Happy Monday Everyone.....

Yeah, Yeah....I know I know.....Mondays???? Happy?????

Then I will leave you with this Blog from my hometown newspaper The Palm Beach Post (I hope the link comes up!) It had me laughing as I am trying to get thru this week....Will come back to update later....Take care all....

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/tgif/content/custom/blogs/thompson/archives/001391.html


I will agree totally with number 32....AND I am proud to say that I watch "JAG!"

Harm's pretty cool if you ask me! (It's number 90 on the list)


Later guys!

From My House to Yours...........

Martha Stewart will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving. I'm telling you in advance, so don't act surprised. Since Ms. Stewart won't be coming, I've made a few small changes:

Our sidewalk will not be lined with homemade, paper bag lumieres. After a trial run, it was decided that, no matter how cleverly done, rows of flaming lunch sacks do not have the desired welcoming effect.

Once inside, our guests will note that the entry hall is not decorated with the swags of Indian corn and fall foliage I had planned to make. Instead, I've gotten the kids involved in the decorating by having them track in colorful autumn leaves from the front yard. The mud was their idea.

The dining table will not be covered with expensive linens, fancy china, or crystal goblets. If possible, we will use dishes that match and everyone will get a fork. Since this IS Thanksgiving, we will refrain from using the plastic Peter Rabbit plates and the Santa napkins from last Christmas.

Our centerpiece will not be the tower of fresh fruit and flowers that I promised. Instead we will be displaying a hedgehog-like decoration hand-crafted from the finest construction paper. The artist assures me it is a turkey.

We will be dining fashionably late. The children will entertain you while you wait. I'm sure they will be happy to share every choice comment I have made regarding Thanksgiving, pilgrims, and the turkey hotline. Please remember that most of these comments were made at 5:00 a.m. upon discovering that the turkey was still hard enough to cut diamonds.

As accompaniment to the children's recital, I will play a recording of tribal drumming. If the children should mention that I don't own a recording of tribal drumming, or that the tribal drumming sounds suspiciously like a frozen turkey in a clothes dryer, ignore them. They are lying.

We toyed with the idea of ringing a dainty silver bell to announce the start of our feast. In the end, we chose to keep our traditional method. We've also decided against a formal seating arrangement. When the smoke alarm sounds, please gather around the table and sit where you like. In the spirit of harmony, we will ask the children to sit at a separate table. In a separate room. Next door.

Now, I know you have all seen pictures of one person carving a turkey in front of a crowd of appreciative onlookers. This will not be happening at our dinner. For safety reasons, the turkey will be carved in a private ceremony. I stress "private," meaning: do not, under any circumstances, enter the kitchen to laugh at me. Do not send small, unsuspecting children to check on my progress. I have an electric knife. The turkey is unarmed. It stands to reason that I will eventually win. When I do, we will eat.

Before I forget, there is one last change. Instead of offering a choice between 12 different scrumptious desserts, we will be serving the traditional pumpkin pie, garnished with whipped cream and small fingerprints. You will still have a choice: take it or leave it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!!

Laura, Michael, Patrick and Manisa, Hayley, Wesley and Glen

Asha,Dakota,Sassy,Sky,Big Bird,Herman The Hermit Crab and Turtie the Turtle

The battles we win.......

Well Guys.....I think I finally got thru to Michael on something that he and I have been going around about.....It was hard to make him see the light but I think I finally got thru to him...Let me explain.....

