Guard lizard

This afternoon around 2, Shan came into the nursery for a sandwich. As I made her a PB&J, she informed me that she WAS going to watch tv in my bed, since she couldn't get the TV in the living room to work right.
But, she goes on to tell me, I wanted some peanuts to eat while I watch tv....her papa keeps a can of roasted peanuts by the bed on his side table.

Well, hon, I asked her....you know you can have a peanut.

But....momo, then I saw the lizard on the can of peanuts. He was just laying there looking at me. So --she says, holding her hands up to her mouth and her eyes getting wider and wider--I just backed right out of there without a peanut or watching tv.

Oh ...so you found papa's guard lizard?

Papa's what? she asked.

Papa's guard lizard. It's there to guard his can of peanuts.

Well, he needs to get rid of it, momo. It scared me half to death.

Visitation

Sunday, December 28, 2008
I guess one of the most frustrating things concerning this visitation business is the fact that Roy acts as though having his kids is the most important thing to him, until he gets them.
From Wed. Dec. 24-Fri. Dec 26, he did nothing but aggravate the hell out of Stacie and so, by association myself concerning getting the girls for the weekend. When the agreement was finally made, he couldn’t come get them on Friday due to needing to pick up his step son. So he picks them up at 10:20 on Saturday.
He brings them home at 11:00 on Sunday. Just a hair over 24 hours he had them.
Seems as though his wife packed up her two boys and spent the night with a friend while the girls were there. Seems as though this was a bit more than Roy bargained for, as he told Ana he might have to bring them home on Sat. nite, but then changed his mind.
Now, 48 hours, give or take, of aggravation for 24 hours of visitation just doesn’t compute in by book.

visitation saga

Visitation Saga
I have spent the better part of the evening on the phone with Roy..the girl's father.
We got home from town around 2:30 and by 4:00 he was texting about getting them. Finally he called and insisted on talking with Ana, who was begging to not have to talk with him; but Stacie handed her the phone anyway.

He asked her why she didn't want to come. She told him it was the snake. Then he said some more stuff, and she started crying. She kept repeating that the snake scared her when Johnny took it out of the cage and tried to put it on her. I couldn't hear all the conversation from his end, of course, but he gave her until 6 this evening to decide if she would come for the weekend or not.

Then he gets on the phone with Stacie and starts accusing her of bringing up all these excuses for the girls to not go. She calmly told him it wasn't her; she wanted them to spend time with him. It was the girls themselves who didn't enjoy going because of the snake and various other things that went on down there.

Finally, Roy got to yelling so Stacie hung up.

In the meantime Ana and Shandi tell us that daddy and the boys walk around in their boxer shorts all the time, with no pants on over them.

Then the phone rings again and I answer it. He wants to ask my opinion, tells me he's tried talking nicely to Stacie but she keeps hanging up. I reminded him of the message on the answering machine filled with the f word. He claimed she made him so mad he lost his temper.

I asked him about the boxer shorts, and asked if he didn't think it would be more appropriate to cover themselves in the presence of young girls. He said they had always done that, in fact, his wife only wore a panties and a t-shirt in the house. I said it's fine for ya'll, if that's what you want to do, but men should be decent in front of girls.

We talked about the snake, the bugs, the cussing...everything. He kept saying it was Stacie who was pulling these excuses out of the air, and I refuted that each time. He promised me that Johnny would not tease the girls with the snake and they would put clothes on over their boxers if the girls would agree to come. I said I'd talk to them.

So, off the phone and I talk with the girls who agree to go for the weekend. So I call him back to let him, he says well, he can't come get them tonight, he has to pick up Johnny and it would be too late. He will call in the morning and let me know when he will come get them.

Ok....so for 3 days we've been harrassed over this issue and now you are stalling? Gee Roy, I thought you were on your way up here prepared to snatch them and run like hell.

30 minutes later he calls back. stacie answers and I hear her saying.....roy, it's the girls who complain, not me. Then she says, No Roy, you come get them and bring them back Sunday evening. I can't come get them, I have to work. Then he starts yelling about he can't make all those trips up here...a whole distance of maybe 60 miles round trip..so Stacie hangs up.

Another 15 minutes pass and the phone rings again. I answer it. He starts all over again, wanting everyone to be happy, talking about the snake, the boxers, etc. I tell him that we've discussed all this, we cannot solve it until the girls spend the weekend and it is proven to them that they won't be teased by the snake.

Then he tells me that his wife wants to pack up and take her boys away for the weekend so they won't be accused of things while the girls are there. Ok Roy....so what do you want me to do about this? What is the purpose of that? Are you trying to make us feel guilty? It ain't happening. You and Michelle do whatever you feel is right for you. I just don't want the girls harassed with a snake and I'd prefer you cover your undies in their presence.

Finally, he shut up and got off the phone. The girls and Stacie have gone home and I pray that phone doesn't ring again. If it's him, I refuse to answer it.

I did tell him that maybe going to court was the best thing he could do, because then both sides could have their say in front of a judge and the judge could speak to both parties and maybe they would listen.

Anywho--I'm sick and tired of drama tonight. This isn't my idea of Christmas holidays.

ON the up side, the girls had a ball shopping today....they have bling bling of all sorts--sparkly earrings, dangling necklaces, pooches in purses, a diva dog, new clothes to go with the new ones I got them for Christmas. They are happy campers in that department.

A letter to the girl's counselor

Dear Sylvia,

The girl's dad, Roy, texted Stacie yesterday and demanded that the girls come spend the the night with him when he gets home from work--otherwise he would take her back to court. He then called the house phone and left 2 messages....both of which she plans to record once we get a tape recorder that works...which we will do tomorrow.

One message says that he won't pay 700.00 child support and not have his kids on the weekend. The other one uses the 'f' word a lot. The girls haven't spent the night with him in several months. He has only asked for them 1 weekend back in September, which Stacie told him they already had plans. Ana had a birthday party to attend...hers...which we had already made plans for prior to her dad calling.

Both girls say they don't want to spend the night with dad because of the python his step sons have, because they only eat fast food and cereal, and dad and his wife are seldom around. They are either shut up in the bedroom or off shopping or visiting friends and the girls are left with the two boys, ages 14 and 8 or 10, I don't remember; and an elderly grandma who stays in the bed and argues with daddy constantly when she gets does up.

The divorce papers state day visitation, no overnights. Later on, during all the youth court appearances we made when I would have temp custody of them, there was a new ruling stating that Roy had to have supervised visitation with them because at the time he was not married, and he didn't have a stable home for them to visit in. These visits were to be held at the greenhouses in mine and Terry's presence. I know they are back in Stacie's custody, so don't have a clue if that ruling is still binding--it came from DHS/Children's division.

What I need to know and figure that hopefully you could ask Conrad (lawyer and youth court judge) or arrange for me and/or Stacie to speak with him concerning our legal rights concerning all this before I spout off something to dear dad and am wrong.
As I said earlier, both girls don't want to spend the night with dad. They love their dad, but I know Ana is scared of him because she has told me so.

What upsets Stacie and the girls is to come home and Stacie turn on the answering machine and hear all these threats filled with curse words from their dad to their mom. He pulls this every so often and has even pulled it on me at which time I told him to go ahead and make my day. I'd love nothing better than to face off with him in a courtroom with a judge. But Stacie has deep seated fears that some way, some how, Roy will manage to take the girls from her, either by some fluke or because her house isn't spic and span clean.

I worry, because the girls are doing well, they don't need all this upset in their life, so I just need to know what legal options we have. I really hate to bother you with this right here at Christmas.

Also, while I'm writing, we need to seriously take a close look at Shandi. I don't know if the child is depressed, or if her kidney situation is truly causing her to feel unwell. After doing the VGUG and renal test, the doc found an abnormality and is referring her to the specialist in Jackson. We haven't heard from them to set up an appointment yet. She often has crying spells, and always, almost daily by evening complains of simply feeling bad. As I was telling you at our last session, even Dr. Charles noted that Shandi was not like herself on our last visit to him.

