Patty thoughts

Have pity

2011-08-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been so long since I've written. I used to think I had so much to say, now I never have time to say it. Lol. Anyway, here's a good one. I can't even remember now what the issue at hand was the other night.........Annalynn either wanted to stay up really late or get more ice cream or something. Anyway, she was in the tub and I was sitting next to it talking to her. She asked me "Do you want to hear what I learned about in Sunday school today?" Now, I am the one that normally asks this, so I could just SEE it was going somewhere. "Sure" I replied. "What did you learn about today?" She proceeded to tell me the story of the man who owed the king money and the king forgave his debt after the man begged the king to have pity on him........."So you should have pity on me and let me get ice cream" (or whatever it was she wanted...) I tell you. This child should be an attorney some day. But she has her heart set on being an astronaut, marine biologist, pyrotech(now that one really scares me) and a pizza chef. We have this figured out see.........she pays her way thru school by doing the pizza thing and setting off fireworks over the summer. Then she goes to school in the fall. Check out space and if she does not like that, then take to the ocean. I see a cushy retirement life for me. lol.

It Just Gets Better......

2010-08-25T20:06:00.001-07:00

Tonight Day, Annalynn and I went to see some friends. On the way home, Day was in the middle of the two lanes at one point. No cars around, but just not really in one lane or the other. Annalynn pipes up and says,"So Poppy, uhhh which lane are you in?" I just laughed and Day looked at me like 'don't encourage it.' heeheehee. it WAS funny. She's a smart one.......

A Tool Lesson......

2010-08-17T18:22:00.001-07:00

Okay, I put this on facebook, but "IT's TOO LONG." see, that's why I do not like facebook. sometimes I have things to say and they are long. SO, here's the latest "mommy moment." Yesterday I am out in the garage putting some legs on an old library table. you have to put the big bolts thru the legs and tighten them. I did not want to search in the dark recesses of Day's toolbox in the basement, so just grabbed a pair of pliers in the garage. I am sweating and complaining because doing it this way is taking SOOO long. Finally, Annalynn looked over at me and says.........get ready..........

"You should probably use an open ended wrench to tighten those." Yeah, my jaw dropped to the FLOOR and i just stared at her for like 5 seconds. I asked "ANNALYNN, WHERE did you learn this? How do you KNOW that?" she replied, "Handy Manny. He says for bolts, an open ended wrench is what you should use." duh...........did I feel silly.............

Just One Stone

2010-05-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, Annalynn and I were reading the story of David and Goliath. In the account, it is told that when young David went out to conquer this giant, he "chose 5 smooth stones from the stream" and put them in his slingshot bag and went on his way. When he slings one and hits this giant in the forehead and he drops down, I was a little leery of reading on to the part where he draws Goliath's sword out of his sheath and cuts his head off. Well, it did not seem to bother Annalynn a bit. She simply said, "He only needed to take along ONE stone, huh??" OOOHH my gosh.I about peed myself laughing. This is one practical child..............

Annalynn's Future

2010-05-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well, today I told Annalynn we only had 2 weeks of school left, then we are done for summer. She thought she was done with school FOREVER. I said, "No, then comes first grade, second gradet"............and so on and so forth. I said, "then when you graduate, you get a JOB and start working." She looked at me and said, "I don't WANT to get a job. I want to spend time with my family." She's pretty smart, "spend time with my family" sounds a lot different than "live at home til I'm 45, eating your food and using your car........" hahahahahahaha

Little Blue Cornflowers

2010-05-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

The other day, Annalynn and I were down in the flower garden and we saw the little blue cornflowers we'd planted on Lucy's grave. They were just starting to bloom. I told her in a few days, we'd pick them and put them in a little vase to remember Lucy by. These have been very special...about a year ago, or so, Annalynn went to a birthday party....it was at McDonald's. They gave out goodie bags and in the bag was a little seed packet. I figured they were probably old junk seeds and never expected them to come up. Nonetheless, Annalynn wanted to plant them in the garden. Lucy, a Boston foster of ours, had recently passed away and we missed her very much. She was one of our very favorites. Another very sad story, rags to riches, at the door of death brought back to life kind of story....so we planted these little seeds on Lucy's fresh grave. Lo and behold, they grew. And they bloomed. The prettiest little blue flowers, like they were made from tissue paper. And not only that, but those plants stayed green thru the winter. Every time I'd go down there, I'd be amazed that those bushes never hibernated or died. They remained a bit green and alive thru the winter months. Now I did a bit of research on the web and discovered it is an annual, and it was on the endangered list in Europe for some time....Well, today I walked down to the garden. I noticed some rocks had been turned over and not replaced. I then noticed big holes here and there. Someone had been in our garden over the last couple days and had dug up several of our flowers. Including Lucy's cornflowers. This made me very sad. I was so upset, I walked back up to the house. I think i saw maybe one stalk left. I hope they last until we can move from this place ...how can a person go onto someone's property and dig up their plants and carry them off to replant them in their own yard? As I looked around, I noticed several spots where things had been dug up. An entire hosta plant, some bulbs here and there...it just made me sick. So as Annalynn and I talked about this tonight, we said a prayer for that person who did this. All I can do is teach my daughter how to extend forgiveness in a fallen world and continue to teach her morals and how to love people and life. Right now, though, I am having a hard time with this one. We lived near a Christmas tree farm at one time. Every winter, someone would manage to steal a tree or two, and it never ceased to astound me how someone could steal a tree and then go home and put presents under it. There is something just not right about that. Well, tomorrow is another day. We'll see what that holds..........

Touched by an Angel

2010-04-20T19:04:00.001-07:00

Last night, Annalynn started to not feel well. This morning we got up and it was evident to me she REALLY did not feel well. She fell asleep on the couch watching TV. That has only happened once or twice, again when she was sick....she was burning up and talking about things that I felt were almost "out there..." so I took a few steps to bring down the fever, we did not have a working thermometer in the house....so I called and asked Day to get one on his way home...meanwhile, she wanted to go outside to cool off. I put a few blankets down on the porch, and her pillow...well, she fell asleep again. So I left here there, went in and did a couple dishes, came out to check on her, still asleep, and it went on like this for about an hour. Suddenly, she woke up and looked at me and said, "Mommy, when you were in the kitchen, I think an angel touched me." I asked her how it felt,and she said "It felt good. I think I feel better." and her demeanor did a 180. So tonight she was still a bit hot,but not near as bad as earlier. She talked a few times about the angel. amazing.........God is indeed with that child........

Happy December

2009-12-02T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well, my tree is already up. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Anyone left in bloggerville, or did you all desert me to live in Facebook land? Guess I'm old fashioned.

I Finally Did It......

2009-08-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

I took down the small Christmas tree in the bedroom..........and the Christmas decoration and lights in the living room windows. Now for the big tree.............

the BIG BANG theory.......

2009-08-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Check this out: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090808/ap_on_sc/eu_sci_big_bang_machine now, here's where to find the answer..........the Bible. Genesis 1 "In the beginning...." wow. And that didn't cost you a cent. They could have saved a lot of money. I don't care who you are. If God don't want you to smash an atom, by golly, you won't.Dig the deepest hole, get 10,000 physicists together and say their mantras and send good karma and light 10,000 candles. the answer is simple. So simple, a lot of folks miss it. God spoke. The universe was there. Batta bing, bim bam shazam. that's it.

The Choice to Home School...

2009-06-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well. I have been doing a lot of reading, watching, researching....and here are some thoughts (in no particular order...) that have helped me to finally make the decision to try it:

This is from a home school mom's blog that I found on a home school site link:

"This was written by a high school teacher struggling with a severely disabled child in her classroom who is very disruptive. His aide is apparently not on the ball, he gets into fights, screams through classes so other students cannot hear the teacher.
This teacher is quite rightly questioning the whole rationale behind this child being in her class in the first place, as well as the things she is still supposed to do — and not do. For instance, she asks, “Why do I need to give a final exam to a child who is severely disabled and is simply here for “socialization?”"
Ah, the S-word. Immediately, my homeschool-issues radar perks up. A teacher is complaining about a child who is not suited to this particular class and is there for ’socialization’. Interesting.
And it continues: “Why do I have a young person in my room, a room already filled with twenty-five other people, who is here strictly for socialization?”
Well, now. From the criticisms and questions usually aimed at homeschoolers, I had just assumed, you know, that school was indeed where kids are supposed to get socialization.
The reader comments shed some light on this: “… the primary purpose of a core academic classroom is learning, not socialization.”
Ohhhhhhhhhhh…. really? Is that so? Funny, that’s not what they tell the homeschoolers, is it?
“There are plenty of opportunities for socialization in other, non-academic settings that will not disrupt instruction and handicap the general education learners.”
Ya know, I think the homeschoolers have been saying this all along…"

Another friend of mine is a teacher of elementary students. She was telling me about a child that is in her class that should not be. And due to red tape and bureaucracy, she was basically forced to deal with it. He was extremely disruptive, screaming at her and the other kids, horrible stuff and the fact that she had to endure this and had no say about him being in the class.......plus the fact that every time he had a lengthy episode, all the other kids had to sit thru this and watch, to me is not right.

A little girl I know that spent almost 2 years in a Christian daycare only to enter public kindergarten and upon asking a question about Jesus, or maybe it was about praying...I was not in the room when the actual conversation took place, was told by a teacher "we don't talk about Jesus here." what kind of signal does THAT send?

Driving past the school where Annalynn would have had to go time and time again to see 2 or 3 little kids waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy out on the edge of the property while the 2 teachers or playground monitors, whatever they were, gabbed up by the school. several times........

People have used the socialization argument. I agree with the first mom. School is for learning. Socializing can happen in many many other places: when Annalynn goes with me to the store and talks to the cashier, when we go to the post office to see "Mr. Dave," when she goes to play with her cousins who have also been home schooled and are wonderful well adjusted socialized moral kids. GREAT kids. I just don't buy it. I have been reading two very good books: Home Grown Kids and The Educated Child. very very good. have put into words what I've had a hard time verbalizing.

One friend told me "I feel like school got me ready for life." yes, 50 years ago when you were in elementary, it was much different than it was today. We did not have security back then. Cops at the door checking back packs were not the norm........We prayed for our meals. We had moms that were home when we got home. We had to do chores and homework. Things were much different. Now that we've taken God out of the classroom, along with about every moral teaching, look at where school has gone. down hill. I am not ready for that. I know some do not agree with my stance on not making a 5 year old have to learn to stand alone and work it out on her own AT FIVE YEARS OLD..........but that is where I am. I am doing what I feel is best for my child. We will work on building morals, character, a deep love and respect for and understanding of Jesus, and then we will see where we are at in another year or two.

I am excited about it. I have a lot of fun things and field trips planned, a great challenging curriculum picked out.....we will see how it goes and let the outcome speak for itself.

Okay Okay...........

2009-05-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

So nobody's going to touch THAT one with a 10 foot pole. I get it. So a new blog is coming soon. We are home schooling Annalynn for kindergarten and I am excited about it. So don't even try to talk me out of it. Haha. Check back soon.

"A Time of Change"

2009-04-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

SOOOO..............how's that CHANGE workin' out for everyone???????????????

Life in the Wilderness

2009-03-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have been reading thru the book of Judges recently. Not incredibly fun reading and at times very depressing. But I had a thought today. Recently, Day and I had a conversation about why God would send entire armies into cities to posses them and instruct the men to "...kill everyone, including the women and children." I have read this before but it bothered me this time. And as we talked, he reminded me of the countries in the middle east (hope I have the region right...never took geography...) that are at war to this day due to the fact that Abraham did not believe God when He told him He would give him a child with his barren wife. Instead she sent her maid to be his wife for the night to have a child, then got mad at her when she became pregnant. go figure. And Abraham listened. Do you think he was just honoring his wife or was there a little something more in it for him??? That's a whole other blog...anyway...so we have countries at war because of a single act of disobedience a couple thousand years ago. And when the children of Israel were given lands to posses, God specifically told them to go in and wipe the folks out and posses the lands. Today I was reading the account of them dividing up the lands and some went in and wiped them out and some went in and lived peacefully with them. That sounds all fine and peachy except when it came to the part that said "Their gods will be a snare to you and your downfall..." because again, they did not listen. So why do we think we have all these "gods" that are a hindrance to the Christian world? How often have we, or shall I speak in first person so as not to offend anyone, known what we need to do and we do not do it? Then when we reap what we have sown, we cry out to God to SAVE US. How many times will it take? When will I finally learn the lesson? As I read thru the old testament when I was first saved, I was just dumbstruck by how many times God performed miracles and yet the Israelites turned their backs on God OVER and OVER and OVER. It is almost tiring reading it. But how many times have I done the same thing? I have seen miracles. I mean flesh closing over a wound on a dog, Day's nephew scheduled for surgery and leg gets healed, no money in the bank and a check comes that day unexpectedly kind of miracles. Yet how many times do I turn my back on an opportunity to witness? I have let the scrutinizing, critical, poking fun at me fingers of so many others, sometimes unsaved family and friends, just drain my "first love" for Jesus. I have been in a tough spot for a few years now, battling inside myself. It has taken a toll on my marriage and life in general. I tend to absorb too much of the people I'm sometimes around and the negative stuff I see depresses me. Not too long ago I sent out an email to several family and friends asking specific questions about my personality. I received several replies (thank you to all that helped with that "project..") and I collected them all and read thru them a few times and did some soul searching. I started weekly counseling several months ago. I had to take a step back and look at myself very objectively and ask one question that I feel every so often each of us should ask ourselves: "Is it 'everybody else' or could it be ME???" I asked that. And you know what I realized? There was a very slight chance that I WAS THE ONE that needed to change. When I sit and watch those around me sometimes, it is very obvious to see where the problem lies. And it's so many times NOT 'everyone else.' The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for FORTY YEARS!!!! 40!!! I do not want to wander any longer. So I am getting down to business. I am in a better place mentally, spiritually and emotionally than I have been in years. I do not want to live and die in the wilderness. I have spent too many days fretting about things that don't work, money that is not there, people that piss me off, and time that I've wasted. Does anyone want to join me in getting out of the wilderness and starting to live each day as the gift from God that it is? Think about it. Tomorrow is promised to no man. or woman. or mother. or friend, etc.....So stop complaining, stop blaming everyone else and find something to be happy about today. You are married to the person you are married to. Start talking nice. Start helping people instead of bitching about things that don't work out for you. Sit down and write a letter or send a card to someone that you know can use a smile. Hug your kid and forget the laundry for today. Be happy for what you have and the people in your life. They might not be there tomorrow. Get yer ass out of the wilderness and LIVE!!!

My heart is heavy.....

2009-02-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

I had Raymond put down Friday and my heart really hurts. He was a special little guy. He was a foster for a little over a year before we got to adopt him as our own. Every holiday would roll by and Day would ask me what I wanted. I'd tell him "Raymond" or I'd say "It's in the kitchen, you don't even gotta wrap it..." well, he finally was mine. In July, he started losing fur. Went to the vet. Got some meds. It got worse, and this went on for some time. Although he was looking pretty ragged, his spunky sweet little disposition was still alive. So I had to try and help him. Bloodwork, a bone marrow test for cancer, Cushings test, skin scrape, everything we did came back negative or inconclusive. Several meds, special shampoo, ointment, lotion, supplements, special food and even water. I miss my little guy so much. I sit here tonight at my computer and still cry. There are those that think I'm crazy or wasting my time with these dogs. oh well. They are a joy in my life and they fulfill something in me. There is a special bond I share with my dogs. Tonight, I really miss this one. See you at the bridge Raymond. I love you old boy. I miss you something fierce.

Giving Gifts, Getting Gifts...

2008-12-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

My sweet little Annalynn made pine cone ornaments for her teachers and a couple other adults at her school.... We put glue on the edges of the pine cones, she drizzled white sparkly glitter on them and then after they dried, we tied little ribbon to them so they could be hung on trees. Then she very carefully chose which teacher got which ornament. She selected the bag each was to go into, and picked out the tags and bows. We put them all in a box to be delivered to her teachers. The big day came to take them to school.....The first lady she gave one to was the name tag lady out front. And the first thing the lady said to her was, "ANNALYNN! You shouldn't have got me a present!" The look on Annalynn's face was almost heartbreaking. Her eyes got a bit big, she kind of walked away and I quickly tried to smooth it over, don't even remember what I said. I don't think she remembered it after the day was over... but when she gave the next bag to one of her actual teachers inside, thankfully Miss Dianne said "Oh Annalynn! For ME??? How nice of you. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!" her other teachers followed suit. I was so relieved. So here is my deal: whether it be Christmas, Hannukah, your Birthday, a housewarming gift, anniversary gift, Easter present, or whatever..........just say THANK YOU. When someone gives us a gift, it is usually because they wanted to. They love you, like you or at least want to express some positive emotion towards you. I have had times in my life at Christmas where someone said this to me and I have never been brave enough to snatch it back and say "Okay, I'll keep it. I picked it out and I really like it!" We have to get over the feeling of not deserving something or the feeling of guilt that someone spent money on us that we wish they would not have. It has taken me so long to learn to receive. I've had times in my life where I had nothing and could not give a gift that I wish I could have. I've also had times in my life where I've been blessed to be able to give a gift. And I do it because I choose to. Giving is always easier than getting. Let's all take a lesson from this child and learn to be like kids again. Tear the paper off and laugh or cry or hug the one who gave it to you...........whatever. But don't ever ever say "You shouldn't have." Because it's too late. They already did. Have a Merry Christmas. Let's be kids again

A lovely video

2008-11-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

Yep. I'm on the soap box again. This is just what I do. I care about the dogs. I want to educate folks. Stop buying your fish food here, stop going in to pet the poor puppies. The only thing that will make so many little lives better is to shut this place down. It's the single largest chain of pet stores that feeds the millers. Here's a link to a great video. And yes, it's true.I don't care what the nice man tells you.

