My Single Mom Life

Sebastian is doing really well in his digital design class at school, he's getting better and better at it every day it seems.
He sends me some of his projects by email while he's in class, and I reply back what I think of them.
The other day, he sent me a picture he was working on as he went, so I got to see each step of how he designs something, it was really pretty cool.

Anyway, he really wants to go to college for digital design and video game design, and he's one of 5 students being given the opportunity to be 'looked at' by a technical design school in Tampa.
At the end of every week, the students and the teacher pick the student's best project from the whole week, and they email it to the design school contact, who then sends back his opinions and critiques of each student's work.
Sebastian has been getting some really good feedback from both his teacher and the teacher at the design school, and each year a couple of scholarships are awarded to 2 students from the digital design class, so when he becomes a senior and graduates, he just might get 1 of those scholarships.
He's really excited about this whole thing, he talks about it every day practically, so I am definitely encouraging him to keep doing his best work when we talk about it and when he sends emails home from class with his projects attached.

One of the things he's also been talking about is having another computer, perhaps a netbook like this Samsung Netbook which is on sale this week for $319.95 with free shipping, but no, I can't get that one, or get one this week, but we have been talking about getting him one to bring back and forth to school.
Even though most netbooks don't have cd-rom drives from which to install the graphics programs that he uses, external disk drives are available to add on separately, and his teacher has a program that can upload the graphics programs by either USB or an SD slot.

I'm really thinking of getting him a netbook for Christmas.
He really wants one, he could really use one so that he can do his projects at school and at home.
Another reason to get him a netbook so that he can work on his projects at home, is so he wouldn't be having to take up too much computer time of the one that the teens share now.
Mark loves to play WoW on it, and he's really great at sharing the computer, he either goes and plays a video games or watches a movie while Sebastian is working on a project, having a netbook would allow the both of them to be on a computer at the same time, and Sebastian would be able to work on his stuff for as long as he wanted without feeling guilty about how much time he spends.
Right now even though the teens both share the pc time really great, Sebastian said he always feels guilty if he spends a lot of time on it when he knows that Mark wants to hop on and play.
So yeah, I'm really seriousy thinking that I'm going to buy him a netbook for Christmas.
Yeah, that would mean that I would need to get Mark something of similar value, or something that he really wants in the same price range, but it should be do-able. (keeps fingers crossed I'm not jinxing myself)
Below the cut is one of the projects that he did last week that he really likes.
I asked him to pick out which one he wanted me to put up, and he chose this one.

Posted by Kat at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In about an hour, I am heading all the way down to the city of North Port because one single pharmacy in this state has my medication in stock.
The generic version of the pain medication that is no longer being made because of the Purdue lawsuit I blogged about yesterday.
So at some point later today, my pain will be somewhat under control, I won't have to stay curled up in a ball like sitting in an egg chair anymore.
It really is amazing what removing just one medication from my usual medication regiment does to me.
The other 2 medicines just are not controlling the pain the way that all 3 of them combined do, it's really astounding me.
And it looks like rain, so that may be an indicator of why I am in so much pain without it, the rain bothers me anyway, but without that 3rd med, it's unreal how swollen my ankles and knees are, they look like I have balloons buried under the skin.
Two of my friends are giving me a ride to North Port.
I can't believe that they are the only pharmacy that has them, it's crazy.
I have called over 60 pharmacies since Tuesday, and finally found one this morning that has them.

Posted by Kat at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday was just not a good day here.
At 11:25am, one of Sebastian's teachers called me, not the house phone, but my cell phone.
The cell phone is the emergency contact number on the call list if they call the house number first and do not get an answer.
The school knows that I am usually at home 24 hours a day unless I have a doc appointment, so why she called that number I haven't a cue.
But it's what she said to me that was the problem.
She asked me where Sebastian was.