We do have a letter from the school informing us they are observing Shandi in Tier 11 as a child in danger of failing and if necessary will move her to Tier 111 (yet again) and write her up an IEP. I'll bring a copy of that when we come for our session on the 2nd.

Chrstmas memories

A cold, cold day--one in which you just don't want to brave the elements considering the work we do. We made it to the nursery by 9, where I took care of a bank deposit and some phone calls while Terry gathered and burned some boxes and other trash.

Then the girls and I headed to town to make the deposit. I had been given 10.00 by one of my Sunday School members as a gift, and I planned to give it to the girls so they could buy a few little trinkets for their mom and popo. I'm trying to teach them that it isn't the dollar amount of the gift, but the thought that counts.

So, after dropping the deposit off, we head to the first of 3 Dollar Stores in town. The girls found a birthday glass bear with a birthstone in for their mom and a votive candle cup with a cross on it. I talked them into getting popo a pack of socks as he can always use those. Of course Ana found me a beautiful faux porcelean (how do you spell that?) egg which opens up to hold trinkets.

Then Ana found a set of pocket pups...little tiny dogs with a dog house. Shandi wanted one but there wasn't another one to be found. So we head off to the 2nd dollar store.....but still no pocket pups to be found. However, Shan found a Barbie doll she wanted, which was more than the pups cost for her sis, but these girls don't count the dollar amount--they count how BAD do you want it, which is truly the right way of looking at things. So here we go with Shandi hugging the Barbie doll, to look at pillows. Terry desperately needed a new second pillow and so did Shandi. I found 2 satin covered ones, just the size and fluffliness they like for 5.00, so grabbed them. Then Ana spotted a long, velvety pillow that she wanted last year at Christmas; had asked her dad to get it for her, but he didn't. So I got that.

As we leave heading home, Ana says: Oh wow, finally, I got just exactly what I wanted, even though it took a whole year. In fact I got two things I really, really wanted....the pillow and the pocket pets.
Shandi says: So did I. I love this Barbie doll.

How simple does it get?

So this brings up the topic of getting what we want. I share with them just how much I would love to be able to buy them Wii's, DS Nintendo's, digi camera's, etc, etc; and the fact that we don't has nothing to do with our love for them, but the amount of dollars to spare we have.

They both say they know this.
Then I ask them....what would you rather have? I family that loves you, treats you well, does what's right by you and fewer expensive toys
or
a family that is always busy working, stressed out over bills, yelling and fussing but who buys you whatever you want just to get you to be happy.

They both say--The family that loves us and treats us right....cause that's what we have.

We talk about how having the newest latest device doesn't make us loveable people, doesn't make us less than or better than.

Later today, I called the bike place to order the sprocket for Shandi's bike given I had ran over it last week. There are no bikes shops close by, so I called the manufacturer of the bike. When I placed my order the guy asked when I bought it, and I told him. Then he asked what happened and I told him I drove over it with the truck. He said he'd send this one out, but try to be more careful next time. I told him that I intended to pay for them, but he said...no, it's ok. So her bike will be fixed free of charge. Thank you Lord.

Next we're sitting here in the warm house, just being lazy, I'm helping the girls put their clean sheets on the bed when Terry says he has to go to the nursery. He comes back shortly with a dozen red roses and a gift bag with a bear, chocolates and such, topped off with a balloon for Stacie. Whooo Hoooo!!!!!!! Won't this just make her day and cause her to step a bit lighter????

Another thing I'm so moved by today is that it has occurred to me that when we go to town, even at Christmas--the girls do not beg, plead, bug, worry or otherwise harrass me to buy everything they see they like. In fact, they don't do much of that at all. We look, they may say....oh, I like this. This is pretty, or wow--but it seems as though they have less wants than some kids their age.

Is this because they are happy, secure children, who are being taught that 'things' aren't the source of happiness? Is it simple training since I've never bought them something every time we went in a store?

How can one woman be so tremendously blessed? My life is so full of wonderful blessings.

God's Blessings

I don't often take the time to type out my blessings. I think them, I speak them, just don't write them, but today I feel a need to do so.

We got fruit trees Monday, including an extra 90 for another nursery. This nursery is being evicted, so have no where to house their trees, so we were going to have to pot them. Yet another nursery that does wholesale business with us called yesterday and wanted 46 of them. Yes!!!!! One blessing and 46 less trees to pot.

The weather has warmed up wonderfully for this job. We've been in short sleeves all day.

This morning Stacie was called and asked if she would take a greeter's position for a month or so while the greeter is out on maturity leave. This means Stacie will work Sat-Tues and be off Wed.-Friday each week. Even though the greeter job pays .50 less an hour, Stacie will continue to get her regular hourly wages. It also means she will be off an extra day at Christmas, so she can go with us to the coast to visit Mother.

We had ordered pots for our fruit trees. When the order came in instead of 5 bundles of 7 gallon pots, we had 3 bundles of 7 gallon pots and 2 bundles of 5 gallon pots and no time to get them exchanged. The truck only runs once a week and it is too far to just take off and drive; even though it's only a 2 hour drive one way, we needed to be potting.

Well, with the nursery buying 46 trees, and us cleaning up the ground cover area and having some dumping to do, we had enough pots for the fruit trees with 10 to spare. Oh and we also had to put the 20 pears in 10 gallon pots. They were supposed to be 3'-4' trees and they are 5'-6' trees. That saved another 20 pots but they sure were hard to handle.

Our Sunday School party is tomorrow night and Stacie has to work until 8. I called the mother of a friend of Ana's and asked if both girls could stay with her a few hours and Stacie come by and pick them up. She said yes, that would be fine. Now I don't have to take the girls to the party with me, which will be all adults.

We have all the fruit trees potted and only have 75 more flowering trees to plant. They will go into 3 gallon size pots, which are much easier to handle than the 7 gallon pots.

God is so wonderfully good to us and I just wanted to thank Him for His many blessings.

Shandi

Monday, Shandi had to go the hospital in McComb for some kidney tests. Although everything appeared ok it wasn't. The doctor's office called today and said there were some abnormalities and they were referring her to the specialist in Jackson.

Bless her heart, she did the tests like a trooper, one of which involves inserting a catheter and running the dye through it while they watch it do it's thing.
She also had the sonogram done on her urinary parts and Stacie said it was almost funny when they told her to pee....Shandi asks, Where? The nurse said.....right there on the bed.
Said Shandi looked at her like she was nutz!!!!!!!!!

But please keep the baby in your prayers.
For those who don't know, Shandi was diagnosed with kidney reflux as a baby. She stayed on low strength antibiotics for several years. Then the docs did a balloon procedure which stopped the urine from backing up into bladder. This had kept her from having urinary tract infection until this year....so the tests were ordered to check things out.

Shandi and the urinary tests

Well, Shandi had to go for a renal test and a VCUG test today to determine if the balloon procedure they did several years ago is still in place. She had kidney reflux/deflux and this procedure was done, which involved inserting a type of material that form a balloon to stop the leakage back into her bladder.

She used to scream bloody murder when they did the VCUG test because it not only involved inserting the catheter into her but also this huge exray machine coming down toward her appearing, to her, I'm sure, as though it would crush her.

I prepared her by explaining exactly what would be done to her, about how it would feel and told her that if she could simply not fight them it would hurt less and go much quicker.

Stacie took the day off to take her, since Terry is up in Tennessee and Alabama picking up trees. Shandi did wonderful, not crying or fighting. The balloon is still in place, so all is well there. This means that the occasional urinary track infections she has are not due to the balloon collasping.

She's grown so much. From being able to go to the dentist and march in there all alone to get her teeth worked on, to having these tests done. I can't help but wonder if her improvement in this area is not due in part to the removal of the wicked step father who forced her to watch him have her older sister perform oral sex on him. I will always believe that what he subjected that child to played a huge part in her fears of having certain medical procedures done to her. It makes me very angry just to think of all that baby carries around in her mind, trying to deal with it and unable to verbalize the pain she is in.

