Happy Father's Day Dad!

     As father's day approaches I have of course been thinking of my Dad.  Truly I think about him often, but today it has hit me really hard how much I miss him. More than anything I'm sorry that Brandon never had the opportunity to know him.   I realize that the woman I am today is in great part due to my Dad.  I am strong because he always told me I could do or be anything I wanted.  I didn't believe him then.  I didn't believe in myself.  Today I know he was right.  Today I also realize the difficulties he and my mother both had leaving everything they knew to leave communist Cuba to make a better life for themselves.  They believed in the American dream and they found it here in Virginia.
    
     Dad worked very hard in a factory as did Mom to start their family.  After 4 years of living in Virginia and working very hard I came to be.  As a child and young teen I didn't understand just how hard they worked to provide me with a sound middle class up bringing.  It's true I didn't have designer clothing, or live in an upscale neighborhood.  What I did have was food on the table, clothes, records, stereo, my own room in a very nice brick rancher in a middle class neighborhood.  I never wanted for anything that I didn't get. 

     Dad always had great expectations of me.  Sadly I don't think I met those expectations before Dad died.  He never said that of course but I never felt I lived up to what he thought I should become.  Maybe a doctor or lawyer or something like that.  I do think he would be proud to know I did finally become an RN.  I only wish I'd done it sooner so he could have been there at my graduation.  I do feel that even after his death he is still with me.  Dad and his words are still with me, "You have to do, what you have to do."  Simple words that are so very true.

     I know in my heart that Dad is looking down and smiling on me and my family.  I know one day I will be reunited with him and that gives me a great deal of comfort.  Right now, I just miss him.   I wish he were here for me to say these words to, though reality is I probably would not say them to him.  It is much easier to tell this to strangers on the world wide web that it would have been to ever say them to Dad.  Why is that?  So Dad it is here in black and white that I type these words and I pray you can read them or know that I think them.  Happy Father's Day Daddy, I love you and I miss you!

Happy and Sad

In less than one month Jackie will be moving into her first apartment with her fiance Jason.  I'm happy for them both and yet at the very same time I'm sad to see my girl go.  Jackie has been a huge help to me while I was going to school to get my RN degree.  She was a tremendous help with her brother Brandon.  The last months since my graduation and her getting her first job and getting more independence has been bitter sweet for me.

I'm happy that she is no longer afraid of the world and has in the last year gotten her driver's license, gotten a job and had Jason move in here with us.  Though I know she is ready for this next step and I truly thought I would be ready as well, I'm learning I'm much more worried about her move and her future than she is.  She will be moving to Richmond a full 1.5 hours from home.  I know that isn't so far yet it seems like a million miles away.

Shaun moved out years ago and somehow that wasn't difficult at all.  He never was a Momma's boy, he was always such an independent young man.  I'm not sure Jackie knows just how much I'm going to miss her or if she will even miss us at all.  As much as it shames me to say this, I was so happy to leave home when I did I didn't miss home, mom or dad at all.  Granted I was only a few minutes from home when Bob and I married and moved to our first apartment.  Looking back now I'm not sure how I handled the sudden change.  I'd never been away from home before and yet from the first day Bob and I began our lives together it never felt uncomfortable.  Honestly it was as if we had been living together forever.  It was the most natural experience.  I'm sure it is just like that for Jackie and Jason.  They do seem perfect for one another and I could not have picked a nicer young man for Jackie.

This change may be harder on me than anyone but I do wish them the very best and pray that God gives them the strength, knowledge and where-with-all to handle everything that comes their way. I also pray He gives me the strength to get through this change and the poise, knowledge and support that they will need from me.  Yes as I type this tears are welling up into my eyes (sniffle, sniffle)  thinking of how quickly the years have gone by and how my beautiful baby girl has grown into a beautiful young woman.

Aren't they a beautiful couple!

The above photo is one of my father with Jackie in his arms and Shaun by his side.  I can't believe how long ago that was.

And here I am with my girl.  I'm so proud of her!  Jackie, I love you more than you will ever know!  I wish you and Jason the best the world has to offer!


UPDATE:  Change in plans Jackie and Jason will continue to live here at home until they both find jobs in the Richmond area.  

whirlwind of excitement.

Pinning ceremony was the 11th and it was a fantastic night! We left the next morning for the Outer Banks and had a glorious mini-vacation to celebrate graduation.   Now my search continues for a J O B!  I'm so thankful to God for getting me through school and for my family, friends and all the experiences that have made me who I am today.  That includes all the bad things from my past, for without them I wouldn't be where I am today.  Those bad experiences which include people that pretended to be friends to my face, were placed in my life for a reason.  It wasn't fun at the time, I did indeed learn valuable lessons.  Fortunately I have not lost my trust in mankind and did find some of the best friends in nursing school, friends that I know will last a lifetime!