I told her he was at school, she told me that he wasn't, that he never showed up at Riverview High School at all, he was marked absent by all of his teachers for the 3 class periods that had already passed.
I told her that was impossible, he left here at 6:45am, he walks to school, he wouldn't ever skip school, that's not the kind of kid he is, he's got to be there I told her.
She kept repeating to me that he was not there, that he never arrived, her exact words to me were "Sebastian Cooper has not been on Riverview High school property at all today, he is not on property."
I started to panic, Mark was now listening to me very closely.
I asked her again where he was, how did the school misplace a student, I said that I knew they got 1,600 new students this year, but come on, how can they not know if he was there?
She repeated it again, he was not on school property at all.

I hung up on her and immediately called the school's main number and demanded them to find my son.
I explained to the poor secretary what the teacher had told me, and the secretary was baffled why such a call was made to me by a teacher.
She said that anytime the school thinks a student is missing, it is not the teacher's job to call a parent, but the administration's, she asked me what number was called, I told her my cell phone, she said that was also odd because she was looking at Sebastian's information, and it clearly stated to call the home number first.
I was really panicking now, the secretary had not confirmed if Sebastian was there, she was just talking about the teacher's actions, so I asked her if my son was there.
She said that he had indeed been marked absent by all of his class teachers that morning.
I demanded that they find him, to have security go look for him, that he had to be there, he left here at 6:45am, he just had to be there.
She told me that they would go look for him and call me back.

When Mark heard me say that, he quickly got dressed, he grabbed my other cell phone and his ID card, and said he was going to the high school to find his brother.
He tore off out of the house, he was going to either find his brother at school or on the side of the road if he had been hit.
The street he walks to school has also been under sidewalk construction, so all kinds of bad things had gone through my head, I was Twittering the events, I had to do something while I waited for the school to find my son or for Mark to find him, I was in a complete panic.

When she called me back, she said that security was still looking for him, that they were speaking to his teachers and asking them if they had seen him at all, and she wanted to ask me what clothes he was wearing, security needed a visual to search for.
I told her, khaki cargo shorts, a black t-shirt, white sneakers, he has blond shaggy hair, blue eyes, he's carrying a gray backpack.
She said that they would call me back again.
When she called me back, she told me that he was there, he was in his PSAT testing all morning like he was supposed to be doing, and that the teacher's had marked him absent incorrectly, but that they all knew that he was in testing, all of the teachers had been informed and knew about it for weeks.

She then told me that I needed to file a formal complaint against the teacher for causing me to panic, for telling me incorrect information and causing me to worry, that the teacher knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Sebastian was in PSAT testing all morning.
I told her that I wanted him to come home, that my oldest son was there, to release Sebastian to his custody and bring him home, I was too upset to just leave him there, if he was done with his testing, I wanted him home.
I had now been in a panic for about 40 minutes, my heart was racing, I was dizzy and lightheaded, nauseous, I wanted my child at home.
She said she understood completely, she's a mom to, that if a teacher had called her and said the same thing, she would also want her child at home immediately.
She reminded me to file the complaint, gave me the name and number of the person in charge at the school board to call and make the complaint to, she said she herself was upset about this, that it simply wasn't right for the teacher to make that call, not only wasn't it right, but it wasn't school protocol for a missing student.
She was going to release him to Mark who was now there, but an administrator, Dr. Moore, told her to hang up, that she wanted to speak to Sebastian, the teacher who called me, and Mark.

Dr. Moore called me a few minutes later, told me that the teacher had told her what she really said to me, that I was wrong.
She said the teacher told her that the teacher had asked me why Sebastian was absent 2 days last week, and wanted to know why.
I told Dr. Moore that was not true, that she never asked me or said anything about his absences last week, she told me point blank that he was nowhere on school property today, she did not say anything about last week, and if that's the story the teacher told Dr. Moore, she was lying because she now understood to severe gravity of what her phone call to me about him being missing, would mean to her job.
Dr. Moore told me that was not true, that I had simply misunderstood her, that the teacher did not know about PSAT testing, that none of the teachers did.
I told her that was complete bullshit, that letters were sent home to parents 2 weeks ago, that his teachers did know, the secretary had even confirmed that, all the teachers knew.
Dr. Moore said the secretary did not know what she was talking about, basically, Dr. Moore was calling the secretary a liar.
She yelled at me that I was stupid for wanting my child home.
She called me stupid.
WTF kind of administrator is this to call a parent stupid??
I was furious at this point and demanded to know her name.
She screamed into the phone "NO!" and hung up on me.

