You Have To Have A Really Big One To Pull This Off  

Friday, October 31, 2008



Happy Halloween

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crack spakle  

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

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The System Sucks  

Monday, October 27, 2008

My friend Anna has written about her journey with her two children for the last six years. The children were adopted and have many issue's that their parents have been working through with lot's of professional help for all concerned.

Last week things came to a head and now they are navigating the "system" again. The process to access mental health care and services is woefully lacking and I agree with her that a lot of people simply fall through the cracks because they have not the capacity or will to navigate the "system". Having a sister and nephew dealing with "system" now, I have heard some of the stories and nightmares caused by state workers. Sissy and nephew have been dealing with his oppositional defiance disorder/RAD/Bi-polar? since the day he was born. She is also dealing with her own mental health issues. Her case culminated in the state forcing her to terminate parental rights. This has been very traumatic for all of us and didn't need to happen. In the state of Washington, if you have a child that needs residential mental health care you better be very wealthy. The States only option (that was ever presented to my sister) was foster care placement. What she was not told was that at the end of the allotted foster care her son would be placed for adoption. Unless Grandma or his aunt (me) would take him into their homes. Well Grandma is too old to do this and I have my own special needs child to care for. It wouldn't have been good for any of us including the nephew. Since Sissy signed her rights over the nephew has had several behavioral issues and been shuttled around to different foster care homes due to his behavior. We are not allowed to see him and cannot write to him either.

Most people in this situation have done something to cause the loss of parental rights ie drugs/physical or sexual abuse. None of these things were present in the beginning. After years of dealing with her son and her own mental health issue's she did start using drugs. It was a short period of time and she did everything the state ordered her to do to qualify to get her son back but, that wasn't good enough.

The whole reason she got screwed is because she's poor and mentally ill. And she was trusting the state to "help" her. See where that got her?

The "system" is set up for neredowell's/absentee parents and drug addicts who not only can't take care of their kids but, don't want to. If you need help managing a child with sever mental health issue's and you are an active parent the state just treats you as if you are a dirt bag parent anyway...very discouraging.


"I do hope that those who believe "Free Medical" or socialized medicine is the way to go will understand one thing... only the STRONG have what it takes to get what is needed most. The Red-Tape and drag out of any reasonable expected governmental service weeds-out many unable to even navigate the system."

Anna Glendenning newmemories.blogspot.com

Please check out Anna's blog for more info

P

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Apologies in advance to Mom and her family  

Saturday, October 25, 2008

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Hey Mom  

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I found some more toilet humor. Although I think this goes beyond the "pail"

Check out chocolate rage

http://dasboob.com/the-chocolate-rage/

Reminds me of a craigslist rant I saw a while back.

P

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Fish Tank Love  

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

When I got home last nite from my much needed nail appt the girls wanted me to come see the fish tank. We have 3 gold fish 1 Shebunkin and a plecostomus. All of them are 5 to 7 years old. Well, I went to the tank and there's hundreds and hundreds of little brown balls all over the tank. Some were floating on top and some were laying on the bottom and some were floating all over the tank. It looked like one of the kids had dumped the whole can of food into the tank.

On closer inspection tho it was clear that the shebunkin (it has a black spot above the eye's so I named it spot, had no idea it was a female) was poopin out eggs like there was no tomorrow. It was verrryyy educational for the kids. The other 3 fish would follow her around and attempt to fertilize the eggs as they were expelled. eeww fish sex. We don't know if any of the eggs will be viable but, with our luck we will be calling the pet store soon to see if we can unload the babies.

So, the tank is a disaster area and now I have to clean up and I didn't even get a happy ending.

P

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Knock, knock...who's there?.....Secret Service  

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

So, this woman gets a call from an Obama campaign volunteer. Harmless enough right? Think again.


"She asked if I was an Obama supporter, to which I replied, 'No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time.' (And then) I hung up."