Whew!

Now that Christmas is behind me I can begin to breathe! We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! Though the build up to Christmas was hectic and crazy with finals, shopping, baking, and such, it has been one of the most enjoyable and peaceful years that I can recall.

I made it through the first semester of RN school! I've been blessed with the best instructors. I have a great bunch of classmates and I had the best clinical group I could have ever asked for. I've made some wonderful friends that I hope will be in my life for a very long time. Thanks to the recommendations of my instructors I will be working in the new year in a part time position working as a nursing assistant at a local hospital. This will provide me with a TON of experience. I am very excited about this new job. It will mean of course that it will be that much more difficult next semester to keep up with my studying but I am very determined and I know I can do it!

I hope each and everyone of you had a blessed Christmas! I'm looking forward to the new year and ending this year by forgiving all those that in my past I felt had wronged me in some way. I also ask that anyone that feels I may have wronged them would also forgive me. I am wiping the slate clean from this point forward! God bless you all and may 2009 bring us all peace, good health and prosperity!

After some long hard thought

And reading and answering so many emails from my readers I decided it was silly for me to abandon this blog. I never should have let a few unscrupulous people move me from my blogger home. I promise to blog in my "true to my heart style" as my long time loyal reader Victoria put it. If the truth stings then so be it. And that is all I have to say about that.

This has been a GLORIOUS summer thus far! We have spent days at the lake soaking up the sun and enjoying the cool water (in between my studies, of course!) I was taking a 5 week Microsoft class that I completed last week. I had a wonderful instructor that gave us tons of work but made the class interesting. I'd never worked in Excel before and though it was at times frustrating, I hope to use some of that knowledge in at home budgeting. I'm in the middle of my Sociology course, as a matter of fact I have to take 2 quizzes later today. This class has proven to be very enlightening though I won't bore you with any of the details. I'm hanging on to a 4.0 so far.

I must mention here about a young man that I had the privilege to meet, spc. Dean Schwartz. I had the opportunity to meet him on the day that Dean was being honored for his sacrifice for our great country. We can all take lessons from this young man. He has lost so very much and still has a wonderful outlook on life. It was a pleasure meeting him. I was so happy to present to him the Silver Star Banner and certificate on the 19th of June. He was completely surprised by the event as his mother and father had kept the night a surprise from him.
Above Dean is receiving the Golden Heart award.
Below Dean's father is presenting him with the Who's Who award. Finally here I am presenting Dean with the Silver Star Banner and Certificate.

I hope and pray the best for Dean in his future. He will be getting married next month so he has plenty of change in his near future. Below I have added some links on more about Dean.

Defense Link News
Soldier Ride (scroll down to July 3 to see Dean's picture)
America Supports You ( see Harrisonburg, VA)
Far From Virginia
It's a Long Road Back For Injured Soldier
Blogger post

The list goes on but here were just a few to give you a glimpse of the kind of man SPC Dean Schwartz is.

Christmas memories 200

Santa was sneaky! He was quiet and he stuffed things so far under the tree that when Brandon and I came down it was apparent he had visited but we couldn't tell the extent of the items. There were so many items back behind the tree that we couldn't see when we came down. It wasn't till Brandon was sitting down on the floor reaching for what he thought was the last item that he caught a glimpse of the packages still in hiding. It was like a treasure hunt! The kids were so happy and that was the biggest gift I could get! In what seemed like minutes but was more lie an hour and a half later all the gifts were opened and the only thing was to try it all out and clean up the mess. I hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Its been a hectic month here in our neck of the woods. I am sure you all know how that is. We are done with the shopping and wrapping of gifts and looking forard to Christmas eve dinner and all the excitement of Christmas day. I think we were able to find all the right gifts for those on our list. Last Saturday we went to the local tree farm and cut down a tree, all of us: Bob, Shaun, Jackie(and her nurse, Linda), Nickie, Brandon and I piled into 2 vehicles. It didn't take us long to find the perfect tree. Nickie and Brandon lined up for the required photo.

Jackie and Brandon decorated the tree this year with Nickie's supervision! They did a fine job!

Brandon decorated the Christmas village all by himself!

Bob and I presented the kids with an early Christmas gift for the entire family. I'd like to present Rikki, the newest member of our family.



