They are parenting two bio kids and 3 adopted. They have two with RAD. And another adoption blog I have enjoyed reading is http://johnson-mccormick.com/ Their recent post on "Family Tree" Projects was awesome! They have twin boys adopted from Haiti and one bio daughter.

A told someone she works with that she was going to have her tonsils out and they asked if this was the first time. She said, "They can grow back?!" and he said yes. She believed him and came home and asked me about it. Goofy girl! She may have dyed her hair darker but she has blond roots.

Here is a cute pic of the cute kitty who lives where I work. This is Peaches peeking out over the counter. Too cute.

And I'm loving this pic right now. This is R's horse, Bridget, who is full of herself. She's so funny and has a great personality. I took this pic on my cheap phone and texted it to a bunch of people to see if they knew what it was. A few did. I knew R would know.

And now, a thankful list. I'm thankful for a great support group for J at school. There are a bunch of people who care about him and they help us out everyday with J. I'm thankful for animals. Cats and horses are two of my favs. And today I'm thankful for tylenol and advil.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T10:20:00.002-06:00

Empty Arms Hotel, how can I help you!

This is actually a pic of a friend's dog at the counter where I spend most of my working hours. He belongs to the store owners, who are also our friends, and we were having a meeting and he kept popping up now and then and was just too cute! Sometimes just his paws and the tips of his ears and nose were showing. Precious!

A made cheesecake last night. I have sourdough bread rising and will bake it right before we leave so it's still warm when we eat. I'm also making broccoli casserole and sweet potato casserole. A wanted sweet potatoes with crunchy topping and since she won't be able to eat much at Christmas (tonsilectomy) I'm happily complying.

A is working this morning and then we are all heading over to my brother's house.

My adoption awareness blog for today is the Livesays. http://www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/ I "met" Tara via email and stayed with them one night on my way back home after spending a month in Haiti with J back in Jan of 09. They are all awesome people and I'm so glad I met them.

Thankful list for today. Let's see, have I mentioned that I'm thankful for dark chocolate? I am. And though I'm thankful every day (or should be) I'm thankful that we live in a country that sets aside a day of the year to think about and be thankful to God for our blessings. We are blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!!

More of the same (without pics)

2011-11-22T12:56:00.001-06:00

I'm sorry it's been a whole week since I posted and that I have no pics to post. We promised not to show the people sticking their tongues out (from the last post) and that's about the only interesting pics in a while.

A had her appointment today and is scheduled to have her tonsils out on Dec. 22nd. Why then? Because her last finals are on the 15th and the doc does surgery on Mondays and Thursdays and the 19th was booked up. She might be groggy for Christmas but she will be ready for school in Jan. And like I told someone, she will get gifts for Christmas but she actually has to "earn" the scholarships and one of the requirements is attendance. He's using a procedure that she won't have stitches. I remember coughing up stitches for a while after having mine out back in the day.

J has been doing pretty well in school lately. I even got a call one day and answered with, "Uh-oh. What'd he do?" and she was calling to say how well he was doing. Woot! We have been letting him earn gum by having 5 days of good attitude at school. There's actually been a bit of emotional growth lately too. And by saying that stuff we are probably setting up for an epic blow up.

He continues to crack us up and do sweet things for people too. He prayed aloud the sweetest prayer for a friend the other day and ended with, "...and help her have a ever happy after." Too cute! Yesterday morning it was raining really heavy and we were amazed at the water on the driveway and in the pasture on the way to school. J said, "It's a good ting we have dat hole!" He was referring to the sink hole on our property where all the rain water runs down but it sure sounded funny.

My adoption awareness link today is http://www.debraparker.blogspot.com/ Debra is an adoptive parent who was also adopted herself. They brought their son home from Haiti after the earthquake. I remember seeing Ronel on Lori and Licia's blog and praying for parents for him. I've never met Debra but there is that bond of surviving Haitian adoption. And I love that she recently had her kids learn to serve each other by making each other's beds and making breakfast for each other. Brilliant idea.

My thankful list for today is, I'm thankful for access to good medical care. I'm thankful for a dry house, good food to eat, vehicles that run and money for gas. I'm thankful for my church family.

November thankfulness and awareness, cont.

2011-11-15T11:51:00.001-06:00

When we started the adoption process we had no idea how we were going to pay for it but we weren't the least bit worried about it either. We applied for adoption grants, did fundraisers and I baked and sold a lot of cookies. I'd like to highlight a couple organizations who are helping families raise the money needed for adoption expenses. One is http://www.olivetreepromise.com/ It was started by some more adoption group friends who have a son from Ethiopia and are waiting on a daughter. And also http://www.showhope.org/ founded by the Chapmans. These are two great resources if you're considering adoption or would like to help those who are.

J informed us the other day that we kiss weird because he can't see the spark when we kiss. Too much tv?

A discussion last night during a game of phase 10 about the benefits of drinking baking soda water if your stomach is upset vs. the horrid taste turned into a discussion of what would happen if you swallowed peroxide. That discussion turned into comparing tongue sizes (don't ask-we don't know why). And some of the people in the discussion weren't even there with us. It was by text, which required pics of people sticking their tongues out. It was decided that A's tongue is the most versatile as she can touch her nose with it, curl and uncurl it and turn it over both ways without pulling it in. It was also decided that R, A and I have small/skinny tongues, J's is on the smaller side, and friend K, T and A's bf, P, have big/fat tongues. And we have no idea what JT's tongue is like. Got that all? And why is that important? We have no idea why. And A was questioning whether or not we are normal. Normal is just a setting on the dryer. And one of the people with a big tongue said they are better for tasting food. Whatever. There was a short discussion of dominant characteristics too, which stemmed from being able to curl your tongue or not. I know you just stuck your tongue out to see if you could curl it.

And now a thankful list. Let's see. I'm thankful again for family and friends and time spent together. It's a gift. I'm thankful for our jobs. I'm thankful for our home. I'm thankful for the little things in life that mean so much.

And, some random pics. K sent a pic to me of her holding this huge cat. It looks like she can barely hang on to him and snap the pic. The cat reminds me of Misty, only bigger. So I took one of Misty and I together and sent it to her. This is Misty and I. Misty is thinking, why are you doing this to me? and I'm thinking, look at us Misty, we are so cute (and snap the pic already you stupid phone). Or something like that.

And this is K and Hillis. Look at his face! Look at her face! Hillis is thinking, why are you doing this to me? and K is thinking, omg, I'm going to drop your furry lead butt (and snap the pic already you stupid phone). Or something like that.

More November thanksgiving, awareness and reminiscing

2011-11-12T11:45:00.001-06:00

Ok, today I'm going to start with a thankful list. I'm thankful for the bright sun that's out today. I'm thankful for memories, family and friends. I'm thankful for the colors of fall. I'm thankful for music and the way it moves my heart and soul.

My adoption awareness link for today is some friends that we met at an adoption support group. They have two precious "special needs" (which didn't turn out to be anything at all) boys from South Korea. They blog at http://www.someshadesofbrown.blogspot.com/ .

And now, the reminiscing. My parents have been in the process of changing all their old slides into CDs. My dad emailed this pic the other day with no explanation. When I opened it I thought it was A. But the bib wasn't right, the high chair wasn't right and the background wasn't right either. Turns out it was me with Lord knows what all over my face.

And it so reminded me of pics of A when she was that age. Sorry for the blurriness of these pics. Most of them are pics of pics.

We could have been twins.

I started going through old pics yesterday. I have them in an old washtub by the base of the steps and I was going to move them upstairs. I had such a great time going through them that I might just clean them up and leave them downstairs. I haven't decided yet.

I found T's baby book and a bunch of old pics of him. Love this one. He still has the same grin.

When I found this one I said, omg! What a couple of dweebs!!

This is from one of those photo booths. Same time frame as the above pic.

One of my fav baby pics of R. The cat's tail is over her head and it looks like an orange mohawk.

The girls when they were about 5 and 2.

I have no idea why this is in here sideways (thank you, blogger) but this was Christmas of 96. T's parents with all the grandkids except J.

R jumping into T's hands at some kind of ball pit place. I love her complete trust that he's going to catch her. That's A down in the balls.

Our biggest snowmen ever in TN. T could barely reach the top.

About that same time the girls were an elf and an orc in "The Hobbit".

We've been having "theme parties" for several years now and this was the year of the luau. I had a "coconut top" on over my swimsuit but under that shirt and I would "flash" people right when my dad took a pic. There were lots of smiles in those pics!

T's was one of the biggest smiles.

This is JT on the day he was sworn into the army.

I came across this wonderful pic of Haitian ingenuity. Notice the cement wall broken down for easier access to the balcony from the spiral stairs.

I compared it to our spiral staircase and shuddered at the thought of climbing the Haitian one.

Where Diesel loves to play.

This is Bridget when she was a baby. I like the way this pic looks like a painting. It was foggy.

Omg! This is T and his twin when they took the furnace and water heater apart when they were 2. One of the things the repairman couldn't even put back together and they had to get a new one, but I don't know which one it was. T is on the left in the white Jetsons shirt. Look at their feet. They were barefoot. It was a coal furnace so they were black. Their hands, their faces, their clothes! Love this pic.

And this is T and his older brother acting like they are racing golf carts. T is on the left.

Oh, I found these pretty pics of R. She was 17 and this was one of her senior pics.

These pics were on my phone. Diesel is still trying to catch the water that falls from the faucet. He doesn't seem to tire of this game.

And he often gets a drink too.

Our house with it's fall colors all around us.

J got into A's theatrical make-up (with permission) and painted himself up. A's making a funny face behind him.

Speaking of funny faces, this is J blowing on a harmonica.

And this is one of my fav pics ever. A fell asleep leaned against the couch. Her knees buckled but she didn't fall because the couch was in her way. She was 2-3 at the time. Too cute!!

And that's all the reminiscing for now because I have to go decide what to do with all these old pics.

Adoption awareness and some randomness

2011-11-09T11:46:00.002-06:00

Randomness. Is that a word? It is today. So far today I have found a cap gun and a wrench in the pile of laundry I'm working on. Doesn't everyone have cap guns and wrenches in their laundry? Speaking of laundry, I followed my cousin's example (blogging cousin under "blogs I read") and made my own laundry soap. It smells good. Is very economical. Is natural. But it doesn't suds. At all. The clothes seem clean and I will keep using it but it's sort of weird that there are no suds. Maybe it's just a mind block for me and I might end up making more and mixing it with some gain. I don't know. I will keep you posted.

Yesterday in the car on the way to school J was putting lotion on. He squirted some on his finger and said it looked like mayonaise. I told him to taste it. He smiled and shook his head. Then he said, "I tasted glue once. It smelled like candy so I tasted it to see what it tasted like. It was nasty!" That boy cracks me up. I told him Nanny used to say the boys at school ate the paste. Do you remember paste? Or how about rubber cement? Now I'm showing my age.

R sent this pic of Skylar watching Animal Planet. Is this not the cutest thing ever? At least as far as grand critters go? She is seriously watching the tv.

I'm going to do my adoption links and then a whole bunch of pics. http://roomforatleastonemore.wordpress.com/ These are the people we bought Vanna Blue from. They have 2 bio boys, 3 adopted children and are in process for another one, all with special needs. And I have to mention this lady again because she is constantly advocating for adoption awareness http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/

I hate that our adoption process took 4 years. I hate it for us and I hate it for him. J was in an O for 5 years. Sometimes I wonder what being home just 6 months earlier may have done for him. Maybe he could have gotten enough schooling that he would be in age appropriate grade. The progress he makes in 6 months is astounding. As it is, he will be 19 most of his senior year in school. Will he even want to be in school at that point? Only time will tell. What if he had gotten home 2 years earlier? Oh the things he'd be capable of now if he had. I have to choose not to dwell on those things and just be thankful that he's here. And to be thankful for the people we met because it took so long to get him here (other adoptive parents, Livesays, Clays, McHouls).

Now, the pics. In no particular order. Here is J making brownies at G'ma's house in Jan. of 09. Remember, I spent the month of Jan in Haiti with J at T's parents. I have built off that foundation so many times already and am thankful for it.

