I'm home from our outing again today.
Private entry with pics(!) is up.
Later days.
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Private entry with pics(!) is up.
Later days.
I had a wicked good time, posted elsewhere.
Heading out again this afternoon for more mojo fun.
Later days.
Gonna go play up in Ybor. Actually, I'm not drinking or anything like that, just going to go and get out of here.
Gonna go burn a cd in a few to listen to on the ride up.
Introduce my ride to some stuff I like.
All I've been doing for days is chilling out to music and stuff.
Life is just the same old same old here.
Comments will be off here but you know where you can say hi. Also I loaded a couple of tunes up over there too. Stuff that I just really like.
If it's not up in the next minute, it will be in a few.
Grab 'em if you want 'em.
Have a great night everyone.
Later days.
There is a private entry up for those of you not interested in filler.
In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session -- only private invitations to fifty-two attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.
The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. "I was actually stunned by what I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.
Even for scientists and doctors accustomed to confronting issues of life and death, the findings were frightening. "You can play with this all you want," Dr. Bill Weil, a consultant for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the group. The results "are statistically significant." Dr. Richard Johnston, an immunologist and pediatrician from the University of Colorado whose grandson had been born early on the morning of the meeting's first day, was even more alarmed. "My gut feeling?" he said. "Forgive this personal comment -- I do not want my grandson to get a thimerosal-containing vaccine until we know better what is going on."
But instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives at Simpsonwood spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the damaging data. According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine industry's bottom line. "We are in a bad position from the standpoint of defending any lawsuits," said Dr. Robert Brent, a pediatrician at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware. "This will be a resource to our very busy plaintiff attorneys in this country." Dr. Bob Chen, head of vaccine safety for the CDC, expressed relief that "given the sensitivity of the information, we have been able to keep it out of the hands of, let's say, less responsible hands." Dr. John Clements, vaccines advisor at the World Health Organization, declared that "perhaps this study should not have been done at all." He added that "the research results have to be handled," warning that the study "will be taken by others and will be used in other ways beyond the control of this group."
In fact, the government has proved to be far more adept at handling the damage than at protecting children's health. The CDC paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash the risks of thimerosal, ordering researchers to "rule out" the chemical's link to autism. It withheld Verstraeten's findings, even though they had been slated for immediate publication, and told other scientists that his original data had been "lost" and could not be replicated. And to thwart the Freedom of Information Act, it handed its giant database of vaccine records over to a private company, declaring it off-limits to researchers. By the time Verstraeten finally published his study in 2003, he had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline and reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal and autism.
Vaccine manufacturers had already begun to phase thimerosal out of injections given to American infants -- but they continued to sell off their mercury-based supplies of vaccines until last year. The CDC and FDA gave them a hand, buying up the tainted vaccines for export to developing countries and allowing drug companies to continue using the preservative in some American vaccines -- including several pediatric flu shots as well as tetanus boosters routinely given to eleven-year-olds.
The drug companies are also getting help from powerful lawmakers in Washington. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, has been working to immunize vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that have been filed by the parents of injured children. On five separate occasions, Frist has tried to seal all of the government's vaccine-related documents -- including the Simpsonwood transcripts -- and shield Eli Lilly, the developer of thimerosal, from subpoenas. In 2002, the day after Frist quietly slipped a rider known as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" into a homeland security bill, the company contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism. The measure was repealed by Congress in 2003 -- but earlier this year, Frist slipped another provision into an anti-terrorism bill that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders. "The lawsuits are of such magnitude that they could put vaccine producers out of business and limit our capacity to deal with a biological attack by terrorists," says Dean Rosen, health policy adviser to Frist.
Even many conservatives are shocked by the government's effort to cover up the dangers of thimerosal. Rep. Dan Burton, a Republican from Indiana, oversaw a three-year investigation of thimerosal after his grandson was diagnosed with autism. "Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines is directly related to the autism epidemic," his House Government Reform Committee concluded in its final report. "This epidemic in all probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding a lack of safety data regarding injected thimerosal, a known neurotoxin." The FDA and other public-health agencies failed to act, the committee added, out of "institutional malfeasance for self protection" and "misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry."
The story of how government health agencies colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks of thimerosal from the public is a chilling case study of institutional arrogance, power and greed. I was drawn into the controversy only reluctantly. As an attorney and environmentalist who has spent years working on issues of mercury toxicity, I frequently met mothers of autistic children who were absolutely convinced that their kids had been injured by vaccines. Privately, I was skeptical.
I doubted that autism could be blamed on a single source, and I certainly understood the government's need to reassure parents that vaccinations are safe; the eradication of deadly childhood diseases depends on it. I tended to agree with skeptics like Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California, who criticized his colleagues on the House Government Reform Committee for leaping to conclusions about autism and vaccinations. "Why should we scare people about immunization," Waxman pointed out at one hearing, "until we know the facts?"
It was only after reading the Simpsonwood transcripts, studying the leading scientific research and talking with many of the nation's pre-eminent authorities on mercury that I became convinced that the link between thimerosal and the epidemic of childhood neurological disorders is real. Five of my own children are members of the Thimerosal Generation -- those born between 1989 and 2003 -- who received heavy doses of mercury from vaccines. "The elementary grades are overwhelmed with children who have symptoms of neurological or immune-system damage," Patti White, a school nurse, told the House Government Reform Committee in 1999. "Vaccines are supposed to be making us healthier; however, in twenty-five years of nursing I have never seen so many damaged, sick kids. Something very, very wrong is happening to our children."
More than 500,000 kids currently suffer from autism, and pediatricians diagnose more than 40,000 new cases every year. The disease was unknown until 1943, when it was identified and diagnosed among eleven children born in the months after thimerosal was first added to baby vaccines in 1931.
Some skeptics dispute that the rise in autism is caused by thimerosal-tainted vaccinations. They argue that the increase is a result of better diagnosis -- a theory that seems questionable at best, given that most of the new cases of autism are clustered within a single generation of children. "If the epidemic is truly an artifact of poor diagnosis," scoffs Dr. Boyd Haley, one of the world's authorities on mercury toxicity, "then where are all the twenty-year-old autistics?" Other researchers point out that Americans are exposed to a greater cumulative "load" of mercury than ever before, from contaminated fish to dental fillings, and suggest that thimerosal in vaccines may be only part of a much larger problem. It's a concern that certainly deserves far more attention than it has received -- but it overlooks the fact that the mercury concentrations in vaccines dwarf other sources of exposure to our children.
What is most striking is the lengths to which many of the leading detectives have gone to ignore -- and cover up -- the evidence against thimerosal. From the very beginning, the scientific case against the mercury additive has been overwhelming. The preservative, which is used to stem fungi and bacterial growth in vaccines, contains ethylmercury, a potent neurotoxin. Truckloads of studies have shown that mercury tends to accumulate in the brains of primates and other animals after they are injected with vaccines -- and that the developing brains of infants are particularly susceptible. In 1977, a Russian study found that adults exposed to much lower concentrations of ethylmercury than those given to American children still suffered brain damage years later. Russia banned thimerosal from children's vaccines twenty years ago, and Denmark, Austria, Japan, Great Britain and all the Scandinavian countries have since followed suit.
"You couldn't even construct a study that shows thimerosal is safe," says Haley, who heads the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky. "It's just too darn toxic. If you inject thimerosal into an animal, its brain will sicken. If you apply it to living tissue, the cells die. If you put it in a petri dish, the culture dies. Knowing these things, it would be shocking if one could inject it into an infant without causing damage."
Internal documents reveal that Eli Lilly, which first developed thimerosal, knew from the start that its product could cause damage -- and even death -- in both animals and humans. In 1930, the company tested thimerosal by administering it to twenty-two patients with terminal meningitis, all of whom died within weeks of being injected -- a fact Lilly didn't bother to report in its study declaring thimerosal safe. In 1935, researchers at another vaccine manufacturer, Pittman-Moore, warned Lilly that its claims about thimerosal's safety "did not check with ours." Half the dogs Pittman injected with thimerosal-based vaccines became sick, leading researchers there to declare the preservative "unsatisfactory as a serum intended for use on dogs."
In the decades that followed, the evidence against thimerosal continued to mount. During the Second World War, when the Department of Defense used the preservative in vaccines on soldiers, it required Lilly to label it "poison." In 1967, a study in Applied Microbiology found that thimerosal killed mice when added to injected vaccines. Four years later, Lilly's own studies discerned that thimerosal was "toxic to tissue cells" in concentrations as low as one part per million -- 100 times weaker than the concentration in a typical vaccine. Even so, the company continued to promote thimerosal as "nontoxic" and also incorporated it into topical disinfectants. In 1977, ten babies at a Toronto hospital died when an antiseptic preserved with thimerosal was dabbed onto their umbilical cords.