The volunteer reported her as saying Obama should die or some such and then the Secret Service paid this woman a visit.

Get ready for more of this. We will all be sent to the re-education camps. I know it sounds like paranoid thinking but, I'm probably gonna be sorry I ever started blogging.

Go to this site to get the rest of the story.

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/search/content/news/stories/2008/10/07/secret_service.html



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I am the Nation  

Saturday, October 11, 2008

I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins, because I offered freedom to the oppressed. I am many things, and many people. I am the United States.

I am 300 million living souls – and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me.

I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired the shot heard around the world. I am Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain boys, and Davy Crockett. I am Lee, Grant and Abe Lincoln.

I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. When freedom called, I answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left my heroic dead in Flanders Field, on the rock of Corregidor, and on the bleak slopes of Korea.

I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat lands of Kansas, and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coal fields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor and the Merrimac.

I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific, three million miles throbbing with industry. I am more than five million farms. I am forest, field, mountains and desert. I am quiet villages – and cities that never sleep. You can look at me and see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his bread loaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas, and hear the strains of Auld Lang Syne as the calendar turns.

I am Babe Ruth and the World Series. I am 160,000 schools and colleges, and 250,000 churches where my people worship God as they think best. I am a ballot dropped in a box, the roar of a crowd in a stadium, and the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a newspaper, and a letter to a Congressman.

I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster. I am Tom Edison, Albert Einstein, and Billy Graham. I am Horace Greeley, Will Rogers, and the Wright brothers. I am George Washington Carver, Daniel Webster and Jonas Salk.

I am Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman and Thomas Paine.

Yes, I am the Nation, and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in freedom and, God willing, in freedom will I spend the rest of my days. May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.

I am the United States!


OTTO WHITTAKER, “I Am the Nation,” Norfolk and Western Railway Company Magazine, January 15, 1976

I am an American. Just an American, no hyphen's
P


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I'm a big yellow sticky note on my son's school records part 2  

Sunday, October 5, 2008

So, on Thursday of last week there were children passing poster's out that said "tell your mama to vote for Obama" Some of the kids were wearing these posters taped to their shirts. The agitated my son in his science class. He was very vocal in his dislike for these signs and of course because he reacted the kids tormented him even more.

On Friday morning I called the school district to find out what the policy on political signs was. The district says no political signs are allowed. The district then wanted to know where I saw these signs. I wasn't about to tell them, I wanted to talk to the principal of the school first.

I finally talked to the principal and she said she did see the poster's being handed out and that she stopped that. I told her about what happened in the science class and she hadn't heard about that. I said why would the teacher tell you about it? I'm sure he wanted to keep it quiet. She said that political themed t-shirts were ok. I'll be calling the district on Monday to find out the policy on posters taped to t-shirts.

Well, since we were on the phone anyway the principal wanted to know if I had any other issue's. I told her about the PE class problem, that C was supposed to be in adaptive PE. Because of scheduling problems he was offered gen ed PE and he accepted it. Then he was bullied. I told her I wanted him out of PE all together he is under weight and it's not like he needs it. I don't care if it's a state requirement. Exceptions are made all the time, make one.

I also told her about the IEP problem which she also knew nothing about. I explained that I could not go to the Thursday mtg because my advocate had already scheduled a mtg after I called her to let her know that the school had canceled the mtg for Thursday. "OH, why would you need an advocate?" she says. I told her that my husband won't be at the mtg and I'm not coming alone.

When we ended the call she said she would be attending the IEP mtg (now that she knows about it and the trouble I'm causing) Yes sir, Tuesday should be interesting.