The Citadel. This was taken on one of my many journeys between Port and Cap during that month. Love this pic.

J jumping rope at the O in Jan or Feb 09. He was barefoot on concrete and jumped over 125 times in a row.

One of the "official" pics we got through the years.

J and I on the plane in Jan 09.

With the Grandpas.

Playing with Abby.

9th birthday.

First time meeting in person. Pay no attention to the date stamp. It was wrong. This was July of 06.

He was 8 years old, wearing a shark tooth necklace that I had made him and braiding R's hair. R was 15, about to turn 16 at the time. She only lived with us 5 months after J got home and then she was married and gone. I'm thankful for this time she had with him. She wore that braid for several months.

The 3 of us walking down the road. Look how tiny he was! And holding his britches up! Love this pic-thanks J.M. for taking it.

J and his two mommas, July 06.

Christmas of 06 or 07, I'm not even sure.

Showing his balancing prowess.

Calling home on a "skype Sunday". Used to love those.

At the O, in 07 or 08. Probably 08.

10th birthday.

Omg! Second pic we ever received of him. He was so little! Geeky little kid in his pink shirt, which he loved because he was wearing it when he entered the O. Love this pic too! Thanks to Randy and Angie for taking it.

And now a thankful list. I'm thankful for the way adoption has touched our lives. I'm thankful for the people we've met along the way. I'm thankful for my furry critters and grandcritters and the joy they bring to our lives.

Thanking and sharing

2011-11-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

J continues to crack us up with his ~~command~~ use of the English language and his understanding of the way things are. He was showing me his picture he drew of Sparticus and said, "He is one of dose guys whose hair go like dis (and he indicated a comb-over). It don't really cover any ting." The other day I used the words "rhetorical question" with him and he asked this morning if I had called Bampa and I said, "No. Why? Was I suppose to?" He said, "No. Dat was a retardedal question." Rhetorical/retardedal. So close.

He got into A's theatrical make-up last night (he had permission) and first just painted his lips and cheeks like a clown. Then he came out with indian war paint. He's been watching Bampa's John Wayne movies.

Speaking of Bampa, he's taking J golfing today. Should be interesting. He even got him a used set of golf clubs. If he takes any pics I will try to share.

A is having tonsil trouble again. She has an appointment with a surgeon in a couple weeks. School seems to be going pretty well for her. I haven't heard any complaints lately anyway. She is still enjoying her job too. And fishing. She and her bf are going fishing today and they asked T to go with them. Isn't that sweet?

For November's adoption awareness I'd like to share the blog of a family who has adopted 4 special needs children. They also have three bio boys. And she's spotlighting different families during the month of November too. I've never met her in person but I enjoy her blog. http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/

And my thankful list for this post. Let's see. I'm thankful for our local public school system and that they work so hard to meet J's needs and do the best they can with him. I'm thankful for heated seats in my car. I'm thankful for God's word and the ways He meets me where I am.

November already?!?

2011-11-02T14:31:00.000-05:00

What the heck happened to October? Seriously, it just flew by. But, welcome November! November is adoption awareness month. Adoption is a beautiful thing rolled up with a very traumatic thing. There is trauma on the birth parent's part and trauma to the child. In some cases the whole process is traumatic, like ours taking 4 years to complete. But it is a beautiful thing to. We have been blessed by adoption.

I plan to link to other sites dealing with adoption and orphan care through the month of November. One of my favs is The ApParent Project, http://www.apparentproject.org/ Shelley and Corrigan were house parents for J for about 9 months and we stayed with them when we were bringing J home. They work to help artisans make a living for themselves so they don't have to relinquish their children due to poverty (which is why most of the adoptable kids in Haiti are in orphanages). Check them out. Have a jewelry party or support their work.

I also plan to do thankful lists in each post in November. Look for that at the bottom of this post.

Now the pics. We had a sale and customer appreciation weekend where I work. I dressed up as a hippie chick, the owner was Puss, in Boots and J was Michael Jackson.

This is at the drive-through of the local bank the other day. Yes, that man is standing at the drive-thru window taking care of his banking business. The lobby was open. He could have walked around the corner and gone inside. Sir, it's a DRIVE-THRU. Whatever.

Diesel likes to cuddle up and get as close as he can and as comfy as he can each evening. He hears the footrest go up on my recliner and he's there. I love how his toes are curled in this pic.

And then when he gets too hot on my chest he moves to my head.

And back to my chest again.

And this is "Queen Sassy Cat" otherwise known as Misty. She is so sassy and so moody. Love her though.

My cousin posted on her blog about making her own laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent. I bought the ing today and plan to make some on Friday. I will let you know how it turns out.

And now my thankful list for today. I'm thankful for the beautiful sun that's out today. I'm thankful for my friends and family who love me. And I'm thankful for hot spiced tea now that the weather is cool enough to enjoy it.

More pics

2011-10-28T11:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, these are pics that are now in random order, from random sources (camera, cellphone) and randomly straight or sideways. Thank you very much, blogger. Anway...

Back to our trip, this is J with the bookstore kitty Emily Grace.

And this is Peanut, the pet squirrel.

I love the live oaks and spanish moss.

It started raining one day and the waves got bigger.

And the next morning there was this gorgeous double rainbow.

And the waves were even bigger.

The boys loved it. Just after this pic a wave picked M up and moved him about 3-4 feet.

Anchors away!

Hunting Island light house.

Why, yes. Yes we did climb it. Well, some of us did. This is the view of the beach from the light house.

Our last day there the boys spent some time looking for shark teeth.

Sunset over the marsh our last night there.

A and her bf brought pumpkins home for them to carve. A had to stand on a chair to get up high enough to work on hers.

T got out a tiny projector so P could work on his. But if anyone asks, he did it free hand.

They did J's with the projector too. But he's man enough to admit it.

And now, thanks to blogger, we are back at the beach. The light house to be exact. And off in the distance is the island we stayed on.

This is standing at the bottom of the light house looking up at the spiral stairs. I can't remember how many for sure but I think it was between 150 and 200 steps. The boys counted and then figured out that they told the number at each landing.

Psych! And now back to pumpkins. This is A's masterpiece in the works.

P wasn't happy with his even after using the projector (but if anyone asks he did it free hand) so he put it on one of our fence posts along the driveway.

The works in progress.

Pumpkins are now interupted to show you pics of sunsets, 'cause you all know how much I love sunsets.

And Diesel. I do love my little Diesel.

And he loves his daddy figure.

And he loves to sleep on the back of the chair.

And now back to pumpkins. Yes, thank you very much blogger. This is A's masterpiece.

And J working on his.

Thank you for coming with us on that bumpy ride where we switched in and out of different parallel universes. I hope you were able to keep up.

Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

2011-10-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Is jiggety really a word? Anyway... we are home again, safe and sound. I missed my Diesel and my bed. And my own toilet. I hate using public restrooms. I missed A too.

I will post pics when I can. We had a great time. The kids (J had a friend with him) travelled well and behaved pretty well. They each earned 50cents one day by being quiet for the last 20-25 min. of a ride in the car. We were in my parents truck and I think my mom was about to flip her lid. J talks incessantly.

A held down the fort while we were gone. The house is still standing. The dishwasher was full and had a strange smell. I ran it for her. Diesel came in for some food and some loving and went back out again. He drooled on T first though. Misty is fat and sassy. The dogs were glad to see us.

J's friend (who happens to be the son of one of the CO ladies) fell asleep in the car and J put a chip in his mouth. I took a pic and sent it to everyone and then thought, omg, he could choke on that. About that time he coughed and moved around but settled back down. The chip flew out when he coughed and we were all laughing. We stopped for lunch and I showed him the pic and he snatched my phone and erased the pic. But I still have it where I sent it to people. Bahahaha!! He said we were mean and I said, J's the one who put a chip in your mouth. I just took the pic. He said, "You put a chip in my mouth?!?" He didn't even know it!

Now the kids are carving pumpkins that A and her bf brought home. I'm going to go roast pumpkin seeds, in between loads of stinky laundry.

Pics

2011-10-17T11:13:00.000-05:00

Here are pics from the phone. Remember it's not an iphone so the quality leaves a lot to be desired.

This is Ms. H and the boys. J loves that he's taller than her. And we all agree that she is the nicest lady in the world.

Ok, this is driving out on to the island. Live oaks on both sides of the road. They meet in the middle and the spanish moss hangs off the trees.

And the trees are practically on the road.

We all pile our bedding on my parents bed during the day. We call it the princess and the pea bed. The boys were on it last night watching tv.

Believe it or not J's friend is in there looking for crabs. He has a red shirt on.

Boys in the ocean.

T found a couple of starfish.

Coons got into our cooler last night. They devoured 4 twin packs of sausage and biscuits, a go-gurt, and they tried the english muffins but decided they didn't like those. They stole a whole bag of bagels and carried them off in case they get hungry later. They left the wrappers everywhere and left their dirty little footprints all over our cooler. Too funny.

That's the pics for now.

Going to the beach...

2011-10-16T10:27:00.000-05:00

...Going to the beach. Going to the beach, hey, hey, hey, hey.

We left Friday afternoon and had dinner with my brother and his family with my nephew and his wife who now live in the Chattanooga area. We went to Sticky Fingers. Traffic was kind of bad and we were late getting there but we got to see their house and had a nice time with all of them.

Then we headed on to Ms. H's house north of Atlanta. J declared her the nicest lady ever before we even got there.

Sat morning we got up and headed to Edisto Island, SC. Woot! The weather is perfect so far and I will post pics when I can. J has a friend along and they have ridden their bikes all over the campground. We are staying in my parents camper since ours needed the bearings re-packed and the truck needs a few things too.

So far, so good.

Gorgeous

2011-10-09T17:48:00.000-05:00

We have had an awesome week here, weather wise. Yesterday was gorgeous, 80 and sunny. We relaxed, got some groceries, T fixed the seat in the van so it goes up and down now too instead of just back and forth, took a walk, played some games. What a gorgeous day! R says it snowed in CO. Glad I'm here.

Today is a little cooler, not as sunny. But it's not raining. I worked and T took the kids fishing. Haven't heard from them since. I hope they catch something cause I don't cook much on Sundays and there are not enough leftovers for everyone.

T played harmonica in church today. I think he made it up as he went but it sounded good. Woot!

All in all, a gorgeous weekend.

Phone pics

2011-10-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

We had the meeting at school on Wed regarding how to motivate J to do better, to live up to his full potential. He just doesn't care about his future right now, what 14yo does? I don't know how to make him understand that everything he does now affects his future and there is more to life than tv and video games. He's doing pretty well and has some good characteristics, we just don't know how to push him without frustrating him. He didn't make the basketball team either. They said he could join them in practice if he wanted to but he wouldn't get much, if any, court time during games. He opted out. I really don't think he was trying very hard. He wants to be part of things but he doesn't want to work at it.

We have had some gorgeous days here this week. Sunny and in the 80's. Love it! I plan to wash Vanna Blue today and vacuum it out for our trip. We shall see.

Here are some pics from my phone. No, I do not have an iphone, just a cheapo thing that (hopefully) gets the job done. I titled this pic "Misty Was Here". She tried to climb into the cabinet and knocked all the movies down. Then I found her sitting, looking the other way like she had done nothing, about 4 feet from the mess.

Like I said, the weather has been awesome and we have had some great sunsets. You know I have a thing about sunsets and last night's was gorgeous. Remember, cheapo phone and taken while driving.

I texted R last week and asked her to send me a pic of Skylar, just because I miss her and she's so stinkin' cute! Well, my mom found me my own lil Skylar at a yard sale and I don't have to feed or bathe or take mine outside. Perfect.

Oreo and Trixie meet me at the car each morning when I get back from taking J to school. How could you not love that face?

And my lil skylar sits on the computer desk and behaves perfectly.

Heavens to mergatroid, A cleaned her room! I took a pic to prove that it can be done. I wonder if she slept in that bed? I didn't go near the closet, just took the pic from the door. It will actually stay clean for 24 hours at least because she finished it last night and she will be gone all day today. J asked her why she changed her room around again and she said she just gets bored easy. She's funny that way.