In 1982, the FDA proposed a ban on over-the-counter products that contained thimerosal, and in 1991 the agency considered banning it from animal vaccines. But tragically, that same year, the CDC recommended that infants be injected with a series of mercury-laced vaccines. Newborns would be vaccinated for hepatitis B within twenty-four hours of birth, and two-month-old infants would be immunized for haemophilus influenzae B and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis.
The drug industry knew the additional vaccines posed a danger. The same year that the CDC approved the new vaccines, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccine programs, warned the company that six-month-olds who were administered the shots would suffer dangerous exposure to mercury. He recommended that thimerosal be discontinued, "especially when used on infants and children," noting that the industry knew of nontoxic alternatives. "The best way to go," he added, "is to switch to dispensing the actual vaccines without adding preservatives."
For Merck and other drug companies, however, the obstacle was money. Thimerosal enables the pharmaceutical industry to package vaccines in vials that contain multiple doses, which require additional protection because they are more easily contaminated by multiple needle entries. The larger vials cost half as much to produce as smaller, single-dose vials, making it cheaper for international agencies to distribute them to impoverished regions at risk of epidemics. Faced with this "cost consideration," Merck ignored Hilleman's warnings, and government officials continued to push more and more thimerosal-based vaccines for children. Before 1989, American preschoolers received eleven vaccinations -- for polio, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and measles-mumps-rubella. A decade later, thanks to federal recommendations, children were receiving a total of twenty-two immunizations by the time they reached first grade.
As the number of vaccines increased, the rate of autism among children exploded. During the 1990s, 40 million children were injected with thimerosal-based vaccines, receiving unprecedented levels of mercury during a period critical for brain development. Despite the well-documented dangers of thimerosal, it appears that no one bothered to add up the cumulative dose of mercury that children would receive from the mandated vaccines. "What took the FDA so long to do the calculations?" Peter Patriarca, director of viral products for the agency, asked in an e-mail to the CDC in 1999. "Why didn't CDC and the advisory bodies do these calculations when they rapidly expanded the childhood immunization schedule?"
But by that time, the damage was done. At two months, when the infant brain is still at a critical stage of development, infants routinely received three inoculations that contained a total of 62.5 micrograms of ethylmercury -- a level 99 times greater than the EPA's limit for daily exposure to methylmercury, a related neurotoxin. Although the vaccine industry insists that ethylmercury poses little danger because it breaks down rapidly and is removed by the body, several studies -- including one published in April by the National Institutes of Health -- suggest that ethylmercury is actually more toxic to developing brains and stays in the brain longer than methylmercury.
Officials responsible for childhood immunizations insist that the additional vaccines were necessary to protect infants from disease and that thimerosal is still essential in developing nations, which, they often claim, cannot afford the single-dose vials that don't require a preservative. Dr. Paul Offit, one of CDC's top vaccine advisers, told me, "I think if we really have an influenza pandemic -- and certainly we will in the next twenty years, because we always do -- there's no way on God's earth that we immunize 280 million people with single-dose vials. There has to be multidose vials."
But while public-health officials may have been well-intentioned, many of those on the CDC advisory committee who backed the additional vaccines had close ties to the industry. Dr. Sam Katz, the committee's chair, was a paid consultant for most of the major vaccine makers and was part of a team that developed the measles vaccine and brought it to licensure in 1963. Dr. Neal Halsey, another committee member, worked as a researcher for the vaccine companies and received honoraria from Abbott Labs for his research on the hepatitis B vaccine.
Indeed, in the tight circle of scientists who work on vaccines, such conflicts of interest are common. Rep. Burton says that the CDC "routinely allows scientists with blatant conflicts of interest to serve on intellectual advisory committees that make recommendations on new vaccines," even though they have "interests in the products and companies for which they are supposed to be providing unbiased oversight." The House Government Reform Committee discovered that four of the eight CDC advisers who approved guidelines for a rotavirus vaccine "had financial ties to the pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of the vaccine."
Offit, who shares a patent on one of the vaccines, acknowledged to me that he "would make money" if his vote eventually leads to a marketable product. But he dismissed my suggestion that a scientist's direct financial stake in CDC approval might bias his judgment. "It provides no conflict for me," he insists. "I have simply been informed by the process, not corrupted by it. When I sat around that table, my sole intent was trying to make recommendations that best benefited the children in this country. It's offensive to say that physicians and public-health people are in the pocket of industry and thus are making decisions that they know are unsafe for children. It's just not the way it works."
Other vaccine scientists and regulators gave me similar assurances. Like Offit, they view themselves as enlightened guardians of children's health, proud of their "partnerships" with pharmaceutical companies, immune to the seductions of personal profit, besieged by irrational activists whose anti-vaccine campaigns are endangering children's health. They are often resentful of questioning. "Science," says Offit, "is best left to scientists."
Still, some government officials were alarmed by the apparent conflicts of interest. In his e-mail to CDC administrators in 1999, Paul Patriarca of the FDA blasted federal regulators for failing to adequately scrutinize the danger posed by the added baby vaccines. "I'm not sure there will be an easy way out of the potential perception that the FDA, CDC and immunization-policy bodies may have been asleep at the switch re: thimerosal until now," Patriarca wrote. The close ties between regulatory officials and the pharmaceutical industry, he added, "will also raise questions about various advisory bodies regarding aggressive recommendations for use" of thimerosal in child vaccines.
If federal regulators and government scientists failed to grasp the potential risks of thimerosal over the years, no one could claim ignorance after the secret meeting at Simpsonwood. But rather than conduct more studies to test the link to autism and other forms of brain damage, the CDC placed politics over science. The agency turned its database on childhood vaccines -- which had been developed largely at taxpayer expense -- over to a private agency, America's Health Insurance Plans, ensuring that it could not be used for additional research. It also instructed the Institute of Medicine, an advisory organization that is part of the National Academy of Sciences, to produce a study debunking the link between thimerosal and brain disorders. The CDC "wants us to declare, well, that these things are pretty safe," Dr. Marie McCormick, who chaired the IOM's Immunization Safety Review Committee, told her fellow researchers when they first met in January 2001. "We are not ever going to come down that [autism] is a true side effect" of thimerosal exposure. According to transcripts of the meeting, the committee's chief staffer, Kathleen Stratton, predicted that the IOM would conclude that the evidence was "inadequate to accept or reject a causal relation" between thimerosal and autism. That, she added, was the result "Walt wants" -- a reference to Dr. Walter Orenstein, director of the National Immunization Program for the CDC.
For those who had devoted their lives to promoting vaccination, the revelations about thimerosal threatened to undermine everything they had worked for. "We've got a dragon by the tail here," said Dr. Michael Kaback, another committee member. "The more negative that [our] presentation is, the less likely people are to use vaccination, immunization -- and we know what the results of that will be. We are kind of caught in a trap. How we work our way out of the trap, I think is the charge."
Even in public, federal officials made it clear that their primary goal in studying thimerosal was to dispel doubts about vaccines. "Four current studies are taking place to rule out the proposed link between autism and thimerosal," Dr. Gordon Douglas, then-director of strategic planning for vaccine research at the National Institutes of Health, assured a Princeton University gathering in May 2001. "In order to undo the harmful effects of research claiming to link the [measles] vaccine to an elevated risk of autism, we need to conduct and publicize additional studies to assure parents of safety." Douglas formerly served as president of vaccinations for Merck, where he ignored warnings about thimerosal's risks.
In May of last year, the Institute of Medicine issued its final report. Its conclusion: There is no proven link between autism and thimerosal in vaccines. Rather than reviewing the large body of literature describing the toxicity of thimerosal, the report relied on four disastrously flawed epidemiological studies examining European countries, where children received much smaller doses of thimerosal than American kids. It also cited a new version of the Verstraeten study, published in the journal Pediatrics, that had been reworked to reduce the link between thimerosal and autism. The new study included children too young to have been diagnosed with autism and overlooked others who showed signs of the disease. The IOM declared the case closed and -- in a startling position for a scientific body -- recommended that no further research be conducted.
The report may have satisfied the CDC, but it convinced no one. Rep. David Weldon, a Republican physician from Florida who serves on the House Government Reform Committee, attacked the Institute of Medicine, saying it relied on a handful of studies that were "fatally flawed" by "poor design" and failed to represent "all the available scientific and medical research." CDC officials are not interested in an honest search for the truth, Weldon told me, because "an association between vaccines and autism would force them to admit that their policies irreparably damaged thousands of children. Who would want to make that conclusion about themselves?"