Many years ago we had a ferret and I'd been saying for sometime that I wanted to get another one when we had the space. If you've never had one of these guys for a pet you have no idea how much fun they can be. They love their people and the mischief they get into is tons of fun! Rikki is showing a little more personality each day. He already seems to have a routine. Each morning either Bob or I goes down to see if he is awake and he is usually up early each morning. If I get him then I place him in the bed with Bob to wake him up. If Bob gets him he does the same to me. After a few minutes of play I take him to Brandon's room to wake him up. Rikki seems to enjoy his job and its a much nicer way to be woken up then say a buzzing alarm!

I can't wait to celebrate with my whole gang in one house. I wish you all the happiest Christmas! May the spirit of God be with you all and may you stay safe!
Love to you all!

The "inner circle" part two

find part one here.

In October of 2006 the group got together for a Halloween event at Red Hill , the home of Patrick Henry. They had fun stuff for the kids to do and treat bags at each station, not to mention a haunted hay ride. The whole gang came together from Stacy's* house as we had celebrated her oldest son's birthday party and followed one another to Red Hill to go as a group. We all stuck together and went from one activity to the next and finally went on the hay ride. After the hay ride we started making our way back to the parking lot. On the way back to our cars the group stopped near another stand and talked. Brandon wandered over to the stand and tried his hand at the fishing game. When he was done I turned to find the group had left. Brandon and I walked back to the car and found the rest of the group had left us. No goodbye, no nothing. I get to my car and find that somewhere out in the dark of Red Hill I'd lost my car keys. It was dark, people were leaving in droves and I was terrified Brandon and I would be left out there with no way to get home.

We ran to the office thankful to find some of the employees still there. I explained my predicament and asked if I could use the phone to call home. I wasn't looking forward to the phone call to Bob. It was late, I was more than an hour away from home and I knew he would already be in bed since he had to work the next day. Fortunately, he hadn't quite fallen asleep and thankfully, Linda, Nickie's nurse hadn't left yet for the night. He asked her to stay until he returned from picking me up. Linda really is a great nurse and agreed to stay. Bob and Jackie loaded up in the van to make the trek to get Brandon and I. The wonderful people at Red Hill waited in the office with us until they arrived over an hour later. Bob took my directions but in the dark got lost. Finally he found us and brought me his key to the car so I could drive it back home. It was well past midnight when we finally got home. Lets just say none of us were happy about it at all. Maybe its just me but whenever I've gone anywhere with a group I always like to know that all of the group left together. I feel responsible for them. Again I guess that is just me.

By now this group has lost most of its appeal but for Brandon's sake we attended group on occasion. Since we were still fairly new to this area and we didn't know any other children for him to play with, we continued. The only reason I did this next group event was again for Brandon. Before the Red Hill fiasco I had promised him that we would go Trick or Treating with the group. I had suggested to Brandon because of the Red Hill events that we not go trick or treating with them, but the look on his face told me we did have to at least do this one thing. I had asked the group in advance if this neighborhood that they were planning on trick or treating in had curb cut outs so that Nickie,who is in a wheelchair, could enjoy the nights events also. They assured me that it did and that they thought it was a great idea to take her too. We got there and I know you probably aren't surprised by this and in retrospect I wasn't either, they went on ahead of us. The only ones that hung back with us were Jean and her family, notice I didn't change her name in this account since I'd like her and her family to receive acknowledgment for their good deed and in later installments of this saga you will see exactly why they are integral to this story. If not for Jean and her family I'd have only bad memories of this night.

Some months later I hosted again. OK, call me stupid. At this point we have built our chicken coop and my young chickens that had just started to produce some eggs are out enjoying the longer days of spring. Everyone was admiring the coop ( the basic design of which I got from Nicole*) and the chickens. Again the moms came inside to converse, eat and drink coffee. I was pleased that a few more came this time than the last. It was just warm enough for the kids to play outside again and so they had the run of the out doors. I had no idea what a bad idea that had been.

After they left Bob and I go to lock up the chickens and in the dim light see that not all is well in the coop. Its much too dark to access the damage but I can see that eggs have been thrown about the coop and busted all over the inside walls and the fake ceramic eggs that I had just purchased to encourage my young chickens to lay eggs in the laying box and not out in the woods, had been broken as well. Let me explain that it takes a bit of force to break these eggs. They aren't as fragile as a real egg. I was heart broken. I didn't know if my chickens had been harassed in the process and you have to understand these chickens were my babies. I had raised them from day old chicks and I was concerned for their well being. I locked things up and had to wait till daylight to find out the full damage.

That night I had a restless night. I couldn't sleep thinking about how this great home school group that had such well behaved children could have caused so much damage, OK if you can't tell I'm being sarcastic. I ended up drafting an email that I had planned to send to the entire group about my disappointment when Bob came down asking me what I was up to. I explained that I was just furious and that I was emailing the group about it. He asked me to wait before I sent the email. I finished the email and left it as a draft in my account. I went up to bed and was finally able to sleep.