But I am very grateful that he is no longer in their life, he is locked away in prison. She is growing and changing and becoming quite an accomplished little girl. Oh my heart swells with pride thinking about the progress she has made.

When it rains it snows

Well good folks. She's Baaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally.

It snowed and then it snowed some more. We woke up Thursday morning to snow. We were not prepared for the amount we got. By 11 we were without power. We spent a good portion of the day trying to keep the snow off the shade cloth on the fern house. Snow will slide off the plastic that covers the houses; but we still had shade cloth on the fern house and snow glues to it. We were afraid the snow would collaspe the roof, but thankfully, the good Lord sent sun and a slight warming so the snow began to melt by mid afternoon.
At 1:22 power was restored less than 3 miles south of us and less than 2 miles north of us. Still we continued on in the dark.
Friday I called and spoke to a service rep at the power company. She said out of 17,000 without power, they only had 5000 more to go...and we'd have power by night.

So, we waited, we went to counseling with the girls. We went to choir practice with the girls, at which time I ran over Shandi's bike backing out of the drive. She had parked it behind the truck. Came home around 8 PM, still no power. While I was gone, Terry's friend who lives about a mile from us on another road called and said they got power restored around 4:30. But not us. So we go to bed.

Saturday, this morning, we wake up and still no electric. Around 10:30 a power truck drove by looking for the source of our outage. In less than 10 minutes the big trucks come by and within another 10 minutes we had power. It took them all of 230 minutes, maybe to find the problem and restore our power--something they could have done on Thursday while they were close, or even Friday while they were even closer.

So--now it's time to water, thankfully no pipes had frozen and we had no water leaks. We do however have a freezer that isn't reaching a safe temp yet. I also had to clean up some leakage in the side by side, but otherwise, everything was safe and sound. Until we go to take a shower and the hot water heater had gone out. Most times it takes about 30 minutes to get it to light, but this time God was gracious and it lit on the first strike.

I told hubby, when it rains it snows, and when it snows it pours.
love,
elf

The meanness in the world

Sometimes things happen that just stop you in your tracks. Such an event occurred last Monday nite.

Jim is a man several years older than I, who, together with his wife, own a small country store.
They are both attractive people. Both are short, neither of them being over 5'1 in height. For many years, Paulette, the wife was a very trim lady who worked in the local jewelry store. She's always been a sharp tongued lady, and she's one of those people whom you aren't sure whether to like or dislike.

On the other hand, Jim is kind, soft spoken, easy to get along with and will do anything for you that he can.

I've known them both for many years. They have two grown daughters and several grandchildren. Paulette has gone through breast cancer, and because of the medication has gained a considerable amount of weight. It hasn't softened her demeaner any, though.

Jim has had several heart attacks, but in spite of the doctor's warnings, he continues to smoke and drink--often to excess. Yet, even in his excess of drinking, I've never heard of him being mean or violent.

Monday night he was attacked a short distance from his home. No one knows the details of why this happened, just the end results. His nose was broken, both jaw bones and his eye was nearly dislodged from it's socket. He is now home from the hospital and recuperating.

But the mystery still remains as to what happened.

In this small community, rumors are as numerous as flies around watermelon. Some say he stopped to help someone who appeared to be broken down, and the intent was robbery.
Some say he was out attempting to collect money owed pertaining to his business.
Yet others say he was fooling around with some woman he shouldn't have been fooling with--but regardless of the reason why he was attacked--it was an act of pure violence, a total disregard for the life of another human being.

If it were robbery, then many in our community stand to be next in line. With the economy suffering the way it is--who may be next? Acts of violence, such as this, are rare in our area; but from time to time they occur. Seemingly out of the blue, always extreme violence and always against a person well thought of in the community.

May God keep and protect all of us.

Voice recognition programs and perspective

A few days ago, a member asked about a free speech program for their computer. The owner of the group posted in part this:

*Command and control your Window's computer through your voice. Operate
> your computer using a minimum of keystrokes or mouse clicks. If you
> want to move the cursor down one line, simply say: Down One. Want to
> check your emails? Simply say: Open Email. Add commands to open and
> control any Window's document or program.*

I replied: *First let me say that I seriously appreciate that some people need a
speech recognition program. I'm extremely grateful that these programs
exist for those who need them.

But, forgive me for putting a bit of humor in on this topic. I sincerely
pray that I never have need of one of these programs. With my experience
with voice automated answering systems, I can imagine the frustration I
would encounter with a speech program on my computer.

I'd say--Find File
The program would say...Did you say Fix file?
I'd repeat...Find File
The program would say...was that flat file?
Becoming more frustrated I'd yell...NO, I said Find file you idiot.
The program would say...I'm sorry, I did not understand your response.

Let's start all over again. What was it you wanted to do?

By this time I would use my black elf powers to disintegrate the computer
to a pile of ashes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the other hand--the plus side of this---if it worked properly, it would
go a long way to aleviate corpal tunnel syndrome from manipulating a mouse
and typing for such long hours.

And again I say--I am really glad they are available for those who have
need of them, and maybe they work better than the answering systems we
have here in the USA.*

Another poster replied to that:* I have another scenario. You'd say find file and the program would say, find the file your elfin self*

Another poster replied *lmaopimp, and I replied that my response to that wasn't fit for the board.*

The original poster who asked for the program posted this:
*yea kinda nice when your not the one with a disability do you know what it is
like to be able to be given the most complex math problem out there and be able
to solve it and with then a few hours later you can't even do simple math. do
you know what it means when you used to be the top of the spelling contests and
now you can't spell simple words sorry I asked a question to a lit I thought was
friendly I guess I am wrong and need to find a list that is firmly to people
with disabilities rather you meant it or not it was a stab in the heart to a
person with a debility*

Sounds to me as though this person is bitter over his disability, because I obviously stated that I was very glad those programs existed for those who needed them, and I was simply showing the humor in my experience with said programs.

Sheesh!!!!

Natural Flowerpot

Being in the nursery biz-(plants not children) we sometimes have puny plants that simply refuse to grow. There is an area behind the main greenhouses that we dump said plants and debris in. Our intent is to slowly build it up, as it's a hollow.

Near the drive where we dump is a large oak tree. Hurricane Katrina tried to do it in, but even though she took a large limb from it, the tree remained firmly planted.

A few days ago I noticed a yellow spot up near where the branches start. Upon closer observation I found a clump of marigolds growing in the crook where a limb had once been. I grabbed my camera and got a shot.....for they look as though growing in this oak tree curve is precisely where they wanted to be.

Tolerance

What causes a person to be intolerant of opinions that differ from theirs? What is the driving force behind their need for all to agree with them. What causes them to be angry, bitter, defensive and to strike out at those with differing opinions?

In my own experience, both from myself personally and from living with one who at one time was very intolerant, opinionated, dogmatic and harsh; it is a problem with many angles.

I was fearful that if you didn't agree with me, then you didn't like me. I was not secure in some of my opinions and I needed your approval/agreement in order to feel right about what my opinion. I also believed that on some issues, I was right and you were stupid to not believe the way I did. I suppose I wanted a copy cat world, where everyone believed the same thing. How boring!

Getting to know myself has helped me tremendously in this area. Today, I still don't know all I need to know in order to be well informed on some subjects. My opinions are still based on the opinions of others--some I know and respect, some I just trust to know what they are talking about. Some areas are still a bit grey for me.

But learning these things about myself, and accepting that I am who I am, a person of worth, a person who is unique in my own way--opens the door for me to accept others who are different. I realize that a different opinion isn't threatening to me. I respect that other's have a different view on certain things, a slightly different slant on how they interpret things. I may not always remember this; I may still find myself thinking that it is all about me. But it isn't. It's not even all about us. It's all about God.