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/US_2008_petland?qp_source=gabhbt

The Great Scotch Tape Caper

2008-11-11T23:13:00.000-08:00

Well, earlier today as I was doing laundry, I went thru the laundry room door and something caught my eye. It was a piece of tape, about 2 or 3 inches long, and part of it had a bunch of CAT HAIR on it. I did not even ask. I think Buster got a wax job or something similar. Oh well, you know what they say, "It's just hair.....it will grow back." poor cat...........

Pine Squirrels and Pink Eye

2008-11-10T02:14:00.001-08:00

Well, it was an interesting night tonight. Annalynn has been having this light green discharge from her eyes and ever since the kids at school have been sick,so has she. This has been going on a month now. So we're not going back to school until she is absolutely 100% healthy. Dr. McGuckin had told me about an eye drop to get for Pink Eye as it sounded to him like this is what she has now on top of a cold and the squirts. This child has been sick more this month than she has in her whole life. It's hard when it seems there is just nothing you can do. So tonight she woke up with her eyes crusted shut. For a 4 year old, that is scary. So I got the warm wash cloth out and we worked on it awhile as she laid in my bed. On one of my trips to the bathroom, I thought I saw something run thru the hall, and it was NOT Buster. so I told Day and he got up and sure enough, there in the middle of the office was a pine squirrel. WHAT THE HECK DO YOU DO????? Shoot it? We don't have a gun......Beat it with a broom? Nope, they're too fast for that. So he told me to go into the bedroom and stay. And I gladly did as I worked on getting Annalynn's eyes open. After several minutes of running up and down the stairs and cussing, Day asked me to come into her room. Glad she was not in there, because as I jumped up on the bed to help him look for the thing, it ran across the bed and right into the live trap sitting in the door way. As this bastard proceeded to munch on the cheese Day put in there, we realize this thing is not big enough to set the trap off. So Day reaches over with the broom to hit the release lever. BAM. And out that little bugger went, right thru the wire. Obviously they can squeeze thru very little holes. off Day goes down the stairs to practice his vocabulary again. Finally the thing ran outside, as Day had propped the door open in hopes the thing would set his sights on freedom. So then I got in the car to go to Walmart for the eye drops. I get home and now have to wake her up again to work on the crust and get the drops in. Day practically had to employ a wrestling move so I could get the drops in. Why am I NOT looking forward to tomorrow???

The Spider

2008-08-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

Okay. There has been this spider just outside my back door for a couple weeks now. The best time to see him is at night when I flip the back light on to let the dogs out for the 27th time. During the day, the web is normally gone, or just very ripped up. In the early evening, he starts his daunting task of detaching the old parts and spinning and attaching new. And he's very fascinating to watch. (or she...for as much work as this thing does, it HAS to be a female...) So she attaches each strand and some nights there is like a quarter or an eighth inch between the little strands and some nights you'd think she's spinning for the pope, president and queen all at once......unbelievable. Every day it's the same thing. Sometimes a big moth will fly into it and damage part of it, but then is when she gets her reward for making it so large and intricate. Well, today, as it started to get dark, I opened the door and she was just sitting there........web all askew and parts hanging. I thought "wow. you have done so well and every day your web is so beautiful. what happened today???" then it dawned on me. Maybe she was just taking a break today. maybe she just wanted to sit and relax and not have to work herself nuts. really spoke to me. I go from strand to strand every day and some days I feel like things will just never be done. So I lit a little campfire for Annalynn and I to sit and watch tonight before she went to bed. We went in the house when it was done burning. Later tonight, as I went to let one of the dogs out, I looked over and there was this big beautiful web. one of the prettiest I've seen yet. Later still, as I was cleaning house, I opened the door to toss an empty water bottle into the recycle bin. the bin was a bit closer to the back door than normal and without thinking I just whipped that sucker over the railing. and in the nanosecond it left my hand I thought, "OH NO!!!" it ripped right through part of her freshly woven web. I felt horrible. now, mind you, I have NEVER liked spiders. But Annalynn is just fascinated with them, so I don't kill too many any more. If she sees one on the floor, she will put her little hand down and let it crawl on her and set it free in the basement or outside. So I guess when some careless dumb a$$ throws a big water bottle at my freshly woven design of life, I have to choose to be forgiving as well and just keep working. Slowly and steadily. the one who really matters sees the beauty of what I have created.

The Dog Trainer is Coming!

2008-07-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Been busy with dogs and Annalynn and Day's new crazy schedule at the mill. September 5-7, we are having the first Annual Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue picnic/training event. Team Indiana is hosting this year, so I am busy gearing up for that. Anyone reading this blog, I wondered if you could do me a favor. If you know someone that owns a business that might like to donate something for our silent auction, can you send them my email address or phone number? We are trying to raise money for our medical needs dogs and we are doing a silent auction with some really great stuff. If you have a dog and would like to come to the training, you can go to www.whosthedog.net and go to "schedule" and download the registration form. The "dog seats" will go quickly, so if you want to bring your dog, send it in to me. If you want to come without a dog, that is fine too. Also, if you want to make a little road trip up to Michigan City to the Holiday Inn where the training will be held, you can take a peek at what we have and enter a bid. You do not need to be present Sunday when winners are announced. I will contact you to collect money and get you your prize. Also, if you'd like to put in a bid, but cannot attend,I can send you a list of what we have and enter a bid for you. A little newspaper called "The Local" is running a story on our rescue and myself and my dogs will be featured. I'll try and remember to post a link to the article if it is available online. Thanks much. pat

OH my..

2008-05-17T23:06:00.001-07:00

A month and a half and no posts. Sorry. Does anyone really care anyway? haha. I have 2 new fosters in, up to 6 now. Going in a week and a half to Purdue with Reggie for a little surgery before the big one. Taking a friend from the rescue and Annaynn. Going to stay overnight and he has surgery the next morning and then hopefully he can come home that same day. Been busy, Annalynn gets cuter and cuter, Day likes his new job, very tired though.......hard to get up at 4:30. Hope to post soon.

Got a dollar?

2008-03-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I am fostering a dog we are trying to raise money for to get cataract surgery so he can see again. His name is Reggie. If you want to check him out, go to www.midwestbtrescue.org and look under the Indiana dogs. We have many other medical needs dogs and are doing a raffle to raise money. Anything we make above the cost of his surgery will go to the next dog in line for a surgery. We are making up some gift baskets, and they will contain a variety of things. I don't have the complete list yet, as people are still sending things to put in them and we have not received all the donations yet from stores and food places. But there will be a nice variety in each basket and each will be valued at $50 or more. We will be making up 3 baskets for sure, and possibly 5. So far we have donations from Bath and Body, Mary Kay, McDonalds, Home Depot, Red Lobster, dog supplies, coloring books and crayons for kids...we are trying to make them "family friendly." If you would like a ticket or tickets, they are a dollar each or 6 entries for $5. Email me privately and let me know how many you'd like. I can get them to you in person or via mail. Checks would need to be made out to MWBTR. Thanks so much.

Mill Dogs

2008-03-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.anewstartonlife.com/puppymill.htm

Cut and paste this into your browser for a tribute to mill dogs. I was at a Meet and Greet the other day and a gal in talking to me said, " I got a puppy from Petland, but she had papers so I know she's not a mill dog." I wanted to say "HELLO, yes she is honey." but she was a worker at the place we had our set up at and I don't need to make flack and get us kicked out. Listen to me: IF YOU BUY A DOG FROM A PET STORE, YOU ARE GETTING A PUPPY MILL DOG. And for those that try to "rescue" a dog by buying it from a pet store for every dog you purchase to "save" you are sending a hundred more through. Yes. That is true. Dogs are taken away from the mothers too soon, the littler they are the more "marketable" they are. they lose important social lessons that they get from the mother and also they usually end up with health problems. How to help this? Write Pet Land or any other store that sells dogs a letter. Ask them to stop. And make sure you do NOT ever buy food or anything from a store that sells dogs. And let them know you will not give them your dog food business until they stop selling. And tell this to everyone you know.

Gentle Instruction

2008-03-10T14:05:00.001-07:00

I was reading thru a Bible study I have been working on for some time now, and something I read today really hit me. (pardon the pun...) It said, "God's teachers are not called to wield the Word of God like a baseball bat. The Sword of the Spirit is to injure Satan, not the body of Christ." Too many times, I have seen the church hurt each other while swinging that bat around. Folks, we've been popping each other upside the head for too long. The study today dealt with gentle instruction. Also talked about the difference between preaching and teaching. Preaching is for the lost, teaching is for the body of believers. Gently instructing and then doing what we learn we're supposed to be doing. Just some food for thought...

Rally for Reggie

2008-03-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I am fostering a little BT named Reggie. Reggie was found in Kokomo wandering the streets in the cold by a city worker and taken to the shelter.They called us and turned him over as unadoptable. He is only about 5 years old and has cataracts. It will only be a matter of time before little Reggie can no longer see. His vision is limited now. One of the other Indiana Coordinators and I are putting together some gift baskets to raffle off to raise money for Reggie's cataract surgery. We need about $2700 and we already have about $600 in donations for him. If you, or anyone you know, would be able to donate some items for us to put in the baskets we will raffle off, please let me know via direct email, mkpatty @ comcast.net (no spaces of course) and I will get it from you. It can be gift cards to Pet Supplies Plus or PetSmart, CDs, DVDs, games, pet items such as sweaters, collars, chew bones, etc....anything at all. We are trying to put together "family style" baskets, as not all that will buy raffle tickets have pets. If you can donate anything to our baskets, or just want to make a donation for Reggie's surgery, please let me know and I'll email you privately and tell you how to do that. If I can get Day to help me post a pic, I'll put one up of Reggie. He is the sweetest boy. BTs live a long time, so we feel Reggie is young enough that if we can get his sight back before we adopt him out, that would be wonderful for him to see so he stops running into walls and things. Thanks so much for supporting this crazy dog lady and her mutts.

Controversial Maybe?

2008-02-18T20:03:00.001-08:00

Okay, I am not one for getting into "race" stuff or political stuff or consipracy theories. I do not claim to know much about trade, importing, safety guidelines, etc.....HOWEVER, I am noticing a lot of stuff in the news with China that is making me wonder....First the pet food thing.........how in the world could someone do that...but then, hey, THEY EAT THEIR DOGS.......Why the hell should they care about mine??? Then the whole toy thing. I am finally flipping things over that I look at in the store to see where it's made....Now when I see "Made in China" I usually put it back down. I'd rather spend a few dollars more and feel a little better about what's in it. Now the "illegal mine disguised as a wild boar farm..." explosion. How long will people keep turning their heads and saying "oh well, so what...." I am starting to want to keep up on world events a bit more.......People complain about the US not having enough jobs, and how they want it "made in the US." But then they bitch and moan when they have to pay more for things made here. Well, do you want cheap crap or do you want to support our workers? I mean, if you can buy a big bottle of Vitamin C for $2.99 and "get one free" don't you think it might be JUNK??? The store makes money, the middleman that gets it to the store makes money, and the foreigners (can't believe I am saying this...) that MADE it with CHEAP crap ingredients also made money. SO, if those hundred tablets are only really worth 25cents, don't we think there is something WRONG here?????? Waste less, spend a little more on better stuff and look where it's made. Sorry, I'm rambling. This probably doesn't even make sense. Like I said, I don't claim to be a politically educated person.But this is really starting to make me think.

Buster Gets a Trim

2008-02-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it was inevitable. I have heard many "scissors horror stories" from many moms. I was upstairs yesterday, and Annalynn was downstairs, playing quietly...or so I thought........As I came down the stairs, she turns to me, with her little green scissors in her hand, and just gave me "this look." I asked, "HONEY, what are you DOING?" She was holding one of her little pet shop kitties, that used to have hair, and now the hair was on the floor. She replied, "I was giving my kitty a hair cut." Well, I walk over and look at the floor, and there's a lot more hair, and it does NOT feel like Littlest Pet Shop hair. This black, gray and white hair is.........real. So I looked down at it and I asked, "What's THAT?" She says, "That's just Buster's hair." So, I went to find Buster. Buster the cat now has a couple little bald spots on his back. And a little "trimmin" on one side. Thank you JESUS it was not Buster's EAR.....or TAIL. So I did not discipline her as we have never discussed what we can and can't cut. I first had to send her upstairs while I composed myself, because I was laughing to my self so hard. Then I called her back down and we sat down and had "the scissors talk." Let's hope for the best. Meanwhile, Buster might be starting a new fad in the kitty haircut world................

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs....

2008-01-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

I have 8 dogs in my house right now, and as soon as I get some work done that I am way behind on, I will post. Life has been interesting lately.

The great Harry Potter debate

2007-12-19T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I have had several people ask me about this. My opinion is usually looked at as that "crazy religious lady and her closed mind." Today, something really interesting happened, so I guess the choice has been made. We have an older video in our cabinet called "Cats and Dogs." Annalynn has never seen it. I have watched it once or twice. It's cute. It was given to me by my sis I think. Anyway, it's been forever since I have watched it. Annalynn decided she wanted to see it. So I put it on and left the room. Well, the "sneak peeks" were on before the movie. I happened to walk in as one of the Harry Potter movie previews was on. Annalynn, WITHOUT ANY HELP FROM ME, OR WEIRD LOOKS OR COMMENTS, was VERY disturbed. She said "I don't like this mommy, this is not a nice show." And although I fast forwarded it and told her that was just a sneak peek from another movie, and again did not make a big deal out of it, she insisted I take the tape out and now she will have nothing to do with it. She has always been very sensitive to spiritual things. The other night, Day woke up in the middle of the night from a very horrible dream. I woke at the same time, also from having a horrible nightmare. Annalynn had chosen to sleep with us this particular night. She has been sleeping in her own bed for some time now, but occasionally crawls in with us. So the next night, I asked her where she wanted to sleep. She said "my room mommy. Your room has scary things in there." She has never said this before. So there was something causing us to both have nightmares. That little girl picked up on it, I am convinced. SO, the argument in THIS house is settled. NO HARRY POTTER and I am JUST FINE with that. Amen.

Got dogs?

2007-12-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

I do. Since my old Barky Sparky passed, I have gotten 2 new fosters. Again, old dogs that were strays, wandering around in the cold. Raymond is estimated at 10 years old. Bald butt, ugly screw tail that just wiggles and wiggles because he is SO happy. Eyes getting cloudy, hearing not too incredible...had a dental done while they were removing a large growth from his gumline and they removed 6 bad teeth. One had been fractured and was busted up and part of it sticking out sideways thru his gum. So recently he also had a growth removed from his back kneecap and has about a 3-4 inch incision site that had stitches and was in a full leg cast so he would not bend it til it healed. The first time I carried him down the steps to potty, he looked up at me like "what do I do now??" His back legs are not very strong, he never "sits" and so I'd pat him on the butt and point to the ground and I'd hold his good leg steady while lifting the casted leg and he'd pee. He's a very smart boy. His stitches are out now and he's doing well. He will probably be a permanent foster as he needs to be let out to pee about every 45 minutes. Sometimes he can go an hour, sometimes 15 minutes.

Then there is Miss Daisy. Crazy Daisy I've been calling her. Another stray. Used for breeding you can tell. Those little boobs hang low. She had a huge growth on her back leg that would swing like a bag full of jelly. Also had a huge mammary tumor removed, about 2 inches by 1 inch by 1 inch. We are waiting on biopsies of those before looking to place her in a home. She also had a knot on top of her head removed that every time she bumped it, it would bleed. She also had a dental and some teeth removed. Some had pus around them. She is VERY feisty now that she is feeling better. She would make a WONDERFUL companion for someone. She is estimated at 8 years old.

Annalynn at 3 1/2 knows her states and continues to impress us with her natural gift of comedy. Some of the stuff she comes up with is just unreal. She is getting very tall and her "thing" lately is going with me to the movie store and picking out her own kids movies. The kids movies are free, so this helps and is a lot of fun for her. She "trains" her stuffed animals. She will come to me and ask for a leash so she can "do training." She will put a collar and leash on her froggy or kittie and tell them to "heel..............good heel." "Stay.........down...........good down." Then she will put her "pet" in one of the kennels and say "now you stay there." She will come and tell me the "kitty is resting for awhile." And then she'll go play for awhile and go back and get the kitty out.

Day made the teaser DVD for his show he's been creating. It is incredible. Now we're just working on securing an agent to then make a half hour show to send to a producer. I'm very proud of him. More as the days go by.....it's hard to do what I do for the rescue, take care of 5 dogs and a little girl and have time for anything else. Merry Christmas if I don't blog before then...........

I will be back

2007-12-02T17:36:00.001-08:00

shortly. Almost forgot I had a blog. haha. I'll be back very soon to post and catch ya'll up on my incredible life.

Barky Sparky

2007-09-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry. I have not felt much like posting. I lost my senior foster due to tumors we could not stop from growing in one of his back feet. They amputated 2 toes, it came back and within a week and a half, the foot was splitting. He was so feisty and lively everywhere else and this just took him down. With Obie, I knew it was time. With Barky, I felt like he had lots of life left yet and this just robbed him. So I have been feeling a little crappy lately. I'll be back some day.

A New Day

2007-07-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so a friend of mine got me this little book for my birthday........back in APRIL. It is called "Life Lessons for Busy Moms." I brought it home from our lunch date and it landed in a spot in the living room. Weeks would go by and I'd look over at it and laugh "I'm even too busy to sit and read a book about busy moms..." Well, a month ago, I sat down and read the little "poem" just inside the cover. I cried and cried and cried. Yep, this is right where I am......Then a couple days ago, I sat and read the first little chapter. They are very short and have a few questions to ask yourself at the end. And a few suggestions as to how to apply it to your life. I like that,practical, just give me a list of 4 things......and I did it. And one of the things I decided to do has been REVOLUTIONARY for me. I know it's only been a couple days, but you know how you "discover" something and it's an IMMEDIATE feeling of "oh yeah, I KNOW this is gonna work........" Well, and it's so simple and some of you have probably told me this....but sometimes you gotta see something in just a certain way...It talked about focusing on the accomplishments, even if they're just very small, instead of focusing on what you DON'T get done or how you are not a "good enough" mom...So I have started doing that. And to make it even easier to implement, I have set my goals the lowest I've ever set them in my adult life........yesterday, all I wanted to do was pick up the stuff in one small room. That was it.......my goal for the day.......and I did it.......and instead of falling into temptation of looking around at the end of the day and saying "wow, look at all the stuff I didn't get done AGAIN" I was able to say "Well, I did exactly what I wanted to do today." wow. And I know I'm trying to "fool" myself in a way.......but I think this is where I need to be for now. It is helping tremendously. This morning, that room was clean and I just sat down and watched Annalynn play and instead of getting upset when she started "bugging" me as I was trying to read something, I told her, "Honey, go get a book and I'll read to you." And I put my little article down and read her the book and she was happy and went to play some more and I finished reading my article. I have been trying for so long to cram too much into a day and get frustrated when it never works out........well, I'm done with that....Thanks God for a timely gift. Even though I didn't pick it up for 3 months, it hit me right when I needed it.