Under pressure from Congress and parents, the Institute of Medicine convened another panel to address continuing concerns about the Vaccine Safety Datalink Data Sharing program. In February, the new panel, composed of different scientists, criticized the way the VSD had been used in the Verstraeten study, and urged the CDC to make its vaccine database available to the public.
So far, though, only two scientists have managed to gain access. Dr. Mark Geier, president of the Genetics Center of America, and his son, David, spent a year battling to obtain the medical records from the CDC. Since August 2002, when members of Congress pressured the agency to turn over the data, the Geiers have completed six studies that demonstrate a powerful correlation between thimerosal and neurological damage in children. One study, which compares the cumulative dose of mercury received by children born between 1981 and 1985 with those born between 1990 and 1996, found a "very significant relationship" between autism and vaccines. Another study of educational performance found that kids who received higher doses of thimerosal in vaccines were nearly three times as likely to be diagnosed with autism and more than three times as likely to suffer from speech disorders and mental retardation. Another soon-to-be published study shows that autism rates are in decline following the recent elimination of thimerosal from most vaccines.
As the federal government worked to prevent scientists from studying vaccines, others have stepped in to study the link to autism. In April, reporter Dan Olmsted of UPI undertook one of the more interesting studies himself. Searching for children who had not been exposed to mercury in vaccines -- the kind of population that scientists typically use as a "control" in experiments -- Olmsted scoured the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who refuse to immunize their infants. Given the national rate of autism, Olmsted calculated that there should be 130 autistics among the Amish. He found only four. One had been exposed to high levels of mercury from a power plant. The other three -- including one child adopted from outside the Amish community -- had received their vaccines.
At the state level, many officials have also conducted in-depth reviews of thimerosal. While the Institute of Medicine was busy whitewashing the risks, the Iowa legislature was carefully combing through all of the available scientific and biological data. "After three years of review, I became convinced there was sufficient credible research to show a link between mercury and the increased incidences in autism," says state Sen. Ken Veenstra, a Republican who oversaw the investigation. "The fact that Iowa's 700 percent increase in autism began in the 1990s, right after more and more vaccines were added to the children's vaccine schedules, is solid evidence alone." Last year, Iowa became the first state to ban mercury in vaccines, followed by California. Similar bans are now under consideration in thirty-two other states.
But instead of following suit, the FDA continues to allow manufacturers to include thimerosal in scores of over-the-counter medications as well as steroids and injected collagen. Even more alarming, the government continues to ship vaccines preserved with thimerosal to developing countries -- some of which are now experiencing a sudden explosion in autism rates. In China, where the disease was virtually unknown prior to the introduction of thimerosal by U.S. drug manufacturers in 1999, news reports indicate that there are now more than 1.8 million autistics. Although reliable numbers are hard to come by, autistic disorders also appear to be soaring in India, Argentina, Nicaragua and other developing countries that are now using thimerosal-laced vaccines. The World Health Organization continues to insist thimerosal is safe, but it promises to keep the possibility that it is linked to neurological disorders "under review."
I devoted time to study this issue because I believe that this is a moral crisis that must be addressed. If, as the evidence suggests, our public-health authorities knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation of American children, their actions arguably constitute one of the biggest scandals in the annals of American medicine. "The CDC is guilty of incompetence and gross negligence," says Mark Blaxill, vice president of Safe Minds, a nonprofit organization concerned about the role of mercury in medicines. "The damage caused by vaccine exposure is massive. It's bigger than asbestos, bigger than tobacco, bigger than anything you've ever seen."
It's hard to calculate the damage to our country -- and to the international efforts to eradicate epidemic diseases -- if Third World nations come to believe that America's most heralded foreign-aid initiative is poisoning their children. It's not difficult to predict how this scenario will be interpreted by America's enemies abroad. The scientists and researchers -- many of them sincere, even idealistic -- who are participating in efforts to hide the science on thimerosal claim that they are trying to advance the lofty goal of protecting children in developing nations from disease pandemics. They are badly misguided. Their failure to come clean on thimerosal will come back horribly to haunt our country and the world's poorest populations.
NOTE: This story has been updated to correct several inaccuracies in the original, published version. As originally reported, American preschoolers received only three vaccinations before 1989, but the article failed to note that they were innoculated a total of eleven times with those vaccines, including boosters. The article also misstated the level of ethylmercury received by infants injected with all their shots by the age of six months. It was 187 micrograms - an amount forty percent, not 187 times, greater than the EPA's limit for daily exposure to methylmercury. Finally, because of an editing error, the article misstated the contents of the rotavirus vaccine approved by the CDC. It did not contain thimerosal. Salon and Rolling Stone regret the errors.
An earlier version of this story stated that the Institute of Medicine convened a second panel to review the work of the Immunization Safety Review Committee that had found no evidence of a link between thimerosal and autism. In fact, the IOM convened the second panel to address continuing concerns about the Vaccine Safety Datalink Data Sharing program, including those raised by critics of the IOM's earlier work. But the panel was not charged with reviewing the committee's findings. The story also inadvertently omitted a word and transposed two sentences in a quote by Dr. John Clements, and incorrectly stated that Dr. Sam Katz held a patent with Merck on the measles vaccine. In fact, Dr. Katz was part of a team that developed the vaccine and brought it to licensure, but he never held the patent. Salon and Rolling Stone regret the errors.
CLARIFICATION: After publication of this story, Salon and Rolling Stone corrected an error that misstated the level of ethylmercury received by infants injected with all their shots by the age of six months. It was 187 micrograms ? an amount forty percent, not 187 times, greater than the EPA's limit for daily exposure to methylmercury. At the time of the correction, we were aware that the comparison itself was flawed, but as journalists we considered it more appropriate to state the correct figure rather than replace it with another number entirely.
Since that earlier correction, however, it has become clear from responses to the article that the forty-percent number, while accurate, is misleading. It measures the total mercury load an infant received from vaccines during the first six months, calculates the daily average received based on average body weight, and then compares that number to the EPA daily limit. But infants did not receive the vaccines as a ?daily average? ? they received massive doses on a single day, through multiple shots. As the story states, these single-day doses exceeded the EPA limit by as much as 99 times. Based on the misunderstanding, and to avoid further confusion, we have amended the story to eliminate the forty-percent figure.
Correction: The story misattributed a quote to Andy Olson, former legislative counsel to Senator Bill Frist. The comment was made by Dean Rosen, health policy adviser to the senator. Rolling Stone and Salon.com regret the error.
I need to clean the house, repair the stupid network again.
It crapped out on me.
I hate that.
I need to do the dishes.
The pieces for an order finally came in so I need to do that ASAP.
Hope you all have a good one.
Later days.
Tonight sis and I went to McCurdy's Comedy Theatre for one of her friends birthdays and we saw Tony Rock, Chris Rocks little brother.
He is hysterical.
Holy shit.
What made it really hysterical is that apparently the black people in SRQ don't go to comedy clubs. Just a sea of white people as far as the eye can see and holy shit, didn't both comedians have to work a little hard. They were like scared man.
Tony comes out and says he asked the warm up guy, so, what's the crowd like and Kenny says white.
He's like no, really, happy, laughing, what are they like, he says white.
Tony looks up and looks out at the crowd and goes damn, I though that motherfucker was joking! You are white!
Aha!
Funny shit.
This drunk lady was yabbering on, I mean really drunk lady, about whether or not Sarasota has a fire department.
He did the best he could to ignore her but she was loud and proud and really wasted and finally he's like, man, common sense would tell the bitch to shut the fuck up but obviously the intravenous beer line has knocked out all common sense.
Bitch, you can get in for free for the rest of the week cuz you are one fucked up drunk bitch.
She says, So is there a fire department here?
Bwahahahah fucking hahahaha!
We went with sisters friend a few of her friends. You can get free tickets for your birthday and one of the people she invited was already wasted at 7pm when he met us at the door.
Wast-ed.
Obliviated.
He kept asking if he could get beer in there. And hitting on all of us. If he touched my hair one more time, I was gonna have to hurt him.
Yeah, it's a nightclub you drunk POS.
But we had a kick ass time and I would so love to go back and see those two guys again.
We all filled out our customer cards with birthdays and info on them and I hope I get a call telling me I have free ticks cuz that would be cool to take a bunch of friends there for a fun night.
They make killer nachos too but I couldn't eat 'em all cuz I was laughing so much.
Cool place.