God showers us with grace daily. There are so many blessings that we neither earn or deserve. With all these blessings, how can I now treat others with and in grace? How can I set myself as the authority on all things, or even just some things. I am but finite woman-limited knowledge, limited abilities. Who am I to judge another?

It is only when I come to see myself as who I truly am, can I humble myself enough to realize that I am not judge and jury, except over my own life. My life is the only life I have the right to judge or critique. And even that right is best done under the power of God's spirit, leading and guiding me into the truths I seek.

When I finally turned my will and life over to God, many wonderful things began to happen within me. I began to see that new creature that the Bible speaks of upon conversion. I know there are more transformations to come as I grow in the Lord.

God, help me to treat my fellow man as I would want to be treated.

Klara

Post Election Day

On Wednesday following our presidential election:



A little black boy walked up to the teacher in Ana's class and said: I guess you voted for McCain because you're white and so is he.

The teacher said, according to Ana--Yes, I voted McCain, but not because of my color, but because of what I believe.



In the class of a friend's granddaughter, a little black girl got up in Savannah's face and said: "We got us a black president now. You can't mess with us."



The grandmother said Savannah asked her mom what the devil was the girl talking about. Savannah is only 8 and not the least bit interested in who's president and who's not. :)



It was kinda funny, but on the way to church last night, Elizabeth, the 8 year old neighbor told us that she asked her mom if she could still be friends with a girl if the girl's mom voted for Obama. I was curious as to what Elizabeth's mom said, so I asked. Elizabeth said that mom said it was ok to still be friends with the little girl. Whew!



A couple of older boys at school checked out early yesterday because some blacks told them they were going to have guns brought to school at lunch and they were going to shoot them. Whether that was due to the election, I don't have a clue. Ana's friend was telling me about it this evening, and she knew because one of the boys is her cousin.



Ana didn't mention anything more today that affected her personally, and I'm very glad. I hope it was just a couple of isolated incidents. It gave me a good opportunity to talk with Ana about 'live and let live'.



Hopefully, these were incidents due to emotions running high, kids overhearing their parents talk, and it will die down soon.

Lessons learned

Another Saturday spent with the girls at the ball park. It was a beautiful, cool sunny day, the girls did well with their cheering and nothing out of the ordinary happened. There was plenty of interesting conversation and lively chatter to occupy the hours, along with watching the games and the cheerleaders.

We have permission from the band director to use the concession stand at salem next week, however the principal wants some other school organization to use it. We can use Tylertown's but we have to sign a statement claiming we will pay for any damages to the new track that was put in last year. We're debating that one. Hopefully we can convince the Salem principal to allow us the use of their concession stand, and therefore raise the money for the girls' trophys.

After Ana's last game, we walked over to the school for the Fall Fest they had. They rode the horses and bounced in the air bouncy thing, and slid down the slide, got their faces painted and generally had a good time.

Stacie was off today, so she was present for all the festivities, although she wasn't in the best of moods this morning.

Tonight, I uploaded some photos to my walmart site taken today of the cheering. Then I had a few more of the Halloween pics to upload but it refused to open the tool to do so. Finally after about 45 frustrating minutes, I decided to email them, as this is a new function made available to us. Shoot, while I continued to surf, the pics arrived, my notice arrived in my inbox to add them to my account. I clicked the link, added them, opened the temp folder, chose organize, move and moved those beauties into the folder I wanted them in with no hassle at all.

My getting frustrated has shown me an easier way of doing what I had been doing. Thank you Lord for lessons learned.

Trunk or Treat

Initiated following Katrina when there were no homes left for kids to trick or treat at.......
There was so much devestation following Katrina, that several of the churchs in the area decided to have people come to the church in their cars and trucks, with their candy in the trunk or on the back of the truck. They park, open up their trunks, some set up decorations and such, and the kids come and walk around the parking lot visiting each vehicle where they are given their treats.

It's so cool. A church about 5 miles from here has a really good one each fall--we drive down, park in the parking area, get out, walk around the area designated for the treating and, once around, we get in our car and drive home. No cruising the subdivisions, no wondering who has treats and who doesn't, no wasted gas, no slow driving, no getting in and out of the car.

The church below us where the girls go on Wednesday nites for GA's, is having one after GA's, Wednesday. It won't have the traffic that Union Church does, but it is mainly for the children who attend on Wednesday nite, and there are about 20 or so of them.

So no, it's not a typo......it's a really neat and simple way to trick or treat. I love it because I know all the folks participating so I can visit a bit while the girls are filling up their container with treats......like they really need them.

I'll get some pics of the girls up after Friday. Ana got a red devil dress, Shan got this awesome coppery colored fairy dress and Stacie is dressing up as a cat. I haven't decided if I want to go to the effort to dress up----hmmm......maybe I flower? or a wrinkled old woman.....oh, I wouldn't have to work hard for that one!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

The coast trip

Saturday, after I came in from the ballgames and helped finish watering and we got rid of the customers, we grabbed some clothes, loaded the girls in the truck and headed to the coast.
The girls had been wanting to visit their great grandmother, and this seemed like a good time to carry them.


The girls enjoyed the trip and it was good to visit with mother, but I was a bit .....hmm.....not ticked off, nor were my feelings hurt--disappointed I guess is what I felt. The girls or I have not been down there since Christmas. We hurried and finished watering and waiting on customers and finally left a bit after 5, and other than stopping for gas we drove straight down. We knew they wouldn't wait to eat supper, because Robert, Judy's husband has to eat by 6, he thinks. However, Judy had decided to fry fish and had the trimmings--french fries, hushpuppies, cole slaw and baked beans...all cold as an ice cube. I don't eat cold fish and can't stand a cold french fry, so I didn't eat anything other than the cole slaw. I would have thought they would have fixed something that would either hold, or could be warmed up.

But, it's to be expected. Judy is not dealing with the 'burden' of helping mother and being retired due to her eye sight well. She's always love to play slots and seems to be getting deeper and deeper into that...even running up a credit card debt to fund her addiction. According to Robert, he had close to 100,000.00 in a box under his bed, money he made hauling cars to car lots. He says Judy took around 90,000 of it over time and gambled it away. Whether it was that much, I don't know. I just know he says if he wasn't so old and wouldn't lose his home, he'd divorce her. She's changed so much since the casinos came to the coast. She's never been a real easy person to get to know--but she's even worse now. I hate to see where things may end up.

It was especially disturbing to discover that mother has given Judy a checkbook, and I think an ATM card. Beth and I were trying to find out how closely mother checks her bank statement, but seems she trusts Judy, so she probably wouldn't notice any discrepancies. Lord, I hope Judy wouldn't do mother that way.

The Ballgame

My grand Ana is a cheerleader for the Pee Wee Football team, the Saints. She's cheered for 3 years now and loves it.

I enjoy going to the games and watching her do her thing. I also enjoy sitting at the sweet table, where various mom's bring baked goods to sale, to raise extra money for the girls and their various needs.

I also enjoy watching people at these events, and even interacting with them, although some of them can be a pain.

When we arrived Saturday morning, the head sponsor drove up right behind me. Seems we didn't have anyone to work the gate, where we charge 1.00 a head for all who are football players or cheerleaders. Sponsors, coachs and refs get in free too. Melissa took the sweet table, set it up and put Ana in charge of that since she didn't cheer until 12:45, and it was only 9:00, she put me at the gate.

Normally there is a young girl, around the age of 12 working the gate. She lets some slide by without paying, I'm sure. Possibly due to her age, she's reluctant to stop an adult and insist that they pay.

Such was the case with the family of 4, bringing their daughter to cheer. As they proceeded past the table, I spoke up to say: "There's a 1.00 a head charge to get in."

The lady said she had never paid to get in before.
"Yep," I said, "I'm sure you haven't. There's been a youngster working the gate and they don't always catch everyone."

"I paid 85.00 to sign her up to cheer, I shouldn't have to pay to get in." Mom retorted.