You see...Mike and those boys have been thru hell and back...how? Well...When he was married to his now ex-wife...It ended badly with Scars for all...Major ones...You see...Mike's ex has mental issues...We have been told everything from Borderline Schizoprenic to Bi-polar, depression and whatnot..(We're not sure how bad or how not bad-that's really a whole nother story).While they were together...She refused to get help...(That's a very long story-Lisa, Steph and Stacy-you know what I am talking about) but she literally abused those boys...That's what I call it...I am still sure to this day there are things that Mike and I don't know about...probably never will...At any rate...She would lock them in thier bedrooms and not take care of them...Mike ran ragged trying to do everything for them...It got worse going thru the divorce because the courts refused to get her out of the house...Had to wait til it was all over and done with and let me tell you...Mike went thru 3 attorneys before he got one that would listen to him, help him get custody (and then that got screwed up in the end-but we have since fixed that issue) But he finally won custody...But unfortunatly the damage to the boys was already done...Yes we have done counceling and will probably do that again at some point...But right now the boys are doing well..having a much stabler environment than before...Like I said...there's a whole lot here that I am not writing about....

But that is not without problems...Mike's oldest boy...Wesley...will overeat..He also inhales his food..(not kidding there-he doesn't stop-he can eat a full plate of food in about 5 minutes).He is heavy and the Doctor has said that he needs to loose weight.(Aprox 25 pounds)..Okay...we could do that...He is also highly emotional and highly sensitive and yes...the kids at school are brutal to him...I cannot begin to tell you all that child has been thru..I have worked with Wesley for the past 2 years to get him to slow down...I explained that eating that fast was not good for him or his digestion...Mike and I both know that this is directly linked to what he went thru with his mom...he never knew when his next meal was coming from...So he made sure he ate as much as he could....

But that's where the battle began....You see...Mike feels a tremendous amount of guilt for what the boys have been thru...So naturally he wants to make it up to them anyway possible...I can actually understand that...but when it comes down to Food issues and Wesley...I have had it rough going trying to get Mike to understand that is the ONE area you don't compensate for...Wesley is not active by any stretch of the imagination...We literally have to force him to be outside running and riding his bike..or anything...He will sit in front of the TV and watch cartoons all day if we let him...which I don't...Hayley and Glen are forever active and burn off all that they eat...so we don't worry about them...So that made it hard as well to work something out...I push fruits and veggies on them...Mike wants to let them indulge in chips and dips, cookies and whatnot.....When he gives them Ice Cream....He will (And I am not kidding you here) give Wesley a bowl that will be enough for all three kids...That's what the issue is...He will overload Welsey on everything...Why because he can eat it...Mike had no sense of portion control...He would overload his lunches...snacks...dinner and breakfast...I always felt like the bad person to want to have him eat a healthy apple vs. that big dish of ice cream...It was finally getting to the point where Mike and I would argue about it...He would always tell me that he was not going to deny Wesley anything..

Well we finally had it out this past Saturday and I don't know if it's the way I said it to him but it finally work...What I told him was this....I didn't care WHAT he fixed for the boys...I cared how much he gave them...Wesley didn't need an fried steak and egg sandwich made with 2 fried eggs and 4 Steakums (He really didn't need the sandwich at all but that's another issue) Make Wes's sandwich with 1/2 steakum, 1 fried egg...USE Pam instead gobs of butter to fry it in...That way he wasn't being denied the sandwich but at least I cut the calories down quite a bit...I also told Mike that his guilt over what the boys had gone thru wasn't going to do Wesley any good if he kept overindulging him...I told him that while I get the sugar free Healthy Choice Ice Cream (1/2 cup is only 100 calories-and practially no fat) that did not mean to give Wesley 6 huge scoops...that was defeating the purpose....That's what I try to do...Keep those kind of items in the house...I also said that one of the things Wesley gets teased about in school is his weight...you guys all know how cruel kids can be...But you know....Wes's 10 years old...how much connection can he really make between food and weight??? Yeah...he would love to eat all the fattening foods...he loves those...but most of the time we cannot let him do that and Mike would get so pissed at me for that...I explained to Mike that while we at are age don't care what people say if we have a few extra pounds on us...but Wesley does but he really cannot comprehend all the calorie/fat information just yet and I really don't want him to have to worry about this...I am trying to enact a change without really having to involve Welsey but I couldn't do it alone...Mike needed to work with me and not against me....

