for a fun phone call

call Nestle's and listen quietly after they ask if you want English or spanish...you have to wait for a few seconds...it is well worth having to re-dial if the line is busy!

1-800-295-0051

where have I been?

trying to keep things together...we are down to one car right now...Ernie is working the day shift . He was hurt at work and is on light duty and that put him doing clerical stuff. He has a mallet pinky finger and until that is better, he cannot restrain patients. It has been fun trying to figure out how we are going to get the 2 of us to work when we work in opposite directions. God has been so good and we have had cars/vans to borrow from friends.

the kids are back in school and doing well. so far! Teen is excited about her Senior year! hard to believe! She is in Tri-M which is a music honor society....so thrilled with that. She is working very hard on college applications.

just pics of the kids having fun...

Busy busy busy....what can I say...miss you all....

Son got braces,,will post pics later,,, he left for Scout camp Sunday @ 11A.M., got a call @ 10:30P.M. that Scout Master was bringing him home as he passed out at 10P.M.
Dehydration...he left for camp again noon on Monday. He should be home tonight....

Teen just left at noon today to go camping with a family from church and will be back next Friday.

DQ is home with not much planned...have to find something special for her.....I think Ern and I will take her out for dinner. She might spend a few nights with a friend.

SHE and I are not talking. I have stopped calling her. I have not not been allowed to see the baby because I usually carry other people's germs. A few weeks ago, I invited her to come to a cook-out at my house. The Evil Woman kept asking if the Pastor's family was going to be there, I kept saying no. They kept telling me they did not believe me, that I ALWAYS lie and they can't believe a word I say. When I told Ern why SHE and the baby weren't coming I said SHE and Evil Woman called me a liar. When SHE talked to Ern and he confronted her about the conversation SHE had with me, SHE got upset and said SHE never called me a liar. When Ern asked me about it, I had to agree that SHE did not use the word liar but to say that they did not believe anything I say and that all I do is lie is to call me a liar. SHE takes things so literally, so in her mind, if SHE did not say the word Liar, SHE did not call me one. I have decided that if they feel all I do is lie, I am not going to be the one to initiate the calls. SHE can call me when SHE wants to talk.

Work is keeping me busy!!! and that is a good thing these days

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

I have been hiccupppping for the past 20ish minutes...... my belly hurts.....
none of the old wive's tales type cures are helping.....
hiccup....

I have been neglectful in posting..Shame on me. I have been working hard at work. I have also been put in a few county committees that take up some of my time. Our county recived a grant from the federal gov't to help make the mental health services in our county better for children from birth -21. ( I still have to see a newborn with mental health issues! )
I have been helping to run a Girls Circle on Monday nights. I have never met girls who are so hard to get through to, who want to cause problems and not want to be a part of things. We handed out stress balls one week. One of the girls asked " what do you do if stress balls make you stressed?" Is it making you stressed? "no, just wondering. but wha tif this green on was making me stressed?" well is it? " NO, but it could" What do you thhink you should do if it makes you stressed? "I have no idea, I am not stressed, I am never stressed there is nothing wrong with me" Ok, good to know....

I haven't been to see grandson since he was about 2 weeks olld. We have had germs here in the hosue and they do not want him to get the germs from us. It is quite all right for flu-ridden people to go and visit as long as they are not on our side of the family though. I am tired of things being ok for the other side of that family but not for mine. SHE and baby are not coming to a cookout to see my family that is visiting because I might let the Pastor and his family over to see the baby...at least that is what SHE and the other grandmother say...They do not want my pastor and his family to even see the baby. Seems like they keep forgetting that his family helped SHE not have the abortion and if the abortion had happened there'd be no baby....I have decided the best thing for me is to not call and if SHE wants to talk to me, SHE knows where I am....

The other kids are doing so great!!! School is out and they have taken over doing chores for me... itis a wonderful thing!!!

Ethan the #10 Honor scout and jenna's 8th grade dance

Where does the time go?

the travelling viet nam wall

18 years and counting!