But hey, if Tony is ever playing at a comedy club near you, go, you will not be disappointed.
I'll tell ya where I went and what I did when I get back.
Have fun.
Later days.
I have been on the phone or trying to fix the network all morning.
Stupid little buggers deleted the network again on their pc and so I had to rework the whole thing but now if I have to restart my pc, it says the connection will be lost. That has never ever happened before.
That sucks.
I made my calls to Miami and the doc.
Private entry is up about that.
Need to rest more.
Babysitting tonight so sis can go out.
Later days.
So I went to my sisters with the boys to watch Susan while sis took Skye to the docs and we're sitting there watching a movie and playing with Susan and this teen, about Marks age goes booking it past the house as fast as he can.
Then we see this gray dodge truck zooming after him like lightening so I go flying the hell out of the house and see these 3 teens telling me to help that kid, that he's scared and hurt and so I go chasing after him yelling at him hey kid, stop, stop, I can help you and it's his mom in the truck and she stops and yells at me to get the fuck away from her son that she can do whatever the fuck she wants to him.
I said he's hurt! He's bleeding from his chest! And she yells at me to get the fuck away from him and then she she starts yelling at him to get his ass back in the truck cuz I called the cops.
I have like rain man memory so I hollered out the license plate number and she said to go fuck myself and the kid starts getting back in the truck, he's crying, bleeding, no shoes on, he's fucking scared.
They get in the truck and take off at like 80 and Mark had already dialed 911 and so I grab the phone and yell the plate number at them and because Mark had already done an awesome job of giving them directions and shit, a deputy is already coming down the street.
I tell the dispatcher what I saw and what the 3 teens who were begging me to help him saw and she tells us the deputy will come back.
So we all hang out and wait, the boys and Susan and me and these 3 teens who are scared outta their minds. This kid was bleeding they keep repeating to me, he was running for his life away from his moms truck. When they first saw him, he was walking in the middle of a really busy street, staggering. They yelled at him, asked him if he was ok and and he says no, they saw blood and then the kid sees his moms truck coming and that's when he ran down my sisters street and they followed him, they were scared.
The deputy comes back like 20 minutes later and says it was a domestic issue.
Excuse me?
A domestic issue?
Since when does a kid running with no shoes on away from his mom become a domestic issue?
I asked him, did you look at the kid? Did you talk to him?
He says no, he talked to the mom and she said he fell off the couch and decided to go for a walk.
Um, he wasn't walking, he was running scared and he was bleeding officer.
Ma'am, he says, the mom says he's fine, fell off the couch, it's ok.
Um, how do you get a giant bloody cut on your chest from falling off a couch at 14 years old? Why was he running away from her? Why was she chasing him in the truck at 80mph down the street?
He keeps telling me it's fine, it's a domestic issue.
So sis gets home and I tell her what happened and she's like fuck that shit, call the hot line, they'll investigate it if the cops won't because they have to hand over this calls record to CPS if they get a call.
So I came home and just called the hot line and they are all WTF? Domestic issues are between spouses not moms and sons.
Took all the info and are going to look into it.
There was something seriously wrong with that kid. Like seriously fucked up about him. He was bleeding and trying to get away from her and scared. You could tell he didn't want to get back in the truck but she was yelling and bitching at him.
I will sleep better though knowing I tried to help and made that call to the hot line.
It's really gonna bug me though.
The officer never spoke to the kid, never looked at him.
Sick niece.
Possibly catch the flu while I'm there.
It's all good though.
Sick baby girl cuddles is worth it.
I missed them so much while they were away.
Later days.
*UPDATE*
Not going.
Baby girl is super sick. Boss doesn't want sis to go.
Poor baby girl. :(
I went and waited for bus 5 which is now bus 15 and ended up on a nice site seeing trip to the airport in a massive rain storm.
I was then transferred to a second bus and then downtown where I rode to the docs.
I had a fucking wonderful time. (sarcasm)
So I'm home.
No, I don't feel like actually speaking to anyone.
That's what a great time I had.
I would blow shit up if it would actually make a difference.
Started the laundry, burned something to listen to on all my bus rides into hell in the heat.
Jenni, I am totally gonna make you a copy of this one.
The shit you sent me is oh my god funny.
You're like me...lol
Just throw some shit on there and let it play.
But I burn them as mp3s so I can put like 250 songs on a disc.
I'll send it.
I got some cool stuff, some old stuff, lots of metal stuff.
Ok, need to go outside and watch the shuttle take off.
It's cool, we can see it from our house.
Later days.
This is a post for those of you who may be wondering, worried, whatever.
There is another post elsewhere.
Later days.
Yeah so it's Monday and I have work to do so I will be off and on and around sorta.
Kinda like I have been huh?
I guess I have been taking a mini-blogging vacation.
Just haven't felt like being here or doing much of anything at all really.
I have some web work and some jewelery work to take care of so I'm gonna head on out and do that.
Sis is coming home today.
Bobby is here all day.
Yay.
Not.
Later days.
My sister called me from church with our parents whom she's visiting.
She felt like sharing.
Better her than me.
Remember how I said I like to give people th benefit of the doubt and trust that some are fair minded etc?
Well, I totally had this ass pegged from day 1.
I knew what he was like.
If you're not all up kissing his ass, you can count on him to be a big fucker.
I was right.
Eat me.
Good morning.
I passed the hell out which was good because I was up all night the night before.
I guess I just needed to get out.
Mark is up getting ready to head out with George, I'm gonna do a little bit of cleaning today. Dishes, bathroom and stuff. It's a mess but I didn't really care too much.
I hope you all have a good one.
Later days.
I went out and met and hung with complete strangers off the net.
Oh the horror!
LOL!
It was way cool.
Had an awesome BBQ, good food, laughs, lots of jokes and it was very cool that people brought their kids to hang too.
And there are some other mommies who are just like me...lmao
I was like threatening the boys to be good and not be all sarcastic and snotty and no fighting and stuff and the other kids were just like mine and their moms talk to them the same way I do.
Coolness...lol
I can't wait for the next get together. I'm definitely gonna go.
Been trapped here far too long and I don't need to be anymore.
They accepted me as I am which is even cooler.
I was a bit worried that people take the written me as dead serious all the time but nope, they could tell I was not like that all the time. Just to certain people.
It was good to get out and laugh.
Later days.
I'm gonna go to a BBQ/get together with some tampa mofos.
Hope ya all have a good one, maybe I'll have pics when I get back.
Later days.
I had massive insomnia last night.
Like bad. I was up till almost 8am.
Yay.
Went to bed finally and just got up.
Might have plans later.
Dunno yet.
Tired.
But the funniest stuff happens at the late hours I tell ya.
Woke up, thought I had dreamed the whole thing. Checked my email, nope. That kid really did do that.
ha, damn funny shit.
Private entry is up.
I have been busy here so sorry for not posting.
Thank you for the kind emails and concern.
No, none of you have been banned from commenting.
I shut the comments off at night and I didn't post today (well now there's this one) and so now you can comment.
I am uber frustrated with my doctors office right now.
Actually, if there's a word higher than uber, I would use it if I knew what it was.
Things are amok and so I'll have a private entry up soon.
No more personal shit here ever again.
If you want access to the private place, you will have to email me at mysinglemomlifeATgmail.com and I may give it to you and I may not.
I will not be handing it out to first time commenters/lurkers etc.
Sorry.
Just not gonna happen.
I should start feeling better very soon though.
Thank you Laura and Sal. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
I may actually be able to function later today.
Later days.
Today is just dragging by again.
Have I told you how excited I am about back to school?
I haven't?
Shame on me.
I am *so* ready for school to start.
I simply have no time at all to myself and it's starting to wear on me.
I can't even lock myself in my room for 5 minutes without someone knocking on it.
I am tired, I am just sort of wasting away here. My brain has like melted or something.
I can barely concentrate for any length of time.
It's because of teens, yes it is.
Don't you dare tell me it's not or I will stab you with glue! I will dammit!
Yeah, what the fuck right?
Sebastian said that is like the new rule. No stabbing people with glue and I'm all how do you stab people with glue and he's like you let it all harden on the cap of the bottle and then you stab them with it.
O-k Sebastian.
No more glue for you!
I'm so bored people.
Bor-ed.
I sit through countless hours of video game sand fighting and running and screaming and I can't honestly do anything by myself or for myself and I'm half psychotic.
*Sniff* Dinners burning.
Later days.
AA batteries.
Mine just died.
I fall asleep listening to my cd player and I do this every night and I must go through at least a 1,000 batteries a month man. Shit.
This sucks.