Well after about an hour or so of talking...I mean REALLY talking...I finally got thru to Mike and he finally admitted that he had no clue how much Wesley needed...I said fine...He did the cooking..let me handle the portions...Wesley would always have plenty to eat...I also told Mike that we needed to get Wesley outside more...Get the Wesley and Hayley cheap tennis rackets and let them go play...The courts are right down the road from me...well within walking distance...and it doesn't matter that he doesn't know...the important thing is that he's out there running around...get him out riding his bike more...swimming...ANYTHING....to get him more active...We would also have to both let Wesley know that he really didn't have a choice...he was not staying in his room siting in front of the TV set or playing video games (He's already limited to how long he can play those)...So we shall see if this works...if not...Anyone got a 2 by 4 I can borrow????? hehehe...It's just that I love those boys so much and I see all the scars they have...Makes me want to cry most days...They have come a long way from when I first met them...they have come totally out of thier shells and blossomed in ways Mike and I didn't think they ever would...but it's these other issues that now need to be addressed...Its a very fine line that I know I have to deal with...but that's what love is all about right????


Hey guys...thanks for letting me vent.....We'll see how this all ends up!


Take care!

What????? It's Friday already?????

Where in the heck did this week go? It went somewhere I can tell you that much...Got an hour left of work...Not a whole heck of a lot to do anyhoo....

And not much to report on the homefront....Just a quiet weekend with Mike and the boys....Having Pizza and Movies tonight (after Star Trek "Enterprise" of course!!!!!) That's about all the excitment I am having for this weekend...So I shall leave you with this Joke:


GOTTA LOVE LITTLE BOYS
Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box
of Tampax and proceeded to the checkout counter.

The man at the counter asked the older boy, “Son, how old are you?”

“Eight”, the boy replied.

The man continued, “Do you know what these are used for?”

The boy replied, “Not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They are for
him. He’s my brother. He’s four. We saw on TV that if you use these
you would be able to swim and ride a bike. He can’t do either
one.”

Have a wonderful Weekend Everyone!

Happy Monday!

And we are all set to do this work thing again right???? Yeah....right....hahaha


Not much happened over the weekend....it was kinda calm....I think the only excitement came when we took the Bronco out to the J.W. Corbett Area (It's a wild life reserve..you can go camping and stuff) Mike loves to go 4 wheeling thru the marshes so we packed up to spend the day out there...We built a campfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmellows....YUM! All in all we had a good time even though we got stuck in a puddle...okay maybe not a puddle cause the back end of the Bronco filled up with water up to the back seats...But a swamp buggy happened by and helped pull us out in a jiffy...If you guys are wondering what a swamp buggy is.... just picture an Air boat without the huge fan in the back end...lifted up about 20-25 feet and has at least 6 foot tires on them...they go thru everything! It's pretty popular down here...

But at least Sunday held something interesting....Now first I must tell you that I am a huge country fan as well as rock music fan....(I personally think they go hand in hand with what's coming out of country music these days!) At any rate....I was watching CMT Insider and I caught a glimpse of the Tim Mcgraw Wardrobe malfuntion at his charity ball game...Half watching while folding clothes the next thing I saw caught my full attention...Def Leppards own Rick Allen on Stage for the concert later with Tim! OH BOY! Since I didn't hear the whole thing (Mike was talking to me at the time....yeah yeah...I should have tuned him out! hahaha) but I looked up the article on CMT online....It seems that Robert Allen (Rick's brother) is Tim Mcgraw's Tour Manager! Imagine that! I thought that was pretty cool....I didn't know that! Anyway...according to the article...the whole lineup did some Def Leppard tunes such as "PSSOM" And "Rock of Ages" Let me tell you....I would have loved to see Tim doing those tunes! But can we get Joe to do Tim song "Real Good Man?" I wish I wish I wish.....Okay Okay....back to reality! hahaha

For those that want to read the article in it's entirety....Here's the link.....If for some reason it doesn't pull up...you can go to CMT.Com and look up the article under Tim Mcgraw News....

http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1493351/11022004/mcgraw_tim.jhtml


It's called Tim Celebrates a decade of Swampstock..........Man...I wish I could have been there!