Happy anniversary honey!!! I love you more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow!

what a busy week...SHE and the BABY are home....and I guess they are doing ok. SHE is following the what the boyfriend's mother tells her to do and of course we all know it is gospel truth. oh, you want an example, do you? ok...like you should give the baby water for hiccups...yup at least 2 ounces.. I told her that is SHE does that five times a day, that is 10 ounces of formula the baby should have had. and now, I am told I never brought a new born home fromthe hospital, so, what would I know....Probably a lot more than they do since I did take classes in order to bring foster kids into my home when I did foster care....

My early Mother's Day gift

SHE decided to give me an early gift....

Vincenzo Neil....8lbs 13oz...22 inches

I hate PORN

ok...I caught one of my kids looking at pron...actually saw them and know who it was this time, instead of just seeing it on the history......and I have to find a way to block that from happening again!!!I really do not have the time to sit in the room with each child as they share one computer...or even if they all had their own computer, I don't have the time to sit in the dining room and watch what they are doing.. you know, I need to cook, clean and yes, even pee sometimes!!!! ..I really need to block those things. When we were straight aol, we could block stuff but now, they just bypass aol and go right to the web and see what they want. I need to be able to feel like I can get some sleep if one of the kids wants to work on a school project late at night but it is getting so that I feel like they can't do that.....I need a nanny who can be there...I hate having kids who know more about coputers than I do. have to find a way to outsmart them!! I was able to change their passwords to their accounts last night...but need more than that...any suggestions?

The shower was ok. It was a very small event but was ok. I has TEEN take some pics but she didn't take many. Before I left, I put together the pack and play, with help from one of SHE"s friend's. The boyfriend kept asking why we were putting it together and I told him tha tthe baby is due in a week, and that they need something put together just in case. The crib is bought but not together, yet.
I spent some time, alone with the other mother..and I think we finally connected....she has an older son, 25, who is on 3 years probation for drugs. He has been MIA since Thursday. She said he is really stressing her out, and that she is worrying about him all the time, and when he doesn't come home, she doesn't sleep..and that she is thinking of putting homj out of the house. I spoke up and said, that while my situation with SHE was different....I could understand how she felt. When SHE was terrorizing my younger children, and then moved out, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and then my other children were able to feel safe and were able to settle down. When SHE wanted to move back home I had to say no, it was a very hard thing as a parent to say no but I had my younger children to think of. I told her that she will now have a baby in the house to think of and her health and that her son is an adult. She was able to tell me that she sees the things I was telling her about SHE. I think we understand each other better now.

I will try to get the pics on here later..

Baby shower day....

today is the day of SHE"s baby shower...and I woke with a headache and a feeling of dread. I am not at all excited about this. You all know how this how relationship between SHE and I has been.

so far, the day is showing me I should stay in bed. I asked TEEN to take my massage table and stuff out of the van...and she dropped the head piece and left it in 2 pieces, and did not notice. One piece had dried up dead leaves all over it...and I just yelled at her. Then I felt horrid. She picked allthe little leaf pieces out of the face pieces and if I glue things, I might be able to use it. If not, I guess I will order an new one...
I started to put the gifts I had in the van. One is a cute little swing, that can be used as 3 pieces, a swing, an infant seat or a toddler swing. I had to take it apart to get it in the van..and as I flipped the seat upsidedown..something started to drip out of it....and I touched it, smelled it...and it smelled like cat pee...So, inside I went to get cleaning stuff to clean it all up. Now I hope it doesn't smell. Stupid Tanner probably did it, ugly tom cat!
My living room stinks like hamsters....probably because all the kids think it is not their turn to clean the cage...I am starting to think it is someone's turn to clean the cage and maybe that someone can be found at FREECYCLE. Kids all moaned at that but still have not moved....

I have to go and pick up DQ at a friend's...she had a sleepover. then she has a therapy appt, then we come home to gett TEEN, drop DQ off at my co-workers and then TEEN and I go to the shower. DQ was invited but has such anxiety over her sister having this baby and is soo angry that her sister could be so irresponsible that she decided , with my blessings, not to go. I also did not want to have to drive an hour home with DQ having a melt down!

