July 23, 2011
A back to school commercial came on and I realized that for the 1st time in 16+ years, I DON'T have to do back school shopping.
Not only am I absolutely THRILLED that I DON'T have to do back to school shopping, but then it hit me.
My boys are all grown up, they've graduated from high school.
After the total JOY and awesomeness of realizing that I don't EVER have to do back to school shopping again, wore off, I started to cry because my boys, whom I recall very, VERY clearly on their very 1st days of kindergarten, have graduated, they are all grown up.
In my head, I can still see my baby boys in their 1st day of kindergarten outfits, with their little Batman for Mark and Power Rangers for Sebastian backpacks on, with their matching lunchboxes, their brand new sneakers, and 1st day of school haircuts, and the name-tag stickers shaped like apples that were given to us at kindergarten orientation just a few days before, stuck on the front of their brand new shirts, and their big huge smiles.
I recall every single minute of those 1st days of school.
Not just for kindergarten, but for every single year that they went to school, and all the changes in them with each new school year that started.
Different haircuts, different heights and weights, different backpacks and sneakers, different sounding voices, and the very different, very individual young men that they have grown up to be.
The thrill of never having to go do back to school shopping wore off rather quickly when I realized, when it hit me like a ton of bricks to the back of my head, that my baby boys are not baby boys anymore.
April 21, 2011
The latest goings on around here.
It's been awhile since I last posted, again, I'm in a total rut/funk and I freely admit it.
I'm constantly battling health and pain issues and that really messes with your head after awhile ya know?
I have doctor appointments almost every week now that are costing me a small fortune that I don't have, and all I want is for him to do the surgery so I can stop having to pay money that I don't have and be out of pain for 6 to 18 months. (if it works)
I'm just in a bad place right at the moment, stressed out pretty much all of the time, I'm not sleeping, I'm not eating, all I do is stress and worry and it's really taking a toll on me mentally and physically.
Sebastian has graduated from high school early!!!
Yay!!!
He decided to take the exit option which means if the student works super hard, gets all of their credits in less time, and passes all of the final exams and a graduation test, they can get their diploma and be done with school.
So he studied hard and worked hard, and on Thursday, he handed in all of his books and picked up his diploma.
He's also decided to not march in the graduation ceremony, and honestly, I don't mind.
We went to Mark's, the arena where they hold it has really poor AC, there's almost 1,000 graduating seniors and about 5,000 - 6,000 people there to watch, so it's even hotter, and the ceremony takes about 3.5 hours.
So yeah, I really do not mind that he doesn't want to march, no problem at all!
In Mark news, he and his friend Geoff have been doing all kinds of things together lately.
They helped pain houses for Habitat for Humanity, and have been doing all kinds of other things as well.
Geoff's grandmother wants the both of them to get jobs and work together at the same place because she thinks that it will help them stay motivated if they can stay together.
Together, they do a ton of stuff, they have energy and can paint houses and all kinds of things, but when not together, they both tend to sleep till 2pm and play video games.
She's already picked up applications for the both of them for a couple of places, some window manufacturing place, a couple of restaurants, Home Depot, and who knows what else, I wouldn't even be surprised if she tried to send them to personal trainer school just to get them jobs so they can stay together.
She has a really big heart and just loves to help and wants to see them both succeed, so she's trying everything she can to try and get them jobs together.
I'm still waiting on my tax refund to come, and this year there will be no vacation.
I'm getting way less back than previous years, and because Mark doesn't have any health insurance any more, the only way to get him in to see a doctor is if I pay cash out of pocket.
It's worth it to me if I can find a doctor to help him, because if he gets help, then he will be able to get a job and work without too much pain.
Some things that I definitely need to get when I do finally get my taxes back, a new computer chair for the teens because their chair is literally falling apart, and Sebastian does so much artwork and stuff on their computer, it's what he wants to go to school for, so I need to get them a new chair.
I need to get Mark into see a doctor, and I need to order a year's supply of contact lenses because these are so old and dirty that I can't see anymore, and there was something else but for the life of me I can't think of it right now.
I guess that's all for now.
Later days.
April 6, 2011
Almost a month!
It's been almost a month since my last post, I'm like so ashamed of myself for that, but life has been kicking my butt.
Things here at home have been stressful due to my back and battling illnesses, so I've been unable to work as much as I used to, so some of my bills are behind and that causes me mega stress.
There have just been days, on end it seems, that my back and my left hip have been flared up so bad that all I can do is lay on the couch and try not to move because moving hurts too much.
And I still don't have a date for the surgery on my left hip!
He wanted to do it this week, but then he had three emergency surgeries come up, so my surgery got pushed back and now it probably won't be for another two weeks he said.
That really sucks because I honestly don't know how much more of this I can take.
Sebastian is almost done with school, he will officially be done and out next week because he fast tracked by taking the early exit option, and unlike Mark, he does not want to march with his class.
It's his choice, I'm not going to make him buy a cap and gown and spend 3 hours in a hot stadium doing the graduation like we did with Mark.
Speaking of Mark, we are still waiting to hear from another doctor what we can do for him.
Getting and waiting for referrals is a total pain, I remember it well when I was going through it, it sucks, it's a hurry up and wait game.
My house looks like a tornado blew through it and I'm feeling overwhelmed by it.
I need to hire a maid, if I had the money that is.
And I'm so mad at the stupid cats!
They knocked over my storage chest of beads!
I spent nearly 2 hours on the floor, on my hands and knees, picking up and sorting all of my beads back into their right compartments.
I was in so much pain when it was over with, I spent the next three days laying on the couch again.
I'm just so over having to deal with the pain in my hip and lower back.
I want the nerve burn-off surgery and I want it now!
I'm tired of waiting, I want to do it and have it work because it will mean six to 18 months of no pain at all in my hip and lower back.
December 21, 2010
Qwik Shower Gym Class Wipes product review.
I recently received a few samples (four individual packets) of Qwik Shower Gym Class Wipes.
They are disposable wipes that are quite large and wet enough to almost wipe down your entire body after gym class, a jog, a walk to work, or whatever you do that may cause you to get sweaty and need to be cleaned up but in a place where you are not able to take a shower.
They come in a small package, but unfold into a huge wipe, larger than a normal size washcloth, and much larger than a baby wipe.
Each wipe is large, thick and cloth like (10" x 12") moist, single-use disposable towels.*
That's really pretty large, and you can see them in the following image by clicking it to make it larger.
I had Sebastian try one out because he walks to school every day, and here in Florida it's even really hot at 6:45am on hot days. (Yes it's winter here, but we are still having some hot days mixed in)
He walked to school and he said that by the time he got there, he was sweaty and felt gross, so he went to the bathroom, went into a stall and opened up the Qwik Shower Gym Class Wipe.
He said it was very large and wet enough to wipe down every single part of his body that was all sweaty, and when he finished, it was still a bit wet and he probably could have wiped down even more of his body.
After using it, he said, his body was no longer sweaty, he felt clean again, and he didn't have any odor. He always carries a travel size deodorant and a travel size spray of his cologne, and so he used those to freshen himself up a bit more because he used the wipes on his armpits just to make sure that he got himself really clean and had no body odor.
He's really taken to making sure that he looks good and doesn't stink at school because he said that the boys (and girls) who don't keep themselves clean and have body odor, get picked on and teased really bad, so he makes sure that he doesn't have any BO at all.
He really liked how big the wipes are, how wet they are without being "drippy", and how much of his body he was able to get clean with just one wipe, and he said that if he had wanted to, he probably could have wiped down his entire body, arms, legs, his whole chest, back, everywhere, but he only concentrated on the ares that were totally sweaty that day, his arms, pits, chest, face, lower back, neck, and thighs.
He said that he wiped down his face first, and liked that he had something to wash his face with because he doesn't like having acne, so being able to wash his face with something other than just a wet paper towel, made him very happy.
He said that he was clean, that it felt like he had taken another shower, and that the wipes don't have a strong scent, which was really important to him because he uses a matching deodorant and spray cologne, and he didn't want any competing scents mixed in.
Overall, he said that the wipes worked really great, and he took two more of the four sample packets that I received, and put them in the pocket of his backpack where he keeps his deodorant and cologne spray.
This left me with just one wipe for myself to try out.
After I had walked to the corner store and back one afternoon, I came home and was all sweaty as I usually am after a walk there and back.
After a walk to the store, I would normally take either a quick shower or get a washcloth and wipe myself down, but I recalled that I had the wipe to try out, so I grabbed it and went into the bathroom.
Just like Sebastian said, the wipe was quite large and it was wet enough to wipe my whole body, every single area that was sweaty, and I used it to wipe down almost every part of my body simply because I could, because it was still wet enough to do that.
The Qwik Shower Wipe worked really well, and just like Sebastian, I liked that it doesn't have a strong scent, it didn't compete with my deodorant and perfume, and it really made me feel fresh and clean again.
The both of us really like them, they work very well, and Sebastian said that he wouldn't mind having some more of them to use in the spring when it starts getting hotter again, and so I will probably be buying a bunch of them for him for those walks to school on hot days.
They aren't expensive at all, you can get a sample, one wipe, for just $1 by clicking here.
You can get 10 for $7, 50 for $29.00, and 100 for $49.00, (all purchases made from their site have free shipping) that's really not bad prices at all for something that helps your teen(s) or yourself, get fresh and clean when you need to be in a place where you can't take a shower but need to be clean.
If you have an organization that needs to raise funds, like maybe the school football or other sport team that needs to raise money to pay for trips or uniforms, etc, you can sign up your organization and QWIKSHOWER will send you an email to distribute to your membership and when they buy QWIKSHOWER, they will send you 10% of the gross purchase price.*
So not only is it a product to help get your teens clean, but it can also help with fund-raising.
QWIKSHOWER is also available for wholesale, and you can click here for that information.
FTC disclosure;
I was not compensated in any way for this post.
I received four samples for free to try out and and was asked to write a product review.
I was not compensated to write this review, and I was not asked to write a positive tone only review.
I was asked to write my honest opinion of the Qwik Shower Gym Class Wipes, and then any other information about the product that I felt like including.
All opinions of the product are mine and some are my son's.
Some of the wording has been taken directly from their website and are marked with an asterisk at the end of the sentence.
October 28, 2010
The flu sucks.
The teens and I have had the flu since last week, we are finally getting over it now, finally feeling well enough to actually do things, and things sorely need to be done.
Sebastian missed several days of school due to being sick, Friday of last week, and Monday and Tuesday of this week, and then I realized that there's no school this Friday due to a "professional day".
He's already mostly caught up on the work he missed because he's allowed to do his work on the computer at his own pace, which is good.
If he wasn't allowed to do that, it would take him a whole lot longer to get caught up.
The house is a total disaster area, there should be warning signs posted on the front door about what an absolute mess the house is, but I've just been too sick to do anything about it, or care really.
Tomorrow though, I am going to attempt to get some of it cleaned up, do some laundry, definitely clean the floors, they are awful, and the bathroom has got to be done.
One week without cleaning that, yeah, not good.
I swear, teenage boys just don't even seem to notice that they've left their shaved off facial hairs laying in the sink, on the sink counter, everywhere.
Let's not forget the gobs of toothpaste left in the sink either.
Yick.
And on top of being sick and having a totally messy house, I haven't been able to sleep at all either.
There's nothing worse than feeling like you've been hit by a bus, then a truck, and then a 20 car pile up, on top of you, and all that you want to do is sleep, but you can't.
Some one of these days I'll find a permanent cure for my insomnia.
There's so many things that I want to do this coming weekend, that I wish that I could get a cash advance on my check so that I can pay all of the bills, get those over with and out of the way, then pay for the stuff that the teens need for college apps and required test taking in order to apply for the job.
It's kind of insane that you have to pay to take a test in order to apply for a job, but whatever.
Then, with whatever money is left over, do the things that I need and want to do this weekend.
But nope.
After paying the phone/internet bill, there isn't diddly squat left. haha
Laugh or cry, I'm choosing to laugh.
It's OK though, I have other things to do this weekend which will be a lot of fun but I'm not going to blog about it until after.
I don't want to mess things up by saying too much or the wrong stuff.
October 20, 2010
Sick teens, and WHAT did you just say about my parenting?!
Holy heck man, I have had like the worst six, maybe seven days that I have had in a long, long time, this past week.
It started off on Wednesday morning when I was supposed to have my doctor appointment at 10am.
At 8:10am, I received a totally frantic call from the doctor's nurse, she had a total of 148 patients to call who had been scheduled to be seen on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and she had to tell everyone that their appointments were canceled and going to be rescheduled, but right at that moment, she didn't know what day or time they were going to be for, what was going to be done about medications, nothing, she quickly said that my doctor's family had been in a car accident and then *click*.
Um, wha?
What, wait?
I called right back, I was so totally confused, I thought maybe a friend was playing a joke on me because everyone knows that this doc is hard to get into, getting on his schedule is tough, but it wasn't a joke, his nurse explained it again, everyone had to be rescheduled, she didn't have the new schedule yet, a small supply of meds were going to be called in but she didn't know what meds or when they were going to be called in, and she was sorry but she would call me back in an hour.
Then because I was in like a state of shock, I totally forgot to call my friends who were giving me a ride to my appointment, so they showed up, I had to explain it to them, and then the entire rest of the day Wednesday was just call after call from some jerk that I know, we shall give him the initials of Gr., and he must have like gone off of his meds or something, and after the first three calls from him screaming at me over all kinds of crazy stuff, I stopped taking his calls and let all seven more of them for that day, go to voice mail.
One of Gr.'s scream-fests was him blaming me for him losing a $4,000 job and he was going to make me pay for it, he was going to come to my house and make me pay for it, he didn't care how, but oh yeah, I was going to pay.
I had to stop taking his calls after the first three like I said, it was just insane, and no matter what I said to him, no matter how I tried to calm him down, he got more and more irate, and after that third call, I couldn't take it anymore, I sat down and cried, then had a massive anxiety/panic attack, cried some more, and when my cellphone rang and it was Gr. again, I just let it ring until the voice mail picked up.
I let that happen, for like I said, all seven more of his calls that day, for the five he made on Thursday, the five more he made on Friday, the two on Saturday, I got a reprieve on Sunday, and then at 8:20am on Monday morning when Gr. called me again, I let it go to voice mail again.
I simply could not handle being yelled at by him again, I couldn't take it.
I listened to every single one of his voice mail messages, I shouldn't have after listening to just the first couple of them, but I did, and I shouldn't have, because it caused me to be a complete nervous wreck for the entire weekend.
But back to my doctor and Wednesday, they did call in a 3 day supply of all of my medications and a few others that I don't normally take, they said that they gave me those because they would help with the stress and anxiety over having my schedule turned upside down because they know that I have OCD really bad, and they know that having my schedule thrown off can set me off and I'll end up washing the same load of laundry 3 times, or just stand at the kitchen sink and wash the same batch of silverware over and over while having panic attacks and crying uncontrollably.
I finally admitted to this doctor approximately four months ago how severe my OCD was getting, that I was extremely worried about it because I have found myself getting worse with certain issues, and I was finally admitting to a doctor that I needed help with it.
I've been battling my OCD on my own for quite a few years now, I've been ashamed to admit it to my doctors because once you admit that you have it, they start asking you about what sets it off, what makes it worse, how bad the spells can get, etc, and it's embarrassing to admit some of the things that I do because they make me sound like I'm absolutely insane, and ever since learning about my biological mother and her mental health issues, admitting to a doctor, or anyone really, how bad my OCD is in my own words, I have actually questioned myself on whether or not I'm going crazy.
If you're going crazy, do you know that you are?
Do you feel yourself slipping away, or do you just go about your days thinking that everything is just peachy keen?
So yeah, I had a very rough six to seven days dealing with crazy cellphone calls from Gr., dealing with my panic and anxiety attacks, my OCD, and uncontrollable crying fits.
I survived the weekend, obviously, went to my doctor appointment Monday morning at 11:30am, and had my ride just drop me off at my friend N.'s house after I was done, I just wanted to hang with a friend and chill for a bit, and who was there when I walked in?
Gr.!
I immediately ran straight into N.'s bathroom and refused to come out until he left, I had no idea where his head was at or anything but I assume it was still in a bad place because he had called N. several times and told her he was going to her house, she kept telling him no, to not come over, he went over anyway, but N. and her friend T.. finally got him to leave and then the three of us girls just sat down and chilled for a bit, and while out on her lanai having a smoke, (I know, I know) I just started crying again, quietly, at least it wasn't outright bawling like I had been doing all weekend.
Then our other friend D. showed up, we all chatted for a few minutes, and then I had to go home because Sebastian was home from school and when I walked in the door, I learned that he was down sick.
Now both of the teens are sick, some sort of something.
They both have a high fever, headaches, cramps, and the diars, one has a stuffy nose, and the other has a cough, so what it is, I haven't the slightest clue.
So on Monday night, a friend drove me to the store at around almost closing time, and I picked up both Nyquil and Pepto, I have plenty of Tylenol at home, all bases for whatever it is, are covered. haha
Laugh or cry, laugh or cry, I'm choosing to laugh.
So then this friend asked if the teens wanted to make some money today, Tuesday, if they felt better in the morning.
I told her to call me in the morning and ask me before she drove all of the way here because I let Sebastian stay home from school, he was wicked sick on Monday night, way high fever, wicked cramps, he went to bed as soon as I got home from the store and she went home.
Well, instead of calling me in the morning, (Tuesday morning) she just knocked on my door at 9:51am and asked if they were ready to go.
I said no, they're still sleeping, they're really sick, I told you to call me before coming, why didn't you call, I coulda saved you the trip?
Well, I don't know what kind of issue she was having, we'll call her B., but B. seemed to think that sick or not, my two sons were able bodied and capable of working, so why wasn't I making them get up and go earn their own video game money instead of me buying them every game that they want every single time they want a new one?
B. proceeded to go into Sebastian's room and yell his name, I yelled at her to get out of there, don't wake him up, he's sick, she then did the same to Mark, walking right in his room and calling out his name loudly and telling him to get up.
I yelled at her to get the hell outta his room, don't wake him up either, he's sick as well, caught whatever Sebastian had on Monday night, and so then she went out and slammed my front door.
OK. Ok. Ok.
NOT OK!
I tell the boys to relax, it's OK, go back to sleep, I got this, and I went outside to find her cleaning out the back seat of her car, organizing it so that the teens can sit back there so she can drive them to do this yard work for three hours at $10 per hour, they were each going to make $30, she said, so they better be getting up and ready to go, they should have been ready by the time she got here.
I said; "B. FIRST, you were supposed to call me in the morning and ask if they were A) going to be OK to do it because you knew last night that Sebastian was sick, and B) if they even wanted to do it. And NO, they are not OK, they are both sick now, not just Sebastian, but Mark's got it now too, they both have really high fevers and stomach issues, so no, they won't be doing anything today but resting in bed or on the couches to lay down and watch tv and try to rest up from whatever this is."
Without missing a beat, she says to me, "Damn, your are white, while they're working, we can kick back in the recliner chairs and get some sun, I've got some really great tanning lotions that will get you some color really quick today."
"B.", I said; "They are NOT working today, it's a sick day for Sebastian from school, he's very sick, and now so is Mark, they both have it, they aren't working today, they are sleeping and resting today."
Continue Reading �
September 27, 2010
Buy a banned or challenged book at Buy.com
Every year, the ALA, the American Library Association, holds banned books week.
This year banned books week is September 25 through October 2, 2010.
You can learn more about frequently challenged books by reading this page on the ALA website.
I love to read, I don't read as much as I used to or as much as I would like, but I still love to read a really great book.
It really bothers me that individuals and groups try to get books taken off of the shelves of public and school libraries, they try to limit what we and our children can read simply because they don't like the books for political, sexual, or religious reasons, but our first amendment rights protect each of us, it allows us to read these books if we want to, if we want our kids to read them.
"Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.Intellectual freedom - the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular - provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them."
I would love to see people buying and reading any of the books on the top 100 list, and you can even save some money when you buy one or more of the books by checking to see if they are on sale at Buy.com.
I picked a random title off of the list, The Lord of the Rings, and they have it on sale in paperback for just $10.97, and that price includes the shipping.
Why is The Lord of the Rings on the banned and challenged list?
People believe that it, along with more of Tolkien's novels, are satanic.
In 2001, The Lord of the Rings, along with more of Tolkien's novels, were burned in Alamagordo, NM outside of the Christ Community Church.
Here are 10 books that you might not expect to be on the list via Yahoo!, and the reasons that they are/were on the list at some point.
You can read the other titles and reasons by clicking the link above. *!*
Captain Underpants - One of the top 10 most frequently banned and challenged books for 2002, 2004 and 2005. The books were said to contain offensive language, to be sexually explicit and to be anti-family.
Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary - Contained an offending term, oral sex.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - The Texas Board of Education banned the book, in January 2010, because it thought the book was written by the same Bill Martin who penned the nonchildren's book "Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation."
James and the Giant Peach - James was disobedient and there was violence in the book.
American Heritage Dictionary (1969) - It contains 39 objectionable words. It was also banned by the Anchorage School Board in 1987 for its inclusion of slang words, including "balls."
Grimm's Fairy Tales - A couple of California school districts found a whole new reason to ban Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1989: misuse of alcohol. Little Red Riding Hood's basket for her grandmother includes wine.
In the extended entry, you will find the top 100 most banned or challenged books.
The titles in bold represent banned or challenged books.
The titles not in bold may have been banned or challenged, but there have not been any reports on them.
I have placed two stars ** next to the books on the list that I have read.
I would love to see other bloggers post the list of the top 100 banned and challenged books on their blogs, and to see them check off, mark, or star, the books on the list that they have read.
Will you post the list on your blog?
*!* The books and reasons were copied directly from the Yahoo! article.
Continue Reading �
August 26, 2010
What a rainy, crazy, and crappy week it has been.
It has been raining off and on all week long, and when it rains, I am a totally useless lump of flesh on the couch.
I haven't been able to do much of anything at all, I've been in far too much pain to do anything, and I have been sick on top of it, so yeah, just miserable.
___________________
On Tuesday morning, I received a text message from Moe, the guy who owns the corner store, a really great guy, who was letting me know that Rachel, the girl who worked there and was a friend to me, had killed herself sometime around 2am Tuesday morning.
She left her purse, cell phone, all of her things at the store around midnight, said that she was going home, but something snapped I guess, and she ended up hanging herself in the little wooded area right behind the corner store.
I've walked up to the corner store and back a few times now, and there is now a cross, flowers, and 4 large candles placed there for her.
This afternoon when I was on my way to the pharmacy and grocery store, I stopped and lit all 4 of the candles for her. The rain had put them all out.
I said a few words for her as I lit them, I said that I hoped that she finally was at peace now, that whatever it was that drove her to that, hopefully, she was at peace now. I also said that if I had known she was thinking of doing that, that I would have gladly talked to her, that I would have been a friend to listen, and a shoulder to cry on, that I would have tried to help her.
I know all too well that feeling of hopelessness, of feeling like there's no way out of the current and horrible situation that drives you to think of suicide, and that if she had only talked to someone, maybe it didn't have to end that way.
I know that's what happened for me.
In 2001 when I had to stop working, when I got the wicked bad news about my back, I felt so lost and hopeless, like a total failure as a mother, I couldn't work anymore, how was I going to provide for my boys, what was I going to do, how the hell was I going to get out of this super mess?!?
My landlord, of all people, just happened to knock on my door on one of the days that I was crying uncontrollably and thinking of ending it all, he asked what was wrong, and it all just came spilling out of me like a flood.
He came in to my home and talked to me for hours, he gave me so many reasons to not kill myself, he saved my life that day, and I have never thought of suicide again, and the very few times that it has slipped back into my head, the words he said to me that morning come back.
If only someone had been there for Rachel, if only someone had asked her what was wrong, maybe it wouldn't have ended this way.
If I had known she was thinking of suicide, if I had only known that she was feeling so lost and hopeless, I know that I would have talked to her, I would have repeated the same words my landlord said to me, maybe it would have made a difference, maybe it would have helped, or maybe it wouldn't have, there's really no way to know now.
All I can do now is hope that she's finally at peace, that whatever it was that brought her to hang herself, was finally over for her.
_______________________
In other news, Sebastian started school again on Monday, they didn't have him registered for any classes yet, none, so he had to sit and wait for almost 3 hours while they figured out why he didn't get signed up for any of the classes he had registered for, then register him for them again, and print his schedule.
Ugh.
Then on Wednesday, the teens had to go and give their depositions in the "iced tea mugging", so he missed a day of school for that and the vice principal is demanding he bring in proof that he was doing depositions, she wants the actual subpoena, not a copy, and uh, sorry, he needs those for the courts, so she's getting a photocopy of it, like it, lump it, or suck it.
________________________
This morning started out really good.
The sun finally poked back out, and I got an email from Lori at A Cowboy's Wife, letting me know that I had won the giveaway she had on her blog for an awesome pair of Langston's cowboy boots!
I have been given the promo code to go to the site and pick out my pair and order them, yay!
These are the ones that I really like, so I'm pretty sure that they are the ones that I'm going to get.
________________________
The sun came out, I won a great giveaway, and I got paid a day early so I was able to go and pick up my meds, pay a bill to keep the lights on, and get some groceries for the house.
Hopefully things just keep getting better from here on out!
June 26, 2010
I just want him to be happy.
I have to be really careful how I word this post, I know that other people read my blog and I don't want to be misunderstood in any way.
First, he will not be coming home early, he will be staying until July 18th as originally planned.
I know that staying there is what he needs to do, he needs to have this experience, it's a huge part of growing up for him, I've accepted this trip and what is happening in my head and heart.
He's learning who his father is, he's met all of his half-siblings, he's learning who they are, and in turn, he's learning a good deal about who he is too.
Now onto other things which I am upset about, but I love him and only want him to be happy.
Whatever my sons want in their lives that will make them happy, is what I want for them.
It's all that I have ever wanted for them, all I will ever want for them.
Sebastian called me this afternoon, his voice sounded heavy so I asked if he was still upset about what happened on Tuesday night, he said yes, that he was very, very sorry, but he had a lot on his mind too, a lot to think about.
I asked about what, I reminded him that he can always talk to me, that no matter what, I am always open to hear whatever he has to say.
He said that his family on his dad's side have all been really great, they love having him there, they are so happy that he's there visiting.
They have also been talking to him about living there, they want him to come live there for his last year of school.
I knew it was going to happen, I even talked about it with friends, I just knew.
Great-Gram who is very old, she always says to the boys when we go up, that we get up there so very rarely, that she's afraid that she'll be dead by the time we get up there next, so of course, she wants him to come live there for a year.
His Aunt Heather also thinks it's a good idea, his half-brothers also do.
Surprisingly, it wasn't his father who had this idea or started this whole conversation, it was Great-Gram.
Sebastian said he has to think about it, weigh the pros and cons, think about the consequences of his decision.
No matter what he decides, he knows that someone will be upset.
If he decides to live there for a year, he knows that I will be sad and upset, his Aunt Jo, his brother Mark, and if he decides to come back home, everyone up there will be sad and upset, but he knows that he has to choose, that he has to make a decision, and he really needs to decide by the time he's due to come back here so that if he's going to live there for a year, his school records can be transferred, and all of the legal paperwork can be done so that someone up there will have legal custody of him.
He asked me how I would feel, and being his mom, being that I love him with every fiber of my being, and being that all I want for my sons is that they be happy, I told him that I would be very sad, that I would miss him very, very much, but if it's what he wanted, if it would really make him happy, then I would let him go.
I will support whatever decision he makes, to live there for a year, or come back home, whichever he decides, I just want him to be happy, and so if living with his half-brothers and father, getting to see Great-Gram, Aunty Heather, and Ninny and Pop-pop, (my parents) all of the time is what would really make him happy, then I would be behind his decision 100% and let him go.
He got very quiet, and asked me if I really would behave like that, if I really would let him go, no arguing, no legal fighting, and I repeated what I had just told him.
I will support whatever decision he makes 100%, to live there or here, I will let him go but miss him very much, I will be very sad, because I love him, no matter where he goes and what he does, he will always be my son, and I will always love him.
We talked for just a few more minutes, he was still very quiet, his voice very heavy with contemplation, people laying guilt at his feet isn't really fair in my opinion, telling a kid that you want him to live there because you may be dead by the next time he gets a chance to come up and visit, it just isn't fair in my opinion.
I don't think I'm wrong about that, it's just not fair or right to guilt kids into doing things, especially life changing things like living somewhere else for your last year of high school, having to go to court and tell a judge that you want to live with your father from now on, having to come back here and pack up all of his belongings, say good-bye to his brother and mother, his cat too, to the home he has lived in for the last 12 years, it's just not right to place that on a kid's shoulders.
It kills me that he may decide to live there, but I meant what I said, I will support him no matter what he chooses, I will let him go because I love him, because all I want is for him to be happy.
I will definitely miss him wanting to be tucked in every single night, rubbing his temples when he has a migraine until he falls asleep, listening to him play with his toys or sing in the shower or bathroom. I will miss him begging to buy Halloween costumes and go trick or treating even though he's far too old for it, and listening to him plead his case that people buy candy to give it away, that there's hardly any kids left in the hood anymore, so somebody should get dressed up and knock on their nicely decorated doors, that it makes the people smile to see cool costumes, it would be an injustice to not give the people what they are expecting. ha ha aha!
I will miss so many things about him, his little annoying quirks, the constant fighting between him and Mark, how he still loves to watch kid's movies all curled up on the couch with his blanket, and I will miss all of our talks as we take walks to the store and back.
I will miss so many things he does, all of the wonderful things about him, his hair, his bright blue eyes, the way that he smiles and laughs, the small brown freckle on the end of his nose, I will miss him so so much, but if it makes him happy, I will let him go.
I love him that much, I love him enough to let him go so that he will be happy.
June 7, 2010
He's got a job! He's got a job!
Mark got a job!
He will now be working up at the corner store, starts tomorrow at 1pm.
I am so happy for him to have a job!
He'll have spending money of his own, he'll be able to help contribute to the family food bill, and he'll be doing something useful with his time instead of sitting around here doing nothing but video game playing all summer until he starts classes in the fall.
This is totally awesome.
I helped him get the job, the store owner and I are friends, and he had to fire his last employee because he was stealing, so the owner asked me how old Mark was, if he was honest and hard working, and I said yes, he's a great kid, and he said ok, bring him here at 1pm tomorrow.
Yay!!
Also, can cats get hemorrhoids?
And if so, do they make hemorrhoid treatments for cats?
For any animals?
I'm asking because Nova the fat cat, keeps licking at her butt-hole and meowing loud like she's in pain.
I really don't feel like taking a closer look, but I think I'm going to have to.
I don't wanna.
Looking at a cat's butt is really, truly, absolutely, horrifyingly disgusting.
June 1, 2010
My baby turned 17.
Sebastian, my baby, turned 17 today.
He had to go to school today, it's the last week, the last day is Friday, so when I woke him up at 6am, I gently called out his name, I gently rubbed his back, he opened his eyes a little bit, and I sang happy birthday to him very quietly.
He let me sing the whole way through, all the while he was smiling, and when I finished, he sat up in his bed, thanked me, and then told me that he loved me.
His day at school went OK, some of his teachers remembered that it was his birthday and they gave him some special treats, a HUGE candy bar from one teacher, a free pass from another teacher to not have to do any of the last days of school grunt work some teachers like to do, (1 teacher had the students write out multiplication tables, another had them copy down 100 words from different letters of the dictionary, etc) and another teacher just let him play on the computer through the whole class.
When he came home, my sister called and had decided to take them all out to dinner and then do some video game shopping.
I did not go because A) there is not enough room in my sister's new car for her, me, both boys, and both of my nieces, and B) because I am on bed rest for blood clots in my ankles and feet again.
It started on Sunday night, and I thought if I rested, kept them elevated, that it would go away, but it did not, so I called my doc this morning, and he puts me on bed rest and to keep my feet elevated.
They are elevated right now too.
When I sit in my chair, I have this little table that is like thigh-high, it is like a small side table, and I use it as a foot stool when I am sitting here.
I sit like this all the time, my feet are always elevated when I am at my desk, my keyboard on my lap, it is a totally comfy position.
I am really hoping that the swelling goes down soon, and it should, the new blood pressure medicine, Triamterene, 37.5mg, has me peeing so much, that I will probably drop another 10lbs using it instead of any diet supplements.
Anyway, they went out to eat and then to Best Buy for a new video game.
He got Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce for their Xbox 360, from my sister, and then when I get paid later this week, I will be buying him Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires.
Both of the boys love those Dynasty Warriors games, they have played every single one except for these last two which Sebastian will now have this week.
They came home from eating out and shopping, and both Sebastian and Mark sat down and cracked open the new game and played right until Sebastian had to go to bed.
Tomorrow is the last full day of school, and then Thursday and Friday are half days, and I am really hoping that by then, all the swelling will be gone so that I can take Sebastian out for his birthday.
He told me he wants to go to Taco Smell to eat, and I will buy him the other Dynasty Warriors game, we will have a chocolate layer cake, and he will be a totally happy kid, excuse me, a totally happy young man.