"I paid the same 85.00, I pay to get in, and besides that, I give my time to work the gate and the sweet table. It's a 1.00 a head to get in."

"What do they do with the money?" mom wanted to know.

"It's used to fund the extra expenses of the league. Turning on lights for practice, buying refreshments for them after a game, paying for the trophies they get at the end of the season, and various other expenses." I explained.

They coughed up the 3.00 and went on in.

The deputy standing nearby making sure people didn't block the drive shook his head and wondered why people were the way they were.

Later on I watched a young mother get really angry with her 2 year old who wanted the food she had bought for herself. The baby was just toddling around and mom handed her the bowl of fritos and chilli and threatened to beat her butt if she dropped it. There was a younger baby reaching for the bowl and I just knew she would cause the older child to drop it, but thankfully mom rescued it before that happened.

People are so interesting to me. I could watch them for hours.....or listen to them.

Later that evening a sister to the sponsor came up to watch her son play ball. Now J has had some problems through the years, has lost a child and life doesn't always go right for her. But life doesn't always go right for any of us.
She stood right next to me, talking on her cell phone and said, "I get mine the 3rd and I can fix you up with plenty then, along with some pain pills." She said some other things but I failed to catch that, then she walked away.

Her sister said, "It's so embarrassing. She was just standing there talking about dealing drugs where you could hear it."
"Yep," I replied, "for all she knew I was a narc agent."

Like I said, folks are just so interesting.

Sneaky snakes

Terry has been cleaning up the caladiums, trimming the tops, removing the bulbs for drying and storage. Yesterday he pointed out a snake he had found in the bottom of a tray. It was a little pigmy/ground rattler from it's appearance. He had killed it and after showing it to me and describing how he had carried it out and it was under the last pot he picked up from the flat, he tossed it.

I then started to help him with this job. I carefully picked up the first pot of caladiums, called myself looking at it closely, reached down to the soil line to twist the tops of the plant off and out jumped another one of those little babies. I screamed, tossed the pot one way, the snake with the other and I went another.

Finally Terry found it and took it out of it's misery.

Wow, 2 snakes in less than an hour is a record, even around a nursery.

I've helped him some more today, but not without more carefully examining what I am touching, what is underneath the pot and even turning the pot upside down in a tray before working the bulb out of the soil.

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!

More on Shan

I'm not so concerned about the ADHD, as I know kids can either outgrow it, although what I read says they actually learn how to manage it......it's the IQ score of 59 that bothers me. If this is true; then I don't see her outgrowing that.
So she will always be lacking in academics. My goal is to find the right structure of help aids that will aid her in learning all she is capable of learning.

I am not going with the mindset of: ok, she's mildly retarded, lets dont' expect much.
Instead, my mindset is this: ok, so she isn't the brightest chip off the block--still, if I can find the right method of helping her learn, she will accomplish far more than any set of tests or statistics can predict. It's finding that aid, that help, that method of aiding her in learning that has me scratching my head at times and constantly pushing everyone.

Shandi news

Got the results back from Shandi's evaluation. The psycholigist didn't find much difference in the testing this time than he found 4 years ago. She still tests on the high end of mild retardation and the low end of borderline.
The main difference was that he found her to be Predominently inattentive......so she's ADHD-IP rather than simply ADHD. She still has Defient Disorder, Social Skills are lacking--*I try, but can only do so much*

He did recommend special help in her academics......yeaRah.!!!
This means he at least read my list of things I needed him to focus on.
I had also sent him copies of some of her class room work.

But--this whole 9 weeks the teacher has been working one on one with Shandi. They got report cards today and she had all A's. Her reading A's had a star by them and on the bottom the teacher had written *with special assistence*
She --the teacher--also marked that she was below grade level.

I went yesterday and talked with the director of elementary special ed, one on one, and handed her a copy of Shandi's eval. My next move is to make an appointment with Supt. of Ed and talk with him. I have lots of questions to ask concerning the plans he has for our school district.

more on forgiveing self

I found something last night that really helped me to clarify my own thoughts and I'd like to share it. I can't contribute the words to an author, because it was sentences/thoughts from several different people...right or wrong, I copied what spoke to me for re-reading.
What I found was this:

**I think self forgiveness is just poor language used to express deep guilt or regret. The solution is always the cross - take the focus off of self - let Him reign.


The only way to being set free of the guilt was receiving - really knowing and experiencing - God's forgiveness and love. "Forgiving myself" sounds so inviting and plausible upon first inspection - but it's both impossible, and not required.

The issue is not our involvement in the process - we clearly are (e.g. Hebrews 12:1) - but our definition of "forgiveness". We need His forgiveness, not our own. But for our part we do need to truly accept it in order to receive it. I don't think that process is "self-forgiveness". I think that process is coming into true belief that God has forgiven us (which will take some time, prayer, patience, help from others, and genuine encounter with the person of God).**

A lot of what I have read has pointed out that when we believe in forgiving self, we place ourselves above God, as God is the only one who can forgive us. Still, we are commanded to forgive others, so why is it so far out there to consider forgiving our own selves?

So many people have experienced such trauma, been raised in such sinful homes, abused, neglected, controlled, manipulated, lied to, berated and such--that they grow up with some deep seated issues and some truly twisted thinking. Even though my homelife wasn't the worst, it wasn't what it should have been. I know I am one who grew up with some 'issues' that I had to recognize the source, work through them, accept that, even after becoming a Christian, I often acted based upon my upbringing. I had to rely on asking God for knowledge of His will and the strength to carry that out. He did.



But for me, it truly involved recognizing that == for example==my extreme anger stemmed from parental neglect from my mom and abuse from my father. I had to reach a point of releasing that anger. I know, I really know that God led me in that release, God gave me the steps to take, God took the anger, the pain, the hunger for love--for it was after the steps I took to let go of that anger that I began to grow in the Lord and my attitude improved.



Yet, I still felt guilt over the ways I had yelled at my children, the anger I had displayed toward them. I still felt like an unworthy person, a horrid mother, and worse yet, wondered how could a Christian act the way I had acted prior to my 'cleansing', as I like to call it.



As time went on, I had encountered the phrase, forgive self, and it made sense to me--in the sense that I had to accept that I did what I did because of inner pain; an inner pain that honestly, after salvation, I expected God to remove. He did, but only after I became willing to take the steps to help myself. But I truly expected following salvation, for all my character defects to go 'poof' into the wind. *hahahaha*



It hasn't happened. It has been a process, the working out of my salvation, as it were, the learning Bible doctrine, applying it to my life, living it, learning to trust God for everything. Maybe I initally chose to call my trusting that God has forgiven me of my wrongs, forgiving self. Maybe I was and am wrong in even considering that phrase. However, I knew and know in my heart who my Savior is. I know whom I believe and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day.



I also know that in my own life, my forgiving self had nothing to do with my exalting myself above God. It simply meant that I accepted that I had done wrong in my life, I had accepted Christ as my Savior, confessed my sins, and continue to do so, and I trust that he forgives them.

forgiving self

forgiveing self.

When I first read this thread, my first thought was: "hmm, I have been thinking it all wrong.
So, I have prayed about it, pondered it, read all the other replies. I have concluded that for myself and my relationship with the Lord, it worked this way--
While I'd not ever done horrid things prior to being saved, nor have I done horrid things since; I have sinned, as have all of us. Even after salvation, I've commited sins I never thought I'd commit. I've spent time, extended time out of fellowship with God, but when I returned to the Lord, confessed my sins, he forgave them.
My job, as it were, is to believe in, to rest in that forgiveness.

Most days this isn't a problem. But from time to time, out of seemingly nowhere, comes a memory, a visual, a thought of a sin I've committed.
My first thoughts are--where did that come from? Why did I think of that?
I've even re-confessed the sin--but even in doing that, I fear that isn't the thing to do. I've already confessed it, God forgave it--isn't confessing an already confessed sin basically saying, "God, I doubt you forgave me the first time?" Would that not be similar or the same as crucifying the Son of God afresh?