Best Friends

2007-07-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hello. Been pretty busy with cakes, dogs, Annalynn, etc....anyway, learning a lot. A lot I don't like. Here is something to check out. www.bestfriends.org pass on the info to everyone you know. Thanks for reading.

Wow. I'm back.

2007-06-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Okay. I have been gone awhile. Wedding cakes, poopy dog crates, running here running there. I have a few minutes to sit down and write. Been having computer problems again. So I lost all my "favorites" and my blog was listed among them. Today I'm reading someone else's and I slapped myself on the forehead and went "HEY. I HAVE A BLOG. I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!!!!!!!!" Can you say "Duuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh........." So here's a quick note to catch you up on my life. Not that anyone cares, but that's what blogs are for. 2am reading material when you can't sleep, right??? Annalynn is not driving me nuts with naptime any more. I took some advice from y'all. (Isn't that great when folks actually TAKE your advice...) She has a choice now every day. She can take a "schnoozie" upstairs with me. (she falls asleep, I leave.......) or she can watch a show that is relaxing (baby einsteins are good for this...) but the rule is that she HAS TO STAY ON THE COUCH. If she gets OFF the couch, she goes up for a nap. And it's working. So if it's a day where she really doesn't need a nap, at least I have a half hour or hour to get some stuff done that I don't need help with. If she's tired, guess what, she falls asleep anyway. She thinks it's fun to sleep on the couch. so that's all good. She is pooping on the potty fairly often and peeing on the potty a lot. And not always asking for a sticker each time either. She even went up one day when I was washing dishes, put her potty seat on the big potty, got on it, POOPED and flushed it. the she hollered down the stairs "I POOPED ON THE POTTY." I wondered if she was just saying that to get the prize, but looked at that butt and saw "evidence" that she indeed pooped. SO, the first 3 poops cost us $75.00 but hey, it's worth it....right???????????? (Littlest Pet Shop Get Better Center, biggest littlest playhouse and the tricks and talents show stage. I WAS DESPERATE. haha. Day's show is coming along, some big developments lately, I have 3 fosters right now. Adopted out #2 on Memorial Day. Annalynn and I both cried. Guess that's what we'll do when each one leaves. If you want to see who I have, go to www.midwestbtrescue.org and I have Sparky 2, Manny and Kelsie the blind girl. Got a wedding cake to do this weekend, cakes the next 2 or 3 weeks, so it might be awhile before I can post again. Thanks for stopping by. We'll leave the light on for you...........

What in the Sam H.......

2007-05-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Okay. My little girl is going thru some weird sleep thing. One night, she didn't go to sleep til 2:00 A.M.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next night was 10. I have tried it all, don't even go there................then the other day we're eating lunch. she starts choking. I've been thru that once before. It is scary. can't breathe, can't swallow, talk, I tell her to open her mouth big and let mommy help her........she opens her mouth and it's a big piece of tough chicken I didn't cut small enough....she cries huge tears and I know her throat had to hurt, because I was diggin in there. We go upstairs later on to take a nap............I lay down with her, read a few stories and after a half hour, decide to go to my computer and just be close by to make sure she goes to sleep. I hear this horrible shriek and run in to see her practically HANGING by her little wrist that has the blind cords wrapped around it several times. I lifted her up and am trying to get these suckers off, and I can hardly unwind them, they are so tangled up and tight. She was screaming. It was awful. I don't know how she even reached them. When the blind is down, which it was, they are just inches from the top of the window. We have old windows that are pretty tall. She had to have been on tiptoes on the edge of the bed and pracically jumped to reach them. that was the beginning of the end. Then she could not move her arm, her hand was a little blue and had a bad red mark on it. It's better today and she could move her fingers. tonight it seems she is pretty much back to normal. Sunday night, a big piece of cement blew off our chimney and landed RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DRIVERS SIDE WINDSHIELD. It seems every day is some small, or rather not so small, crisis. People tell me "stop hovering, just put her down and leave..." this is why I DON'T. I KNOW my child right now and the cognitive functions are speeding along...........so during these stages I DON'T just let her run off and see what happens. a week or so ago, the blind cord was around her NECK in a different room. So was a cute beaded necklace. around the neck and a doorknob. So the necklaces have been packed away and the blind cords are cut. wow. has anyone else been thru stuff like this? I almost feel like we are under an attack.

Pet Fair - Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue

2007-04-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 5, there is going to be a really neat Pet Fair at the Porter County Expo Center in Valpo. Lots of booths, cool things to buy, I will be there with the Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue booth. There is no fee for us to be there, which really helps us, all they ask us to do is provide something for the raffle table. So I am donating a chocolate cake with our logo on it. So if anyone wants to buy a few raffle tickets, you might win a cake for a buck or two!!! come on out and see the doggies. It will be lots of fun. then next Saturday, May 12th, I will be at Pet Supplies Plus again for a Meet and Greet. If you can't make it out one week, come the next and check out some of the cutest dogs you will ever meet. Hope to see you there. Please forward this to all your dog lover friends so we can raise some support for the homeless animals. thanks a bunch.

Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue

2007-04-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

Come and see us at the Pet Supplies Plus on St. Rd. 2 in Valparaiso on Saturday April 14th from 11am to 4 pm. We will have some of our dogs there, and lots of info on how you can help out. We do NOT do on the spot adoptions, but will have adoption applications you can fill out. Look forward to seeing you !

How Could You?

2007-03-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Not trying to offend anyone, but now that I work in a rescue, I see and read more about this and am part of rescuing dogs from shelters. I have been trying to think of how to put it, but this says it pretty well. If you think this might be offensive to you, please don't read it.

HOW COULD YOU?
By Jim Willis, 2001

When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics
and made you laugh. You called me your child, and
despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of
murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend.

Whenever I was ‘bad’, you’d shake your finger at me
and ask “How could you? ” – but then you’d relent and
roll me over for a belly rub. My housebreaking took a
little longer than expected, because you were terribly
busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those
nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your
confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that
life could not be anymore perfect. We went for long
walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice
cream ( I only got the cone because “ice cream is bad
for dogs”, you said), and I took long naps in the sun
waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on
your career, and more time searching for a human mate.
I waited patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks
and disappointments, never chided you about bad
decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings,
and when you fell in love. She, now your wife is not a
‘dog person’ – still I welcomed her into our home,
tried to show her affection and obeyed her. I was
happy because you were happy. Then the human babies
came along and I shared your excitement. I was
fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I
wanted to mother them too. Only she and you worried
that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time
banished to another room, or to a dog crate.

Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a
‘prisoner of love’. As they began to grow, I became
their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled
themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my
eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my
nose. I loved everything about them and their touch –
because your touch was now so infrequent – and I would
defend them with my life if need be. I would sneak
into their beds and listen to their worries and secret
dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your
car in the driveway.

There had been a time, when others asked if you had a
dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet
and told them stories about me. These past few years,
you just answered “yes” and changed the subject. I had
gone from being ‘your dog’ to ‘just a dog’, and you
resented every expenditure on my behalf.

Now, you have a new career opportunity in another
city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment
that does not allow pets. You’ve made the right
decision for your ‘family’, but there was a time when
I was your only family. I was excited about the car
ride until we arrived at the animal shelter.

It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness.
You filled out the paperwork and said “I know you will
find a good home for her.” They shrugged and gave you
a pained look. They understand the realities facing a
middle-aged dog, even one with ‘papers’. You had to
pry your son’s fingers loose from my collar as he
screamed “No Daddy! Please don’t let them take my
dog!” And I worried for him, and what lessons you had
just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about
love and responsibility, and about respect for all
life.

You gave me a goodbye pat on the head, avoided my
eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and lead
with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have
one too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you
probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and
made no attempt to find me another good home. They
shook their heads and asked, “How could you?”

They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as
their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course,
but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever
anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it
was you, that you had changed your mind – that this
was all a bad dream…. Or I hoped it would at least be
someone who cared, anyone who might save me.

When I realised I could not compete with the
frolicking for attention happy puppies, oblivious to
their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and
waited.

I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of
the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a
separate room. A blissfully, quiet room. She placed me
on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to
worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to
come, but there was also a sense of relief. The
prisoner of love had run out of days.

As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The
burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I
know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She
gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear
ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way
I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly
slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the
sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I
lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and
murmured “How could you?”

Perhaps because she understood my dog speak she said
“I’m so sorry”. She hugged me, and hurriedly explained
it was her job to make sure I went to a better place,
where I couldn’t be ignored or abused or abandoned, or
to have to fend for myself – a place of love and light
so very different from this earthly place.

And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to
her with a thump of my tail that my “How could you?”
was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My
Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of
you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your
Life continue to show you so much loyalty.

A note from the Author:

If “How Could You?” brought tears to your eyes as you
read it, as it did to mine as I wrote it, it is
because it is the composite story of the millions of
formerly ‘owned’ pets who die each year in American
and Canadian animal shelters. Anyone is welcome to
distribute this essay for a non commercial purpose, as
long as it is properly attributed with the copyright
notice.

Remember….. They love UNCONDITIONALLY, if you give
them LOVE.

Copyrights Jim Willis for non commercial distribution

__._,_.___

I'll be back soon

2007-03-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have been crazy busy lately.This weekend we had one of Annalynn's birthday parties Friday night, I was at a dog training camp all day Saturday and headed back tomorrow. When I get home, I'll have about an hour to get ready for her other party and then maybe this week I'll get a breather. Don't give up on me, I'll be back real soon.

God cares about the little stuff...

2007-02-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, Annalynn got a little cut on her finger. Very little, but enough to need a band aid. It was her first experience with band aids. I take that back, we had one other incident about a month ago. So now everyone has had to have band aids on: her little pet shop pets, her kack kack, her kitty, etc....well yesterday there was one left. When she went to bed, she realized her band aid had come off. So she asked for another. There were none left. I assumed Day might have used the last one. Of course, this was a crisis now. But I convinced her a kiss and a prayer would make it all better. So this morning, we are all waking up and she rolls over and the VERY FIRST WORDS OUT OF HER MOUTH are "poppy, you used the last band aid." We both thought that was the funniest thing. Later we're at church. A friend of ours, Tracy, comes over with a BOX OF HELLO KITTY BAND AIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had seen them earlier in the week and just thought of Annalynn, who LOVES Hello Kitty, and bought them. Is that not the coolest thing, that she brings them the day we "needed" band aids????? This is just one of the small ways God speaks to me and lets me know "I'm here, I care, I see what goes on." And Annalynn used up most of them this afternoon and is now sleeping with the box of band aids.

I got tagged...

2007-01-31T21:35:00.000-08:00

So I guess I have to share 6 weird things about myself, but I don't know if I have 6 other friends to tag....does that mean I'm breaking the chain and little green peas are going to rain on my house and my fish sticks are going to grow fins and eyes and swim away....oops....too much Charlie and Lola....hahaha....Okay here goes...I'm going to copy off of SARA who tagged me since it's late and my brain's not functioning at 100%...

1. After taking French for 3 semesters in high school, I STILL couldn't even ask "which way back to the hotel" and "where's the bathroom" when we took a trip to Quebec. Haha. But I could make a mean crepe...

2. I used to have a fear of falling down stairs and busting my teeth out. I'm serious....I used to have DREAMS about this as a teen....over and over....and whenever I did fall, or if I was going down the basement stairs, sometimes I'd hold my hand over my mouth in case...........and now I fear Annalynn getting crazy in the tub and slipping and busting HER teeth out........can you say "too much crack....."

3. I have a hobby that I have not been able to enjoy much these last couple years but need to get back with it. I love to do jigsaw puzzles. Like 500 and 1000 piecers.....I can pick up almost any piece in a box and look at the picture and tell you exactly where that piece will go...I mean even if the picture is mountains and a bunch of trees and water...I can pick out a leaf, a piece of rock.....when I lived in ATlanta I drove up on a Friday and went with my sis to the McCormick place in Chicago to a puzzle championship. First 3 places paid $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500. I came in like 4th or 5th and my sis came in 8th. To get ready for this, I'd buy puzzles and just sit for hours and put them together as fast as I could without doing anything else,eating peeing whatever. Then I got a speeding ticket going home. but I did get 12 free puzzles. haha.

4. I used to love Peter Frampton. Until he didn't show up to the concert that I had 5th row center tickets in. I went home and threw away his records and posters and books. Bastard. I'm just kidding. I did however listen to his Frampton Comes Alive CD last night on the way home from Menards where I saved big money helping myself after 300 freakin teenagers couldn't find time to help me find the stuff I was looking for..........oh......sorry.........uh.......

5. I met Mike Tomczak once at Ditka's place and got his autograph.

6. I am definitely the crazy dog lady. I don't board my dogs, I pay people to come watch them and let them out to pee when I'm out of town. They're like my kids. And if I bring one more home and Day doesn't like it, HE can leave. hahaha. (gotta put 'em in their place Sara, remember all the pre-marriage advice you got???) I now foster Bostons for the Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue group. I work at booths giving out info (okay, I only did one so far and talked to one person....) and I will help do transports when we have a dog going from "here to there"we have folks that meet to pick up and deliver dogs and we get 'em across a state or two in a day! It's a great group of folks I work with.

Okay, there ya have it. 6 Things you might not have known and I can tell you sure are glad you do now.

Poop Angels

2007-01-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

Annalynn has been wanting to go out in the snow. I put off buying snow boots and a snowsuit for quite awhile because it just seemed as if it would NEVER snow this year. Well, we went out this week and bought them. She watches this cute little Strawberry Shortcake video and it in the girls are making snow angels. So she can't WAIT to try this out. Well, yesterday, I'm getting her dressed and she's laying on the bed doing snow angels in her mind, and the legs and arms are going and she says to me, "I want to make POOP angels!" I shake my head to loosen the ear wax because she did NOT just say what I think she said, and I ask "WHAT?" And she says "yeah, I want to make brown angels." wow. Where did THAT come from???????????????????

And the FUN begins...

2006-12-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

We have our first foster baby. Okay, dog. Sparky is a lively Boston Terrier surrendered by his former owners because he needs more attention than they have time to give. He has adapted to our home quickly. He's escaped twice, but came back once and stopped to let me grab him the second time. He LOVES to feel the wind in his face, I guess. He has a fascination with tiny plastic toys, and we are working on this.....I also caught him in one of Annalynn's incredibly nasty diapers that he dug out of the garbage. Kind of gives a new meaning to "getting shit faced." hahaha...........ewwww....He will be going up on the Midwest Boston Terrier website in the next few days, hopefully. go to www.midwestbtrescue.org to see Sparky. If he's not up, check back in a couple days. We will only foster one at a time for now. It's very rewarding to know we're helping these little ones find their forever homes instead of being dumped in shelters or killed on the roadside. If I can figure out how to put a pic on my blog, I'll put one up.

Pass the Chips Please

2006-12-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is one of those precious mommy-don't-yell-this-it-too-cute moments. Day and I and Annalynn ate a little lunch yesterday. I left the bag of chips on the table when we were done. I went upstairs and a bit later came down and the FIRST thing I saw was the look on Annalynn's face that CLEARLY told me "OOPS, she caught me." Then very sweetly she says "Only eat the ones in the bowl." I look next to her and there is her little veggie tale bowl with about 6 inches of chips piled up and spilling over the sides. And obviously the rest of the bag was around the bowl on the drum case where the dogs lay. I just laughed and said "Honey, it will take you 2 weeks to eat the ones in the bowl." She is just too sweet.

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!!!!

2006-12-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

OH my GOODNESS if I don't get this nap thing down I'm gonna go absolutely freaking NUUUUUUUTTSSSSS. Okay fellow moms............gimme some advice for putting toddlers down for a nap. I mean, I KNOW when my child needs a nap......red eyes, rubbing eyes, stumbling, getting clumsy and hurting herself, it's "nap time" anyway, I mean the signs are all there and when I DO finally get her to close her eyes for anything longer than 30 seconds, she's asleep within 2 minutes MAX and SHE SLEEPS FOR 3 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What I DON'T like is having to yell, get nasty and threaten to put her in time out if she doesn't close her eyes NOW. What has worked so far, but is not working lately is this: I tell her that when we're done with the present activity, we're going to read a few books and take a schnoozy together. We finish what we're doing, go in and lie down and she picks out 2 or 3 books, I read.WE kiss and sometimes say a prayer and she pretty much goes to sleep. Even if I have to lay with her a little and cuddle and give some hugs and stuff, it's pretty much been working. What I've heard is SO true "you get it all figured out and then the rules change. Nap time over the last week or so has driven me to the point of calling Jenny CRYING, calling Day and asking how far he is from the house so HE can do it, just wanting to get in the van and DRIVE and let the DOGS watch her (I'm not going to do that so PLEASE don't call social services...) and just flat out sticking a garlic laden red hot POKER in my eye..........SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE.