The next morning we went out to assess the damage. I was glad to find my chickens were no more the worse for wear and though it was a very disrespectful thing that had been done the damage wasn't as bad as I had feared. I cleaned the coop up vowed never to have the group at my house again. I never sent the drafted email just figured I'd not have much to do with the group. Later that same day I did receive a phone call from Stacy*. She told me her oldest son had confessed to her on the way home the day before and that she was punishing him by withholding allowance for a couple weeks and she promised to replace the broken eggs with eggs from her own hens. I assured her I didn't need the eggs. She put her son on the phone and had him apologize to me. This was a start though I do believe in person would have been the best option. I was very kind and told him all was fine that I commended him for confessing to his mother as I knew that was very difficult and that I'd like him to respect my property in the future. He agreed and the next time I saw him in person I again told him I was proud of him for coming forward. Stacy* then tells me that she is aware of the name of one other child involved in the destruction and that she would talk to that mother. I was very appreciative of her for this and she also assured me that if anything happened within the group not to hesitate to talk to her about it since she was the founder and she would deal with the issues. The other child it turned out was one of Nicoles* children. Yes, can you believe that? I never received even a phone call about the matter. Weeks passed before she had him say, " I'm sorry." Nothing more. What a great lesson he learned! I suppose being a lessor home school family we didn't deserve more? What the heck? Perhaps since we aren't a perfect Catholic family. We are Southern Baptists, by the way and proud of it!

By now I'm much less active in the group and only bring Brandon to play group maybe once a month. Jump ahead to fall. I receive an email from a good friend, Trish, we were part of a soldier support group some years ago and have managed to keep in touch even though both of us have left that organization. See the email below:

Subject: FW: Extreme Makeover Home Edition *** MOBCOM ALL ***
Extreme Makeover Home Edition is looking for an inspirational, heroic
family
that America can really root for in an upcoming episode. The show
suggested
a family with either the mother or father suffering from PTSD or TBI as
a
result of their service in Iraq or Afghanistan. This family has to live
in
Virginia, West Virginia or Delaware, must own a single family home that
is
visibly in need of improvement, and have children. They must be able to
show
producers how a makeover will make a huge difference in their lives.
They
will be screened by the show's producers before being picked. The show
would
like to identify candidates by early next week. If they are picked, the
show
will air early next year.

I don't know anyone that might fit the bill so I send this email to the group:

I don't know if any of you all would know of any military families that would benefit from this but if you do please forward this info. Would be great if someone, one of us knows could get the help. Lillie
Of course the email I received from Trish was attached.

Fast forward a few weeks and I attend the new co-op that the group has started and Stacy* thanks me for sending the link, and tells me that Jean had been nominated by one of the other group members. I was tickled pink! By this time Jean had already been contacted by EHM and they were in the midst of talks to interview her and her family.

When I got home I emailed Trish to let her know that someone in our group was going to be interviewed for EHM and that as soon as I knew more I'd let her know. She was so excited to know that the link was benefiting someone I knew.

The next email on the subject came from Jean:

THE TOTAL EXTREME MAKEOVER CASTING EXPERIENCE! Quintin Strack filmed from 2:30 to 9:30pm! For my community contribution (they ask for that) I said I wanted to help Joe's Occupational Therapist get the Autism therapy center that she is writing a grant for. So we were at the hospital for 2 hours filming OT Jason, OT Katie, the CEO, therapists I didn't even know, Joe having a pretend therapy session. Then we went to the land for 2 hours. Thank goodness Katie watched the boys for me at the land while he filmed me. Could not have done it without her. There he filmed me telling about our situation. I had not been out there at the land since Michael left because I knew it would be depressing. Well, it was. It looks awful. Now I know--that show is soooo staged! Everything they make you say is true, but between takes he is telling you exactly what to say and how to say it and exaggerating it greatly. And he keeps making you do retakes until you do it pathetically enough. I do not feel like I was good on camera. I feel like I rambled a lot but I guess that is what editing is for. He was so nice and enthusiastic and must be the most patient human on earth. They could not pay me enough to do that guy's job. I didn't see him eat or drink all day. I don't even know if he took a bathroom break. It was unreal. I've never seen anyone with that much energy. Not even my kids! Telling the world how pathetic we are and wallowing in self pity (which he makes you do) for 7 hours was tough. Just know if this ever airs, I'm not the big blubbering dope that it is going to look like I am. They really do push until they get you to that point. That is good television! He was here at the rental house for 2 1/2 hours. He told me he really wanted to see Michael's Civil War stuff. He said Michael should have a museum and I told him that Michael would love to. Then he told me to say this whole "build my husband a little museum on our land so we don't have to share our bedroom with his collection anymore . . ." thing. He told me to say it in a "cute" way. His idea, not mine. To me that was totally too much to ask! I was so dead tired at that point, and having worked with him all day, I knew that if I didn't say what he wanted, he would just keep doing takes until I did. If he had told me to climb out on the roof I probably would have if it would have meant no more takes. He knows what he needs on film and he pushes until he has it. I had to do my "plea" and the man went through at least 2 tapes of takes because he was not leaving until I cried for it. And for some reason I couldn't cry. I was just so tired that I was numb I think. Plus I still don't feel deserving enough at all. Anyway, finally he got me to cry like an idiot and he was happy and said that he had everything he needed. He didn't want food but I gave him a bottle of gatorade and he left for DC. We will see. At the house we had to do the shout-out thing--Hi abc we're the Lucas family . . . and Joe was not into it. When we got to the house, though, Quinton was getting some Joe footage and Joe looked right in the camera and said "Hi ABC". It was cute! Then he had him sit in the floor and show him all of his pirate toys. By the time we got here I was just saying whatever he told me. Who knows how it will be edited. I'm sure they will pick all of the parts I thought were stupid. Like when he saw some little prints I have in our living room of one of my ancestors and of a castle that belonged to another ancestor. I do some genealogy and he made me say "I'm a history buff too. . . " I felt like an idiot. Anyway, we got it all done. I'm just warning you guys that if we get chosen and it airs, it is extremely exaggerated (the truth, but just more pathetic)! It is like being in a soap opera. I totally have a different respect for actors now. We will see. I'll hear on Friday I think if we are top 5. If we don't get chosen, almost getting on Extreme Makeover is still a neat story to be able to tell people. I will let you know what happens. Thanks ladies. Thought I'd let you know we got through it. Jean
Now that is some exciting stuff! OK so now I'm thinking this is great! She's really in the running! I can't wait to hear more..... To be continued.

The "inner circle" - part one

I have bitten my tongue or slapped my hands to avoid posting anything about this subject in the past but I just can't keep quiet a moment longer. I had mentioned in the past about the home school group I was involved with and how much I appreciated them. I refrained from telling you about the horrors that I went through with the group, with the exception of a couple of the mom's, this group turned out to be a nightmare. I found the group through an online search for home school groups in my area. I found one local group that apparently didn't have much activity to the web page and the mother that started her own group sent me a message to tell me about her group. I looked it up and joined the yahoo group she had told me about.

When I first met them back in 3/06 they of course put on their best home school mom faces. They appeared genuinely interested in us when we came to the first play group and also seemed interested in Jean and her family who came for the first time on the same day. Both Jean and I have children with disabilities and they seemed interested in the challenges that those disabilities brought to our lives. Unlike most of the mom's in the group I had not been a home school mom from the start of my children's school years. Little did I know that this made me a lessor home school mom in their eyes. I know that my choosing to home school my son when I did was for reasons that I felt were best for him at the time. I'm not of the belief that home schooling is the best choice for all children, all families or that the choice to home school can't change over time. I don't feel home schooled children are better than any other children nor do I believe the opposite is true. I do believe that children that are either in public school, private school or home school still need the guidance of their parents. A public school education can be fantastic or it can be lacking but in either case with a parents involvement any deficits can be made up and for those lucky enough to have great teachers still need their parents support.

What I found almost immediately was that these mothers seemed to speak badly of parents/moms of public schooled children (PS). Heck they spoke badly of each other when ever they had the chance to do so. The sad truth is women are notorious for back stabbing. Let me assure you this isn't what I'm attempting to do here as you will see by the end of the coming posts that this is about telling the facts as I know them.

The "inner circle" is composed of 3 moms in particular. *I've changed their names to protect their identities. Nicole*, (Catholic home school mom of 6 children, yeah Catholic, but not the "perfect" Catholic that she seems to portray). I won't go into the specifics cause that would be airing dirty laundry. Stacy*, married (to a man that at least one of the mom's says is a hottie) home school mom of 2 young boys (Catholic wanna be from what I understand). Mandy*, wife and home school mom of 3 girls (not sure of her religious orientation or if she has any). I'm not giving the religious info for any reason other than giving some background of each. We are all sinners, we all fall very far from the example that was set for us by our creator and I know this includes me. This isn't a Sunday school lesson so I'll stop there. Just the facts, here. This "inner circle" keeps each other informed of the goings on of its other members. Speaking as if they are of higher power. Better than the rest if you will. The truth is they are no better than any other person in the group or on this earth. We are all equal. I learned fairly early on that I shouldn't talk about anything more than myself and my home school trials and tribulations. It wasn't long that I'd hear things that I had confided in one mom being repeated to me by another mom.