Hard to believe, Sebastian is now 17 and Mark turns 19 on August 15th.
The time just flew by didn't it?
I started this blog when we moved here, Sebastian had just turned five years old when we moved here on June 3rd 1997.
He was just a small, wiggly five year old kid, and here he is now, a really tall deep-voiced 17 year old young man.
Time just flew right by me.
May 18, 2010
Take 2 and sleep late.
Sebastian came home from school today, went straight to his room, and on his way through, he asked for his migraine meds.
I met him in his room, gave him his meds, something to wash it down with, and then tucked him in.
He's been in bed ever since, just sleeping off his migraine.
Well, he did get up for about 2 hours or so, ate something, got another dose, and headed back to bed about 20 minutes ago.
I know it's really bad for him when he gets like that, tears in his eyes because it hurts so bad, and all he wants to do is lay in bed and sleep it off.
I've had a headache myself for the last hour or so, it's because I didn't get any sleep at all last night, and now I've been up all day and night, I'm totally wiped out and need to try and get some sleep soon before my headache turns into a migraine.
I've just got a couple more things to take care of around the house, and then make sure that Mark is ok, and then I can try to get some sleep.
I hope that when I do try, that I do actually get some sleep, it's impossible to keep functioning normally for days on end without any sleep.
Plus, I'd like to look somewhat rested, I have a doc appointment in the morning, and I know that if I go in with huge bags under my eyes, he's gonna make me go to the lab for blood tests to check my white cell counts again.
The last time I had a battle with insomnia like this and went to see him, even though I explained why I was so tired and looked so crappy, he made me go to the lab anyway, he called ahead and told them to expect me so I didn't even have a choice.
I hate going to the lab like that because it's the middle of the day, and there's usually a half dozen or more people in there waiting, and the techs go so so slow.
It's a big pain in the butt.
I don't even want to get into the hassle it becomes when my blood tests come back.
Ugh.
May 13, 2010
Went better than expected.
The meeting with the truancy officer and the social worker that is.
Before they got here, I vac'd the rugs like I said I was going to, and I straightened out all of the stuff on my coffee table, the place-mats, magazines, some candles, and I also placed my camera on top of the small picture printer that I have, it prints 4x6 pictures, it's about the same size as one of these epson tm-t88iv receipt printers, so it just looked like my camera was docked on it's printer/charging station.
I checked it's positioning before they got here by setting it up and having it on the self-timer to snap a picture every 5 seconds.
Then I checked the pictures to see if I had it positioned perfectly to video capture both my sofa and love seat no matter where they sat.
It did.
I had the blinds open so that I could see when they pulled in, and once they did, I pressed the button to start recording the entire meeting, and then I answered the door and invited them to sit down.
The social worker sat on the love seat near me, and the truancy officer sat on the sofa.
The social worker started off by asking me how she could help me, and I was totally confused by this, I had absolutely no idea why there was even a social worker involved, why she was in my house.
The truancy worker I could sorta see, although like I said, a little late in the year to be talking to me about truancy issues with just 15 days left of school for the year.
So I asked her why she was here, why was she asking me how she could help me, I totally didn't understand why she was here.
She said that they know that I'm a disabled parent, struggling, and so they wanted to know if I would like help getting back and forth to the Senior Friendship Center so that I could have some social interaction, not be so alone, take advantage of the services that they offer, get meals on wheels, that kind of thing, ad I asked her, quite offended I might add, "Just how old do you think I am?!"
She said, "Well you're disabled and receiving SSDI, and so you're in your mid-to-late 50s, and we think that..."
I stopped her and said really offended now, "50's?! You think JUST because I'm disabled and receiving SSDI, that I must be in my 50s?! Do I LOOK like I'm in my 50s?! Seriously?! Seriously. Enough, just stop. Now."
I asked her if there was any other reason that she was here, told her that I do not need any services that the Senior Friendship Center has to offer, what other reason is she here.
She said that she's a social worker and because of Sebastian's truancy, that obviously, there are problems at home, perhaps there's not enough food to eat, that the bills are struggling to be paid, that there are organizations which can help me cover the cost of my medications, bring meals on wheels, and free counseling services for the family so that we can deal with our family issues, and also, most importantly, free counseling for me, because being a disabled and single parent can be extremely difficult and stressful, and so rather than take out my issues on my sons and jeopardizing Sebastian's education, I could talk to someone about it, all free of course.
Mark was sitting on the arm of the sofa near the door end of it, and he had started to laugh, he could see the look on my face, he knew that I was about to lose it.
I told her that I did not need any of those services, that my sons did not need any of those services, we did not need counseling, meals on wheels, that I have insurance to pay for my medications, it's always a struggle to pay the bills but they do get paid every month, and that Sebastian's truancy issues are mostly due to the school seriously messing up his record, and just since Monday, the vice principal has found 47 instances of where he was marked absent incorrectly, and she was still working on it, so no, no, I did not want or need any of the services that she was offering.
She sat there, mouth sort of agape, and then turned to Mark and asked him if he felt that he needed or wanted counseling to deal with our family issues, and did he feel "safe" living at home with me.
Mark started laughing, loudly, and then he said to her, "Seriously?!"
Man, he's so my kid. haha
He told her, "No, I do not need or want any counseling, and yes, I feel very safe living at home with my disabled and single mother who has been raising me and my brother by herself for the last 17 years. She does struggle from time to time, like EVERYBODY DOES, but the lights, phone, water, and internet are all on, there's plenty of food in the fridge, we have clean clothes, and she takes really good care of us. And by the way, for your records, seeing as you're writing things down. She's 40, just turned 40 in March."
She then said that she had nothing else to discuss with me, she guessed, so she asked the truancy worker to talk to me about what he needed to.
He started in about Sebastian's absences, and I asked him if the school had notified him of those 47 instances of where he was marked absent incorrectly and still looking at all of the rest of the dates.
He said that he hadn't, so I said well maybe you should catch up on what page we're on, and then you can come back and talk to me about it.
He said that even though things are being found, Sebastian still needs to not miss a single day for the rest of the year, and I said that I knew that, anything else?
He said no, he guessed not, and so I said, well then, thanks for coming by, and he said to me that I really should take advantage of the services being offered by the social worker, that it sounds like I have some issues that need to be dealt with.
I told him that of course it sounds like I have issues.
The school said that he was absent 80 out of the 156 days passed in the school year, they threatened him with expulsion, people, including him, had called me a liar when I told them that those numbers were absolutely incorrect, and the school has now found that 47 of those absences were incorrect, about all of the trouble we've had in trying to get the school to allow Sebastian to take his medication for his migraines, and that right now, there's a social worker sitting in my house telling me that I'm a mid-50s-aged woman who is depressed, disabled, and a single mother, who needs counseling because I'm taking my problems out on my sons, and a truancy officer with incorrect information about my son's absences from school. Wouldn't HE be upset if this was happening to him in his living room?!?
He said yes, he could totally see my point, sorry for not having updated information, sorry to have insulted me, she apologized for insulting me, and then they said that they would be leaving now.
I said good, thank you, Sebastian will be there for the remainder of the year, migraine or not, and if he does have one, the nurse will be excusing him for home for the rest of the day, a legal and valid excuse that will NOT be held against him, I have the principals word on that, thanks for coming, good-bye, and I escorted them out the door.
Mark busted out laughing before I even finished closing the door.
It did go better than expected, but seriously?!
I mean, come on!
That was just absolutely, just wow.
May 12, 2010
This should be fun.
The truancy worker and a social worker are coming to my house today at 1pm.
There are 15 days of school left for the year, and the truancy worker is just now coming to my house to discuss Sebastian's absences.
This is the same guy who on the phone, was extremely rude to me and called me a liar on the phone on Thursday May 6th.
If he starts talking to me like that in my own home, he will be escorted out by the police.
I'm going to go vac the rugs, they need it.
I'll let you know how it goes.
May 11, 2010
Growing old before my own eyes.
I didn't blog on Monday, I was tired, and not just tired, but exhausted tired.
I'm not sleeping well again, insomnia, restless sleep when I do sleep, gray hairs are sprouting up every single time that I look, and I'm finally starting to look as old as my body feels.
I actually sat here on Monday afternoon reading up on sybervision wrinkle cream reviews.
I read about 7 reviews on that page, I read a bunch on another page, I read about products on their own actual websites, just tons and tons of reading about wrinkle creams because I am not enjoying all these new wrinkles around my eyes and the ones on my forehead.
I must have stared at my face for an hour or so in the bathroom in the early morning hours yesterday, from every angle, scrunching and un-scrunching my face, thinking how much I've physically aged in the last few months.
I'm not liking it.
I spent close to an hour on the phone with the vice principal this morning, didn't really get that far but some of the absences were looked at and investigated, and found to have been marked wrong, incorrectly, just as I had stated they were over and over.
Just knowing that I felt better, but there is still so much they have to fix in these last 17 or so days of school left for the year.
I still don't have answer what I'm supposed to do when he has a severe migraine attack, they are still trying to figure out what to do.
I told them to hurry up, there's not too many days of school left, and if gets one soon, there needs to be an answer.
They said they know and are trying to figure that out.
May 8, 2010
Playing a mean game of catch-up!
As I've said, my life has been in a state of 'what the hell' for about a week and a half now, give or take a few days, probably give rather than take.
I have so much to do, so much to take care of, and I need to be very careful as I have some health issues that could be affected by too much stress, and I need to watch what I eat, and I know that I definitely won't need to take any fat burners because I've barely been eating anything at all during this whole mess of stuff going on in my life, but I do need to eat, and eat a little better.
I'm trying here and that's all that I can do at the moment.
I had a a missing friend/suicide scare, and I'm dealing with Mark's ever progressing genetic spine deformities which may be getting resolved, because Mark's friend Jeff's Grandparents are very close personal friends with Congressman Vern Buchanan, and they've personally spoken with him regarding the situation with Mark, Medicaid, the doctors, all of the problems, and he asked for my phone number, they gave it to him, and he's going to call me directly and speak with me about it and what I need to have happen to help my son.
Not getting my hopes up, but taking a deep breath. *inhale/exhale deeply*
And then all of the school crap with Sebastian, which will be resolved on Monday, hopefully.
As I said, I called and spoke to the vice principal, she threatened Sebastian with expulsion, me with court for failure to provide him an education, and she said that she was going to call me back, but she did not call me back.
That was on Thursday morning when we spoke, 11:34am to be exact, so when I didn't get a call back, I emailed her later on that night at 5:26pm.
I figured that she'd get my email on Friday morning, and either email me back or call me back.
She did neither, so I decided to step it up a bit and I emailed her again, and this time, I CC'd the principal and the superintendent.
I included the principal, because I'm pretty damn sure that the vice principal cannot decide completely on her own to expel a student and take a parent to court.
I'm pretty sure that the principal has to be involved in the decision, and even though I know that the principal already hates me because of all of the problems that we had with Mark being able to graduate with his class last year, I'm feeling pretty positive that she has absolutely no idea what's going on in regards to Sebastian and this threat of expulsion.
And I included the superintendent because of the way that the truancy worker spoke to me, she's his boss, they both work out of the school board building up at The Landings, she really needed to be made aware of how the truancy worker speaks with parents, and also, she needed to be made aware of what was happening with the vice principal and the threats made against Sebastian and myself.
I sent off that very detailed email last night, Friday, May 7, 2010 at 11:43 PM, and I explained every single thing that I know about Sebastian's absences, about the teacher who kept marking him as absent/skipping a class he was no longer even registered in since December, about the dates that we were in Maine where the principal herself had verbally told me in a call that I made to her a week before we left, that she would personally excuse those dates as long as I sent in a detailed letter explaining when we were leaving, returning, and the reason for our trip, which I wrote that same night that I had called and spoke with her and Sebastian took it in the very next day and personally handed it to her, and I wrote out in great detail, the situation with the zero tolerance policy and Sebastian's migraine medications, and everything that I had done to try and get the school to allow him to take his medications at school and was denied every single time.
I wrote out in great detail what happens when Sebastian suffers from 1 of his severe migraine attacks, what happens when he takes his medications on schedule, and what happens to him if he doesn't.
I ended my email by repeating the vice principal's words to me, "If Sebastian misses even 1 more day this year, he will be expelled immediately and you will be taken to court for failure to make sure that your child gets an education", and again, I asked for someone, now 1 of the 3 of them, to tell me exactly what I am supposed to do if Sebastian gets a severe migraine attack on 1 of the last days of school because of the threat of expulsion.
The vice principal couldn't be bothered to call me back on Thursday, and she couldn't be bothered to answer my first email that I sent on Thursday at 5:26pm, but she is obviously very upset about the email that I sent on Friday night to her, the principal, and the superintendent, because at 7:02am today, she finally replied to me, to the email to the 3 of them, with this very upset and almost threatening sounding statement,
"This information regarding my involvement is not entirely accurate! I will make contact on Monday.
Please be aware that all mail sent to and from Sarasota County Schools is subject to the public records law of Florida."
She sent that reply to all of us, and I sent back the following reply to all,
"I am fully aware that all emails sent to and from Sarasota County Schools are subject to the public records law of Florida.
When I did not receive a call back, as promised by you, I felt that I needed to get in contact with you again, and include others, as this is a very important issue that needs to be addressed immediately as school ends on June 4, 2010, and if he suffers another severe migraine attack, I need to know what I am supposed to do."
I'm not afraid of the public records law of Florida, but obviously she is.
I'm going to make sure that on Monday, I have a way to record or document the entire conversation when she calls, and I'm going to let her know that I'm recording or documenting it.
I can put the phone on speaker, and I'm a hella fast typer, I'll just type out everything she says to me word for word so that she can't say that she never said something.
I mean, she's trying to say that her involvement in this is "not entirely accurate!", but what she doesn't know is that as soon as she threatened Sebastian with expulsion the 1st time, I began typing out everything that she said after that, I knew that I needed to document what she saying, so I did.
I had my email open and I just began composing a new email, and when the call was over, I emailed it to myself.
What I posted, is exactly what she said because I had copied it from the email that I composed while on the phone with her.
I don't type in shorthand, but I can type 80 to 95 words per minute, and maybe some of you have guessed that at the sometimes long entries that I type. (like this one, sorry)
I just get going sometimes and just keep going, plus, I've worked in a customer service position for Georgia Power and Gas, (yup, GP&G customer service is located in Sarasota, Florida) where we had to be able to type 35 wpm minimum in order to even get hired for the job.
I filled out the application and was taken over to a computer to take the typing test where several others were also taking it.
Each person was given just 2 tries to meet the 35 wpm minimum.
I heard a few people start cussing, someone slam their chair and and then storm out, and then I sat down to take my test.
We had a piece of paper with about 3 paragraphs of something typed on it, (can't recall after all these years) and we had to type out the entire thing as fast as we could with a minimum of 4 typos and spelling mistakes.
I got myself into a good seating position, got my hands and arms comfy, (knuckles cracked) and I clicked the start button.
I typed out the 3 paragraphs in just under 1.5 minutes, only 2 spelling mistakes, and my speed was clocked at 84 wpm.
I was hired on the spot, so yeah, typing what someone is saying word for word, is something I can easily do and will always do if I feel that I may need to have proof of something said at a later date.
"Not entirely accurate!"
Yeah, that ain't gonna fly with me.
You said it, you meant it, now deal with the consequences of what you so courageously yelled at me.
May 6, 2010
Sarasota County school system can kiss my ass.
I was writing up my post last night, I kept getting interrupted, it's in draft, it's ok, trust me, a post in draft is probably the best damn thing going at the minute.
Because of Sarasota County's Zero Tolerance Policy against drugs, what you see above which includes OTC drugs of any kind including Tylenol, Advil, and oh heaven forbid, a prescription medication for migraines.
Sebastian has missed some school, but I have sent him with a note the very next day, as the school tells us to do, every single time he has a migraine and has had to miss a day here and there for it.
We went through this last year, and seriously debated doing the ol' cough and swallow so he wouldn't miss any days of school at all.
In yesterday's mail, I received a letter from the truancy officer for Sarasota County.
The letter states that Sebastian has missed 87 days of school this year.
He has not.
From the first day back in January after Christmas break, until about 3-4 weeks ago, a certain teacher was intentionally marking him as skipping her 7th period class.
He wasn't skipping her class, he transferred out of it before Christmas break, but apparently, no one notified the teacher, so she marked him as absent from her class every single day, and those missed classes got marked as unexcused, and those absences now count against his absences for the year, so for a total of 87 FULL DAYS MISSED, out of 156 full-time class days.
I called the school, spoke to Dr. Moore, the vice principal in charge of attendance, and she said if Sebastian misses even 1 more day, she's expelling him and making sure that I go to court for failure to make my child get an education.
I asked her what I am supposed to do if he has a severe migraine and because of the zero tolerance policy, he cannot take his prescription meds every 4 hours as prescribed, nor can he have any Tylenol or Advil to even try to fight the migraine off so he doesn't miss school, what am I supposed to do Dr. Moore? Tell me what I'm supposed to do? Send him to school suffering with a migraine that blinds him and every sound makes him feel as though his head is going to explode, please tell me what I'm supposed to do, what would you like me to do Dr. Moore?
Her answer to me was "I have other important things to deal with, but if he misses even 1 more day, he's expelled, and you will be going to court."
Click.
She hung up.
I am so so upset right now, I can barely breathe.
I've been crying non-stop since this morning being called a liar, (the liar thing has to do with this as well, but it's a long story, and I am so fucking upset I just don't even want to type anymore right now) and my blood pressure is through the roof.
My friend showed up here when she called just to say hi, and I could barely even speak, so she brought over her cuff and my BP is 162 over 101, probably the highest it's been in months, and I'm so fucking upset, I can't get myself calmed down, this situation is a huge mess, they won't correct the wrong amount of days absent, they are making threats, and last night, my ankles and feet started to swell up bad, but now they are like swollen to super size and are extremely painful because they are blood clots, and because my BP is up racing, the blood clots are just building up even more rapidly than normal.
I'm so lost on what the fucking hell I'm supposed to do!
What the fuck am I supposed to do!!!
May 1, 2010
His fears and worries.
Mark sent me an email around 4am this morning when he couldn't sleep.
I asked if I could post his email, he shrugged his shoulders, said yeah.
"Hey Mom, we don't talk much about things that bother us. It's just the way we are.
I'm worried about you and me.
For every passing day I get further scared of what is coming and what is not.
I am scared that even If I did college, even if I did find some sort of employment, and whatever else, it would be for nothing. The doctor refuses to respond to us and with my back in pain the way it is, it's a constant reminder of what my life is, and watching you, what my life forever will be.
I'm really sorry if this email upsets you, but I just wanted to get this off of my chest.
I love you Mom.
I love how much you are fighting for me.
I love that no matter how much pain you are in, you are fighting for me anyway, and then I worry about you and how much you're hurting.
This whole thing scares me Mom, all of it.
I just needed to tell you this.
I just needed to tell you that I love you and I'm so proud of you for all of it, for all that you do and try to do.
I so wish that I could make it easier for you, for me, for all of us, I hate seeing how hard you work at this, at fighting for me to get a doctor to help me, and they don't, and then I hear you cry, and I know that I can't do anything at all to help you.
I just need you to know that it matters to me, it matters so much Mom.
I don't always say thank you or I love you, but I do, I love you and I just wanted you to know that, to know I love you and thank you for all of it."
I think I cried for about an hour reading that this morning.
I went in Sebastian's room after he left for school, buried my head in his pillows, and just cried.
I wish I could fix Mark, I wish I could take it all away from him, his pain, his fear, his worries.
I wish so much that I could make it all better.
He thanks me?
He thanks me??
I'm the one who thanks him, I'm the one who has every ounce of pride the world over to have him as my son, he's far too awesome for me to even put into words.
April 12, 2010
The FCAT sucks and serious disappointment.
I will get to writing about our vacation and something really seriously important that I need all you divorced and single parents advice and help with, but I promised to help Sebastian with a project that he has to do.
He emailed me the things he needs from me to help him with a green study that he has to do for part of his project.
My part doesn't look too complicated, his does, but mine is just gathering up some containers and some other supplies, most of which I already have around the house.
That damn FCAT test really sucks.
Remember that Sebastian applied to go to Suncoast Polytechnical High School?
In Saturday's mail, we got a letter and he was so excited, he was shaking as he opened it up, and then he started crying, handed me the letter and ran to his room and cried on his bed.
Because of the FCAT test, because he was off by ONE POINT on the FCAT reading portion of the test, he was not accepted into Suncoast Poly-tech.
ONE. FREAKING. POINT.
He's absolutely crushed, he really wanted to go there so bad, he did amazing on his tests and essays for the application, he got letters of reference from his teachers, but the damn FCAT and one stupid point is keeping him out of that great school.
ONE POINT!!!
It's so not fair.
February 27, 2010
Window shopping and dinner out.
I was really hoping to be able to find a desktop gaming pc on sale at Buy.com a little sooner, but it hasn't turned out that way.
Did I mention in the post that we are wanting a gaming pc?
I didn't?
Well yeah, seeing as the teens really only use the computer for playing WoW and other video games, Sebastian does all of his digital design stuff on the mini-netbook, they use the desktop to play WoW and do a few other things, but mostly gaming.
Buy.com does have a couple of refurbished desktops on sale this week, an HP, and a Dell, but they really aren't built for what we are needing, so we're going to do a look in-store later this afternoon and see what we can find, check out prices, and then I'll probably come back to Buy.com and see if they have a good gaming pc in stock to get.
They do have some other great stuff on sale though, like a Kingston 4GB microSDHC Card, for just $12 bucks with free shipping, which I could use either in my camera or in my cell phone.
I did buy myself a new cell phone today, I bought a Kyocera X-tc, I bought it for my birthday present to myself on Monday.
It was totally on sale too, just $59 down from $129, so yeah, I got a really great deal on a birthday present for myself.
They also have the hard rubberized cases for the X-tc, I want the purple one, but it's currently not in stock in that color, so I'll add it to my wish list to get later on.
Those are only $6.55 including the shipping, so yeah, I'll add that for a later date purchase.
What?
How old will I be turning?
40.
Yuh.
The big 4-0.
I feel like I'm 80 today, the cold and rain are kicking my butt, but after we get done doing some window shopping for the pc and go out to eat with sis and Susan, I'm going to come home, take a long hot shower, and bundle up under some warm blankets for the rest of the day and night, maybe curl up on the couch with my blankets and use the netbook from there for awhile.
Ok, this soon-to-be 40 year old needs to go get myself ready to go, hair brushed, teeth, clean clothes, ha ha.
Later days!
February 17, 2010
Nothing better happen to their identities.
Remember the class action against the school and the Princeton Review?
The letters about the settlement must have come while I was down sick and the teens didn't want to bother me with them then, but Sebastian just handed me the letters that they both got concerning the class action suit.
It's been settled and so the teens will each get some credit protection.
Students under the age of 18 at the time of the settlement, will get 2 years of enrollment in Child Scan from Debix.
Students over the age of 18 will get 2 years of OnCall credit monitoring from Debix.
All members of the class will also get $25,000 of Identity Theft Insurance Coverage, as well as a $1million dollar Service Guarantee for the 2 year service period.
If either or both of the teens do become victims of identity theft during the 2 year service period, they will be given an additional year of service at no cost.
_________________
If they become victims of identity theft during the 2 year service period, obviously the service is not reliable and sucks.
If it does happen, if either of their identities get stolen and their credit gets ruined, the monitoring of their credit during the 2 years will be like trying to use lip balm to cure herpes simplex instead of using an actual treatment.
I have to sign the teens up for this, I have to opt-in for the monitoring, and believe me, I am going to, and I am also going to see what kind of credit clean-up Debix is going to provide if their identities and credit DO get messed up.
This whole thing still infuriates me to no end.
I have gone out-of-my-way-crazy to protect their identities and social security numbers.
Whenever the teens have any kind of appointment and I get asked for their SS numbers, I always ask why they are needed.
If the reason is simply "for their records", I don't provide it.
I will be furious if anything actually does happen to their credit and identities.
Knowing what it's like to try and fix after having my own information stolen and used by my ex-mother-in-law, I know exactly how hard it is to try and sort out, to just try to clean up.
I had to prove to several utility companies out in Utah, that I had never lived there, ever.
I had to send them proof of my residence during the years that she, my ex-mother-in-law, had rented apartments and set up utilities in my name.
I had to send them 5 years of my own utility bills from living here in Florida, I had to call both FPL and the Sarasota County water, and have them send me 5 years of billing and payment history, to prove that I could not have possibly lived and had utilities in 2 different states at the same time.
I also had to send them proof of residence in other ways, other mail that I received during those 5 years, "official" mail, not just letters or cards from friends, but bills or official government mail.
I managed to get all of the utility bills cleared up, I am not responsible for the ones in Utah, but I am still fighting with 3 other states where she moved around to (probably after getting caught) and the utility companies she set up with, to prove that it wasn't me.
I have only lived in 2 states my entire life, Maine and Florida, so just having to try to prove that I have never lived in Utah, New Hampshire, California, and Texas, is aggravating.
She even got credit cards in a few of those places she lived, in my name, and then ran up those credit cards and never paid them off.
My credit is so ruined and I've been trying to clean it up for years, ever since I learned what she had done to me.
She had done it to her own daughter too, to Aunt Heather.
When Heather was just 6 years old, she put a phone in Heather's name so when Heather grew up and tried to get her own phone in Maine, she had to prove that she was just 6 years old at the time her mother ran up a $5,000 phone bill, that she was far too young to ever even consent to getting phone service.
Heather and Great-Gram had to go to the phone company in person, bring her birth certificate and school records from kindergarten, to prove she was just a little 6 year old girl and unable to get a phone.
And what she's done to us is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are many other family members on their side who have strange occurrences on their credit reports, too, that they have also been trying to clear up for years.
Sheila made a huge mess for a lot of us that we've been trying to fix ever since we learned about what she had done.
I will be so freaking angry if anything like what has happened to me happens to the teens identities.
I have worked so hard to protect it.
February 8, 2010
For faster, easier control while gaming, and school, Mom.
Sebastian found a mouse that he wants, and now Mark wants it after seeing it, too, to be able to do everything much faster while playing their pc video games like WoW.
They want a Kensington SlimBlade Trackball.
This trackball has a lot of features that can be used to control much more than just navigational like clicking the cursor and scrolling, and it can be all be done with a few spins of the trackball, and a few clicks of some buttons that my trackball doesn't have.
The multi-function ball navigates through music, videos, pictures, and documents, using media and document mode.
It can also control cursor and scrolling, volume control, play/pause, stop, and next; zoom in/out, and pan, all with the ball, all of it right at your fingertips.
The teens both said that this would make playing WoW much easier, they could be faster at stuff in game, and then Sebastian said it would also come in very handy for his digital stuff that he does for school.
Got me.
What didn't get me was the price of it.
Some online e-tailers have it for as much as $199.99.
Ouch.
I found it slightly cheaper at one for $149.99, and then Buy.com, which has become one of my most favorite places to shop, has it for just $129.99 all of the time.
This week, they have it on sale for just $75.99 and free shipping.
*sigh*
I would love to get it for them this week, especially since it's priced so low, but I can't do it this week.
I just got done paying an outrageous electric bill for their once every 3 years security deposit updates, and my website/domain hosting is due next week, so this will have to wait for awhile, like maybe for an upcoming birthday, or maybe when I get my income taxes back, (after I file them of course) or maybe for an upcoming holiday or something like that.
At $129.99 all of the time, that's not too too bad for a price, and can be do-able if I plan for it far enough in advance.
January 28, 2010
I am so proud of Sebastian.
I haven't been feeling very well at all since last Thursday, I have an intestinal thing, that's all anyone really needs to know as I'm sure if you've ever had some sort of intestinal thing, you know all too well what I'm dealing with.
Anyway, Sebastian is doing so well in his digital design class and in his technology class, that a teacher has helped him prepare for something greater than where he's at right now.
There is a special high school here in town called Suncoast Polytechnical High School, that specializes in technology based programs.
You can read a bit more about them at that link, but their mission is as follows;
The mission of Suncoast Polytechnical High School is
to provide a highly personalized educational experience where students master a rigorous career and technology driven curriculum within a thematic, analytical, and interactive teaching and learning environment.Vision
It is the Vision of Suncoast Polytechnical High School to be recognized for providing a world-class technical education.
Not only do the students have to adhere to some very strict classes and rules to stay in the school or be dropped back to their regular district high school, but the parents also have to do certain things to help their student stay at SPHS.
Parents have to volunteer 15 hours per year in the booster program or in the classroom, they have to check their students work every single week and sign-off on it, they have to be able to provide a computer and high speed internet connection, and they have to make sure their student attends every single day.
Any mistakes in following the rules by either the student or parent, results in the student being dropped back to their regular district high school.
Part of the admission process is to write an entrance essay explaining why they want to attend SPHS, and tonight Sebastian had me read his entrance essay.
I was absolutely blown away by how amazingly articulate he has become, what he stated as his career goals, and some of the reasons why he wants to work in the technology field, what he excels at, what he wants to excel at, and what his future employment plans are after attending SPHS and post-secondary school.
He also stated that he wants to improve his life, to not have to struggle to make ends meet like his mother has for so many years.
He explained in his essay about me and my work ethics before my body quit on me, the surgeries which completely changed my life and theirs, and how during the last surgery, I died twice on the table, had my lung collapse, and ended up in a medical coma for 4 days.
He explained that almost losing the only parent that has ever been there for him, that has worked so hard to provide for him and his brother, and still tries to provide the best that I can for my children, but struggles every day to make ends meet, to give them everything that they need, that he wants to be the absolute best that he can be at a career that he absolutely loves to do, so that once he's made it and providing well for himself, that he will be able to take care of me when I'm older and on my own.
He said,
"My mom has always been there for me, she provided not only my needs, but also provided me with all of the love, support, and encouragement, that has enabled me to have the courage to follow my dream career. I could not do any of this without her, even with all of her own physical limitations and problems, she has never once told me that I couldn't do anything that I wanted to do. My mom has always told me that if I want it, go get it, fight for it, be the absolute best that you can be, and that you will have the career of your dreams, the life of your dreams, and be able to stand up and be equal to any other person applying for those dream technology New York jobs where I want to live and work. Once I make it there, once I make my dream job come true through attending SPHS and any further education that I want to pursue, I want to be able to give back to the woman who has stood by me my entire life, loved me, supported me, and encouraged me to reach for this and to never let it go. If you allow me to attend SPHS, I will work hard for you, I will give you my all, and my mother will be here for the parents portion of enrollment, and then you will see where I learned to go after my dreams.
Thank you for your consideration in allowing me to attend SPHS for the 2011- 2012 school year. "
The giveaway for the book Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops will close at midnight tonight, Thursday the 28th, and the 5 winners will be drawn.
So far, only 5 people have entered, so if no one else enters, all 5 of them will automatically win a copy of it.
So if you'd like a chance to win a copy, you have until midnight tonight to get your entries in.
January 12, 2010
Dragging butt and coming down.
I haven't felt like myself over the last few days, not at all.
I'm not sure if I'm coming down with something, or just in a total funk.
All I know is I don't feel right, I feel off center of myself, out of place, out of whack.
I know something is wrong because normally, a few days after the holidays are over, I take down all of the xmas decorations.
Nope, they are all still up.
The teens don't care, they said just leave them up year round, I'm all like no, people will think I'm totally nuts if I leave them up all year long, so they told me to take them down if I don't want to be called nuts.
Problem is, I can't seem to take them down.
I look at them, tell myself to take them down, yet I can't, I just have no motivation at all to take them down, box them all up, and put them all away.
I dunno.
Maybe it's the after holidays blues kicking in and kicking me hard, I'm down and dragging butt, just want to lay on the couch and sleep with the kitties.
I am waking Sebastian up for school every day, that's a plus, and I am talking to Mark about school, there's another, yet I can't seem to motivate myself to put the damn decorations away.
A friend of Mark's is also talking to him about school, so maybe he will decide to do it soon.
He needs to do something other than sleep and play video games, and feel bad about stuff.
Oh, and enter my contest to win 1 of 5 copies of Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops, or at least spread the word on your blog and Twitter, please and thanks.
January 5, 2010
Even the hot water is cold.
It's taking about 1 minute to warm up the tap water in the kitchen and bathroom, and I don't want Sebastian to step into a freezing cold shower when he has to take his shower for school, so when the alarm goes off at 6am and I get up to use the bathroom before waking him, I'll turn on the shower to get it warmed up and ready for him.
The water is seriously cold coming out of the faucets.
Our hot water heater isn't inside the house, it's in a closet in the carport, like where we keep the lawn mower and and outdoor junk, so the water tank is super cold from the cold weather we're having.
That's Carmine kitty up there.
He's sound asleep on 1 of our quilts, and Sebastian covered him up in my baby blanket.
About an hour or so later I went to check on Sebastian because he's got a cold and not feeling well, and I found that Carmine had rolled around and got himself all curled up in the blanket.
It was just too cute so I had to take a picture.
I pet him and he started purring wicked loud, I know that he's happy to be inside at night.
He goes in and out all day long, and at night when you open the door and call his name, he comes running to get back in the house because he's so cold.