I called the cell phone that Mark had, I asked him who the administrator was who had called me, spoken to him and Sebastian, he asked Sebastian, and then told me, Dr. Moore.
I wrote the name down on the same piece of paper where I had written the name of the teacher and the school board contact name and number.
I called the secretary again to have my son released, she was very upset, she said she was yelled at for giving me any information.
I told her I was sorry about that, really sorry, but I wanted my son released to his brother immediately, and she said she had just let them leave.
I asked for her name, I told her that I would make sure that when I filed my formal complaint, that I would make sure the school board knew that she did everything she could to help me and that she was now in trouble for helping me find my son and releasing him.
She thanked me and gave me her name, she kept apologizing for what had happened, I told her that it was all ok, not her fault, that she was amazing, kept me calm, found my son, let him leave with his brother and got in trouble herself for helping me find my child.

During all of this mess, I was still waiting on my doctor to call me back with news on my medication and insurance battle, I was in pain, my heart was racing, I felt sick to my stomach over this whole ordeal.
I was on the phone with the school, my insurance company, and the doctor's office all morning, going back and forth with 3 places, my head was splitting.
I have a blood pressure monitor at home now because of my high blood pressure which I take meds for, and so after I calmed down a little bit, I took it.
Not good, not good at all.
It was 165 over 107, that is really super high if you don't know.
If I had gone to a doctor at that point, they would have immediately thought I was having a heart attack and strapped me down to a table and ran all kinds of tests like an EKG, and probably would have called for an ambulance.
I took another bp pill, and laid down on the couch and waited for my sons to come home.
When they came home, Sebastian told me that the teacher who had called me and started this whole mess, had actually told him on both Monday and Tuesday, to NOT go to any of his classes, to go to his PSAT testing, she was reminding him about the testing, so she did know where he was, she herself had reminded him about the testing, so why she called me and told me he was missing, he didn't know.

I called the school board and made the formal complaint verbally, and they are sending me forms to fill out for the written complaint.
Not only did I file against the idiot teacher, but I filed against Dr. Moore as well for her extremely inappropriate and unprofessional behavior for calling me stupid, refusing to give me her name, and hanging up on me.
Dr. Moore is the high school assistant principal.

Posted by Kat at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Last night (Tuesday night) the teens and I watched a most awesome Halloween movie!
We watched Trick 'r Treat, and it is seriously awesome!
It stars most notably, Anna Paquin of HBO's True Blood, and her Academy Award winning role in The Piano, when she was just 9 years old.

Trick 'r Treat is 5 stories interwoven into one tale that takes place on Halloween night, all on the same block in one neighborhood, and they have a special little trick or treater.
That special trick or treater is named "Sam", and he is the spirit of Halloween itself.
Sam does not like it one little bit when people do not follow the traditions of Halloween.
Don't blow out your jack o' lantern before midnight, don't mock the dead, always give out candy to children when they say trick or treat, and several other traditions or rituals of the one night of the year when the dead are said to walk to walk the earth.

There is one story that is just so beyond messed up, like whoever thought of it is just totally screwed in the head, it is quite possibly the most evil tale that I have ever heard in my entire life.
I don't want to give anything away, so let me just say that Trick 'r Treat is probably one of the best Halloween movies that I have seen in ages!
The stories are perfectly played out, the blood and gore totally adequate, and some of the tales are just fabulously beyond twisted, I loved it!
I was sitting here in my own house applauding the ends of each of the 5 stories arcs, they were that perfect!
If you love Halloween movies and like a bit of a scare, (it's not super scary at all, it's just right and totally twisted!) you need to Netflix it or get it on demand from your cable provider like now, it's really just a totally super awesome Halloween movie.