One afternoon I hosted the group at my home. The moms settled in the house for coffee, cake and other goodies set aside for all to enjoy as well as the usual conversation. Now mind you the group is pretty large and I have a modest home only about 1,800 square feet and the moms and children I numbered above were only a small part of the group. At one point Stacy* sees Bob, my husband, arrive home and he greets everyone and runs upstairs to get cleaned up. *Stacy remarks how cute he is. I thank her and tell her I thought so too. This get together went fairly uneventfully except for the mess left outside from the water balloons and plastic cups and such and the mess in Brandon's room.

A few play dates later and Stacy* mentions to me that she can't understand how I could stay married to Bob. Apparently she had a short conversation with him outside at the previous meeting at my house and he spoke to her about his wish to get out of his current profession. In that 5 minute conversation she had decided he was impossible to live with. Of course the fact that Bob isn't a drunk, abusive in anyway or the fact that he is a wonderful loving husband and father unlike her own comments about her husband made him impossible to live with. I suppose we have different ideas about what a good husband and father should be. I sat there in complete shock and though I should have said something like, "oh yeah a husband that drinks till he's drunk every night is the GOLD standard. I'm not sorry I didn't aim that high!" Instead I had no reply. Again I bit my tongue cause everything that came to mind was going to be hurtful. Believe it or not I do try not to be hurtful. Not to say that I haven't opened mouth and inserted foot on more than one occasion....
To be continued......

Thankful posts

I'm going to try to get on here and post as regularly as possible 7 things I'm thankful for in my life. I thought I'd start today by picking my daughter Jackie as the subject and pick 7 things I'm thankful for, that I fail to tell her often enough.

1. Jackie's kind heart!

2. The way she takes care of her sister Nickie.

3. I love her beautiful smile. I wish I could see it much more often.

4. Her laugh.

5. Her trust worthiness.

6. The way she is willing to be there for anyone when they need it.

7. The love she has for her family and friends!

Thanksgiving memories

Whew! It's been years since I cooked Thanksgiving dinner myself. Now I remember why! I spent hours preparing the meal. While everyone else was enjoying talking to family I was slaving over a hot stove! The funny thing is I really enjoyed it this time. You see usually I take a huge short cut and buy a Ukrops turkey dinner. You know the kind you only have to reheat. Their dinners are delicious but I was kinda tired of the same old sides and said this year I'm gonna do it the right way!
The menu was as follows:
Turkey, glazed ham, homemade stuffing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, string bean casserole, hot rolls, country ham slices, mac and cheese (brought by a friend), potato salad (my husband's specialty) and homemade gravy (made by a friend). Actually all the above was completely homemade. I did buy store bought pumpkin pies. It was all so good even if I say so myself.
It was great to see everyone. We ended up feeding 12 but had expected 18 so I had lots of extra food for everyone to take home with them. Its so difficult to get everyone together anymore. I remember in the early years when we would all gather at my grandmother in-laws (is that even a word? I dunno!) , Nana's, all hubby's siblings and their kids and his parents would meet at her house for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Now we hardly ever see them all anymore. Sometimes that isn't a bad thing. The kids are grown and spread all out and a good number of those kids now have kids of their own. Not mine, mind you... and they better not anytime soon. I've threatened them within an inch of their lives if they think of making me a grandma anytime soon. My oldest son says not to worry he isn't ready for kids yet, he's 23. My oldest daughter isn't seeing anyone yet and isn't sure when or if she wants to have kids. My youngest recently said he wants to live with us forever and if he does marry he wants her to move in with us... take into account he is 9. I'm just happy he loves us so much that he doesn't ever want to leave. I know this won't be the case in his teen years. Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

This should explain the lack of posts...

OK, any of you that have visited here with me for any length of time, know how I go through spurts of blogging. I ran across the below comic in an email and thought it should explain why this is.....




Not that most regular bloggers don't have a life... I surely don't mean that! A perfect example is MM.

The man has his hands full and still manages to blog not only frequently but in length! Though I'm typically long winded I'm not a great story teller, as you can tell. I do thank those of you that still come to see what is going on in my life!

update part 2

OK so sorry to have taken so long as Naomi pointed out to me in comments.
First and most importantly, Tia, has gotten a clean bill of health from the oncologist. So thank you all for the prayers and support!

Nickie is back to school! She isn't having any hip/leg pain and is so happy to be back! She has been asked out on a date by her classmate, Brian. He too is a special needs kid. He's so adorable and so sweet. He asked me to pick him up and take him and Nickie out on a date. I suggested a movie. So I have to contact his parents to see if they will let him go on a chaperoned date with Nickie and I. I will most certainly be blogging and taking many pics if and when this happens.