Kitty Whiskers

2006-11-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, for the Harvest Party several weeks ago, Annalynn went as a kitty. Cute tiger kitty ears, tail and yes, whiskers. Drawn on by mommy of course, with a good quality Mary Kay eyeliner pencil. Well, here we are almost 4 weeks later, and she still wants to dress up as a kitty now and then. Well, today, she thought she'd draw her OWN kitty whiskers on. With a RED PERMANENT MARKER. And not only did she want kitty WHISKERS, she wanted kitty PAWS and LEGS as well!!!!!!!! SO, yes, we took a picture. After we both had a talk with her. "only mommy and poppy draw the whiskers on...." She was very proud of herself. And let me say that this will definitely take several baths to get off. It is lighter, but still very very obvious. I have errands to run tomorrow, one being a doc appointment. Hmmm...wonder what he'll say about that.

Leaves leaves everywhere

2006-11-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

Well, we went out to rake leaves. The dogs are halfway buried when they're in the back yard, so I figured it's time to rake. The nice neighbor, Dave, said if I wanted to pull my van in my driveway after I got 'em raked to the road, he'd push them all over in front of his house, where they don't park, so the street dept can pick them up. Good idea. Annalynn is in the back yard with the dogs. So I pull the van in the driveway and when I go up the steps to put my purse back in the house, THE DOGS ARE OUT!!!!!!SO I grab em up and put them in the house and run to the back yard. I don't see her anywhere. I look in the garage, door was still open from getting the rakes out, and there she sits ON POPPY'S MOTORCYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay. So she's learned to open the back gate. No more leaving her alone in the back yard. And once again, THAT'S why I don't let her out of my sight in certain situations. Another one that if I'd heard it from some other mom, I'd have thought "don't you watch your kids???" Judge not lest ye be judged. haha. Oh and we're in a "barrette" mood today. Rare. At this point in time, she has 13 in her hair.

Welcome Yahzee

2006-11-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

Well, we have a new addition to our family. He is a 6 year old Boston Terrier named Yahzee. He has not had a teriffic life, he was used as a breeding dog. Has probably spent a lot of time in a cage. His teeth are in bad shape it appears from possibly chewing on the cage door. speculation, but this is what was suspected. He was at a breeders auction. This is what happens to those guys. They are "used up" and then sold on the auction block. If they don't sell, they are sometimes destroyed. this was his last scheduled day on earth. He was one of the last dogs left. The Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue organization had a lady there that bought him for $25. Brought him home to foster him. AT 6 years old, this sweet guy didn't even know how to play. Was very despondent. Just sat around. He has come a long way since July. He came home to live with us a week ago Friday. He LOVES Annalynn. Smudge is doing a good job teaching him to play and chase the cat. He seems SO grateful. He loves to cuddle right up with Annalynn and sleep preferably on her pillow. I put her to bed a few nights ago and went up an hour later to check on her. There she was, her blankie wrapped around him and her arm around his neck. They were both fast asleep. He is patient, sweet natured. Just a good ol boy. We already love him tons. Obie would be happy. In a couple months we will probably start fostering. Taking others in til they can find homes. If anyone would like to help out, go to midwestbtrescue.org and buy a calendar or some cards or maybe you can make a one time donation to keep the website up or donate in some doggie's name to help with a surgery. There are links to vendors that donate to Midwest if you want to do some holiday pet shopping...........This is a GREAT organization. Thanks for reading.

We're Baaaaaaaaaaack

2006-10-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I am happy to say that the trip home was much better. Thank you Dramamine.......I will keep that on hand from here on out. We had a good visit with our friends, we didn't get to see as much of the beautiful mountains as they'd wanted to show us as it was raining and foggy almost every day we were there. But we got to visit and just hang out and Rick is a GREAT chef, so we had a wonderful dinner every night. It was nice not to have to clean house and cook, thanks Rick and Diana for the hospitality. Annalynn was so cute wheeling her little Hello Kitty bag around the airport. She looked like quite the little world traveler. Many folks passing by smiled and commented on how cute she was. She had a great time also. I let her "be on vacation" too. No hardcore bedtimes, she ate tons of Smarties and watched Veggie Tales Silly Songs about 6 times a day. Seattle is surrounded by beautiful mountains. I had never seen the mountains as I saw them when we flew over them. wow. And I didn't really get to see the ocean per se, but I did see bays where the ocean water comes in, so that's the next best thing. Well, off to lala land now. Bye all.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

2006-10-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

Okay. Day and I have been married for 16 years. We have NEVER taken a "real" vacation..I mean we have driven out of state to a friend's wedding, drove home the next day...........there was a little cottage in Michigan we used to frequent, but I'd clean it top to bottom on the last day there.........there has always been an agenda or a schedule to keep. We have never just got in the car or hopped a plane and went for a week. So here we are, getting ready for our first real vacation. Now, little Annalynn has had a little trouble lately when in the car for too long. so I had a feeling that might be an issue. Therefore, on my carry on bag, I packed an extra shirt and pants for myself. And I also had 2 extra outfits for her. We shipped all the rest of our stuff out a week earlier.....clothes........dvds......books.toys...toiletries............Day thought I was "overdoing it" with the extra clothes..I know it's mother's intuition...So we get up at 4am and get ready and Annalynn got up with us and was in a good mood. We've been talking for a month now about this whole deal. So she knows today is the day we're getting on the big plane to go see Rick and Diana and Nutmeg......So we drove down to Wanatah to my sister and brother in law's house because my bro-in-law works in Chicago. He will drive us to O'Hare and then on to work....Well, traffic is HORRIFIC and about a half hour from the airport, sweet little Annalynn throws up all over me. I get the wipes out, and clean her and myself up as best as I can. NOw, we're only at the airport an hour before we're supposed to leave because traffic was so bad. SO Dave pulls up to terminal 1, where we told him to pull over so I can get to a bathroom as soon as possible to change. I get cleaned up, I get Annalynn changed.....our plane leaves from terminal 3. "You're in the wrong building ma'am......but you can take that train over there to terminal 3"..........okay. We get to terminal 3, we get through security.......now we are 10 minutes from boarding. Well, American Airlines is the FARTHEST section away and GATE 18 is at the very end of their section.........you remember these things.........next time, if there is a next time..it will be UNITED because they are terminal 1 right when you walk in the door............so we get to gate 18 and there are MANY folks sitting around and red flags go up..........wait, these people should be on the PLANE........finally on the loudspeaker, the gal says "We have to have some maintenance done on the plane and cannot board yet.......we have no time frame......."oh well. At least we're not late. An hour later she comes on again and informs us that someone on the incoming flight got ill and they had to RIP UP CARPETING and are waiting for the new carpet to arrive so they can install it............2 1/2 hours after we were supposed to board, we can now get on the plane.....okay.........now people are getting fidgety and some are realizing they are not going to make connecting flights....so we get on the plane and we have the gay flight attendant from Becca's email and the Nazi Hitler woman.........I like him.....I do NOT like her......I was ready to go see mr Air Marshall by the time we got off that plane. Annalynn did WONDERFUL on the flight. She did great on takeoff, just sat and ate her smarties....I, on the other hand, felt like I was going to lose my cookies........on that nice new carpet.....Landing, she was a little squeamish, but still did great. Now, we are in Seattle almost 3 hours later than we originally planned to be, so we are in the middle of rush hour........Part way to our friend's house, Annalynn threw up again........we found a gas station, changed her clothes, got some DRAMAMINE and back into the car.....she was NOT happy. I am NOT looking forward to the trip home.....our day started at 4 am and we got to our destination at 8pm. She was a little trooper thru it all. Bless her heart. So I told Day "I am NOT getting back on that plane.........you can go get Smudge and our stuff and just meet me back out here." haha. Say a little prayer for us Monday morning.......we'll have to do it all over again.........

Consider this....

2006-10-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to get a dog, why not get one from a rescue organization? After Obie's passing, I found the only time I was smiling for a bit was while looking at the Midwest Boston Terrier website. I had never thought of getting involved in something like this. We are looking now to adopt another Boston, or "BT" as Boston folks call them. If you go to www.midwestbtrescue.org, you can take a look at some of these little cutie pies. Read some of their stories. If you have a few extra bucks, why not pitch in for a surgery or just a one time donation to help out. I am going to be doing some volunteer work for them and after we get a good routine with our new little buddy, we might foster some as well. We were looking at "Ginger" but she has had both knees operated on and has a fear of getting hurt so she might not be a good fit with a 2 year old and a very active doggie friend we have named "Smudge." So now we are looking into adopting Newman. I spoke with his foster mom and he sounds like he'd be a good fit for our family. We will go to meet him after we get back from our trip to Washington. If for some reason he does not work out, we'll look at "Norman." LOVE that mug..........anyway..........there are plenty of little guys that are looking for loving "forever families."So when you think about getting a doggie, check out the shelter or a rescue organization. I will post in another day or so and tell you about our transportation drama.........

Rest in Peace, my little friend

2006-09-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

A week ago yesterday, I laid my little friend to rest. Obie, a 14 1/2 year old Boston Terrier. He was with us for 13 of those years. I have never grieved anything or anyone like I have him. I have a physical ache in my chest and heart. I miss him so badly. I have been trying to focus on the good times and happy memories. His last year with us was hard. He never adjusted well to the yard and house as he was blind. I now look back on the last year and realize that I could have helpe him more. I spent too much time complaining about cleaning up pee and being aggravated that he was always wanting to be under my feet. Now I can look back and see he just wanted a safe place to be. And he thought that was next to me, or Day. I miss him so badly. I second guessed myself a lot........."was it really time? was he really that bad?.......could I have loved him back to health......?" Let me tell you something. The things that seemed SOOOOOO important, well, I have found they're just not. The petty things we used to quibble over, they're not so life changing..........I'd give almost anything to clean up a little puddle now. I miss him and can never say it enough. How I wish I could do the last year over. I'd love more and help more and complain less. What an expensive life lesson to learn. Make every day count, folks. You never know when it's going to be a "last" for someone you love. Yes, I know to a lot of people he was "just a dog." But not to me. He was my child, my buddy, my pooch for 13 years. And I don't know that there will ever come a time I don't miss him.

Rest in Peace, my little friend

2006-09-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

A week ago today, I laid my precious little friend to rest. Obie. A little Boston Terrier. He was 14 1/2 years old. We had him for 13 of those years. I miss him incredibly. My heart and chest literally ache. Not a day has gone by that I don't at some point go around a corner or down the stairs and I find myself just seeing him in my mind's eye, laying on the floor. I have never grieved anything or anyone this deeply in my life. He was like my child. I felt just awful making the decision to put him to sleep. But it also hurt me to see him falling down stairs, wobbling when he had to go to the bathroom and getting stuck in corners and not knowing where he was. I held my arms around him while his vet of 12 years gave him the shot. It was very peaceful, but my heart just broke the moment I felt the life go out of him. I began to second guess myself..........."could I have loved him back to health..........what if I'd just tried a little harder...........what if I'd just complained less....?" His last year here was hard. And now I wish I had it to do over again. I wish I'd been a little more patient and held him more. I am telling you folks, if you have a special little buddy in your life like this, you understand. But if not, please remember.........tomorrow is promised to no man. or woman. or doggie. Life is precious. Stop worrying, complaining and fretting about stuff. Don't get in petty squabbles...........I see now that nothing is that important...........I have done almost nothing for a week. And life is going on. Dishes will still be there, bills will be there, but the stuff that really matters..........those you love...........that's what we need to concentrate our time on. I will miss my little friend horribly. I hope that some day the ache I feel now won't hurt as bad. I hope that some day I can focus more on all the life and good times we did have together, instead of all the times I wish I'd done it differently. Life doesn't give us "do-overs." One chance is all we got. Make it count people.

My People International

2006-09-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 6 at LaPorte Vineyard, Day and I are hosting a presentation of My People International. National Director, Terry LeBlanc, a Native Canadian, will be telling about what MPI does. If you or someone you know has a heart for Native Americans, PLEASE pass this info along. We will be having dessert and coffee after the presentation. The schedule is not fully put together yet as to how many and who will be here. We are hoping to have some dancing and drumming. If you have ever thought, "I'm just one person, what could I possibly do?" then here is the place to find out how you can get involved. You can email or call me for more info, and if you are coming, please RSVP so we can get an idea of how many will be coming. You can go to mypeoplecanada.com to check out Terry and see a really neat video and just learn more about what they do.

Bye Bye House

2006-08-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I was a bundle of emotion today. Day went over in the morning and mowed for the last time. And locked himself out. Had to be something happen today. So we had to meet the realtor where she was at another meeting and get the key and go back and get his keys out of the house. Then we went to the closing. It was weird to sit in the driveway with Annalynn and eat our lunch. Lots of memories there. I felt so tired and just icky afterwards. Went home and Annalynn and I took a very long nap while Day went and fixed an ATM. Slept thru all the storm stuff. Woke up to the tornado siren going off and Smudge howling and incredibly loud thunder and lots of lightning. but I have always loved storms, so Annalynn and I didn't think a thing of it. So, now we can move on and not have to worry about any more "stuff" with the Valpo house. Sad but glad. Thanks to all who encouraged us, prayed for us and helped out through all of this.

Try It Now

2006-08-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, a few things I need to clear up here, our closing is AUGUST 21st, NOT September 21st. Sorry 'bout that. So for all you praying folks out there, pray there are no glitches for the day after tomorrow!!!! We have already been told the buyers did not take care of getting homeowners insurance like they should have, but all is supposed to be taken care of by Wednesday. Also, our realtor called tonight and said they requested that the lawn be mowed once more before closing. Okay, Day works, but he is taking Wednesday off to make it happen. I really hope this is the end of this tale. I will let you know how it goes.

Praise the Lord

2006-08-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have been following the saga, we have a closing date. After only the third showing on the house, they made an offer. We have a closing date of September 23rd. I am excited, but keeping my glee in check until I have money in the bank. THEN I'll put my dancing shoes on. It was bittersweet the last time I was over there. I went to plant some flowers around the entrance and as I looked over the fence into the back yard, I remember Annalynn running around and playing in her first pool. I got kind of misty and decided I did not want to go back again. Am I being melodramatic, or is it just that way with your first house? I mean, some folks stay in the same house their whole lives. I guess I started to get attached to this one. I think if it were not for Day's job, we'd still be there. I miss being on a dead end street with no traffic. I am not too keen on living right in town. Day and I have decided that when the 2 years is up (home sale tax stuff.......) we will look for a place back in the country. I really miss having a big garden and NOT having cars whizzing by all day. I miss the quiet. So for now, keep your address books as they are. Haha. I have joked with friends before that the "P" page in the address book always has one spot that is written over and over and scribbled out a lot. Thanks to all of you who have been encouraging, prayed for this situation and helped out in getting the house back into shape. We plan on having some kind of dinner or pizza party for the folks who helped out on the place. Will let you know when it is really "over."

Kids Say the Darndest Things.

2006-07-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

You know it's bad when, after an extended period of silence you hear your child, who is in the other room, say "DON'T write on your ARM!!!!!" Upon inspection, you find that indeed, your child wrote all over her arm. One night in the tub, she says "DON'T poop in the tub!!!" I don't even have to tell you about the episode that brought THAT on........ Annalynn tells on herself without knowing it. It's so funny. The other night we were putting her to bed. I was laying on one side, Day on the other, Annalynn in the middle. We read books, said prayers and then I said "Mommy is going downstairs to do some work." As I picked my head up off my pillow, Annalynn puts her hand on the side of my head, pushes my head back down and says, "Keep it on the pillow!" We about wet ourselves. Where in the WORLD do they come up with this stuff ?? Lately, as I get frustrated about something, Annalynn will say in her singsong voice, "Mommy needs a break..........mommy needs a break...." She is just the cutest little girl. Well, that's all for now...........I just thought I'd share some laughs with y'all................

Toilet Talk

2006-07-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know what you're thinking......but this is really good. I'm serious. Stay with me here, especially females. I think maybe guys can relate to some of this as well.............I have had a lot to say about public bathrooms for a long time....and now, well, it's just piled up so much in my mind, I have to let it out somewhere........so here goes............First of all, I really have a problem with stall doors that open IN. Most public bathrooms I've been in are about big enough for Barbie to fit in. You have to straddle the pot to get in and straddle it to get out. Now getting in, you simply step in, shut the door behind you then back up and turn around and start taking care of business. Getting OUT however, requires a little more trust in what is hanging out on the sides of that commode. I mean, if you didn't pay attention coming IN, you really need to make sure you spread 'em wide enough and aim right when you are straddling the pot while backing up, or else you'll be headed to the cleaners after you leave the store. or truck stop. Why can't they just make the dam door open out? I mean, are we leaving that stall so fast we might slam that door open fast enough to really give someone a concussion? I think not. Well,I take that back, sometimes those things flush SCARY fast. I lost a bra down one of 'em once from the suction that pot caused. I guess that could make one leave pretty fast. Kind of like the 12 foot leap we did as kids, SNAP THAT LIGHT SWITCH OFF AND JUMP IN BED BEFORE THE LIGHT ACTUALLY GOES OUT so the monster under the bed doesn't get you.............Flush that pot and get out before it sucks you in...........Next order of business: the handicap stall. This is a joke. Whoever designs these things has NEVER been on crutches, a walker or in a wheelchair. When I had my hip surgery was when I really took notice of these haphazardly designed spaces. When you have a situation, say with your hip being replaced, there are certain motions you cannot MAKE for 6-8 weeks. Bending sideways half way down to China is one. Why in HECK do they put the toilet paper rolls practically on the floor??? To make 'em easy to reach??? Yeah, for the roaches maybe. But I ain't never seen a roach wipe his ass. Try putting the 3 foot wide roll UP above our heads so we don't have to get a second surgery from trying to bend sideways to unroll that puppy. And HERE'S a brilliant thought. If you are going to put a full roll in that weighs enough so that a fork lift had to get it in there to begin with, make it thicker than rice paper so we can actually GET a decent length without having to rip off sections no bigger than our pinkie fingers. I mean, just tonight, I had the pleasure of entering a newly cleaned stall, pine fresh scent and all, but by the time I got enough to wipe with, (pull a little, break a little off, pull a little.............) I could have whipped my leg up and used the HAND DRYER. Uh, I'd like to get OUT of here before EASTER rolls around again, thank you....................Now for the sink. Okay, you actually want us to USE this appliance, right???? How about not installing a faucet that uses jet force power to shoot the water up my nose???? I mean, you turn these things on and FFFFWWWISSSHHHHH............there you are, you look like you are on your way to a wet t-shirt contest. I know we all want to conserve water, but c'mon this is ridiculous!!!!! I just spent $34.99 at Lane Bryant to wear this frickin shirt to this fancy schmancy party one time, and now I look like I just came out of the car wash. Thanks. Why do they put soap dispensers in there????? Has anyone ever actually gotten soap out of one??? I mean, there are guys that drive around in trucks halfway across the state just to refill that thing. I know. I have a friend south of Indy that used to do just that. These stores and gas stations pay big money to have the contract with that place down south to come and put more paper towel in the dispenser, soap in the pump and hey, don't forget that 40 pound roll of rice paper in the handicap stall. And make sure the guy who makes $3.95 an hour at Walmart doesn't do it! that soap dispenser driver guy that makes $19.85 is a union boy and if you do his job, you will get sued. No, I'll just call the service desk on my cell phone and drip dry while I wait for them to call the chap from Indy to come fill my toilet paper. OH, and one more thing............you actually want me to USE that cute little handy dandy wastebasket in the stall for my sanitary products, right? You know the one that looks like a cute little retro garbage can with the swinging lid.............well, you gotta empty it once in awhile..................I found my grandma's belted KOTEX in there and she's been DEAD for 13 years...........................alrighty then.............. Okay, I feel better now. Happy flushing...................