When these thoughts hit, I do have a pang of guilt; a few moments of grief, as it were, over the very memory of what I have done in the past.

Then I remind myself that God is faithful and just to forgive my sins, if I confess, and I have. Also,I no longer commit these particular sins.

I am not usually prone to dwell on the past, so these moments of memory are brief. However, one thing that has helped me considerably in this problem area is Romans 8:1 there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
Another thing that has helped me a lot is that God sees me as who I am in Jesus--not who I see myself as a lot of days.

Now--for me, learning, believing and walking in the truth that God is faithful to forgive my sins, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and I really am a new creature boiled down to what I'd term 'forgiving myself'. I had to accept the truth that I was not little Ms. Perfect, like I wanted everyone to believe. I accepted/believed the truth that we all 'have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God'. But more importantly, I accepted, believed and walked in the truth that-Yes, I believe Jesus is the son of God, He lived a perfect life, died on the cross for my sins, rose from the grave and now sits at the right hand of the Father--and that makes me a child of God, joint heir with Christ.

Christian-Houses

Rather a misleading title, but it's what this post is about: houses and Christians. Sure, there will probably be other stuff in there too. That's me.

Robby came out again today. He finished mowing the yard and when Terry came in from work we covered 2 greenhouses. We've never covered 2 in one day, but we've never had sufficient help. Stacie was off, so with her, Robby, myself and Terry, and Paula handing us the wire, we got 2 covered. Now we only have to pull the plastic on #5 and fasten it down and we'll have that job done. Whooppeee!!!!!!!

I'm in an online group for Bible study. So far, I've not found a lot of Bible study in it, but it's educational. Most of the fellows are preachers; and it's a really good glimpse into the truth that preachers are people, just like us. They argue, they are rude, they are even downright ugly. They are control freaks, opinionated, and petty.

There's a member with whom several of the others have an issue with--seems he, according to them--always tries to stir up trouble. Maybe he does, although I haven't read him doing any more than they do. These members have blocked his email, so they don't have to read his posts. He'll make a new ID, post and they catch on and confront him about it. They tell him they have him blocked. They tell him they find to be a pain in the rear. Today, someone in the group even put up a poll asking members to vote on whether to let him stay, kick him out immediately, kick 2 that had posted against him out, tell those 2 to grow up, or shoot them all.

Surely this poll was done in fun, but it doesn't sound fun to me. It sounds rude, demeaning and unchristian like behavior.

This is especially relevant when the unliked member posts today that he's been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Maybe this is true, and maybe it's a ruse of his to garner favor and sympathy. Maybe he did this to cause the hecklers to feel really bad. If this is the case, then I pray that God convict him of his behavior. But I also pray that God convict the others of their behavior also.

I simply don't post in there for this reason. What's to say I won't rub one of them the wrong way and they begin to attack me. I don't know enough about the Bible to defend some of my beliefs, and I don't do well in confrontations.

Then again, maybe it would be good practice?

The other thing that is bugging me tonight is people's tendency to not answer telephones. I've agreed to call the mother's of my granddaughter's cheer team to let them know of pictures being taken tomorrow. There are 2 ladies on my list that I've called 3 times and still don't get an answer. I get voice mail on one and have left the message. The other one I get nothing.....no answer, no voice mail, nothing. Her's is a cell phone number and I even sent a text message.....still nothing.

Sure can't reach through the phone and slap 'em up side the face!!!!!!!!!!!

Just stuff

Robby and Paula came out yesterday for a visit. He looks good, yet he has that bouncy leg thing going. The bouncy leg thing always indicates that he's anxious to be involved in something. When he can't get involved in something that holds his interest, alcohol and drugs are next in line.

He wants to come help us with covering the greenhouses. We'll see how things go. I'm letting Terry make that decision.

Terry worked with the county today. I spent most of the day on the phone. I enjoyed the talking, but hate days when I don't accomplish anything. Ana went home with a friend this evening, so Shandi and I came home. While Shandi studied her questions for reading, I put on a pot of chilli and mixed up some brownie mix to have for making brownies to sell for the cheerleaders.

When supper was ready I told Shandi what we were having--frito pie. What's that, she wanted to know. It's fritos with chilli poured over it. Oh, I like chilli and fritos, she said. So I fixed her a bowl and when I put it in front of her, she says, "But momo, where's the pie?"

I heard from my brother today. Seems he's been having chest pains so he went to the doctor. He has COPD and needs to quit smoking. I have it too and need to quit smoking. God help us both. I've tried and haven't succeeded yet. Maybe the next time I make up my mind to quit will the right time.

I took the girls to Salem church tonight. They have an active GA group of girls. Another grandmother from our home church also took her granddaughter, so it was nice to have a home person at a non-home church with me. Salem should be as much home to me as Magee's Creek. I know almost every person there; but I don't go often so I feel odd. We were cordially welcomed and told to come anytime; which we will as long as the girls are involved in GA's.

The preacher doesn't drone on and on. He opens with a short prayer, gives a short devotion, then opens the floor for prayer requests. After these are mentioned, he starts the prayer, encourages any who wishes to, to pray, and asks a specific person to close the prayer time. Their prayer meeting starts at 6:30 and was over at 7, promptly. Such a far cry from ours. We start at 7, sing 2 hymns, have 30-45 minutes of prayer requests, signing cards to send, praying for the people individually; then the preacher asks for blessing reports, prays about 10 minutes, gives a 10-15 minute devotion and closes with another 10 minute prayer. It's anywhere from 10 past to 20 past 8 when we are done. Then it's gather up the girls, get them home, try to calm them down, give them a snack and get them to bed.

I really like Salem's method of doing it.

I caught a bit of the evening news today. The part I caught was some replay of the debate they had last night, I suppose. All I heard was Obama and McCain, Biden and Palin pointing the finger at each other. They all sounded like a bunch of children, yay-yaying at each other. Sarcasm was used on some of the constituents who asked questions. It's a joke, if you ask me. Every where I look during election years, candidates are running down each other.

I have a tendency to distrust any negative messages against a candidate, for I feel that any kind of dirt can be glamorized and blown out of porportion in order to make the initiator look good and his opponent look bad. Why can't politicians run on their own merit and not run each other down?

I suppose that's too much to ask.

Shan-Roo and Robby

I should have known something was up when Robby texted me this morning asking what his dad was doing. I answered back that we were trying to get ready to put plastic on a greenhouse. He said he'd talk with him later.

Then I forgot about it and went to work. I had a lot to do since I was leaving early to take Shan to her doctor's appointment.

While picking Shan up from school the teacher told me about Shandi not wanting to put away her unfinished math page to start on language. She said she finally got Shan to work on some of the language problems, but not before Shan had pulled her math out to work on it again. When I talked with her this evening about it, she did say she liked math better than language. So maybe because she can do the math and she struggles with language, she would rather do math.

Just as we arrived at the clinic this evening my phone alerted me to text message. I didn't recognize the number, and the message was "what you doing". I replied back that I was taking to the doc. I was asked if she was sick and I replied that it was for a checkup, and who is this.

"Boo" was the answer I got. Boo is the nickname for Paula, one of Robby's first girlfriends, way back when he was still a teenager. Then I get the message that says "Robby says hi". So I say hi back then ask...is Robby there? The answer I received was NOT what I wanted to read. Yes, this is Robby and I've been here a couple of days. Seems according to Robby his boss is in trouble money wise and Robby needed to get out of the area they were working. He got Paula to come get him.

We sign in to see the doctor. The waiting room is full and knowing that we were to finish up Dr. Charles day, I wonder how late does he stay. Big kids, little kids, quiet kids, screaming kids, yelling parents, popping kid parents....it was mayhem in there. After about 30 minutes Shan says the noise is so loud she is getting a headache. I suggested she close her eyes and tune the noise out...which she does.