He gets in, runs straight for the food bowl, gets a drink, and then he finds a blanket to curl up on to try and get warm.
When he came in tonight, he laid right in front of the portable heater for about an hour, his fur was so hot, I thought to myself how could he stand it, but I guess after being outside all day long in the chilly weather, it was exactly what he needed.
But yeah, both Sebastian and Mark have colds, they are coughing, sneezing, and just plain miserable.
Sebastian had a bit of a fever before bed, so I don't even know if he's going to be able to go to school tomorrow.
The school has rules about fevers, if you have one, stay home.
That's just great huh?
He's perfectly healthy and fine for the entire Christmas vacation, and he ends up catching a wicked cold the weekend before he has to back to school.
Ugh.
December 16, 2009
Our new netbook is here!
The netbook that I ordered for Sebastian to use at school and for his digital design projects came today!
It wasn't supposed to be here until Friday, but FedEx really kicked some major butt getting it here.
Just yesterday the 15th, it was in Anchorage Alaska, and FedEx somehow got it from there to Memphis Tennessee, and then to Tampa, and to Sarasota between 3:30pm yesterday and today at 5:21am.
That is freaking outstanding delivery time!
It's an HP Mini 110, it has 1 GB DDR2 RAM, a 160GB Hard Drive, comes with WinXP, about a 7 hour battery life, a bunch of games were installed which Sebastian just loved checking out, it all a ton of programs and features to it, it's a pretty great little netbook.
I spent some time checking it out, it's going to be really handy to have around when Sebastian isn't using for school.
I figure it will be prefect for those days when I'm not feeling well or in a lot of pain and just not able to do anything but lay on the couch, that I'll be able to use it and get my work done from the couch.
It comes setup for wireless, so I set up the wireless network connection, it searched for all available signals in the area, ours showed up in the list first, but I saw 5 of my neighbors connections in the list.
They were all secure which is nice to see, nobody can steal their wi-fi signals, but I set it all up and Sebastian then checked it out from every room of the house...hahaha
December 9, 2009
I think it's the paint.
I am really starting to think that it's the paint at the high school that is causing Sebastian to keep getting migraines.
Starting the last week of November, Sebastian started a new class that he takes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
He needs to take and pass this class to earn the required English credit for graduation.
This class is the 2nd period of the day, and every time he has this class, he ends up getting a headache that ends up turning into a migraine at some point during the day or night.
He had the class Monday, had a headache for the rest of the day, and then had the explosive migraine that night at 1am.
He had that class again today, the class starts at 8:45am, and within an hour, he had a headache.
I wasn't home for most of the day, I had my doc appointment, but he sent me this email when he got to his digital design class at 11:45am.
Hey when I get home do we have any Tylenol or Advil something like that.
I got another migraine so I want to get something when I get home.
I asked him a few hours ago, after giving the medicine a chance to work, questions about that particular classroom.
Questions like, was it recently painted, does the teacher wear perfume, do any girls in class wear perfume, do any of the guys wear cologne, can he smell anything harsh like paint or a chemical?
He said his teacher says that perfumes are bad for people so she doesn't ever wear any, he does not sit near any of the girls or guys in the class because he likes to sit near the back of the room away from people because it gives him a little bit of privacy so he can concentrate better, and he said that the class always has a slight smell of paint.
Aha!
He doesn't get headaches every day, only on the days he has this class, the class is at the same time every day, and the room always smells a little bit like paint.
Smells can trigger headaches and migraines, I know this because I get perfume/scent headaches, and certain perfumes and scents cause me to have an instant migraines.
The scents that cause me to have an instant and excruciating migraine are cinnamon and vanilla.
I love cinnamon rolls, I love the taste of them, but I cannot inhale the smell of them too deeply or this food that I love to eat will give me a blinding migraine from breakfast time straight on through the entire day.
At this time of year at Publix, they sell these stupid and absolutely horrid cinnamon brooms and they place them at both store entrances and at various locations throughout the store.
I can go from the dairy aisle and take a left into the deli section and get ambushed by the scent of those brooms and have an instant migraine that makes the rest of my grocery shopping an absolute nightmare.
The vanilla perfume that causes the instant migraine is Vanilla Fields
I know that perfume as soon as I get even the slightest whiff of it.
I first started getting migraines from it when I worked at Pier 1 Imports.
There were 3 (three!) girls who worked there that wore it, and a whole hell of a lot of it.
Ugh.
It would suck when all 3 of them worked on the same day, I would beg the manager to let me work in the stockroom all day because if I had to be on the sales floor with those 3 girls, I would be be curled up in 1 of the papasan chairs and crying by the end of the day.
Strong scents, perfumes, spices, and chemical scents, can causes headaches for almost anybody, but for people who are susceptible to migraines, those scents can turn a regular easy-to-kill with Tylenol headache, into a migraine that just makes you want to chop your own head off.
I really believe that it is the slight smell of paint in that 1 classroom that is causing Sebastian's migraines.
Last year he was getting migraines almost every single day.
Last year the school was being built, there was a ton of construction and painting going on every single day, so he was getting headaches and migraines almost every single day.
Sebastian has to take this class 3 days a week, he has to get this credit in order to graduate, and there is no other teacher in his grade level teaching this class, so he has to be in this classroom 3 days a week.
The school has the most absurd rules about stuff like Tylenol if I wanted to try and help him stave off the impending migraine, too.
No student can have or use any Tylenol or other OTC medication at or on any part of the school property, or face suspension with their zero tolerance policy concerning drugs.
Even if a student has a prescription and a letter from a doctor, they cannot have their pain medicine at school.
We went through this last year when he had to take a migraine medicine every 6 hours, they refused to let him take it at school, they wouldn't even dispense it to him in the school nurses office, it was this huge hassle and that's when I asked them about Tylenol and other OTC meds.
They had the same response, no medications, zero tolerance, but if I wanted to, I could appeal it at the school board, they would investigate the students need for the medication, I would have to give my written consent for them to contact the doctor and find out how much the medication was really needed to be taken.
It was basically a do or die kind of thing, like, was Sebastian's head going to explode if he couldn't take the medication at exactly every 6 hours?
Would he survive if he took 1 dose before he left home in the morning, and then didn't take the next dose until he got home?
He would survive?
Thank you doctor.
Sorry Ms. Cooper, Sebastian will not die if he can't take it at school, so our original decision holds, he will not be taking his medication at school, thank you, and now shut the fuck up.
There were quite a few days last year when I had him stick 2 Tylenol in his pocket before he left home, and I told him how to take them if he started getting a headache.
I told him that when the bell rang and everyone was changing classes in the hallway, to reach into his pocket, grasp the pills in his hand and when he got near a water fountain, start coughing really hard, cover his mouth with his hand so he doesn't spread the germies, pop the Tylenol into his mouth, and then get a drink at the fountain and keep on going to his next class.
If he continues to get these migraines every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we may just have to start doing the cough and swallow trick again.
It's absolutely pathetic that we have to do that, that any student has to do that.
I know that Mindy's son Jeff had to do that when he injured his foot and was wearing 1 of those boots, they wouldn't let him take his prescription pain meds either, so Mindy did the same as us, cough and swallow.
I hate that we have to break the rules, and I know that if he gets caught doing the cough and swallow he will be suspended for a minimum of 1 week, but knowing that he is getting horrible migraines makes me feel like I have no choice but to break the rules.
His migraine was barely starting to fade away at 9pm, but he finally felt like it was easing up enough to where he could try to sleep, so he went to bed around 9:45pm, and I went and checked on him around 10:15pm, and he was asleep, so I'm hoping that the migraine goes away completely, that he won't wake up screaming later on tonight.
I'm not tired at all, so I'll keep checking on him all night until I do feel like going to bed.
Migraines are truly the suck, both for the person who suffers from them, and for the people caring for the sufferers.
I really hate seeing him hurting so much, I hate seeing the pale and pained face, I hate hearing him cry in a barely audible whisper because even crying normally makes it hurt even more.
I wish there was a safe medication that he only needed to take once a day every day, and it would make it so that migraines never happened at all, and if they did, that it would quickly disappear.
That would be awesome, but so far the only meds sort of like that have terrible side effects, and I refuse to make him end up having chronic diarrhea, chronic dry mouth, heart palpitations, urinary problems, or any of the other multitude of side effects from those medications.
Looks like it will be the ol' cough and swallow trick 3 days a week.
December 8, 2009
Explosive migraines and shopping.
Around 1 am, Sebastian woke up screaming from an explosive migraine.
Mark was awake and playing a video game, I was out here playing around online, and we both heard him screaming, so the both of us ran in there to see what was wrong.
I turned on the light and ran to his bedside and asked what was wrong while brushing his hair out of his eyes.
He was crying and clutching his head, all he could say was "migraine, help me", so I had Mark grab a t-shirt for Sebastian and help him put it on while I ran out to the kitchen to turn on the water and let it get a little colder, and then I came to my desk where I keep my meds and I got out a Hydrocodone, and went back to the kitchen to fill his cup with cold water.
Hydrocodone is basically Vicodin, and Sebastian's doctor has put him on that before so I know it's ok to give it to him.
I had him swallow down the pill and then lay on the couch to try and relax.
I sat next him and rubbed his forehead and temples gently while having him slowly inhale deeply through his nose, and exhale deeply through his mouth.
These things, the breathing and massaging of the head while waiting for the pain pill to kick in, help migraine sufferers relax while waiting for the med to kick in.
If they don't calm down, the migraine can get much worse, especially with Sebastian.
He goes into panic mode and starts breathing really fast and hard, and then he starts crying, and then the migraine gets even bigger, so doing the breathing and massaging for about 10 minutes while waiting for the med to kick in, works extremely well in preventing the exploding migraine from getting any worse.
I suffer from migraines myself, I get about 1 or 2 per month, but I have gotten the exploding migraines in my sleep before, it's very painful, so painful that it feels like you've just been shot in the head at point blank range, like the gun was touching your head when it was fired.
It's not a migraine that comes on slowly, it just explodes in your head, all of a sudden, you have a migraine, BANG! there it is, an explosive migraine that drops you to your knees.
I feel so bad that he gets migraines so often, but at least it's not like last year where he was having 1 just about every other day, he's now only getting them about once per week.
I finally made up my mind and did it.
I bought the netbook tonight.
I won't be needing to buy any laptop memory for the netbook, it has a 160GB hard drive, and 1GB DDR2 system memory already, so that should be plenty for what Sebastian is needing it for for school.
YaY!
December 7, 2009
Only 9 days till Christmas vacation?!
Ack!
In just 9 days Sebastian will be on Christmas vacation, or winter break as they are now calling it so as not to offend anyone.
I really wish people would get off of that battle, there are bigger things to argue about than what to say to people, either Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, it's no big deal.
I say Merry Christmas and I'm an atheist.
Oh my! The horrors!...LoL
I will be doing the shopping for the teens Christmas gifts next week.
I know, so late, but I am waiting for a few things to go on sale.
I'm so glad the boys are older, they know and understand the financial situation, so they don't ask for a million things anymore, and they also don't ask for super expensive things anymore.
I remember when they were little, every single commercial for a toy, they wanted that toy, they had to have it.
Little kids are just naturally greedy.
They don't mean to be, they just get that way at Christmas, they get excited because they believe in Santa Claus and want everything that they can get or think Santa will bring them.
Now that they are older and know Santa is not real and know that it's me, mommy, who buys all of the gifts, they know that they cannot ask for everything they see, but they do ask for just 1 big item that they would like to have.
They both want Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360, and they also want something for the World of Warcraft game.
Something about a character transfer I think, I don't know, I don't pay any attention to that game at all, it bores me to be honest, I cannot understand why people get so addicted to playing it.
All I want is some more memory for my new pc to make it really fly and also be able to handle my Sims3 game way better.
It can handle it right now, but with 4GB of memory, it will be spectacular!
December 2, 2009
Acceptance.
When I got home from the ER tonight, Mark told me that he's ok with it all now, he's ok with the spine issues that he has.
He said that he woke up today and it was like a switch got flipped on, and he's decided that he's not going to let it ruin his life or stop him from doing something to help others.
He knows that he can't be a police officer, but he still wants to work with people, for people, to help people in some way in the civilian service industry.
He's talking doing crime scene investigations, dispatcher work, managing people, or maybe even getting some fire service training for some work.
He knows he can't physically be a fireman, but he can do administrative work, dispatching, he can get a masters in public safety administration too, he has a lot of options so he's open to checking out many different things now rather than his previous attitude of giving up on everything including his own life.
He said he wants to get his drivers license now where before he didn't even want to do that, and he also said that he wants to get a part time job of some sort while he takes some classes at MCC, which is now calling itself State College of Florida.
He was on the site today looking at what kind of classes they offer in public safety, he said he found some classes that are interesting to him, so he would like my help filling out his school applications and the financial aide forms as well.
He's finally at the point of acceptance with all of this, and I am soo happy to hear him say that!
It was so hard watching him be depressed and angry, it was hell getting into arguments with him over him lashing out at Sebastian and I, to hear him say he's ready to move forward is just so awesome I can't even tell you!
Tomorrow, I'm going to do the best I can to help him fill out applications for everything that he needs at MCC, get the info on the driving class so he can get his license, and everything else too.
This is such good news!
Yay!! (*applause*)
Continue Reading �
November 23, 2009
Stressed up to here.
I've been down sick and seriously fatigued for the last few days due to stress.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it multiple times, that when I get super stressed out, my body revolts and makes me super sick.
It's my body's way of saying "Hey! Kat! Slow the hell down woman, you're killing us in here!".
It's just been non-stop arguing with Mark about all of this, and arguing with Sebastian about school, and arguing with an insane teacher who keeps calling me, and just all kinds of stuff.
The approval for physical therapy came in today's mail, so I tried talking to Mark about it, tried to get him to realize that he can do it even though the doc told him nothing more strenuous than going for a walk, but the doc ordered the PT, so yes, he can do some workouts just not do really crazy stuff.
I'm going to set his appointments up with the same place that I went for my PT because that guy who works there really knows what he's doing, and they will be having Mark use some of the fitness equipment that they have there to help him build up his core, make it stronger, it's part of the PT orders that he do mostly core strengthening exercises.
But as it's been for the last several weeks, Mark argues about it, he argues about everything.
I really try to not argue back, but I can't help it.
When he starts snapping at me, starts giving me the eye, I feel like I have to defend myself.
I hate this, I really hate this.
Then this morning, my landlord showed up, said he needed the rent for December early, way early, because of the property taxes that are due, so I needed to give him the rent.
I didn't have it all, so I had to find a way to get it.
I got it and then called him so he could come back and get it, but man, that sucked having to get it all so early.
He apologized about it, said that the property taxes came due, he needed to get down to the city and pay it no later than 10am tomorrow morning, said he got the letter in the mail this morning, and so he had to rush to all of the apartments he owns and get everyone to pay early so he could pay the property taxes and while he's there, he said he's going to yell at them about mailing stuff so late that it makes it hard for people to come up with that kind of money in a little over 24 hours.
But it's all paid now, my rent for next month is all paid, so at least I can stop stressing about that.
Money is a huge stress-er for me, it's always on my mind, and I hate it.
I hate how money causes me so much stress.
Oh well, it's all done now, dinner is done cooking too, so I'm going to go feed my boys and try to have a peaceful evening with no fighting and stuff.
November 19, 2009
Trying to clean for an in-home visit.
A counselor is coming here this afternoon to talk with us as a family, to see how she can help us, what kind of things can be done to help us.
I know I still haven't explained in detail what's going on here, I will, not right now, but I will.
Obviously though, it's serious enough to get this counselor here as soon as possible because this is becoming so much bigger than I can take care of on my own.
So this morning, I grabbed my box cutter and broke down the box from the computer, started some laundry, dusting, and general cleaning of the house so it doesn't look like a total sty in here when she arrives.
I will try to post the how and the why and how it all went later on, I just have a ton of stuff that I am going through right now, so many things are now way down on my list of to-do's.
And I need a cig in the worst possible way right now. Bad habits are the suck, I know, but damn, way too much stress happening for me right now.
Blah.
November 9, 2009
My computer is dead.
I managed to fix the bad caller error, but then when I went to plug it back in, nothing.
I tried for hours and hours to fix it, but it simply will not come back on, it won't boot up, nothing.
The power lights flash for about a half of a second, and then that's it, nothing at all.
I am using the teens pc at the moment, but I can't use it all of the time for work and stuff, Sebastian does school work on it, Mark plays games on it, plus it's on desk and their monitor is at an angle that makes it very difficult for me to see and use, it hurts my neck very bad to sit like this.
I've made like a gazillion typos while writing this entry and had to come back and fix them all after publishing it.
I don't know what to do right now, I use my pc for work, I can't afford to get a new one right now, I won't be able to get a new one until tax time.
Wow, this sucks so fucking much.
I need my computer to work, without work, I won't have any money at all, I won't even be able to try to make money and try to save money to buy a new one.
I can only sit here at their pc for so long before it really starts to hurt me and I have to get off of it and go lay down, it's painful sitting here like this, no wonder Mark complains about his back hurting after sitting here for so long.
So anyway, if I don't reply to emails or you don't see much from me, this is why, my computer has gone to the big pc dead world.
October 23, 2009
Mark wants a Criminal Justice Degree, and I think online may be the way to go for now.
It's looking more and more like the best thing that Mark could do for him and his future, would be to get an online degree in some of the courses that he's interested in.
I know that there are some colleges, I even think a few of the local state colleges, offer courses in criminal justice and law like he wants to get into, and then he could take a few other courses to get a degree in something else too, something to fall back on in case he ends up not being able to do what he wants to do.
Maybe go for an online business degree plus the criminal justice degree, and then he'd have some extra skills and education even if he can do law enforcement if things turn out well for him medically.
Today was just a rough day for him on this subject.
He got 3 college fliers in the mail today, and as soon as he saw them, he looked upset.
He asked me to just stop giving these to him when they come in the mail, to just put them in the trash, it's upsetting him to see them when his life and future career is currently in limbo due to his spine problems.
I hate seeing him upset like this, I hate seeing him look and feel discouraged, and I keep trying to tell him that this whole thing isn't written in stone, that he's young, that maybe his spine issues aren't as grim as it looks right now, that we can get a second opinion, we can take him to my surgeon and see what he says, that maybe this can all be fixed pretty easily.
But for now, he can take some courses at a fully accredited online college, do it from home, from the comfort of our own home on his own time, take breaks when he needs to lay down and rest his back, but still be able to get an education that will help him in whatever career he ends up in in the future so that he can support himself and have a good life.
After we talk, he seems a bit more upbeat and seems to be encouraged, but I honestly think that he just smiles and says all of that to make me feel better.
I really think that he's completely bummed out about the whole thing, so he just tells me that he will consider online education and degrees in other career paths to comfort me.
I think he's really feeling like his spine issues are going to prevent him from living his dream job and the thought of not being able to do it, the thought of having to use a fall-back degree for a different career, is just killing him inside.
I wish I knew what to do or say to make him really feel better, but I know that he's watched what has happened to me and just has no hope at all for himself.
October 18, 2009
Considering a mini.
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.
Continue Reading �
October 15, 2009
Filing a formal complaint.
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.
October 13, 2009
What to do if things are bad?
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.
October 5, 2009
Sickness, movies, and mice.
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
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.
September 4, 2009
Class action suit against the school.
In today's mail, both the teens got letters from a lawyer group about a class action lawsuit.
I hadn't heard or read anything about it, usually you see ads for class actions on tv, in commercials, I'm constantly seeing class actions for mesothelioma and all kinds of other stuff like Heparin and stuff, but this is a class action suit against the Sarasota County school district and the Princeton Review.
Last year ALL of the students of ALL of the county's high schools had to go onto the Princeton Review website and enter in all of their personal information in order to take practice SATs and other tests.
What kind of personal information?
ALL of it.
Name, address, date of birth, phone number and social security number.
If a student didn't have their SS# on hand, the school filled it in for them.
Well a girl who graduated this year with Mark, went to the Princeton Review website and found all of her information posted publicly.
And then she found every single other student's information posted as well.
Thousands of teenagers SS#'s were posted to the website along with all of the information needed to commit identity theft if someone was going to do that.
The girl and her family hired a lawyer who has now started a class action suit.
If your kids got a letter in the mail, it means that their information was publicly posted to the website, they are automatically part of the class.
Both my sons got letters.
ALL of their information was posted, anyone could have taken it and tried to commit identity theft with it, along with thousands of other students in this county.
This is so unbelievable to me.
I have protected the teens SS#s like a rabid guard dog because my ex-mother in law stole my information and destroyed my credit, I didn't want it to happen to the teens, but thanks to the county school board and the Princeton Review, it may have happened anyway.
I'm still reading through the 5 page letter, all about the class suit, what will happen if it goes forward, if they win, if they lose, settle, whatever.
I'm just so flabbergasted about it.
No one knows exactly how long all of that information was posted publicly, but it was all there for anyone to look at and take any information that they wanted to take and thousands of teenagers credit could be completely ruined.
September 3, 2009
He can't have this one!
Once again, Sebastian has to have a usb drive to take back and forth to school for his digital design class, and he wants to take my Sims3 plumbomb usb drive.
I gave him my other usb drive, but he wants that one because it's cool looking, it's a corporate usb drive, a special logo drive.
You can get usb drives that look like all kinds of things now.
Candy bars, beers, video games, all kinds of stuff, and Sebastian was telling me that a lot of the other kids have cool looking drives, so he wants to take my Sims3 drive because no one else has one like it, but that they all have "cool ones".
I think he'd say anything to be able to take my drive to school, I seriously doubt that everyone has a cool usb drive, seriously doubt it.
He has been asking me every single day this week if he can please, pretty please take it, mom, please, and I keep saying no, it's mine, and then he pouts and waits a few hours to ask me again.
I might let him take it for like 1 day, but I don't want some other kid stealing it ya know?
I need to think about it some more.
August 30, 2009
Too hot to move.
It was too hot to go anywhere today like I wanted to do, so it will all have to wait until tomorrow.
The temp was about 90degrees, but the heat index was way up there.
It's going to be like that all week too.
Temps in the 90's with a chance of rain every single day.
We are officially in the rainy season.
I wanted to go and do the grocery shopping today, get it all over with, but it was just way too hot to go out there.
Heck, it's hot just sitting in the house with the AC on and a box fan aimed right at me from less than 4 feet away.
I'll do everything that I wanted to do today, tomorrow after I get done taking Mark to the doctor's office.
Mark has an appointment at 1:30pm with the doctor to look at his back, it's been bothering him for quite a long time now, and I am horribly worried that some of what I have has passed onto him, so I'm taking him to get checked out.
After that, we'll go the pharmacy to get 2 of my scripts filled and if the doc gives him anything, and then we'll do the shopping.
We'll just do everything in one trip so we don't waste time or have to be out in the heat for too long.
Ok, time for dinner.
Later days!
August 26, 2009
Trying to pick up the pieces. Still.
Ok, so yesterday didn't go quite so well.
Sebastian didn't have a good day at school, the students are being bombarded with a ton of new rules, the teachers are as well, so the teachers are frustrated and upset, and taking it out on their students.
If a student asks to go to the bathroom, before the teacher agrees to let them go, the entire class is subjected to a lecture about the new bathroom policy.
Students are given a maximum of 3 minutes to use the restroom, that's it.
If a security guard sees them go in, they start timing the students, if they go over 3 minutes, the student is taken to the office, and then the principal or vice principal decides if the student will be given detention.
Then the student is give a hall pass, and warned about the 3 minutes, and so the students are pretty much running to the bathroom, going as fast as they can, and getting back to class before the 3 minutes are up or a security guard catches them in the bathroom or hall.
Lunch is still also a problem.
There are hundreds of students trying to get lunch and eat it in just 20 minutes.
The lines are long, kids are pushing and rushing just trying to get and eat their lunches, and if the bell rings and the students aren't done yet, the security guards make them be done by taking their lunch trays and dumping them in the trash, and then rushing the students out of the cafeteria.
500+ students all trying to get their lunches at the same time is making the cafeteria workers stressed out, so they are yelling at the kids, each other, and the security guards.
It was just a super stressful day Sebastian said, and he brought the stress home with him.
He did ok for the first few hours that he was home, and then he slowly started blowing up.
He started arguing with Mark, then arguing with me, and then yelling at both Mark and I about all kinds of things.
A lot of what he was yelling about were the events of the last few months involving me and my depression, the accusations made, the promises that were made to him by other people and then those promises got broken, his hurt over those broken promises, hurt over things said to him, lies that were told, and etc etc etc.
I finally got him calmed down to the point where we were able to talk about it all without the yelling, and then he broke down.
He just started crying and couldn't stop, kept saying how sorry he was for ever making the phone call that started it all, then Mark started crying and saying how sorry he was for making that phone call, the blame themselves for everything that happened, and no matter how many times I tell them that it isn't their fault and I don't blame them, they still blame themselves.
After talking about it all for several hours, they both finally calmed down, accepted that I don't blame them, and then they both hugged me at the same time and told me how much they love me.
I so wish that the mistakes that I've made didn't affect them, that they wouldn't be blaming themselves for all of the stuff that happened, but it has and there's not much that I can do about it accept to just keep going, keep trying to pick up the broken pieces of hurt that's laying scattered all over the floor.
I called the teens doctor today about Mark's back pain, and the office was closed, they will be open tomorrow at 9am, but I left a message for them and then I'm still going to call them tomorrow morning around 10-11am if they don't call me back before then.
I'm super worried that I've passed onto him some of my back issues.
I know that a few of the issues that I have are genetic, they can be passed on to my children, so I'm really worried that I've given him one or more of the things that I have wrong with my back.
I want the doctor to check him out and order CT scans or an MRI to see if we can figure out why he's having so much pain in his lower back at least 4-5 times per week.
The pain is so bad he cries over it, so I know that it's very real pain that he's dealing with, and worries me, makes me afraid that I've given him these problems.
So last night, I was trying to help Sebastian with his emotional hurt, and also trying to help Mark with his physical hurt, and it all just made for a really rough day.
August 26, 2009
Tuesday was one of those days.
The kind of day that starts off pretty good, and then descends into chaos by the time the day is over.
I'll have to post about it tomorrow because right now, I'm dead tired, been sitting here falling asleep at my desk after not sleeping for 2 days again.
Sebastian had another not so great day at school which set him off, and that pretty much caused our entire night to be total crap.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about it all tomrrow.
August 24, 2009
First day back didn't go quite so well.
Sebastian went to his first day of school today, and things didn't go quite so well.
The school isn't totally finished being built, the bells aren't set to the new schedule, the cafeteria workers are still using the old lunch schedule so things at lunch didn't go right.
They also enrolled 1,600 new students this year, so yeah, total craziness.
During lunch because of the mix-up with the schedule, a lot of students didn't even get to the cafeteria at the right time, so they didn't get to eat lunch today, and Sebastian was one of those students.
He had just gotten his lunch tray along with about 15 other kids, when 2 security guards walked over to them, told them lunch was over, took their full of food lunch trays, and dumped them in the garbage, then slammed their trays into the kids hands and told them to put the trays away and get to their next class.
Sebastian was not happy when he came home.
Not at all.
He hadn't eaten so he was starving, he was hot and thirsty from the walk home in 90 degree temps, and he said all of the teachers were in a wicked bad mood because they now have rules for what they can and can't do in their classrooms, so they took their anger out on the students.
In order for a student to use the bathroom, they have to ask the teacher if they can go and they have to have a hall pass.
If a teacher does not see or ignores their raised hand, they can't go to the bathroom at all.
If they hold it and wait until the bell rings, security guards follow them into the bathroom and give them about 30 seconds to do their business and get out.
Sebastian's friend Steven told him that a security guard stood in the bathroom and was yelling out a countdown.
He said the guard started counting at 30 and was making his way down, and he told Steven that if he got to #1 and Steven was not done and heading out the door, that when he did finish, he would be escorted to the office and given detention.
For taking longer than 30 seconds to pee.
Here's where I have a huge problem and I plan on calling the school to find out if this first day of school rumor is true.
When the school is completely finished being built, should only be about 2 more weeks, the main entrance doors, and all other exit doors, will automatically lock at the second bell once all students are in the building and in first period class at 7:30am.
The doors will be locked from 7:30am until school ends at 2:15pm.
The only door that parents or any visitors will be able to enter will be the main entrance, and they will be buzzed in.
A teacher who is not ok with the school being locked, told her students this today during class.
She was going over all of the rules that the students have to follow, and all of the rules that teachers have to follow.
Teachers will no longer be able to have any drinks at the their desk, no coffee, no water bottles, no food or snacks like granola bars or anything.
They will also not be allowed to have any personal items at their desks or in the rooms, no pictures of their families on their desks, no little knickknacks like a porcelain apple that the teacher was given as a gift last year, nothing.
The building basically looks like a prison, the windows are all small and thin, you can barely see out of them, and now with it being in lock down (unsubstantiated rumor for now) all day once the construction is complete, it will be just like being in prison.
I plan on calling the school and speaking to the principal who already dislikes me, and I am going to ask her if the lock down rumor is true.
If it is true, I will be calling the fire department to ask if they can legally do that.
None of the doors will be able to be opened from the inside or out during school hours, and if there's a fire or other emergency, the students as well as teachers, will be trapped inside until the principal or security staff hits the door lock override button.
This could be a very dangerous thing if there's any kind of emergency like a fire and the students can't get out.
I understand the principal wanting to make sure that students don't get in or out when they aren't supposed to, and making sure that strangers can't just walk into the school and do whatever they want, but if there's any kind of emergency, the students could be in danger.
The whole lock down thing makes me very nervous, I really hope that teacher is wrong about it, but if it's true, I really don't think it's legal for safety reasons, ya know?
Anyway, that was his first day, not a good one, not a great way to start the new school year, I'm hopeful that it gets better and that they sort out the cafeteria schedule so that students can eat when they are supposed to, not come home starving every day.
But just to make sure that he gets to eat, we've packed him a lunch for tomorrow.
He has a lunch bag and in it, a small bag of chips, a can of Mountain Dew, a package of chocolate pop-tarts, and in the morning before he leaves, (so it doesn't get all soggy and yucky) a ham sandwich, and an ice pack to keep the soda and ham cold.
I'm going to make him a lunch everyday until he tells me that they have the schedule all figured out and fixed.
He came home with a ton of "mommy papers" for me to sign, and his supply lists for his classes.
Yay! No laptop needed. W00t!
August 23, 2009
Hoping he won't need one.
Sebastian got into most of the classes that he wanted to take this year, guitar, introduction to engineering, and digital design 2.
He has settled on wanting to work in computers when he grows up and goes to college, do programming, game design and programming, digital design, all of that stuff that goes hand in hand until you settle in doing just 1 of those as your career.
What I'm hoping that he won't need, is his own laptop.
What he told me last year when he signed up for these classes and did not get in, is that a lot of the students who did get in had their own laptops for the digital design, programming, and engineering classes.
As usual, we don't have the class supply lists yet, so he's going to school tomorrow with a Trapper Keeper, 4 spiral bound notebooks, 1 3-ring binder, 6 folders, and a lot of pencils.
If it turns out that he does end up needing his own laptop, all I can do is hope that I can find 1 really cheap and on sale like the ones that Buy.com has on sale again this week.
They always seem to have at least 2 laptops in their weekly deals every week, and at some very good prices.
Like this week, they have an HP 250GB notebook on sale for $499.99, refurbished, but at a pretty major $400 discount.
They usually cost about $1,000 bucks.
They also have a Samsung Netbook on sale for $329.99, so I'm like really, super duper hoping, that if it turns out that needs his own laptop, that I can find a decent 1 like these 2 on sale, or maybe even something a little bit cheaper.
But I'm really hoping that he doesn't need his own, I just cannot swing it right now.
August 22, 2009
Passed out and stayed out.
After not sleeping for 3 days in a row and having to walk to and from the high school on Friday, I laid down to take a nap around 1pm, stayed asleep until around 6:30pm, was awake long enough to make the teens dome dinner, and then I went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until 11am this morning.
Guess my body just really needed it.
Oh, we got out of the 3-hour long orientation and tour because by the time I got to the school, I was in like a wicked lot of pain, there was no way that I could stay there for the whole 3 hours and walk around the whole building, so they gave Sebastian his schedule and let us leave.
Reader Steve L., contacted me about the HP inkjet cartridges, he can use all 3 of them for his printers, so good deal. I will mail all 3 of them out to him on Monday morning.
I'm so glad that someone could use them, they were just sitting here taking up space not being used.
Today is just a nice and quiet day, not too much going on, so I'm probably just going to chill out, maybe play some Sims3 or something, don't know.
Later days.
August 20, 2009
No tax-free shopping days in Florida this year.
Sebastian goes back to school on Monday the 24th, and I won't have his supply list until this Friday the 21st, but I won't have the money to get any of the "special" supplies that are asked for or required by some of the teachers, until I get paid next week, or if I get some child support this week or next Monday or Tuesday.
That is an issue/gripe/thing that I have, but I'll save it for another post.