I would so totally love a little stuffed toy of Sam, he's freaking awesome!

Posted by Kat at 1:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I posted to my other blog today about Mark having his MRIs last week and getting the results of that test being a huge priority because depending on what exactly is wrong with his spine and how severe it is, it will determine how Mark proceeds with the rest of his life.
He has always wanted to be a cop, ever since he was little, but if his back is really bad, he may not be able to do that dream job of his, he may have to choose a different career path.
If his career path is completely changed by his spine, he will have to do something else, but I know that he will still want a job where he can be in charge, help people, work with people, we talked about that this afternoon, he still wants to work with people in some capacity.
He knows that he may have to totally change his career choice, and he's ok with that.
Well not totally ok, but he's slowly coming to terms with the fact that things may change for him once we get the results of his tests.
He may not be able to have such a physically demanding job, so he would have to take different classes in college, and maybe even take some online masters programs to change his path, from the comfort of our home while he gets treated for his spine issues.
He could get a masters in organizational leadership/management, and this would allow him to still work with people, he could work in development for a management position, or even do consulting work if he got a degree.
It would totally allow him to still work with people, be in charge and help people, being a project manager or doing management consultation, teaching people how to be good managers, how to show other people how to work with their employees, to get the most out of them and still keep everyone happy.
I'm sure that we've all had a job at some point in our lives where the manager or supervisor above us had absolutely zero people skills right?
I know that I have, I've had some that I thought to myself, how in the heck did this guy become a manager?
Did the regional supervisors just throw the store keys in the crowd of employees and whoever caught them, they became the manager?
As an organizational leader or manager, that person would teach other people how to be good managers, how to organize and get the most out of their work time and the people they are in charge of, to inspire people, to help build confidence and share the company's goals and focus.
All Mark has ever wanted to do is to be a police officer so he could help people, protect and serve the community, if he can't do that anymore, becoming a leader would still allow him to serve the people, to do something good in a company or community.
I am really hoping that his spine isn't so messed up that he has to let go of his dream of being a police officer, but if it is, I think becoming a leader, doing management consulting, would still allow him to do a part of his dream of helping people do their best, be their best.
People who do their best and are inspired to be their best, stay out of trouble, so in a way, he would be helping his community stay safe by keeping people happy and productive.
It's people who have lost hope, who are not happy and feel like they have to do a desperate act to survive, who commit crimes.
He would be helping people be their best and have a lot to live for.
I think that would be just as honorable of a job as an officer.
Totally different path and career, but it would still be helping the people in his community.
Make sense to you?
It makes total sense in my head and Mark's, he's the one who brought up this subject this afternoon, he wanted to talk about what else could he do to help people if he can't be a cop anymore.

Posted by Kat at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Every single time I see the commercial for Where the Wild Things Are on tv, I am completely amazed at how awesome it looks.
It looks absolutely fantastic doesn't it?!

They did a great job making the movie look like the book, the wild things are done so cool looking, they look like they could be real.
There are several scenes where Max is riding one of the wild things around, it just looks so comfy and fun, riding on a big wild animal like that, the fur/hair looks real, I love that!
When Max is riding one of them, he doesn't even need a saddle or other horse supplies to stay on, the wild things are so gentle with Max, they make sure that he doesn't fall off.
Where the Wild Things Are is one of those classic childrens books that I think every parent has read to their kids over and over, it's an amazingly simple but beautiful story.
In just 48 pages, kids are transported through their imaginations to the place where the wild things are.
The movie looks incredible, it looks just like my imagination has taken me at some point in all of the years I've read it to my sons, my nieces, and any kids that I babysat.
Every time that Sebastian sees the trailer, he gets this huge smile on his face and says that he can't wait to see it, he says that it's one of his favorite books.
Mark even said he'd like to see it, so age doesn't really matter, if the movie is as good as the book, kids and parents alike will love to see it.