Our appointment was at 4 and finally at 5:45 we see Dr. Charles. Her urine culture didn't grow anything. This is good because it means her body hasn't become resistent to the antibiotic. Still, with the kidney deflux, he would prefer having the test done to check things out, as would I. So he writes up that order and we will receive a phone call concerning the date later.

Then we talk about Shandi. He still hasn't gotten the recent evaluation from Dr. Jolly. He askes lots of questions about her school work, what help is she getting, and how is her behavior. He believes that medication isn't the answer for Shan, instead she needs help in school-tutoring, special ed, whatever it takes. Still he won't take her off her meds right now.

He told me to keep doing what I was doing school wise--pushing for help. He also said that if the school needed to talk with him, have them call him.

I believe I will contact the SPED contact at school and see if she will call him, or should I call and ask for an evaluation from him. Still, I would rather see the report from Dr. Jolly myself first, which should be coming in any day.

We go back to see Dr. Charles in 2 months. For refills, rather than seeing him monthly, we can call for the prescription and then stop by and pick it up, which is very convenient for us.

church

I love going to church, most of the time anyway. I have spent a lot of time not going, but I've spent a lot of time going. I was in a period of not going when the grands came into my life. I decided that I needed to get back in church for their sake. All kids need a good basic background of Bible teaching. If, later on in life, they choose another path, so be it; but at least I will have shared with them what I believe. I will have also set the example. They can choose to follow that example or not.

Wednesday nites is a hard one for me to attend. It starts at 7 and ends sometime after 8. I usually have the girls to get to bed at a reasonable hour for church. So, I hadn't always gone, until this year when I started in hopes of the girls being involved in something they enjoyed on Wednesday nites.

Well, it would be fine and good--but the preacher can't stop at 8. He kept us until 8:15 tonight. This is rough on the teachers and the kids. The teachers plan for an hour session. When the hour is up, they are usually through with the class. The kids have nothing to do, so they often get noisy and antsy.

I get antsy and lose track of what he's saying.
I'm praying about what to do. One teacher said someone needed to say something to him. I guess she meant a parent. I'm debating saying something myself. Either that, or next Wednesday I will sit on the side of the church, in a pew closest to the wall that faces the door which leads back to the children's unit. At precisely 8, if the preacher is still rattling on, I"ll simply get up and go collect my children and take them home.

His devotion is usually pretty good. The prayer requests we do first are informative. The cards we sign and send are very welcome by those who are ill or going through a loss. The main problem is that the preacher prays a sermon. He not only prays one prior to the devotion, he prays one following the devotion. Add to that, the leader of the songs prays one of his own before we sing and we have a long prayer session. There are only so many prayers that will fit in an hour.

Lord, I don't mean to be disrespectful. I don't mean to be mean and ugly toward these two men who are doing their best to serve their Lord. But I've studied the Bible and I understand the teaching on prayer to be this: public prayer should be short and sweet. The long prayers are best done in privacy.

Maybe I'm just opinionated and want things my way. I truly don't mean to come across as dissing the preacher--but facts are facts and these are the facts.

Well I have until next Wednesday to make a choice as to how I will handle this situation.

Duct Tape

When my nephew was a kid and a toy broke, he always wanted the tape to tape it back together. His brother always wanted to staple his toys together.
There's a joke floating around that says anything that is broken can be fixed with duct tape or baling twine.

Today, the school my grands attend had duct tape day. It's a week long event, whereby each day they dress up in some specific style to celebrate the spirit of homecoming. Doesn't make sense to me, but it's fun to help them dress up all goofy.

I bought a roll of pink duct tape and we taped their shirts and pants, as well as their booksacks. We signed their tape and Ana, the oldest had all her friends at school, including a teacher, autograph hers. She said it was a fun day.

Tomorrow they go as the wounded--kinda the way many folks with money tied up in Wall street are feeling right now.

haircuts and Olive Garden

Saturday morning began with hair styling. I braided both girls hair in little tiny braids all over their head so when it dried and we took it down it would be wavy. First I did Ana's, then Shandi's. I also french braided their mom's hair.

Then my sis came out with her kids for me to cut 12 year old Hannah's hair. Hannah's hair was long and extremely thick and curly. I cut it in layers, and shortened it. She looked a lot better when it was finished and I believe she will take better care of her hair.

Then we watered everything. As I watered, Terry came and motioned for me to come look. Ana had fallen asleep with her head down on my desk. I figured she was emotionally worn out, having been so thoroughly disappointed by her father on Thursday, then he called on Saturday and only wished her a Happy Birthday. He didn't offer to come go out with her for her birthday meal.

After we had all gotten dressed, we gave Ana her gifts. I had gotten her a High School Musical outfit, and between her mom, two aunts and grandmother, she got 35.00. She was a happy camper then, so we loaded up and headed to Hattiesburg.

There we dined on various entree's from the menu at Olive Garden. I got chicken marsala, Ana got a combo dish with lasagna, and a couple other things. Terry got the same thing I did, Brenda got seafood pasta, Shan got pizza and Beth got some sort of stuffed chicken dish. We all enjoyed what we got, and could have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been so cold in there. Brrrr.

Then we stopped by WalMart on the way home and Ana took some of her money and bought herself a pink leapord pants and jacket. She calls it her cheetah outfit. She also spent 3 dollars on her sister a necklace, which I thought was really nice of her.

Because we deserve it

I received this from a friend of mine. I didn't write it, but I sure liked the idea behind it.Some person named Birk, supposedly thought this up.

Subject: How about this idea?

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in
a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000
bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman
and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals
$425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college - it'll be there
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehmann Brothers and every other company
that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed
Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of
trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive

that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult
U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than do the geniuses at AIG or in
Washington DC.

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Shandi Sage

The ongoing Shandi Saga continues. Today there was a note in her folder from the teacher. She refused to do any of her work, except for writing 6 of her spelling words. She claimed she had a headache, but refused to go to the office and get something for it.
I reminded her that not doing her work would cause her to fail the second grade. Failing the second grade means she wouldn't be in the same class as her best friend. I reminded her that we expect her to do the work in school as best she can.

When we took her sister and her friends to cheer practice, Shandi had to do the work she refused to do in class. As soon as I finish this, I am emailing her counselor.

Their dad called their mom today and asked if he get the girls this weekend. Stacie said no because we have plans for Ana's birthday. He said ok , tell them I love them and hung up. When Stacie told Ana, she cried and cried because he didn't say Happy Birthday or even ask if he could come eat out with us for her birthday. Shandi also cried and said she was mad with her dad.

After her bath, Ana brought a balloon in to me. On the balloon she had drawn different faces: happy face, an ok face, a sad, crying face, an upset face and an angry face. She said earlier she was sad and crying, but now she's just mad because Dad didn't say Happy Birthday or want to be with her on her birthday.

I pointed out to her that when we cry it's because we are hurt. When we are angry, it's because of what we think concerning what has happened that made us cry.
She asked for a picture of her dad so she could burn it. I promised her we would find one tomorrow. I asked if she loved her dad. She said that she loved him, but right now she was mad at him. She also wants her mom to call him tomorrow and tell him that Ana is mad at him.

Direct TV

A few weeks ago we switched from Dish Network to Direct TV because the offered more channels Terry wanted to watch than did Dish.
Fine. They came and set it up and things are just super, TV wise.

Tonight, at 8:30 my phone rings. I rush to answer it and it's Direct TV. But it's not Direct TV checking on how I like my service. It's Direct TV wanting me to upgrade to the next package which will only be a measly 12 dollars more a month.

Nah, 12 more a month for 12 months, then it goes up to the regular price.

Well, the dude did say he was with Direct. So I tell him I want to ask a question. Oh, he's not with customer service.
Oh, so you're not with Customer Service? Yet you call my home at 8:30 at night? You not only call my home at 8:30 at night but I answer the telephone and you don't have to go through hours of Voice Recognition failure before you actually get to speak to a person. Hmmm.