Anyway, like I said in the post below, I have all of the basics, pens, pencils, notebooks, folders, spiral bound notebooks, loose leaf paper, colored pencils, markers, graphing paper, erasers, etc etc, because I went and did all of the supply shopping last year, and so did a friend.
A friend of mine whose son was going to be a freshman, had gone to some store, I can't remember the name of it, and she bought her son all of the supplies he needed, but the store was having a wicked major sale on back-to-school supplies.
If you bought 1, you got 1 free.
On everything.
If you bought 1 notebook, you got 1 free.
If you bought 1- 12 count pack of pencils, you got 1- 12 count pack of pencils free.
Etc etc etc.
She got her son 1 of everything that he needed, and so she gave me, for the teens, all of the extra free supplies that she got.
I'm really glad that she did too, because now I already have all of that stuff so I won't need to buy anything except for the special teacher-required items, and with no tax-free school shopping this year, money is tight for everyone in the state.
Some stores are having really good sales because of the no tax-free shopping days and sales are down 8% this year and expected to drop another 4%, so stores are scrambling to get people in the door with their own back to school sales on supplies and clothing.
Sebastian doesn't need much, he has some new sneakers already, some new shirts, some new shorts, but I want to get him at least 2 more pairs of shorts, and like 3-4 more shirts, and he needs a new backpack.
He'll be starting school on Monday, so he'll have to use his old backpack until I get paid and can buy him a new one.
I found 1 on sale at Buy.com that I really like, and it's from a luggage maker, Samsonite, so it should hopefully, last him this year and next.
Kids are so rough on their backpacks, I don't get that.
I can buy and use the same exact purse every single day for years at a time, and not get it filthy or have it end up with holes in it, but a kid can take a brand new backpack and have it disgusting and full of holes in the first 5 months of school.
It's a Samsonite Urbanite Laptop Backpack, on sale for $29.99 down from $39.99 with free shipping, and I know it says it's a laptop bag, and even though he doesn't have a laptop, the fact that it's made for laptops and by Samsonite, tells me that it's a strong and sturdy bag and should last him a good long time.
I hope.
August 20, 2009
A 3 hour long orientation?
Tomorrow morning, Sebastian and I have to go up to the high school, be there by 8am, for his high school orientation and tour of the new building.
It will take 3 hours and it's mandatory.
This is a picture of the new building.
In the lower left of the picture, you can see the old buildings.
It was an open plan design, meaning that all of the hallways had openings directly to the outside, not just doors, but full and wide openings.
At the end of every school day, they had huge gates that came down and locked in place to prevent anyone from entering any of the buildings.
The new building is a closed building, they said they built it for security reasons, so that people can't just walk in or out of the school.
The orientation is mandatory, if a student does not go and listen to the principal talk for 1 hour, and then take a full tour of the building for the next 2 hours, with their parents also in attendance, they cannot have their class schedule.
That's really not right, making every student and at least 1 parent, have to walk around the entire building, look in every room, for 2 hours, or they can't have their class schedule.
It's going to be very difficult for me to do, but it has to be done, so I'll be going.
I was hoping that it was going to be only 1 level, not 2 like the old school was, but nope, 2 stories.
It takes me like 2 hours every morning to get up and get moving, un-stiffen, before I can start my day doing all that needs to be done, so I'm going to have to wake up at 5am, sit down and take my meds, wait for them to start working, and then take my shower around 6am, then wake up Sebastian, have him take a shower, and then leave the house by 7:15am so we can walk to the school to be there by 8am.
I'm going to have to take a diet coke with me and 2 extra pain pills in case I start hurting bad doing all of that walking to the school, walk around the building, and then walk home.
I'm going to be dead tired, sore, and wiped out when we get back home, but it has to be done, so I'm going to try and make the best of it.
While we're there, we need to go talk to the guidance counselor because Sebastian wants to see if he can get in to poly-tech, the technical high school, instead of staying at the regular high school.
He wants to do computer stuff, programming, game design, graphic design, and he can learn all of that at the poly-tech high school.
He is probably not going to be able to get into it for this school year, admissions are closed, but he will be able to get in for next year, so we need to talk to the guidance counselor about all of that, what he needs to do this year so he can pass the admissions testing for next year.
It's what he really wants to do, so I'm going to do everything that I can to help him get there.
I'm also hoping that tomorrow, after the orientation and tour, that they give us the back to school supply list so that when I get paid again, I can get him what he needs for school.
I have tons of notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, all of the basics, but if he needs anything special, I need to know so that I can work on getting it.
June 22, 2009
No diploma, but we have pictures.
After my MRI, we (Mindy wasn't feeling well, so her husband Chris and her son Jeff brought me. Thanks guys!) went to the satellite office for the school to pick up the diplomas like the school said to do.
They said that diplomas could be picked up between 10am and 2pm Monday through Friday.
So we get there and we find out that diplomas can now only be picked up on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7am to 11am.
Do you know much fun that's going to be?
The parents of some 900 students all trying to pick up diplomas on just 2 days in just 4 hours.
Ha ha ha! Oh man, that's going to be so much fun!
Not!
If they knew that the school was going to be closed due to construction, they should have set up the satellite office hours for more time.
4 hours is simply not enough time to do all of those students in just 2 days.
People have to work, they have schedules to keep, so standing in a long line is going to piss a lot of people off.
Good going RHS!
_________________________
I had posted about the graduation photography companies and the trouble I had not getting notified on time when they said, or being able to look at his pictures on their site because I didn't have the password they were supposed to email, and that they did not answer emails either, and Tim, one of the customer service guys, had Googled the company looking for public perception of the company, and found my blog.
He left a comment which turned into a series of emails between he and myself, and Tim really went above and beyond to rectify the situation and make me happy with their service.
Tim sent me a package of pictures, several different sizes, the different quality papers they use, and some of the nice picture folder frames they have too.
The pictures came by UPS while I was out this morning.
The pictures are really great quality even though it's the picture of him not looking at the camera.
There were 2 shots, 1 of him being handed his diploma and not looking, and the other of him by himself holding his diploma and looking.
I could have sworn I told Tim to send that one, but then again, their site was having issues the day I sent him the email responding to his offer of pictures, so maybe I sent him the wrong link to the picture that I wanted.
Not a big deal, I will order some of the correct pictures next month when I have more money, especially now that I know they are really good quality images.
Also, Bob Knight Photo and Grad Images, are now just 1 company, not 2, so parents in the future will only need to pre-register at 1 of the sites for their images.
Tim said that this graduation season was very chaotic, they had several Sarasota high school's graduations on the same day, over 3,000 students between the schools, and things ended up not going according to plan otherwise they would have definitely emailed within 24-48 hours like they said.
So even though things got really screwed up initially, Tim went above and beyond to make sure that their customers are happy with the pictures.
So thanks Tim, it's much appreciated.
June 22, 2009
Things to do today, gotta get moving.
Leaving in about 20 minutes to go get the MRI that Doc still wants me to have done, and then off to the high school to pick up Mark's diploma.
Sebastian needs to get a haircut, too, I'm trying to talk him into going now, we could drop him off when we head out, but as usual, the 2 of them are coming up with a million excuses as to why they should wait and go do it with me instead of on their own.
I don't know why, but they get super embarrassed having to do things like haircuts and stuff like that without me going with them.
Ok, gotta finish getting ready.
Later days!
June 13, 2009
Distracting myself.
I figured that I needed to distract myself for a little while, to just stop thinking about everything for awhile because it's done nothing but send me further into depression, so I decided to go and see what Buy.com has on sale this week.
The mix of items is always unique, from computers to video games, to jewelry and all kinds of other stuff, they have a wide selection to choose from every week.
I found a heck of a deal on an HP Pavillion Notebook, it's just $569 down from $1,200, and free shipping.
I absolutely love that almost every single item they sell has free shipping.
Anyway, I saw the notebook and thought of Mark.
He's probably going to need a laptop for college, and while I don't have the money right now, I know that Buy.com is always putting laptops on sale, so I'm sure that when I do have the money, they will have a nice one that we can get for him.
This is a very powerful notebook, it has;
Microprocessor AMD Turion X2 RM-72 Dual-Core Mobile Processor
Microprocessor Cache 2.10 GHz
Memory 4096MB
Memory Max 8192MB
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics RS780M
Video Memory Up to 1918MB
Hard Drive 400GB (5400RPM)
Multimedia Drive SuperMulti 8X DVDR/RW with Double Layer Support
and so much more.
The customer reviews are excellent too, 5 out of 5 stars for a refurbished notebook, that says something about how good this notebook is in my opinion.
We're just waiting for the woman from SCTI to get in touch with us about his classes, she said that they don't start until the end of June or the beginning of July, so she will probably be calling in the next few weeks, and then we'll have to get him all set up with what he needs, he'll do the 2 classes at SCTI, and then go to MCC in the fall for their criminal justice courses.
June 5, 2009
Congrats to Matthew!
Matthew is the younger son of the family my sister works for.
Jo, my sister, takes care of Greg, he has CP, and scoliosis, and he will be having spine fusion for his scoli next year my sister told me.
I feel terrible that Greg has to go through all of what he does, but I know that between his parents and my sister helping him, he will be ok.
Anyway, Mathew graduated from middle school this week and will be attending high school next year.
He is very excited to finally be going to high school, and his parents are super proud of him.
Like all of the local schools at graduation, each student is only allowed 5 tickets, and so Matthew had his parents, his grandparents, and my sister at his graduation.
She has been a part of his life just as much as she is a part of Greg's life after so many years of working and taking care of Greg doing physical therapy and taking him to all of his doctor' appointments and such.
Matthew will be attending soccer camp again this coming summer like he does every year, and like every year, he racks up a bunch of soccer trophies at the end of summer.
He is really good at soccer, and there have been a few summers that Sebastian has gone to soccer camp with him and the two of them have had fun together all summer.
I'm sure that they will spend some time with each other again this year hanging out at Matthew's house swimming in the pool, at camp, and playing WoW together.
They get along really well even though there is a small age difference, they like all of the same things, and Matthew is very intelligent for his age.
Sebastian also helps him learn how to play WoW, teaches him how to gank and stuff.
I don't know much about the game, it's all gibberish to me, but all of the kids and a lot of my friends, including my sister, love to play it.
So anyway, congrats to Matthew on graduating, and best wishes for him at camp this summer, and for his upcoming freshman year in high school.
June 2, 2009
Not impressed with the photography companies at all.
There were 2 photography companies at the graduation, Bob Knight Photo, and Grad Images.
Both companies had parents pre-register, and had the students pre-register at the dress rehearsal as well.
Both companies said that they would email everyone within 24-48 hours immediately after the graduation.
Neither Mark or myself, have received any emails from either company.
I have now emailed both companies 2 times, and tried to call both companies today, and I have not gotten any communication back from either at all.
I was placed on hold for over 15 minutes, and then told that all customer service reps were busy, and to try and call back at a later time.
Not even an automatic email confirmation saying that they got my emails.
I am seriously not impressed with either photography company at all.
May 31, 2009
Once again, my back has kept me from enjoying life.
Right now my sister and the teens are out having dinner at a Japanese steak house to celebrate Mark's graduation and Sebastian's birthday tomorrow, and I'm at home because I'm in far too much pain to go do anything.
Yesterday's graduation sitting in really bad chairs did a number on me, and I can hardly move today.
*sigh*
I really hate this, I hope someday to be better, to not be in so much pain after doing something enjoyable.
All I can do is hope that it gets better for me someday.
Over the next few weeks, I am going to look around and see if I can find some really good discount faucets so I can replace the broken one in the bathroom.
It's really starting to get on my nerves now, and if it's bugging me now, it's going to annoy the crap outta me when I get home from surgery.
I need to find a cheap faucet, replace it, and be done with it all.
Ok, back to the couch I go.
Later dayse.
May 31, 2009
What kind of ruler are you?
While we were sitting all that time waiting for graduation to start, my sister was showing Sebastian and I all of the stuff her Apple Ipod Touch can do.
Then she realized it had wifi in the arena, so there must be some really good cell towers around the Robarts arena neighborhood, because Sebastian went online, watched a few videos on youtube, and some other stuff.
But she had this wicked cool game on there, it's an app called Pocket God, and it is absolutely hysterical!
You are god and you are in total control of all these little islander people, and you get to kill them in a ton of totally funny ways.
Lightening, sharks, volcano explosion, and turning your ipod will make them fall off the island, and so many other funny things.
We were all just sitting there laughing our asses off over all the things you can do to the Oggs.
Check out the video below.
May 30, 2009
He is officially a graduate.
Out of the 20 or so pictures we snapped, that was the best.
Yeah.
It was extremely difficult to get good pictures because of how the whole thing was set up.
And don't even get me started on his hair, but it is his hair so I deal.
We got there early, like we were supposed to, at 7am so that the graduates could go in at 7:15.
They were supposed to open the doors for guests at 8am, but instead they started letting in guests at 7:15am!
So if I wanted one of the coveted handicap seats, we had to go in then.
So we went in, got good seats right at the floor level on the right hand side where Mark was going to be.
We had to sit there from 7:15am until it started at 9am.
The people sitting directly behind us had a 2 year old boy with them, and they let him do whatever he wanted to do.
The seating at Robarts, I swear, it's been there since they built the arena in the 1970's, so the seats totally sucked.
They were hard plastic bucket seats, close together, and that kid crawled behind me, kicked my seat, cried, got snot everywhere, and grabbed my hair, pulled my hair, and swatted at my hair.
Repeatedly.
His parents did nothing about it.
I was ready to turn around and beat the snot out of him with my cane.
That was before graduation even started, so I was in quite a bit of pain between having to sit in that miserable seat, even with a pillow it was absolutely miserable for me, and the kid pulling my hair and head backwards, which it doesn't do, I was in agony.
My sister went and found an administrator and asked if once Mark walked, got his diploma and picture taken, could we leave, that I was simply unable to sit there the entire 4 hours, and they said yes, that we could take him.
So we did.
Seconds after that picture was taken, we grabbed Mark and left.
My sister took some pictures outside, well she tried to.
My camera doesn't have a view finder, only an lcd monitor, so the screen was very difficult to see, so the pictures came out kind of bad, but she tried, so we will buy some of the professional pictures that got taken.
Then George took Mark and Sebastian out to eat, my sister brought me home, and then she had to go to work this afternoon.
I came home, took some pain meds, and passed out.
The boys came home and took naps too because of how early we all got up, the heat, and everything, it was just a very bad setup for graduating 950 students.
Yes, 950 students got their names called and diplomas handed to them one by one.
Anyway, it's all over, he is officially a graduate, and I am so proud of him.
I did end up getting him that watch.
He earned it.
May 30, 2009
Off to graduation!
We're all getting ready to head off to graduation, should go well, I hope...LoL
It's going to be a very long, very busy day, and I am hoping that I can physically make it through the day.
I'm going to need to come home and take a wicked nap after graduation before I do anything else like we're supposed to.
Ok, gotta finish getting ready.
Later days!
May 29, 2009
So much for paying attention.
Mark is off at graduation rehearsal right now, expecting him back sometime between 1pm-3pm.
The school doesn't know.
They said if the students learn what they have to do and don't screw up or goof off, they should be outta there by 1pm.
If they screw up and goof off, they could be there till 3pm.
Let's hope they all just get it right, but I am not so sure that's going to happen.
The school's automated system called all of the parents and reminded us that this is dress rehearsal, to make sure the students bring their caps and gowns.
They sent notes home, make sure the students bring their caps and gowns.
Mindy dropped off Jeff and Mark, and they were the only ones who brought their caps and gowns from what she could see.
Then Mark called me about 10 minutes later, and said they were the only ones who brought their caps and gowns.
*sigh*
It appears that neither the students or the parents paid any attention to the phone calls or the notes.
May 28, 2009
Necessary evil shopping.
We went and got the graduation clothes shopping done.
We went to Walmart.
Ugh.
I would have gone elsewhere, but I needed really cheap, and really cheap just isn't happening at any other stores in Sarasota.
I just really hate shopping at Walmart, but it's a necessary evil in these hard economic times.
Not only do I hate them for what they did 2 Christmases ago, but I hate them for their very unethical business practices.
Example, Walmart sells a pair of women's black pants for $20.
The girl in Indonesia who makes them all day long, only makes $278 for the entire year, and all she does is sew those pants together for 17-18 hours per day.
Yes, the cost of living is much different there, but what she makes for an entire year still has her living in absolute poverty, and most of the time, she lives in a room with 15 other girls who also work at the factory and are basically slaves to the factory owner for the room they share so that they are not homeless.
They pay him to share a room with 15 other girls, so her pay is handed right back over to the factory owner.
I hate how once Walmart moves into a town, all of the small stores that were in business for ages, lose business and end up having to close.
I hate how little Walmart pays it's employees, how little they care for them, and the hiring and promotion practices of those employees.
Women who are far more qualified, who have been employed by Walmart longer, have a much higher education than their male co-workers, are often passed over for promotion, and earn less.
* female hourly workers earn up to 37 cents less per hour than their male counterparts;
* female full-time employees working at least 45 weeks earn on average nearly $5,000 less than male employees in yearly salary;
* women make up 72 percent of WalMart's total workforce, but only 33 percent of its managers;
* and women make up 92 percent of WalMart's cashiers, but only 14 percent of WalMart store managers.
Walmart gets around having to offer or pay health insurance for a majority of it's employees by keeping everyone but the managers, working part-time hours.
Part-timers are not eligible for health insurance, so most of their employees are on some type of welfare.
About the evil that is Walmart, watch this video, The High Cost of Low Prices.
But I really had no choice, I had to go where it's cheapest.
I try to avoid them like the plague, because I absolutely hate to think that my money helps support what they do.
Every time I step foot in a Walmart, I feel like I'm screwing the employees, hurting the city I live in, and putting an even bigger financial strain on the welfare system, because I know what they do and how they operate.
I know that how they run their stores hurts the towns they build their stores in, it hurts the people who work there, and it ruins the lives and business of other smaller stores that are forced to close because they cannot compete with Walmart's low prices.
Walmart forces artists, musicians, to edit their music or else they will not sell it in their stores.
That is their right to refuse to carry a product, but it forces artists to censor their music, to put out albums that have been totally edited, if they want to be able to have their albums sold in the nation's largest retailer.
They basically have artists over a barrel.
Edit your music or we won't sell it.
Green Day is refusing.
Good for them.
Walmart will no doubt win this battle, they have the money and the lawyers to win it, but it still sucks that because they have the money to fight it, and they promise jobs and tax revenue, that cities often cave in and let Walmart build wherever the hell they want to.
I hate myself for days after shopping there.
Mark now has what he needs, but the $75 I spent is helping to support an evil company, and I hate that.
I very rarely shop there, like once every 6 months, if not longer, but I would seriously love to never ever have to shop there again.
I need to find a cheap store here in town that can compete with Walmart's low prices, and just boycott them and their evil forever.
May 28, 2009
Going grad clothes shopping.
Mark and I are getting ready to go shopping for the clothes he needs to wear for graduation.
White button up shirt, dress pants, tie, new shoes.
I've opted to not get him a pair of expensive dress shoes, and instead just getting him a brand new pair of all white sneakers.
The info paper simply says shoes and socks required, no sandals, and he grows out of stuff so quickly that I would be wasting my money on a pair of dress shoes.
So he's getting new all white sneakers, which he'll probably grow out of by the end of summer, khaki pants, the white shirt, and a tie.
I need to go get myself ready.
I woke up kinda late, need to take a shower.
Later days!
May 26, 2009
School's out for summer, school's out and they're happy!
Today was the last official day that Sebastian had to be in school.
He had 1 last final exam first thing this morning, and so he went, took his test, and they released him by 8:30am, said he was done, so he came home.
He was totally stoked, still is.
Then Mark had to go up to the school to pick up his cap, gown, and his 5 tickets for the graduation, and Sebastian remembered that he still had 1 last book to turn in, so they both walked up to the school to take care of those things.
When they got back, they were so happy, "It's over!" they yelled as they came through the door, and they've been just kicking back all day since.
Tonight we decided to watch the last 2 Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I swear, we've watched every trailer for it at least a dozen times each.
We've seen all of the Harry Potter movies in the theater since the very 1st one.
This year and this Harry Potter movie, may be the 1st time that we won't be seeing it in the theater.
I was going to say that it would depend on how I'm feeling after the surgery, but I realized that surgery is June 29th, and I may still be in the hospital on July 15th.
I know that sounds like a long time to be in, but with my 1st surgery, I was in for 18 days, the 2nd for 9 and a half, and this one all depends on how things go, if there are any complications and stuff.
So I'm hoping that the movie will still be in theaters for at least like 5-6 months after it comes out so that we can keep up with our tradition of seeing these movies in the theater together.
________________________
I was also really hoping to be able to send the teens to Maine for the summer or part of the summer, to visit with my family and work at Funtown like we had been talking about, but it's simply not in the cards this year.
But my sister is still hoping to go up for a quick weekend or a full week, in August I think she said, and so she's starting to get all of that stuff ready again.
She needs to find a good deal on the tickets for her and the girls, make sure her car seats are ok for whichever airline she decides to go with, and get some travel health insurance for her and the girls, some car insurance through her credit card for the rental car if she decides to get one, and make plans to try and fit in all of the friends and relatives who want to spend time with her and the girls every time they go up.
She still doesn't know which airline she's going to fly with.
Ever since Allegiant Air no longer flies in and out of the airports closest to where our parents live, finding really cheap seats is a challenge.
We used to fly out of the Orlando airport, and land in the Portsmouth New Hampshire airport, but now the closest airport is in Bangor Maine, which is actually in state, but it's like a 5-6 hour drive to my folks house, whereas the Portsmouth airport was less than an hour away, less than 45 minutes depending on who's driving. *wink*
I really wish I could send the teens up, but it's just not going to happen this year because of my surgery, lack of money and time, and some other stuff.
But I am going to try like hell to get them up there next year.
I'm aiming for February or spring school vacation time, or summer if that's all we can do.
May 26, 2009
Bob Knight Photography?
Has anyone out there ever had any experience with Bob Knight Photography from Tallahassee Florida?
They are the company hired by the school to do the graduation pictures, and because of the class size, the number of people in attendance, I am afraid that they will prevent parents from getting close to the stage to take pictures during the ceremony, and that we will all have to rely on this company for our pictures.
I scoured their site looking for prices and testimonials, but did not find any.
I Googled them for reviews, and found nothing.
I need to know if they will do a good job, first, and second, what the prices will be like.
If anyone has any experience with them and event photos, please leave me a comment telling me what your experience was like, and how much the photos cost.
Thank you!
May 26, 2009
Get there early if you need a special seat.
I called the arena where the graduation is going to be on Saturday to find out whether or not I'm allowed to bring a pillow or cushion with me to sit on, and a bottle of water or soda so I can take my pain meds if I need to.
The ceremony begins at 9am and ends at 1pm.
The graduation is going to be 4 hours long because they have something like 950 students graduating, and each student was given 5 tickets for family and friends, so there will be about 2,000+ people in the arena on Saturday.
While the arena is air conditioned, they admit that once you put that many people in there, it tends to get a "bit warm."
That's a direct quote from the girl I spoke to when I called the arena.
The girl did not know if I can bring anything with me, so she told me to call the school.
I called the school and spoke to the guy in charge of the graduation, and he said that I can bring a pillow and something to drink, that I may get stopped by security, but to just tell them or show them any proof of my disability/need for the items, and it won't be a problem.
He also told me that they have special seating for people with disabilities and can't climb the stairs.
But it's first come, first serve, so if I want to be in one of those special seats, I need to drop Mark off at 7:30 when they students have to be there, and then just wait until the doors open at 8am in order to get one of those seats.
Definitely need to bring my meds and be ready for a long day, but it will be worth it.
Mark just got back from picking up his cap and gown and the tickets.
I need to get him to try it on and take his picture.
I am so proud of him.
May 15, 2009
Presents for the grads!
Mark is graduating high school on the 30th of this month, and it's such a huge deal to all of us in our family, and I am personally just so so proud of him for doing it.
Today was actually his last full day of school, he doesn't have to go anymore, the principal said that he has completed his attendance requirement, so he's officially finished, and now we just have to wait a few more weeks for him to march in his cap and gown.
It's probably the earliest any of us will have woken up on Saturday in a long time, it starts at 9am, but the grads have to be there at like 7:30am, so we're all going to have to wake up by 5:30am.
Ack!
Anyway, I've been looking at things to get him, I don't want to give him cash, even though that's what most people will be giving him, but I'm his mom, I want to give him an actual gift, something special from me, so I checked out what Buy.com has on sale, and they have a ton of gifts for grads, so if you have a graduate in your life too, you should check them out, hugely awesome bargains right now!
They have several different digital cameras, quite a few different laptops, some mp3 players, and so much more at really great prices this week!
I've been talking about buying him a really nice watch for a long time, and they have an Invicta Mens automatic Topissimo stainless steel watch on sale for just $79.99, the regular price is $395.00, so that is a massive savings of $315.01 on a super nice watch!
It's self-winding and water resistant, and the red face on the steel is so totally him, he would love this watch very much, and I really would love to get it for him.
I've been looking at getting him a watch for so long now, but I was never able to find one that I really liked at a good price, but man, with a savings like that, I'd be so stupid to pass this up.
Hopefully the sale will still be on when I get paid next week, it should be because it's graduation season for several more weeks, so I'm definitely going to get this for him on payday if they still have it on sale.
Yay! I finally found him an awesome watch at a super awesome price!
May 15, 2009
Sorry, no can do.
I have to go grocery shopping, we have like nothing in the house, and I got our food stamps today, and I'm a wee bit irritated.
My old neighbor called me this morning and had the nerve to ask me to sell her some of my food stamps for .50cents on the dollar.
She knows that I'm broke, and that I have a doctor's appointment and prescriptions to pay for on Monday afternoon, so she thought she would be generous, and offer to buy some of them off me for half their value, like she's some sort of cash drawer and wanted to help me.
It's totally insulting, not helpful, and why on earth she would think that I would do that or be ok with doing that is beyond me.
I asked her why she would think I would do that, if I did that, we'd have less food money, and she was all "Well, other friends of mine who get food stamps but need cash often sell me their food stamps for .50cents on the dollar because then they have cash."
I said yeah, cash would be nice, but then I'd have less food money, a lot less, and I'll find another way to come up with the money I need before Monday afternoon, I always find a way, if I have to, I'll sell something else, like dvds or something that we don't watch anymore.
I'm having a rough time of things right now, I owe out more money than I have, and I'm trying to work so that my next pay is big enough to cover everything that I need to pay for, but I've also been sick, been depressed, and just all around feeling like crap, but I will find a way to do what needs to be done without having to sell off food stamps.
I really can't believe that she thought I'd do that.
No wait, I can.
May 5, 2009
Friends helping friends.
Both the teens stayed home from school today, not sure if it was that they caught what I had, or if it was the chicken at school yesterday.
Both the teens came home and said they weren't feeling that great, and that the chicken at lunch tasted more like fish than chicken, and it smelled like fish too.
Chicken should never taste or smell like fish, ever.
They both had bad stomach upset this morning, so I let them stay home.
Last night we had some company for awhile too.
Stacey and Dustin came over for awhile, and Dustin and the teens went and ran a few errands to the pharmacy, Publix, Dustin's grandmother's house, and his house, to pick up a few things for Stacey.
Stacey had surgery last week, and so while the guys were gone, I helped Stacey take a shower, her first shower since the surgery, and so I know how awesome that first shower is, it's like pure bliss.
Another friend of hers was supposed to be helping her the last few days, but flaked on her, so Dustin brought her to me because I know what it's like to need help and not want some total stranger helping with personal needs like a shower.
Then we all hung out for a few more hours before they needed to head back to Dustin's grandmother and take care of her for the rest of the night.
She was in the hospital over the weekend, so Dustin needed to be there to help her too.
Dustin is such a good guy, he helps so many people, he takes them to the docs, to stores, whatever he can, I'm really glad I met him and he and Stacey have become good friends to me.
They let us borrow a movie for the night too, it wasn't half bad.
We watched The Uninvited
It has a couple of twist endings, and it's a remake of an Asian horror flick called a Tale of Two Sisters.
Like I said, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that great either, I was hoping for something a little scarier and got something more like an M. Night Shyamalan.
Oh well.
April 29, 2009
Blood drippings and cat water.
Yesterday, Mark* donated blood during a blood drive at school.
It was his first time donating blood, so he was really excited and nervous about doing it.
He said it wasn't bad, didn't hurt, although the pin prick to the finger to test his iron levels and get his blood type, didn't feel quite so good.
He had a much older nurse, and she just "sorta jabbed it and then squeezed the crap outta the middle finger", he said.
They had a hard time getting his vein to pop up, so they had to tighten the tourniquet and make him squeeze the ball a bit longer than usual, but they eventually got their pint of blood.
Then they gave him 2 16oz Gatorade's, a Rice Krispie square, a chocolate chip cookie, and a bag of hot fries.
They also gave him a t-shirt and his blood type card.
He's O negative and RH positive.
I knew he was RH positive because I'm RH negative, and he's my first born, so I had to get a shot in my ass to prevent RH disease at 28 weeks and 34 weeks, and another shot right after he was born, like immediately after he popped out.
So there I am on the birthing table, legs spread, getting my episiotomy stitched up by the doctor, and a nurse is jamming a needle into my ass.
The epidural had long worn off, so this was not a pleasant experience.
All of the students who had donated blood, were allowed to be dismissed early, so a lot of the seniors signed and lined up to donate. haha
He got home before I left for my appointment with the cardiac doc, and he was looking a bit pale, so I took him with me.
But now that the blood bank knows that he's O negative, he'll be getting phone calls every few months asking him to donate like I do.
And even though he's a match for my blood type, he can't ever donate to me if I ever end up needing blood during one of my surgeries because he's RH positive, it's non-compatible.
Oh well, I'll just have to self donate again if they tell me I need to.
1 pint a week for 4 weeks, it's rough I tell ya.
Your body just recovers from losing that much blood, and you gotta do it again.
They gave me this huge list of foods to eat to boost my iron and protein back up, I swear, I never ate so much peanut butter and broccoli in my life.
Not at the same time of course, that would be gross.
_______________________
I also wanted to say thanks to Joy for sending the cat water dispenser for my kitties.
It is so perfect for us.
With 4 cats, we were constantly having to wash the water bowl and fill it, sometimes twice every day, and it was this huge mixing bowl that I no longer used, but man, those cats can drink.
So this water dispenser is perfect, it allows just the right amount of water into the bowl, and it keeps the rest of the water free of hair and any other gunk that used to get in the big water bowl.
So thank you very much Joy, it is most appreciated!
And yes, that is cat food on the floor.
Carmine likes to scoop the food out of the bowl with his paw, and then eat them off of the floor.
Weirdo kitty.
Continue Reading �
April 27, 2009
It went well. *phew*
The teens just got home, I asked how each of their day went, and Sebastian said his was good, he's hot, needs a drink, I asked Mark, he said good, he walked off to get a drink.
He came back in the room and I asked how it went with the principal, and he said the meeting was very brief.
She asked him if he wanted to be at school, he said yes, I want to get my diploma and graduate, she said "Good, then be here every day, your lunch PIN is working, I've made sure of it, now, who are the teachers who told you that you didn't have to be here?"
Mark told her who they were and what they said, and she thanked him, told him to have a great day, and congratulated him on passing the test and for also wanting to make sure that the right thing was done because so many other kids just took those teachers at what they said, and have decided to stay home, they never asked for more information or to make sure it was true, they just left and have not returned.
She also told him that she made calls to each of those students and explained the confusion, told them they did need to be there, and it was their choice now.
Sadly, a lot of them did not return to school.
April 27, 2009
Hoping it went well.
I'm sitting here nervously waiting for Mark to get home from school.
He had to go to school this morning and meet with the principal, she wanted to talk to him about the teachers that were telling him that he was free to go home, that he was done and graduated.
She said that all of the teachers know that students who take the exit option, have to go to school every day, even after learning they passed it, if they want to graduate, and she wants to know who was telling him otherwise.
I know that he was very nervous about this meeting, so I'm really hoping that it went well.
April 25, 2009
He has to go.
I ended up passing out last night from the killer and blinding migraine I had from the lack of sleep, plus the stress from it all.
Yesterday morning, a teacher called, asked why I sent Mark to school, she said that he was done, graduated, he would march with his class but does not need to be there at all.
They had shut off his lunch PIN the day before, they removed him from all of the class schedules, it appears like he really doesn't have to go.
One teacher is still insisting that he has to go, has to be there everyday if he wants to graduate, but the other says nope, he's off the schedule, keep him home.
I called and left a message for the principal to call me back, need to know what he hell is going on, keep him home or not.
She finally calls me back around 7pm, apologizes for the lateness, then tells me that he absolutely has to go to school, if he doesn't, he will not graduate at all, no cap and gown, no diploma, no GED either, it will all have been wasted.
I explained to her everything that the teachers have been saying, that he sits there and does nothing all day, that they have said with a wink and a nudge, for him to stay home, he's a distraction to the other students.
She says that he has to go, why those teachers are telling him that, she doesn't understand, she said they all know that he has to go and if he doesn't, that he won't graduate.