Posted by Kat at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I am still battling the tail end of the flu or whatever it was that hit me last week and made me feel like crap.
I feel better now, not perfect, but at least now I can stand up without feeling nauseous and dizzy.
The past few days have just been hellish on me, the smell of what the teens were eating made me gag, finding lizard heads on the floor made me gag, cat gack on the floor made me gag, I think you get the picture, everything just made me feel like hell.

Mark has been over at his friend's house since yesterday, and he's staying there again tonight.
I really don't mind, it's nice and quiet, there's no one fighting over any video games on the pc or the Xbox 360.
As a matter of fact, the teens are chatting with each other on WoW.
It's been nice and quiet all night yesterday, and all day today, and it will be quiet all night again.
That's just what I needed, peace and quiet so that I could rest.
I need to pick up some more acne skin care stuff for the teens (both of their faces are broken out again because they ran out) when I go shopping on Thursday, or maybe after I'm done at the doc's office on Tuesday while I wait for the pharmacist to fill my prescriptions, I could just buy some there.

I have pretty much spent all of my time on the couch or my bed, but once I was good enough to sit up, I sat and watched the trailers for new movies that are coming out.
I watched the trailer for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.
Boondock Saints is one of my all time fave movies, and part 2 has the original cast which I'm happy about, it would suck if they changed actors in it.
It looks ok, I'd like to see it but no clue when or if I could go to the movies to see it, not sure how rough the chairs would be on me because I'd have to practically lay back in order to see the screen.

I am not a fan of remade films, there has been far too many of them the last few years, and now Hollywood has remade A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Sorry, but it's just not going to be the same without Robert Englund, he is Freddie in my opinion.
They are calling it "a contemporary re-imagining of the horror classic."
I dunno, I just don't know about this guy that is playing Freddie this time around.
Jackie Earle Harley is playing Freddie in this "re-imagining" of the story.
He played Rorschach in The Watchmen, he did a good job, but I just don't see him as Freddie, not even while watching the trailer, he just doesn't look like Freddie.
Maybe they got a sucky make-up artist.
*sigh*
I'll be back, off and on when I feel even better.
I think I'm gonna go read updated blogs now.
Later days.

Posted by Kat at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our story is still being talked about, people want to hear more, know more, so many shows and magazines wanting to interview us, it's like wow.
We are in this weeks issue of In Touch Weekly magazine, it's dated October 12, 2009, we are on pages 74-75.
This is the cover if you want to flip through the magazine while in the checkout line. ha ha
I actually went up to 7eleven and bought the issue so I could have it as a memento.
I was told that we're going to be in this week's People magazine, it comes out on Friday, and when that issue of People comes out, I'll buy that one too.

My friend Christie is the one who told me about In Touch Weekly, she posted it to the forums we chat on, she said that it made her grandma who is in hospice care now, smile the biggest smile, that our story is touching people.
It must be, other shows want us to come on their shows.
The one that I think we've all agreed to do is the Tyra Banks show, we just have to work out 1 small scheduling conflict.
I've sent the Twitter contact for her show a message asking him to call me so we can work the schedule out.
Yes, the scheduling conflict is my fault.
They want to fly us out to NYC on Tuesday morning, do the show taping on Wednesday morning, and fly home Wednesday night, but I can't do that because I have my monthly pain doc appointment on Tuesday at 11am.
I cannot cancel or reschedule that appointment, it is set by the laws, you can only see your pain doc once per month, once every 30 days, so yeah, I cannot reschedule it, and I definitely cannot cancel it or I won't be able to even get on a plane, I'll be in too much pain to get out of bed even.
So yeah, I hope that the Tyra show can reschedule us, like I can fly out on Wednesday morning, but not Tuesday morning.
I am hoping that they will reschedule us, my brothers and sister want to do her show, so I don't want to be the one who messes it up and we can't do it, so keep your fingers crossed that they will reschedule us.