And I titled this pic, "The Remains of the Day" or in this case the night. Diesel broke another plate last night, sometime in the middle of the night. I had to get up and sweep it up. I threw him in with T so he didn't cut his paw pads. Good thing he's cute!

Odds and ends

2011-10-05T11:47:00.000-05:00

We have been busy as usual. J's birthday had a whole 5 days of celebrating, about every other day or so. This is one of the cakes I made for him. We had it on Friday at some friends' house while we were also saying good-bye to a young man who is going to marine boot camp next week.

Then we took J and a friend roller-skating on Sun. That was interesting. J didn't fall much. He kept using his rubber toe stopper to push off with until we got him swaying a pushing off from one foot to the other. He mostly uses his right foot to push off and then kicks it up and out in a funny way. We have no idea where that came from but it's funny to watch.

Then last night we were celebrating my aunt's engagement. Congrats S and L! We also sang to J again and had another cake.

Fibro is still kicking my butt, but I'm a bit better each day. We (doc and I) decided to go back on the doxycycline for a while and see if it will help the "fibro flu" any. It takes time for it to have an effect. I'm still taking the magnesium and malic acid supplement and wouldn't want to be without it.

A is always up early either heading to school or work. I managed to make the kids pancakes this morning. I haven't done that in a while. T got her car going again. It was so funny because he changed the transmission in it and then he was able to get it to go forward and reverse but somehow the steering wheel got unhooked so it turned freely. He had to pull something out and reattach the wheel. That's what happens when a dyslexic computer geek fixes the car. You can get where you're going as long as where you're going is straight ahead!

A's boyfriend saw some flowers when they came into the store where he works. He thought they were pretty so he bought her some. When he unwrapped them he decided that maybe it was the wrapping that made them look so pretty. He's so funny. Well, sometimes he's a pain-like when he updates your FB status with untrue and unbecoming things. But back to the flowers. A likes them and we all think they're pretty even without the wrapping.

Diesel still loves outside. He didn't get real big but he may still grow some more. He's only about 7 months old. He wears himself out outside every day and then he comes in the house after dark and passes out after cuddling up under my chin and drooling on my neck. Here he is sleeping on the back of the chair.

I'm fairly short. I have some pretty tall friends. One friend says I'm not short, that I'm fun sized. Thanks K! So I got some fun size m&m's.

Oh, back to Diesel asleep in my arms. Don't you wish you could sleep like that?

And this is my better pic of the spider web on the fence. That's a leaf in the upper left, not a spider. I thought it looked pretty and this was one of many that morning.

We have a meeting at school today to try to figure out how to encourage J to do his schoolwork on his own and pay attention in class. He understands threats but we don't want to do that. His work needs to be ESL modified but he thinks he has to have one on one to be able to do the work. The most frequent words out of his mouth regarding school work are, I need help. I forgot. and I don't understand. He doesn't even try before he says one of those things. Maybe we've helped him too much and made him dependent on it. Just trying to figure out what might motivate him.

We've had some gorgeous days and cool nights here lately. Def feels like fall.

I'm leading music this Sunday and then I'm planning on taking a break for about a month. We shall see.

My house looks pretty good after cleaning it up for our little party last night. We tried another Door County Fish Boil. One of these days we're going to perfect that thing. If we could only get all the right ingredients at one time.

Those are my odds and ends for today.

Celebrating J!

2011-09-30T10:45:00.001-05:00

Fibro kicked my butt yesterday, like it hasn't in a long time. So I didn't even get up with my birthday boy this morning. I did leave him a birthday card and T reported that J loved what was in the card. He claims he's saving for a go cart but his money "burns a hole in his pants" and he usually spends it. Plus, we expect you to, gasp, work for your money around here and he's not overly inclined to work. So he was thrilled to find a birthday card full of money.

According to his birth certificate, J is 14 today. Of course, Haiti's book keeping system being what it is, who really knows how old he is. He acts like 10, on a good day.

He's come so far. He has been doing basketball conditioning twice a week for the last 3 weeks or so. He's doing grade level math, ESL modified science, English, and social studies. And he's reading at grade level 3.2. We didn't have time to read Tuesday evening so I made him read his book twice on Wed. and when he got done he said, "Dis is my worse life ever. My worse life." Instead of engaging him on how good he has it or how having to read the book twice is not the worse thing ever I decided to ask him how many lives he's had, since that was the way he worded it. He looked at me like, duh. And he said, "I had my life in Haiti, which was way worse den any odder life and my life here. Dat's two lives." Isn't it something that he divides his life up like that? Maybe it's a coping mechanism, dividing it like that. Maybe that's why he wants nothing to do with Haiti or anything Haitian. I don't know.

He still continually cracks us up. All the time. He watched the movie "Baby's Day Out" the other day. The girls went through a period of time where they watched that movie all. the. time. It was so funny to listen to J watch it and know what part he was at. There is one part where one of the bad guys sets his crotch on fire and T thought J was going to fall off the couch. J said, "Roasted bratwurst. Hahahaha!" Think about that. A kid from Haiti, watching an American movie and making a joke about German sausage. How funny is that? And he still doesn't say his "r's" that well so it sounded more like, "Woasted bwatwust." Too funny.

He wants to do well and make good decisions but he doesn't want to work very hard at it. He still shows a lot of empathy for other people. He still loves, loves, loves to eat and is willing to try just about anything, especially meat of any kind. He still wants to babied occasionally and definitely wants to be prayed with before he goes to bed. He has recently started sleeping with his bedroom door open. We can't figure out what that's about because he was always adamant that his door be closed until about a month ago.

He's still not good about "changing gears". If something doesn't go the way he thinks it should or if a curve ball gets thrown his way he can easily come unglued. He definitely prefers a schedule and sticking to it. I tell people if you told him that you were going to bite his head off at 4:00 on Sunday he'd be okay with it because he'd know it was coming and when, but don't tell him he can't wear the red shirt he planned on wearing or that we have to leave 5 minutes early or someone is going to be 15 minutes late. He can't handle it. And for heaven's sake, don't give him a homework assignment right before the bell rings. His world has come to an end.

J, you really are an awesome little character and it's been mostly joyful to be your parents and watch you experience new things. For you, it's all about the experience. Work hard, be good and have some fun. We hope and pray that 14 is an awesome year for you. We love you.

Phone pics

2011-09-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

Last week and this week so far have been rather weird. I'd like to ask for prayers for some family and some friends who are experiencing troubling pregnancies. I know of two people who are struggling with this. Thanks for praying.

T has been working diligently on A's car as you'll see later in this post. It's nearly back together but we still don't know if it will fix it's problem or not. He put a new to it transmission on it after spending a few days on an electrical problem. How does he do all that? We are thankful that God has given him the ability to do so because we don't have the money to pay someone to do it.

Speaking of not having the money, our Edisto plans changed a bit. We don't have the gas money to pull our camper there and back so we cancelled our reservations but my parents graciously said we could stay with them in their 5th wheel. It'll be like old times, only with boys instead of girls as J is bringing a friend with him. We are looking forward to it now that the strain has been somewhat lifted.

Okay, phone pics. I know that's what you really want to see. They are sort of chronological going back to the CO trip. This first one is Skylar in the airport. She is so precious and I miss her already.

Playing with her toys in the airport. She was so good.

R went to Petsmart that first night or next morning and we saw this huge dog. I took the pic for A who has a thing for large dogs.

We went to an antique mall and this was a wardrobe with a rather strange pattern in the wood. We know what we saw. What do you see?

This is JT and D cutting a silverware tray down to fit into a drawer.

This was in Old Colorado City. That's where the hemp store was. They had lots of interesting stores with lots of interesting things to look at, including these bottles of hot sauce that "cracked me up". Haahahaha!

Cloud formation outside of Walmart one evening.

Pike's Peak from Garden of the Gods (from R's back seat with my phone in K's face).

Another one of Pike's Peak from Garden of the Gods.

Garden of the Gods.

This is the table and chairs set we found for R and JT. Hopefully the cats won't scratch them and people wont break them. There are 4 chairs, one is not in the pic. Obviously.

This is the view from R's back yard. Isn't it gorgeous?

Last view of Pike's Peak from the airport. It's the snow-capped one. Man, look at that blue sky!

Diesel has been helping T with A's car. Could be why it's not running yet?

This is pretty much how we've spent our time the last week or so. He is under the car and I hand him things.

Diesel thinks the car is his own personal apartment. He will be sad if we actually get it running again.

Ahhh!! The car tried to eat T! Someone asked if he was praying for it or giving it CPR. I said, both!

I took a pic of this spider web on the fence this morning. It was covered in dew. I have a better pic on the camera but I will post it later. I think it's pretty, kind of like lace.

That's our last couple of weeks on phone pics.

We're baaaaack. CO part 1

2011-09-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a great trip. R finally named the puppy Skylar and Skylar did great on the plane and in the airports. Every where we went with her people had to stop and admire her and pet her. She is absolutely precious. I have some phone pics to upload but that will be at a different time.

The first day we were there we went to the base and began our shopping excursions. R had to work in the afternoons but JT just happened to be off in the afternoons. He willingly drove us around and took us anywhere we wanted to go. It was a wild and crazy ride but he didn't complain. In fact, he laughed at our shrieks and our OMG's. Maybe he was trying to get us to not ask him to take us anywhere anymore?

On Friday we finally got to go to the top of Pike's Peak. I got a nice magnet up there that says, "I like it on top." This was my third time on the Cog railway but my first time to the top. It was cloudy but gorgeous. They said the temp on top when we arrived was 39 degrees but 45 min. later it was only 31 and snowing. I had envisioned it being a spectacular, near spiritual experience but the lack of oxygen made us a bit loopy and everthing was funny. Even when K dropped her $3 bottle of water into the toilet.

On Sat. we went to Old Colorado City, Garden of the Gods, we stopped briefly at a craft show and then to a huge antique mall. I have some pics from there on my phone but those will be later. We managed to find R and JT a table and chairs set for a reasonable price.

Sun. morning K and D decided that there was no way they were getting all their stuff back to TN in the bags they had brought so D went out with R and got 2 more bags. We all checked a bag and had 2 carry-ons each. Thankfully all our flights and check-ins were uneventful.

So, enough with the words. I know it's the pics you are really here for. This is in Manitou Springs at the base of Pike's Peak where you get on the Cog Railway Train. Manitou is such a cute little town.

This is why they call them the Rocky Mountains.

Someone put large plastic Easter eggs in a tree.

I love how the trees grow at an angle. You can tell it's quite an incline.

Apparently that's Kansas in the distance. They said on a clear day you could see 5 states from the top of Pike's Peak.

Above the tree line. That always amazes me.

Can you imagine living here in the early 1900's?

Like the Haitian proverb, Beyond the mountains, more mountains.

See all the birds perched up there?

This is a plaque about Katharine Lee Bates writing "America the Beautiful" after seeing the top of Pike's Peak.

I love this. Clouds above and clouds below.

Woot! We did it! (you'd think we hiked it)

There was a rainbow on the way back down.

My partners in crime, K and D.

CO part 2

2011-09-21T08:35:00.001-05:00

JT was driving us home one evening and K said, "Look at that deer." It was a mule deer but K had called them "moose deer" at some point and it just stuck. JT, being the crazy driver he is, slammed on the brakes and backed up so we could see the moose deer.

"Medicinal marijuana" is legal in CO. To bad they were closed.

They had everything in there. Seeds, hemp bars, hemp shakes, dog treats and Dope on a Rope.

Then JT took Skylar home and us ladies bummed around Garden of the Gods. It's called that because the native americans used to gather there and pray.

Us 3 holding up "the rock."

Rugged beauty.

This is part of the Kissing Camels formation.

I had no idea when I took this pic that it would be one of my favorites. I don't know exactly why but I'm loving it.

The rock formations seem to be on their sides and diagonal.

See that car parked at the bottom of this formation? That shows how big the rock formation is.

Love the contrast in colors here.

And here.

This was our last shot of Pike's Peak from the airport.