So at least now I know, he has to go, his lunch is reinstated, he still has nothing to do, but at least we know that if he goes every day, that he will graduate with his class.
April 24, 2009
Update on the school issue coming soon.
The principal did finally call me back, told me the real deal, and I will update it all in a little while.
Right now, I am battling a major migraine from not sleeping all night and day now, plus tons of stress over this whole issue.
April 23, 2009
Be here everyday but you can't eat.
As most of you all know, Mark has passed his graduation test and will graduate on May 30th.
In order to march with his class in cap and gown, Mark has to go to school every single day, where he does absolutely nothing all day long.
There is no classwork for him to do, nothing educational at all, he's not allowed to help out in the office, run papers, print copies or anything, so he either sleeps at his desk or plays games on the computer all day long to pass the time.
Today he goes to lunch, gets his tray, goes all the way through the line getting his food, and goes to punch in his pin number to "pay" for his lunch, and the cafeteria lady tells him his pin number is no longer working, that his lunch has been canceled.
So he goes to the teacher and asks what's going on.
The teacher tells him that all of the students who took the test and will graduate, have had their lunches revoked, they will not be allowed to get any lunch for the rest of the year unless they pay cash for it.
The teens get free hot lunch because I am a disabled parent receiving SSDI, so they are allowed to have lunch every single day, it won't cost them anything because I don't have the money to afford lunch every day.
Mark's teacher then dismissed him at 11:30am because of the no lunch thing, along with several other students who also had their lunch pins turned off and were told that if they wanted to eat, they had to pay cash.
Mark came home, told me what was going on, and I called the school wanting to speak to the principal, Linda Nook.
I was told that she was unavailable, so I spoke to her secretary about the issue, and asked how they could just shut off the lunches for all of these students, explained that Mark receives free lunch, he cannot afford to pay, I cannot afford to pay, I am disabled receiving SSDI, the free hot lunch program is something we depend on, AND if the school is going to insist that Mark be there every single day for the rest of the year, the last day of school for students is May 29th, then he needs to have his lunch every day.
She said she would look into it and call me back.
About 45 minutes later, the secretary calls me back and tells me not to worry, Mark's lunch pin has been re-instated, he can eat lunch everyday, and then she hung up.
I am glad his pin was turned back on, but I still want to know what right the school has to just shut off the pins of students for the last month of school.
The only students they did this to are the ones who took the exit option and the early graduation test, about 50+ kids.
I'm pretty sure, that legally, they cannot deny any student lunch, that they cannot just shut off the pins of these students, especially if they receive free hot lunch.
When Sebastian came home, he told me that Mark's teacher had gotten yelled at by the principal, Linda Nook, because a parent called to complain about the pins being shut off, and to "Tell Mrs. Cooper, that her son's pin has been turned back on", and the teacher was very upset about the principal yelling at him about it.
See, the majority of other students they did this to, have decided, and with their parents permission, to just leave school at 11:30am every day because their lunches have been revoked.
But, if they leave school early every day, it doesn't count as a full day's attendance, and those students will not receive their diplomas, and not be allowed to march and graduate, they will be given a GED.
It is my opinion, since learning this information, that the school shut off the lunches of these students and are allowing them to go home early everyday, so that they will not be able to march with their class.
The principal, Linda Nook, does not want them to march with their class because they did the early exit option, they are not considered regular and "good" students, so she doesn't want them at the very public graduation at Robarts Arena.
She yelled at the early exit option teacher because Mark wants to be there everyday, wants to graduate.
Mark busted his ass to be able to graduate with his class, he took all of those tests, studied like crazy, worked super hard, he will not be denied the right to march with his class no matter what kind of stunts this principal tries to pull to make him just leave.
His lunch pin is working again, he will be there every single day, he WILL march with his class.
I will make sure of it.
April 19, 2009
Where did ALL of the time go?
That's my baby boy, Mark, at his first birthday party at my Mom and Dad's house blowing out his very 1st birthday candle on his very 1st birthday cake.
On May 30th, he will graduate from high school, and on August 15th, he will turn 18.
Wow.
Mark is my 1st born, I was 21 years old in August 1991, it was like the hottest summer on record in Maine that year, with temps in the high 90s all month long.
It was absolutely miserable for me.
I lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment building with windows facing east, so my apartment heated up all morning long and most of the afternoon, and I had no AC.
It was Maine, it really only gets hot there during July and August, but not so hot you truly needed AC all summer.
I was huge, 9 months pregnant, and sweating my ass off every single day just waiting for my 1st born to make his arrival.
I spent most of July and the beginning of August taking cold showers and then standing naked in front of the window fans just trying to cool off and feel better.
I went into labor, a very rough and long labor, and gave birth at 2:38am on August 15th.
He had a full head of dark brown hair, big brown eyes, and I instantly fell in love with that little baby.
I felt love like I had never felt before in my entire life, it felt like my heart was going to explode every single time I looked at him, held him, rocked him to sleep.
Here was this baby, my baby, he depended on me for everything he needed, and I was so scared that I was going to mess it up, mess him up.
When he was 9 months old, he got sick and was put on amoxicillin, and that's when we discovered he was deathly allergic to it.
He ended up getting pneumonia and almost dying.
I called my mother that morning, crying, absolutely frantic, "Mom! He's burning up, throwing up, help me please!" I screamed into the phone.
My mother drove over, picked us up, and we raced to the ER and they took my baby from my arms and started doing all kinds of tests and things to him.
There were so many wires and an itty bitty little oxygen mask, and doctors and nurses running around the room doing all kinds of things to him, and someone yelled that he wasn't breathing, and I couldn't handle it, my baby wasn't breathing, and I ran out of the room, my mother grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled at me to tell her what was happening.
I told her through screams and tears that he was dying, he wasn't breathing, mommy help me, and she ran into the room.
I collapsed on the floor in a pile of tears and panic in the hallway.
After what felt like hours, a doctor came out and told me that he was ok, he was going to be ok, but he was allergic to the amoxicillin and had an anaphylactic reaction to it, that that's what made him so sick and stop breathing, but he was going to be ok.
They got his fever to come down, they gave him something to get all of the amoxicillin out of his little body, and they were pumping him full of fluids, and I'd be able to take him home much later on that night.
From that day forward, I protected him like crazy.
I knew where he was and what he was doing every second of every single day, I didn't hire any babysitters to watch him for a very long time, I just stayed home and was his mother 24/7.
I made sure that when he started school, that on the forms where it asked for allergies, that amoxicillin was written in Sharpie and capitalized.
I wanted to make sure that if he ever got hurt or something at school, that no doctors or nurses would ever give that to him again, I never wanted to ever be that close to losing my baby ever again.
And here we are, all of these super fast years later, my baby boy is almost a grown man, he'll be attending college, taking pre-law and criminal justice, and later on, he will be applying for the police academy so he can become a police officer.
One of the riskiest jobs that I know of.
My heart nearly stops when I think of that.
Ever since he was a small kid, he wanted to be a cop or a lawyer, always something in the law field, and he also wanted to do some sort of art and/or writing on the side.
He would play with his Batman and other action figures, take old cardboard boxes and get the scissors, and use a whole roll of Scotch tape, my markers, his crayons, and he'd spend hours and hours making buildings, banks for the bad guys to rob, jails to lock them up in, hospitals to have Batman's injuries taken care of, and he'd play for hours and days.
I remember one morning when he and Sebastian were little, it was very early in the morning, and I woke up to pieces of dry cat food being shoved up my nose by Sebastian, and Mark was sitting on my chest yelling into his small plastic walkie talkie, "Backup! We need backup! Hostile witness! Hostile witness!" as he pointed a small plastic gun in my left eye, and trying to slap some small plastic handcuffs on my wrists.
I have no idea why Sebastian was shoving cat food up my nose, but as soon as he realized that my eyes were open, Sebastian tore off out of the room laughing like a maniac.
Mark stayed sitting on my chest still screaming into his walkie talkie that he needed backup.
Perhaps I let him watch too many repeats of Law & Order on some cable channel every afternoon.
He still loves to watch all of the cop/crime dramas with me.
It took me hours to blow out all of the dry cat food pieces from my nose.
I can't believe that my 1st baby is all grown up.
He stands over 6 feet tall, he's built like a linebacker, I pity the dumb criminal who tries to get one over on him because as kind and as loving as he is, he is very strong, he doesn't know his own strength at all.
He used to think getting body hair was disgusting, and I remember the day he noticed he was growing some armpit hairs, how he came running out of the bathroom with a huge grin on his face, arm raised above his head, yelling and screaming for me to see how he was becoming a man.
I oohed and ahhed at the 2 barely there single strands of hair growing in each armpit.
I laughed and smiled with him, and now, not only does he have pit hairs, he has hair everywhere, growing a small mustache and sprouting some chin hairs that I catch him rubbing every now and then.
My baby boy is growing up, grown up, and I sit here and marvel at it, yet completely lost over where the years went.
Did I miss anything?
Do I remember it all?
Will I forget any of it, or all of it?
I want to be here for every bit of it, I never want to miss another milestone in his life.
I'm going to talk to my surgeon about postponing my next surgery until June, after he graduates so I don't miss it.
I want to be there and see it without that awful halo brace and whatever else I end up with, I want to take pictures and video, I want to see him graduate, I want to help him fill out his college paperwork, I want to see him get accepted to the police academy, I want to be there to see it all, every single thing he does in his life.
I still have that same heart exploding feeling when I think of how much I love him, how he changed my entire life for the better.
I am a better person because of him, because of both of my sons, they changed me in ways I never thought possible.
I know what real love is, how deep it can go, how powerful and overwhelming it is because of that very 1st day I laid my eyes on him and held him in my arms.
He gets all embarrassed when I try to hug him now, but he lets me, he gives me these giant but gentle hugs, tells me he loves me, but he has no idea just how much I love him, how proud of him I am, and how much I want to see him succeed and be happy, have a good life.
It's just amazing that he's all grown up now, these years went by way too fast, and I really hope that I didn't miss anything, and I never want to forget any of it, it's been an incredible pleasure being his mother through all of the good, the bad, the fighting, the hard work, all of it, I wouldn't change a single thing even if I could.
April 17, 2009
May 30th at 9am, Mark will graduate.
Mark came home from school today with his test scores from his graduation test, and some info on his graduation.
Of the 5 test areas that students needed to pass with a minimum score of 410, Mark passed each well above that minimum.
Language arts/reading - 790
Language arts/writing - 620
Mathematics - 540
Science - 540
Social studies - 680
Yay Mark!
I was worried about getting him his cap and gown for graduation, the school makes you buy them, but the school has a scholarship program that I didn't know about until today, and so they will be providing him with his cap and gown due to our financial circumstances, and because Mark has overcome a lot of hurdles these last few years in order to be able to graduate with his class.
His freshman year was 2005-2006, he had been doing great until I went in for my first spine surgery in February 2006.
I spent 18 days in the hospital, and then when I came home, I didn't have a home nurse for the first week and a half, so I relied heavily on the teens and my sister to help me during that very difficult first week and a half.
Mark missed a lot of school during that whole time, and he started to fall behind.
He signed up for summer school and had almost completed it, just 4 days away from finishing, when he got to school just 3 minutes late one morning and the teacher would not open the door and let him in, which voided out his entire summer of classes and grades.
That put him very far behind, so his sophomore year, he was doing both sophomore and freshman classes.
It was too hard on him, he started falling way behind again.
He did summer school again, and managed to finally get his freshman courses done, but was now behind in his sophomore classes.
By the time his junior year came around, he was totally frustrated and had such a heavy course load, he gave up, he just quit working so hard and didn't want to even go to school anymore.
It was a battle every single morning to get him go, he said that it was just too much work, that he couldn't keep up with all of the classes for basically 2 years worth of classes being done in just one year.
In his senior year, they gave him 2 choices, go back to being a junior, graduate a year later but only if he could complete every single class with at least a C average, or take the exit option, which is all self motivated work on a computer, doing things called modules that allow the student to read several chapters, take a test, read, take a test, read, take a test and repeat, until every single class is done by taking tests.
Mark had 17 class credits to do this year, over 2,000 chapters to read, and over 400 tests to take in order to graduate on time with his class.
The teens hadn't even started school yet when I was given the news about the neck surgery.
I was scheduled to go in for it on September 8th, right at the beginning of his new school year.
It was not a good experience with that surgery, there were a lot of complications, I was put in a medically induced coma for 4 days after the surgery, Mark knew everything that had happened to me during the surgery, he was worried sick, he once again felt like giving up on everything because it was all just too much for him to deal with.
Trying to complete school and dealing with his mother, the only parent he has ever lived with, almost dying, he broke down a lot in the months that followed my surgery.
He's such a caring young man with a huge heart, and it was so much for him to deal with, but I just kept encouraging him, telling him that he could do it, that I knew he could do this, to not worry about me, just do his work and graduate so that he could fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.
He buckled down, he worked his ass off, sometimes doing as many as 20 tests per day, doing some of them at home on the school's website, just really busting his ass to get them all done so he could graduate.
He took his graduation test over 7 weeks ago, we have been waiting all of this time for the test results, and we finally got them back on Monday, he passed, he will march.
That's when I found out that the cap and gown would be about $100 or so, I had no idea where I would get that money because I just had to borrow money to replace the AC, and I have 4 doctors appointments plus prescriptions to pay for this coming week, and I'm trying to like crazy to do as much work as I can even when I'm feeling like total crap.
I was SO HAPPY when he came home today and told me about the scholarship program, that the school is going to give him his cap and gown so he can march with his class.
He has a senior night bbq and gown pick up on May 19th from 6-8pm, and graduation rehearsal on May 29th, and then he graduates May 30th at 9am at Robarts Arena.
I am so incredibly proud of him for all of his hard work, overcoming all of the obstacles that he faced, for not giving up when it really would have been much easier to just drop out, when some of his teachers even told him to his face to just drop out, that he would never be able to complete everything with passing grades, he did it, he really did it, and I am just so so proud of him for doing this.
When he walked through the door today, he had a huge smile on his face as he showed me the paperwork and told me about the scholarship, he really did it, and to see him that happy and proud of himself for doing it, it made me happy.
I will be taking a TON of pictures at graduation, maybe even a little video of him getting his diploma handed to him.
It's such a big deal because of all of his hard work, I want to make sure that the graduation is well documented so he can look back on those pictures and keep on smiling, keep on being proud of himself.
April 16, 2009
Meds, food, and trying new things.
The plan for today was to get up early and go to CVS, get Sebastian's migraine meds, and then go grocery shopping at Sweetbay because it's right there, I didn't want to go all the way in one direction to get his meds, and then turn around and go all the way to Publix which is in the other direction, which would have wasted a lot of time today.
I let Mark stay home from school today to be my shopping helper, but he got up at the usual time, walked Sebastian all the way to the street the school is on*, and then he came home and we were gonna go.
Well when he got back, I was still wicked way tired, so I told him to go back to sleep for a few more hours and then we'd go.
I woke up at 10:30, and started making my list, woke Mark back up, and then I was going to start getting dressed to go.
Good thing I decided on getting a late start because the school called about Sebastian.
He ended up getting a wicked bad migraine and needed to come home, the nurse said he was completely pale and near tears sitting in the nurses office, so I told her to definitely send him home.
I waited for him to get home before I went shopping, and decided to have him go with me instead of Mark.
When he got here, I gave him the last pill in the bottle, and 2 Tylenol, and one of my diet sodas so he could get the caffeine to help with the migraine.
Then he and I headed out to CVS to get his meds and then shopping.
One of the things I like about CVS over Walgreen's is that they are super fast getting prescriptions ready, they said it would take 15-20 minutes, but they had it ready in 7 minutes.
I barley had time to go around and find the things I wanted to buy while there.
They had the Venus Embrace razors on sale for $7.99, I had a coupon for $2.00 off, (thanks Mom!) and buying them earned me $4.00 in CVS extra care bucks, which I am still learning how to use and what they are all about, but seeing as I have to get Sebastian's meds at CVS** every month, I figure I might as well learn all about the ECBs and start taking advantage of their program.
So the razors were on sale for $7.99, you earn the $4.00 in ECBs making them $3.99, and I had $2.00 off, so I really only paid $1.99 for them.
That's a really great deal, I think, I'm still really not sure how this whole ECB thing works, but I'll figure it out.
I also wanted to try the Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew eye roller thingy because I always have really big dark circles under my eyes, and they had it on sale for $12 with the card, and I had a $5.00 off coupon, so I only paid $7.00 for it.
I also bought a big package of Excedrin Migraine, they had it for $10.99, I had a $4.00 off coupon, and I want Sebastian to give these another try.
The Tylenol does work, but it can take up to an hour to an hour and a half for them to kick in, that's far too long when he's battling a big one, so I want to see if these will work better for him.
So after we picked up his meds and bought the stuff, I gave him one of his pills and 2 of the Excedrin right away, and by the time we were done shopping, his migraine was gone, so I think they do work a bit better than the Tylenol even though he was complaining last month that the Excedrin didn't really help.
After CVS, we went and did the shopping at Sweetbay.
I got almost everything on my list, they just don't have as much selection as Publix in my opinion, so probably this weekend I'll have to go to Publix to get the rest of the stuff I couldn't get there.
And while I was gone shopping, Mark snapped the handle off of the cold side of the bathroom faucet.
It's not his fault even though he doesn't know his own strength, this is an old house, and I swear these fixtures are the exact same ones that have been in here since the day this duplex was built in 1976.
So for now, it's duct taped until I can go buy and have someone help me install some new bathroom faucets.
*sigh*
Looks great huh? *LoL*
If it isn't one thing breaking and needing to be fixed or replaced, it's another.
That's just the kind of luck I have.
I was just telling someone this morning in an email, that if I believed in all that past lives and reincarnation stuff, I was probably a really horrible person in a past life and this life is my payback or punishment for it, because if something can go wrong in my life, it most certainly does.
I like hardly ever get a break from the chaos.
Oh well.
Continue Reading �
April 13, 2009
A totally eventful day!
In order of awesomeness;
1. Mark's graduation test teacher lady called this morning around 11am to tell me that Mark had totally passed his test, so he WILL be graduating with his class, full cap and gown, the whole shebang!
W00t!
I am so so proud of him!
The only sucky hing is that if he wants to march with his class, is that he has to go to school every single day from now until the end of the year, even though he does nothing all day long but sleep, play on the computers or read books.
There's nothing for him to do education wise, he's done, he graduated early, so he gets to slack off all day long.
Which is fine, he decided that he wants to macrh, be in cap and gown, so he's going to sign the form to graduate with his class, and that way I'll have pictures of him graduating.
2. My friend Dustin and I went to Amscot and took care of the card switch over stuff.
I turned in my old card, got a new temporary card, a new direct deposit form to give to SSDI, (need to call them in the morning) and my new card will be here in 7-10 business days.
They let us choose our design this time from 4 designs, 1 being all black, so that's the one I chose.
Ha!
3. Dustin then took me to both Walmart and Home Depot to find the best deal on the right sized AC for the hole in the wall + the room size, finding it at Home Depot.
It wasn't too horrible of price, it came to $359.63, we brought it home and it perfectly fit the hole already in the wall, it was installed in less than 10minutes after taking out the busted piece of crap, and it is now getting all nice and chilly in here.
Ah, blessed AC!
The next thing I am going to do is to get 1 of those cages or fences, whatever they are called, and either get Dustin or someone else to do the fence installation around the AC so some punk doesn't bust my AC again.
It is so nice to be sitting here not sweating my ass off, you have no idea.
Today was so hot, it was just absolutely miserable.
I took about 5 showers just trying to cool myself off, but it was for nothing really.
5 minutes after stepping out, all sweaty again.
Blech!
So there we go, my totally awesome, eventful and great day!
April 8, 2009
Unemployment and education.
On the local forums I sometimes play on, a lot of the discussions lately have been about politics, news, unemployment, money, and what to do about all of it.
One of the hot topics today was the fact that unemployment benefits for a lot of people, are going to run out before the second half of the year.
They are rough estimating that about 700,000 people will lose their benefits before the second half of the year, and with more and more companies and businesses closing, the hopes of them finding a job are not good.
Just in March 2009, 663,000 jobs were lost.
That's more people going on unemployment, and those people will probably also run out of unemployment benefits before the end of the year as well.
So what are people supposed to do?
That's the questions everyone is asking?
One of the really smart guys on the forum, a guy whose posts I always read and try to take his words seriously, had a lot of advice for people today.
What to be doing right now, things to do to prepare for when the economy gets even worse, and it will, and how to possibly avoid being one of the millions out of work and with no income at all.
One of his suggestions was to get further education and training at accredited online colleges in fields that are needed right now, get an online degree, and it will be needed heavily when things start getting better again.
One of the fields he sees being needed in great demand are business and project managers, and so a Project Management certificate or project management degree, may be a really good idea for people to look into if they are already in any of the fields listed at this link.
If you're in any of those fields, get further education in those fields, you're going to need it to be able to compete with the millions of people looking at the same jobs that you are.
If you are fortunate enough to still have a job, you can further your education online at St. Joseph University, and get your certificate in any of the fields that you may be in and needing to make yourself "better" and more prepared for the demands of the job when the time comes.
Things are going to get better, but they are going to get a whole lot worse first.
It's time to really start preparing for the worst of it, and to also be prepared when the upswing begins so you can be ahead of the fighting for the best jobs.
There are a lot of people out of work, more going to lose their jobs, and when things start to get better, it's going to be a fight for jobs at any places that have any openings at all.
You are going to need to stand out, and have more to offer than the other guy.
April 3, 2009
I DO love them ya know.
I've gotten a couple of strong comments both in the comments and by email on the post below.
Things like I'll miss them when they've grown up and gone from my home, that if I hate having them home so much, why don't I send them to their grandparents for vacations, or why don't I tell them to go play outside, go hang out with their friends all week, stuff like that.
It is NOT because I don't like having the teens around at all.
I LOVE the teens, they are my everything, but they are teenage boys, brothers, just 2 years difference in age, they both want their space and privacy, they want to do what they want when they want, they are still growing so they eat, a lot.
On weekends, they can easily eat a whole pound of lunch meat, a whole loaf of bread, all of whatever leftovers we had, drink a gallon of milk, and devour pretty much anything that isn't nailed down.
So home 24/7 for a whole week?
It gets a wee bit expensive to feed them.
They are brothers who both play video games, they both want to play the same video game, at the same time.
This causes bickering and arguing over whose turn it is and for how long.
They have a computer to play WoW on, surf the net, whatever, and an Xbox360 to play a crapload of our other video games on, but in typical sibling fashion, they both always seem to want to play the exact same game at the exact same time.
Let the arguing begin!
After 24-48 hours of listening to that, yeah, I don't like it, but it doesn't mean that I want to send them away for their vacations, I love them, I do enjoy the good and fun times we have together while on their vacations.
We hang out and watch movies, we get to talk about anything and everything, we sit and laugh over really silly stuff, and we play games together.
I'm sorry if the post below sounded like, or seemed like I hate having them around.
I really don't hate having them around, I adore them even with all of the fighting and bickering, even if they eat everything in sight, even if I have to remind them a thousand times to shut off lights, fans, computers and video games when they are not being used.
The teens are probably THE best thing I've ever done in my life.
They have grown up to be really awesome young men, (even if they do bicker like all siblings do) they are kind, caring, and generous.
Generous of their time and with their love.
They are compassionate, empathetic, and incredibly loving.
So no, I don't want to send them away, I was just mentally preparing myself for the week to come, what was in store for me because of the whole sibling bickering that goes on.
I never want them to go away, even when they get older, which isn't too much longer now, I never want to spend a day when I don't see them or hear their voices.
They are my everything.
April 3, 2009
It's gonna be a long 9 days.
The teens are officially on spring break from now until Monday the 13th, the day they go back.
It's going to be a very long 9 days of them eating everything in sight, saying how bored they are, fighting and bickering, playing video games, fighting over video games, and so on.
I'm already tired just thinking about it.
I'll end up going food shopping at least 3 times during the 9 days due to excess food and milk consumption, I'll have to remind them repeatedly to shut off lights, fans, video games and computers, so they don't waste electricity and my money, and I'll probably break up at least a dozen arguments.
I feel a headache coming on.
April 2, 2009
No proselytizing at schools!
This is what was being handed out after school today at Riverview High school in Sarasota Florida.
They are allowed to do this, but they must stay on the sidewalks, public property, and not step onto school property at all.
The teens said that they were definitely on school property.
The school is doing a lot of construction and has built some sidewalks from the parking lot to the buildings, but these sidewalks are separate from the public sidewalk which runs the lentgh of Lords avenue in front of the school.
These people were on the school's sidewalks, the newly built sidewalks that go from the parking lot to the buildings.
They were yelling out to students to take one, Sebastian kept saying "No, no thank you, I'm an atheist, NO THANK YOU, NO", yet they continued to ask him to take one.
Mark took one to bring it home and show me what was happening.
I am NOT happy.
I called the school.
The secretary transferred me to the vice principal, I explained that they were on school property sidewalks, not the public sidewalks, and she asked me to hold 1 minute.
I was then transferred to the school police officer, who surprise (!) was not available, so I got a voice mailbox.
The school doesn't want to talk to me about this, they know those people should only be on public property, not school property, and they know that I know the laws regarding proselytizing at school.
As soon as the vice principal heard me say my name, people handing out bibles, and ON school property, she was all "uh, um, uh, hold please", because she knows that I am not going to let this drop.
I called back, demanded to speak to a person, not a machine, and they transferred me to the VP again.
I told her not to put me on hold again, she apologized, I said get them off school property, now, tell them to stay on the public sidewalks or I will come up there and film what they are doing the next time they are there, and take it to whoever it is that can make these people stop, and can also make you enforce the law to keep them off of school property.
I know that they have a right to do this, but NOT on the property, they cannot even step an inch onto the school property to hand out these bibles.
This kinda crap makes me so mad, it's just not ok with me that this is allowed at all.
Religion is a personal, private, family matter, and religion should never be pushed onto impressionable youths.
The students range in age from 14 to 19 at the high school, the only ones they can legally talk to are the 18 and 19 year olds, speaking to anyone under the legal age is not allowed, yet here they are, yelling at all of the students to take these bibles.
The teens said they have been doing this for the last few weeks, that is so not ok with me.
April 1, 2009
Useless internet day.
The teens are off to school, Sebastian has his note to get out early because he has his neuro appointment this afternoon, and poor Mark had insomnia again all night, yet had to go to school by law because we are still waiting on his graduation test results.
It is SO stupid that he has to go, sit there, and do absolutely nothing all day long.
It infuriates me.
Today is April 1st, April Fool's day, and the internet is officially useless today.
Youtube is showing all videos upside down, Google's Gmail is doing their usual stupid April Fool's Day jokes, people are linking to the usb pet rock, again, this year, and I'm sure there will be many more absolutely stupid jokes posted all over the internet by major sites, blogs, forums, and whoever just thinks they are oh so clever.
I can't stand it.
I absolutely hate stupid humor, I can't watch Will Ferrel movies because of all the stupid humor jokes and such.
Today on the internet, is going to suck for me and people like me who just hate the dumb jokes.
It is officially useless internet day.
March 30, 2009
Is insomnia hereditary?
Last night was a really rough night, for Mark.
He could not fall asleep no matter what we tried, and I don't give the teens any medications other than what their docs prescribe, so I didn't give him 1 of my sleeping pills to try and help.
It was far too late to try that route anyway.
Poor kid was awake the entire night though.
I finally drifted off to sleep around 4:30am, and woke back up when the alarm went off to find Mark just sitting on the other couch with giant bags under his eyes.
I asked him if he got any sleep at all, and he said no.
I feel so bad for him, insomnia sucks big time.
So he stayed home from school today, and finally fell asleep around 10am.
I'm not going to let him sleep all day, I'll wake him up when Sebastian gets home at 2:38pm, and hopefully he'll be able to sleep tonight.
The teens start spring break this coming Friday after the school day ends, April 3rd, and don't go back until April 13th.
It's basically 9 days in total including the weekends.
That should be fun.
Two totally bored and nitpicking at each other teens for 9 whole days.
When Sebastian gets home, we also need to head down to Beall's and pick them up some new shorts.
They have grown so much just since school started, they both need new shorts again, so we'll take a cab down there and pick them up a couple of new pairs of shorts each, and Sebastian says he needs some new shoes, so we'll see if they have any there in his size and that he will like.
Should be interesting hobbling around shopping. ha ha
March 25, 2009
No school times 2.
When I woke Sebastian up at 6am to take his shower for school, he immediately started crying and clutching his head, said in a barely audible whisper, that he had a wicked bad migraine, and he had big giant tears streaming down his face.
He'll be staying home from school today, I can't send him when he's like this, it takes hours for these bad attacks to go away, so there's simply no way he could go to school like this.
I have my appointment with my surgeon this afternoon at 2pm, and an errand to Walgreen's and Publix this morning before I leave here at noon to head to Safety Harbor for the appointment, so it's a good thing that I have been giving Mark every Wednesday off.
He'll be here to take care of Sebastian, give him some Tylenol every 6 hours, make a cold compress if he needs it, and he can also call my sister's cell phone, or my cell phone, if it's a true emergency and we need to rush home as quickly as we can.
I don't think it will get that bad, I gave him his every morning prescription migraine medication and 2 Tylenol, made a cold compress, and I have him laying on the couch so I can keep an eye on him.
Someone suggested that I give him Excedrin Migraine when he has an attack, but it rips his stomach up he says, makes him feel nauseous, so I have a whole bottle of it sitting here.
Maybe it will work for me when I get a migraine or even just a headache, who knows, but what I do know is that with all of the prescription pain medication that I take, not a single one of them work on regular headaches, never mind a migraine.
I usually end up having to take about 4-5 Tylenol to kill any migraines that I get, so maybe the Excedrin will work for me.
I'll give it a try the next time I get one.
I have been awake all night long, I couldn't sleep no matter what I did, I even took some Wal-som, Walgreen's version of Unisom, a sleep aid, and nope, no go.
As a matter of fact, it wired me up even more, I had so much energy that I was seriously thinking about washing all of the dishes and vacuuming the rug in the living room around 3am.
I decided to do the laundry instead, it's a much quieter chore to do that late at night.
It's amazing how loud doing the dishes sound when the whole house is dead quiet, it sounds as loud as a restaurant kitchen during the dinner rush.
I am going to be so freaking tired by the time we leave here for my appointment, I'll probably be nodding off in the car which is bad because I'm the co-pilot, the person with the directions, the person who always gets lost no matter how many times I've been there, but I think I've found the absolute most perfect route this time, so hopefully we'll get there with no screw ups on my end.
Part of the route takes us through some really old parts of Tampa and Safety Harbor, and I love all of the old buildings, I am always looking out the window on the way up to doc's, (probably why we always get lost *grin*), and the route I have mapped out for today takes us through some of the older areas, so I'm hoping that I get to see some of the really super old buildings, some of the historic hotels, the old factories and other buildings.
If I do see some of them, I'm going to have my camera with me and ready, so I'll try to snap some pics as we drive through.
Hey, maybe having a goal like this will help keep me from nodding off.
If I fall asleep, sis will probably kick my ass or turn the radio volume all the way to scare me awake. ha ha ha
March 24, 2009
Wasting time by law, migraines and money.
There hasn't been a whole heckuva lot happening around our house the last few days, same old same old I guess you could say.
The teens have been getting up and going to school, coming home and helping me out around the house because I haven't been feeling well, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with Mark.
Mark took his graduation test, but we don't have the results yet, so he has to go to school every day by law.
The teachers though, tell him in a round about way, that he doesn't have to be there except for Mondays and Fridays, because those are the 2 days that the test results might come in.
So they say to him,
"Mark, I can't tell you that you don't have to be here because I could be fired and lose my pension and all of that, but technically, you only really need to be here Mondays and Fridays for the test results, but by law, you have to be here every day. Do what you think is best for you to do."
So, I've been sending him Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and giving him Wednesdays and Thursdays off until we get his test results back.
He doesn't do anything all day long as far as education goes, he can't.
Well he can, but whatever he does, it doesn't count toward anything because he already took his graduation test.
He's basically taking up a desk, eating lunch, taking naps, and playing video games on the computers all day long.
The other students ask why he doesn't have to do any work, and the teachers say that Mark is done with school but fulfilling his attendance by law, but none of the teachers want him there because he's not doing anything and the other students see him not doing anything, so they want to do nothing, too, so the teachers repeat the above to Mark, and so I let him stay home as much as I can get away with.
So far, no truancy officers have shown up at my door, and if they ever do, I'll explain what's going on and they can confirm it with the school, that we are simply waiting for the results of his graduation test.
These results are totally holding him up though.
He can't apply to the tech school until he gets the results, so that means he can't sign up for the summer classes that he needs either.
They said it would only be a few weeks, but it's taking a long time, and I really hope they get the results soon so that when he goes to the tech school, the classes he needs won't be full up.
That would really suck because he really wants to take those classes over the summer so he can go to college in the fall.