I was offered the teller job but I decided not to accept it. I feel that I will do much better in school if I can focus on that and not be concerned with a part time job. I thanked them many times for considering me for the job and I even went into the branch to talk to the head teller that interviewed me. We hit it off really well and she said she was sorry that I didn't take the job but completely understood my reasons. She said she thought I was the best person for the job and they had even offered to pay a little more than the usual start up pay and even increase the benefits package. It feels good that they wanted me so badly. I really thought being out of the real work force for 18 years would have hindered me. I see that it did not! I mean I knew it was impossible for them not to want/need me. I'm so darn lovable and all that but of course I may be a little biased.

Update on things

My aunt, Tia, had a complete mastectomy on Wed. She had at first opted for a lumpectomy but after speaking to many friends decided for the complete removal of the breast. She was in a very up beat mood and I'm sure this in and of itself was what helped her to get through the surgery so well. I saw her again 2 days after surgery and the woman was up mopping her kitchen floor. Wow! Is she ever a tough one!

Nickie has been doing well with no hip pain and the school is making accommodations for her to be able to get back to school and have a place to lie down a couple of times a day to get her off her hips and rest. We hope this will keep her from having to have any more surgery.

I'm filling out applications locally as well as trying to find some legitimate work from home. This means Brandon will have to go back to public school, he's really OK with that idea. It will also mean some added income. I've been out of the "real" work force for so many years I'm sure it won't be a simple task to re-enter. I could really use your good mojo, happy thoughts, prayers etc. I'd also love any job ideas any of you might have for someone out of the work force for 18 years.

crazy busy here!

I'm tired just thinking about all the stresses of the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago I found out that my aunt, Tia, received the results from a biopsy that came back malignant. The dreaded cancer had once again found its way back into my family. I didn't really know what to say to her except that I was so sorry to hear about the diagnosis and that I'd be there for her any way I could. I offered to go with her to see the oncologist on 9/13/07. I would have to help her interpret what he had to say. Though she's been in the states longer than my 42 years she still has a lot of difficulty with the language. She and Mom came here from Cuba together but Mom faired much better in learning the language than Tia did. So the plan was for the three of us to go together.

Nickie receives a brand new spiffy power wheelchair.. this is the first time she has ever gotten a new chair that didn't require weeks of getting used to it. She loves this one and so do the rest of us. Its capable of much faster speeds and turns on a dime. Look OUT!

Then we made it home from our vacation and I noticed Nickie was having pain in her left hip/leg. She seemed fine as long as we didn't move her, well except for the fact she was contracting the leg or guarding it. Any position change or toileting caused her to scream in agony. I thought perhaps the storm that caused our quick departure from the beach, the fact that we had to grab her up and literally had to struggle to get her into the wheelchair that was already loaded into the van, perhaps we damaged something. I thought back to our departure and subsequent night stay at the hotel in Nags Head and I realized that Nickie didn't complain at all when I moved her into the bed, positioned her and did the reverse in the morning. So I don't think that is what caused her pain. We arrived home the next day and that is when the screams of pain began. I did everything I could to make her comfortable including giving herTylenol and Motrin but none of those seemed to help. I tried heat and cold and again no relief. So after a couple days I called the orthopedist to arrange for an X-ray. I couldn't get an appointment with her regular pediatric orthopedist in Richmond so I called on a local orthopedist in Farmville.

I should have known better. The minute he saw Nickie I think he panicked. He did take an X-ray but said he could see no problems and referred us back to her pediatric orthopedist. It took a few more days to get an appointment with Dr. Sharps but he decided to also X-ray her spine. He found nothing wrong with either x_ray and decided she should have a CT scan. guess what happens next?

Yeah you got it more days pass before we get notice of the date of the CT scan. We finally get notice that they would like to see her for the CT scan on 9/11/07. Since I already know I have to go to Richmond on the 13th for the oncologist I decide to stay in Richmond at my Mom's for the duration. This means I have to make arrangements with Nickie's nurse Linda to stay with us as well. Linda is a godsend! She agrees to stay with us and this helps me out tremendously!

We go to the CT scan on Tues. We are grateful to find out that she doesn't need to be sedated. (The doctor first suspects we might need to sedate her to keep her calm and still.) Thankfully the techs and nurses decide to try it without sedation first and it was successful. The staff was fantastic and we were in and out of the lab quickly... getting the disc with the results however took much longer than the actual procedure. Finally we get the disc and I have to carry it over to Dr. Sharps for him to read it and tell us what we are to do next.

