Win a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from 1-800 Flowers!

1-800-flowers.com and I are running a giveaway for 1 lucky reader to receive a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for Valentine's Day, and also letting you know about their FREE weekday shipping, and specials on all kinds of beautiful flowers and bouquets!

1-800-Flowers is having super specials this week!
They are offering free shipping on their Valentine's Day collection, and they are also having specials on their stunning roses collection for Valentine's Day too!

1-800-Flowers also has a fan page on Facebook where they host flower giveaways for their fans every week, and special fan-only discounts all of the time, so become a fan on Facebook for discounts and their weekly giveaways!

Now, onto the giveaway here!
1 lucky reader will win a Vibrant Rose and Peruvian Lily Bouquet with vase, delivered right to their house by 1-800-flowers.com!

The bouquet includes 6 striking hot pink roses, and ten gorgeous hot pink Peruvian lilies, picked at the peak of perfection from select floral farms, and arranged in a classic glass vase.

Rules:
The giveaway is open to United States ONLY, (including Alaska and Hawaii) but availability of the bouquet is limited in those two states.
This giveaway is open to all, not just bloggers, but rules must be followed.
Only 1 entry per person/family/household.
Only 1 person per IP address can enter the giveaway and complete the required entry and extra entries.
No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc.
I can check and verify IP addresses and email addresses. *wink*
If you are caught cheating, you will be banned from this giveaway and any future giveaways on my blogs.
This giveaway is only open to those ages 18+ only.
All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Thursday February 11th, 2010..
I will pick the winner randomly using random.org on Friday February 12th, 2010, email the winner, and they will have just 24 hours to claim their prize.
If I do not get a reply within 24 hours, I will pick a new winner using random.org again.

How to enter:
This is mandatory, if this one entry is not done, you will not qualify for the giveaway.
For your chance to win, please go to 1-800-flowers.com and find any arrangement or bouquet of flowers that you like, and leave me the link to it in the comments, telling me why you like it and would want to have it.

That's it!
Good luck! And don't forget to become fan on Facebook

In accordance with my disclosure and privacy policy;
I am receiving Lotsa Love Bouquet in exchange for hosting the giveaway and providing information on 1-800-flowers.com

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.

The neighborhood is getting worse.

When I first moved into this duplex, the neighborhood was great, a lot of single family homes, kids playing safely, riding bikes, neighbors actually talking to each other, a really nice place to live.
Over the last few years, it has gone downhill big time.
I keep saying that I need to get a gun for home protection due to almost attempted break-ins, and low-lifes stealing things right out of my carport.
I want to get some home insurance, or renters insurance, not really sure how that works if you rent a house, do you get home insurance or renters insurance?

Anyway, it's getting worse, as I said.
Saturday night, it wasn't late, maybe 8:30pm, the teens wanted to walk up to 7-eleven to get some snacks for themselves, I was still feeling sick, and they had just gone out the door when they came right back in not even 10 seconds later.
There was a really drunk man, looked to be late 20s- early 30s, walking down the sidewalk screaming at anyone else who was outside, that he was "going to get them".
I opened the door a crack so I could hear him and see him, and there he was, walking really fast down the sidewalk trying to catch up to 2 other teenagers, 2 boys looked about Sebastian's age, maybe 15-16 years old, who were trying to get home.
The guy was screaming, staggering around, but looked really angry, fists clenched up, and the 2 teens were trying to walk as fast as they could to get away from him, and he kept yelling.
The neighbor guy next door went out to see what was going on, the 2 teens were by his mailbox now, and he asked them what was going on.
They asked him for help, they told him the guy was following them, had followed them all the way down the street, they asked him to please help, to call the cops.
The neighbor didn't go in and call the cops, instead he tried to talk to the drunk guy.
Tried.
The drunk took a swing, that's when I told Sebastian to get me the phone, I called the cops and told them what was going on, and they said they were sending 2 units out.
Lucky they were close by, they got here in about 1 minute, so they must have been just down Ashton road by the post office or something,
The neighbor was not fighting with the guy, not swinging back, but he did get hit a few times, the 2 teens were practically hiding behind the neighbor's SUV, they were still scared, being quiet, 1 of them yelled to the drunk guy to leave him alone because the drunk kept swinging at and connecting about 1 out of every 4 swings, to the neighbor.
The cops just grabbed the guy, didn't even try talking to calm him down, just grabbed him because he was being violent.
They cuffed him and put him in the cruiser and then got statements from the neighbor and the 2 teens, and then came and took our statements, then they hauled him off to jail.
We were in the house, the teens watching out the windows, and I out the cracked door, none of us were going to go out there, no way.
I'm getting really annoyed with the kinds of people who have moved into the neighborhood man.
I'm just tired of the attempted break-ins, thieves, and now, the belligerent drunks trying to beat up teenagers.