To Poop or Not to Poop..........

2006-06-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

OOOHHHH boy. You are just gonna LOVE this one.........Before I start, let me say that if you have a weak stomach when it comes to POOP TALK, you should probably just bypass this one........Anyone who has had children, knows that at some point in time, there are going to be stories to talk of regarding bodily functions.......Sweet little curly haired Annalynn has been doing this thing for the last couple months where she will take off a poopy diaper and exclaim "IT'S DOG POOP!!!!" Now how in the WORLD my little dog gets in that diaper and poops is beyond me..........but okay........it's dog poop if you say so kiddo. So the other day I am upstairs and she is downstairs and I hear her say "It's DOG POOP!!!" I go running down the stairs and what to my wondering eyes should appear........no, it wasn't 8 tiny reindeer, it was 8 tiny poop foot prints......okay, well maybe not 8........but there is poop everywhere. She is standing with one foot raised a little funny and her hands out to her sides.......there is poop on the bottoms of both feet, on the carpet, on both hands, on her dress and down her leg.............And she's just looking at me saying sweetly and innocently "it's dog poop." Okay. Well, Smudge is gonna GET IT for this one........I go to pick her up and of course now I HAVE DOG POOP ON ME TOO. Up to the tub we go. There is now poop on the rug in front of the tub, poop all over the tub and how in the WORLD do I get this new dress off without getting poop all up my daughter's back??? How can one kid produce THIS MUCH......oh wait, my bad, it was the dog...................So we proceed to clean up. Have you ever tried to just wipe poop off of a kid's finger and for some reason no matter HOW clean you get it you just can't get that SMELL out????? What's up with the supersonic stink power of this stuff????? No honey, it's not DOG POOP, it's radioactive, high octane, supersonic TEE TEE poop. (that's her nickname.....) Needless to say, Smudge now lives outside. hee hee. not really. But I"m gonna really have to watch that dog.........................next time I see him climb into that diaper to take a shit, he goes to the POUND.

Riddle me this BATMAN........

2006-06-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, Sara, do you want to tell the story or should I?? Were they actually in the box, or just laying around?????? I don't think I remember what you said from all the scraming.......hahaha.........

HOUSE FOR SALE

2006-05-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

We have decided to put our house up for sale. We went through it last week to see the damages before they leave. Wow. This is going to take a lot of work. These folks were just pure slobs. Holes in walls, water leaking we were never notified about, so the bathroom floor that Day just did will have to be ripped up again,new subfloor laid, new vinyl, the vanity is ruined from sitting in water and swelling up. Handle busted, screens busted and ripped just lots of little stuff. And filthy, wow. I mean I know sometimes the house "gets away" from you, but this looks like they have never ever cleaned. Ever. The floor was just sticky when I walked across it. It was gross. We will get it back into shape though. So if anyone knows of anyone looking for a house, let me know. I'll send the details. Anyone have a large amount of rags they'd like to donate? I'll need about 4 garbage bags full..............

House for Rent - VAlparaiso, Indiana

2006-05-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Day spoke with the renters yesterday. They are moving back to Arizona and will be out June 1. We will then go in and clean and repair anything that needs fixing. So we officially REALLY have a house for rent now. It is a 2 bedroom house with a study/hobby/laundry room. Living room/dining room and kitchen and bathroom. Fenced in back yard very nice size. Storage shed in the back yard for mower, motorcycle, etc..... Central air, cable ready, washer and dryer hookups and off street parking. If you or someone you know is interested, please let us know as soon as possible. I can give you more details.

Dancing the Way

2006-05-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the final details. The Dancing the Way team will be here to do a presentation Memorial Day evening from 6-8pm at the LaPorte Vineyard church. No cost to attend. We will take a love offering to help the team pay for expenses. This is really neat. We've hosted them a couple other times. I love it. It is a traditional Native drum/dance deal. If you want to know a little more about the team and the organization they come out of, go to www.mypeopleinternational.com. Click on links then go to Dancing the Way. If anyone has questions, please let me know. If you would like to donate toward the event, it is being totally funded by donations. You can make a donation directly to us or through the church. We need to provide a few meals and there are a f ew other expenses we might run into. Hope to see you there.

INSURANCE: The Ultimate Gambling Casino

2006-04-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, I promised you I'd share a little bit about what I have learned these last 2 years. I hope this helps someone out before we all end up in the county home. Insurance is a good thing. I am not saying I'm not glad to have it, but there are some things you need to know. I'll just "pick a place"and start. "Yes, we accept CIGNA" and "Yes, we are contracted with CIGNA" mean 2 different things. Most doctors offices will "take" any insurance payment they can get. A lot of plans nowadays offer the "go wherever you want, see whoever you want" option, but the doctor's office does not always play along. The doctor "accepts" CIGNA payments, but is not CONTRACTED with them. What does this mean? It means that CIGNA will pay them a little bit and they will take that. But there is no room for a write-off so the balance is my responsibility. Now did they tell me that? I guess I did not ask in the right terminology. When an insurance company is CONTRACTED with the doctor's office, it means they know what the doctor is going to get paid and the doctor knows and he accepts their deal and knows he will get his money. HE has to write off a certain amount (that those poor suckers who don't have insurance have to pay.....) Then you have a nice little balance that is bearable. I got the bill from the emergency room physician. Insurance paid nothing. The doctor is not CONTRACTED with CIGNA, you see. Now the ER is, and the Radiologist is. But the doc is not. See, they're all different entities. So when you take YOUR 2 year old who has fallen down the steps and cannot move her arm and is screaming in pain, make sure you whip your card out and have them make a fast call to see if the emergency room doctor is CONTRACTED with your insurance company and if he's not, have them call the next guy on the list to see if he is contracted and will he come in at 8:00 pm on Superbowl Sunday night. See, I just didn't think about doing that. I wanted to know if Annalynn needed a cast. and I wanted to know fairly quickly. Guess I over-reacted. Now I find it hard to understand why I can have my insurance pay a certain amount and then the doc has to write off the other $200, but my sis, who DIDN'T have insurance has to pay the whole thing. If they can "write off" $200 for me, why can't they do it for her??? OH WAIT, it's the same reason that I pay $5.97 for that roast because I have a KROGER PLUS CARD and my sis pays $26.85 for it because she never took the time to fill out that little piece of paper. ROLL THE DICE BABY!!!!!!!!!!! See what ya get!!! YEEE HAWWWW!!!!! NEXT BLOG: "TIME IN A BOTTLE.........."

Memorial Day

2006-04-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

We are honored to be helping LaPorte Vineyard host the Dancing the Way Native team again this year. It will be Memorial Day, tentative time will be 6-8 pm. When I get all the details finalized, I will post. If you want flyers to put up or brochures to pass on to anyone, please let me know and I will get them to you as soon as we finish them. This is a Native Dance team that focuses on helping us understand God made us as we are and it is PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE/HONORABLE/"RIGHT" to worship Jesus with feathers, sage, drums, dancing, whatever. Please pass this on to anyone that you think would be interested. Except feather-stealing federal agents. they can stay home.

Native Things - Final Part 5

2006-04-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

PAT'S COMMENTS: This should have been put up before the last post. I got them a little out of order. I just wanted to convey Robert's feelings. I will post again only if I receive any new updates as to this certain situation.

Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 01:40:50 EST
From: ROBTSOTO@aol.com
Subject: thank you for your prayers Robert Soto

Dear Friends:

I wish I could describe the day and the feelings that went through my heart and mind as we delivered my two roach feathers to the federal agent today. As you may already know, our area of the world is warm and sometimes very hot throughout the winter. We have not had rain or even a cold day almost all winter. But this morning when I woke up, not only was it colder than normal, but it was a super gloomy day with rain. As went to pick up two of our elders to help us out in our ceremony, I almost felt that God our Creator was weeping with
His children.

Words can't really describe what was going through my heart as about 25 of us gathered outside the lawyer's office complex with our ceremonial regalia and prayed. I prayed that God would give us wisdom. I prayed that God would continue to guide us. As I prayed I reminded my people that Romans 8:28 was still in the Bible, that all things do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. I reminded them that God was still on the throne and that He was still in control. I reminded them that we have
to be patient for the greater good that will come out of this day and the
event that was about to follow. As I finished praying, one of our honored elders, a decorated Korean war veteran, held the two feathers in his hands. The feathers were wrapped in our traditional ways, as if we were about to bury one of our own. The drummers started singing our traditional farewell song in our Apache language as we slowly started our way to the room where the federal agent was waiting for us. As we slowly proceeded through the hallway, workers came to support us and then stood bowing down as in prayer. As we entered the room, the federal agent was waiting for us. He could not look us in the eye. We
stood there and sang our song. When we finished our song, I lit some sage with the very same feathers that I was giving up and blessed the bustles and feathers that were being taken away. Then all the people came and smudged themselves. Then our drum sang a farewell song. It was a powerful song. There was not a dry eye in the room. Our people were crying as we had just lost a loved one. In many ways, we had.

After we finished our song I looked at the agent and told him we were
finished. At that time he asked everyone except Mike and I to leave the room. We stayed behind and he talked to us. He wanted to assure us that this was not a racial thing or just picking on Indians. That he was just doing his job. He then turned to me and said, "Do you understand this?" I looked at him and said, "I wish not to say anything." We signed our charges and we left. The lawyer came to say goodbye and every one with tears in their eyes thanked him for all his help. One lady who was with us is from Switzerland. She is here to help Iris and me with our church work. She looked at the lawyer with tears in her eyes and said, "I have always read about the bad things we did to the Indian people. In Europe we think things have changed. But now I know that things
have not changed at all."

As I was getting ready to leave I asked the lawyer about a videotape that was on the table with the agent. He said he would go and ask. Basically, the war is not over. He is going to war with the Indian people in Texas. I was told that the agency is planning to invade many other pow wows in Texas. His goal is to bust any Indian person who is not federally recognized in Texas. This does not sound like he is 'just doing his job'. He has an agenda and has chosen to attack a certain people group. In Texas there are over 280,000 Native Americans. Most of these do not have their status card. So this man has chosen to go to war against all of us. Our lawyer advised us to warn all the people who put on pow wows - to warn them about the wrath that is still to come
against them from an agent who is taking this as his task to destroy who we are as Native Americans.

Tonight was a very sad night. I performed for an arts organization in
McAllen. Tonight I danced without my feathers for the first time ever. Keep us in prayer. This story is not over. He might come after me again. I guess some of us must die before the world sees that very little has changed when it comes to Native American rights.

I will be traveling tomorrow to a pow wow where I will be the head man
dancer, doing my hoop dance and will be conducting a Native worship service. Pray for us as we travel 490 miles to the pow wow. I do not feel like dancing, but at the same time I have obligations to keep. Pray for all who will come to our service on Sunday.

Love you all and thank you for your prayers. I will send you the letter with the state officials we need to contact very soon. By the way, we will try and have some pictures of the surrendering of our feathers in our website by Saturday or Sunday. Our website is http://sontree.org/,

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior for Jesus

PAT'S CLOSING COMMENTS: We talk about the great freedoms we have because our men and women are "over there fighting for our freedom." I believe some of us may just never experience that freedom we boast of so much. The people who inhabited this land long before the white man came are still to this day fighting to keep their way of life alive. I belive if the white man would have worked a little harder to "assimilate" our nation might be a little better off than we are today.

Native Things - Part 4

2006-04-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

Message: 3
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 01:54:35 EST
From: ROBTSOTO@aol.com
Subject: The Next Step

Dear Friends:

I came home yesterday and will depart tomorrow to Florida. This past weekend I had an obligation as a head man dancer at a pow wow, as well as taking a dance team to a university for a two-hour educational presentation. Now I am preparing to depart again to be a guest speaker and performer at a Native conference sponsored by the Methodist Church in Leesburg Florida. I must apologize for not being able to answer all of your e-mails that I have received - from not just in the United States, but all over the world. Each of your letters
has been a source of comfort and encouragement.

Even though I was at a pow wow this weekend, I spent the whole weekend praying and seeking our God and Creator's direction and wisdom as to what to do next concerning my surrendered eagle feathers. At this time I am writing a newspaper article that I hope will make the three major newspapers in our area, and maybe others throughout Texas and the United States. Then I will be seeking
legal counsel from a lawyer that is familiar with violations of our first
amendment rights and violations in our religious practices and freedom when the federal agent rudely came into our pow wow are and started harassing both vendors and dancers.

But the next step is writing to our four government officials and informing them of the violation of one federal officer when he chose to interrupt our pow wow. I will give you some of the things I feel were clear violations of our rights a Native Americans so as to help you write your thoughts. I would like to hear that over a thousand letters came to each official to make them aware of what happened.

1. The illegal taking of our feathers which are sacred to all Indian people - both with BIA cards and without.
2. Threatening to arrest us if we did not cooperate and having to ask him four times to show me his credentials as he ordered me to give up my roach feathers.
3. A violation of our sacred rights when he forced his way into our pow wow area, after he was advised hat the pow wow was a sacred gathering and he had no right to enter into it.
4. His insistence that the pow wow was not a sacred gathering because we had advertised our event to the public in the newspapers. Thus when we invited the public, according to him, it ceased being a sacred event and gave him the right to come into our pow wow and doing what ever he desired.
5. The threat that he would not stop until every Indian in our area, the Rio Grande Valley and Texas, who was not of federally recognized status, would have their feathers taken away.
6. The threat that he or the US Fish and Wildlife Department would invade every pow wow in Texas to make sure any Indian who did not deserve the use of eagle feathers were taken away.
7. His insistence that this was not a racial issue or that he was not picking on any particular group of people or Indians, yet threatening to harass any non-status Indian or Indian without a permit from the US Fish and WildLife Service for that feather. Thus creating war on every non-status Indian in Texas; over 270,000 of whom call Texas their homes.

These are some suggestions. If you desire, you may check out my website where I have put all the letters I have written so far, including pictures of the surrendering of our feathers ceremony.

Send four letters via the US Postal service to our federal representatives.
E-mails normally are not read. Here are the four representives to write:

Senator John Cornyn
517 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
284 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Rep. Ruben Hinojosa
2864 W. Trenton Rd.
Edinburg, TX 78539

Rep. Lloyd Doggett
311 N. 15th St.
McAllen, TX 78501

I thank you for your help in this issue. I truly feel that we need to take a
stand and fight the system now, not for my sake but for the sake of all who will follow in our circle for years to come. God bless and thank you for your help.

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior for Jesus

P.S. The following is a copy of a letter from Daniel Romero, chairman of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc., which you may find helpful as you formulate your thoughts for your letter to our representatives.

Dear Tribal Members and Native American Community,

On March 11, 2006, during the McAllen Pow Wow, Robert Soto's (Lipan Apache) Eagle feathers were removed by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agent who stopped the Pow Wow and harassed vendors while searching for eagle feathers. General Council Member of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc. told the agent that he was violating the Freedom of Religion Act by harassing dancers and vendors during the giveaway - a sacred ceremony. Not much can be done about the Eagle
feathers, but the attitude of the agent must not be allowed to set the
standard among Texas Native Americans. General Council Secretary of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc. told the agent to leave the Pow Wow, the agent responded by stating that because the event was announced in the newspaper he did not have to leave.

Question: What would happen if a Native American man or woman entered a church during a mass and ordered everyone to empty their pockets to see if they had US dollars in their pockets. The Native American person would be charged with violating a church mass, so why is it right for an agent to conduct himself this way?

Please remember that Robert Soto is the Vice Chairman of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc.

So what can we do to help Robert Soto?

Write or Fax the US Senator and US Congressman listed.

Please forward this information to any individual or to interested party.
All responses are appreciated.

Peace,

Daniel Castro Romero, Jr.
General Council Chairman
Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc.

PAT'S COMMENTS: Day sent his letters out a couple days ago. I will be writing mine. If this has moved you for any reason, please help us by writing a letter to the people listed above. It is the least we can do to help our Native brothers and sisters. I just strongly feel that our tax dollars can be put to better use.

Native Things - Part 3

2006-04-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 02:34:20 EST
From: ROBTSOTO@aol.com
Subject: Thanks for your prayers...Robert Soto

Dear Friends:

I want to thank you for all the prayers and all the support you have sent, and for all your e-mails; they have brought such encouragement to our hearts. I also want to thank you for all your advice and research results you have sent us.

Today we, my brother-in-law and I, met with our lawyer and he explained in detail to us all that he had found. In reality, it sounded more technical than my mind could handle. I have learned a lot during my journey down this path that God the Creator has allowed me to go through. So I will tell you what we have to do, and what I have learned through this experience.