No tunes at bedtime.
Crap.
Gonna get desperate and leave the house in the scalding sun just for batteries.
Damn.
I woke up in a fog, didn't know what day, what time it was.
I hate that.
I now know it's Thursday and time is slipping by.
Eyes on London.
Dealing with stuff.
Don't ya just love me lately?
I'm like just not in the mood for this right now.
Know what I mean?
Like I have nothing at all to say because I'm dealing with other stuff and I just have nothing to say at all.
Blank.
Later days.
Whenever Jenni and I talk we usually always end up on the subject of jewelery and last night she caught me mid cutting the band on a 14k gold ring.
I lost weight and rather than get an uncomfy ring sizer, I just cut the band with some wire cutters and elbow grease and metal filed the edges down so I wouldn't get cut.
So here are my rings Jenni.
I alternate between all of them except for a few that I wear every single day.
I wear the 7 legged spider on my right ring finger, the large purple Trilliant cut clear amethyst on my left ring finger, the Story of O ring on my left middle and then I switch out all the other rings when I feel like it.
Click for bigger:
So Bobby got one of those stupid hover discs and proceeded to throw it at the power lines.
Go ahead, guess. You'd be right.
Big boom, flash of light, hover disc fried on the front lawn. All 3 kids go running, neighbors come flying out of their houses.
Cretin.
Right:
Left:
Jupiter is in 05 Degrees Scorpio.
You love to dig deep beneath surface appearances in order to find out what is really happening. A persistent researcher, you are very interested in the psychology of any situation. You tend to become overwhelmed by the complexity of what you uncover, however, and that makes you a bit gun-shy about explaining things to others. But you must learn to try to communicate as best you can because what you know is really very valuable to others.
Saturn is in 04 Degrees Taurus.
Complete freedom of choice makes you ill at ease. You must have a firm, ordered, secure foundation in your life in order to feel comfortable. You do not adapt easily and tend to fear the new and untried. You constantly fear that you do not have enough (love, property, material things, etc.) and this makes you tend toward being selfish, withdrawn and stingy. If you try to surround yourself with supportive people in your environment, you will become more emotionally self-supporting.
Uranus is in 07 Degrees Libra.
You, as well as your entire peer group, have a very free, unstable and unconventional approach to relationships and emotional commitments. You will be attracted to experiments in marriage and shared lifestyles. Personal freedom is more important to you than entangling emotional bonds. In the realm of art and aesthetics, you are attracted to the bizarre, shocking and unusual.
Neptune is in 00 Degrees Sagittarius.
You, and your entire generation, are heavily involved in investigating and idealizing foreign and exotic intellectual systems and religious philosophies. The most extreme ideals will be pursued with gusto. You will be at the forefront of humanitarian attempts to improve the lot of those who are in need of assistance. You will be comfortable with the concept of the "global village."
Pluto is in 26 Degrees Virgo.
For your entire generation, this will be a time when profound changes in society's attitude toward work, duty and responsibility will be initiated. Radical changes in attitudes toward personal health and general nutrition will be promulgated and gain wide acceptance and practice.
N. Node is in 11 Degrees Pisces.
You're attracted to others who need your assistance. You seem to go out of your way to form relationships with those who are weak, sick, injured, addicted or troubled in some way or other. At your best you can indeed provide the relief that others need. But at times you can be victimized by those who would prey on your good nature and take advantage of you. This can lead to all sorts of negative situations -- make sure that those you assist are truly worthy of your time, energy and commitment. A little enlightened self-protectiveness on your part can make your life work much, much smoother!
(BTW, doing your chart gave me fucking chills. Your planet placement is absolutely beautiful)
Rising Sign is in 07 Degrees Capricorn
You are practical and reserved but very ambitious. An achiever and a hard worker, you respect success. Older looking and very serious as a youth, things lighten up and you relax more as you mature. You have a serious view of the world as being a difficult place to be in. Very envious of those who seem to have an easier life than you have, relaxation and play do not come easily. It is important that you had abundant parental support as a child so that you do not feel lonely and isolated as an adult. Generally, you have a good, earthy sense of humor that can carry you through when times really do get tough. You are purposeful, self-willed, industrious, realistic and responsible.
Sun is in 10 Degrees Pisces.
Extremely sensitive and emotional, you absorb the emotions of others (whether positive or negative) like a sponge. Emotionally vulnerable, you are easily upset and tend to cry readily. You are at your best when you can structure your environment in such a way that you are surrounded by positive, upbeat people. You are very helpful and understanding of the needs of others. Indeed, at times this can be a disadvantage, because you can be a sucker for anyone who needs help. Shy, dreamy, romantic in nature, you delight in retreating into your private fantasy world. Just be careful that you do not get lost in it! Trust your intuitions -- you may be quite psychic.
Moon is in 13 Degrees Sagittarius.
An idealist, you prefer the grand, the beautiful, the good and the noble. You get very disappointed when your high expectations in life are not met. Very curious by nature, you enjoy traveling and learning about other peoples and cultures. Try to avoid your tendency to ignore the small but important details of living. You are independent and free, and you want others to be that way, too. Optimistic, buoyant and cheerful, others like to have you around. You have an incessant desire to learn as much as possible about metaphysics, religion, philosophy and any other broad, deep subject. Your life tends to be punctuated by bursts of energy and frenetic activity.
Mercury is in 22 Degrees Aquarius.
You tend to be very opinionated -- you have strongly felt notions about things and are quite vocal about expressing and defending them. Yet you are also an original thinker -- you enjoy shocking others with your offbeat, original thoughts. You appreciate and need mental and intellectual stimulation. Your judgment is usually fair and impartial -- you can be a good critic because you can remain objective and unemotional about most things.
Venus is in 18 Degrees Pisces.
You have a dreamy, fanciful, romantic nature and a very creative imagination. Indeed, at times, your private fantasies are more appealing than the reality around you and it is difficult for you to leave them. You tend to be unselfish and giving in relationships and are extremely sensitive of the needs of others. Be very sure that those you help are worthy of your devotion and are not merely taking advantage of your innocence and naivete.
Mars is in 25 Degrees Aries.
You are very independent and self-assertive, and you have lots of physical energy. You are not satisfied unless you can be the first to do something. As such, you are more comfortable in leadership positions than you are as an underling. When you are challenged by anyone for anything, you delight in the competitive process and will fight long and hard for your beliefs. You are bold and courageous and often act without thinking. At times, in your zeal to get ahead, you are tactless and offensive -- learn that cooperation with others can often bring you nearer to your goals quicker because of the support you will get.
I went to have my palms read a few years ago and got thrown out of the place. Lady told me to get out of her place of business and never return. Wouldn't tell me why.
A friend who was studying palms at the time told me it's because all my lines are connected but she didn't know the meaning.
Anyone?
Yesterday just sucked.
I had teens in the house all day long so I couldn't get anything done that I wanted to.
I spent most of my day begging them to turn it down, go outside and stop fighting.
I need to get busy though.
Amy is coming by around 10:30 so I need to vac the floors bad. Been a few days and with kids in and out all day long yesterday, nothing got done at all.
I need to hop in the shower and get myself clean even though I took one last night around 10pm. I didn't bother to shave anything last night.
Must do that...lol
Have dishes to do, laundry to fold etc.
Private place is updated.
Later days.
I haven't been able to do much of anything.
Mikey slept over and they played his xbox almost all night/day now so no cleaning getting done for me.
I need to get up though and do the dishes and stuff so I can make dinner.
Still waiting on docs to call me back.
Left another message.
Starting to hate the new charge nurse with a passion.
"We'll have someone call you right back."
Uh huh.
Grr.
So I have been slow reading HP6, very slow. Haven't been up to doing much at all.
I'll get there eventually.
Ok, gotta go.
Later days.
The ac was dripping water so I went to investigate and it had dripped down on my vcr/PS table and my antenna sits there well, I got a mild zap so I went searching blingo for how to stop it and won!
I love Blingo man.
Everyones packages have been mailed out and the dishes are mostly done. The docs never called me back about stuff.
I didn't do the rugs.
Oh well.
Tired.
Later days.
Call docs about meds.
Go to post office and mail 2 things.
I need to mail Christines order out and Chelseas book.
I am sucky getting that book back to her.
Dear god.
I kept losing her address but guess where it is?
Written right inside the front cover...lol
*Doh*
Have dishes and cleaning to do too but don't know how much of it I'll get done.
Later days.
Ok, so today has been busy.
Ran to wal*mart with sis and then Publix and then she dropped us off at war of the worlds.
In the extender.