I am still in a state of shock over all of this, so much publicity, it's kind of nuts really, but I understand why people want more of our story.
Life is pretty depressing right now for everyone because of the economy, so people want happy stories, feel good, heart warming stories, and ours really is a pretty damn amazing story.
It's really incredible still how it all came together and I'm sooo glad that it did.
Joanne and I keep texting each other back and forth, talking to each other on the phone, and I've been in touch by email with Randy and Gary's families, so yeah, getting to see them again in NYC will be awesome if the schedule can be worked out.
Mark said he will go this time too, the first one was just so rushed, it all happened so fast, but with the Tyra show, we are getting enough notice that we can make plans to have someone come feed the cats and get the mail for us.
I am so hoping the schedule can be worked out, I really want to see Joanne, Randy, and Gary again.
I just want to get to know them, far too much time has passed in our lives, we need some time to really talk to each other and get to know one another, so if we can work out the schedule and if they put us all in the same hotel, we can spend the first night we all fly in, just hanging out and talking to each other and our families.
I will keep you posted if we can work this out, and also tell you what day the show would air too!!

Posted by Kat at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Mark is going in for his MRI tomorrow at 9:30am, his Big, George, is taking him to it.
I am sick and in pain, so I'm not going to go with him, he's 18, he can go by himself for the 3 hour long MRI, they don't let family sit in the room where the MRI is done.
There is just no way that I can sit there and wait for 3 hours on the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, I am in some pretty serious back pain, and I have been running a high fever for the last 2 days.
He is scheduled for 3 individual MRIs, and they told me that it will be about 2 hours 45 minutes, to 3 hours long for it to be done.
I was going to send him by taxi cab, I couldn't find us a ride there and back, so I was all prepared to take him by taxi cab, and cab it back home again when it's over, but Mark called George while I was trying to sleep late this afternoon.
Mark told me he called George around 4:30pm or so, told him that I was sick, that he was going to have to take a cab by himself because I'm sick, so he asked George if he could take him, and George said yes.
If I'm contagious, it would be a very bad thing to go there with him, they have signs posted that say "If you are sick or running a fever, please do not come in, we will reschedule your appointment."
If I'm feeling better in the morning and my fever is gone, I will go with him, but as of right now, it's not looking like I'll be able to go.

Posted by Kat at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I LOVE my PayPal debit card!
One of the best things that I ever did was sign up to get the PayPal debit card.
I have been a PayPal user since practically the beginning of my using the internet.
I've had the PayPal debit card for a little over 2 years now I think, and it has been a true lifesaver for me several times.
There have been quite a few times that I've been at the doctor's office or the pharmacy, for example, and I expected my bill to be a certain amount but found out that it would be more than what I had expected and budgeted, so I called PayPal from my cell phone and was able to get my balance and discovered that I had been paid early from work, or had gotten a deposit/donation, and was able to pay my bill right on the spot without the embarrassment of not having enough to pay the bill.
My doctor's office will work with people who are a bit short, but the pharmacy won't, so being able to check my balance and pay the bill with my PayPal debit card is truly awesome.
It helped me just this past month when I had to get another new AC for the house.
That was another situation where I was able to check my balance from my cell phone while on the go, heard how much my balance was, and was able to go straight to Home Depot to buy another one.
I'm pretty sure that purchase right there is why I got this email from them just this morning. ha ha
Because I use the debit card, I get cash back for all of my purchases.
This may not seem like a lot of money to get excited about, but every single penny is counted and appreciated by me, this is free money in my opinion, so I totally love it when PayPal gives me cash back every month just for spending my own money!

Dear Kat,
Congratulations!
You've received a cash back reward of $8.19 USD after using your PayPal Debit Card.
Your cash back reward has been deposited in your PayPal account and is based on your monthly eligible transactions.
Thanks,
PayPal

Posted by Kat at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sebastian and I spent the entire day feeling like crap even with some Nyquil to take.
We both spent the entire day sleeping off and on, and now that I took naps all day long, I can't sleep.
I've been up watching tv and surfing the net all night long.
I found a bunch of free online auctions to look at to pass the time.
It's amazing to me how much some stuff is worth, like old toys.
I wish I had hung on to more of my old dolls and toys, some of them would be worth a ton of money now like my Tuesday Taylor doll that I had.
I think she was like less than $10 back when she first came out, now she's selling for about $100.00
Damn.