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO?
Our lawyer tried everything to help us keep our feathers but at the end, he could find no route to accomplish that. He carefully studied all the court cases that I sent to him that were sent to me by a lot of you, and also found several himself. While the cases I was sent seemed to work to our favor, he also found many others that did not. His concern, which is a valid concern, was that if we fought the federal government in this issue it would backfire on us with a big possibility of losing, resulting in an even greater battle for my freedom in the future, which he stated would affect a lot of areas of my life. So we decided to accept the federal agent's proposal. This does not mean they have won the war, just one little battle. We will continue to fight, but I
will explain that later. Unless the federal agent changes his mind, we are looking at the following penalties: first of all, I will receive a verbal
warning and not be charged any fines, but will have to give him my two roach feathers. For my brother-in-law, he will receive a reduced fine of $500 and all the feathers I loaned him will be taken away. The original fine was $5,000. So after much prayer, by both of us and our lawyer, we decided that this could not be fought in the court system and that the whole situation was a no-win effort in our area. By the way, the two roach feathers that I have to turn in will not be turned in to the federal agent in his office. I told the lawyer that I would turn in my feathers in a neutral place like the lawyer's office, and that as we turned in our feathers, we would have a mourning ceremony and sing a mourning song for our great loss. I will be taking four elders to our
ceremony to witness the surrendering of our feathers to the United States Government.

WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
What have I learned from this situation?? First of all, I have learned that
if you are not a federal-recognized Indian, according to federal law, you are not an Indian. Because the United States government defines a Native American as a person belonging to a federally recognized tribe. Secondly, if you do not belong to a federally recognized tribe, you do not have the same religious and ceremonial rights as those who are federally recognized. Thirdly, since we do not have the same rights as those who are federally recognized, we cannot even call ourselves Native Americans according to federal law. Fourthly, this
means that anything we produce that is Native in character cannot be called Native American art or crafts. Fifthly, I have learned that the only legal feather is a feather issued to you by the depository set aside by the federal government. That means that even if you are carrying a BIA card, you are not entitled to carry those feathers unless you have a permit from the federal government. That also means that if you are gifted a feather and you do not belong to a federally recognized tribe, that gift is against the law. Sixthly, if you are gifted a feather, when you receive that feather you have to report to the feather depository with all the information they ask for - like who gave you the feather, his permit number, etc, and register it with the federal government and wait for a special permit that states that this feather has been given
to you by someone who legally received the feather through the United States government. This means that if any of your Indian friends who have the proper credentials give you a feather and you do not have a BIA card or your tribe is not federally recognized, that feather is illegal and cannot be used under federal law. I could bore you with more logistics, but these are the ones I remember.

So what I have learned through all this is that if you are not a
card-carrying Indian with a number issued to you by your tribe which has been federally recognized, you are not an Indian according to federal law. These are laws; many of them given to the United States government by federally recognized tribes to protect the rights of those who are federally recognized. And sad to say, the law is the law. So, who am I? is my question. This is where you have to make a decision in your heart. As I told my lawyer, "I am a Lipan Apache Indian. I was brought up a Lipan Apache Indian. We have been practicing our
culture ever since I can remember. We have a history, and ancestors who made us who we are. Because of all this, I have convictions in my heart for the right to use what I feel are my God-given rights as a Lipan Apache. The law might tell me otherwise, but that does not change who I am and who God has created me to be."

Our lawyer told me that if things are going to change, it will not be in the
court system but through our governmental officials. He said that we have to unite ourselves and let our politicians know what is happening, and that laws need to be changed. Now our lawyer did tell me one thing of great interest to all who are not federally recognized. That within the next year or two, a case is getting ready to go to the Supreme Court over this issue, feathers and the those who are not federally recognized. He said there is a big possibility that the laws will change because eagles are no longer an endangered species. So keep an eye open for that, and see what we can do to help them decide for all of us who do not carry a BIA card.

WHAT DO I PLAN TO DO?
I do not know about you and your tribe, but we did not survive all these
years in the deserts by hiding and running away. As soon as this is over, I need your help to inform the following representatives about what has happened. Not so much about the feathers, but of what I feel are still violations of our religious rights as Native Americans and how our circle was violated when the officer came in with no regard to who we are as Indian people. I have a letter ready to go from our tribal chairman which I will e-mail to all who have written to me the last week and a half. If you really care and want to do something to correct what has happened, I encourage you to invest $1.56 in four stamps and write to the four political representatives whose names I will provide
as soon as this is over. Many of you have said to me, "What else can I do besides pray???" Well, here will be your opportunity to do something. Can you imagine what would happen if four or five thousand letters poured into the offices of our political officials?? At least the voice of our Indian people will be heard. I am praying that more than four or five thousand letters come in. I am praying that with your help, you can get the word around and thousands more will come in. This will at least give them a little idea of the gravity of the issue and that this is not just Robert Soto in South Texas speaking, but the whole world.

WHAT CAN YOU PRAY FOR?
All this time we have been asking you to pray for Mike and me. By the way, Mike is my brother-in-law. But there are some spiritual issues I need you to pray for. This issue has affected our children. Many of our children are afraid of the federal government now and see them as the bad people because they will not allow us to be who we are, Indians. As Dillon, one of my nephews said to his mother, "Why should we dance if we cannot wear our feathers?" I know the feathers do not make the Indian, but at the same time, they are a symbol of who we are and who God the Creator made us. In 1847, the state of Texas
passed a law outlawing not just the Lipan Apaches, but all Indian tribes from within its borders. It was at this time that we went underground with our ceremonies and language and dances. If our ancestors were captured as Indians they were either sent to the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, or imprisoned, or killed and scalped because the scalp of a Lipan Apache brought 100 pesos for a man's scalp, 75 pesos for a woman's scalp and 50 pesos for our child's scalp by the Mexican government. This is our history; maybe you are wondering, "Why
are you telling us this and what does this have to do with eagle feathers?" I tell you this because we will never be able to have a family traditional gathering again without the worry of a federal official deciding to make a name for himself and deciding to come and take our feathers or the feathers of anyone attending our celebration. So once again, we will have to take our ceremonies and pow wows underground and not invite the public or advertise for others to come. Pray for us, the Lipan Apaches. This will take a long time to recover.

I will write more after the turning over of our feathers. It will be a very
emotional event. Keep us in prayer.

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior for Jesus

PAT'S COMMENTS: I do not feel the need to add one thing to this letter. I think it says it all.

Okay, let's rename this: Rantings of a Madwoman Part 2

2006-04-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 01:47:21 EST
From: ROBTSOTO@aol.com
Subject: Continue to Pray

Dear Friends:

Well, besides tribal business, today has been a quiet day. I am just sitting here waiting for a call from my lawyer. I have gotten many e-mails since Tuesday and every day they seem to pile up. I cannot keep up with all of your requests. I am thankful for your letters though, because I know and understand that I am not alone; that others are right there beside me, praying me through this crisis.

I have gotten many e-mails from people concerning the things I have written the past three days. A lot of the letters I am getting are from people who keep repeating the same thing: "Boy, I did not know..... or I cannot believe that....." A lot of you have been given feathers and you are proud of them and I am sure you carry them with pride and take good care of them. But if that feather is not legally issued by the United States government, you are just waiting for your time when one will approach you and ask for the proper paper work.
I used to wrestle alligators back in my college years in one of the Seminole reservations. I only did it on the weekends or for special events. We always prayed that we would not get bit by one of the gators but deep inside our hearts we knew it was only a matter of time. Likewise, as I travel to pow wows all over the United States and Canada, I can assure you that a lot, if not most, of those feathers are not legal. As Indians, we take a chance for the privilege of using the feathers in our dance clothing and ceremonies. It is the
same old same old. The government tells us who can use feathers or who cannot and the government tells us who can be an Indian and who cannot. The government accepts or rejects tribes. So in many ways, our lives are still in their control.

My lawyer called me yesterday and shared with me that the proclamations truly declare that we were Indians. He said, "The State of Texas recognizes you as Indians and your city recognizes you as Indians and these are two monumental institutions." As I mentioned before, I have four proclamations that have been given to me and the tribe. The first proclamation tells the People of the State of Texas and all who read it that the Lipan Apache Band of Texas are direct descendants of the original Lipan Apaches. The second proclamation was given to us on October 25, 2003, which tells the world of all the contributions we have done for our area and Texas as Lipan Apaches. One of the statements reads: "Whereas, The South Texas Indian Dancers organization was founded by Robert Soto and his family 30 years ago to help preserve the traditions of their
ancestors, the Lipan Apache People who once ruled the area.... Whereas the Soto family are direct descendants of the Lipan Apache Chief Poca Ropa, who signed a peace treaty with Mexico on August 17, 1822, to ensure peace and safety of the people in the lower Rio Grande Valley..." The third proclamation was given to us by the City of McAllen as a sign of thanks for all we have done for them the last thirty years, and to declare January 22nd as official "South Texas Indian Dancers Association Day". One of the paragraphs states: "Whereas,
many of the Lipan Apaches' families migrated into the Rio Grande Valley Region (Primarily McAllen) to start a new life as citizens of Texas. Among those migrating was the Soto Family, direct descendants of the LIpan Apaches of Texas, whom for over 100 years have continued to practice their culture and traditional customs...." The reason he wants to prove that we are truly Indians is because the Federal Agent said if I could prove I was Indian, I could keep my
feathers. So pray as the lawyer continues to do his research.

As you go into the weekend, keep praying for us. On Monday we will meet with the lawyer and see what the outcome will be. Apart from a miracle, more than likely I will have to give my feathers over to him. So keep us in prayer as we patiently wait for Monday. Whatever happens, the name of our Lord God Creator will be glorified and all we be well. We must continue to live. Tomorrow I will travel 250 miles one way to do our Native Church Service for our Indian
Friends in San Antonio. Keep our travels in prayer. God bless.

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior for Jesus

PAT'S COMMENTS: I forgot to mention in the first post, that Day and I know this man personally. He is a man of peace and posesses more tolerance and grace in his pinkie than I probably have in my entire being. He has been through a lot. For those of you that have attended a few of the Native Dance Events that Day and I have helped to host, Robert is the Hoop Dancer. He is also a Fancy Dancer and has done both when he's been here in the past. He is amazing. We don't realize what these people go through to keep their culture and traditions alive. I am going to be sending a few more posts forwarded from a native e-group Day is part of, and in one of them there was mention of constitutional rights. I have to admit, I have never sat down and read through the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Have you? I did today. Wow. I think we have to keep in mind, the Host People of this land were already established here, had governments of their own in place, many were peacable and if not for some of them on the eastern coast the "pilgrims" would have STARVED to death their first winter here. What we were taught in school is not entirely correct. So as I read through these two documents, a few things seemed very clear to me: He who has the most guns wins, some of the "founding fathers" were of the opinion that although "all men were created equal" obviously Indians were not human and did not fall under the same category. What the colonists claim was happening to them by the king (in their writings of these 2 documents) were the VERY SAME THINGS THEY CAME OVER AND DID TO THE INDIANS. I have been hearing of a bill that, if passed, basically says all an illegal immigrant has to do is learn English, pay a fine and "assimilate into society." I have not looked into this to great length yet, as I just heard about this today. So I might be wrong here. Why are we deciding to do this NOW??? Why didn't the whiteys just "assimilate" into the society that was already here??? oh, wait, there are too many of them now to really do anything about it anyway...........
.........hhhhmmmmmmmmm.............. sounds familiar. I have listened to people I know for the last couple years rant and rave about illegal immigrants. My opinion was always one of "what does God think about how we act about this?" I have tried to go my own way and not rock the boat. People get upset that the label on their new toaster oven is written in Spanish as well as English. Well, guess what folks? In my personal opinion, this is a classic "reaping what you sow" thing so thank your forefathers for this. I might be very wrong here and may not be well versed in history and societal rules, BUT, it was okay for us to come over and just invade their territory and do what we wanted in the name of independence and freedom. In making our own freedom, we stole someone elses and to this day, some of us are still doing the same thing over and over. So somehow, we're going to have to live with things as they are now, or try to get some laws changed and then enforce them and be consistent in doing so. I believe we whiteys might end up the minority some day. SO, you better be thankful that Dora is teaching your kids some spanish. They might just need it some day. I go back and forth inside. On one hand, I don't like the fact that my husband works hard andpays for insurance and I still have to be responsible for my healthcare bills, while the folks down the street don't work because they make more on welfare and get their health care free. On the other hand, God calls me as a follower of Christ to be kind to my neighbor and love him as myself. We are supposed to seek justice but leave the judgements to Him. I guess I dont know how I feel about the illegal alien thing just yet. Here's a thought: how about the feds pay more attention to who's coming over the border rather than worry about who has a damn feather in their hair?????

Kill the Indians - PART 1

2006-04-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 02:02:02 EST
From: ROBTSOTO@aol.com
Subject: Re: Thanks from Robert Soto

You have my permission to post my articles. Here are all three. God bless.

Robert

Dear Friends:

I have an urgent message to share with you but before I do I must thank you for your prayers yesterday during our pow wow. It was one of the most successful spring pow wows we have had. The good thing is that we made enough money to meet all our expenses for the pow wow and still have enough money to take all the workers out for a hamburger after the pow wow. God moved in the hearts of a lot of people and we had an awesome time. One Indian lady came to me and said, "I traveled 150 miles to your pow wow to ask you a big favor. On Monday, I will be operated on and I am scared and need your prayers. I came to ask
you to pray for me on Monday, that God our Creator will help methrough this operation." I did what I could to bring some peace and comfort and then I prayed with her. Keep Susan in prayer as she will have back surgery on Monday. The pow wow went great. It is one of two pow wows we sponsor each year. This is our small pow wow, one day only and attracted about 75 dancers in the evening. Thank you so much for praying.

Now comes the urgent prayer request. As you know, there are many things in our Native culture that are sacred to us. One is the circle we form when we do a pow wow. The things we do within the circle are done with great respect and reverence. Some of the objects we wear in our outfits are treated with great respect and honor and we cherish the honor of having them. One such object is the eagle feathers that have been passed on to us as a reminder of who we are as Native people. We treat our Eagle Feathers with great respect and take care of them. Well, this has been a battle from the beginning. Today, the federal government controls who may have and who may not have Eagle Feathers. It has set its rules and regulations that restrict us as Native Americans from using them in a good and sacred way. Well, in spite of a good pow wow, we have a big problem. On Saturday afternoon, my brother-in-law was called outside the circle by what he thought was a tourist with a question. It was a federal agent who started to harass him and who eventually took his bustle away. As this was happening, I came out and he started harassing me about my roach feathers and told me - without showing proof - that he was a federal agent, and to
take my feathers off and give them to him. I asked him four times to show me proof that he was a federal agent but in the process he continued to harass me and threaten me. He told me 'I could do this the easy way or the hard way'. He threatened to arrest me if I did not give him my roach feathers. After the fourth request, he showed me proof that he was a federal agent and then demanded I give him my roach feathers. I told him no and that as a Native American I had the right to wear these feathers. He then demanded I prove I was
Native American, which I did. Then he proceeded to take away my brother-in-law's bustles. I turned to him and said he could not take them because those were my feathers, which they were, and that I had loaned them to him, which I had. He told me that I did not have the right to lend my feathers to anyone and that I was the only one who could legally use the feathers.

(PAT'S COMMENT - Okay, if he said Robert was the only one who could legally use them, then why did he continue to try and take away the roach feathers? sounds like the government once more contradicting itself, something that happens way too often)

The argument continued and at the end he took the feathers with him and then proceeded to enter the circle to harass other people. I tried to stop him with the argument that this was our sacred gathering but by this time he was out to prove a point and he barged into the pow wow and started to harass some of the dancers and vendors. He eventually left but with a set of bustles and roach feathers that I had loaned to my brother in law. We will be meeting with him on Tuesday to argue the point.

So I am asking you now to pray for me. I need to know you are behind me. I am one man who will be facing the federal government on Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a feeling that unless the Lord intervenes, this will be a long, drawn-out battle. Our tribal chairman will be sending an official complaint to the federal office on Monday, and I have been advised to take this to the local news as personal harassment and discrimination against our legal right to use
these feathers. Pray that the Lord gives me wisdom to say and do the right thing when we do meet. If ever I needed your prayers and support it is now. I will keep you updated as things develop. This has not been the first time we have been harassed, but this is the first time they have taken feathers away from me. The bustle that was taken was made out of feathers that were given to me back in 1970, and the roach feathers were given to me by an Indian lady who I
helped through the dying process of cancer about ten years ago.

God bless.

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior for Jesus

(PAT'S COMMENT - Okay, at this point you might be saying 'they're only feathers, big deal' Well, we all have things that mean a great deal to us. I have a big black Bible that was my grandpa's. He died several years ago. This bible means a great deal to me. It has grandpa's handwritten notes in it, family birth and death history, and a lock of my grandma's hair from when she was in her 20's. How would I feel if I had it with me one Sunday in church and a federal agent just walked down the aisle and demanded I turn it over because it contained "improperly handled remains of a dead person" in it? GIVE ME A FREAKIN BREAK. Want to go into the whole "well the law's the law thing? then EVERY TIME YOU DRIVE 56 OR OVER, YOU DESERVE A TICKET. )

Dear Friends:

How I wish I could write to each of you personally to tell you how much I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. It has been a source of peace to my heart and comfort to my soul to see how many of you have written just to tell me you are praying for us. I am no stranger to the laws concerning eagle feathers. As Native people this is the chance we take when one is given. I tell people that if they are not willing to pay the price of the feather not to have it in their possession.

The purpose of my first letter was not to raise anger in your heart, but it
was two-fold. First of all, to make you aware of the situation and my desire for you to help me with your prayerful support. The second reason is that you need to realize that when you carry an eagle feather with you, you need to treat it with great respect as a special gift from God above and to be willing to pay the price for the ownership of that feather. Do not abuse the privilege. As a traditional person, anger comes to me when I see Christian Native Americans abusing or using the feather in a wrong and dishonorable way.