SON will be home alone, on the computer,,,and Hubby is playing chess today. He felt he needed a stressless day..
hopefully I will have pictures when I get back!

ok....I have had the worst time saying the proper words this week. last night I told teen to shut her wallet. She looked at me like I lost my mind. HUH? close your wallet on your neck....
Mom, It's a locket, not a wallet.
that is what I said...close your wallet.

the ants go marching one by one...

it has been rainy and gloomy the last few days...and we have ant infestation at work...I have been doing an ant dance at work all day. I have been stomping on ants. I have been knocking htem off my desk and stomping on them, knocking them off the wall and stomping on them,,,,ick!!! One of my coworkers walked into the office and asked why we had mini chocolate chips all over the floor....LOL......... yuck!!!

5 take away 4 to Albany equals one blissful Muma all alone in the house doing what she wants when she wants without anyone interrupting her every few minutes....
well, except for the dog who asks to go out so that he doesn't have accidents on the floor but Mumma sure can live with that...

So, what has she done all day?...played spades on the computer, watched Brideshead revisted, watched a Little House mini series, ate junk food and napped....

and why is she talking about herself in the thrid person???
hmmmm

Christ is Risen.....

I have been telling myself that when I get to Heaven I will not feel like I feel today and that I will feel like rejoicing every single day and every single minute. As a Mom, sometimes, the moods/actions of my children affect my mood...and today, I am one very tired , not so rejoicing Mom....I am hoping that as they day goes on I will feel better and will get that rejoicing feeling that I soo need.

There is a verse in Revelations that says there will be no tears or weeping in Heaven....and I soo look forward to that day...no, I am not thinking of death but I am just looking ahead to what will be....

Christ is risen!

so, I took the girls and a friend to the Hannah Montana movie and I survived....then home....
I boiled eggs and tomorrow we will color them and that is about all the Easter stuff we are doing besides church. Ernie is working, Mom is out of town and I don't feel like doing a large meal and then cleaning up....
things are going pretty welll at work. I was told that I have to watch the sarcasim because it can be too cutting...sometimes my mouth opens and words come out before I know it....I know I have to watch it...not a good thing to suffer from....I have to keep reminding myself to think and then speak

SHE called...baby is in 360 position and no, I have no idea what that means....SHE says she must be dialated since SHE cannot sleep.....
will write more later but SON is pulling on my shirt...he wants me to get him to his Scouts...they are going to the City to Madame Tussuand's (sp?) Wax Musuem and must be there in 33 minutes...it takes us all of 11 minutes to drive there,....can't be late! LOL

the all knowing one

I think I am changing the Evil One's/OutLaw's name,again to AKO as in ALL KNOWING ONE...Saturday, I recieve a call from SHE....
SHE: the baby has turned and is in perfect position for being born.
Me: oh, you had a DR vist this week?
SHE: no, AKO told meME: so is she now a midwife?
SHE: no but she has had 3 babies an dyou haven't she knows these things
ME:Ahhh, so glad you have AKO to tell you all these things,
SHE: I have been having retractions all dayME: you mean contractions?
SHE: no, AKO said I am having retractions and they hurt
ME: ahh...AKO knows soo much, so glad you have her in your life...

yawn!!!

last night...we settled into our beds. I went to bed early watching 20/20 and fell asleep. Some time later I heard strange noises and woke up. the lights were flickering, the TV was shutting itself off and on, the house seemed haunted. the dog was barking and howling. Ern took the dog out. When they came back in, Ern said there was a Elec Co. truck working at the end of the road. I tried to shut off the TV but it wouldn't shut off. Finally, everything shut off. Then I fall back to sleep. I don't know what time it was but the next ting I hear was the computerized baby crying and crying anc crying. iget out of bed to go and see if I could be of any help.
"Can't you shut that thing up?"
DQ looks at me crying " I can't find the keys"
TEEN says "We looked everywhere"
I look under the bed at the mess and said "If it is under here, you will never find it"
We pull all the junk out and nope, they are not there. I finally decide to look in the baby carrier and guess what? There they are.....

DQ is crying,,,exhausted, she has not slept. Son looks at a cell phone and it is after 1. I , being the great Mom and Grandma to a computerized baby, decide to take the baby for the night.

That baby is the baby from HELL! It cried at 2 and then 205, 2:25, 2:30..3:00 3:05, 3:45 3:50....4:30,4:45..5:30..7:00,8.... I am tired....

QG has an appt this morning....Well, whatcha know that baby is crying AGAIN!!!....figures it sleeps during the day when I am awake and not wanting sleep!