I watched a bunch of horror movies, some I had seen like Children of the Corn, and then some that I hadn't seen like Death Tunnel.
It wasn't too bad, but it's not something that I would watch again unless someone paid me.
Death Tunnel that is, not Children of the Corn, I love that movie.
"Outlander! Outlander! We have your woman! Outlander!"
Malachai was one of my fave characters in that movie, so perfectly cast in my opinion.

Carmine is our kitty that goes in and out of the house.
He was the stray kitten we found last December.
Yes, I said that we were only going to keep him for a little while, try to find his owners or give him away, but we fell in love with him, he's such a good kitty, so well behaved and loving, we couldn't part with him.
Anyway, he goes in and out all of the time to do his business outside, play around, whatever it is that he does out there, and then he always comes back.
When he came back in tonight, he brought us a gift.

A mouse.
A big fat field mouse.
He came running in the house with it in his teeth, and then dropped him at my feet, looked up at me, meowed loudly, and then rubbed all over my legs.
He brought me dinner I think.
We of course picked up the mouse with tissue and threw it away outside, but he brought it to us as a treat or a thank you, not really sure, but it was meant as a gift, so I rewarded him with lots of love, pets, cuddles, and kisses which he absolutely loved.
I also gave him a piece of cheese which he gobbled up quickly and then joined me on the couch.

It's now just a few minutes past 4am and I'm wide awake.
I still feel like crap, but I'm wide awake.

Posted by Kat at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm thinking that it IS the flu.
Sebastian has been sick and miserable all day long, and about an hour or so ago, I started to feel like crap.
Dammit.

Posted by Kat at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's that time of year again folks!
It's time for the 8th Annual Blogger Boobiethon!

In the past 7 years, we (bloggers from everywhere!) have raised over $50,000 for breast cancer research.
You can learn all about this event and it's history here, but basically, bloggers from all over the world and internet, join together to raise money for breast cancer research by getting people to donate to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity which helps to fund research for a breast cancer cure.

We also raise money to help a fellow blogger in need, bloggers helping bloggers.
Please read that page to learn all about this part of the boobiethon, it's been something that we've done every year since the whole start of this, and is actually the entire reason that the boobiethon exists.

Last year I was the recipient of this part of the boobiethon after my spine fusion in September 2008, and I am still, and always will be, eternally grateful for all of the help, donations, encouragement, and support my fellow bloggers, readers, and supporters of the boobiethon, gave to me during that time and continue to give to me.
This year's recipient of the bloggers helping bloggers portion is Joan, aka, DaGoddess.

Donating to the boobiethon is really very, very easy.
Simply click the button up above or this link right here, and choose who you want to give money to, Komen or Joan, akaDaGoddess, and then follow the super simple instructions on that page so that the organizers of the boobiethon can add your donation to the total, and send you a confirmation email thanking you for your support.

This is now the 2nd year since the thon started that I have not been able to volunteer my time doing photo editing for health reasons.
Last year I had just had spine fusion surgery, and this year I am still dealing with some of the problems that are the result of that surgery, and my recent life-changing experience of discovering my bio-siblings and getting to meet them on the Today show in New York.
I feel terrible that I am unable to donate my time, it's something that I absolutely love doing every year, but because I can't volunteer my time, I am going to make sure that I post about the thon at least once every day until it ends, post updates about it on my Twitter stream, post on forums, and wherever else I can post about it to help spread the word and raise money for the cure.

Breast cancer effects all of us in some way at least once in our lives.
I know friends who have fought the battle with it, some won, some lost, I have had scares in my own family, and currently I have a friend whose Grandmother is losing the battle.
We need to find the cure.
Together we can help find that cure by raising money to fund research so that someday everyone who gets breast cancer can win the battle.