Sebastian is still dealing with the migraines, they aren't happening as often anymore, he was getting them 3-4 times per week, and now he's down to about once a week, so the meds are working for preventing most of the migraine attacks, but when he does get one, it's bad, and so I give him Tylenol and make him lay down in his dark bedroom with a cold compress and wait for it to pass.
Does anyone remember the Airborne class action lawsuit?
They didn't admit to any wrong doing, but they agreed to pay out for a max of 6 packages per person with your proof of purchase from select retailers.
I had filed for it and I had my receipts because I only ever bought it at Walgreen's, and I save all of my pharmacy receipts for my taxes, so proof of purchase was easy to prove.
Well anyway, when Sebastian came home, he got the mail and in it was my settlement check for $34.95.
Saweeet!
And we all got paid several days early from work, so yay!
It's a good money week for me.
I had been panicking all weekend about money because I had a doc appointment with a co-pay on Monday, I have my surgeon appointment with a co-pay tomorrow, and I have several prescription co-pays to pick up tomorrow, too, and I don't have to worry now.
Plus, I'll finally be getting my income tax refund on Thursday the H&R Tax website says.
I have no idea what the hold up was, I filed quite awhile ago, like as soon as I got my forms, but it's finally going to be deposited on Thursday the IRS and H&R says, so yay!
Now I can pay back a loan, pay off some bills, and pay some of my medical bills from my surgery off too.
I don't owe a lot to my surgeon, it's under $1,000 which is awesome, but my refund isn't quite enough to pay the whole thing off.
I'll be able to pay off half of it, and then I can make small monthly payments to pay off the rest of it, and then I won't owe anything to anyone again.
I love it when I don't owe any money, when I'm all caught up on bills, have everything paid off and up to date, it's such an incredibly good feeling.
Does anyone else get all excited when they don't owe any money and are totally caught up on bills? ha ha
March 21, 2009
Talent I wish I had.
Last year I had posted about wanting to buy Sebastian a graphics tablet that Buy.com had on sale, to get him for his birthday.
Well my friend Charlotte had 1 that she never used, it was brand new, so we made a deal, and Sebastian got an awesome new graphics tablet to use.
Buy.com has another tablet on sale right now, a Genius G-Pen F610 Graphics Tablet for $69.99, down from $129.99.
That's a really great price for a really cool computer tool.
These graphics tablets are so cool, I wish that I knew how to make stuff with them, I would love to be able to draw on the tablet and make some cool stuff like Sebastian does, but I just don't have that kind of artistic talent.
This is a digital birthday card he made for me using the tablet and some other tools like photoshop and some other stuff.
I don't know how he does it, but it doesn't take him long at all to make things with it and photoshop.
You can click it for bigger, but it's really big, like 1366x768 or something like that.
He found a cake image online, then he used the tablet and pen to draw some designs on it and also to write the lettering.
He's so good at this, he says it's easy, and he tried to teach me but I kept doing it wrong and got frustrated.
He said "Not everyone is good at this stuff Mom, if you ever need graphics for your site, I can make 'em for you."
The tablet does look really easy to use, and so if you have a kid with artistic and computer talents, these tablets would make a great gift to help them better their skills.
Or maybe it's you who's good at this kind of stuff, and it's plug and play, so really easy to set up too.
I just wish he would spend more time doing this stuff, making things, building up his portfolio for when he goes to college.
He's in all senior classes for computers at school.
He's the only sophomore in the digital design class, the only sophomore in the graphics, design, and marketing class too, and he gets all A's and B's.
If he spent more time on this stuff than on playing video games like WoW and GH3, he could build up one heck of a portfolio for school.
But speaking of GH3, there's a free demo out for the Metallica version that is due to come out sometime soon, like on the 29th of this month.
We downloaded the demo yesterday, it only has 4 songs, but wow, it looks amazing, and Sebastian had so much fun trying to play the songs.
He made me stay in the room and watch him play so that I could warn him when Kirk Hammett's guitar solos were coming up so he could try and be prepared to move his fingers really fast...LoL
The game really does look amazing, the characters really do look like the guys from the band, and even had some of their little gestures that they do, like how James Hetfield grimaces and points to the audience, and how how Lars Ulrich makes weird faces while he plays.
If you have an xbox 360, a live account, and GH3, you should definitely download the demo and check it out, it's really pretty cool and now he wants the game when it's released even more.
I wouldn't mind having it too, the music is really awesome.
March 19, 2009
What did he show you?!?
Even though the school has a strict no cell phone policy, kids are always bringing them in anyway, sneaking them in, using them quietly, and sharing videos they downloaded with their friends.
They are getting away with it because they use the earbuds that come with their iphone accessories and other cell phones.
If a teacher can't see or hear it, they get away with it.
Sebastian came home from school today and told me that a kid showed him a video that I can't even describe to you because it's so foul.
I mean really foul.
After he told me what it was, I went and looked it up because I didn't believe him, and oh my, it was exactly as he described, and was definitely disgusting.
I am still gagging from what I saw.
Let me just say it involved a man and a glass jar.
Sebastian has come home plenty of times and told me about a video he saw at school on somebody's cell phone, and most of the time they are totally harmless, amusing, and some of them downright funny.
He also saw this one today, and when I told him I had already seen it a long time ago, he was surprised and said that kids at school must have just found it, because a lot of kids are walking around singing it and laughing.
This is funny, and no doubt you've probably seen it already too, because it's actually quite old on the net now.
Big Mac.
March 16, 2009
Sleep and pain.
I finally got some sleep after about 6 days of getting approximately only 5 hours of total sleep during those 6 days.
It was really awesome to catch up on my sleep finally.
I fell asleep this morning around 8am, and then slept the entire day away, and woke up around 3pm.
Yeah, the whole day was pretty much wasted, but at least my body decided that it had enough and let me sleep.
I'm really hoping that now that I've caught up, that I can get back to working, get back to doing the things I need to do.
When you aren't getting any sleep, your brain is in like a constant state of confusion, a fog, you can't think straight, so trying to blog, trying to write, just wasn't happening for me.
I'm really hopeful that things get back to some sort of normal with me so I can get stuff done.
Neither of the teens went to school today, they both woke up in massive pain this morning, so I couldn't make them go.
Sebastian woke up with a blinding migraine again.
I went in his room and woke him, his face immediately grimaced, he asked me to shut off the light, he put his hands over his eyes and head, I asked if it was bad, he said yes, so I got him a drink, his morning meds, and a couple of Tylenol, and sent him back to sleep.
Mark was going to try to go even though it's pointless for him to go because there's nothing for him to do at school, the teachers aren't giving him any work, even if they did, it wouldn't count, because he's taken his graduation test, he's done with school, so he sits there all day doing absolutely nothing but taking up space.
But that's not why I didn't send him.
Yesterday morning when he mowed the lawn, he pulled something in his middle back.
He complained about it all afternoon yesterday, I kept giving him Tylenol, rubbed some Cura-Heat on it, but this morning when I woke him up, he was crying the pain was so bad, bent over, tears falling, crying from the pain, and Mark never, ever cries, so I knew that it was bad and he wasn't faking how bad it was.
I had him take a hot shower, I rubbed on more Cura-Heat, gave him more Tylenol, and sent him back to bed.
When I got up this afternoon, I gave him some more Tylenol, more Cura-Heat, and am just trying to keep him from doing anything more to his back.
I need to get him in to see the doc about his back soon.
Scoliosis is genetic, it can be passed down parent to child, and boys can get it, too, even though girls seem to get diagnosed with it more often than boys do.
I'm not sure if he has it, but he does complain about lower back pain every few months or so, and sometimes it looks like his shoulders aren't level, an almost sure sign of scoliosis.
I absolutely hate to think that either of the teens may have it, everything I have been through because of it, years of pain, all of the treatments, the surgeries, I know that it is genetic, it would not be my fault if they end up with it, but I know I will blame myself if they do.
It wouldn't really be my fault, genetics are genetics, but I would feel responsible for it, so I need to have him checked again, and then again a year from now.
I have both of them checked at least once a year, and his last check was about 10 months ago, but with the pain he gets every so often, and now that he's pulling muscles, he needs to be seen again.
To help with his back and keep him from slouching (a very, very bad habit) when he plays video games, I make him sit with pillows behind his back on the mismatched discount dining room furniture chairs they use in the game room.
The chairs that went with my dining room table were cheap miserable things, fold up wooden slat chairs, no cushions at all, just absolutely miserable, so I bought some mismatched ones a few years ago at a store that was having a showroom sale.
I got each of the 4 chairs, none matching, for $10 each.
Hey, at least they were all the same color, not style, but same dark cherry color, and they all had seat cushions.
Before bed tonight, I'll give Mark some more Tylenol and slap on some more Cura-Heat, and hopefully by morning he'll be feeling well enough to go sit there at school all day even if he's not doing anything.
I really need to talk to the school and find out what can be done to stop wasting Mark's time, the teacher's time, and taxpayer money by making a kid sit there all day doing absolutely nothing at all.
March 10, 2009
FCAT, tests, and vacations.
Sebastian has FCAT testing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then he can stay home Friday because the higher grades have FCAT testing that day, and the teachers have nothing at all for any of the other students in any other grades to do.
That's pretty stupid in my opinion.
It's not like his grade teachers will be doing the testing for the higher grades, so why are there no lessons planned for Friday?
Oh I know, it's because the less students they have in school, the less work they have to do, so they told their students that they don't have to come in on Friday because there will be nothing to do because the higher grades are testing and the school needs to be quiet while they test.
Yuh.
Suuuuure.
Mark is basically finished, so he doesn't have to go to school at all Tuesday and Wednesday, and Friday.
Why he has to go Thursday, I have no idea.
In other news, my brother, niece and nephew, and sister-in-law, Jenna, have booked their upcoming Orlando vacations for this year.
Jenna has MS, and I blogged in the 2007 blogathon for The Montel Williams MS Foundation, and raised a decent chunk of money basically, because of her.
I saw her go from a vibrant working mom with a ton of energy, to a vibrant mom who gets super tired, has really bad days, has days where the effects of the MS completely wipe her out.
She was diagnosed 12 years ago and is now in the secondary progressive stage, but you wouldn't know it talking to her.
She loves life, she lives it, and that's why she's always going and doing as much as she can every single day.
When making their vacation plans, she worked closely with her travel agent, made sure that every bit of their trip would be handicap accessible, they will have someone at the airports to assist with changeovers and transfers, their hotel room will have a roll-in shower, and she made sure that every question she asked, she got an answer to.
I know that they will have a great time on their vacation because Jenna took the time to organize and plan, wrote all of her questions down, asked those questions, made sure that her travel agent knew exactly what her needs were going to be on every part of their trip, and that those needs will be met.
I hope to be able to see them when they come in October, I'm not super far from Orlando, but depending on when my surgery is, recovery and all of that jazz, I don't know if I'll be able to meet up with them.
My sister might be able to take the teens, but we'll have to wait and see if I can go too.
March 4, 2009
Hairs and migraines.
Sebastian stayed home from school today because he woke up at about 4:30 in the morning, crying his eyes out, holding his head, and begging me to help him stop the migraine.
I got up, gave him some Tylenol, had him take a shower to cool his body down and also calm him down, and then I gave him his script migraine meds and had him lay down on the couch with a cool compress on his head.
It still hadn't eased up by the time it was time to leave for school, so I let him stay home and try to sleep it off.
It didn't go away until almost 5pm.
He took 2 Tylenol every 6 hours, stayed laying down, napped off and on all day, took his scripts on schedule, and it finally passed.
I feel so bad for him when they hit him that hard, and I hate it when they happen in the middle of the night when he's sleeping.
I can't figure out what brings on those ones, the middle of the night explosive migraines.
Tomorrow after school, I'll be taking Mark up to get his hair cut at the barber shop.
It's totally shaggy, out of control, and he looks like one of those big English Sheepdogs.
When I said haircut, he didn't even mind, he just said ok, sure.
I was well prepared for a fight over it, but nope, no fight, so it must be getting to him too if he's not putting up any fight at all.
March 2, 2009
The school nurse is gonna end up with a...
foot in her ass if she keeps talking to Sebastian and myself the way she does.
I sent the paperwork to school this morning with Sebastian, from the neuro that explains that he does indeed suffer from serious migraines and is taking 2 medications for it.
I wrote on the paperwork that the medications will not be at the school due to other students claiming they steal medications, and that he will be taking them 3 times a day at home.
She called me this morning to yell at me, again, that "There's absolutely no way that any student is stealing medications from the nurses office. It's impossible."
I told her again, how the students say they are doing it, the types of medications they say they are taking, and anyway, the school won't allow Sebastian's medications there because of what they are.
Even these new ones are on the banned list of medications.
She told me again, that it's impossible for students to steal medications.
I told her again, the types of medications that students claim they are taking, other students ADHD meds, bottles of Tylenol, Benadryl, whatever is in the closet, they take it.
She yelled at me, again, that it's impossible, that I need to give her the names of the students claiming they are doing this, and I won't, I refuse, because if I rat out the names Sebastian and Mark have told me, there could be consequences for them from these other students.
She told me that's a lie.
I said, "How dare you call me a liar!? There are students claiming they are taking medications that belong to other students, and because I won't give you their names, you are calling me a liar?!"
She said I need to take it up with the principal if I really feel that students medications are being stolen, I told her that talking to the principal is like talking to a smiling brick wall, she will say anything to avoid confrontation with parents, it goes in one ear and out the other, nothing gets done, quit badgering me on this issue, his meds will not be at school, end of discussion, period, done, and I hung up.
Sebastian has told me that when he goes to the nurses office to come home because his head is exploding, that she has called him a liar, told him he doesn't really have migraines, that he just wants to go home from school.
That's why I made sure to send the paperwork this morning, it has the doctor's signature on it, his name and phone number, the doctor's official stamp with his license number on it, the diagnosis of severe migraine, and the names of his medications along with the amounts he has to take.
I swear, if she calls him a liar one more time, I'm going to go up there and put my foot up her ass.
February 27, 2009
Last few days update.
Ok, now that I'm starting to feel somewhat human again, I'll give you an update on the goings on around the Cooper household.
As you know, Mark took his graduation test, the test giver said he passed, we have to wait a few weeks for the official state grade, but basically he's done with school.
I also took Sebastian to the neuro who did a bunch of tests, asked a ton of questions, and then gave him 2 different medicines to try.
We will go pick those up tomorrow morning at CVS and start him on them.
He has to take both every single day as they are preventative migraine medicines, so we'll start and see how it goes for him.
I really hope they work, if they don't, we have an appointment in a month to do a check up, report if they work or not, if not, we'll try 2 more the neuro said.
I don't know if we're going to be able to keep Carmine the kitty who adopted us.
I fully believe that he is a feral cat as we have tried and tried to get him to stop peeing all over the house, but he simply will not stop peeing everywhere.
He used the litter box for the first month or so that he was here, but he's now resorted to peeing on the carpet in several spots, and if you have cats and have or ever had a cat that peed in other places other than the litter box, well you know the smell is pure nasty ammonia.
He has taken to peeing on the carpet underneath my bed over and over.
The smell in my room is so nasty and strong, I haven't been able to sleep in it for several days now.
Tomorrow, the teens and I are getting the box cutter and tearing out that carpet.
We have to, we don't have a choice.
The carpet has been ruined by some of the flooding that happened anyway, and most of it got ripped out after the last big huge flood that we had about 2 or 3 years ago.
Now it all has to come out because he has peed all over it and the smell is absolutely disgusting.
We've been trying to train him, every time we caught him peeing someplace other than the box, we picked him up, rubbed his nose in it, and put him in the litter box.
He just will not stop peeing there, and then he has tried to pee other places, too, like the bathtub, and tonight, he peed on the kitchen floor.
I simply cannot have a cat that pees everywhere.
No amount of enzyme urine stain cleaner can get rid of that smell no matter how good they claim their product is.
If we can't get him to stop this, the other cats will start peeing in other places too, and then the smell will be in the entire house and none of them will ever ever stop peeing in those places.
I hate to have to get rid of him, but a feral cat will never learn.
I will take him to the humane society, I'll pay the $50 or so bucks they want to take feral cats, and hopefully they will know what to do with him, give him to a no-kill shelter, or give him to a family that wants an outdoor cat.
I really hate to do that, I love him, the teens love him so much, he's beautiful and so loving, but a feral cat who pees is simply no good.
If anyone knows what to do, knows how to make him stop peeing, please, please tell me what to do, it's breaking our hearts at the very thought of having to get rid of him.
In NuWave Pro Oven news, it rocks my socks something fierce!!!
So far we have cooked frozen chicken breasts in just 16 minutes, 8 minutes per side, a steak, which came out absolutely fabulous in just 7 minutes per side, oh my goodness, it was simply incredible!
I cooked some of those Barber Foods stuffed chicken breasts, the broccoli and cheese ones, and they were totally cooked perfectly in just 7 minutes instead of the 45 in a conventional oven, with no turning at all.
Tonight we cooked some bourbon marinated salmon fillets (they were on sale for just $6.99 for 3 big fillets) in just 4 minutes per side, and they came out perfectly!
I also made to go with the salmon, some corn on the cob halves, and by the time the salmon was done, so were they, perfectly with no turning, from frozen.
Tomorrow night I'll be making some frozen hamburgers, it says they will cook in just 3 minutes per side, and some french fries which the chart says will be done in just 6 minutes with no turning using the baking sheet that it comes with.
The teens absolutely love the NuWave, they think it is simply incredible and easy to use.
Both of them have been helping me cook every night because I haven't been feeling well, and they have done so good at it.
They got the food out, they sprayed the cooking racks with Pam, they put the food on, read the cooking time chart, set the power and time, and flipped the food.
It is far too easy to make good food in no time at all, and clean up is an absolute breeze.
It all comes apart really easy, and washes up in seconds.
I do need to pick up some parchment paper to cook pizzas though.
The pizza flipper it comes with, yeah, that's a must.
You need to place the pizza, cheese and sauce side down on the paper, cook it for just 3 minutes, then use the flipper to turn it ride side up.
It will cook the pizza without flipping, but the crust doesn't get as crusty as we like it, so yeah, next shopping trip, I'll get some paper and it will make the pizzas perfectly.
It is just so easy to use, easy to clean up, and the food tastes incredible.
The teens could not stop saying how good the salmon tasted tonight and the steak last night, they love it, so I know that after the next surgery, they will be eating good and healthy food all cooked by themselves.
Thank you guys so so much for getting it for us, you've made a huge difference for us.
They are not afraid of using it like they are the really old and temperamental oven that we have, they love it, they love cooking with it, it's really awesome.
February 27, 2009
Pretty much done.
Mark went and did his 2 nights of testing at the local tech school, we have to wait about 2-3 weeks for his grade, but the test giver looked it over and said that he passed, we just need the official grade from the state to make it so.
So he's basically done with school.
Yay!
I'm down for the count.
I did too much on Wednesday and seem to have caught some sort of cold on top of wearing myself out, so I've just been on the couch the last couple days, same with today.
Just totally worn out.
I'm hoping that all of this rest I'm getting lets me back up by tonight or tomorrow at least.
I'll be back around when I'm feeling better, just wanted to give you all the good news on Mark.
I am so proud of him.
February 25, 2009
Busy busy busy go go go.
We're leaving here in like 20 minutes to go get Mark his state ID, and then this afternoon at 1pm, Sebastian and I are going to his neuro to see about his migraines.
Too many things in just 1 day for me..hahaha
I don't know how much I'll be around after all of this stuff gets done, my body gets worn out very quickly from doing too much.
Later days.
February 23, 2009
Wednesday is going to be a busy day.
I don't think I've posted what's been going on with Mark and his plans for the future, so I figured I'd give you all an update.
Mark is planning on becoming a police officer, that's what he wants to do with his life, and even though it's a very risky job, it's a very noble job and I stand behind him 100%.
There are a bunch of classes that Mark needs to take at the local technical college over the summer, but he needs to get started on that very soon, so I gave him permission to take the early exit option from school.
The early exit option requires that Mark take a test and pass in order to graduate early, by April instead of May when all of the other kids graduate.
The test is Wednesday and Thursday night from 2:45 to 7pm, and he and a friend who is also taking the early exit option, will be going and riding home together.
In order to take the test and graduate early, Mark has to have a state ID.
He doesn't have his drivers license yet, he wants to wait until summer for that, so I have to go with him on Wednesday morning to the building downtown, and get him a state ID so he can do what he needs to.
He doesn't have to go to high school Wednesday or Thursday because of the testing at night and because he's taking the early exit option.
If he passes the graduation test, he can take the classes at SCTI over the summer, just 2 classes, and then go to MCC in the fall for the law classes he needs, and start his 2 years there, then after graduating from MCC, he can apply to the police academy.
In order to get into the police academy, he needs at least 3 personal references.
He has his BIG George, who was a detective in Washington DC for 25 years, our landlord who is a Sarasota County Sheriff, and his teacher at the high school who has been helping Mark get all of this school stuff scheduled and getting him on the right track.
Mark had started to give up on his education for a few reasons, he lost interest in school, he missed a lot of days because of my 1st surgery I had in his freshmen year, and then again this past September, and he just became really unfocused.
The teacher really helped him get back on track, he started taking a special class at school which allowed him to do all of his classes at his own pace on a computer instead of in a regular classroom, and he started to really do well, he pulled ahead, got all caught up on everything he missed during those times he missed school, and he actually completed all of his high school credits about 3 months ago, he's done with school basically, he has every single credit needed for graduation, but in order to get out early, he has to take the early exit option test which will give him a GED instead of a general diploma, but even though it will be a GED, he actually has all of his required credits plus about 10 more credits for doing more work than he needed to do.
Going into the self-motivated classes was the best thing for him, working at his own pace, not having to deal with a regular classroom and all kinds of students, not having to deal with teachers with no time, and not having to sit through a lot of stupid stuff that teachers do, was the way for him, it worked for him, and now he gets to graduate early and begin taking his law classes at SCTI this May instead of in the fall.
Now, he will be done with the law classes, and can go straight to college in the fall for his 2 year degree in law, and then on to the police academy when that's done.
So, no school for him Wednesday and Thursday, his testing at night, and so in the morning on Wednesday, I need to get him downtown to get his ID, and then in the afternoon, I have to take Sebastian to the neuro for his migraines, so neither one of them are going to school on Wednesday because of the timing of when we have to leave here to get to everywhere we need to go for the both of them to get everything taken care of that they need to.
It will be a busy day for me, but worth it.
We'll finally start getting some answers for Sebastian's migraines, and Mark will be well on his way to his goal of becoming a police officer.
February 20, 2009
WWJD at school?
The teens were sitting at their lunch table today, and another student came along and tossed this on their table and said "Hey atheists", and then kept going.
It's a religious tract for a Baptist church that offers a lot of teen and youth programs.
The student who tossed it on their table obviously knows that they are atheists, that's why they did it.
School is no place for this stuff whether it's done by teachers or students.
This is basically, harassment of students who don't believe, by students who do believe.
This is what it says on the inside:
And this is the church that distributes them to kids to hand out at school:
February 18, 2009
Off to the neuro we go.
I called the neuro yesterday morning, got his voice mail, left a detailed message, and waited for a call back.
The phone rang a little after 8pm, and it was the doctor, I was shocked.
He was calling from his home too, as I heard him do the famous parent yell, "I'm on the phone! On. The. Phone."
He apologized, I said no worries, I have kids too, but wow, thank you for calling me back from home, I don't think I've EVER had a doctor do that.
He asked a bunch of questions about the length of time Sebastian has been getting the migraines, how severe they are, how it's affecting him at home and school, and then we set up an appointment for next Wednesday, the 25th, so yay!
Finally we're going to be getting him checked out and getting him some help for this, it's really starting to affect his schoolwork and his overall well being.
February 17, 2009
Pains in the neck and shoulders.
I've been up all night again, just couldn't sleep at all, so I decided to be productive.
I did some light and easy cleaning over night in the kitchen.
I tackled all of the drawers and threw out some broken or just really old and worthless cooking utensils, ratty dish towels and pot holders, split up sets of measuring cups and spoons, and found some stuff that I had long forgotten about too.
I found the set of hooks I bought and meant to use for a home decorating project, my old wallet which had all kinds of pictures of the kids in it, some rubber stamps from when I used to try and be all crafty, and 3 boxes of kid's Valentines cards that we never used.
I don't know why I kept those.
Maybe I thought that eventually we'd use them.
I threw out all the old and useless junk, and then put the cards back in the drawer along with the hooks, the stamps, and old wallet.
I didn't know where else to put any of it.
*shrug*
Today is the day I can finally call the neurologist about Sebastian's migraines.
I tried to call yesterday, but it was a holiday, so no one answered the phone, just got the same message that he would be out until February 16th.
So around 9am, I am going to give his office a call, and try to get Sebastian in as soon as possible.
Both of the teens are still complaining that their necks and shoulders hurt from carrying the groceries home on Sunday.
The bags were heavy, I'm not denying them their pain at all, I know back pain, but they have to go to school.
I gave them each some Tylenol just now, and I'm hoping that they will survive the day at school.
They had a 3-day weekend due to the holiday, so they have to go.
I keep telling them that if I haven't died from my back pain yet, they certainly won't die from carrying some groceries home.
I know that they did hurt pretty badly on Sunday night, but they've been playing GH and other games and not complaining about the pain, they didn't start really whining about it until bed time last night, and now this morning.
They just want to stay home.
Sorry boys, you're going to school!
February 15, 2009
Food, cooking, and shopping.
The teens and I are getting ourselves woken up and ready to head out to Publix to do the grocery shopping.
We're all going this time because I have only enough money to buy food, not take a $10 cab ride back home, so we're taking all of the cloth shopping bags, and the teens are taking their backpacks, and we're going to get everything and carry it all home.
We've been sitting here this morning watching all of the infomercials that are on Sundays, and I am still coveting the NuWave Oven Pro.
I really do want it, and will probably buy 1 before my next surgery because it will help the teens be able to cook for themselves a lot easier.
I can't help thinking about the risks of the surgery, I don't mind the halo brace so much, it will suck, but if it helps keep my head straight, then I don't really care so much.
But the whole trach tube thing, yeah, that's got me a bit freaked out.
I won't be able to breathe, eat, drink, or speak through my nose or mouth, only breathe through the trach tube, I'll be fed through a feeding tube in my stomach.
It does have it's benefits though.
I won't need to diet or take any sort of diet pill, my food will be some liquid goop shoved through a tube directly into my stomach, so I'm like pretty much guaranteed to lose weight.
But I was thinking about the teens, I won't be able to eat, I will probably have a very hard time doing things like cooking because of the halo brace, and the teens, while they do know how to cook, the oven still freaks them out.
So I was watching the infomercial for the NuWave Oven Pro, and how it is less intimidating than the regular oven, they'd be able to eat good and healthy foods, real food, not microwave nuke 'em bad for them crap, and so yeah, I think at some point before the next surgery, I'll buy it.
I'll test it out, teach the teens how to use it, let them cook with it all of the time before I go, and then they'll be used to it, will be able to cook for themselves when I get back, and probably get really good at it because it's so easy to use, like no brainer cooking.
Ok, gotta get myself ready, brush my hair and get dressed, get my list and coupons, and head on out to buy some food that the teens will inhale.
They have tomorrow off, no school because of the holiday, so I need to pick up some easy to eat and lunch meat stuff for sandwiches and stuff like that.
February 7, 2009
Wanna play Guitar Hero at school? Sign this!
The teens came home from school today right at 2:38pm on the dot again.
How they time it so perfectly everyday, I have absolutely no idea.
But anyway, they come through the door, and Mark says "Mom! Listen to this!"
He nudges Sebastian who says to me, "Mom, check this out!"
He hands me the form you see below.
Yes, that is a U.S. Army recruitment form.
He says that at school today, the U.S. Army was there, they had an xbox 360 all set up, the whole Guitar Hero World Tour kit, the full band, drums, guitar, mic, and it was hooked up to a really nice LCD tv.
They were asking the young male students if they wanted to play, and of course Sebastian wants to play, he loves that game, so he walked over and said he'd like to play, that he's pretty good at it.
One of the recruiters handed him this form, I actually have this at my house, and he tells Sebastian that all he has to do if he wants to play GH AT school one day a week for the rest of the year, that all he has to do is write in his phone number and sign the form, don't read it, just put his phone number down and sign it, they'll fill out the rest later on when they call him at home.
Sebastian, knowing how I feel about the military recruiting at high schools, told the guy he's not allowed to sign anything without his mother being present.
The guy said "You don't need your mother to know what this is about, it's just to play Guitar Hero at school."
Sebastian said "No, I do need my mom to know what this is about because I'm not 18, I'm only 15, and not allowed to sign things like this without her knowing. I'll take it home, she can look at it, and if she says I can, I'll bring it back tomorrow."
The form even says that you have to be 17, and here they are, handing this out to all students, not asking them their ages, and getting kids to sign up to be recruited by allowing them to play GH at school for the rest of the year.
What the hell is this?!
I totally disagree with these kinds of recruitment tactics at school, I hate it that they are allowed to recruit at school, but this is pretty freaking sneaky.
If students sign up to be recruited, they get to play GH 1 day a week for the rest of the school year.
That's just wrong.
February 4, 2009
It figures, totally the way it goes for us.
I ran out of the vitamins for the teens about a week ago, and mine have extra iron so I can't share them with the teens, and I didn't have the money, nor did I go anywhere to pick up more for them, so guess what?
Tonight around 10pm, Sebastian came to me and said he wasn't feeling well, I asked him to explain, give me symptoms, because not feeling well doesn't tell me a whole lot.
He said his stomach hurt, he had a headache, his body felt all stiff and sore.
I felt his forehead, it was extremely hot.
So I gave him 2 Tums and 2 Tylenol, and made him lay down.
About 20 minutes later, I hear Mark running to the bathroom and yelling "Puke!"
He finally finishes in there and I ask him to tell me symptoms.
Same thing, stomach hurts, puke, headache, body feel stiff and sore, his forehead is burning hot too.
I give him 2 Tums and 2 Tylenol, and make him lay down too.
I didn't take their temps because it seems I misplaced the thermometer from the last time.
It's definitely not in the first aid kit where it should be.
I'm going to have to see how they feel in the morning, but as of bedtime, both of them were white as clean bleached sheets, clutching their stomachs, and both had fevers.
I cannot send them to school like that, if whatever it is turns out to be the flu or something else that's contagious, then I have a duty to not make other kids sick.
But when I go out tomorrow to get my script filled, I'm going to pick up some more vitamins and some more discount supplements like an extra vitamin C, and another bottle of an antioxidant, and start the daily regiment again.
I've found that the store brand of most vitamins and supplements are just as good and in some cases better, than the really expensive brand named supplements.
It just figures, I run out of their stuff, forgot to get more, and they get fevers.
If it's not me feeling like total crap, it's one or both of them.
We are the house of sick and decrepit.
January 29, 2009
Spinning my wheels.
I feel like I have just been spinning my wheels and getting nowhere fast for the last few weeks.
Everything always happens in groups when it happens around here.
My life is basically boring, it's generally the same thing day in and day out, but once 1 thing happens, every other possible thing that can happen, happens.
As I've posted about, Sebastian has been getting some really severe migraines.
The medicine to try and help control them, Fiorinal, isn't really helping him all that much.
He's supposed to take 1 every 6 hours as needed for the migraines, but they don't last a full 6 hours, so I called the doc and he said he can take 1 every 4 hours as needed, but no more than that.
Well they still don't help him much, they wear off rather quickly, but if he could take them at school, maybe he'd be ok.
The problem with that is the school's zero tolerance policy against drugs, even prescribed drugs, they said he cannot have them at school.
Not even in the nurse's office with her dispensing them as he needs them.
They do not allow any type of narcotics, even prescribed ones, to be on school property at all.
Heck, students aren't even allowed to have Tylenol at school.
I argued with the school nurse for over an hour on Tuesday morning when they called to tell me they were sending him home due to his migraines.
We went back and forth over the issue, it's a prescribed medication, he has a script, a note from the doctor, he has to take them, he will be seeing a neurologist after February 16th, please, please, make an exemption, or tell me who I have to speak to about getting an exemption.
They said I'd have to take it up with both the principal, and possibly even the school board, if the principal feels the medication is too strong.
Here's what Fiorinal is:
Aspirin, Butalbital, and Caffeine.
That's it, that's all that's in it, but because the main ingredient is in a class called barbiturates, the school will not allow him to have them.
If he takes even 1 pill to school in his pocket (because they won't allow them in the nurse's office under her supervision and dispersion) to take when a migraine comes on, and he gets caught taking it, he will definitely be suspended, and possibly expelled due to their zero tolerance policy.
Even though he has a prescription and they will not let him have them in an adult's care.
It makes me absolutely furious that he is suffering and has medication that helps somewhat, yet they will not allow him to have or take them as medically prescribed.
So tomorrow, I'm going to call his doctor and see if he can help me force the school to allow him to have his medicine when he needs it.
The way they are handling it is, if his migraines come on and get too bad for him, to where he's putting his head down, near tears from pain, they are simply sending him home so he can take his medicine at home, but not allowing him to return for the rest of the day.
He's sent home, so it's an excused absence, but how ridiculous is it that they would prefer to send a student home for the day rather than give them their prescribed medications?!?!