9/12/07 Nickie's birthday, she's 17 today! We celebrate by going shopping for her birthday gifts. She picks out some Game Boy games and clothing and jewelery. She takes off in her new wheelchair leaving Linda and I in the dust. Linda takes off after her in one direction and I do the same in another trying to cut her off. No such luck we both turn our perspective corners and can't find Nickie anywhere. I pop into a couple stores to see if she darted in to one but no one has seen her. Linda proceeds to go down the mall and ask if anyone has seen her.. no luck. I spot security and ask them to help us to find her. Some 15 minutes later we find Nickie is in a nearby store shopping for video games. After giving her a stern talking to I agree to purchase the game she found. This would not have happened had it not been her birthday.

48 hours and still no word so I call the office to ask when I will hear about the results of the CT scan. I was shocked to hear that I won't get an answer till sometime early next week. I'm sick that Nickie has to deal with her pain that much longer without some answer and possible relief.

9/26/07 I finally here from the orthopedist today. He has some scary news... he is seriously contemplating surgery on Nickie's hip due to the deformity she has there. His nurse Tina explains the various options. There are several different surgery options from a total hip replacement down to removal of the hip with no hardware being installed and finally a wait and see approach. I update Tina on Nickie's condition at present. She is in no real pain at this time though she has been out of school for 6 whole weeks now, which allows her to rest her hip in bed. She decides to give this information to Dr. Sharps and promises to call me with his thoughts on what is best to do.

9/28/07 I hear back from Tina and Dr. Sharps agrees with me on waiting it out. He would prefer not to do any surgery on Nickie unless it is absolutely necessary! Yee Haw! Nickie has had far too many surgeries to date and I had hoped we might avoid having any others. They will be asking the school to provide a place for Nickie to take 2, 20 minute breaks each school day to rest her hip. We hope this will provide her enough of a break from sitting in the wheelchair for hours at a time and prevent the pain from returning.

I'll update soon on my aunt's progress and with any information regarding Nickie.

Until next time.

Beach memories

OK this should have posted on 8/23/07 but didn't for some reason...I just realized it didn't...

Yes they are memories now but great ones! We left for the outer banks of NC last Wed. This was our long overdue vacation. I'm sorry to say its been over 3 years since the last one. This trip more than made up for the time in between. However I hope not to have to wait as long for the next one.

The weather was fantastic for most of our trip, with mostly sunny days in the 80's. We took a trip to Ocracoke Island. The Ferry ride over was great. Both Brandon and Nickie held up crackers to feed the seagulls. I was able to capture one picture of a gull coming down to Brandon's cracker. I think I'm putting that one on the wall.

We spent most of the day walking through the town and shopping. Both Nickie and Brandon enjoyed the stroll and the final outcome which of course was souvenir shopping. Nickie scarfed up on some wonderful beach jewelry. Brandon got some pirate stuff, can you say ARRRRRR! We ate at the Jolly Roger which is our favorite spot to eat on the island. Its an open air covered deck area at the marina. Every other year we have gone the heat made it nearly impossible to enjoy the meal... notice I said nearly. The food there is really good so not even the heat would keep us from eating there. This time though with the temperatures as they were and the constant ocean breezes it was truly divine. The Pelican pictures I posted are from the deck. It wasn't until I got home and could see the pictures up close did I notice that the Pelican had a hook stuck in him. It didn't seem to affect his flight in anyway, though. Despite the detail(when seen in full size) in that picture he truly was a good distance away from the deck so the hook would have been impossible to see with the naked eye.

We rented a 4x4 to make the drive out onto the point in Buxton. This is the only way we can get Nickie out on the sand as her wheelchair would just bog down in the sand and since even those beach wheelchairs cost a fortune this was the least expensive way to go.

Do you see any resemblence?

Thursday I had to have some work done on my van in Richmond. Mom met me and picked me up so we could have lunch with her. Jackie, Brandon and I piled into her car and decided to see if my aunt would also like to go. We swung by her house and switched cars since Tia's car is a bit larger. We decided to go to the Spinnaker's restaurant at Chesterfield Town Square. We were greeted and promptly seated. Our waiter arrived and took our drink orders while we decided what we wanted to have for lunch.

Mom made a comment to Jackie about the fact that our waiter was handsome and how she should wink at him to let him know she liked him. Well if you know Jackie you know that isn't going to happen. She is entirely too shy for that sort of thing. I hadn't really looked at him so of course I had to make sure I paid attention on his return. I don't know how I could have NOT noticed it before, because except for the difference in hair color our waiter, Brian, looked almost like my son Shaun's identical twin. Well if he actually had a twin. I had to ask Brian if he minded if I took his picture to show to Shaun and Bob. Here they both are. You tell me what you think.