Have a really great day!

The Verdict is in on Scott Peterson.......

And the asshole was found guilty of murder in the first degree....

I am elated......now if we can only go back to the olden days and just haul him out back and have each of the family members shoot him...or string him up...or....tie a rope to each of his arms...legs...and head and then tie them to horses and have those horses run in different directions at the same time...I do believe the term is "Drawn and Quartered" Or...I could think of a hundred different deaths for him....but it won't bring back Laci or Connor...What will haunt me is that baby was about to come into this world when his life was taken...never had a friggin chance....so sad...so sad indeed.....

(But I will also hope that he gets put into a cell with a "nice" inmate and becomes his "girlfreind-with out using KY)

Sorry if this offends some people...but this whole case sickened me from the very beginning and I never doubted that he was guilty......I feel justice was somewhat served today....it will be served better if his life became forfeit as well....

For Terri and those who have lost someone dear to them....

You may wonder why I feel compelled to write this down....I keep reading Terrie's blog and hear her pain and Jude's at loosing their Mother's...Maybe what I have to say will help ease some of pain...Some may think it's silly, they may not understand or believe what I say....My Ex husband will back me up on this....He was there......he knows too....My daughter is the testament to a Mother's love that crossed boundries that death could not hold...

I lost my Mother to Ovarian Cancer on April 6th, 1971...Back then...there wasn't enough known about it to fight it....She was first diagnosed back in October...went thru Chemo and Radiation treatments...She went back in March to have her "second look" surgery and that's when they found that it had spread all over...The doctor's basically told my Father to take her home...There was nothing more to do...She deteriorated fairly quickly and passed on April 6th...I was going to turn 6 the next month in May...I know she didn't want to leave...I know how much she loved us...Growing up I felt bad that I no longer had her with me but I had memories of her....not alot but memories that kept me warm and happy at night...I still to this day have a spotted dog that she gave me as a birthday present the previous year...Oh it's missing an eye...it's battered and worn and has a lot of sewing jobs on it...but it's been with me thru my growing up, my Son's bad dreams, my daughter and now Glen holds on tight to it at night....

I missed my mother terribly growing up...I heard everything from "Well God must have had better plans for her" to "You probably don't miss her that much now do you" Oh those were the good ones...I was angry at the sheer callousness of people who knew that I was raised by my father..."He ought to marry...you need a mother...not a father" Yes...I gave most of those idiots a piece of my mind...

I also had always known that I come from an Indian lineage...My Great Great Grandfather was the Cheif of his Villiage of the Seneca indians...His wife was the medicine woman...I met some Senenca's and I will never forget what one said to me when I told them of my mother..."Do not worry little one...she is the wind that whips around you so you are enveloped in her love...She is the star in the night sky...guiding you as you make your path in this world...she will always be with you...Just as you see the stars in the sky and feel the breeze upon your face...she is with you..." I don't think anyone has ever made me feel better about it...The indians that I had met truly were wonderful and insightful people...I guess that's why I have adopted so many of their beliefs....It has stuck with me always...

When my ex-husband and I decided to have a child...it took us a year to finally get pregnant...We were elated although it was a very tough pregnancy and delivery...We knew that Hayley was going to be a girl when I was 4 months along...We had tried to figure out a way to put my mother's name Shirley into Hayley's name...We just couldn't do it...We opted to use Mom's middle name instead...So her name is Hayley Ann...Doug knew just how much I missed having Mom with me...that I had grandchildren she would never see...