We have had a good day but I may have to go back out for a bit.
Sisters laptop took a dumper.
So later days.
I will answer all emails later tonight.
Very frightening movie.
Do not take kids who can't handle mass death and destruction and blood.
No way.
I had my 2 horror loving children on each side of me clutching for dear life.
The next thunderstorm that rolls through here should be interesting to say the least.
Tom Cruise (my most non fave actor of the moment) did an outstanding job. He played the part of shitty non-involved father to a "T".
Dakota Fanning will make a terrific grown up actress someday. She has the waterworks down baby!
The special effects were amazing. Outstanding.
Mind blowing visuals at every turn. The movie started with a quiet for like 3 seconds and then blam! The end of the world is upon your ass and heart pounding terror the whole time!
I did not like the Scientology that was thrown in at all but not many people will pick up on the Hubbardness that emanates throughout the film.
All in all a very good movie but my kids are already planning the what ifs and this could make for some fun torture when they least expect it.
after we got back from sitting and I played around on line but was bored to death so I went to bed and tossed and turned and was basically miserable most of the night so here I am, wide awake.
I have actually been up since about 4 but I just laid there with my headphones on listening to the same damn songs I play over and over because they comfort me in some strange mixture of 80's and metal and jazz way.
Don't ever let me burn a cd for you. You will wonder what the fuck I was thinking when I threw certain songs together.
I just think in terms of I love this song. I could care less about the flow or mood or theme of a cd. I just play what makes me happy.
We haven't started HP6 yet.
We went babysitting and we were so busy playing with the girls and hanging out and they came home early and then the boys left so here I am with this giant book I'm dying to dig into but a promise is a promise to read it together.
I read the first two paragraphs though. I couldn't help it.
Sebastian will kill me if I go any further.
If he doesn't want to sit down and start it at some point today though, I am just gonna tell him he can read it when I'm done because I just have to read it. Must read. Must read. Follow. Follow.
If anyone posts spoilers on their blogs, you best be doing them below the cut or I will hate you for all eternity.
Ok, time to find something to do besides stare at the big unopened book.
Later days.
Thank you so much Karri!!
Yup, that's what it is.
I had Bobby here last night and they drove me right up the fucking wall so as punishment for not listening to my pleas for peace and quite because I feel like I got hit by a truck, I'm making them mow the lawn.
Heh.
Take that you non-listening little cretins!
Today is Harry Potter and the half blood prince day.
My mailman will have a nice ice cold soda waiting for him. Maybe i should hurry up and bake some cookies.
I'm so excited for it.
We are going to read it together as a family, a couple chapters a night.
Well Sebastian and I are anyway.
Mr. I hate everything that doesn't involve me getting lots of cash and spending it on crap, has zero interest in anything family fun related.
Fine, whatever. Go sulk in your own room cuz I swear if I have to yell one more time today about fighting and name calling, I may have to kill him.
Why do teens have to be so pissy all the damn time?
Ok, need to go wash some dishes cuz I haven't done dick for housework in days. Haven't felt like it, haven't felt good, haven't wanted to do anything but lay in my bed and listen to music and sleep.
Later days.
I took yesterday off from a lot of my on line things to do some work that I needed to get done.
I had a huge order to do once all the pieces arrived and so I sat down and did that in about 6 hours. I got a few more orders in and and ordered the supplies and will work on those as soon as everything shows up and get them out.
I have grocery shopping to do today because the boys pretty much ate everything but the kitchen sink this week.
I hate shopping like this though because I see so much junk I want to have cuz I'm hungry and end up buying it and they always manage to talk me into a few extra pieces of junk too.
It sucks.
So around 11:30 we're off to do the food stocking up and hopefully they won't eat me out of house and home again.
Boys can pack it in like nobodies business man. They're like little hoovers.
I guess that's all for now.
Later days.
I am just so out of it. Too much sugar really messes me up for a few days and I get super cranky coming down.
Sorry if anyone took that last post like a personal attack on them. It was just me feeling like shit and lashing out at everything.
I am just having a few rough days here and when I get like this, I can't be what people need me to be.
I have some major issues going on of my own so it's very hard for me to feel anything for anyone else.
It doesn't stop me from listening but I can't be like my usual happy, perky, helpful self because I'm consumed with my own little world.
I'm feeling sorry for myself and I know if I were to say all of that to people I'd get back shit like, stop that kinda talk right now blah blah blah but ya know what? Sometimes I just need to feel things about myself whether anyone can understand or not.
I can't even go into specifics because some people who read this are assholes and will just make what I'm going through worse and I just want to say fuck you, go to hell, eat shit and fucking die but I can't because I have rules I have to follow if I want a positive outcome eventually.
The weather is shit so my arthritis is kicking my ass and I have other shit that urgh, just makes me so fucking mad and upset and no, I can't explain it but man, I just want my life back.
I want to be able to move forward and enjoy life and things again and I can't because shit is just so messed up and how do you even begin to tell someone all the things that are going on without them looking at you like holy fuck, what did I just get myself into.
And no, I still don't want to talk about it. I'm shutting the damn phone off because I am just a raging bitch and I can't be anything to anyone right now.
I have projects to do to make some money and those are taking priority right now. I promise, if you emailed me about something in the last week or so, I will get back to you ASAP tonight after I eat something and just chill for a bit.
I had this kid at my house almost all day who is just overly needy and bugging me for things and he drove me right up the damn wall and I finally put my foot down and threw everyone out.
Ok, I gotta go. I have stuff to do.
Later days.
I had a temper tantrum all written out but decided against it because I don't think anyone would truly understand that it's nothing personal againt anyone at all it's just me needing to be left alone.
I ate nothing but bland food all day, took a very long nap, got some soda in me and just rested as much as possible but now I have another issue come up.
I really am just sick of a whole lot of things right now.
I'm supposed to go to the docs tomorrow but now thanks to my screwy body, I'm probably going to have to reschedule which totally sucks because I had test results to get and the possibility of other tests they may have needed to do.
I'm just so frustrated right now.
I am just feeling tired and frustrated and confused and hating a lot of things that are happening.
Just when I want to get my life back on track, things with my stupid body get back at me and say oh no ya don't Kat, not now, probably not ever the way things are going.
And I'm not trying to be a total bitch or anything but I verbally do not want to talk about it by phone. I do not want to talk at all to anyone about anything.
I just want to be alone and be crabby and mopey all by myself if that's ok with everyone.
I'm just gonna go back to bed and call the docs in the morning.
Comments are off again because I just don't feel like dealing with anything right now.
Later days.
Sugar induced migraine thanks to my loving son.
Will be around after I stop feeling like hell.
I just can't have as much sugar as he put in the kool-aid.
2 cups is a wee bit much for my diabetes to handle.
I felt it coming on last night with a migraine and feelings of agitation but I didn't put it all together until this morning.
I am blurry, shaky and slurry a bit with the migraine to boot.
I am usually so good about my sugar intake. I have been managing it so well but every now and then I goof up and ask Sebastian to get me a glass of kool-aid which I rarely drink at all.
Well he made a whole new pitcher and added 2 cups of sugar to it.
I should have stopped after the first sip and realized it was too much but I was thirsty and now I'm paying for it.
So I'll be around later on when I stop shaking and stuff.
Thank god for spell check this morning though. You should see this without it..lol
Later days.
I have so much I need to be able to do so if there's something you like here, buy it...lol
Want something made? Let me know.
I will/can make just about anything.
I am going to scan and post my new stuff later all in one batch and sis brought me over an artist lamp with magnifier so I can see the smaller beads better and stuff so that was cool.
I love them going back to school man but ouch, I am freaking out the cost of supplies. I have some stuff already but high school is a whole new ball game.
I remember when all you needed was a notebook, some pens and pencils and backpack.
You should see the lists nowadays.
They will be coming this week through the mail for Sebastian and Mark brings home his full list either today or sometime this week.
So yeah, you need anything made or want to purchase a per-made one, that would be cool.
Later days.
Just 4 days this week and he is dragging his feet. I should get his supply list today and I am not happy about it at all.
He has to have a calculator that cost $100!
WTF? Is this like a computer or something? Cripes.
I have about 3 weeks to get their school supplies and everything together.
They start August 2nd. That is just far too soon man. I'm just not ready yet.
I have things to do off and on today so I'll be back and forth when I take little breaks from my to do list.
Later days.
I have just been working on some things around the house today and some jewelry and other stuff.
Took a long nap cuz I was wiped out.
Woke up and now I have this huge migraine so I'm just gonna take it easy for the night, maybe play on line, maybe not.
When you read me, do I sound like a bitch?