Today I had my appointment with my surgeon, and once again, it's all really overwhelming news, more than I even want to think about, but I have about 2 months to think and decide how I want to proceed.
My quality of life now verses a possibly even more degenerated medical state, or a possibly better medical state.
But we won't really know the total risk percentages until a few more specialists have been spoken to, ideas talked about, all of the pros and cons gone over with a fine tooth comb.
But man, getting there today was the pits.
We (Mindy and I) left here at noon, usually takes about an hour and 30 or so minutes to get there, but I blinked and missed the exit which caused us to be just 2 exits off, but with no turn around area, and in a city that does not have cross over roads to get back to where we needed to be.
So I called people for help with directions.
I called my sister who got us much closer, then I tried to call my friend Jimmy who drives a truck for a living and knows that area of Tampa/Hillsborough/Pinellas County/McMullen Booth Road very well, and when he didn't answer, I tried another friend who lives out in the Wesley Chapel area and drives to and from the Tampa area all of the time, only to have him text me rather than call me back, and then when did, he said he never travels on McMullen Booth Road because it's "scary."
So then I called my friend Tina, who practically lives near my surgeons office, drives to and from work up and down McMullen Booth Road twice a day, who couldn't tell me actual directions because she uses landmarks, not street names, and between road signs that pointed us the wrong way, bad directions, roads not even marked, and construction and digital signage pointing us in all of the wrong directions, I was over an hour late for my appointment, my blood pressure was through the roof, it was hot, I was sweaty, we had been in the car for 3 hours and 15 minutes, both of us having to pee like race horses, and it just made me absolutely crazy.
I was on the verge of tears at one point, laughing so I wouldn't actually start crying.
The stress of everything over the last few weeks is just building in me, and then to get the news he gave me, blah, my day was just absolute crap.
Mindy is like a total saint, she didn't get frustrated once, and if she did, she certainly didn't show it, she even joked about how we had now taken the scenic route and how we both should know the Tampa area a little better now.
Ha ha. eh.
There's another cold front coming through, so it will be another few days of being frozen from the inside out, which my surgeon says other patients also report feeling, trying to get Sebastian some help, and trying to teach him some relaxation techniques to help him cope with the migraines.
I know how he feels, I get them as well, so I'm trying to teach him how to calm himself down, to breathe slowly, to take his mind someplace else, trying to deal with the school's idiotic rule about medicine, trying to get all of my health stuff sorted out, trying to deal with work, and people who lie and cause problems, hypocrites, and more.
I wish I could open people's eyes, help them see, but people choose to see what they want, they believe what they want, and nothing will change that for them until they get burned, again.
That bothers me, a lot, because I don't like seeing people I consider friends get burned by other people's lies and hypocrisy.
I need to remember that I cannot take on the weighty problems of others, I need to remember and keep telling myself over and over, that I cannot make others be logical or think logical, that they must get there on their own.
I cannot reason with people who cannot see reason, people who are continuously blinded by empty promises.
January 22, 2009
The crampy potty virus.
Ok, now both Sebastian and I have the virus from hell.
He had to stay home from school today because every 5 minutes he was cramping up and running to the toilet.
I gave him some antibiotics and some Tums to help deal with it all, but it's miserable and nothing really helps.
You cannot take anti-diarrhea medicine when you have a stomach virus.
If you do, you are only helping to keep the virus in your system.
You have to let it run it's course, run through you, and it usually takes roughly 24-48 hours to run it's course.
If he gets a fever and it doesn't go away after 4-5 days, if he gets dehydrated, I'll take him to the docs, but it should be gone soon, Mark had it and he's all better now on day 3.
I have been sick since yesterday morning as well as dealing with the cold weather that Florida is having.
I moved here for several reasons, one of them being the weather, I knew even back then that my back couldn't handle the cold, and so having this cold front come through here is really no fun at all.
Last night's lowest temp was 30 degrees here, and once again tonight they are calling it to be another "hard freeze warning", meaning extremely low temps again.
I know I complain a lot about the cold weather and the titanium, but if you could only feel what I feel when it gets cold, you'd be complaining too.
I would never ever hire something like a Lexington personal injury lawyer and go after my surgeon for what happens when it gets cold, it may only be me who deals with it, I honestly don't know if other spine fusion patients go through it too.
But what happens when it gets cold is, the titanium rods get cold, they get freezing cold to the point where it feels like I have popsicles inserted in my skin right on my spine and spinal cord.
It is unbearable, I didn't sleep at all last night and the night before, I just tossed and turned, tried to warm the titanium up anyway I could think of, but nothing helped at all.
My doc's nurse Cindy, did call me back yesterday, but she had sent out a new prescription for something a little stronger, so it came in today's mail and I went and got it filled early this afternoon.
Because I'm sick, the smell of food is making my stomach cramp up, Mindy has offered and will be bringing some home made lasagna over tonight around 5pm so that at least Mark and Sebastian can eat if they feel up to it.
She picked Sebastian and I up from Walgreen's this afternoon too after my script was filled so I didn't have to spend another $10 on a cab home.
Anyway, I'm really hoping that this runs it's course very quickly, I have work I have to do and I am sooo behind on it.
Later days.
January 16, 2009
Headaches and buy-outs.
I took Sebastian to the docs so he could be looked at for his headaches, he asked Sebastian all kinds of questions about what triggers the headaches.
When do they usually start, do lights and sounds bother him, what makes it go away, does Tylenol work, darkness, cold etc etc.
Sebastian answered all of his questions, and the doc said it does sound like he has been dealing with migraines, so he gave him a medicine to take when they come on.
I don't know what it is yet because I have to go to a different pharmacy to get it.
We left the docs and went straight to Walgreen's where I was told that they no longer take Sebastian's insurance membership card, because CVS bought the rights to anyone who uses that particular insurance.
So now I have to get up to a CVS and get his medicine.
Ugh.
But after we left Walgreen's, the friend who drove me needed to do some grocery shopping, so we all went and did that, I picked up some more stuff that I didn't get last night, and then we came home.
When we were getting the groceries out of her car, Sebastian accidentally brought the van trunk door down on my head fairly hard.
I was stunned, shocked, in pain, I dropped the bag of food and grabbed my head, spinning around out onto the grass.
I was dizzy, my head spinning and throbbing.
I am ok though, it didn't hurt my neck, just my head, I have a pretty decent sized egg on it now, but I'm ok.
Poor kid felt absolutely awful, he was crying, he thought he really hurt my neck, he ran in the house and threw himself down on his bed and cried, he really thought he hurt me badly, but I swore to him that I am A-o-k, fine, just an egg, it's ok.
I'm wicked tired though, I barely got any sleep again last night, so I'm gonna go lay down and watch my soaps and chill.
Later days.
January 15, 2009
Teenage migraines.
Every couple of days for the last few months, Sebastian has been getting some pretty bad migraines.
His head pounds, lights and sound bother him something fierce, he ends up laying in my room for hours in the dark with a cold compress on his head, Tylenol ingested, and just waiting for it to pass.
He sometimes gets them at school too, which interferes with him getting an education.
He's in so much pain he can't focus on the text books or computer screens, he comes home and goes straight in to lay down.
The doctor's office finally called me back this morning, they can see him tomorrow morning at 10am, I already have transportation worked out, I just hope that the doc can figure it out and help Sebastian.
I hate seeing him in so much pain and suffering.
I get migraines myself, so I know all too well how badly the hurt.
January 14, 2009
Sunshine state my ass.
I know I can't really complain about the cold here, it's not as cold as up north in Maine where I used to live, and the temps in winter are like -10 with a wind chill of -20, but dammit, it's cold here and my joints are not freaking happy.
Yesterday, it was the beginning of the cold front coming through, a 70% chance of rain coming in the late afternoon they said.
Just as the teens were 5 minutes away from home, it started to downpour really badly.
Then the weather got really bad really quick.
The boys came home, they were soaked, and right after they changed out of their soaking wet clothes, it was like a hurricane had come through.
Initial reports said it was a tornado, but they are now saying it was "straight line winds" with gusts up to 50mph, and it did cause some real damage to some people's homes and property.
We heard things hitting our house, winds whipping, rain hitting the windows, so naturally, we ran outside to the carport to look. haha
Stuff was flying all over the place, palm branches had come down everywhere, our trashcans which were under the carport and empty because the trash guys had come in the morning, were rolling around the driveway, 1 had gone all the way across the street, and Sebastian ran out in the rain and winds to get it back, and it was just crazy for about 5-7 minutes.
Then, just as quickly as it started, it ended.
I did take a quick little video of it, I may upload it later on and add it to this post, it's just me in the carport watching it all and Sebastian going after the trash can, but you can see all of the debris that got blown all around.
January 5, 2009
Pow-pow-powerball.
I bought a Powerball ticket this morning, just easy pick numbers because I've never played Powerball before, and the guy at 7-11 didn't seem to know too much about it either, they just went on sale in Florida yesterday, so it's all new to most of us.
It was $1, and I figure $1 won't kill me to spend with the jackpot sitting at $105 million already right?
Right!
The teens are off to school, not totally thrilled, but they went along on their merry way in the fog and drizzle.
Well, as happy as 2 teens can be walking to school in the fog and drizzle.
Man, it's quiet in here.
I don't know what to do.
I only slept for 45 minutes the whole night, so maybe I'll lay on the couch, watch some morning news shows, and hopefully drift off to sleep for a little bit.
All you moms of kids going back today, what's your plan for the day?
*P.S. Edit*
I just realized at 7:54am, that I didn't explain why I was at 7-11 so early in the morning.
I woke the teens up at 5:45, Mark took his shower, Sebastian took his, and then they asked me if we could make a mad dash to 7-11 to get some food in case the cafeteria is a total madhouse today during lunch because it's the first day back after Christmas break.
I realized that they were probably right, so I got dressed and Sebastian and I hauled ass up the street at 6:10am, bought some of the freshly made ham subs, a Mountain Dew Code Red for Mark, a Pepsi for Sebastian, a bag of chips each, and 2 sticks of beef jerky each.
No, not the most nutritious, but if indeed the cafeteria is absolute chaos, then this convenience store lunch is better than no lunch at all which is what would possibly happen.
I only wish we had thought of this last night instead of so early this morning.
January 2, 2009
Christmas vacation ends soon!
It's been a very long Christmas vacation with the teens, 16 very long days, and they go back on Monday.
It hasn't been all bad, but there has been a few moments when I wanted to just choke them both for all of the arguing they did.
For the most part though, they have been pretty decent.
You would think that the older they get, the less fighting they would do, but no, not true.
I think brothers are just destined to fight with each other all of the time.
So they go back on Monday, have school for 1 week, and then they get a day off for a professional day on Monday the 12th.
I don't understand that.
Why didn't the teachers have the professional day like today for example.
The kids just get back in the swing of things, and they get another day off so soon.
I have always found professional days totally freaking stupid and have never understood why they need a day off to do that stuff.
Oh well, it'll be nice to have the house back to myself, maybe food won't disappear so quickly, and it will be quiet around here during the day again.
No fighting, until they get back home again anyway.
December 29, 2008
FCAT fix is flawed. Duh.
Critics say that the FCAT fix is flawed.
You don't say?
Last spring, Florida lawmakers sought to ease the pressure the FCAT applied on public high schools by developing a more rounded appraisal of student performance. But those good intentions may end up putting more schools in the "needs improvement" category....
The results: Dozens of schools would drop a letter grade on the state's report card and the number of "failing" schools would double. In Hillsborough alone, one simulation shows nine high schools would fall a letter grade, with one of them, Leto High, getting an F. Only one would improve - Armwood High School, which would rise from D to C.
While some of the state's original data is old - Leto has since boosted its grade to a C - Hillsborough schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia says the new assessment adds a financial burden for districts forced to cut millions. Previously, the only standard measure of a high school's success was the FCAT. The new grading formula calls for additional measures, such as graduation rates, advanced placement courses and college-placement tests. Bringing all that together costs money, Elia said, and the Hillsborough district, for one, is preparing to cut as much as $55 million this fiscal year. And a failing grade from the state may force a school to develop a costly improvement plan.The emphasis on the FCAT needs to be cut, it's so much pressure on students and teachers alike. The teachers know that their schools grade and money for the school, comes from how well the students do on the FCAT, so the teachers spend a crazy amount of time teaching the students how to pass the test, instead of teach the subjects students really need to know in order to do well at college.
On one of the news programs, either Dateline or 20/20, a few months ago, they talked and followed students at several different high schools across the country who all had testing like the FCAT.
Most of the students they followed did very well in school, they were top of their classes, high honors, straight A students who consistently passed with great grades, the comprehensive testing every year, but when they got to college, the work was way too hard, it was subjects they had never done before, they found out when they went to college, that there were courses they should have taken in high school, their guidance counselors told them they were taking every single course they needed to be taking to get into college, so these kids thought they were well prepared.
But they weren't.
One straight A, high honor roll, valedictorian student they spoke to, said when she got to college, she totally floundered, she discovered that she should have been taking 6 other courses in high school that were available to her, but the guidance counselor and teachers had told her she was already taking everything she needed, that she was a straight A student, that she'd be just fine in college, but she wasn't.
She failed every single class she was enrolled in, and ended up having to drop from her chosen classes to all general courses, and she had to take all 6 of those extra classes that she should have taken in high school, in order to just try and catch up to where she should have been.
She was so upset with herself, she said she felt like a total failure, felt stupid because the work was so much harder, she wasn't as prepared as her teachers and guidance counselor told her she was, and she also blamed the comprehensive tests she had taken throughout school.
On top of all of her college prep classes she was taking, thinking those were going to be enough, she was also constantly studying to pass her states comprehensive tests every year because they counted so much towards her ability to get into the college of her choice.
She said her teachers had the students take practice tests 5 days a week, they were always going over those tests and questions, and she thought she knew what she needed, she thought she was well prepared, but she was nowhere near prepared for college at all.
The FCAT is not a good way to help the students at all.
It helps the schools get money, but the teachers spend so much time prepping students for those tests that they don't spend enough time teaching the students what they really need to know in order to be well prepared for college.
I know the schools need money, but our students educations should always come first.
They should place way less emphasis on the FCAT, heck, do away with it completely, and start teaching the students what they really need to know in order to prepare them for college and beyond.
They can't teach all of the college prep classes because they are spending far too much time prepping students to pass the FCAT so the schools get a passing grade and more money.
December 19, 2008
18 days?!
The teens are officially on school vacation for the Christmas and New Year holidays, and will be home for 18 consecutive days in a row.
18 days of sleeping in late.
18 days of bickering with each other.
18 days of eating everything that isn't nailed down.
It's ok though, now none of us have to get up early, so that totaly works for my insomnia issues.
If I'm wide awake until 2-3am, I won't have to worry about getting up with them at 5:45am every day, and then being awake all day and night again, I can just let my body sleep if that's what it's going to do.
__________________
Sebastian and I ventured out today to go to Walgreen's to pick up my meds and then to Publix to get some food and stuff.
We've opted to have a different kind of Christmas dinner this year because I still can't cook a whole turkey and stuff with my neck like this, so we'll be eating some super easy foods and just having a really casual holiday meal
I bought 2 big bags of chicken wings, and we'll be doing a combo of hot and some honey bbq, some french fries, and other really easy type foods.
Hey, the teens got their turkey for thanksgiving even though it was just thighs and wings, so we're going for ultra casual and fun.
The teens are totally happy with this choice, it was their idea, so I'm totally ok with it.
While at the store, I got slammed into by this crotchety old man who yelled at me to watch where I was going.
What?!
He slammed into me, yet he's yelling at me?
Um, no.
But I can't help being all sarcastic, so I turned to him and said, "I am SO so SORRY that I was standing here picking out some apples when YOUR cart slammed into my backside. Please sir, forgive me for standing here."
He looked at me, looked at the neck brace around my neck, his wife grabbed his arm and pulled him back a little with this look on her face like I might haul off and deck him, and believe me, I was thisclose to doing just that when he had the nerve to yell at me, but I didn't.
Sebastian tried to pull me back, he could clearly see that I was super pissed, and then the guy apologized to me, said he was sorry, he "didn't realize".
"Didn't realize"?
You mean he didn't realize that I was in the neck brace, or he didn't realize that he hit me?
I think it's that he didn't realize that I was in a neck brace and that's the only reason he apologized.
If I hadn't been wearing it, I think he would have just kept yelling that it was my fault, because I'm young and he's old and entitled.
I'm so sick of that kind of crap.
The seniors in this damn town are the biggest, the most miserable, entitlement assholes I've ever known in my life.
December 15, 2008
She's gonna hate me by the end of the year.
I survived my trip to the post office this morning.
*phew*
When I got there, the line wasn't too bad, only snaked around once, but I swear they had the freaking heat turned on in there!
Everyone was sweating, even the postal workers, people looked pissed off, but at least the lines were moving rather quickly and they had every customer service lane open.
I got the money order my parents sent for the boys xmas presents cashed, and then had to sign like a gazillion pieces of paper to get the certified letter(s) from the school board.
The letters had nothing at all to do with the lunch room, but instead the principal, yes, the very same principal we've been having trouble with, sent me 2 certified letters letting me know that the boys had missed an entire week of school in November, and were not excused.
The principal is not going to want to hear me today.
Just as I posted when they were sick that week, the secretary didn't sound surprised, a lot of kids were out that whole week.
When they did go back, I sent a note anyway, even wrote in the note that I wasn't able to get them to the doctor until January, he had no openings for just colds so students could have notes.
They didn't excuse them for that entire week because the note was from me, not a doctor, so the principal sent me 2 certified letters to let me know the boys missed all of that time.
I hate this woman.
December 8, 2008
Not as planned, not solved.
Mindy and I went to the school to speak to the principal, and it didn't go as planned.
My original plan was to go in, speak to her in her office, and then get a visitors pass to go into the cafeteria by ourselves to observe the goings on.
She was having none of that, she didn't even speak to us in the office, it was a very hurried give us passes and shuffle us into the cafeteria with her deal.
Every time I tried to speak to her, she interrupted, I had to keep repeating myself, and she kept saying the standard line, "This is the first I've heard of these issues, and if I don't know, I can't do anything to fix it."
She asked where my sons were, I told her where, not pointing them out so other students wouldn't catch on who I was, and even told her look, there are the other kids who my sons have said don't even bother eating lunch because of what happens. They just go in and sit down at a table now, don't bother trying to get a lunch, because of what happens.
None of those kids will need to take any Fenphedra or other diet pills, they just don't even try to eat any more at all because of this whole problem.
She just said "Well that shouldn't happen."
When we walked into the cafeteria though, there was a table to our immediate right where there were 3 security guards, the ones who are supposed to be watching the students, sitting there all eating their lunches and talking to each other.
They didn't even notice she had walked in, so she went over to them tapped on their shoulders, and made them put their food down and go walk the floor, watching the students as they should have been doing.
I asked her if, if you hadn't come in with us, if you hadn't told them to go do their jobs, how long do you think they would have just sat there?
Her reply, "I wonder that myself."
Mindy brought up the rotten milk issue, told her that her son doesn't get milk anymore because it's always spoiled, so the principal sees a student carrying just a milk, and she makes him come over so she can see it.
She shows us the date on it, December 21st, and the both of us practically in harmony said, "We know the dates on them are good, but when you open them up, the milk is spoiled, like it's been sitting out far too long."
I even told her that Mark's milk the day of the incident, had a 3 day expired date on it, and when he opened it, it was definitely rotten.
She started saying that the lunch ladies have strict rules, none of their food products are old or expired, they have standards, and I repeated myself, it was expired by 3 days, rotten milk.
I brought up the frozen turkey sandwich, she again said she doesn't believe it was frozen. I said it was so frozen that Mark tapped it on his plate and the other kids laughed because of the noise it made.
She said she would look into it.
I brought up that it was illegal that he was denied his hot lunch because the lunch lady said he was a troublemaker.
She said the sub-lunches are better quality food, so he did get his lunch, he wasn't denied the right to a quality lunch.
I repeated myself again.
Frozen turkey sandwich, rotten apple, and expired milk, does not sound like a quality lunch to me, and the lunch lady who was ordered to give that to him, wouldn't even look him in the eye when she handed it to him because she knew the quality of food was unacceptable.
I got an eye roll from her, she tried to say something, and I interrupted her and said, he was denied his hot lunch because she said so, she ordered them to give him that food because she deemed him a troublemaker, that is unacceptable to me.
She said she would look into it.
We asked questions about how long the lunch period is, how long they get to eat, and how many security guards are there to watch that many students.
There are over 500 students per lunch period, there are 3 lunch periods, and only 3 security guards who have to watch that many students for 3 hours each day.
They can't possibly watch them all, if they turn their backs to look at one lunch line, stuff can happen in another lunch line, and the way they have it set up, the lines are really far apart from each other, so you have one guard trying to watch section A of his assigned line and his assigned part of the cafeteria, and another one to section B, his assigned line and his assigned part of the cafeteria, and another one to section C, his assigned line and his assigned part of the cafeteria, all spread out across this enormous cafeteria.
And the fact that when we walked in, they were all sitting down eating their lunches and talking to each other, does not give me any confidence that they actually watch the students at any point during the 3 hour long lunch periods on any day of the week.
If these 3 guards are assigned lunch duty daily, they should be allowed to eat their lunches before student lunch periods even begin, not have to try and eat while they are also supposed to be providing security.
We asked if any teachers have lunch duty like they do at all of the elementary schools do, and she said no, that when the teachers negotiated their contracts, they negotiated and won duty free lunch periods.
That means the teachers have it in their contracts that they do not ever have to have lunch duty supervising any students.
Gee, I wonder why they asked for and negotiated that into their contracts. *eye roll*
Could it be because they know it's a total pain in the ass?
I said to the principal, when I heal up from my surgeries, maybe they would be interested in parent volunteers to help provide supervision during lunch.
More adults in there making a presence, is obviously needed, and also to possibly make the 300 pound security guards get off of their asses.
She gave me a look I can only describe as she thinks I must be crazy.
She asked if she could speak to my sons about what goes on, I said yes, but not in the cafeteria, and not in their classes, because the classes they are in are with the same students they have lunch with and are the bullies.
She said she would have their teacher let them come speak to her privately, no one would know why, and I cautioned her about the retaliation they could face if the bullies found out.
She assured me that no one would know why she was speaking to them.
uh huh, I totally trust her on that. *eye roll*
She also said that she would speak to their teacher about letting them out of class early so they could get to the cafeteria early so they could always get their lunch.
I said that's all fine and good, but again, it's not just my kids.
Look at the other kids they sit with, a whole group of them, and none of them are eating lunch because of what happens.
She pointed out that the lines had stopped, that any of those boys could go get lunch now that the line was gone, and I said yes, they can, but waiting to get it and then having what, 5-10 minutes to inhale their food is not ok.
Mindy also said something about the kids inhaling their food.
Every single kid in that whole room, was eating like it was their last meal because of how little time they have to actually eat, they were all just sucking it down.
At this point I had to get out of the cafeteria.
It was so hot in there, and I have over heating issues anyway due to my pain meds, so I went outside to the open air hallways.
The whole school is open, the hallways open up directly to the outside, and that was nother thing Mindy and I noticed as we were walking in and out of the school.
There were many, many students just wandering around outside, not even in the hallways, but outside on the grass, in the parking lots, the driveways, and not a single security guard in sight to tell them to get to class.
Because of how close I live to the school, I am always seeing kids in the mid-mornings, walking down my street, obviously coming from the school.
Students can just walk off campus whenever they want to, and no one ever says anything about it.
When Mindy and the principal came out to the hallway, she said, "There you saw it for yourself, no one was doing anything today", I said because you were in there and you made the security guards get up and do their job. That doesn't happen every single day.
She said she would look into it all, all of our complaints and questions, and if we had any other issues, to not hesitate to call her.
I thanked her for her time and said I would be contacting her again, especially if my sons are retaliated against in any way for speaking with her.
End of visit, and we left.
I seriously doubt she's going to look into anything at all, I doubt that anything at all is going to be done about any of it, so every day, I'll be asking how the lunch periods went, and I'll be making a weekly or daily call to her if I have to, to alert her to any serious or the ongoing problems during lunch.
It seriously pissed me off that she'll let my kids go to lunch way early so they can eat, but that does not solve the problem for all of the other students in any of the other lunch periods.
Mindy's son sees it happen in his too, so yeah sure, letting my kids go eat early is great, but it doesn't fix the problem at any other lunch period for any other kid.
There will still be kids sitting with my sons at that table, not eating because of the hassles involved with getting in the lunch line.
December 8, 2008
Good morning Ms. Principal!
Mindy and I will be heading up to Riverview High School a litle after 11am, right before lunch, to meet with the principal.
Of course, she has no idea that we're on our way to have a chat with her about what goes on during the lunch periods.
Mindy had offered to give me a ride because I have no car, can't drive even if I did have one, but on Friday, her son who is in a totally different lunch period than my sons, told her that it does happen during his lunch period too.
He said, and I'm quoting her email to me here. "Xxxx did tell me on Friday that there are kids that do cut in line (not on him because he is usually one of the first in line) and that majority of the time the security officers do nothing but there are times they do. He also says that nobody makes a big deal for fear of future retaliation."
So we have another student in a different lunch period who has witnessed this behavior by bullies, has witnessed security guards who sometimes handle it, but the majority of the time, they do nothing about it, and also that the students do not do anything about it because of fear of future retaliation.
It's not just me going there alone as just one parent with a complaint.
I have another parent whose child has confirmed that it does indeed happen, so Madam Principal needs to not brush me off again, and pay attention to the situation.
I will also be informing her of how illegal it is to deny a free hot lunch student their lunch, I want an apology for the frozen turkey sandwich, calling my son a liar, and I want her to promise me that it will never happen to my son(s) or anyone else kids again.
Ever.
And I am taking my camera, it's already set up in silent mode without the flash, and if I see any type of bullying behavior anywhere in the school as I walk in, go into the cafeteria, I'll be snapping off a few shots.
December 4, 2008
I feel violent now.
I got a phone call from the principal at a little after 3pm, but I was in the middle of an email with my sister and some others, so that's why I'm just now updating this.
Basically, the principal said that this was the first time she has heard about this kind of issue, and when I told her that it's because the students are afraid to speak out about it because they have been threatened with being beaten up, she still insisted that if she doesn't know about it, she can't do anything to resolve the issue.
She said if anything like that happens again, that the boys need to go to her office right when it's happening, and tell her right as it happens.
Yeah, being threatened with an ass kicking is really going to motivate students to go tattle tale right then and there huh?
That's like walking around with a big sign that says I just told on you, come kick my ass please.
I don't even know what my next step should be.
I want to alert the media, but the principal saying this is the first time she's heard about it, it will make it seem like it was a one time incident, and that it doesn't happen every day, that my sons and the friends who've been to my house, are all lying about what happens, exaggerating it, and the media will want to interview my sons on camera, and that's like another big sign that says I told on you, come kick my ass please.
When I told the boys what she said to do if it happens, they both looked at me like I was crazy.
They said "Mom, some of these kids are fucking huge huge kids, some of them are football players, some of the hispanics bring knives to school, they get in fights all of the time, we've seen them beat the piss out of people, if we go tell what happened, we'll get beaten up or stabbed or some shit. Fuck it, we just won't eat. If we have to choose between tattling then getting beat up, or just not eating, we just won't eat."
So what the hell do I do now?
If I go to the media, they will want to interview the boys or they won't report the story, the boys will be on tv, and then they'll surely get beat up.
I so wish I wasn't in the shape I am in, I would go to the school every day, take pictures, hang out in the cafeteria, and film what happens myself, post it all up on youtube, label it as the name of the high school and where, just and start being a royal pain in the ass to the principal, force her to do something.
Most of these bullies don't know that I'm the teens mom, there are several different middle schools, school choice rules etc, so I could sit in the cafeteria and take pics and the boys wouldn't get blamed if these rotten asshole bullies got suspended or something.
This whole thing is frustrating me, but what do I do?
Make the boys tattle every single day directly to the principal, if she's even in her office, risk them getting beat up in order to try and make eating lunch safe again?
Is it worth it to try and force the school to have more adults in the cafeteria at the risk of my sons getting beat up?
Go to the media and have the teens filmed telling what happens, which will get them beaten up, called names, and bullied even worse?
She said she will try to have more supervisors in the cafeteria, but that she cannot guarantee that things will be seen by anyone, and as for the frozen turkey sandwich, she is still investigating that part of the story.
None of the lunch ladies admit to not serving Mark his hot lunch like they were ordered not to, so she will have to go through the computer records for the keypad where the students type in their student number after the lunch lady enters in which type of lunch the student was served.
If he was served a sub lunch, it will be a certain number code, hot lunch is a different number code, the salad bar and $2 a slice pizza bar, is another number code.
If he was given the sub lunch and the lunch lady entered that code, then he entered his student number, it will prove what kind of food he was served, but she does not believe that he was given a frozen turkey sandwich.
She said the sub lunches are simply pre-packaged cold lunch meat sandwiches for students who choose not to have a hot lunch that day, and she doesn't think that his sandwich was frozen.
Basically, she is calling Mark a liar.
Both the boys have said that the lady who ordered them not to serve him his lunch, is like a big bitch meanie, not the head lunch lady, but just a bitch who barks orders at the other ladies, yells at students, and is usually just standing around not doing anything other than yelling at people, and is not usually a supervisor during lunch.
The principal did admit though that the usual supervisor was not there yesterday or today, so she doesn't know who pulled Mark out and forced him to eat the sub lunch, or even if he was forced to get the sub lunch at all.
I really just want to go up there and speak to her face to face, she was doing everything she could to get me off of the phone.
She kept saying that she can't do anything if the students don't tell an adult, and I kept saying they have told adults and no one does anything.
They complain about the line cutters, the bullies, the ones who push them out of line and call them cracker, to the adults in the cafeteria, to actual teachers, and none of the adults in the cafeteria do anything at all about it, and that's why so many students have just given up on even trying to eat lunch at all.
Tattling to an adult doesn't get them any help at all, so most of the students just don't even bother trying anymore.
They either bring a bag of chips and a soda in their backpack and eat that for lunch, or they just don't eat at all, and wait until they get home from school to eat.
Thinking back on this, I now realize how many times the teens would ask me at night if we could go to the corner store, get a small bag of chips and a soda to take to school, maybe a beef jerky stick or two.
I thought they just wanted a snack, something to be different, or just a treat.
They were just trying to have something to freaking eat.
I never put 2 and 2 together.
I never connected the bully line cutters and the mom can we get a soda and chips to take to school, together like the puzzle pieces I should have seen.
I can't go to the school tomorrow, I have a doc appointment in the morning and won't make it back in time for B lunch period, but I am going to do everything I can to go to the school on Monday, I'll take my camera, and the lunch room has plenty of windows so I won't have to use the flash, and I'll just start snapping pics.
I'll post them to my blog, I'll take videos and post them on youtube, I'll make a total pain in the ass of myself to get the principal to actually investigate this fully, to hire more resource officers for the lunch periods if need be, enforce the anti-bullying policy on the actual bullies, and I'm going to email these last few posts to the local news channel.
I'm not dropping this.
December 4, 2008
Will investgate and call me back.
I have not yet heard back from the school board person, honestly not surprised, this is a touchy subject that I'm sure they cringed when they heard my voice mail message.
I called the high school this morning at 8am and left a message for the principal to call me back, the secretary did not want me to leave a detailed message, just name and phone number, so I did.
Considering it's almost lunch time for Mark, (Sebastian was sent home by the clinic because he barfed in history class) I wanted someone to call me back before he goes to lunch today, but no one called me, so I called back again just now.
The secretary said the principal is on campus, walking rounds or something, they have my name and number, but this time she asked for some details because I've called twice now, so she assumes that it's important.
I explained it as quickly as possible, gave good details about what happened, the racist name calling, the frozen turkey sandwich etc etc, and the secretary made an audible cringe sound.
Yes people, I know, it's a totally crappy and touchy subject, but this must be dealt with.
The way these students feel entitled to cut the line, the reverse racist name calling, accusing the white students of being racist because they won't let them cut the line, other students not even bothering to try and get lunch because they are tired of what happens, tired of being bullied, tired of being called names and threatened with violence while just trying to get their lunch, it's ridiculous and needs to be dealt with.
Someone at that school needs to grow a pair and deal with this.
I'm sure they are afraid of a lawsuit over the race issue, but making students who have a legal right to eat their hot lunch, not eat that lunch, is against the law, and if it's being denied to one student, is it being denied to others as well?
How many other kids have been forced to get the "sub lunch"?
How many others have been yanked out of line, called a troublemaker and refused their lunch because other kids were cutting the line, pushing, shoving, and name calling?
Does the school really want to risk losing the federal money?
I mean, I'll call the 800-number on the free hot lunch approval letter I got sent at the beginning of the year, and then filed it in the big yellow folder labeled "School Stuff", if I have to go that far, but I really don't want to have to go that far.
I shouldn't have to go that far.
I don't want to have to involve the media, I don't want to have to go up there and film what happens myself because the so-called cafeteria supervisors aren't actually supervising and handling the situations correctly.