And now we're back in TN. It was so nice to get away and CO is beautiful but TN is pretty too. Reality kind of stinks sometimes. A's car is broken down and life is not all roses but, there's no place like home.

Baby's last TN photos

2011-09-13T16:45:00.000-05:00

Baby's current people brought her over to say good-bye to my parents and to get some pics that R wanted. Here she is trying on her collar and leash and meeting Diesel (her first time with a cat).

She wasn't thrilled with the leash or the cat. She better get used to both.

Diesel checked out the carrier.

Nanny wanted to say good-bye.

R wanted a pic of Baby with Bridget. We obliged.

We put J's army hat on Baby and took a pic for JT.

She is absolutely precious.

Vacating (girls' night out)

2011-09-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

A couple friends and I are getting ready to take this cutie patootie...

...on an airplane to CO and deliver her to these two cutie patooties.

I've never flown with a pet before so this will be a new experience for all of us. She is supposed to be able to fit under the seat in front of me as my carry-on. Us ladies are pumped about our trip even though the weather isn't looking so promising in CO. We will have a blast anyway. Two of us from the original 3 ( http://thisthatandlifesjoys.blogspot.com/2011/03/co-pix.html ) are going as G couldn't make this trip. We are adding another ~~crazy lady~~ friend to the mix. Maybe all 4 of us will make the trip at some point. I hope we laugh as much as we did last trip and bonds of friendship will become even deeper.

Special Ed

2011-09-09T10:21:00.000-05:00

We got a phone call from J's ESL teacher yesterday saying he was having attitude problems at school with her and with his math teacher. Attitude problems? J? They must be mistaken. (Yeah, that's a whole lot of sarcasm.)

I talked with J when I picked him up. He says he asked for help in math class and she showed him again and he said he didn't understand. She showed him again and he said he didn't understand and then she told him to be quiet. I know him well enough to know that he wasn't telling me everything. I know human nature well enough to know that there are at least 2 sides to every story and that people always sway their side to their favor. I was trying to figure out what really went on.

J went to his room to throw darts. They are the rubber tipped kind and I confirmed through the door that he was hitting the target. Then he went over to work for my mom. I texted her warning her of J's mood and assured her that it had nothing to do with her.

T got home just before J did. We talked to him again and he mentioned how some of the kids get to go to a different math class. He mentioned some other things. We reminded him that we talked about his attitude and his bedtime. We told him that this was his last warning and if it happened again his bedtime was getting moved up.

We ate, J did his homework and T and I went to praise team practice. Later on, after J went to bed, I was thinking more about what all went down and what was said. I honed in on the fact that J had asked for help because he didn't understand to the point of exasperating his teacher. I thought about his words that those 4 or 5 kids got to go to a different math class. It finally dawned on me that this child is so smart that he was playing dumb to get into a special ed math class that he assumed would be easier. I texted his ESL teacher my thoughts. She agreed.

This morning J was doing homework that he claims he forgot to do last night. I looked at him and told him to forget about special ed as it was for people with learning disabilities or who lacked the mental capacity to do the work. I told him his only problems were his lack of learning and lack of the English language before he came to the US and that he just didn't want to do the work. I told him to stop the stupid act and to decide to stop being lazy and just do the work. He said a nonchalant, "Ok." He knew the special ed gig was up.

Diesel

2011-09-08T08:23:00.001-05:00

We may have come up with a solution for Diesel's excess energy when it's too rainy to go outside. He did this over and over, climbing back on by himself. Too funny!

More J'isms

2011-09-07T08:04:00.000-05:00

This morning J and I were talking about hot dogs and I asked him if it was cannibalistic for dogs to eat hot dogs. He looked at me kind of funny and thought just a second and then he said, "It's kind of weird for dogs to eat hot dogs 'cause it's like dey are eating deirselves." He got it!! I was so excited.

Then we went on to talk about the movie The Spy Next Door and how they fed a pet pig a piece of bacon. I said I didn't know why people kept pigs as pets anyway and he said so they could eat them. I didn't think they were going to eat their pets. Then I told him the story of my dad standing me in the barn when I was a teen and telling me to make noise and wave my arms if the pigs came near me. He was trying to get them onto a truck. He gave me a 2x4 and said if they didn't stop when I waved my hands and hollered then hit them with the 2x4. He let them out and herded them towards me and I waved my hands and hollered and one kept coming so I hit it with the 2x4 but it ran between my legs and knocked me over.

J thought that was a funny story. And here's the genious part. He said, "You should have hit the pig hard enough to make it fly. Den you could tell Bampa dat ting you wanted and he said, 'When pigs fly,' dat pigs were flying and you want dat ting." (He really does talk in those dizzying circles.) Then we both laughed, J because he thought he was funny and me because he grasped a colloquialism and made a joke. How cool is that?!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

2011-09-06T13:34:00.000-05:00

I mentioned J's first boy/girl party. He carefully invited exactly 10 kids from his class, 5 girls and 5 boys. I never got a phone call from anyone saying they would or would not be coming. J reported to me that most of them said they had things to do but one guy said he was coming and one girl said she might. He shopped for his party, even spending some of his own money on goodies to share.

The day of the party the leftovers of tropical storm Lee moved in to our area bringing some much needed rain, but the timing was not so great. The one boy arrived and it was decided that he would sleep over since no one else came anyway. J seemed fine with the way things turned out.

They worked on the "stump house" (J informed us a few days ago that he was building a tree house but it was on a stump so it's really a stump house-his words) and went swimming in the rain. Then they ate their fill of hot dogs, chips and junk. Then we watched tv and they started a movie in J's room. At about 10 o'clock the other boy said he had a stomach ache (too much junk?) and wanted to go home. When he left things spiraled down for J.

He wanted to sleep with us. He hasn't asked for that in nearly two years, giving it up not long after he came home. We declined and he raged and tantrumed for about 20-30 minutes. Thankfully A was housesitting so she got to sleep. We sympathized with him about his party not going the way he planned. We reminded him that we were going to be sleeping together at Bampa's camper this weekend. We assured him that we were here and not going anywhere. We reminded him that this was not age appropriate behavior. Nothing helped. It was his party and he cried 'cause he wanted to. T finally told him that he needed to get quiet, get control and get to sleep. If he chose not to he would be choosing to go to bed early the next evening. He hates going to bed early and is very proud of his new school bed time so he immediately got control and got quiet and went to sleep.

We feel awful for him about his party. It shows how much he stuffs down to go about his business each day and how fragile he still is about abandonment issues. It shows how after 2 years home and nearly 14 years old he is still not equipped to handle frustrations well. He has come so far, he just had so far to go.

In other news, Lee has dropped over 6 inches of rain on us but not before a bunch of trees turned brown. We could have used the rain a couple weeks ago but we are thankful for what we've gotten.

Diesel is driving me crazy in the rain because he LOVES outside and wants to go out but as soon as he goes out he wants back in. Then he runs around the house like a crazy critter and knocks down anything in his path. He's been very needy in affection lately and very wild in his play time with T. They rough house together each night before we go to bed and he's been a wild man, flying through the air and leaping off things towards T. He has further ruined some curtains too. I will wait til he's about 2 and then replace them.

I got some kenelog shots in my scar tissue on my wrist today. The doc feels like the scar tissue from the cyst is too thick and that the tendons are still kind of sticking and this should help soften everything up. The lidocaine was wonderful while it lasted but it's quite sore and swollen right now. Praying that this clears it up and gets me back to normal. I still haven't been able to wear my wedding ring. I miss it.

A is doing ok at college. She still needs to get some books. She's been working a lot too so we are hoping she doesn't over do things and get mono again.

I will leave you with a "J'ism". We've been watching the Cosby show on Netflix and J loves it. Last night he informed us that, "I am just like 'Feo' (Theo) except I have white people."

2 years!

2011-09-02T09:49:00.000-05:00

We celebrated J's "gotcha day" on Tuesday. He was getting ready for school and I was writing something and said something about the date and that today was a special day. He asked why and I told him to think about it. He guessed a few other things first and then said, "Today is when I came here?!?" Yup.

We went out to eat at one of J's favorite restaurants. It's funny. Being as this is America and J is Haitian, his two fav restaurants are Mexican and Japanese. How funny is that? Several people celebrated with us. We celebrated everything J has done since being home.

He's doing well in school, all things considered. He's gaining about 2 years of maturity for every year he's been here. He's growing like crazy. He still loves tv, baseball and basketball. And any kind of food. That child loves to eat!!

He's hosting his first "boy/girl" party on Sunday. He asked for a pinata. Sigh...he wants to do things that he thinks teenagers do because he saw it on tv but the maturity level is about a 10yo. He is gaining though.

We are thankful for J, for our chocolate boy, who constantly cracks us up with his humor and his (lack of) command of the English language. We love you, J!

Phone pics

2011-08-29T20:29:00.000-05:00

I have a cheap phone so I know these are not the best pics, but it's what I've got. These are in chronological order.

Diesel LOVES to get up on my chest, stick his cold nose under my chin and drool on my neck. It's a good thing he's cute!

This is Earl, the 86 year old (young?) cancer survivor doing the splits at the store where I work. He and his wife are absolutely precious and my life is richer for having met them.

He says, "When I get tired I just lay down." He's 86 people! I can't do that or I'd break in two.

Sunset on the way home the other night.

Sunset on the lake Friday night.

We had a baptism/party on our property yesterday. This is a friend with Bridget. She told me that the horse kept trying to bite her. I said, "No. She's trying to lick your hand." I showed her how to keep her hand flat.

It kind of tickles.

Misty showed off by climbing in her stroller and drinking from her sippy cup. She loves her stroller.

Today was A's first day of college classes. It only took her 3 tries to get out the door. She went out once, came back in and got the paper she set down on her way out, went out again and came back in with Diesel saying there was a possum in the driveway and she didn't know if it was dead or playing dead. Just a normal morning at our house.

J said he was going to push it with a stick and see if it was dead. He put his baseball gloves on and picked up a stick and then asked, "Do dey have like a...do dey do like...a fart or someting?" I assured him it was not a skunk but he just tapped it a little and got into the car. It was still there when I returned from taking J to school so I determined that it really was dead. I let Diesel out and he had to go check it out and Trixie was right there as if to say, "Hey, I found that. You can sniff it but it belongs to me." We figure Trixie retrieved it, being as she is a retriever and all.

This evening T and I went over to visit the puppy. The 3 tri-colored pups sold over the weekend and the other 2 are spoken for. "Baby" is the smallest one.

Facing off with her sister.

She's little but she's tough!

R and JT, hide your shoes!

They ganged up on my shoe.

And that's our life in pics for the last couple of days.

The view from here

2011-08-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

We went to the lake this afternoon/evening with some friends. A and her bf, P, tried to do some wakeboarding but they didn't really make it up. Then we parked by the waterfall and grilled some burgers on their pontoon. They are actually spending the night there by the falls. How cool is that? Anyway, when we headed out we came around a bend and this is what we saw.

So gorgeous. We are thankful.

Tomatoes, tomatoes

2011-08-24T18:28:00.000-05:00

We've been enjoying the tomatoes from the garden as they slowly got ripe. We even had some fried green tomatoes. Then a whole bunch of them ripened at the same time. I decided to make salsa and spaghetti sauce. Usually I'm just fine with the store bought stuff but I didn't want to waste the tomatoes so I thought I'd give it a try. Everyone is pleased with the results though I think the salsa is too sweet. I used a recipe with sugar in it and next time I will reduce or omit it. I plan to make another batch without sugar and mix them and freeze it. Here is the salsa.

And here is the spaghetti sauce.

I thought it was interesting that they both have the same basic ingredients; tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers (though the salsa has considerable more peppers) and then they are tweeked with specific spices to give them their flavor. Made me think of how we are basically the same but we each have specific spices to give us flavor. Be spicy!

Lost in translation

2011-08-23T18:07:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple recent conversations with J;

J-Is my shirt is backward?
Me-No.
J walks over to the mirror and checks himself out. He gets a very puzzled look on his face.
Me-(laughing) It looks backward in the mirror because it's a reflection.
J gives me a still puzzled and not quite believing look.
Me-Trust me. Your shirt is not backward.