The 8th Annual Blogger Boobiethon began at midnight on October 1st and will run until midnight on October 7th.
In 2008, we raised $9,300.00.
So far on just this 2nd day of the boobiethon, (as of the time of this post) we have raised $2,705.00.
Let's beat last year's total!!
Donate, send in your picture, (mine will be sent in soon!) blog about it, tweet about it, put a button on your blog, do one thing from that list, (do several from that list!) and help us raise more money than we did last year!!

Posted by Kat at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When Sebastian came home from school today, he looked absolutely wiped out, I asked him how his day was, and he fell back on the couch and said that he just felt absolutely horrible.
He said his whole body hurts, he has a headache, just feels terrible.
I am really hoping that it's not the flu or *gasp* the swine flu.
I didn't go get my flu shot yet at Walgreen's.
I can get a flu shot for way cheap because of my insurance, so I'm going to get to Walgreen's and get one as soon as I can.
But anyway, I really hope that Sebastian isn't coming down with either version of the flu, that would totally suck.
The last thing I need is a house full of sickies.

This whole experience, going to New York, meeting my siblings, has been just so overwhelming, (I keep saying that huh?) that I am still in a state of shock over it all, I've barely eaten anything in days, since like last week when it all happened, and I've actually lost some weight from the shock and stuff.
I don't need any diet pills right now, that's for sure.
I have like no appetite at all right now, not in a few days.
I'm still trying to get caught up, still trying to work through emails and everything, and I still need to clean the house.
I haven't done more than the laundry and some dishes, but the rest of the house seriously needs some help, it's like trashed and I just don't feel like doing it but know that I need to.
Right now I need to go and figure out dinner, I'll be back after I can get some stuff done.

Oh!
The Boobiethon has started, I'm actually a little bit late posting about it, but they have now raised $2301.55 just since it started at midnight on October 1st!
Please go and donate, send in your picture, or just do one thing to help raise money for breast cancer!

Posted by Kat at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sebastian said that to me just now, "Thank you Mommy, I'm so tired" as I helped him get up off the couch where he had fallen asleep and escorted him to his room.
He sounded as though his day was long and hard, the day of someone hard at work, voice nearly cracking as he whispered it, "Thank you Mommy, I'm so tired."
So grown up yet still so small inside.
I tucked him in, covered him with his blanket, he whispered it again, an almost pained look on his face, eyebrows bent, a grimace on his lips.
I wonder how his day was, for real, he said it was fine, it was school he said.
Maybe he'll tell me tomorrow what made him so tired.

Posted by Kat at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pete from the corner store that is.
He lost the corner store back in December 2005, and the new owners, while they are nice, they have their prices a bit steep, almost as steep as 7-11.
I had to go up to the corner store and get some cat food and stuff, I didn't feel like walking all of the way to Publix, and their charge card/debit card thingy wasn't working right.
I knew what the problem was, the guy had a girl in there talking on the phone, and the phone line is tied into the POS systems, so if you try to run a charge while someone is on the phone, it will not work.
He kept trying and trying, said he didn't know why it wasn't working, so I told him to have her hang up.
He tried arguing with me, saying that wasn't the issue, but I know from all my years in customer service that IT was the problem.
He finally relented and had her hang up, and what do ya know?
It dialed in and went through.
I told him that they should probably get a dedicated phone line for the cash register because this will happen every single time if someone is on the phone.
He gave me kind of a snotty look after that, but whatever dude.

The guy at night is not the owner, the owner only works in the morning, and he's a nice guy, but the guy at night can be a total jerk sometimes.
He always has people hanging out with him too, like I think that was his girlfriend, and there's usually a couple of guys just hanging out in there, standing around chatting with him.
The owner doesn't like that, he told me the other day that he is thinking of reviewing the security tapes because the store is never cleaned how it should be when he comes in in the morning.
I didn't tell him about all of the people hanging out at night, I figure he'll see it all on the tapes.
But yeah, the jerky guy at night is the main reason I miss the old owner Pete.
Pete was cool, it was a family business, his whole family worked there.
He kept his prices low, he was friendly, the store was clean, and there weren't ever any weird people hanging out at night.

Posted by Kat at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)