The school says that they have a zero tolerance policy for bullying, yet it happens day in and day out while students try to get their lunch, and the wrong students are being dragged out of line, sent to the end of the line, and then refused their proper lunches.
I called the school at 11:02am, have been typing this post since 11:09am, and it is now past 11:30am, and no one has called me back from the school board message I left yesterday, or the 8am, or the 11:02am phone call yet.
Seriously not surprised, but getting more and more pissed as the minutes tick away.
December 4, 2008
WoW and a big blue blanket.
Ok, I am trying to calm myself down, so I'll talk about other stuff.
I got a really late payment in tonight, so I'll be able to go to my doc appointment on Friday and pay for that, the prescription, get some more groceries, and take care of any other expenses that come up.
*phew*
I was seriously stressing over paying for the doc on Friday because the payment wasn't here yet, and then the crap with the school happened, so not a whole lot got done here today that I originally planned to do. (Sorry Brett! I will try to do it tomorrow)
But the money issue is settled, (yay!) and I'll deal with the school tomorrow.
I've already gotten the teens most of what they wanted for Christmas, the video games they asked for to play on the xbox, and the Wow games, now I just have to get what they need.
I'll be combining the money that my Mom and Dad mailed out yesterday, along with what Aunty Heather and whatever other relatives decide to send, along with the next 2-3 child support payments, to get the boys the rest of their stuff.
This month's disability payment comes in on the same day as a big doctor's appointment on the 10th, so I'm sure I'll be paying out the wazoo come next Wednesday.
But I know I'll be ok financially for the holidays, especially if I get some more work between now and xmas, and even if I get money late, like right before xmas, I'll brave the crowds to go get what they need and want.
Both the teens need some more shorts, a new pair of pants each, some more socks, boxers and shirts, and new winter hoodies or jackets, whichever they prefer.
Sebastian prefers hoodies, and Mark wants a big thick flannel jacket like mine that I got from an ex-boyfriend years ago.
The ex-bf was 6 foot 4, about 225lbs, and a wrestler, so this flannel jacket is enormous, but it is oh so freaking warm and comfy, I love it, and Mark claims it every winter.
He's been wearing mine for the last couple of years, it's ok, it's not like I go many places, so I don't ever really wear my jacket anyway.
As for extra wants, Mark wants some WoW gold (in-game money to use) and Sebastian wants a new comforter for his bed.
A big blue one he said.
It has to be full or queen size, either baby or medium blue, and super soft he said, so I'll do my best to get him a big blue comforter, and I think my sis already agreed to get Mark the WoW gold.
Then the Christmas shopping will be done, and maybe next weekend we'll put up the tree and decorations.
I might have to get some new lights for the tree, not sure yet, I'll find out when I get the tree and stuff out of my closet and start the decorating.
Hopefully Shahiro the kitten-sized 3 year old kitteh, will be nice and leave all the decorations alone this year.
Last year, she thought my really old plush Santa that my Dad had when he was a kid, was her personal play toy.
She'd grab it in her teeth and drag it all over the house.
It was funny because the Santa is bigger than she is, and she'd go crazy trying to grab it with her teeth and drag it around the house to play with because of how big it is, so she'd bite it, drag it, drop it, and have to start all over again.
No matter where I put it, even on a shelf, she'd do whatever she had to do to get it, and when she finally got it where she wanted it, she'd curl up and sleep with it.
I have no idea why she likes it so much, but it's very old so I need her to stop playing with it, I don't want it to get ruined by the stupid kitteh.
Ok, I have emails and other stuff to take care of, I will update on what happens with the school after I talk to the principal tomorrow.
Later days!
December 3, 2008
Whatchu gun-do bout it cracka?
Let me preface this by saying that I so wish this wasn't about race, but it clearly is.
There has been an ongoing problem at the high school since school started this year, and today I finally lost my shit.
Every single day at lunch, all the students descend upon the cafeteria and get in line to get their lunches, but some students have made getting lunch a racist and dangerous thing to do.
Every single day students get in line and a black or hispanic student cuts in front of a white student.
Then that student who cut, allows 10-15 of their friends to also cut in front of the white student.
If the white student tries to get their place back or complains, they are sent to the very back of the line for cutting when all they were trying to do was get their place back or tell someone that they were just cut by 15 students.
A couple of Mark's friends don't even bother trying to get lunch anymore after being beat up by black and hispanic students, called cracka, threatened with violence, or the cutting students start yelling to the cafeteria supervisors that the white students are cutting in line, which causes the white students to either be moved to the end of the line or removed from the cafeteria all-together.
Today, Sebastian was in line, no one was behind him when Mark came in, so Mark got behind him in line, they had been waiting for 15 minutes already when shit hit the fan.
A very large group of both black and hispanic students (approx 25 kids) came in to the cafeteria and cut Mark and Sebastian, the teens tried to take their place back, a black girl yelled at Mark, "Whatchu gun-do bout it cracka?" when he told them to get to the back of the line, they were cutting.
Another black student started shoving Sebastian, Mark tried to intervene, a hispanic male grabbed Mark and threw him out of the line, and that's when a cafeteria supervisor came over, asked what was going on, the teens tried to explain that they had been cut, but all the cutting kids started yelling that Mark had cut them, started yelling and trying to hit them all, and so the supervisor pulled Mark out of the line and sent him to the end.
The supervisor was a hispanic cafeteria worker.
When Mark finally made it to get his lunch, she, the supervisor, went up to the lunch ladies and told them he was not allowed to have his hot lunch today for being a line cutter and troublemaker, she ordered them to give him what's called a "sub lunch".
All the students call it the substandard lunch, because it's usually old food, apples going rotten, sandwiches made with stale bread, and usually nothing to drink.
Mark's lunch was a FROZEN turkey sandwich, a rotting apple, and 3 day old milk.
Because of our financial status being what it is, I receive disability and food stamps, the teens have medicaid, I have medicare, my sons get the federally funded free hot lunch program.
What the supervisor did today, was against the law, she cannot deny any student access to a hot lunch, especially students who receive free hot lunch.
When Mark came home and asked what he could eat, told me he was absolutely starving because he could not eat the "sub lunch" due to what it was, I fucking lost it.
I called the school, no one answered, so I called the school board and explained to some poor secretary what had and has been happening to white students at the high school since the beginning of the year.
The poor girl didn't know what to do, so she patched me through to the voice mail of the person who handles the high school.
I left a very detailed message, left my number and name 3 times, and demanded that something be done about this lunch time bullying and racist crap that takes place, or I'll go to the media.
I'll take my camera up to the school, I'll say I just want to have lunch with my son, get a visitor pass, and then I'll start filming what takes place there every single day, and then send the footage to the local news people along with the story.
I know that it takes place every single day because some of the teens friends have come here to play video games after school, and the teens always ask if I can feed them.
I always do cook whatever I can whip up, or I lay a spread of bread and lunch meats and chips, pickles, cookies, whatever I have, out, and let all of the teenage boys feed themselves.
I've asked these kids why they are so hungry, is it because they are just growing young men, and they always tell me about the lunch time bullshit that happens.
I've fucking had it.
I'm not going to wait for the school board person to call me back either, I'm calling the principle in the morning, and if I don't get anywhere with them, I'll either go to the school and film it myself, or I'll alert the local tv news channel WWSB about what happens and tell them to go interview students and film the cafeteria goings on.
This shit has to stop.
All these white students getting cut in line, called names, beat up, and then refused their legal right to eat a hot lunch, has got to stop.
November 23, 2008
Mostly finished.
The teens and I did some of the cleaning today, we got the dishes done, the laundry, and a trip to the store for some small things we forgot.
They are well enough to go back to school tomorrow and Tuesday, the only days of school this week, and then they are off for Thanksgiving.
We've just been sitting here tonight watching the AMAs and laughing at everything.
We have a pretty twisted sense of humor, so it's always fun watching awards shows like this.
November 20, 2008
Hello? House of sick, sorry we can't take your call...
we're all sick and coughing so much, it's made our throats so raw it hurts to talk on the phone.
Both the teens are still wicked sick, Mark is sorta getting better, he has some color in his face, but Sebastian is not doing well at all.
He is still running a fever, coughing, sneezing, sniffling, sore throat, and massive headaches, along with stomach upset.
I'm doing everything I can to help him at least be comfortable, lots of juice, Tylenol, Nyquil at bedtime, echinacea, vitamins, fluids, and a lot of rest.
It's pretty much all I can do.
They've now lost an entire week of school, and when I called to report they would be absent all week with no note from the doctor, the secretary didn't sound too surprised.
I found out why earlier this afternoon when Mark was chatting online with a friend.
The friend said there are so many kids out sick, that the school is feeling empty.
The friend said 12 out of the 37 students in one of his classes, have been absent the entire week as well.
In another class, 17 students, in the cafeteria at lunch, it was quiet, not at all what it's usually like.
At least it's not just my two kids, tons of kids are out sick, and the school doesn't sound surprised because of all the absences.
November 19, 2008
I think they are just passing it back and forth now.
The teens and this damn cold, one gets better, the other gets worse, then that one gets better, and the other one gets worse.
Mark will be going to school today, and both Mark and Sebastian will be staying home.
He actually got much worse over the course of Tuesday.
He ended up spiking a fever at 103 during mid-afternoon, and was just miserable and pale most of the day along with coughing and sniffling like crazy.
I've managed to get better, my coughing has stopped, but not my runny nose.
It's been dripping like a leaky faucet for several days now.
I hate it, I hate constantly sniffling, I hate constantly having to blow my nose, and as much as the Nyquil helped me sleep last night, it also had a bad reaction with my last dose of pain meds I took last night about 2 hours before bed.
I was seriously screwed up.
I was doing the stagger and stumble all the way to my bedroom.
Not fun, no good at all.
So tonight I had to choose between sleeping without coughing but being in pain, or be pain free and sniffling snot all night.
I chose to be pain free, but once again, up all night with insomnia.
In 1 hour, I have to wake Mark up for school, so it's pointless to even lay down now.
Edit @ 5:08am
Mark just woke up, coughing badly, he was trying to speak to me but his voice is all hoarse, he has no voice at all really, I touched his forehead, he's got a fever now, he was near tears trying to tell me how cold his body was, but I touched his head, chest and back, and he is warm, so he has a fever and chills, and he also said that his head hurts again as well as his body.
I gave him a dose of Nyquil and sent him back to bed.
I cannot even try, would not even try, to make him go to school like that.
So now they are both staying home again.
This is the cold from hell.
But you know what?
I partially blame the school for this crap.
That damn absentee doctor's note policy they have is why I had to keep my kids home for 2 days, send them on the third day, keep them home to try and rest for 1 more day, send them again the next day.
I cannot get a doctor's appointment with their doctor until January!
I called yesterday, Tuesday, I told them that both boys have a wicked cold and fevers, body and headaches, I asked can we please come in and be seen today or tomorrow even if we have to sit and wait for an opening, (Tuesday or Wednesday) they said no, they had no open appointments, a lot of their patients have the exact same cold thing going on, and a cold is not considered an emergency, not even the fever is considered an emergency unless it reaches 105, and at that point, they tell you that you can't go to the doctor's office, you have to go straight to the ER for fevers that high.
What the hell am I supposed to do about this now?!
This will be Mark's third day in a row of no school, when he goes back, hopefully on Thursday, but maybe not at all for the whole week because of this, he will not have a doctor's note, and he will get in some sort of truancy trouble for it because we don't have a fucking doctor's note!!!
Dammit. edit at 5:33am
I just realized that both of them will be out for more than the 3 days note grace period, and will both have the truancy issue.
I hate that fucking policy so fucking much!!
Isn't the parents word good enough?!
Why can't I call the school and tell them my kids are sick, they have the cold from hell, they have fevers and chills, but we can't get a doctor's appointment in order to get the note, they will be out all week, and have the school say 'ok Ms. Cooper, take care of your sons, get them plenty of rest and fluids, and when they come back it's ok if they don't have a doctor's note'.
But noooooo, the school will want that damn doctor's note or it goes to the truancy officer to investigate.
Let the damn officer come to my house, I'll let him take their temperatures, feel their hot foreheads, and listen to them coughing that sounds like a couple of dogs barking in here, and have them decide whether or not my sons are just being truant instead of really sick.
I fucking hate that policy!!!!
November 17, 2008
Welcome to the house of sickness.
Man, what a horrid long weekend we had here.
Both of the teens were sick all weekend, just now coming out of it, still sick but feeling better than they were.
Sebastian was well enough to go to school today, but Mark wasn't.
They both had like multiple things going on.
They both had coughs, sniffles, runny noses, and a fever, and they also had some sort of stomach bug.
I caught the stomach bug thing, plus I was out of my pain meds, so it was a double whammy on how I felt.
Every time I felt sick, I felt pain through my entire body, it really sucked big time.
I finally got my prescription filled, and that made a world of difference, but I'm still battling a little of the stomach stuff.
I really hate being sick.
You have no idea how much it sucks to puke with all this titanium inside.
November 14, 2008
Military recruiting and your kids.
Mark is 17, will be turning 18 in August, and so it has begun.
The various branches of the military have started recruiting him.
We have been getting mailers, actual letters not just postcards or thick card stock single sheet information mailers, but full on letters from the National Guard, Army, Navy, Air force and Marines, almost every single day.
They are offering upwards of $30,000 in free money for them to spend any way they want, fully paid college scholarships, all kinds of happy bonuses, for signing up with the military.
They tout all the benefits of college, and what kind of an education you can get from being part of the military, along with serving your country.
Make no mistake, I fully support the soldiers who serve our country in times of war and peace.
They do something that not many people are willing to do, but at the very same time, this is my baby, my first born, and I admit that I am scared.
He can't legally sign anything until he turns 18, but we will still be at war then.
And I know that just because he signs, (if he signs) that doesn't mean he will go to basic and then get shipped off to Iraq or Afghanistan, he could be doing civil work here at home in the US, computers, IT, whatever, but still, I find myself wanting to tell him to just throw it all in the trash, don't even read it, don't do it.
But I know this is his decision, and I would support him no matter what he chooses to do, but I don't want him to, I don't want either of my sons to join the military.
The mailers are coming every day now, the recruiters are at the school, it won't be long before they start calling here wanting to speak to him, and it bothers me.
I don't want him to join up, not at all.
Call me selfish, call me a bad American, but we are still fighting a war we supposedly won.
I clearly recall our current president standing on the deck of a great cruiser beneath the words "Mission accomplished", and I watch the news, young men and women dying there daily, coming home alive but burned and broken, and this is my baby, my baby boy.
He still plays video games, he still collects action figures, and sleeps with his Winnie the Pooh, I don't want him to even talk to these people.
Ultimately, it is his decision, and I will support him no matter what he decides to do, but moms, dads, are your seniors in high school being recruited too?
How are you handling it?
What are you saying or doing?
Would you encourage them to sign up or not sign up?
November 13, 2008
Sick of sickness.
Both the teens are home today, both sick with a nasty cold.
It hit them last night around 10 or so.
They were coughing, sneezing, both had fevers, both just wanted to go to bed, not play video games, so I knew they were really sick.
I ended up having to go to 7-eleven, which I hate because they charge super crazy prices for stuff, and buy some Nyquil just so they could sleep without hacking their lungs up.
Maybe I should be feeding them some Orovo super foods or supplements or something.
They catch everything, and then I catch it from them.
I'm so tired of being sick, I need to do something to stop it.
My low immune system plus their being at school around tons of sick kids because of the school's absent/sick policies, is what does this.
Students can only be absent for 2 days without a doctor's note, if absent 3 days in a row, they need to have a doctor's note.
Have any of you tried to get an appointment at your child's doctor in a hurry just for a note?
See, if it's not an emergency like bleeding from all orifices, you can't get an appointment right away, you might be lucky if they have an available appointment next month, but usually, you are given an appointment 3 months from now.
And you certainly can't go to the ER for a cold, they look at you and laugh, and if you tell them you came there because you can't get an appointment at the pediatrician, and you need a note because your kid was so sick they needed 3 or 4 days off from school and you really need a note, they lecture you on what an ER really is for as they begrudgingly write a note that says your child has upper chest congestion and a cough, plus a fever, and need to stay home and rest.
Then, your kid takes the note to school, and the school still marks them as an unexcused absence for at least 2 of the 4 days they needed off.
Sometimes, they refuse the note all together, and your kid now has unexcused absences on their school record, which affects their right to get their drivers license.
So tons of parents who can't get a note from their kid's doctor, send their kids to school sick, and then your kid catches it and brings it home to make you sick too.
All summer long, neither the teens or I are sick at all, but as soon as school starts back up again, we all get sick and battle the sickies all school year because of the schools absentee note rule.
I'm sick of being sick and I'm sick of the school making me sick because of that jackass policy.
November 9, 2008
He'll be an entrepreneur someday.
During this presidential election, I ordered and bought some promotional items for the candidate that I was supporting, Obama.
I donated $30 and got a really awesome cotton t-shirt, I bought a bag of buttons, a few bumper stickers, and some door stickers to put in the front window.
Sebastian really liked Obama too, so he wore the t-shirt to school a few times, and he came home and told me how many 'high-fives' he got from fellow students, and some of the kids wanted to know where they could get the t-shirts and the buttons.
He came home and asked me if he could have a few of the buttons to sell to the kids who asked for them.
I had a bag of 10 buttons, so I gave him 5 of them to give away to the kids, not sell.
He agreed to just give them away, but when he came home the next day, he handed me $10 in $1 bills.
I asked him where he got the money, and he told me that the kids refused to just take the buttons, they insisted on paying $2 a piece for them, so he took the money.
He asked me if I would buy him the pajamas for Christmas.
I laughed, but actually, those pjs do look comfy, I may buy them for myself.
November 5, 2008
Schoolhouse rocks!
I was sitting here yesterday watching some Schoolhouse rocks videos with Sebastian and it hit me, what a perfect Christmas gift for my nieces!
I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 70's and during commercials, we not only saw all the toys we would later beg our parents for, but we were educated in 3 minute segments by Schoolhouse Rocks on a number of subjects like grammar, spelling, science and history, and many other subjects too.
Both of my nieces love music, and the songs in Schoolhouse Rock are short enough with easy lyrics and memorable tunes that they would sing along to.
Susan is in kindergarten and she knows all of the songs her teacher teaches her, she sings them all of the time my sister says, and it is really too cute.
About a month ago when they came to see me, she sang some song she learned in school, and oh how I wish I had videotaped it.
And Skye, Skye sings in the car all of the time!
They both love this kind of stuff so I was thinking about getting them the Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition)
It has all 46 of the Schoolhouse Rocks songs and cartoons.
Those of you who grew up during the 70's and early 80's, I know you know all of these, you can probably still sing along to them too.
All of the following links are to the videos on youtube, sing along, I bet you remember them all too!
We learned how bills become laws because of "I'm just a bill", we learned the preamble to our Constitution, we learned about conjunctions, nouns, interjections and adverbs, and so so many more things.
I think this dvd and a few little baby dolls or something else, will be my gift to the girls this Christmas.
It will be fun music they like to sing, and educational at the same time.
I know that I learned about taxation without representation from the "No more kings" one, and it is still one of my favorites.
I just watched Sufferin' Till Suffrage and wow, that was really educational.
Essra Mohawk is who did the singing on that one and many of the other Schoolhouse Rocks songs, she went on to work with many legendary artists like Frank Zappa, Jerry Garcia, and also wrote songs for artists like Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner.
Pretty amazing lady who taught us about history and science, and has many, many accomplishments under her belt.
What was your favorite Schoolhouse Rock song?
It's really hard for me to choose, I love No more kings and the adverb song.
Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here,
Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, got some adverbs here.
Come on down to Lolly's, get the adverbs here!
You're going to need
If you write or read,
Or even think about it.
November 4, 2008
I voted.
That's my sticker, I went and voted this afternoon after the teens came home.
My body was simply wrecked from the last 2 days of dealing with water and septic issues, so I waited to have one of the teens walk up the street with me.
When the teens had left for school this morning, they had to walk by the church that is our local polling place, and they said at 6:50am, before the doors even opened, there was a line of people starting at the front door and snaking through the parking lot and halfway down the street.
By the time Sebastian and I got there at 3pm, there was no line at all, so we were in and out in a flash.
I had to walk there in my neck brace and was using my cane for stability, (yes, I have a cane, it's a cool dragon one so shut up) and Sebastian helped me be able to stand at the poll desk thing while I filled in the dots for who I wanted to vote for.
Not that the local seats aren't important, but my two main concerns were president and the amendment 2 question on marriage here in Florida.
I voted No.
I voted no because it's not right to make a constitutional amendment that takes away the rights of a whole lot of people, not just homosexuals.
It applies to partners, heterosexual partners, for whatever reason can't or don't want to get married.
It applies to every single, divorced, and widowed person in this state.
I refuse to take away rights from people.
Amendments should only be added to give people rights, not take them away.
Amendments are so hard to reverse once passed, and we already have 4 laws on Florida's books that make gay marriage illegal.
Sebastian was very interested in the voting process, he paid attention to how I was voting, to how it all worked, he realizes the importance of each person doing their part.
He has 3 more years to go before he can vote, but because he helped me today and was very enthused about the whole process, they gave him an "I Voted" sticker too.
November 3, 2008
It's going to be a very long wet night.
We are still sopping up water, we can't get the water valve to shut off, even getting a glass of water to drink sends some water into the pipes and then we get water flowing back up outta the toilet.
Ugh.
One of these years when I get totally healthy and my surgeries are all done, I am seriously going to start planning for those Vegas vacations I keep dreaming of.
I am doing way too much, far, far too much tonight, and when it gets fixed, it's going to be even more work cleaning everything up.
All the towels, the floors are all going to be need being mopped, the tub scrubbed with bleach, the floors with bleach, pretty much every inch of the house with bleach to kill off any bacteria that is anywhere.
Luckily, the only place the septic is backing up in is the tub.
All of the water coming out of the toilet is clean tank water.
If I could only shut off the damn valve, I wouldn't still be awake cleaning up water.
Ugh.
This just really sucks and I so need rest, a long, long rest and relaxation.
The teens will not be going to school tomorrow because they have been helping me take care of this all night now, they will be far too tired to go to school.
October 28, 2008
Wii and cheeseburgers.
Mark called me from school today to ask if he could go to his friend Jeff's house after they got out, and if Jeff's grandmother could give Sebastian a ride home.
I said yes to both, and so Mark went to his friend's house, and Sebastian came home.
When he got here, I needed him to run up to the ATM for me and get me $20 because I have to go take care of some stuff tomorrow.
So he went and did that, I let him buy himself a soda and a snack for doing it, and then he played some video games for a couple of hours before our old duplex neighbor called.
Bobby (my ex-neighbors son) wanted Sebastian to come to his house and help him install WoW
My old neighbor, Letty, loves to play the scratch-off lottery cards when she has the extra money, so yesterday she had $10.00, so she bought a $10.00 scratch-off and won $1,000.00.
Yup, $1,000.00.
That's not the first time she's won big money on those things either.
One time, she bought 1 of the $20.00 holiday cards, it was last Christmas, and she won $2,000.00.
She's won anywhere from $1.00 all the way up to $2,000.00 on scratch-off lottery cards.
Every single time she buys a card, she wins something, I've never seen her get a bad card in the years I've known her now.
So anyway, she won $1,000.00 yesterday, and because Bobby has been wanting a console game for the longest time, all he's ever had is one of the first generation PS2s, and she bought it at a yard sale, it only worked for a couple of months before it died, so she asked him what system he'd like to have, he said a Wii, so she bought him a Wii.
It was a pretty good deal too.
She went to Wal-Mart where they have all kinds of video game bundle deals for Christmas, so she got the Wii and a whole bunch of games and different controllers in the bundle pack for a little over $500.00 she said, because she also got another Wii fit game for them to play.
Letty said she was so happy that he chose the Wii console because when they were at a friend's house for dinner one night a few weeks ago, they all played their Wii after dinner, and she absolutely loved the Wii fit games, she could actually play them and it made her feel good to be active and having fun, so now that they have one, she can do some "exercise" and play video games with Bobby.
There are no kids at all in that neighborhood for him to play with, so now she can play with him, he won't be quite so bored anymore, she won't have to listen to him say he's bored, and she won't feel bad that she moved him away from Mark and Sebastian, he misses them so much she said.
I told her once again that he's welcome here on the weekends, he can come spend the whole weekend anytime he wants to, and vice-versa, Sebastian can go there too, which is what they are going to do this coming weekend.
Sebastian is going to help him finish the WoW installation if he hasn't completed by then, teach him how to set it up right, and give him some of his gold, and teach him how to be a gold farmer or something like that.
I have no idea, I don't play the game.
Later on when she was bringing Sebastian home, it was about 8 o'clock or so, Sebastian called and asked what Mark and I wanted from McDonald's, (Mark had come home around 7pm) and I told Sebastian that I didn't have money to spend on hamburgers, I have to do other stuff with my pay this week, and he said no mommy, (he still calls me mommy..LoL) Letty said it's her treat and she won't take no for an answer, so what do you want?
I could hear Letty in the background saying "Tell your mom if she doesn't tell me what her and Mark want, I'll just get them what you tell me they like to eat. I'm not taking no for an answer, we're already in the drive-thru line so she better hurry up or they're both gonna get quarter pounders!"
So I said ok ok! and told Sebastian what we wanted, and about 10 minutes later, they were here, and that's when she told me about buying the Wii and all that, and then her and Bobby went home, we ate, the teens took the trash to the curb, played video games, and I watched Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill and stuff.
But it was wicked nice of her to buy us Mcky D's and have Sebastian over her house most of the afternoon and evening.
The teens are in bed sound asleep, it's after 1am, and I'm still wide awake.
Insomnia again.
I never frigging sleep.
October 20, 2008
They set him off to rehab.
Sebastian came home from school today and told me that one of his classmates is going to be gone for about 45 days, because he's finally getting the drug treatment he needs to have.
The teacher announced it to her class this morning because "Tim" will be gone for that long, and she wanted to let his classmates know why.
He's gone off to a drug rehab up near Tallahassee or someplace up north in the state, Sebastian couldn't recall exactly where though.
Sebastian knows the kid, sorta, he's heard from other kids that Tim has been doing a lot of drugs lately, and has been smoking a lot of pot, doing cocaine and other drugs, and his parents finally figured it out and sent him to rehab.
I think it's a shame that so many young kids have these drug problems, and it has taken so long for the parents to figure it out.
I know it's not always easy to tell, I hid it from my parents for a long time, they were both working the night shift during my high school years.
It makes me wonder too, how many other kids at the school are doing drugs.
All the kids knew Tim was doing drugs, they knew what kinds of drugs he was doing, so how many of them are doing it too?
I'm just so glad that my boys come to me and talk about this kind of stuff, they tell me everything that goes in their lives and at school.
Sebastian said that seeing some kids come to school really messed up, that he has no interest at all in doing any drugs, especially after last years situation with a student wanting to give him drugs on the last day of school.
October 16, 2008
No school tomorrow? What?!
Yeah, there's no school tomorrow because of a "professional day".
Basically, the teachers take a day to prepare the lessons and other things because they say they don't have enough time during the regular school week to do it.
Whatever.
All the teens were really good, they've all gone home now, but they were all well behaved while they were here.
At one point they started talking about Halloween and trick or treating, parties, and what Halloween costumes they were all going to be wearing.
I told them all they were too old to go trick or treating, it's for much younger kids, not teenagers, and they laughed, said they knew, but it's always fun to try.
They weren't too loud which is good, because I was busy trying to fill out some papers for my medical stuff.
I have this huge packet of papers to fill out and get mailed by the 23rd, so I was atrying to finish them all up when it hit me that there was no school tomorrow.
It's going to be a very long weekend around here.
The teens are already at each others throats just 5 minutes after all the friends left.
Great.
Just great.
October 16, 2008
It's gonna be a long afternoon.
Mark called at lunch time and asked if a couple of his friends could come over after school.
I said yes.
They want to play video games and hang out I guess, I don't have a problem with it as long as everyone behaves and doesn't get too loud.
It'll be like an acne treatment companies dream in here, all kinds of teenage boys with acne covered faces, eating greasy leftover pizza and chips, and drinking soda.
At least the WoW game finally finished downloading so they can all play that and not bother me too much.
October 10, 2008
Crazy drivers!
I forgot to tell you all what happened here yesterday morning!
The teens were like 1/2 a minute late leaving for school, and as soon as Mark put his hand on the doorknob to go out, both he and Sebastian heard tires squealing, crashing noises, and car underbelly scraping noises on pavement, and they opened the door and ran out in time to see the tail end of a red truck speeding off.
That's when they saw the damage that the driver had done.
I don't know if the driver was drunk and thinking he was on an episode of COPS being filmed live in las vegas nevada, or not paying attention, or asleep at the wheel, but wait till you see what he did to our property.
This is crazy!
This is the ditch he drove into first. If you look at the upper left of the photo, you can see where he first started swerving in. He came inches away from taking out another house's mailbox.
In the lower right, you can see where the underbelly of his truck scraped across my driveway.
These ditches are about 3-4 feet deep by the way, so this truck really scraped in there hard.
This is the mailbox post of my duplex neighbor's side, now in the driveway, with more scrape marks and tire marks as well.
This is my side of the property, the ditch on my side, my mailbox post, the neighbor's side mailbox is in MY ditch, and my mailbox ended up on my lawn. More scrape marks in the bottom of the picture, and look at how deep he was into my ditch, just look at how much he tore it up with his tires and the underbelly of his truck.
He tore up all that dirt at the top of the picture before he finally swerved back out onto the road.
This is where my mailbox landed. I have blurred out my numbers for safety.
If Mark and Sebastian had left on time, just 30 seconds earlier, they would have been hit by this truck at the end of our driveway.
They leave our house and go to the left down the street, to make their way to school.
Can you believe this?!
I called my landlord, left him a message to come by, and he was just shocked.
He's a sheriff, so he filed a report, and also notified a few local car repair places that he knows and is friends with, to be on the lookout for a red truck with some major front end and underside damage.
Whoever did this, suffered some major damage to their vehicle.
October 9, 2008
The stomach bug hasn't left us yet.
On Tuesday, both the teens were home sick from school, they both had a stomach thing going on, but then they went back to school yesterday and today.
And then the school called me this morning.
"Ms. Cooper? I have Sebastian here in the health room clinic, and he's very sick. He vomited this morning, and we feel that he needs to go home."
Ok, so send him home.
I thought it was all over, but I guess not.
So he came home around 9am-ish, and dropped his backpack, kicked off his shoes, and then grabbed his blanket and pillows, and collapsed on the couch where he's been sleeping ever since.
His kitty Shahiro, must know he's not feeling well because she hasn't left his side.
She hopped up on the couch on top of his blanket, and curled up right next to him.
He got up to use the bathroom a few minutes ago and then went right back to the couch, and she could hardly wait for him to get settled before she was right back on him.
I think it's just kinda cute how our pets know we don't feel well and they do this cuddle thing.
She keeps licking his hands, reaching her paws out towards his face, mewing a little bit, like she knows he's sick and she wants to make him feel better or something.
October 7, 2008
Boobies and stitches.
Both Mark and Sebastian were home sick from school today.
Whatever it was that had Mark puking yesterday, has taken a hold of Sebastian today.
I had my post-op stitches out appointment today, and Sebastian didn't want to stay home, he wanted to go with me and take pictures of my stitches coming out, so I let him. (You can read about my appointment and see those pics at the link)
Mark stayed home and laid on the couch watching tv and stuff.
He said he couldn't eat anything all day, and when we stopped for some food on the way home, Sebastian said about 45 minutes after eating it, that he felt wicked sick.
Luckily, he didn't puke until we actually got home though.
Sebastian loves my surgeons offices, it's all modern furniture in black, red, white, and gray.
Very sleek, very simple and organized, he just loves it in there, and I have to agree, it's very soothing sitting in his waiting room and even the patient rooms.
He carried the theme from the waiting room into the patient rooms, and it all just looks very nice, it's calming.
I want to also tell you all that tonight is the very last night for the Boobiethon.
Picture submissions have closed, but they will be there until midnight taking your donation.
That's right, I said your donation.
They are sooooo close to reaching $9,000, and your donation could be the one that gets them to that amount.
So please, please, please, be helpful, be generous, and donate whatever you can to the boobiethon
They have posted to Twitter, that all donations of just $15 and up, will get access to the naked pay-per-boobies page.
That's a helluva deal folks!! And it will end in just a few more hours, help us make $9,000!!
October 6, 2008
Ms. Cooper? He threw up.
The school called a few minutes ago, specifically the school nurse.
Mark threw up, needs to come home.
So I said ok, send him home.
She asked if it was ok for him to walk or would I be picking him up.
Obviously I can't be picking him up, and we only live a few blocks from the school, so uh yea, he can walk.
She didn't seem approving of that answer and asked me again.
I had to explain the situation to her, and then she was a bit more understanding and allowed him to walk.
I asked her if someone could notify Sebastian that his brother had left, they walk home together every day, she said she'd make sure that he knows.
I really hope this is just like a food thing a