J talking to Diesel-Hey cat, be careful. I don't want you to get my crouch wif your claws of deaf.
(You know, because that could seriously hurt a guy's "crouch" to get clawed. And who knew we had a cat with super powers-claws of death?)

Happy Birthday R!

2011-08-22T10:33:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to a sweet person I was in love with before she was born. From the moment I found out I was pregnant with you, through 2 weeks of bedrest but an otherwise uneventful pregnancy, to your rather quick entry into the world to the moment I laid eyes on you, I loved you. You are smart, willing to work for what you want, strong in your convictions and we are proud of you. Happy Birthday, Baby!

And now, in honor of the birthday girl, a pictorial "This is your life". (I apologize ahead of time for the pics of pics. We don't have a scanner. And for the sideways one-gotta love blogger.)

This was about 2 months old. Her first "take them to a studio" type picture.

18 months.

2 years old.

With her sis. They were 5 and 3.

Kindergarden and 1st grade pics.

6 or 7 years old. No front teeth. Gotta love those pics with no front teeth.

8 years old.

And senior pics. She may have only been 16, about to turn 17. These were done the summer before her senior year. Wowzer! She lost the glasses and had contacts. She straightened her hair and it had turned much darker than her baby/child blond. And she had front teeth.

Our beautiful girl on her wedding day. JT, love and cherish her. You two are so cute together.

And the sideways one of her whole family on her wedding day.

Love you, R!!

More "Baby It"

2011-08-19T12:14:00.000-05:00

Warning. This post contains an over load of cuteness.

We went over to see "Baby It" again. She's grown so much and is so much more interested in life and things than she was the last time we visited. She's into toys.

And just looking cute.

And chewing on chair legs.

Something caught her and her sibling's eye.

So she had to go check it out and come running back. Sorry about the blurries in these pics. Some were with my cell phone (NOT an iphone) and my stupid camera would take a pic when it felt like it so she had usually moved by the time it clicked.

Nanny and her "great grandcritter".

We introduced her to her carrier for her flight to CO. She liked the way it tasted.

Me and my grandcritter.

She's a mover and a shaker now.

But it does tire her out and she needs a nap.

Those were all cell phone pics. Here are the camera pics.

She has 4 litter mates. 3 are still available.

Yup. She was really into the chair leg. R, you need to get some stuff called Bitter Apple.

The napping pic.

And checking out a spot on the floor.

Are you overloaded on cuteness? You were warned.

Is there a plumber in the house?

2011-08-17T08:25:00.000-05:00

T has had a few small plumbing issues to take care of in the last couple of weeks. Diesel has been right there by his side to help him out.

Umm, let's see here.

Yeah. I think it's this thing-a-ma-jig right there.

It must have come loose from that whatcha-ma-call-it.

Oh, you need help with the dishwasher too? Let me just get in here and check things out. Yes, I fit in here better than you do. Just let me see what's going on.

We'll have to get him some plumber pants.

Did I mention that the Dr. who read my mammogram last week and performed some ultrasound on me was one of the dad's from the adoption group we used to go to? He came in and said, "Hey, how are you? I'm (so and so) from the adoption support group. How's J?" I was shrinking back and trying to adjust my gown and shaking his hand and saying, "Oh. Yeah. Nice to see you too." He was very professional and we actually had a nice chat but can you say, awkward?

Weird week

2011-08-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

It's been a weird week. And it's not even over yet. J is back to school but A is not. J already has a cold. The 4th day back to school and he got a cold. Sigh...it's gonna be a long year at this rate. He kept coming out of his room last night complaining about everything he could think of. And he laid on his bed and threw used kleenex on his floor. He picked them up this morning after I said something to him. He is a drama king. Big time.

T had to rebuild the thing that goes around the motor in the boat. Whoever owned it before us left it out in the elements and ruined all the plywood and vinyl. Just about all of it has been replaced now. Anyway, T just about cut the tip of his thumb off with a hand saw while working on it. I still think he needed stitches but he is using butterfly strips instead. Yuck!

The 100+ degree days we had earlier this summer were awfully hot where I work (no AC) but for some reason the 95 degrees days this week were harder on me than the 100's. I don't know why but it really bothered me this week. Weird.

Last Friday I was awakened early by some intense pain. After mammogram and ultrasound it's been determined that I have a breast full of cysts. Lucky me. I knew I had one since last Dec. but now it's full of them. There is nothing really to be done about it but just keep checking on them and stay away from caffeine. They also suggested vitamin E and evening primrose oil supplements. Anyone else with this condition have any ideas that might help? Weird. At least it's not cancerous lumps.

I'm also still having the stupid muscle spasms in my neck/shoulders. Zoiks! I wish they'd stop already! I have no idea what's causing them. Weird.

The lady we got Diesel from came in the store this week while I was there. If she's reading this, hi. Here's some more pics of Diesel for you. Toys must be attacked from the most difficult way possible. Otherwise there is not enough thrill.

I told her about him falling off the steps the other night and she said he fell out of the barn loft as a baby and that's how they found him and his 2 brothers, nearly starved to death and sickly. I guess we have a cat who has a propensity for falling off stuff. Weird! She still has the brothers and their names are Boo and Willard. I love the name Willard for a cat.

Last Saturday J dressed up in dark clothes and sunglasses and asked me where the fan was. He wanted to stand in front of the fan and for me to take pics of him like he was a super model. Weirdo. I snapped one and he said, "Now get my good side."

I told him to turn around. Bahahahaha! He didn't get it at first.

This week was T's birthday, my SIL's birthday, a good friend's birthday and some good friends' 25th anniversary. Lots of things to celebrate in one week.

But it's been a weird week.

The view from here

2011-08-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

This was the view from the pool last night.

T took that pic with his cell phone. Amazing, isn't it? I love how you can see the rays of the setting sun and how the clouds were "outlined".

Speaking of T, we celebrated his birthday this last weekend. T is an awesome husband, good father and works hard to provide for us. His tech skills and mechanical skills never cease to amaze me. Happy Birthday, Babe!

I am having horrible neck spasms, yesterday and today. I went to the chiro at lunch yesterday so I feel like I am lined up, just the muscles are going crazy. Hurts like heck. Maybe I'm stressed over another health issue that has reared it's ugly head. I don't know. The heat got to me yesterday too. I wasn't thinking very clearly by the end of the workday. I get a bit disoriented when I get over heated. I was so thankful for the AC in my car and house and for the pool.

A is still trying to finish up everything for college. Sigh... it's been a long hard road to jump through all the hoops.

R is having the same problem with her college stuff. Why do they make it so difficult to go to school? They are also looking for a new place to live that will allow 3 pets. R looked at another one yesterday.

J is enjoying 7th grade so far but this is only his third day. He's so funny. He's taking lots of time picking out clothes and making sure his hair is in place. I thought that was just a 7th grade girl thing.

Diesel fell off the steps last night. We were watching tv and he was asleep on the third from the top step. All of a sudden we heard a THUD! T looked over and Diesel was on the floor looking very dazed. He limped a bit and I picked him up and his whole little body was quivering. R said he was just shocked because of his extreme non-kitty move. He settled down after about 10 minutes and started purring. Poor little guy!

And that's the view from here.

The phone pics

2011-08-04T09:49:00.000-05:00

Ok. T helped me get the pix off my phone and I just decided to do a whole summer long phone pic post. This first one is my cousin's cat in her princess bed.

This is another cousin's big mastiff, Mongo. He's over 200 pounds. I think most of his weight is slobber.

Pic of T holding R at my cousin's wedding. Obviously he was taking video. He had hair! And look at R's lips. Too cute!

My aunt and uncle raise golden retrievers.

And cattle. That little guy has a "phantom of the opera" face, half black and half white.

And they had puppies when we were there.

J's big fish at another uncle's pond.

The view from our front yard.

Apparently I have a thing for sunsets. I took this on the way home one evening.

Diesel chewing on the bathtub drain.

A pic of a pic of T and I on our first anniversary. One cake was new and one was the topper from our wedding cake. I took the pic because I was trying to show a friend that I had big hair in the 80's too. And T had hair. Look at us. Scrawny little babies.

Another view from the front yard. I am loving this pic and I forgot I even took it.

And another. Liking this one too.

Diesel likes to sleep on the computer desk.

S t r e t c h .

He has an overbite and his mouth never really closes. Too cute!

Are you tired of these yet? Apparently I never tire of them.

We put corn up last weekend. We had a couple of these "double decker" ears. Kind of weird, huh?

And here's the precious baby "It".

Chow time!

I'm so cute.

And I know it!

And "uncle J" loves me.

That's our summer so far in phone pics.

Baby "It"

2011-08-03T12:44:00.000-05:00

My mom, J and I went over to see the puppies this morning. They've changed so much since we saw them 3 weeks ago. They are active lil furballs and oh so cute! R's is the most docile of the bunch.

Here she is with one of the tri-colored ones.

"Uncle J" really likes the puppies.

Isn't she too precious?!

An armful of love. Their human calls, "Babies, babies, babies." and they all run to her. They are even sort of potty trained at 5 weeks old.

They all loved this bed and loved to chew on it.

I have more pics on my cell phone but I don't know how to get them off. I will work on that. Actually, I will wait til T gets home and can show me. More pics to come!

Ahh, summer!

2011-08-02T13:27:00.000-05:00

95 degrees here today. Tomato and cheese sandwich and corn on the cob for lunch, compliments of the garden. Staying up late and sleeping in the next day. Pools and boating (when they work!) Ahhh, summer! It all (well, some) comes crashing to an end on Friday. That's when school starts. It's too early! What are they thinking?! But actually J says he's ready to go back to school and see his friends every day. How's that for a change in attitude?

Want to know what this is all about?

Check them out at http://www.realhopeforhaiti.org/ Please give if you can. These people are saving lives.

Lost in translation

2011-07-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

J doesn't always know how to word things so he takes what he knows or has experienced and tries to put it together with a new experience and explain it. That usually results in a funny "lost in translation" moment. When he first came home it bothered him that we laughed but now he knows we are revelling in the joy and not laughing at him.

He has experienced stepping in dog/cat poop. The other day he ran some over with his bike but he didn't know how to explain it. He said, "My bike stepped in cat poop."

Too funny!

"It"

2011-07-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

Here is our new "grandcritter", It. Isn't she precious?!?

She is a four week old sheltie pup that I will be flying out to CO with in Sept. When I was getting the puppy ok'd with the airline as a carry on, they asked her name. R is still trying to name her so I said she didn't have a name yet so the airline labeled her as "it".

Yes, us "CO Ladies" are at it again. One of us couldn't go but we've added another. Poor R and JT! It will probably take all three of us crazy women to get the puppy to CO safely. R has already had a dream that the puppy arrived safely. I asked if the rest of us did and if we had smiles on our faces.

So, does "It" look like a Vixie (female fox from The Fox and the Hound movie) or like a Skylar? Leave a comment and vote.

Another day at the lake

2011-07-24T20:47:00.000-05:00

We spent another awesome day at the lake. No, our boat is not fixed but it was just J, T and I with my dad in his boat. We went to a different lake and it was pretty quiet. It's a much smaller lake than we usually go to but it was nice. J tubed and we parked and swam for a while and rode around looking at the lake. Good times!

All in the family

2011-07-20T16:14:00.002-05:00

Ok, blogger is so strange sometimes. But, whatever. Something I really wish I had are baby pics of J. He's so cute now at almost 14 I wish I knew what he looked like as a baby. I need to find a pic I have of him and his birthmom. He looks so much like her. Anyway, I was thinking about how the girls like us or like other members of the family. When A was born she looked just like my baby pics. Sorry this is sideways (thank you, blogger) but I'm in the black and white pic and A is in color. We could have been twins! There's another pic further down (again, thank you blogger) that's blurrier but at least you won't crane your neck to see it.

This is when A was about 5 and I was about 4. See? Twins.

And R looked just like her daddy. Speaking of twins, T is a twin. He's on the right in the pics. You can try clicking on them to blow them up.