Then came the morning I will never in my life forget...Hayley was 2 months old when it happened...We both were jolted away 15 minutes before Doug's alarm was to go off...We both knew to check Hayley...we said it together at the same time...I ran and looked into her crib...she was blue and not breathing...I picked her up and did mouth to mouth a few times and she woke up...and cried....and cried...and you better believe I loved to hear that sound! Doug was so shocked that he had to stay home from work...She was put on an apnea monitor that very day...She continued to have episodes until just under a year old...

But that day struck me for another reason...It was only after Hayley had started crying that I noticed the smell....I hadn't smelled that smell since Mom and I used to curl up on the floor watching cartoons together...Mom's fragrant talcum powder...She loved to use it and I loved the smell....flowery and light...She was there...At that moment I could feel her all around me...I know this..I firmly believe that...She woke us both up...She saved my daughter...Her Grandchild...She was watching...

Think of this what you will...draw you own conclusions if you want to....but this is what I believe to be true...I think even now she watches over me and my children....

Back to work we go!

Called Patrick over the weekend and gave him the list of names...he like Janelle and a few others....He said they are having such a hard time with this that they just might toss all the names into a hat and do it that way! I told him that when the right name comes up they will both know....

It was a totally wonderfully cool weekend...Got down into the 60's! I opened the screens and left them open....the breeze was something else...Mike went to do his camping thing this weekend and Hayley went to her Dad's for the weekend so it was just me and the boys...We had a good weekend together....I shoveled out their room (yes you heard me...shovel) took two huge bags of trash and then attacked my room...Washed all the bed stuff....did all the laundry...mopped and vacumned, all in all I think I threw out at least 4 or 5 bags of trash...with Mike camping for the weekend...I didn't have the normal "you're going to throw out that 1 inch peice of wire?" Yes I love him but he is the WORST packrat I have ever seen so I totally believe in out of sight out of mind....If he doesn't see it he won't miss it! hahaha...Glen is another packrat...taking right after his father....He keep everything....even if it's broken...he can use it for something don't ya know??? I had to laugh as Wesley helped me clean up the room and even went thru his stuff is record time...(he's the neat child-hates to be messy!) Glen hemmed and hawed until he finally came up to me and asked if I can do his stuff...I said fine as long as he didn't whine and cry and carry on about what got thrown out....He said he wouldn't and merrily skipped out of the room....

So I set about the task of cleaning out his toy boxes....yes toy boxes....These kids have boxes under their beds...in the closet...and whatnot....Then like I said I attacked my room....threw more stuff away....Straigthened out the closet...caught a kodak moment with our new kitten, Dakota, and Asha...found them sleeping in Asha's bed together....Truly wonderful to see!...

Oh I may have forgotten to mention Dakota....We had always been wanting to get a kitten...but were afraid cause the last kitten Mike had...Glen was very allergic too...My girlfreind Leslie (who is responsible for Mike and I getting together) told us that her cat had kittens and wanted to know if we wanted one...We were really really hesitant not knowing about Glen's allergies or not....So the 3 of us devised a plan...Leslie was going to have a family emergency and would we watch her 7 week old kitten??? We told the kids and they were estatic about it..."Baby Girl" (As Leslie called her) came on a Friday night and we stressed to the kids that we really wanted the kitten to be around Glen...so if he didn't sneeze or anything then maybe just maybe...we'd get a kitten on down the road...(We're sooo bad I know!) Mike had told us that he had stuffed up right away with the last kitten so we waited.....no sniffles....the kitten slept with Glen both nights....Nothing.....No sneezing or anything...We called Leslie on Sunday to let her know we were taking the leap and keeping the kitten...We told the kids Sunday night...OMG the shouts of sheer joy! Took us a couple of days to rename her "Dakota" (I came up with it and the kids loved it) I have to admit she is a totally cuddly kitten...thrives on attention and won Asha over really quickly....She's going to be an indoor cat totally...Right now she's in total kitten mode...feet are to be attacked when walking around at 5am getting your coffee....Asha gets whapped on the nose and woken up out of a sound sleep,when she wants to play and chase and she can get the whole house running to her when she starts crying cause she want's to be picked up and NOW!!!! hahaha....We're enjoying her immensly....I just had to laugh when Mike gave her a bath...She just sat there! Leslie had gotten her used to baths and we are going to keep them up...(Bi-weekly) but I have to admit that's the first cat I have seen that sat still for one!