The feathers that were taken away from me were feathers that I have had since 1970. I have treated them with great honor and made sure that through the years, even when they were not being used, they were properly stored and taken care of. That is why even today they look like they just came from the bird. They were one of my first fancy dance bustles, so if I do not get them back, they will be missed.

Now I would like to ask you to continue to pray for me. I got the expected call today from the federal office in our area. I am to come to the federal building and meet with federal agents on Wednesday morning. They told me they do not need my brother-in-law any more since the feathers were mine. Now comes the problem. I have been advised by people who know the law not to go to the federal office alone, without legal representation. A good friend of the family will be investigating the federal agent tomorrow and will be seeking
advice from a federal officer and some lawyers on my behalf. His advice was not to go until we know his true intentions. So I ask you to pray for me as I seek the wisdom of people who know the law and for the police chief who will conduct the investigation concerning the federal officer who confronted us and took my feathers.

I was also told to file a report with our local police department and declare the articles taken as stolen, since they were taken without a warrant and the proper law personnel. This does not mean we have won the case. Keep this in prayer. This has taken a lot of my time today. This is time that I need to continue our ministry and plans for future travel. God bless.

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior For Jesus

Dear Friends:

Well, I'm sure that I'm sounding like a broken record by now (that is, if you are old enough to know what it means when one says 'you sound like a broken record'!). So one more time I come to you - first of all, to thank you again for all your prayers and your kind words through e-mail. Since Monday night, I have received about 300 letters from people all over the world. So now I ask you to pray, one more time, for God's wisdom in this matter.

I found a lawyer who has taken my case. I truly appreciate Attorney Art Cisneros who is a born-again Christian and has offered to help us without charge to settle this out of court. We had our first meeting this morning. Now he has to do his research to see if he can find any provision or loophole in the law to help me keep my feathers.

So here we go again. I have known from the beginning that is essentially a no-win situation. We are at the mercy of the law, and the law is the law; and until the law changes, Indian people - both with or without BIA recognition - will suffer the loss of feathers. Because when it comes to possessing eagle feathers, the only legitimate feather is one issued by the federal government to Indians who are BIA card-carrying. Having a status card is not enough. One must possess a piece of paper that states that the feather or feathers in your possession have been issued to you by the federal government. So when it
comes to eagle feathers, we are at the mercy of the United States government once more; and only the US government determines who has the right to possess or not to possess one. I have known this all my life since I got my first eagle feather back when I was sixteen or seventeen. I have also found out that even if you are given a feather by someone who can legally possess one, it is illegal. As I have said all my life, it is just one more way for the United States government to control and conquer our lives as Indian people.

My tribe is not federally recognized, but I do have a status card. You say, "How can this be?" Well, our tribe is in its fourth step out of seven I
think, before we can be federally recognized. This means the United States government has issued us a tribal number that is used to complete our roll number. So each time a person applies for membership status he is given a number, which is required by the federal government for federal recognition. But since the
tribe is not quite there yet, our numbers are not valid until we are in full
control of the United States government. Yes, this number does help us in many ways, but when it comes to eagle feathers, it is useless.

We have not given up the fight as of yet, but I must confess, one incident will not change nor bend the law.

So what does this mean to me? What will eventually happen is that more likely we will not have to spend any prison time for the feathers but we will have to pay a fine that averages about $3,000 each, and give up all the feathers that were taken from us. This will include my two roach feathers that I refused to give up because of my rights as a Native American.

So pray for the following. Pray that the fine may be reduced and that God will provide for the need. We do not have the money and it will have to come from above. The second thing is that I still feel that my civil rights and religious freedoms were violated when the federal agent stormed into our pow wow and started harassing people. He said the event stopped being a sacred gathering the moment that we advertised and invited the public. My argument is, what about the church? How many times has a church advertised and openly invited people to attend a special event like a Christmas program or concert or any
other special event? Does openly advertising such an event delete it from being a sacred event? The answer is of course, no. So why should not the same feelings be toward our Native American events? While the public is invited to learn more about us, our circle is still a sacred place and a place where we can honor and glorify our God Creator through our dance, songs and prayers. When the agent stormed our pow wow, we were holding the first of two honor dances with a giveaway which I had to miss because I was following him around to make sure things did not get out of hand. So I need wisdom as to what course of
action I should take against this violation of our right to assemble as Native people in our circle, which is sacred. So pray that God will direct me to a good lawyer that can handle civil and religious rights violations and who knows the law.

My next meeting with the lawyer will be on Friday or Monday. At that time he will advise as to what plan of action we should take.

So pray for me until Friday or Monday. By the way, the federal agent told the lawyer that if I could prove I was a 'real Indian' he would let me keep my roach feathers. So today I gave the lawyer copies of four legitimate proclamations: two from the State of Texas and one each from two Texas cities. One of the proclamations from the state was given to the Lipan Apache Band of Texas in which it proclaims to the state the good we have done in preserving our culture as Lipan Apaches. The second proclamation by the state was given to me
and my family and declares us as descendants of the Lipan Apache band of Texas. The other two are from two cities which recognize what I and my family have accomplished as Native Americans and as Lipan Apaches. Sounds like they have acknowledged that I am a 'real Indian'.

God bless you and thank you for your prayers.

Robert Soto Lipan Apache Warrior for Jesus

PAT'S CLOSING COMMENTS: Why are they "illegal?" BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS MADE IT THAT WAY. Originally, these laws were written, to my understanding from the research I've been doing on this, to protect the eagle from poachers and becoming extinct. So whether or not you got the feathers from someone who DOES have the right to have them, DOES NOT MATTER. Whether or not Robert received these feathers from someone who WAS "legit" in the government's eyes, DOES NOT MATTER. SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THE FEATHERS NOW? They either end up in a museum somewhere as "rich native culture" (and I'm sure the placcard won't include the fact that they were STOLEN from the "native") OR I guess some fish and game warden is gonna find some bird missing some feathers and shove 'em back in.............The FEDS might wanna start using some of their manpower to get to the border and ARREST SOME ILLEGAL ALIENS and leave the INDIANS alone. For crying out loud, how long is the US going to KEEP THIS UP?????????? Any of us would have a FIT today if the cops busted in and took stuff without a warrant. And you know what? If you have enough money for a good attorney, YOU WILL WIN!!!! Don't matter if the stolen VCR was bought legitimately at the local pawn shop, it was in YOUR HOUSE so you must have taken it. ......right? (if you don't "get it" just sit and think about it a little. think hard enough, you'll get it..............)

Does anyone stop to think that birds do lose feathers? It's called molting. And some birds don't live forever? THEY EVENTUALLY DIE. Yeah, arrest the guys that are shooting the birds and selling feathers on ebay, okay? Can this fed PROVE these feathers were obtained illegally? Does one have to give each feather a microchip to show which bird died of old age and which Indian said a prayer of thanks and picked up the bird and removed feathers to use in a bustle? When your parakeet loses a feather, do you look at it as a sacred thing or do you throw it in the garbage on top of the coffee grounds? Does it seem like I'm being just plain stupid about this? Guess I've just seen and heard enough. Today, I am NOT "proud to be an american. I am not PROUD of what our government has done and still continues to do to a people group so rich in culture and spirit. How much more spirit can we kill off???

PLEASE STAY TUNED

2006-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Over the next few days, I am going to be posting some lengthy blogs. One has to do with health insurance and things some of you may not know, especially younger adults that maybe have not had to deal with a hospital trip or the birth of a child. There are some things you NEED TO KNOW so you don't end up going broke over an emergency room trip. I've just had some situations over the last several years and have been disgusted with the whole thing. I have learned a lot and want to share what I have experienced.

The next set of blogs will have to do with something near and dear to Day's and my hearts: Native America. The hatred for the people who were here first, put here by Creator, that still runs strong today. If this story moves your heart, there is something you can do to help. I have been just absolutely disgusted with the whole thing and again, I don't normally "speak out" but this time I am. It's stuff like this that does NOT make me "proud to be an American...." (yes, I support our guys and gals laying their lives on the line........don't go there.........stick to the story at hand.........).......but when we are at an event where the pledge of allegiance is spoken, you will not find us with our hands over our hearts. You will see us with bowed heads praying for our country.......(yes, I know they are over there fighting for our right to do that and for that I am thankful...........again, don't even go there....)

Please forward either of these sets of blogs-to-come to anyone you think might be interested. I welcome any and all feedback, opinions, questions and legitimate corrections. So stay tuned to this channel over the next couple days............

Thank You Lord

2006-03-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Thank you LORD for working this out. I am posting for the few that I promised I"d tell the story when I got time. We did a 30 day letter and were pretty much done with the situation with the renters. So about a week later, they called and wanted to know if they could stay through June so they would not have to take the kids out of school and into a new one in the middle of the school year. They also said they could pay us 3 months cash in advance that weekend. So we talked about it and decided we'd try it to see if they would follow through. So they did. So we will be looking for renters in June. I put an ad in the VU Law School newsletter/website. Maybe we can find a few law students to rent for another year til we are in a position to sell it. I don't know how people do this for a living. IT would drive me absolutely insane. Thanks to those of you who have prayed for this situation.

The Drama Continues

2006-02-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

Gosh, it seems like all I do on this is make time to complain. Hmmm...I guess it's better to complain to people who choose to read it rather than folks that don't wanna hear it. We are kicking out the renters. They continue to lie, promise rent payment and delay it over and over. When Day called the guy the other day, he told him that more than likely, they are going to have to find a new place to rent. The guy went into the "I know how the system works, you have to send a letter, I have so many days to respond, I know more than you and your attorney" crap. Well, we're done. Done with late payments, done with being lied to, done with cocky little attitudes from someone who is not working and sits on his computer all day and plays games. It goes on and on. SOOO, we will have a house for rent in about a month. Anyone know of anyone looking, please pass on our info. We're not slumlords, we just want to have decent renters. Thanks for listening. Be glad it stops here. haha.

The Dumbest Song I've Ever Heard

2005-12-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

"I've been working on the railroad (hope you make a lot of money)
all the live long day (hope you make good overtime)
I've been working on the railroad just to pass the time away (okay, you don't make any money doing this. You're either very lonely or you need to check in to Charter for some help)

Don't ya hear the whistle blowing (ever seen My Cousin Vinny? funny movie)
Rise up so early in the morn(really dumb considering you are doing this for free...)
Don't ya hear the captain shouting DINAH BLOW YOUR HORN (he needs help to if he's talking to a train)

I've heard this song so many times and I've always wondered who'd work on a train for free. Please enlighten me if you have any wisdom on this. Thanks.

Rain and sleet and snow and hail, yes, but wind..........

2005-12-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

NO. Okay, I was driving down the road one day, and the wind was blowing pretty good. I look over as I am passing the back lot of the post office, only to see a mail carrier chasing mail all over the parking lot. She had put her white bin down on the ground apparently to shut her car door and the wind was blowing it all over the place. Okay, now I KNOW I am not a brain surgeon, but I think maybe I'd have put something over it instead of letting the mail blow all over. And as she'd catch one thing, another was blowing out. Hope my house payment wasn't in there..................................really, check's in the mail..........

I'm BAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

2005-11-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

Yes. Things are better. I am telling you, like THAT, BAMMO!!!! The "weird" stuff has stopped. Although I am sitting here typing this and hearing a very unusual banging somewhere, oh, wait............those are the drums in my head........boom boom boom boom...............No more vehicle damage. Rent seems like it will always be late, but they are making efforts. Might work out after all. I am actually liking this place more and it is feeling more and more like home. Day has been working a LOT of overtime. He works his normal hours and then on top of that, every other week he is on call 24 hours. The last 2 weeks that he has been on call, he worked I think 38 hours over and 37 hours over. So we have not been getting much done at AAALLLLLLLLLll on the stuff that needs to be fixed up. I have been able to do a little painting.........very little, but we finally got Annalynn's room done. She gets up in the morning and the first thing she says is "room!" (she sleeps with us.)She gets up and wants to go in her room!!! It is lavendar with white trim and off white plush carpet. Our one splurge. This kid may not have any Halloween candy, but she has the plushest carpet of any 20 month old I know. hahaha!!! And my mom is an artist, so grandma came and painted a castle and pond with frogs and a swan "kack kack" in it. It also has hot air balloons. Annalynn LOVES it. She points to the "gees" (froggies.) SHE IS SO SWEET!! My attitude has really turned around too. Thanks to you who have been praying for me. God is really doing a work and some big healing in me. Wow, this was a tough test. But He is faithful. Financially, although Day has been doing lots of OT, we have been digging out of a very big hole. NOt quite out yet. Still waiting for his company to reimburse him for somewhere between $400-600 worth of expenses he has racked up over the last few months. When that comes, we might be in just a mud puddle instead of the quicksand lake. haha. Thank God that in His infinite wisdom, he has given me 365 days to start over every year.

falling falling falling

2005-10-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

Yep, I fell off the face of the earth. But I'll be back soon.

I Love Eggs............

2005-10-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

just not on my car. Yep, night before last, my van was egged. Then last night someone thought it would look better without a mirror on the driver's side. I'm thinking we picked a bad place. The cop Day called out said he's never been in this area before for incidents, until just recently. If anyone that reads these posts is a person of prayer, Please pray for us. If it were just Day and I, I would not be as concerned.But I have a little girl and a blind dog and his buddy to think about, and I just feel like something is up. I"m not trying to be on a witch hunt, but we've only been here a month now, and already we've had several incidents. The cop said this is not a bad neighborhood. We just have some "trouble magnets" on the block lately. Thanks much. I appreciate you all.

The week from hell..........

2005-10-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

This week and last weekend have been rough. Something bizarre happened pretty much every day. Day has been gone to Dayton for training for 2 weeks. It's been hard enough doing this single mom thing. God bless all you who have done it before. He was home Friday nite til Sunday afternoon, then back down. Our renters seem like they may not work out so well. I fudged on the deposit and told them they could split it up between the first 2 months. I got the first half, but now they can't seem to come up with the second half. They have til Sunday. The first month we prorated the rent to be for the days they were there, of course. Then, the second month was due the 28th. It never showed up. I waited 2 days, then Day called them when he got home. The gal actually called me Friday nite and said, "gosh, I"ve just been so busy, I didn't have time to bring it by, so I mailed it yesterday. I mailed cash, hope that was okay." UUUhhhhh.............no. you don't put $750 in the mail in cash. I said, "well, it's not here and if it never gets here, it is considered not paid and you'll have to payit again." Okay, well let me know if you get it tomorrow or Saturday. Okay, SAturday rolls around. Nothing. So DAy calls them Sunday on his way out of town. He waited because we were having our attorney run a background check. I had a horrible dream about them and the house and just started to get this funny feeling. So the attorney's office calls. There are 2 warrants out on one of them in the state of Arizona for traffic stuff. Not exactly sure what, but at least it's not burglary or murder. And one of them did not give us the correct social security number. Okay so Day calls and leaves a message. "Get the rent here by Monday night or we got a problem. And supply us with the correct SSN." Okay, so the guy calls him back Sunday night. "She didn't mail cash, I mailed a money order Friday." Okay, so it should be here Monday. DAy said if it's not here Monday, you need to come and pay it MOnday night. Ok. so Monday, the gal calls. "I just don't know WHAT'S going on. So I'm coming by today to bring cash." Okay. Want directions to the house? Sure. Have you ever been to LaPorte? LAPORTE???? I thought you lived in Portage, I mailed it to Portage!!!!!!!! (no you didn't....) Okay, now if you are reading the address off and copying it onto an envelope, why didn't you read the whole thing...Okay, now we got a problem. The rent is due today with the late fee. Period. Okay, she'll leave in just a bit. The phone rings 10 minutes later, I just KNOW who it is. "Hi this is ______. ____'s mom is coming by and she's always late anyway, So I'll be leaving around 3:30." I hang up and think to myself, she is not coming. I gave her directions and she didn't have enough time to write it down, so I know she's not. So I call back, "TEll ya what. I'll just come pick it up, that way you don't get lost..." oooooo, okay. what time are you coming? No, WHAT TIME WILL YOU BE HOME. Can you come around 4:30-5? No, I have to be back by then. I'll come between 4 and 4:15. Okay. SO I go to put Annalynn in the van and she's wet. BAck into the house to change her. I go back out, put her in the carseat and guess what. My purse is in the house. Locked. By this time, excuse my language, I am so fucking mad I could just beat the shit out of someone. (don't worry, not Annalynn, haha. ). So I put Annalynn in the sandbox, shut the gate and grab the neighbors ladder. There is one window with loose screws and none of these windows lock anyway. I get up on the damn ladder and pull the screen the rest of the way off. I grab some needle nose pliers out of the van and can reach in just enough to hook my purse. Okay, now we're off on a trip we shouldn't have to make. So I get there, and guess what.............the one who supposedly has the money order is not there.It's 4:15. I wait til 4:35 and told her, "Things are not looking so good.You told me you guys don't smoke (she was standing there smoking when I got there) Oh, but I don't smoke IN THE HOUSE. Well, that's not what I meant when I asked to begin with. so lie number one, or rather 17. There is a screen off on the front of the house. Yeah, I know, one of the girls bumped it and it fell off. Bullshit. She locked herself out once. i did the same thing and went in the same window one time. (gosh, I have done this more than once....) "Okay, well just get it put back up." I said we'd be in touch. "Oh, I'm so sorry Pat, I'll have him bring it out tonight. " And by the way, she said she was upset he was late because she had to leave for work at 4:30. After she told me to be there between 4:30 and 5. WEll, off I go down the road and here comes the guy. I pulled over and got my money order and took it right to the bank. So, it's just not looking good. If that rent is not here the due date next month, they are out. I am not chasing it down every month. Tuesday, I go to sleep and Annalynn is in bed with me. With pillows between her and her side of the bed. I wake up in the middle of the night to her just screaming and I bolt up and do not see her anywhere. She had slid down between the side of the bed and the glider rocker next to it, head first. We were both horrified. I put her on the boob and just rocked her and prayed for her and calmed her down. Then WEdnesday, our car got egged. There was a big brawl out on the street in front of the house over the weekend and we had to call the cops. Then today I LOCKED MYSELF OUT OF THE HOUSE AGAIN. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pissed off. I was trying to carry too much out to the car to leave for Day's mom's birthday dinner. I got Annalynn in the car seat and looked to grab my purse. OOOOOOOOOOOOO was I hot. So off to the neighbors for the ladder. Thank God DAy's makita drill was charged up. Makes getting the screws off the screen a lot easier. On Day's last 2 checks, someone didn't do something right, so they were both half checks, so that has just added to everything else. His boss went on vacation and his right hand man don't know what he's doing. And the check before that, Day just disappeared from the database half way through, so he got half a check. So they owe him quite and by the time they add that to his regular check, most of it will be gone in taxes. Last week I had a dream that some people were holding me down and injecting something into me, and later the next day , I noticed these little spots in the crook of my elbow where you'd normally get a shot. I have been feeling just plain under attack. Last week, a catalog came to the man who used to live here, who's dead. It was a catalog with spell books and witch wands and all kinds of idols and gods and weird shit. very bizarre. makes me wonder what went on in this house. SO, that's how my last 2 weeks have been. Hope all of yours have been better. I'm off to bed. Should be a quiet night since I got the incident for today out of the way. hahaha.