A and I. Our hands, mouths, eyes and eyebrows are just alike.

T and R at about 5 years old.

As the girls grew, R ended up looking more like me and A reminds me of T's sisters somewhat. This is my senior pic, R's senior pic and A's senior pic left to right.

Yup, R and I look a lot alike except she got her daddy's eye color.

A and I. I was holding Franny the terror. I mean terrior. She was so cute but she was a pistol.

Some fav baby pics of R. She often did that little sideways pose in the top pic.

Fav toddler pic of R. Look how blond she was.

Fav baby pic of A. T used to say she was so fat that she didn't have joints, she just had folds.

Fav toddler pic of A. She LOVED to dance. This was her "I Wanna Be Loved By You" costume. She potty trained in order to go to dance class because I told her I couldn't afford both dance and diapers.

And just because he's so cute, here is Diesel sleeping in front of the computer.

He has an overbite which keeps his mouth from closing completely. If he had large front teeth he'd be buck toothed.

Thoughts

2011-07-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

We are enjoying the summer even though the boat is dead in the water. Hahaha. Couldn't help it. It's actually disabled in our carport. Had fun with the kids in the pool last night while T worked late.

J is still cracking us up with his lost in translations. I can't think of any right now but we are always laughing at his command of the english language.

A is at college orientation today. It makes me feel old.

Looking forward to friends and Haitian food this evening. I hope our friends remember they are supposed to come.

I was reading a post on Livesays blog about the profound grief that adopted children go through. We've done a similar little exercise once where we listed things we knew and loved and then were told we had to give them all up. Everything we knew. And that we were going to a new family in a new country and that these people loved us. It's boggling to think about.

And then there are situations like this one http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2011/07/so-extremely-desperate.html where the child is absolutely desperate for a family. Can you help in any way?

Or go to this blog http://www.realhopeforhaiti.org/ and see if you can do anything to help. Cholera is refusing to leave Haiti alone.

Those are a few of my thoughts for today.

Summer

2011-07-17T20:28:00.000-05:00

We are still here. Lots going on but not a lot going on, if you know what I mean.

The boat is out of commission for now. The gears in the outdrive are messed up. It's sad because we have enjoyed it so much and now we don't have much for resources for repairing it. Sigh...

T and I ate tomatoes from the garden this evening, straight off the vine. Heavenly! And then we went in the pool. Also heavenly! We are thankful. Would that be considered a thankful list? And I'm thankful for chocolate too. Have I ever mentioned that?

I walked on the treadmill this evening. It's in a new spot in the office/music room and now you can see the tv in the living room from the treadmill. Might be a good thing for getting T on it. I usually read while I walk. I feel fat. But that didn't stop me from eating a piece of kringle. Love that stuff. I just took the last of it from our trip to WI out of the freezer.

A friend told me a story this afternoon about being bit by a possum. She picked it up by the tail and it swung around and bit her hand. What was she thinking? The story involves said possum flying involuntarily across their yard. Again I say, what was she thinking?! She did not get rabies shots but she did nearly pass out. I told her if she ever bites me or starts foaming at the mouth we are both getting rabies shots.

We have a huge number of lightning bugs/fireflies around here this year. Am loving them. One got into the house a couple weeks ago and was flying around the living room in the dark while we watched a movie. Too funny.

In an effort to show his congregation the meaning of "koinonia" our pastor and his family held a surprise lunch today. He was only about 15 minutes into his sermon when he invited all of us downstairs for lunch. That was church. How cool is that?! We were instructed to sit next to someone we didn't know well and get to know them better. At our table we talked about tires and being stopped by the police. You know, deeply spiritual and "get to know you" stuff like that. I wonder if we're going to have an extra long sermon next week?

Ah, summer.

Lost in translation

2011-07-13T23:17:00.001-05:00

J continues to crack us up with his (mis)understanding of the English language. Here are a few "J-isms".

Singing at the top of his voice- "Jeremiah was a bulldog!"

He got choked at "deener" one evening and said, "It went down de wrong froat."

We were looking at 18 day old puppies the other day. He was letting them suck on his fingers and ooohhing and aahhhing over them. Then he looked at me so seriously and said, "Are dey buttweilers?" I asked him what he said and he asked again, "De puppies, are dey are buttweilers?" I said, "No, they are shelties and I think you mean 'rottweilers', not buttweilers."

I've shared on here before how we were listening to a Sonny and Cher record and were talking about Sonny dying in a skiing accident. The only kind of skiing J has been exposed to is waterskiing and he couldn't figure out how in the world a tree got in the middle of the water. We explained snow skiing to him but I'm not sure how much sunk in. We haven't spoken about it for a couple months yet the other day at the lake we asked him if he wanted to try skiing and he said, "No. I keep tinking about that guy who died from skiing." Sigh..."La de da da de, la de da de da. And the beat goes on..."

Picture post!

2011-07-08T11:39:00.000-05:00

Ok. I don't get blogger and it's randomness with my pics but, whatever. We'll go with it. T's parents got here on Thur eve. We went out to eat after praise team practice and had a nice time with them. R and JT got here on Friday about mid-day and they had another couple with them. We all went to the local fireworks show that evening. Here are a few samples.

I love this one because it looks like little musical notes.

On Wed evening I started staining the new doors. They are metal doors so I use a gel stain. I have a graining tool but the gel stain was old and lumpy and the doors were a gray primer instead of white so I ended up just ragging it on and it looks ok. Not what I'd like but ok. I tape off parts of it to help get the look of wood.

Finished on the inside. The edges and outside are still primer gray.

This was the evening of the 4th. No makeup and after swimming.

All of us. T, JT, R, J in front of G'ma, me, A and G'pa.

Silly one!

R and JT. If they ever have babies they will have beautiful blue eyes.

We went to the lake after church on Sunday. Here is G'ma and I in my dad's boat.

G'pa watching J tubing behind my dad's boat.

At a waterfall we like to go to.

The young'uns.

The old'uns.

We think this is A's bf, P, skiing behind our boat. There was so much junk in the water that T had to drive, I had to watch for junk and we had another spotter for the skier.

Everyone else was in dad's boat.

Some last minute instructions for the soldier skiers.

And arm wrestling in the other boat.

We think this is JT. He made it up on the first try. I'm so glad I glanced back in time to see him wildly trying to hang on at one point with one foot/ski out of the water and arms and legs flailing just before he wiped out. So funny!

Soldier buddy. He perfected a butt surfing move. He started to fall back but it was like the water bounced him back up. Then he started to fall again and the same thing happened. Then again. He was up, down, up, down, up, down, up! Butt surfing.

And now back to the water fall. Thank you blogger. You've already seen the old'uns and the young'uns. This is the between'uns. And soldier buddy's wife.

And this is dad and soldier buddy, D, in dad's boat. Think that's a self portrait of my dad? I think so.

Teenage mutant ninja kitten

2011-07-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

We were all sitting out on the gazebo this evening, talking and enjoying the cool down from the day. 3 of the girls had just ridden the horses. Diesel was in and out playing with us and running off to do cat things. Then he came back and A didn't recognize him. He was wet. He was very dirty. And he had come from the lagoon area. Ewwwww!!!!! Best we can figure is he was chasing frogs and got too close to the edge and fell in. We had to give him a bath. He was not impressed.

They're baaaaaack!

2011-07-02T10:46:00.000-05:00

R and JT are here. They brought another couple with them. T's parents are here. We are having a blast celebrating the 4th and just being together.

Because he's still so cute!

2011-06-29T09:23:00.001-05:00

Here's what's wrong with customer service today. They have cats answering the phones! T and I had just talked about the time we slept in A's room and I opened my eyes and Deisel was hanging from her curtains. Then he tipped the lamp over. Then I looked over and he was laying on the phone and the voice was saying, "If you'd like to make a call please hang up and try your call again. If you'd like to make a call...." Diesel thought he'd really done something great! Brings whole new meaning to the term, on the phone. Diesel was literally on the phone.

Do you have a caption for this pic? Some of ours were, customer service, can I help you? and Operator, can you connect me with Fred's fish market?

Because he's so cute!

2011-06-28T11:14:00.001-05:00

Hello! Do you come here often? You're kind of cute.

Would you care to dance?

Oh, they're playing the Tango!

Ha cha cha!!

And dip!

Thanks for the dance! Glowing in the limelight.

Picture Post

2011-06-28T11:02:00.002-05:00

I had an optical migraine this morning. Bright flashy zig-zag lights across my field of vision. It's all gone now. No more flashy lights. I don't know why I get them, have gotten them since I was pregnant with R. But I'm so glad I get the aura without the headache rather than the headache without the aura!

We have never had cable or satellite and just use an antena with converter box. Now J has discovered netflix thru the wii. He is a happy camper! Oh, speaking of camp, he did really well at camp last week and would like to go again next year. woot!

Let's back up a bit though. Here is J getting ready to fish at my uncle's pond in WI. He can't believe I made him bait his own hook. I must say I am much better at it than he is. I don't like to take the fish off the hook but I do bait my own hook.

The cousins.

We caught some little bitty guys and threw them back in as bait. Then we caught some bigger ones. For J it's all about the experience and what an experience it was! Thanks Uncle G!

My dad cleaned the fish and my mom fried them the next morning for breakfast. Don't you love her "apron"?

My cousin and her daughter getting ready to make pancakes to go with the fish. Thanks to my cousin and her family for putting up with J and I.

The wedding is the real reason we made the trip. We were happy for the fishing, kringle, cheese curds and chocolate cheese, and the rhubarb (thanks uncle K!!) but the important thing was family.

My dad and another cousin comparing their "belly bumps". Cousin has since given birth to a baby boy. Dad still has his belly bump.

Water ski shooters. Hey, it was WI.

T got the deck done while I was gone. Saturday morning he finished the steps and decided to get the doors in. J and I pulled the trim off the window.

We cut the sheetrock off and removed the insulation that I had stapled in there over 8 years ago. 8 years. Where does the time go?!

The window is out!

Ok. Here is where blogger messed up. This is supposed to be the last pic.

Getting ready to put the doors in.

Cutting off the last board on the bottom and then ready for the doors (which you've already seen-thanks blogger.)

We are still, still here

2011-06-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

We are here. J and I took a quick trip to WI with my parents for a family wedding. A and T stayed here to hold down the fort, work and finish a deck. We got back and hit the ground running.

J and I had a good time in WI. We got to fish in my uncle's pond and caught some big (big to us) fish which my mom fried up the next day. Good stuff. We also got kringle, chocolate cheese, and cheese curds. Yummy.

I got to see some family members. The wedding was beautiful. J got to skip the wedding reception and have a Luau party at my cousin's house with her kids and some other cousins, thanks to their grandma. Thanks Grandma S and Grandpa H!

J got on the bus Monday morning to go to camp. I could tell he was nervous and excited. This is huge for all of us. That he would ask to go to camp and spend his time away from us really something. He has not wanted to be away at all so far and T and I have only had short spurts of time alone together since J came home nearly 2 years ago. The first (and only so far) report I got was that he was having a good time. He met up with a buddy from school and since the son of the lady who watches him in the summer had to come home from camp sick on the first day (poor M!) I'm glad J found his friend from school. I also have another friend who went as a volunteer so she is watching out for him too.

T and I have enjoyed our time together so far. A is here but she is gone a lot. We both worked Monday and Tuesday but the evenings have been nice. We listened to a special speaker at church last night and he was so funny. We really enjoyed him.

Diesel has a nasty upper respiratory infection. He sounds awful! But it hasn't slowed him down much so he must not feel too bad. He just can't breathe. This is his second URI in only 4 months of life. I hope and pray he's not prone to them and that this is just a fluke. I feel bad for him.

I will post pics of the trip and the deck when I have more time. I have no idea when that will be. I'm off to shop between raindrops!

We're still here

2011-06-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been kind of quiet here. We are busy, busy, busy. J and I are getting ready to head up to WI tomorrow with my parents. We are hanging with the cousins and going to a wedding. I will also be shopping for kringle and cheese curds. J heads to camp the day after we get back from WI.