I mean I know I am but it's the written word and most of the time, do I sound like a complete bitch?
I'm having this issue where people are assuming I'm this big bad meanie.
I'm not.
Only when provoked and ok, lately, I have been provoked so yeah, I am very firm in what I write but nothing I am writing is capitalized or exclamated or anything like that. It's written just like this. Normal.
I was told that people have a fear of me when I write, that I come off as a total bitch know it all.
No, I don't know everything but I'm not some bubble head either.
I know how to write correctly with proper punctuation and spelling, I read and watch the news, I love books, I love movies and I am opinionated. That does not make me a know it all bitch.
I'm just well read and up to date.
But hey, whatever. I'm not going to change the way I write on line so someone else can feel better about themselves. If they perceive me as something I'm not because they are reading far too much into how I write, then that is on them, not me.
I can't do anything about how others feel.
Later days.
I am fine.
Just busy this morning.
We did not get hit at all.
That thing is so far way from Sarasota it's funny that the news has you thinking it's Tampa Bay.
If I don't post during hurricane season and you think I'm dead, check here.
SRQ is like a frigging bubble.
Ok, back to being busy.
Later days.
Man, Susan is just hilarious!
She is so full of energy. I'm whooped from playing all afternoon with her.
She makes me chase her around the house and loves to be thrown around and stuff.
Funny girl.
My Skye baby is awesome. She has this little evil dictator laugh. She folds her hands and laughs this deep hearty evil laugh. Oh my god, so funny...lol
Sis paid me and I got some more minutes for my phone just to have all the time. I have that docs appointment this Wednesday and I will be gone before Mark gets home so this way I can call him to let him know how close to home I am and stuff.
Reminds, me, need to email my mom and give her my number cuz it's free mobile to mobile and she has Cingular too but she's afraid to use all her minutes so now we can talk without worrying about it.
Ok, time to catch up with everyone, figure out dinner and all that good stuff.
For those of you wondering, Dennis flew right by us. Maybe gonna get some more wind and rain but I doubt it.
Later days.
Just imagine her being the object of your stress and use your mouse to whip her all over the place.
It'd be better if when her bones bent all backwards if you could hear them snapping and blood squirted out but this will do....lmao
It got pretty windy last night around 2am and then nothing.
This morning, the sun is out and shiny.
They said to expect more wind around 2pm.
So there ya go, todays weather...lol
Oh wait, they just issued a voluntary evacuation.
Ok, so now ya have the weather.
Going out in a bit to babysit for awhile.
Should be fun.
Not much else is going on around here yet.
I'm tired.
Later days.
The skies are dark and it sprinkled. 
Nothing much doing here right now except dinner is cooking.
Chicken cheesy stuff. It's amazing how much the kids ask for this one meal but hey, it's easy and cheap so whatever.
I messed around with the phone, it's pretty cool. It will take time to get to learn all the little things it does but one thing we must never ever do again is push that button in the middle.
No.
It dials the internet man.
Like slow dial. Sure it's only 10 cents a minute but uh, what the hell, they should warn you that just looking at ring tones, not actually downloading them is gonna cost ya.
It has free text messaging and free aol IM and free mobile to mobile but warn us on the net thing ok? Ok.
Gonna go babysit tomorrow so sis can get some much needed uninterrupted shopping done for her house.
It's very hard doing it with 2 kiddos in tow.
But I don't mind. I will have net and cable over there. Woo hoo!...lol
Ok, I guess it's time to try and catch up with everyone. I have been so busy the last few days and weeks that I have seriously been blog slacking.
Later days.
*update*
Looks like Bobby is sleeping over again.
God help me.
In bottom of 9x13 pan, place about 4-5 boneless/skinless chicken breasts whole or diced,. I do diced, it goes farther.
Cover that with 2 cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup.
Cover that with one whole package of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Cover that with one whole box of stove top stuffing.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes taking the foil off for the last 10 to brown the stuffing.
I cleaned the whole house! Woot!
Well, ok, not the whole house. I do not go in the boys room to clean. That is their nasty sty to live in.
I make them thoroughly clean it like once a month and every week do a general pick up but they had other things to do today.
They went up to my sisters house to mow her lawn and while they were there, the fed ex man came and delivered my phone.
It's been charging and now I just have to figure out how to use it...lol
Very cool looking phone!
It has internet access on it! How frigging cool is that?...lol
I just took a shower and got myself smelling better after sweating to death while cleaning but my house sure does smell nice now. I love Lysols orange scent. Yum.
Very citrusy in here.
Ok, need to go fix my hair and play with my new toy.
Later days.
I need to clean the house and get everything in order etc. There's a hurricane coming ya know...lol
Am I like the only one who gets excited about this stuff?
I'm not excited about damage I mean, I just like weather.
I like the buildup of pressure and the ominous feeling when you step outside, the wind whipping around in circles (you can actually see it) and just the feeling you get.
I need to get these boys up and stuff so I can get this house clean.
I have company coming later on and with 3 boys here last night, well you can imagine what a mess it is in here. Ugh.
Cups and soda cans everywhere, video games all over the place, socks, shoes, crud on the carpets.
Messy.
Need to start all the laundry too just in case we can't use water for a few days. I hate to be without clean clothes. I can deal without taking a shower for a few days but at least I could get into clean clothes.
Ok, need to get busy on stuff.
Later days.
You can view all pieces for sale by clicking one link in the sidebar now.
And as always, I take custom orders.
It has passed super fast, I got barely anything done, I'm feeling tired and icky.
Too many days out in the heat and sun I think combined with eating pasta last night.
I seriously think I'm starting to become allergic to pasta.
I got such a wicked headache last night after eating it and felt like I weighed 400 lbs. I still kinda feel like that but it is slowly going away.
Ok, I have much to do still. Fold the laundry, dishes, make my bed, scan a few things.
Later days.
What is up with that?
It's 11;30 and ll I've managed to get done was a shower, one load of laundry and a quick walk to the store.
Luckily Pete at the corner cashed a check for me cuz it's really hot and I didn't want to have to go all the way to Publix. It's not Puublix Jenni, Puhblix....lmao
I have some things I want to make and do today and then tomorrow I will be cleaning the house cuz Amy is stopping by with my order and to show her some cool stuff she can learn really easy for her blog. It's easier if you learn hands on I think rather than trying to teach someone by phone or email.
I have a cool little gadget thing to install for her too so she can update her schedule/calendar much easier than all that hand coding she's currently doing.
Ok, need to get a little busier than I am right now.
Have so much to do but I'm like in the insomniacs haze. That place between sleep and awake. I have been getting like no sleep for about a week now and I just keep on going and going and running myself ragged.
Later days.
Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.
As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"
"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."
Thank you Christine for the jewelry order!
I ordered all the supplies and they should be here by the weekend and I can get started on it.
It's gonna be awesome!
Want something made?
Want something I already made? Check out Katsbeadedcreations.com for ideas or to purchase something.
Contact me with any ideas you may have and we can work it all out!
Thanks again!
That free movie I ordered from Kelloggs arrived today!
Later on tonight, we'll be watching The Man in the Iron Mask
The boys haven't seen it yet and I like it so it should be a good way to pass the boredom around here tonight.
Did anyone else do the free movie from Kelloggs and if so, what'd you pick?
Man, it's really hot out there.
Gee Kat, you live in Florida, it's hot there.
Yeah, no kidding but I also live in a hurricane area and this just killed me.
I just went and checked my local news website for current temps and took todays interaction poll on TS or hurricane Dennis, whichever it's being called at this hour.
Look at these results please:
Are you prepared in case Dennis makes its way toward the Suncoast? 51.2% Yes 48.8% No
Um, we got slammed by 4 hurricanes last year and people still aren't ready for this season? Did they learn nothing last year?
Unbelievable.
Really.
It looks like only half of us are ready and no, you cannot have my cans of spaghettios when your power goes out.
I am stocked and prepared for this season. Candles, batteries, flashlights, the all useful duct tape, can opener, cards, board games etc.
Time to hang out and rest a bit before Mark gets home and we head of to do Lauras lawn.
Later days.
Ok not really thrilled about having to head out and go downtown but we're headed out soon.
Mark is off to school and Sebastian is up and getting ready to go right now.
I need to get my hair controlled and get my shoes on and then we can head out to the wretched verizon building.
Pet peeves today.
There, their, they're.
Notice.
Stupid people.
Run on sentences.
No punctuation.
Bad grammar.
IM speak. You know, 2 u etc etc. Save it for IMs people!
I may do pet peeves everyday cuz I'm really getting irritated with things and people lately.