I am so going to be the kind of Grandma that will be so glad when I can just hand back the kids to their parents.

a new baby

DQ has a baby....she brought it home today from school...and it cries.. until a key is inserted into its back... I have been home for a hour and have heard it cry 4 times and I am ready to throw it out the window....
I am sooo not in the mood for any more babies in this house...if SHE cannot take care of her baby, I do not see how I could ever take it...I really don't. I was in the store the other day and heard a baby crying ( at 10 PM, mind you) and wanted to go up to the mother and tell her " I shop late to get away from kids, take your baby home so I and the rest of the customers do not have to hear it" When I hear toddlers crying and screaming in the store I want to go up to the parents and ask them if they must subject the rest of us to that sound. Take them out of the store!!! I really have no patience.
I have turned into a grouchy, hot flashing menopausal woman....keep all small children and dogs away from me!

went to McDonald's last night for the kids' " It is Friday night, Dad is teaching Chess and then working and Mom is too tired too cook good food that we won't eat, so get McD and we will be happy" food....As I was paying at the first window...there was a braille menu. I knew the girl working at the window and love to have fun with her. I asked her why there was a braille menu there.
she said "for people who drive and need to use a braille menu"


now isn't that reassuring?

the little doggie that could

A few years ago, some of us were fooling around on my bed, no not what you are thinking, and the frame of the bed broke. I think the kids and I were having a tickle fest. So, we put the box spring and mattress on the floor. We really needed to get a new bed but $$ has been an issue. I would much rather have running cars, you know?
Anyway, someone we know was giving away a bed that her child had bought and used for about a month before the marriage busted up and has just been sitting unused in a bedroom. This person was trying to empty out the room and asked us if we thought we would want it and of course we said yes!!! Ern and one of the guys from the church who has a truck went to get it yesterday afternoon.
When I got home Son was all excited to show me, my new bed! It is much higher than my old bed and much firmer! and there is poor old arthritic JoJo sadly looking at it, as if to say, How the heck to you expect me to ever get up on that bed? He tried once or twice to get on in and just could not jump that high. Good! Ern and I will finally have a bed to ourselves at night!!! We all went down for dinner, JoJo too.
We all continued with our evening activities and then JoJo went for his last evening walk with Ern. I finished my email. I went up to bed and there is JoJo on the bed looking all smug. How'd you get here?, I asked him but he just gave me that smug look of his. Everyone denied putting him on the bed. I just knew someone put him on the bed. I took him off the bed, hoping he would find someone else to go and sleep with. I finished getting ready for bed, got into bed, started to read my book waiting for Ern to come to bed, and next thing I knew, JoJo jumped up on the bed. Drats!!!! It took me 12 years to get the kids to leave me alone at night and I thought I had finally found a way to keep the dog away at night! Foiled again!

ok...I am a grouch!!!! just call me Grouchetta! I want to bite off someone's head! doesn't matter whose, just anyone will do....
seems like there isn't anyone who can do anything right tonight! or maybe I just expect to much?? take the trash out? do the dishes? put away your clothes?

got hair colored and cut. took DQ to therapy, went and did a quick shopping to get thru the weekend, picked up family, went to get SHE took her out for her birthday....gave her a walmart card, newborn diapers and a bag full of baby clothes for the baby that will be here the first week of May. She now can say she has some things for the baby....

Son came up to me ther other day and told me there needs to be a store where people can pay money to go and break things when they are angry! I asked him if he was angry and he said not since he broke something and thought of the store!!!!

SHE will be turning 21 on the 20th.....I bought some cute baby boy clothes and told her and SHe got upset with me for buying stuff for the baby who isn't born and not having bought anythig yet for her birthday....because we all know it is all aobut her!

Teen has been running track again and DQ will be joining her. I will be able to yell for 2 of my girls as they go running by me at track meets!!!

my birthday on March 3rd...