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I'm a big yellow sticky note on my son's school records  

Saturday, October 4, 2008

I'm sure it's just me but, I think you should be able to go to school without being subjected to flying Bio-Hazards. Last week the 14 year old boy told me someone spit on him (more than once) in his Science class. Rather than try to call the school (have tried that before, it just gets my blood pressure up) I emailed the teacher directly. See, they rely on their email now, don't bother trying to call. It's a waste of time. So, the incident happened on Thursday. I emailed teacher Friday morning. After two follow up emails I finally heard from the teacher on Monday morning. Seems he was sick Friday and had no email access ALL weekend. hhhmm a science teacher with no email access for three whole days....I ain't buyin' it.
He said he is referring (that means he sent him the the principal) the kid and calling his parents. That will solve the problem I'm sure.

Meanwhile, the school called last wed and invited me to an IEP mtg on Thur of this week. Ok, short notice but, ok. Then the school called on wed this week and canceled. I canceled my advocate. Then the school called back an hour later and said the mtg was back on at original date and time. Too late to re-schedule the advocate. I told them the time won't work now. Well the woman said, it has to be done by Oct. 7th. I'm now trying to find out if I can cancel the mtg. If I give them permission to go beyond the "drop dead date" on the current IEP. School says no but, what kind of a mother would I be if I took their word for it. They are only looking out for themselves, not my child. That job falls on me and I really don't mind being a witch with capital B when it comes to my children getting what they need. As of now, I think the mtg is scheduled for Tue. I haven't got confirmation on that tho.

Yesterday I called the district records dept and asked for a copy of the current IEP. The woman was confused about which IEP I wanted, she said I could not have a copy of the new one. I asked for the "current" one. She did have the foresight to check if it was there. It was not, it was in his file at the school. The school told me to call records. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and most of the time this works to the school advantage. Not this time. I then called the school back and explained that I wanted a copy of the IEP and that I knew it was at the school for the mtg that was not going to happen. The woman wanted to know which one I wanted. Well it went thru my head what the woman at records said so I said both of them thinking that she would say I can't have both of them. She said ok. Score! 'course some of the stuff is not in the new one. I took them to a friends house and we looked over them and guess what....the date on the current one is December so according to the current IEP we still have two more months to do this mtg.

To Be Continued

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Laughed 'til I cried  

Friday, October 3, 2008

I wish I knew who wrote this


Jasper and the Unbaked Yeast Rolls

We have a fox terrier by the name of Jasper. He came to us in the summer of 2001 from the fox terrier rescue program. For those of you, who are unfamiliar with this type of adoption, imagine taking in a 10 year old child about whom you know nothing and committing to doing your best to be a good parent.

Like a child, the dog came with his own idiosyncrasies. He will only sleep on the bed, on top of the covers, nuzzled as close to my face as he can get without actually performing a French kiss on me.

Lest you think this is a bad case of ‘no discipline,’ I should tell you that Perry and I tried every means to break him of this habit including locking him in a separate bedroom for several nights. The new door cost over $200.

Five weeks ago we began remodeling our house. Although the cost of the project is downright obnoxious, it was 20 years overdue AND it got me out of cooking Thanksgiving for family, extended family, and a lot of friends that I like more than family most of the time.

I was assigned the task of preparing 124 of my famous yeast dinner rolls for the two Thanksgiving feasts we did attend.

I am still cursing the electrician for getting the new oven hooked up so quickly. It was the only appliance in the whole darn house that worked, thus the assignment.

I made the decision to cook the rolls on Wed evening to reheat Thurs am. Since the kitchen was freshly painted, you can imagine the odor. Not wanting the rolls to smell like Sherwin Williams #586, I put the rolls on baking sheets and set them in the living room to rise for a few hours. Perry and I decided to go out to eat, returning in about an hour. The rolls were ready to go in the oven.

It was 8:30 PM. When I went to the living room to retrieve the pans, much to my shock one whole pan of 12 rolls was empty. I called out to Jasper and my worst nightmare became a reality. He literally wobbled over to me. He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. I swear even his cheeks were bloated.

I ran to the phone and called our vet. After a few second s of uproarious laughter, he told me the dog would probably be OK, however, I needed to give him Pepto Bismol every 2 hours for the rest of the night.