I have found that if I just say what's bugging the crap outta me, I feel so much better about it.
My biggest irritation right now are people who say how very well educated they are and then do the crap above.
Really annoying.
Ok, I need to get ready here. Hope you all have a great one.
Later days.
I have been like non-stop busy today save for that 3 hour nap cuz I just like passed the hell out.
The heat kills me when I go out.
I have so many more ideas for stuff I want to make and post and try to sell.
Kate, Pam, and Jenni, all your items were mailed out today at 3:30pm. Jenni, I forgot the bling ring. Ooops. I was so busy trying to get everyones things out, I forgot to toss it in the envelope. But we both know that's ok cuz my box for me is still sitting at your house. (neener neener) Oh yeah, sorry I missed your call, was out sweating to death to get supplies I needed. No calls tonight. Sleep is calling me. Ok?
Karen, yours is completed and will be mailed priority in the morning cuz I have to go downtown and pay the stupid phone bill first thing in the am anyway.
Thanks for sending payment so fast! You rock girl!
Oh, sis ordered the phone, then they sent her an email with my new number. It's so stinking easy to remember. I love that.
I can hardly wait cuz with this phone, all calls to other cingular users are free! Are ya in?...lol
So when it gets here, if you're a cingular user and want to chat the night away sometime, we can swap numbers. LD on the house phone is basically off. Well the cheap plan anyway so any calls I make right now are costing me a fortune as Verizon keeps reminding me on my bills.
Eat me you lousy butt wads.
I still haven't forgiven them for my DSL fuck up back in February and March. Then they did it to sis for a whole month and a half too. They suck.
Ok, back to my creative mode. I needed a quicky break.
Later days!
There are a few new pieces for sale and many others. Just click around and find something you like!
Holy mother of god is it hot.
It says it's only 88 on wwsb.com but I seriously doubt that. 2 seconds in the great sweltering outdoors and you need another shower.
Sheesh.
So Sebastian and I headed up to the bead store and I almost had a heart attack. I bought like 12 beads/findings individually and one strand of garnets (only $4.50!) and he rings it all up and says $33.89.
$33 what!?!
I said can you check that again please, these beads are individually priced at like .10 or.25 each. The most expensive bead/finding I bought was $1.00 aside from the strand.
He redoes it and (thank god!) it was only $16.89. *phew*
I almost fainted.
I've spent bundles on beads before but I was like not ready to spend that today. I mean I had it but not for what I picked out.
So I'm gonna eat something, rehydrate myself and then get cracking on that set for Karen and then take everything to the post office for her, Kate and Pam and Jenni.
Later days.
even with his hurt toe. Thought he was gonna get out of it he did.
He hit a nail barefoot the other day and it ripped some skin off the top of his big toe.
May have to get a tetanus. Don't know. Probably should huh? It wasn't a rusty nail, just a nail.
So I wrote a note saying he may not be able to do laps due to pain cuz it does hurt and I'd hate to see it rip back open and bleed again.
I need to get up and get moving and get to the bead store for gold findings. Need a lobster claw and some gold spacer beads.
Need to come home, finish it up, box up all the orders and resizes, and mail for Jenni, go to the post office and mail them all out.
Ok, you all have a good one.
Later days.
Tomorrow and upcoming to do list if I can get up and out early enough.
Yeah, ok. Whatever.
It's just another day here for me.
I don't get all giddy for fireworks. I hate drinking beer and lighting shit off.
The kids will however have fireworks. I don't go down to the beach, I light stuff off in the driveway. We have a huge box of them (thanks sis) and so we will light them off tonight.
I've been up and out and busy all morning already.
Went to docs. Yay fun.
Completed that secret thing only to find out what a huge waste of time it all was. Private entry is up about both.
The boys are off with George right now swimming at the pool where he lives and having wings and stuff.
When they get back, there is lots to do.
The lawn and driveway need to be taken care of before tonight.
It's gross out there and no, we didn't do it.
Like my neighbors, nice people. 9 year old son is a slob though. Dirty socks and cups and toys everywhere on my side.
Not a happy woman when I go out there. It looks like redneck village and I hate that. In my 7 years at this address, I have never ever made a mess in the yard.
Can't. Stand. It.
So anyway, hope you all have a good holiday, be safe.
Later days.
Got 99% of my stuff done. Still have more to do but I need to hit the bead supply store for some gold findings. I thought I had some, I was wrong.
Got the set all laid out and then went oh yeah, these are supposed to be gold. Looked for gold, nope so bead store I will go.
Babysitting again tonight as a big thank you to sis for the cellphone. She ordered it for me. Yay! It will get here in time for my big appointment at the docs on the 13th.
Not tomorrows but tomorrows is so early and I have a ride there and back so it's all good.
I want to give a shout out to one of my sponsors, Adagio teas for the box of loose teas they sent me yesterday. I was running low so this is very cool.
Thanks Adagio!
Two bracelets down, one set to go but it's laid out ready to string and hang, all forum questions and stickys addressed, laundry washed, needs to be switched over, dishes half done, dinner thawing.
I need to get this stuff done so I can get my other stuff done which is very important. very.
Must spend time on the really important thing ASAP.
Oh, I'm getting a cellphone. Sis is getting me a pre-paid one cuz when I'm out and about in hellsville, I am always without a phone, no way to call for help or a ride or check in with the boys to let them know I'm going to be late etc.
It's really cheap from cingular wireless, the $29.99 one.
I hate being late getting back home and the boys panic so much but when riding the bus, there is no way to call and say hey, I'm gonna be this much longer.
I was like 5 hours late one day with no way to call anyone at all, there's like hardly any pay phones downtown anymore, and the kids were frantic, had called sis a bunch of times but what could she do? She had no way to reach me either.
It'll be for emergencies only. I hate phones pretty much. They kinda irritate me so emergencies only.
I'm good with a few people but man, I just shut the ringer off most days and my darling little secretaries take very good messages when I am laying down.
Ok, back to the grind.
Later days.
"Religion supports nobody. It has to be supported. It produces no wheat,
no corn; it ploughs no land; it fells no forests. It is a perpetual
mendicant. It lives on the labors of others, and then has the arrogance
to pretend that it supports the giver."
Robert G. Ingersoll
I have a lot to do today.
I have some jewelry I need to work on, some other web stuff to do, some housecleaning, some laundry, some rest.
I will be off and on I suppose.
Hope you're all enjoying your holiday safely so far.
Later days.
I have been babysitting since 7am.
Ugh. Tired.
But it was fun. My girls were good and when the two year old wasn't, I simply distracted her with other things or put her in her crib.
Went shopping for food and soda and now I'm not budging till Monday morning when I have to go to the docs. Yes, they are open half a day on the holiday.
Thank goodness to cuz this is an issue that needs to be deal with ASAP.
The boys went back with my sister to help her clean under her cupboards and play warcraft again. Like they didn't do that enough today. Sheesh.
But whatever, it's a little bit of alone time for me to catch up with everything so if you sent me an email, I am working on it. I will reply as soon as I take a shower and eat something other than junk.
My blood sugar is a little too high right now.
A bit shaky I am.
Tomorrow, I will be working on jewelery orders and getting them ready for the Tuesday mail.
Then I have more things I need to do and hopefully I will be able to whip through it all if I don't get distracted.
I have been distracted and that is not good but people have a way of pissing me off over very little things that just shouldn't matter much at all but they nag and nag and so I have to take care of it.
I am only a bitch when provoked.
Ok, gotta take care of me and then take care of emails and other things.
Later days.
I appreciate all my sponsors and enjoy working with them.
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man, it's just been one thing after another this morning.
Whew!
I have been on the phone, no problem with that, I don't mind helping folks at all.
been busy on that secret thing .
Got may mail, Kate, I got the bracelets, I will work on them Sunday and mail them out Tuesday.
Karen, i have a super cool idea for the present you asked for. I will work on that Sunday as well and mail it on Tuesday.
Pam, your winning set will be mailed out in the morning. I missed todays mail by 30 seconds. He was early!
Ok, still have lots to do and then I'm babysitting tonight for sis so she can get a break and I can play with my girls.
Hope you're all beginning your nice long weekends!
later days.
I'm terribly busy lately, I'm sorry.
Just doing a lot of different things that I need/want to do and enjoying it. To a point. Some of it is boring, some of it is making me want to rips peoples fingers off at the knuckles.
How can people be so stupid?
Oh, don't answer that, I already know how.
Do you need a new skin for your blog? Don't want to pay an arm and a leg? There's a special going on. Check it out if you're so inclined.
Later days.