Me and my new GPS

the numbers on my cake are 30 and 18..can you guess how old I am??? I tell my kids I am 30 18

the crocus are coming the crocus are coming!!!

wow!!!! did you hear about the big nor'easter we were going to get??? up to 12 inches of snow!!! schools were cancelled, people did not go to work...and we only got a few inches of snow!!! I was a brave person who drove to work and stayed the full 8 hours!! Go me! I did not have to use any of my sick time or personal time....LOL

tomorrow is my birthday...and I turn 30 eight teen! LOL

I spent the last 2 days in a very interesting training for Girls Circle. I hope to be leading a Girls Circle in the near future through work. It really helped that the 2 trainors were great! Women from all over the county attended. I laughed so much during the last 2 days!! Girls Circle is a structured support group for girls to help foster self-esteem, help girls mainttain connection with peers and adult women in their comunity, and counter trends toward self-doubt and allow for sel-expression thourgh verbal sharing and creative activity. Girls are allowed to voice their opinions in a safe enviorment with a facilitator guiding them. this model has been used in juvenile probation, schools, peer led leadership, schools, athletics, pregnacy prevention, gang prevention and any where girls come together. I am very excited about this!!

We were shown some scary statistics on children.
93% of youth sexual assault victims knew their attackers, 34.2% were fammily memebers,58.7% were acquaintances. only 7 % were strangers.
Girls are 3 times more likely than boys to have experiences sexual abuse, which is often an underlying factor in high risk behaviors which lead to deliquency.
Girls show signs of depression at a rate of 50% higher than that of boys. in 2000, suicide was the 3rd leading cause of death among 10-24 year olds.
42% of girls who were victims of violent crimes were victimized by other girls.
1 of 10 adolescent girls report an incident of dating violence in the past year.
roughly 1 in 50 youth injure themselves by deliberatley cutting their own skin, most of them are girls.
Girls are the fastes growing segment of the juvenile justice population.
girls account for 33% of arrests for assault
3 out of every 5 arrest, for running away from home are girls,
66.7% of young women in CA. Youth Authority reported ongoing physical abuse and 44.7% reported sexual abuse.
32% of children reside in single parent households.
34% of births are to unmarried women
Single mothers households comprise by far the poores demographic group
16.3 %(that is more than 11.5 million) of children live in poverty. of that percentage African Americans 32% and Hispanice 28%.

when I don't feel well, I just want to be left alone to sleep and just rest...don't bother me!! When one of the kids is also home with me , and they don't feel well, it drives me nuts when they have to tell me every 5 seconds that they don't feel well. I know they don't feel well. I don't feel well either. You don't see me bothering them every 5 minutes to tell them I don't feel well.
What do they want me to do? Go suck a cough drop if your throat hurts? You don't like the taste of this kimd, then try the other kind? You don't like that kind? I am sorry , we don't have any others here. Your hungry? Make some chicken noodle soup. You want ramen? then make the ramen. You don't like beef ramen? Well, I am sorry but I am not going out when I called into work for running a 102 fever...
I think next time I am sick I should just go into work, I might get more rest there!!

I haven't posted in a while....I have been working hard. I had a wonderful week of training and then ame back to a week of rough times at work. I have learned more this past week than I learned at the week of training! Sadly, I learned it at my expense. It is kinda a long story that I really can't go into here. My feelings were hurt and I am trying to put it behind me but it is very hard.

My wonderful husband had a dozen red roses sent to me at work on Friday.....with a card that said I was his heart and soul...he dropped Teen and Son off at a friend's house. They were going to a Camp retreat. He then dropped DQ at my mother's. When I came home, I was greeted with a ard, a ute little teddy bear, and a trip out to dinner and then a night alone!!!! Then next morning he took off for a chess tournament...and DQ ame home!!

I went to pick up Teen and Son tonight...Ern gets home sometime tomorrow....then the house will be back to what has become normal!

Last day of the month

Wow! this month flew by!! At least it did for me!!! I am exhausted!!! Of course the fact that I was awake from 2-4 AM last night did not help! I emotionally brought work home with me,,worried about some families I work with and some testing I did and if I scored it properly...silly but I fret, I am a fretter.

I am bored...and hungry and there is nothing easy to eat...everything is either frozen or takes time to cook and I want to eat now!!! Ernie and 2 of the kids are out at a basketball game...and if I want to go out and get something, I guess I would have to get dressed, comb my hair and get in the car and drive...I am too tired

I am going for a weeks worth of training Mon-Fri...I will be staying at a Holiday Inn, and hanging at the pool at night.....can't wait for some time away....not sure if I can re-juvinate but time away is always good

We are supposed to have snow on Tuesday but that is ok...I will be snug in the hotel! LOL

NO MORE SNOW!!!! I am stuck at home!!!! NO MORE SNOW!!!!