He replied that he didn't actually dial the number? Now what did that have to do with what I said? Did that mean he wasn't responsible for calling me at this late hour?

Who knows, but tomorrow, I will go through the long, drawn out process of getting to an actual person to voice my complaint.

Deflux/Reflux, it all runs backwards

All these years I've called Shandi's kidney problem kidney reflux. It isn't reflux, it's deflux.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Today we say Dr. Charles, a pediatrician in McComb. Wow is all I can say. We are so totally blessed, I believe.

When I called I made sure the receptionist knew why we were coming--to discus Shandi's ADD/ADHD and her medication and learning problems. She assured me there was sufficient time set aside to do all this.

Wrong! Pat, the nurse was a totally frustrated, chicken with her head cut off.
What's the problem, she asked. We start to tell her about the UTI. She cuts us off saying, "So, you're here for a follow up."
"Yes, but also to discuss her ADD/ADHD medication," her mom says.
"Did you tell them that when you made the appointment?", Pat asked.
"Yes." Stacie replied.

Hurriedly she grabs a slip a paper and makes the order for a urine sample. Shan and I head out to the lab while Stacie waits in the room. In the lab, we meet up with a very bubbly nurse, who gets us in and cheerily tells us what to do.

After waiting a bit, Shan is able to produce the required specimen. Back to the doc's office we go to wait.

Shan lays down on the exam table and closes her eyes. Doc walks in and announces that he believes we have a possum in the room. Shan doesn't blink. Looking at us, doc asks again, don't ya'll think we have a possum in the room? We agree with him and he walks over to Shan and starts to pick on her, at which point she breaks out in a giggle.

He begins to exam her all the while making noises as though he's passing gas. Shan gets tickled. Then he needs to examine her bottom, but, he warns her to not pee on him. She giggles. He pulls down her pants and as he's checking her, he makes the sound of peeing.....then he says to her, "Now sweetheart, you promised to not pee on me". She is laughing so hard she can't talk.

Then he sits down at his little deskette and says to us....."I'm concerned about these kidneys. If the balloon procedure was successful, she should have NO infections. Did they do a culture?"

I tell him I'm not sure, so he checks, returning with the news that there was no culture done. So he orders one, tells us that now they know to do a certain test at least 9 months following the procedure. He says that if the culture grows anything, then definitely we will have this test done--they insert a catheter and dye into her kidney and then they do a sonogram. Then he says even if the urine doesn't grow a culture, he would like to have one done to find out why she still has UTI's.

He asks questions about testing for dsylexia....saying the psycholigist should have done that. When I tell him that they were only in the room for less than an hour, he concludes that Jolly didn't do the dsylexia test. He asked why I changed doctors. I told him that I felt the other doctor would prescribe whatever I requested. When I told him her name, he agreed with me. I told him I wanted a doctor who was concerned, who would work with us and Shan in finding the best possible helps for her situation.
He asked about special ed and we briefly touched on that problem. He understood the hoops we jump through.

Then he said that first of all we needed to get the kidney problem cleared up. We needed to come back in 10 and he then left and went and personally made our appointment....including sufficient time to sit down and discuss Shan and what is going on with her. He told us that we would finish up his day.

God has truly blessed us, I believe with finding this doctor; actually finally listening to Sylvia's advice and making the appointment. She has encouraged us to try him for months now.

Yes, Sylvia, I hear you.

And so are the days of our lives

Tonight as I was leaving for my meeting, son texted me. Seems he was having to make some difficult choices and didn't want to hurt anyone in the process of making them.

Well, curious, I asked what kind of choices he had to make.
Seems that Paula--a girlfriend from his late teen years, and Page, his current ex-wife and the mother of his daughter both want him.
Hmm.
I talk with Paula several times a week. She says she won't put up with bull from Robby. But I know how that goes. True, Paula is much more mature and settled in what she will put up with and what she won't--but she's in the process of a divorce. Her husband was cheating on her, so she's vulnerable. Robby is good at playing on vulnerabilty.
Page--she's had at least one lover since divorcing Robby. Seems she kicked that one to the curb for cheating on her. She had sent Robby a text saying she was lonely and he could come live with her.

Well, I am powerless over his returning to Ms. I don't have to be the one to go bring him into the state though, and more specifically into our county.

I can't make his choices for him, nor do I wish to make them. I can only put it in God's hands and let God take care of it.

Shandi went to school today and managed to stay the whole day, even though she admitted to laying her head on her desk and taking a nap.
Tomorrow we go see the new pediatrician.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Well, Shan has still be sick today, running fever and laying around sleeping. Hopefully she will begin to feel better by tomorrow. I've devised a way to get her medicine down her. I mix it with strawberry figs and put it in a medicine cup. She then shoots it down like a shot of tequilla. Works for her and definitely works for me!!!!!!!!

Got Ana's computer booted up to the desktop finally. It had been giving me the 'invalid diskette' insert boot diskette/a.
Well thanks to help from a computer group, I got into the bios and disabled the floppy drive from booting. When I saved my changes and exited, it booted right up to the desktop. I restarted and she booted up again. I shut it down to hook the modem back up, and she booted again. Yah-rah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick Shandi

Now we have it. The reason for Shandi's headaches last week. She wasn't just figuring out a way to come home. She wasn't being manipulative.

The child was developing a UTI.
Friday evening late she told mom that it hurt when she urinated. Saturday, she didn't act like she felt well, even too a nap. She didn't say anything to me about the pain when urinating until later in the evening.

This morning mom brought her in around 7 running a temp of over 101. I dressed and took her to the ER in McComb. The doc decided maybe a shot of Rocephen would help knock it out, so he ordered that. After he left, I explained to Shan what was going to happen, how it would feel, but stressed that it would help her get better quicker.

Later the nurse came in to administer the shot. The nurse walked in with the needle behind her back. She backed up to the table at the foot of the bed and proceeded to explain to Shan about the shot. I grabbed an opportunity to tell the nurse that I had already prepared Shan for the shot.

Shan rolled over, the nurse prepared the spot and talked her through it. She only whimpered when the needle went in. The nurse explained that she had put some numbing medicine in it so it wouldn't hurt like it normally does. I thought that was a very nice touch. Hmm, why don't they do that for us adults?

After the nurse put the bandaid on, Shan continued to lie on the bed. As the nurse told me the instructions, what to watch for, how to take the medicine the doc prescribed orally, Shan interrupted and asked us to tell her when it was through.

We all laughed and told her the shot was long through and she could get up.

We left, ran by McDonald's and got her some breakfast, picking mom up some too as it was time for her break. Then we went to WalMart and took break with Stacie, got Shan's med filled and came home. She piled up on the couch and went to sleep.

Around 4 she got up for a sandwich and after she ate I gave her the oral antibiotic. It's a combo of sulfa-something and some other drug, and apparently is a lethal dose. The child almost threw up trying to get it down.

Why of why didn't I ask if the med came in a mild pill form? But I didn't. Apparently, or better yet hopefully, she swallowed air trying to get the dose down because she stopped and laid her hand on her heart. She says, "momo, my heart hurts". That scared me until she burped and then said she felt a bit better.

After washing the med down she laid back down and went back to sleep, so I got ready for church. Terry stayed with her until Stacie came in.

I really pray that God will heal her quickly. She doesn't usually get this sick, and it worries me.

June 19, 2008

Well got this set up and will check it out.
I really need to get back started blogging. I've been out of the loop for a while.

The girls have been staying with their mom a lot. This gives me a break, a much needed break.
I worked till 8 tonight trying to get more of my financials into the new bookkeeping program I have. Sometimes I think I like MS Accounting. Sometimes I hate it. I still think it's far better than Quick Books. Everything is integrated so that helps.

Bruce brought me 3 huge tomatos today. I won't have to worry about what's for lunch tomorrow. I will have a tomato sandwich.