I was helping J pack earlier and we had shorts and t-shirts and swimsuits laid out. Then I decided to check the weather for the next few days. 60's for highs?!? That's our lows. We had to re-pack.

T is working on the deck now that his time isn't consumed with fixing cars. He's getting a lot done on it each evening.

A is working a lot and we just about have everything she needs turned in for college. Whew! I'll be glad when she's signed up for classes and this is behind us. So far, she is loving her car.

R and JT are planning a trip here in July. I hope it works out because I'd really like to see them. They will leave the cats at home this time. At least that's the change, subject to plan.

Diesel is loving being outside. We still make him stay in at night but his choice is outside as much as we will let him. He made a hole in the screen door and thinks that it's his own kitty door. The problem is when the inside door is closed. Hahaha.

Elvis has left the building

2011-06-10T14:27:00.001-05:00

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you know that we name our cars. It started as sort of a fluke a few years ago and some names have really stuck and some not so much. The little black geo prizm that "shaked, rattled and rolled" down the road was immediately named Elvis and it really stuck. Not long after we got him I was backing up and one of the girls said, "Don't hit Elvis!" like he was a living being.

We were trying to figure out how to pack some stuff one time and one of the girls said, "That's not all gonna fit in Elvis's butt!" (referring to the trunk). Elvis was part of our lives for three years. We paid very little for him and he gave us way more than our money's worth but I am sad to report that Elvis gave up the ghost about a month ago. Sniff, sniff.

T worked on him for a couple weeks but just couldn't get him going and parts were going to be more than he was worth. Financially worth, that is. A wrecker picked him up yesterday and I'm glad I was at work because it was kind of sad.

A is now the owner (well, she will be when she pays us off-hope it's still running well then, lol) of another older car. This one is white. It's a bit sportier than Elvis. I'm just glad I don't have to share Vanna Blue anymore. Although, I told her she should write a song about driving her mama's mini van. What shall we call it? We have a cat named Diesel so there's no telling what name the car will get.

Summer mode

2011-06-05T13:59:00.000-05:00

Well, we are officially in summer mode. School is out. It's hot, hot, hot. Daily dips in the pool are a must and anytime we can get to the lake is a bonus.

We made our first trip to the lake yesterday. We all got a little sunburned (except J-;) ) but not too bad. A pretty much got the hang of skiing. She tried several times last summer but she actually got the feel for it yesterday. Her boyfriend tried it for the first time and did very well. He's so funny but he always pulled up on the rope and then fell backwards. His first hard fall he said, "Oh, I feel the 'g-string force' of that one!" and the second time he fell he said, "I'm afraid to poot!"

The lake was great. The waterfall was gorgeous. The boat ran. We skied and tubed and swam. My family wouldn't let me ski but I ended up hurting my wrist trying to save my dad's boat from hitting the dock. What was he thinking? I was just reacting. The boat was saved and my wrist is ok. But I'm going to try skiing next time.

The pool was opened the latest that we've ever opened it but it was very clean and it's been so hot that we pretty much got right in. That doesn't happen very often. Woot!

J's baseball team are neck in neck with another team. They have each won 4 games against each other so now they have another "play off" game tomorrow night. Diesel is supposed to be nuetered tomorrow and I work. T will do what he can to help pull all that off and we still have great child care in place this summer thanks to Mrs. G. That always helps.

J is planning on going to camp for a week in June. We are all very excited about that.

A is thoroughly enjoying her job and loves to work. If she loves to work, can anyone explain her room to me then? We are still trying to get all her college stuff lined up. Sigh...she had dual enrollment so we have to get those credits to transfer plus her transcripts.

T is working today because of some server issues. Sigh...he still hasn't gotten Elvis running for A either. Or the deck done nor the patio. Think he's feeling a bit stressed?

I've been watering my tomato plants every morning along with the flowers by the house. Yep. Hot, baseball, pools, the lake, watering plants. We are definitely in summer mode.

It's gonna be a long summer...

2011-06-01T13:51:00.000-05:00

Between the kid and the kitten, I'm doomed. Deisel has decided that he likes to go outside. It hasn't been a problem so far. Until today. I let him out and did a few things inside and then went out to do some things. I heard Diesel crying but couldn't locate him. I finally looked up and there he was in a tree.

I had made J turn the tv off so he came outside about the time I discovered Diesel in the tree. He decided to "save" the kitten. I warned him that the branches weren't big enough to hold him and that the cat would figure out how to get down. He climbed the tree anyway. I told him to grab the kitten by the scruff of the neck but he thought I meant around his neck. He grabbed him around the middle so as not to strangle the kitten. Then he lowered him down some and dropped him. Diesel was fine. J's descent was a little more abrupt than he planned too because the branches really weren't big enough to hold him. Sigh...scared me half to death. He has scrapes and a cut.

I decided to clean out my closet. J found my boot from my last stress fracture and wore it around the house. He was clomping around saying, "Arghghgh, Mateys!!" Then he found the eye patch. He asked me if it was magic because if he looked into it, it looked like the tv when the antenna box isn't on. He cracks me up.

Then he added a cowboy hat, robe and sword to his ensemble. Someone commented that the toilet in the background is a nice touch, too.

He played for a while with the kitten and then asked, "Do dis cat know how to play dead?" He played for a while more and then informed me that cats don't make good pirates. It's going to be a long summer. Someone suggested day camps, put him in the pool and just don't let him take the cat with him. Lol!!!

Congrats!!

2011-05-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure there were lots of graduates this week but none means more to us than A!! Congrats baby on a job well done! We love you and are proud of you. This is my blurry pic of A getting her diploma. Well, the cover anyway. They with held the actual diplomas until they were sure the grads didn't pull any funny business. The ceremony was very nice and those who gave speeches did a nice job. At one point J was worried when the third person got up to make a speech and he asked if they were all going speak. He was worried about time.

The nice pic of A getting her diploma is below. I have no idea what blogger was doing with that but I didn't feel like fighting. Here is A's bf in the tie he borrowed from T. It's appropriate. Trust me.

Awww. Aren't they cute?

The "twins".

J trying on A's hat.

A decorated her own cake. I made a chocolate and a yellow and put them together and we were trying for burgundy frosting but that's a bit difficult. A cut the cap and diploma from fondant.

And here is the pic of A getting her diploma. Thanks for taking this, Mr. F.

On the way home this evening...

2011-05-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

...this is what we saw. The two bright spots at the top of the hill is the sun shining down and glaring off the road.

Party time

2011-05-24T16:21:00.001-05:00

We are getting close to the day of A's graduation and the party. My dad has been very busy getting the yard looking nice. The cover is off the pool and thankfully this year there were just some tadpoles on the cover and one bloated frog in the pool. Last year there were bloated mice in the water and it was very nasty. And there were always a lot of tadpoles. The water doesn't look too bad at all this year.

I've bought most of the food and drinks for the party though I'm sure I'm missing something. Mr. R is going to come and grill chicken. Woot! We are borrowing tents but praying that it doesn't rain.

I had a good report at my Dr. appointment today. We will continue the hand therapy for 2-4 more weeks and I see the doc again in 4 weeks. If the scars have not stretched out and swelling is still an issue he will try to inject it with something. I feel like it will heal well by itself. Oh, he doesn't think it's a stitch that's still in it, just some blood that will eventually get resorbed. My doc has 5 adopted children so we spent a lot of time talking about kids. His oldest is going to the day camp that J went to last year.

Diesel went outside and got greasy in the car stuff that T is working on. Since he still has fleas and got greasy A gave him a bath. I think she just wanted to bathe him. He wasn't thrilled with it but is none the worse for wear. I will put more flea stuff on him tomorrow.

T took a vacation day to work on the car that A drives. He just got back from getting more parts. Sigh...pray that he gets it going soon and stays safe while working on it. A drove T's truck to work and thoroughly enjoyed that.

I am enjoying this week and looking forward to graduation and the party but I will be glad when it's over. Then we have to settle into our summer routine, whatever that is.

Perfect

2011-05-23T21:06:00.000-05:00

J got a Perfect Attendance certificate at school today. I don't think any of the rest of us ever had perfect attendance. How cool is that? And what am I going to do with this kid for summer vacation?!? Ahhhh!

Still having lots of fun with Diesel. He's a very active kitten and wants to play with everything. J has had a fun time with him and we all like to pick him up and cuddle or rough house with him.

My mom used to have a Grady Nutt tape and he told a story about sitting on rough cut benches at church and that the women didn't like them because they would "snag your knits." I have hung on to that saying and use it when I snag on something or think I might. Or when the cats claw us. Diesel has been doing a lot of that. J picked up on my "snag your knits" saying. Only when he says the long "a" sound it comes out more like a short "o" sound. And he doesn't always get the correct consonants either. So the other day Diesel jumped up on J's leg and J said, "Hey! You snog my knicks!" He's so funny. And yes, I've been saying "snog your knicks" ever since then.

Danger zone

2011-05-22T20:55:00.001-05:00

T and A's bf, P, went to a pull a part type place yesterday to get a new to us transmission for Elvis. It's a place where you have to pull the parts off the junk vehicles yourself. Things were going fine until T dropped the transmission on his finger. When he got home he was taking a shower and kept trying to scrub the pretty colors off his finger. He finally realized it was bruising. We live in a danger zone.

Life

2011-05-20T16:10:00.000-05:00

Another hand pic. I think it's doing really well. I had therapy again today and I've really worked at stretching it. It's not as swollen on the back of my wrist but it's still quite swollen on the inside. The therapist was duly impressed with how far I could bend it. The jury is still out on whether or not there is a stich still in it. It's about half and half with No and maybe.

Love this pic. T hates it but it's so cute. Diesel was just hanging there by himself because he wanted to chew on T's zipper pull.

T's aunt and uncle were here last night so we gave them our bed and we slept in A's room and she went upstairs. We had Diesel in A's room with us. He was very busy and played with everything all night long (that's a song, isn't it?). When the alarm finally went off this morning I opened my eyes and Diesel was swinging from the curtains. Literally.

I spent the day with A today. She is exempt from her finals so she is basically done with school. She went to therapy with me and then we shopped. She was talking about someone being curvy and described her as "volumptuous". I said, I think you mean voluptuous. Volumptuous-voluptuous. So close. So close that she wants me to take a poll and see how many people think volumptuous is a word. So, what do you think? Is "volumptuous" a word?

Historical figure day

2011-05-17T16:17:00.000-05:00

Today was historical figure day at J's school. He was Ferdinand Magellan. He did a speech in front of the whole school and I was told that he did a great job. It hasn't even been two full years that he's been home.

Majesty

2011-05-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

I am loving this song right now. I hope this link works. Some of my favorite words from this song are; "... Your grace has found me just as I am. Empty handed but alive in Your hands. .... Here I stand knowing that I'm Your desire (think about that-God desires to be with us. How exciting is that?!) .... Forever I am changed by Your love..."

Diesel

2011-05-14T09:20:00.001-05:00

We are having such a fun time with Diesel. Everything is a toy when you're a kitten. Everything. We have to keep the chairs pushed in at the table or he's on it. We had to take the antique milk bottles down so he wouldn't break them. Toes are toys and legs are something to be climbed. All of our crocs shoes have bite marks in them. He obviously likes the way they feel when he bites them. Misty is not nearly as taken by him as we are. He is attracted to her tail and likes to "catch" it, which sets her off. She is perpetually mad at him. It's kind of funny. She did slap him good the other day. She snagged his nose, lip and paw with her claws. He was much more cautious, for a short time. He is like Dexter was when he was a baby in that they play hard until they just fall asleep. Here is Diesel sleeping on the steps.

Oops. We interupted his nap with our picture taking.

J likes the kitten other than when Diesel hangs from his pant legs. He's afraid to wear shorts around the kitten.

Diesel had to get his booster shots yesterday. He meowed at them very loudly letting them know he wasn't happy about it. Then he hissed at the vet while she was checking him out. They warned me that he might be a little lethargic from the shot but he was acting just fine, playing and running like usual. He was playing in the clean laundry and was all wrapped up in a bra strap, batting at my hands when he just fell asleep mid-bat.