My friend Stephanie

Music Review - 'Orfeo ed Euridice' - Stephanie Blythe in Gluck Opera at the Met - NYTimes.com

I know Stephanie from church camp. I love to hear her sing and there is a link in the link above and you can hear her too!!!

We have a new president and history has been made....but my life still had to go on today. I still had work to do, responsibilities to fulfull and my family to take care of. I will get excited when I see things happening...

Dear God.....

I just know that if one of my kids says,,, don't look and please don't ask me what I am doing...it is just going to be bad news.....

Please stop sending us snow and cold weather...my kids are driving me insane because it is too cold and nasty to send them out to burn off some energy....
Dear God, I really do not want tokill them....

Amen

I have made it through my first 2 weeks of working full-time...and I am sooo tired. My house looks like it is not being taken care of. But the kids are fed and there is food in the house, so that is good. There have been days that I do not see Ernie at all. I get up in the morning, say good bye, he goes to work before I get home, and I leave in the mornings before he gets home. This will take some getting used to.

a little late for Christmas or very early

I personally believe she has a warehouse full of captive elves!


Martha Stewart Christmas Wish



Dear Santa, I rarely ask for much. This year is no exception. I don't need diamond earrings, handy slicer-dicers, or comfy slippers. I only want one little thing, and I want it deeply. I want to slap Martha Stewart. Now, hear me out, Santa. I won't scar her or draw blood or anything. Just one good smack, right acr oss her smug little cheek. I get all cozy inside just thinking about it. Don't grant this wish just for me -- do it for thousands of women across the country. Through sheer vicarious satisfaction, you'll be giving a gift to us all.
Those of us leading average, garden-variety lives aren't concerned with gracious living. We feel pretty good about ourselves if our paper plates match when we stack them on the counter, buffet-style, for dinner. We're tired of Martha showing us how to make centerpieces from hollyhock dipped in 18-carat gold. We're plumb out of liquid gold, unless it's of the furniture polish variety. We can't whip up Martha's creamy holiday sauce, spiced with turmeric. Most of us can't even say turmeric, let alone figure out what to do with it. OK, Santa, maybe you think I'm being a little harsh. But I'll bet with all the holiday rush, you didn't catch that interview with Martha in la st week's USA Weekend. I'm surprised there was enough room on the page for her ego. We discovered that not only does Martha avoid take-out pizza (she's ordered it only once), she also refuses to eat it cold. When it was pointed out that she could microwave it, she replied, "I don't have a microwave." The reporter, Jeffrey Zaslow, noted that she said this "in a tone that suggests you shouldn't either." Well, lah-dee-dah. Imagine that, Santa! That lovely microwave you brought me years ago, in which I've learned to make complicated dishes like popcorn and hot chocolate, has been declared undesirable by Queen Martha. What's next? The coffee maker? In the article, we learned that Martha has 40 sets of dishes adorning an entire wall in her home. Forty sets. Can you spell "overkill"? And neatly put away, no less. If my dishes make it to the dishwasher, that qualifies as "put away" in my house! Martha tells us she's already making homemade holiday gifts for friends. "Last year, I made amazing silk-lined scarves for everyone," she boasts. Not just scarves, mind you. Amazing scarves. Martha's obviously not shy about giving herself a little pat on the back. In fact, she does so with such frequency that one has to wonder if her back is black and blue. She goes on to tell us that "homemaking is glamour for the twenty-first century," and says her most glamorous friends are "interested in stain removal, how to iron a monogram, and how to fold a towel." I have one piece of advice, Martha: "Get new friends." Glamorous friends fly to Paris on a whim. They drift past the Greek Islands on yachts, sipping champagne from crystal goblets. They step out for the evening in shimmering satin gowns, whisked away by tuxedoed chauffeurs. They do not spend their days pondering the finer art of toilet bowl sanitation. Zaslow notes that Martha was named one of America's 25 most influential people by Time magazine (nosing out Mother Theresa, Madeline Allbright, and Maya Angelou, no doubt). The proof of Martha's influence: After she bought white-fleshed peaches in the supermarket, Martha said, "People saw me buy them. In an instant, they were all gone." I hope Martha never decides to jump off a bridge. (Or maybe, on second thought....) A guest in Martha's home told Zaslow how Martha gets up early to rollerblade with her dogs and to pick fresh wild blackberries for breakfast. This confirms what I've suspected about Martha all along: She's obviously got too much time on her hands. Teaching the dogs to rollerblade. What a show off. If you think the dogs are spoiled, listen to how Martha treats her friends: She gave one friend all 272 books from the Knopf Everyman Library. It didn't cost much. Pocket change, really. Just $5,000. But what price friendship, right? When asked if others should envy her, Martha replies, "Don't envy me. I'm doing this because I'm a natural teacher. You shouldn't envy teachers. You should listen to them." Zaslow must have slit a seam in Martha's ego at this point, because once the hot air came hissing out, it couldn't be held back. "Being an overachiever is nothing despicable. It is only admirable. Never lower your standards," says Martha. And of her Web page on the Internet, Martha declares herself an "important presence" as she graciously helps people organize their sad, tacky little lives. There you have it, Santa. If there was ever someone who deserved a good smack, it's Martha Stewart. But I bet I won't get my gift this year. You probably want to smack her yourself.