God only knows why I thought a dog would like Pepto Bismol any more than my kids did when they were sick. Suffice it to say that by the time we went to bed the dog was black, white and pink. He was so bloated we had to lift him onto the bed for the night.

We arose at 7:30 and as we always do first thing; put the dog out to relieve himself. Well, the dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging the grass or headed 90 degrees in another direction.

He couldn't lift his leg to pee, so he would just walk and pee at the same time. When he ran down the small incline in our back yard he couldn't stop himself and nearly ended up running into the fence.

His pupils were dilated and he was as dizzy as a loon. I endured another few seconds of laughter from the vet (second call within 12 hours) before he explained that the yeast had fermented in his belly and that he was indeed drunk..

He assured me that, not unlike most binges we humans go through, it would wear off after about 4 or 5 hours and to keep giving him Pepto Bismol.

Afraid to leave him by himself in the house, Perry and I loaded him up and took him with us to my sister's house for the first Thanksgiving meal of the day.

My sister lives outside of Muskogee on a ranch, (10 to 15 minute drive). Rolls firmly secured in the trunk (124 less 12) and drunk dog leaning from the back seat onto the console of the car between Perry and I, we took off.
Now I know you probably don't believe that dogs burp, but believe me when I say that after eating a tray of risen unbaked yeast rolls, DOGS WILL BURP. These burps were pure Old Charter. They would have matched or beat any smell in a drunk tank at the police station. But that's not the worst of it.

Now he was beginning to fart and they smelled like baked rolls. God strike me dead i f I am not telling the truth! We endured this for the entire trip to Karen's, thankful she didn't live any further away than she did.

Once Jasper was firmly placed in my sister's garage with the door locked, we finally sat down to enjoy our first Thanksgiving meal of the day. The dog was the topic of conversation all morning long and everyone made trips to the garage to witness my drunken dog, each returning with a tale of Jasper's latest endeavor to walk without running into something. Of course, as the old adage goes, ‘what goes in must come out’ and Jasper was no exception.

Granted if it had been me that had eaten 12 risen, unbaked yeast rolls, you might as well have put a concrete block up my behind, but alas a dog's digestive system is quite different from yours or mine. I discovered this was a mixed blessing when we prepared to leave Karen's house.

Having discovered his ‘packages’ on the garage floor, we loaded him up in the car so we could hose down the floor.
This was another naive decision on our part. The blast of water from the hose hit the poop on the floor and the poop on the floor withstood the blast from the hose. It was like Portland cement beginning to set up and cure.

We finally tried to remove it with a shovel. I (obviously no one else was going to offer their services) had to get on my hands and knees with a coarse brush to get the remnants off of the floor. And as if this wasn't degrading enough, the darn dog in his drunken state had walked through the poop and left paw prints all over the garage floor that had to be brushed too.

Well, by this time the dog was sobering up nicely so we took him home and dropped him off before we left for our second Thanksgiving dinner at Perry's sister's house.

I am happy to report that as of today (Monday) the dog is back to normal both in size and temperament. He has had a bath and is no longer tricolor. None the worse for wear I presume. I am also happy to report that just this evening I found 2 risen unbaked yeast rolls hidden inside my closet door.

It appears he must have come to his senses after eating 10 of them but decided hiding 2 of them for later would not be a bad idea. Now, I'm doing research on the computer as to: ‘How to clean unbaked dough from the carpet.’

And how was your day?

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Dear Leader  

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What Does That "B" Stand For In PBS?  

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

BIAS

Gwen Ifill is a commentator for PBS news. She also happens to be writing a book about Obama.

She will be moderating the debate between Palin and Biden this week. IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS

THIS FAIR?

If the situation were reversed we would see the BIAS CONSERVATIVE moderator withdrawing

and apologizing for ever considering the gig in the first place.

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