Well that's my weekend in a nutshell.....I was soooo glad when Mike came home on Sunday...While I had a wonderful time with the boys....I missed him terribly! He missed me too....didn't let me go for a while...He had a good time but it wasn't the same as when he used to go 10 years ago....He didn't like going by himself...next time he wants to take the boys...I won't go cause I have seen where he camps...I need to have something a little more KOA style! I have seen pictures of another place where he has gone camping called Crystal River up by Orlando...Now I will go there....but not out in the marsh lands! Where he went is called the Corbitt Area....and that's what it is...Marsh lands...you have swamp buggy's, Monster trucks...You generally go there to hunt or fish...not to go canoeing or rafting...You don't want to go in that water! There be gator's in there! I missed him but I am glad he was able to go....When he was married he could never do those things....but that's another story and I think I need to attempt to get some work done today at the office....

Take care all!

The Naming Game........Sort of.....

Only Cause I can't give a prize out! hahahaha.....Patrick and Manisa have asked me for suggestions for the name of their baby girl.....They would love to have an irish name but if something comes along they like better then they will go with it...I thought it would be fun to get your suggestions...I will pass them onto Patrick and Manisa......the current list is like this:

Madison (My personal favorite)
Ellie
Emma
Ciara
Kelly
Meghan
Courtney
Kira

I know there are more but I think these are the most talked about....


Any thoughts girls??????

AAACCCKKK.........IT'S MONDAY ALREADY????

I guess it is.....Where did the weekend go? For me it just sped right on by me I think! hahaha....Friday night was Me and Mike's 2 year anniversary so we treated ourselves to the movies..."The Forgotten" was great! (But then I love the scary-sci fi flicks!) After the Movie, we went to Wet Willies, our favorite place for "Adult" Slurpee's...Frozen White Russian's are wonderful! Mike got up early to go to his brothers to work on his truck...but that didn't turn out the way he had planned....He needed to replace the back end axl but I guess what he needs is a whole new back end for the Truck...He's going to start pricing used ones...It's an 88 Ford Bronco so hopefully it won't be too hard to come by...he was a little bummed as he hopes it won't mess up his camping trip this weekend...He doesn't think it will...He's a pretty good judge of these things...

Saturday night we went to his brother's church for "Trunk or Treat"...About 30 people had the the back end of thier cars all made up for Halloween and kids went from truck to truck...trick or treating...They had a haunted house and other things for the kids to do...They also had the Chili Cook off and I am proud to say that while I didn't win...Mine was one of the first pot's gone! That made me feel really really good! We got home and Mike and I literally passed out in bed from exhaustion!

Got up Sunday and that's when I first noticed the pain in my knees....Babied them thru walking but the pain steady got worse...Ran up to my hip joints and down in front of my shins...UGH....So I guess walking in the morning is now out of the question...but I'll just beef up my Pilates to make up for it....Down to 12 pounds gone now so I do not want to get off track! I love walking but it's not worth the pain that I am in now...(OH is my orthopeadic Doctor going to kill me! hahahaha)

The rest of Sunday was spent shopping and arguing with my Daughter Hayley over blue jeans....What she thinks looks good and what I think look good are 2 different things.....I let her get a pair she wanted if she got a pair I wanted...UGH the joys of almost teenagers...NOT!....At any rate got that done...putzed around the house cleaning up until it was dark when we all walked around our area so the kids could trick or treat....I now have enough candy in my house to sugar shock the neighborhood and then some! LOL....But they all had a good time.....

Now I am just sitting here at work trying to make it thru the afternoon til I can go home and recooperate! Put my feet up and just chill out.....4 hours and counting!.......