Received from Just For Fun.

being a good neighbor..... or not

Last night when I got home....and pulled into the church/my house's drive way I was surprised to see cars and no one at the church. the first car was by the front of the church..the other 5 cars were back in the parking lot all lined up. My driveway comes right off the parking lot and there were 2 cars blocking my way in. I could not get into my driveway and I had a trunk full of groceries. I called the Pastor and asked him if he knew anything about people using our parking lot. He didn't. I knew that my husband, the Deacon, didn't know anything about it. I told the Pastor that I would be calling the police. I called the police, not the 911 number because it was not an emergency and told them what was going on. They sent 2 cars out. I figured out that neighbors who live down a lane across the road were the ones who were using the parking lot but I don't know them. The police said I could have them towed and that I did not need to even try to figure out who owned the vehicles and all 6 could be towed. I told them I didn't want to cause trouble but I don't know those neighbors and I have been told they are aloof and rude to other neighbors and if they could go and ask if the cars belonged to them, I would appreciate it. So, they went and 2 women came and moved their vehicles. When I saw them coming, I went out to move my van into my driveway...and the 2 women kept staring at me..and looking back at me until I got into the house. They didn't apologize for blocking the driveway or anything, just kept staring. I felt like yelling at them "Your so welcome I didn't have them towed" but I didn't...
Ernie or the Pastor will be going over to talk to them at some time to tell them that we do not mind if they want to use the parking lot when they have parties but to please tell us first and to please ask their guests to not block my driveway.
( scroll down for pics...)















the front of hte church...first car was parked by the porch


between the church and the tree is the driveway for me and the church

the parking lot and these trees is where it starts to become my driveway

you can see that it is my driveway and all that other space is parking lot. they were parked blocking my driveway and on this side of the parking lot, all in a row

I was standing where the cars were parked.....even in the dark without a red van parked there, and without the snow ( which was falling as I took the picture) you could tell it was a driveway and people live there and need to use it

and they were facing the garage,,,who blocks garages???

SHE came to visit on Sunday...Ern picked her up...SHE came to church and then SHE asked Ern to drive her home....I think SHE spent 15 minutes alone with us but there were no arguments so that is a very good thing

Christmas pictures

to give the cook a break, we order Chinese food for Christmas Eve...yummo



Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Christmas day

DQ painted a bunch of gifts this year...she painted this pirate ship for Son

Here I am...before shower, got to love the standing up hair....with my painted treasure box

Ernie also got a treasure box

TEEN got a picture frame....

SON bought me an apron with a snowman on it

Son found a shirt for Ernie

DQ got a glass angel

I stole this pencil drawing off TEEN's wall and took it to be framed for her. She drew it last year in art class

TEEN is putting on a necklace Ernie and bought for DQ

the girls are showing off their necklaces....TEENS is a music one...and DQ's says something about Daring to dream