May need to pick this up for next winter.

Buy.com has a Lasko Ceramic Heater on sale right now for just $19.99.
It was unusually cold here this winter and I only have one little space heater, so getting another one for next winter may be a really good idea.

It was really cold here this winter, and it's technically not over yet, it's not even February yet, so we could still get another wicked cold front or two between now and the end of March.
Having another small space heater would be very useful and helpful.
The one that I have now was only able to heat up just this one room, so yeah, having another one would be a good idea.
Then I could put the other heater in the dining room or kitchen hallway, and that way the boys bedrooms would get some heat on those cold winter nights that we had.

The Lasko ceramic heater has an adjustable thermostat just like the heater I have now, and it has an automatic overheat protector just like the one I have now, so that there's no risk of fire.
You would be amazed just how many people try to use things like bbq grills and stuff INSIDE their homes here during the winter and then die of carbon monoxide poisoning and stuff, it's really kind of crazy just how many people do really stupid things to get their house warm when it gets cold.
I'd rather just have a couple of portable heaters than to do something so stupid like bring a grill inside the house, and really, for $19.99 or even the regular price of $29.99, is a small enough price to pay to stay warm and not have any accidents.

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.

This specialized high school is where Sebastian wants to go for next year, his career goal is to work in computer technology, digital design, video games, etc.
The classes are very focused, detail oriented, driven, so that when the student graduates, not only will they have the knowledge and the skills to gain employment immediately, but also the certification needed to get the career they want, or go on to post-secondary school for even further technology education and training.

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. "

I barely made it through his essay without bawling my eyes out.
Kids don't often vocalize how they feel about us, and sometimes when they do, it's anger and I hate yous, but this essay was his true heart showing there on that typed and printed piece of paper.
It was how he really feels about me, how much he loves me, and it had me crying with every sentence that I read.
We have to go in person to SPHS and drop off the application packet, I am hoping to be able to do that no later than the end of the week.
This school does not cost anything extra, it's a Sarasota county school, so he can go there without having to pay any tuition or anything, he just has to apply and be accepted.
I am so hopeful that he gets accepted, he deserves to get accepted, he's so smart, so good at computers and design, I will do all of the parenting requirements without fail if he gets accepted, I will do whatever it takes to help him achieve his dream career goals, whatever it takes.
He makes me so proud to be his mother every single day.
________________________________________________

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.

Ugh so gross! Make it stop!

Ok, so I seriously need some adult acne treatments that really do work, work well, won't make the skin become dependent on having to use it every single day for life or anything, because the zits be getting out of hand around here.

The teens just came home from my friend Mindy's son Jeff's birthday party, and after he eats his dinner, he sits down on the couch and a few minutes later announces that he "just popped a big huge zit and it shot across the room Mom! Holy crap!"

Yes, that is so what I want to hear being said while I'm eating some ice cream and trying to relax after my long afternoon in the ER with intestinal issues, 3 bags of fluid pumped into me, 2 injections of some stomach meds, and 2 injections of dilaudid for the back pain and muscle spams that I was battling for the last 3 days.
Yup, sure did want to hear that now somewhere on a wall close by the couch, is a giant wad of zit juice.
This kind of grossness really needs to stop, and it will stop when we make the zits disappear.

Clogged again.

The bathroom tub is clogged again.
I hate it when it gets clogged, it takes forever to get rid of the clog.
In the past, I've used de-cloggng stuff like Liquid Plumr, the plunger, I've even used a straightened coat hanger to try and snake down there when all else failed.
I've spent countless hours at times trying to unclog that drain, and like after a good 2-3 days of working on it off and on for hours at a time, I finally get the clog to go away using a combination of de-clogging tools.
It hurts, too, being hunched over like that for hours and hours trying to get rid of the clog, every single muscle in my body aches, oh man, it sucks.
I feel like I'm getting a super workout on my arms, legs, and lower back muscles when I do it, I feel like if I was using a supplement like super pump 250, I'd probably get really ripping biceps just de-clogging the tub drain. haha
This is a very old house, it was built in 1976, and I think it still has all of the original plumbing fixtures in it, and it's still on septic even though the city has been promising to get us on the city sewer system for the entire 11 and a half years that I've been living in this house.
I really wish they would just get this sewer system project started at least, then at least I would know, or have some kind of time-line on when we may finally get some free flowing drainage going on.
Septic is so hard to deal with when it gets clogged, and sometimes when plunging, you end up plunging some super funky smells because of how old the septic system is.
Those super funky smells are soooo not pleasant, not at all.