He stayed there alseep all evening and night, didn't eat anything and woke up this morning just fine. Go figure.

Still muddling...

2011-05-11T14:46:00.002-05:00

...but with an improved attitude. Makes the day look brighter. I don't know if it's the weather, a hormone shift or what. Today is just better.

J got a hit last night. Woot! That's his first hit of the season. We practiced with him before the game and he asked if he got a run could we get ice cream. T and I said if he could get a hit, we could get ice cream. He got his hit and it was caught nearly as soon as he hit it but T said, "Way to go, J. You get ice cream!" Some of the other parents looked at us and we told them about our conversation before the game. Then J got walked and one of the other parents said, "Hey. That must be good for 2 ice creams." And later yet another kid tagged someone out and their mom said, "Way to go. You get ice cream!" We all turned around and looked at her and laughed.

I was also having an interesting text conversation with a sick friend (one of the "CO Ladies") during the game. She went to 4 different places for medical care, 2 were full and one couldn't help her. Finally got to an urgent care clinic where she got two shots, a breathing treatment and 4 dif meds. I think the text conversation was so interesting because she kept referring to her cough medicine as "codeine punch". That pretty much explains it. Thanks for cheering me up, K!

I'm a little bummed about my wrist. I had therapy today and it's still so sore and swollen. I mentioned to the therapist that the doc had said recovery time was about 6 weeks. The therapist said, ummm. Maybe if you'd only had one thing done but you had two things done and even with one thing 6 weeks was a pretty optimistic guess. Well. Burst my bubble. Next week we start strengthening exercises. I guess that's good.

We are still totally enjoying Diesel. He bit T on the butt in bed last night. How funny is that?!?

This is Diesel swinging from the camera strap.

Batting at the camera while J tried to take a pic.

He's so stinking cute! Even if he did ruin a curtain already.

Muddling

2011-05-10T18:52:00.000-05:00

We are muddling through some difficult days. T's sister is in the hospital with a nasty skin infection. Please keep her in your prayers. Along with some other things going on. Sigh...Lysa TerKuerst had some good words yesterday and today. Go to her blog and check them out. They really ministered to me.

We are thoroughly enjoying this little guy, whom we are calling Diesel for now. J accidently calls him "gassel". Diesel/gassel. So close.

J is really enjoying playing with him. Misty is not enjoying him but we are.

Cats

2011-05-06T17:48:00.000-05:00

We love our cats around here.

We lost our Dexter cat on Wed. He fought hemobartinella long and hard but it compromised his immune system and we'd get one thing cleared up and another would start. He stopped eating and drinking this week and his poor little body gave up. We loved our Dexter and will miss him greatly. We're so glad he's no longer suffering. He lived 13 1/2 happy, healthy years and was only sick the last couple months.

Here is a "baby pic" of Dexty. He was a very active kitten and into everything. He attacked his toys the hard way, like over and under the chair wrungs or going the long way. He ruined some plants, lamp shades and curtains.

He climbed up between the storm window and regular windows.

The girls grew up with him. They loved Dexter too. (Sorry for the blurry pics of pics. I don't have a scanner.)

I had no idea what I was doing when I had him declawed in front. I thought I was trying to save my curtains, plants and lampshades. But Dexter didn't know he was declawed. He climbed trees and bird houses.

Gone but not forgotten. Dexter Webster--Oct. 11, 1997-May 4, 2011

And now, introducing the newest member of our family. Our still unnamed baby boy. He is precious. He is so sweet and cuddly and we are all head over heels for him.

Does he not have the coolest markings ever? Name suggestions? Leave a comment.

Another hand pic

2011-05-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

It just looks so much better. I'm amazed. The therapist is wondering if there are still some stitches left in the cyst incision. He will re-evaluate on Friday. It's doing much better today as far as swelling. Woot!

Oh, I mentioned to J that there might still be some stitches left in it and he went weak-kneed. He said, "Dey sewed your skin togeder?! Ugh, I don't feel so good. I don't want to tink bout dat." He's such a male.

More bullets

2011-05-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

I like bullets. They're easy.
My wrist was one centimeter larger (more swollen) than last week at PT. I have been instructed to keep it elevated and iced.
It finally stopped raining. Again. Wonder how long it will last. And what's up with the cold?
J just asked if he could watch "Dancing With the Stars". He likes "The Biggest Looser" too. He used to refer to it as "That Big Fat Momma Show".
We were studying states earlier. I didn't want to just give him the answers so we were looking at an atlas. I had him look up the states and see if he could identify them by shape. He asked if we had an atlas. I said, "Umm, that's what you're looking at, son."
He finally got Vermont. I asked him what that one was right next to it. He said, "New Hamsters?"
Apparently he also asked in class today at school that if you fly over the states, can you see the labels of the names of the states?

What's going on

2011-05-02T19:34:00.001-05:00

Well, I said I wouldn't post any more pics of my wrist until it looked better. I think it looks a lot better. Some of the writing is still there but the yellow stuff is gone and the incisions look a lot better. Yes?

We tried to replicate the Door county fish boil that we all loved so much last summer. I found a recipe and it was a bit salty and we didn't have the right fish. We tried two different kinds and one we liked and one we didn't. Darned if we know which is which though. But overall it was pretty good. We will definitely keep trying.

I can't cut things up right now so J volunteered to cut up the onion. Here he is with his onion safety goggles (aka sunglasses) to protect his eyes. He still ended up teary eyed but he never complained.

Here is a pic of another tree that went down in the storms last week. I know it's dark but the tree is broken off towards the top left and angles towards the bottom right.

And here is some of the water. We have a wet weather creek beside and in front of the house. It was rushing so fast that it had white water in it.

A got back from her senior trip. T did not have a chance to work on her car at all while she was gone. Now she is catching a ride with E. There was a shirt in her car that had been chewed on and pooped on by mice. She also found a 2 1/2-3ft. long chicken snake wrapped around the wheel/tire. She screamed (as much as she could as she has laryngitis) and her daddy and boyfriend came running with their hoe (T) and fence post (bf). What the heck were they going to do with those? The snake then went up into the engine compartment. They started the car but we never saw the snake again. Whole body quiver.

I have mixed emotions about Osama bin Laden's death. I can't say I'm sad he's gone but I'm not celebrating it. And really I think people are celebrating what is hopefully the end of the evil he represented. You can not master mind the death of thousands of people and just go on about your business, living in your million dollar home and then using your wife as a shield at the end. I believe he was an evil man and have no problem with the fact that he's gone from this earth. Unfortunately there are probably several more to take his place.

There are more storms heading our way. I will be glad when we get out of this weather pattern. Of course, then we'll be complaining about the heat, humidity, and lack of rain.

And that's what's going on in our neck of the woods.

Bullets

2011-04-28T20:55:00.000-05:00

The sun was out today. How-way-you-yah!!
There were no trees down in the driveway this morning. How-way-you-yah!
The wrist was much better today and I'm actually using that hand for miniscule tasks.
We were convinced last night and this morning that Dexter was about to die. He's nothing but skin and bones, literally. And fur. Not eating or drinking much at all. And he purred when we bathed him last night leading us to believe he is delusional. When I got home from work he ate a little dry food and about 8 treats. Then he jumped on the counter. We are no longer convinced of his imminent death.
Got a call from school today saying J was laying on the floor crying with his stomach hurting. He was crying so hard that he couldn't talk to me. Basing it on his flair for the dramatic and his inability to tolerate any kind of pain, I figured he probably had gas due to his extreme consumption of ham over the past 5 days and his liking the bean soup I made last night. T went and got him and brought him home and put him to bed. He rested for an hour and then was up and looking for food. When I got home he wanted to go outside and dig for treasure while he waited on "deener". I'm glad he's fine but I wish he'd spare us the theatrics. I guess I need to take him down to audition for a play.
Notice the caps in this post? Yeah, I'm using both hands but it's getting sore and I need to go.

Again

2011-04-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

It happened again. Two more trees down again this morning. T couldn't even get out. I was supposed to go to therapy this morning but the town where that is is having lots of power outages and roads closed due to flooding and trees down. I will call before i go. This pic is after T clipped off what he could before the clipper broke. Sigh...

the big reveal

2011-04-26T14:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I went from the big cast like thingy to this;

Much better, yes? of course yes. I go back tomorrow to begin therapy. it already feels better just being out of the big wrapper. I must say, it is gross, even if it is my own appendage.

The yellow stuff is betadine. I have a rash. There is writing on it in multiple places. The stitches are out now but it's still ugly. I won't post any more pics until it looks better. Can't wait to freak J out. Muhahahaha.

Happy Anniversary

2011-04-26T09:19:00.000-05:00

Today is our wedding anniversary. 24 years! happy anniversary, babe! you never cease to amaze me. I love and admire you.

we have had a rough month. with dexter being sick, gary passing on, surgery, fleas, A's car dying and the stress of needing to get some things done around here and the weather and equipment not cooperating, it's been difficult. Speaking of weather, check out this pic of our driveway this morning.

yeah, that would be a tree. in the drriveway.

dexter has not been eating or drinking well at all. but he has been fiesty. here's a pic of him behind the microwave. which is where he is right now.

i'm looking forward to getting this stuff off my hand today and finding out "what lies beneath". i will miss the protection of all the layers though. gotta go.

He is risen!

2011-04-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

He is risen indeed!!

we had an awesome day here. it was sunny and in the upper 70's. glorious. we enjoyed the service last night and the service this morning. then family came over, brought good food, the ham was great and the company greater. here are some of the eggs the kids did. yes, they are 18 and 13 but they still like to color eggs and their friends do too. as long as they want to, we will do our best to make it happen.

the egg dye-ers. e, a, a's boyfriend and j.

beware. these next pics are of dexter and he's just a shell of the cat he used to be. his eyes are particularly difficult to look at. t had him at the vet again yesterday and she is completely stumped. now he's back on steroids and steroid eye drops, which t had to get at the regular pharmacy. we see a little improvement today in one eye. it's so sad. bless his heart, he has spent so much time going to the vet lately he just decided to climb in and sleep in the carrier.

feisty old cat that he is, he managed to get up on top of the fridge. i don't know how he did it and it scares me for him to jump down but i am a bit proud of him.

and now, be prepared to be overwhelmed with cuteness! is this not the cutest cat ever?

oh how i wish i could sleep like they do.

curl up somewhere in broad daylight, put your paw over your eyes and sleep away.

i am supposed to get the stitches out on tuesday. i am ready to get this monstrosity off my hand but a bit nervous about not having the protection of it too. it still feels better if i hold it up. wonder when that will stop.

a is on senior trip this week. she had a lil meltdown friday when her transmission went out on her car. her boyfriend may work on it this week since he didnt go on the trip. t has plenty on his plate so it would be appreciated. we shall see. we are trying to get several projects done around here and nothing is cooperating.

Celebrating

2011-04-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

how are you celebrating easter? we r going to a large church service on saturday eve and a small church service on sunday morning. i will not be playing/singing for that service. sigh... a will be leaving for her senior trip that afternoon and my family is coming over. i will put a ham in the crockpot sunday morning and everyone else will bring something. now if i could just get my house clean. i still have boat seats and a cat carrier in the office, prom dresses laying around, the poor old cat and 4 people making messes and only one hand to clean up with. sigh.. i wouldnt trade it tho. those are the changes, subject to plan.

yay

2011-04-20T21:12:00.001-05:00

due to inability to type with both hands there will be no caps in this post.

jt was promoted to specialist (e4) and was 1 of 14 soldiers on his base to be recommended for sniper school. woot! way to go, jt! we are proud of you!

j is doing his math homework by himself. i have prayed all year for this.

i worked today and made it. i am tired and a bit sore but not too bad. my stitches itch which i guess is a good thing. but dang. they are covered by an inch of stuff. i scratch the outside of the wrapping and it vibrates to the stitches. it helps minutely.

dexter was running a fever again so he is on dif antibiotics now and his eyes still look terrible so he has dif drops now too. he has also lost a lil more weight. but he is still alive.

a is getting ready for her senior trip. fun times!