I think it's broken.

My thermometer that is.
I tried to take my temperature this weekend when I was sick, but it wasn't registering correctly.
I know that I had a fever, but the thermometer said that I was barely breathing.
It said my temp was only 94.3!
So yeah, I think I need a new one and Buy.com has a Q3 ThermoHAWK 220 Infrared Thermometer on sale for just $19.99 with free shipping too!

I'm not sure that you can use it on people, but it's touchless so you aren't spreading germs, so that makes me think that you can use it on people.
You just point it at the object or person's head, press the button, and it tells you the temperature instantly with a 1 second response time.
That's pretty damn fast!
Our current thermometer takes about 1 minute or so, so yeah, having an accurate temp in about 1 second is pretty awesome.
It has an accuracy reading of +/-2.5% and a measurement range of -33C-100C.
It's small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, or my stuffed first aid kit box.
I'm really pretty positive that our thermometer is broken and I really should have bought a new one quite a long time ago.
I think my thermometer is about 8 or 9 years old, so yeah, it's definitely time to get a new one.
It lasted a good long time though, so I really can't complain about it being broken now.

Tired of getting sick so easy.

Remember how I said that I felt like I was coming down with something?
Well I did come down with something, I've been sick for the last 4 days or so.
Blah.
And on top of being sick, I got a few pimples.
What the hell?
I haven't had any pimples in years, but now I have some, so while I'm still searching for the best acne treatment for the teens, I'm now searching for one for myself too.

I haven't been able to sleep much at all, so yeah, it really sucks when I get sick because all I want to do is sleep, try to get some rest, and my body just won't cooperate.
I've had less than 6 hours of sleep for the last few days, I just lay in my bed and toss and turn all damn night.
My brain is in a fog, my hands are all shaky, I just feel like total crap.
I really hope that I can get some sleep tonight, I need it bad.

Extraordinary Measures movie review.

Last night Mindy and I went and saw Extraordinary Measures at the Muvico in Tampa.
Many thanks to CBS films for letting us be at the advanced screening of the film for free, it was most definitely appreciated as we both needed a night out, just us girls, so we could see a good movie, talk, and have some fun.

Synopsis

"Extraordinary Measures" is inspired by the true story of John Crowley, a man who defied conventional wisdom and great odds, and risked his family's future to pursue a cure for his children's life threatening disease. From his working class roots, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) has finally begun to taste success in corporate America. Supported by his beautiful wife Aileen (Keri Russell) and their three children, John is on the fast track. But just as his career is taking off, Crowley walks away from it all when his two youngest children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with a fatal disease. With Aileen by his side, harnessing all of his skill and determination, Crowley teams up with a brilliant, but unappreciated and unconventional scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill. (Harrison Ford) Together they form a bio-tech company focused on developing a life-saving drug. One driven to prove himself and his theories, the other by a chance to save his children, this unlikely alliance eventually develops into mutual respect as they battle the medical and business establishments in a fight against the system - and time.

I thought the movie was going to be a total tear-jerker, but it wasn't.
There was only one scene where I felt like crying like the main character did, John Crowley, played by Brendan Frasier, when he thought he had screwed up so bad that he ruined his chance to help save his kid's lives.
Based on a true story, John Crowley was doing everything that he could do and think of to try and save the lives of his kids who suffer from Pompe Disease.
In Pompe Disease, normally, the body uses GAA to break down glycogen, a stored form of sugar used for energy. But in Pompe disease, mutations in the GAA gene reduce or completely eliminate this essential enzyme. Excessive amounts of glycogen accumulate everywhere in the body, but the cells of the heart and skeletal muscles are the most seriously affected.
Kids with the disease often don't live much past the age of 9-10, so John Crowley gave up his job, moved his family across the country, to try and prove the theories of Dr. Robert Stonehill, played by Harrison Ford.
Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of both Crowley and Stonehill, an enzyme replacement therapy drug was created and it is actually working to help babies and kids with the disease to keep their hearts and other organs from growing too large and breaking down the muscles.

It was a really fantastic movie, I really enjoyed it, and as I said, it wasn't the tear-jerker that I thought it was going to be, not at all.
It was a movie about the hard work, determination, and love a parent has for their children.
I would highly recommend the movie to anyone to go see, it was definitely a movie worth watching as both Frasier and Ford did an outstanding job in their roles.
Harrison Ford plays a really eccentric and cranky scientist with a theory about the disease and how to treat it, but he's never had a drug go to trials, and never had a drug approved, so getting the venture capital needed to make and test the drug was an impossible feat for him.
That's where Frasier's character comes in, he has the business skills needed to get people to invest, he does whatever he has to to get the funding so Stonehill can get the drug made and into trials, and then approved, including having to sell-out to a larger drug company so that everything can happen at a much faster pace.
The things he did, he had to do even though it really angered Stonehill to have to sell-out and go work in a huge pharmaceutical company, but it had to be done, Crowley's kids were drying, they didn't have much time left at all.
In the end, Crowley even had to be fired from his job in order to get his 2 kids into the sibling test trials for the enzyme replacement therapy.

As a parent, I would do anything for my kids, I know how Crowley felt, do anything, everything, to try and save his kids.
Luckily, my sons don't have any life-threatening diseases like this, but Mark does have problems with his spine and I am fighting with the doctors and insurance almost every single day to get him treated now, not in 15-20 years when it may be too late to help him, when it may be so late that he ends up like me.
He's 18, has his whole life ahead of him, I can't let him end up like me, so like Crowley, I will fight and do what it takes to help my son get the medical treatment he needs now, not later.

The movie isn't that long, so we made it home before midnight, and I was dead tired from the long ride there and back, and sitting in the theater seat all that time.
I woke up this morning exhausted, I had big dark circles under my eyes, so I grabbed my eye ice pack and laid back down on the couch for another couple of hours.
I'm still tired but have a lot to do including the grocery shopping.
Ugh.

Oh, when we got to the theater, CBS had saved us our seats because I had asked to be in the handicapped row, middle seating if possible because of the tilt of my head, I cannot be way down front.
Sharon, the host of the screening, escorted us to our seats which she had roped off with caution tape.
The theater was totally packed, there were a lot of people there for the screening, so walking into a packed theater and being escorted to our roped off seats was kind of embarrassing.
Everybody was staring at us because she escorted us to the roped off section and she said really loud that the seats were for the VIP movie screeners for CBS Films, and that they had to hold up the movie for a few more minutes for a few more VIPs.
Ha!
All of the other screeners were from some group that I want to look up, GOFOBO or something like that, but we were treated as VIPs, given special seating, and thanked like a million times, so it was fun and kind of embarrassing, but kind of cool too to be given special treatment.
So thank you very much to CBS Films for allowing us to be a part of the advanced screening.

Extraordinary Measures will be in nationwide release on January 22nd, and I highly recommend the movie.

Off to the movies in a few hours!

Tonight Mindy and I are going to see the movie Extraordinary Measures all of the way up in Tampa.
It starts it's nationwide theater release on January 22nd, so we are going to see an advanced screening of it tonight, then come home and blog about our thoughts on the movie.

I'm really excited to go see it, it looks like a good tear-jerker of a movie, and I like seeing movies like this especially when they are based on true stories, and I don't mind a good cry because of a movie or tv show every now and then, but I will be prepared for sitting in the movie theater this time.
I'm bringing a pillow with me to sit on so I hopefully don't end up with the same kind of horrible pain that I was in when we went and saw Avatar.

This time, I am going to do whatever I need to do to try and make sure that I don't end up in too much pain from sitting all of that time.
I'm going to take my pain meds and use some of the joint pain treatment things that I have to try and relax my muscles and stuff before we go, and use the pillow to sit on while we're there.
I'm going to take a nice, long, hot shower, rub on some of the pain gel stuff that I have, take a muscle relaxer, and use my wearable heating pad for the ride up to Tampa.
Hopefully, this will keep some of the pain away so that I can enjoy the movie.
I'll let you all know how the movie is when we get back.
It starts at 7:30, so I don't expect to be home until around 11:30pm or midnight.

Sick of the Special K commercials.

The Special K commercials are getting more and more annoying, but there's one that drives me absolutely bonkers.
Every single time I see it, I start yelling at the tv, I end up leaving the room I get so upset.
I can't find a video for it on youtube, but it's the one where a mom and daughter are sitting at a CHILD'S PLAY TABLE AND CHAIRS, and the phone rings, the mom gets up, and her butt is stuck in the chair.
A chair that is made for a child, but this freaks the mom out so much that she goes to eat some more Special K cereal to help her with quick weight loss.
It's a child's chair, the mom is already skinny, but OMG! She wants to lose even more weight because she gets stuck in a child's chair, one that is made for like a 40-50lb child.

Every single one of the Special K commercials is like this, the women in them are already skinny, but they need to lose more weight, they just have to, so all they eat is Special K.
I hate these commercials, can't stand them, I think they are just sending the wrong message to women.
Skinny but not skinny enough?
Not anorexic enough?!
Eat some more Special K!