Interesting thoughts..............

2005-10-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, tonight I was reading in the book of Amos and I was reading God's words: " I sent locusts to eat your crops and yet you did not return to me, I sent blight and mildew and you did not return to me, I did not send rain for 3 months and you did not return to me........" and then I thought about how when something bad happens, so many are quick to say, "Well, God would never allow that to happen, so it must be the devil and God will use it for good..." Have you ever read the scripture, " He has torn us but He will heal us....." Does anyone else wonder what that means? I think sometimes people say "Oh, that's not literal, that's figurative...." Well I say this: God has allowed lots of bad things to happen. And why? TO GET US TO RETURN TO HIM!!!!!!!!!!! How often do some of us, okay, I'll use me as an example: How often do I go out and beat my chest and raise my hands and declare to the high heavens that GOD IS GOOD AND HE IS FAITHFUL when I get a big fat check in the mail and no one here has been sick and the van is running perfectly and Annalynn is a little angel for a week at a time and Day is the perfect husband and the scale says I lost 20 pounds overnight and ............well, you get the picture............. On the other hand, when Day's company screws his check up TWICE and we are still waiting for 6 weeks now to get a big bundle of money that was owed him, to pay the bills so people stop calling and breathing down my neck, and the van has that little shake that tells me we gotta get rid of this thing fast, and Annalynn is teething and fussing and screaming and surprising me with things I NEVER Thought she'd do and Day is gone for 2 weeks leaving me amongst boxes and holes and wires, and no matter what I do that damn last 2 pounds WILL NOT budge, and the renters won't pay their rent and Annalynn falls off the bed in the middle of the night and gets wedged between the bed and rocker on her head, and well............................that's when I pull out my bible and pray and try to get close to God. And it's then that I realize, He will allow things to happen because He knows I need Him more than I know I need Him and He wants me to come talk to Him and sit on His lap. I Love it when Annalynn just comes to me and wants to sit on me and just cuddle. And we're just people. How much more does God want that from us and sometimes He will use any means necessary to get that and to save us. sometimes from ourselves. Just a thought.................

The Big Move.................

2005-09-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to begin. this house needed a ton of work. and I'm not talking "hey-i'm-feeling-spoiled-i'd-like-new-curtains-and-carpet" stuff. I'm talking wires hanging out, holes, though small they're still holes in walls, rooms with NO LIGHTS in them, nasty stinky carpet with even nastier flooring underneath in the kitchen that perpetually stinks like dog pee so mine are always peeing in there too......................(let me know when ya wanna come for supper,,,,,,hee hee hee.) Checked under some areas of the carpet in the living room and dining room and it was BEAUTIFUL hardwood floor underneath. Okay, so we'll just sand it and refinish it. It will be LOTS cheaper than carpet and very beautiful. Off to Menards for stain, varnish, the "how to" video and all the stuff in between. Started to pull up the carpet and we were pretty excited......until we got to a plywood patch, and another and another............okay. plan b. this room will have carpet, let's look at the next. beautiful wood floor, until we got to the spot where either someone died there or the water damage was so extensive and sat for so long it just rotted the wood. But the way it smelled when Day started to pull up the wood, I'm pretty sure there is a mobster buried under there..............Back to Menards to RETURN the stain, etc etc. Let's just buy plywood and some floor paint. Okey dokey. so Day laid a sub floor of plywood and I painted it and we put 2 area carpets down for now til we have money for carpet. good thing though, because poor blind Obie is so confused here he doesn't know how to"ask" to go out, so he just pisses wherever he is sometimes. At least the carpets were only $27 each...The back door is too big for the hole it's in, so you have to literally throw yourself up against it to get in or out. And thats where I let the dogs out into the back yard to pee when they ain't a'peein in the house. I know...nice..... The little back porch is a horrific mixture of "what-the-hell-is-on-this-floor" ick stuff that your feet stick to and chipping paint that would probably ignite the lead meter on the shuttle. Some of the windows are painted shut and the ones that aren't are cracked with rotted casings and busted pullies But hey, that old woodwork around them looks really cool. since we've been here, we have had many bizzarre little mishaps. About the second or third night here, I was up in the bedroom rocking Annalynn to sleep. Day, the king of noise makers, is downstairs looking for the drain opener because none of the drains actually drain and sitting in the tub with half clean water and half your early morning shower water is just gross.... He is in the dark, because there are no lights in the kitchen, and all of a sudden I hear CRASH BAM CRASH.....what the hell is this guy DOING down there??? I see him hobble up the stairs and stick his foot in the sink. he bashed a toe into the dog cage, broke the nail up off the bed, when he threw his other foot out to catch himself, he bashed his other toe, and as he fell over the top of the dog cage, he caught his arm on the table and then fell over the whole heap and banged up both knees. Imagine seeing Day doing this.................IN THE NUDE!!! Hahaha. (He'll whip me if he reads this....) There is a lot to do still and it'shard to do some of this with annalynn around, so I work while she sleeps. Day is gone now for a week of training in Dayton then will be home next weekend and then gone another week. THEN he might be able to take a few days off and get some stuff done. I tried my hand at painting last night. uh, I just need to stick to cakes. It was like the 3 stooges, but with 2 on vacation. I leaned over the dog gate to throw something away, and had a little container of paint in my hand. when I leaned over, I tipped the paint and spilled it all over the beautiful kitchen carpet. THAT just breaks my heart... then I was moving my little stepstool and carrying the paint tray at the same time....yeah, you guessed it....spilled about half of that on the living room floor. But see, the cool thing with this wonderful Dutch Boy floor paint I bought is that when you clean up whatever you spill on it, the floor paint comes off too. I just SUCK at painting. still graceful after all these years. hahaha. But Hey, I have gas and electric now, $1,268.25 later.................and my house payment is smaller and I don't have a garbage bill now and my water bill will be about half of what it was with LAC. Now we can finally buy that second car.....And Now we can finally have some money to go out once in awhile.................that or pay off the Menards bill. I think I'll buy some stock there. But when this place is done, it is going to be SOOo cool. My mom took "before" pictures and I'm going to do some after pics and will post them as we go. And oh, I've lost 3 or 4 pounds since we got here. Wanna lose weight? Buy a house with the only bathroom up the stairs and use a dorm size fridge. You'll eat less and work out more. Later mateys. Gotta get some sleep. zzzzzzzzzzzz

This is only a test.....

2005-09-02T23:47:00.000-07:00

.........and I flunked it.......again. Monday, I was supposed to meet the NIPSCO guy at the new place. He was to call a half hour before he'd be on site as it takes me a half hour to get there. He calls me and says, "I'm at 366 Hawthorne." I said. "Oh, well, I'm in Valparaiso." I explained that I was told he'd call a half hour before I was to be there. He said he had a couple quick things to do and then he'd come back. It would be about a half hour. "Great," I said, "It will take me a half hour to get there...I'm walking out the door." Well, I get there, he's not there. Okay, I unload the boxes I had in my van, and sat for awhile. He still didn't show. I go in the house and notice there is a light on in one of the closets. Oh, He's been here already. Guess he didn't need me after all. Okay. So I sat in the car just a bit longer "just in case." Then I leave. Day goes back the next day and tries to light the water heater. It does not work. Okay, so they didn't turn the gas on. I call yesterday. "Can I get someone to turn the gas on tomorrow?" See, it's the weekend now, and a holiday Monday and we're moving in over the weekend so our renters can move in here. "Sure ma'am. We can reschedule you for tomorrow. But you know that will be a $40 charge." I ask why. She said, "Because he was there once before and you were not." Okay. Hmmmm..........doesn't seem quite fair, but they're NIPSCO and they are the only option. So although I argue a bit and let her know it was not my fault he didn't call ahead and then didn't show up when he said he was gonna, and I don't feel I should have to pay for him again, she tells me there is nothing they can do about that. It's their policy. SO, I ask her if he will call again a half hour before going as it TAKES ME A HALF HOUR TO GET THERE. I explained this a few times just to get it through her head. She said the work would be completed some time between 8 and noon. Okay. SO I get up early and get ready. at 11:30, Annalynn is BANGING ON THE BEDROOM DOOR because she wants a nap. I thought "sure as shit, the minute I get her down, they'll call." But then I realize it's now 20 til 12. So I call. "Oh, he's been busy. He is finishing up a call and then is on his way to your place." Okay, were you gonna call and tell me that? Now at this point, I realize I have LOST MY KEY. so NOW I have to stop at my mom's and pick up a key before I go. So I tell the lady, it will take me 20 minutes to get to where I need to go and then 30 minutes from there. No problem, they will call my mom's. I give her the number, she reads it back and off I go. I drive 70 mph to my mom's, she is waiting in the driveway with a key. THey have not called yet. Good, then I know I will make it in time as he is still going to call. WELL, I get there, unload my boxes and wait an HOUR. I got a bad feeling 'bout this..........So I go to the neighbor's house to use the phone. The man I talk to says "Sorry ma'am. It says he was there already today and waited 20 minutes and you never showed." I went through the whole spiel again NO WAY WAS THIS GUY HERE WHEN HE SAID HE WAS. "sorry, we'll have to reschedule you. the soonest we can get someone there is Tuesday." I asked, "will I have to pay another $40 charge?" YEP. So at this point, I am so FREAKING mad. I am bawling all the way home. I feel taken advantage of and lied to and so pissed off. To make this long story barely shorter, too bad, so sad, sucks to be you. He said they called my mom's. I get home and call her. Nope, they never called. So I check my messages, the lady said "we tried the 733-----number, and it does not work. OUr guy is on his way over. (hello, I told you I would not be here.......) well the number she read off was WRONG. So I call NIPSCO and ask to speak to a supervisor......there is no one available. they will call you. you can imagine how this will turn out Tuesday. anybody wanna place a bet???

Tip of the Week

2005-08-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

Got a snake problem? Throw dog shit in yer hole. Yep. We are moving into a new "old" house and there is a big hole in the steps leading to the house. My mom went over today to paint a room and she was attacked by a garter snake. I called animal control - "nope, we don't do snakes. call this number." I call this number. "nope, we don't do snakes BUT here's what you can do..." so this lady proceeds to tell me that if you make the snakes think there's a predator in the area, they will leave and not inhabit that hole anymore. great. where they gonna go? The BASEMENT??? So she said to throw cat poop in the hole. Or "urinated on paper towel." How do you do that? Here kitty kitty, can you pee on this paper towel for me please??? So I asked about dog shit. She said that would work too. So SMUDGE is going to earn his keep for the month. OOPS, gotta run and get a baggie. See ya later...........

Patty thoughts

2005-08-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOODNESS, has it really been 4 MONTHS since I've last blogged? I guess I'm so busy reading everyone else's out there, I don't have time to do my own. Okay, folks. I'll get on it and get some funny stuff going again. Hmmmmm......what to talk about now..............any ideas? How about public bathrooms, why the heck do they make the stall doors open IN????? You have to straddle the seat where everyone else has done things "they'd never do at home..." I always loved it when someone would ask me that...."do you do that at HOME???" NOOOOO dummy. That's why I do it HERE. Because I CAN!!! See that rebel comes out and lashes her ugly head every so often. I have to beat her back down with a RAMS HORN!!!!!!!!! Hey, for you moms out there...........you know you're a mom when......................you scrub your floors at 11:30 pm. hahaha. We're getting ready for the big move. House is still available for rent in case anyone from CALIFORNIA wants to move back out here. hee hee hee

Foolish Things Shame the Wise

2005-04-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

You know, I always read that scripture literally. "He will use the foolish things to shame the wise." I understand it today in a whole new light. It's not literally the foolish things, it's the things WE THINK APPEAR foolish. It's our judgement of what is "foolish." And you know what, I am beginning to see that all the times I've thought something was foolish, I was the one being the fool. And what is going on is I'm finding out I'm not as "wise" as I thought. God, in His INFINITE mercy is not actually "shaming" me, He is teaching me. Very subtle little things that appear foolish or silly to someone else, He is using to teach me some basic stuff. This might sound like the ramblings of a madwoman, or like I have a screw that needs to be tightened a few notches, but in my quest to try and straighten out my mixed up mind, I am finding if I take time to notice the little "silly" things and the lessons I can learn from them, He will speak to me. For so long I'd been hung up in "doing" things for Him. Know what? He doesn't need my help. Yours either. I found my spiritual identity for so long in all the stuff I was "doing" that the relationship got put on the backburner. And it's showing in my life. And my lack of love, patience and peace. So let Him teach me through poopy diapers and silly songs. Even Sandi Patti songs, for crying out loud. I could never stand that woman. I found myself sitting in the car the other day with Annalynn in the back seat listening to this tape a lady at church gave me "Bible Songs for Kids" by Sandi Patti. And I'm sitting there singing "Whisper a Prayer" just crying away. wow. Jesus loves the little children never meant anything to me before. Now it does. I see now I have to start over and go back to the basics. Jesus died for me. He loves me. He's coming back for me. Whether I feel like it or not. So Lord, speak to me through "poopy", stains on my shirt, silly songs and little hugs. I'm listening again.

Sorry 'bout that....

2005-03-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I had so much to say at one time. So many jokes. I am just struggling lately. Annalynn is an incredible blessing in my life, and through the joys of being a mommy, I get emotional fulfillment like nothing else can give. But I don't make the time or energy for Day as I should, and it seems we are struggling. Is this just normal for new mommies and daddies??? Can anyone give me an encouraging word??? PLEASE tell me it's not like this forever. Each stage is precious and fun and also for me has its challenges. I don't want to leave her in a room without me. I feel like I can't get things done right now as I am all she wants. Even poppy sometimes just doesn't make the cut. The doc said at her 1 year checkup the other day that it's perfectly normal right now. Normal.........now there's a word I'm not sure of anymore. What the hell is normal??? I don't feel normal. I feel like I'm losing my mind. I have irrational fears about leaving her with others..........."what if their dog gets her"............."what if all those 2 do is fight when she's there and it scares her"................."what if someone steals her from the church nursery"..............the list just goes on and on. I thought I was a freak when I first brought her home, worrying that I'd drop her or hurt her, gosh that was NOTHING compared to this. And Day wants another one????? wow ........... Like my sis said, if I had another one, my sanity might be compromised....

If The Dress Fits.................

2005-02-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm back. When I started this, I thought I'd be journaling and making you all laugh every day. Well, I forgot to take into consideration my baby. haha. Sometimes she just doens't want me to give my attention to anything else. Or anyone. Have any of you seen Day lately??? I think he moved out. Oh, no wait, that's him asking for supper. haha. There's the microwave buddy!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, my topic for today. Have any of you ever had to wear PLUS size clothing in your lives? Well, I do. And I have for quite awhile. And there is one thing I have noticed. No, wait, there are a few things I've noticed. Let's outline them:

1. When putting on a nice plus size dress, I notice the neckline is large enough for Auntie Em's herd of PIGS to run through 3 abreast. Who the hell designs these things???? Skinny queer guys????? Just because my ASS is a size 20 doesn't mean my neckline is the same size as William "The Fridge" Perry. C'mon here, I'm not a defensive lineman, I'm a chick. A large one, but nonetheless, a chick. My butt has the problem, not my neck. So I have to either have to use these incredibly stylish safety pins to pin this thing to my BRA and hope to God they don't snap open, or just jerk my shoulders up all night looking like I have a tic or something.

2. Following along the same lines as #1, just because my ass (and the designer ASSUMES my neck) is large, my height is not proportionate to the girth of the dress. Like, I mean, I'm not 7 feet tall. Let's get the hem up off the floor guys. I want to see some shoe here. Not necessarily a "cankle" but just at least the top of my shoes. (Cankle is where your calf just stops at the top of your foot. So you don't really have ankles, you have cankles.)

3. There is not much difference in the amount of material used between a size XL and a 2X. So why does the XXL cost $12.00 more? Am I being penalized for being fat??? Don't you know it costs more to eat healthy? That's why us po' gals are tubby. WE CAN'T AFFORD THE FRESH STRAWBERRIES at $13.99 a pound and the lean beef at $17.95 a pound!!!! So charge us the same as you would the XL gal.BESIDES, you make up for it on the size 3 gal's stuff!!!!!!

Okay, there. that's off my chest now. I think I'll go eat a bon bon.

Patty thoughts Wow

2005-02-04T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a novel idea. If you are sick STAY HOME.... Annalynn and I got sick. Bad. I had it much worse, almost over it now. I give credit to all the moms who take care of sick kids. Especially when they're sick too. This is not easy. Gosh, my mom did it with 5 kids. 2 of which weren't even hers. You can't just lay in bed. When that little diaper is full, who you gonna call??? POOP BUSTERS???? nope. When those little jammies are full of puke, who you gonna call PUKE BUSTERS????? Nope. At least she was a happy sick baby. In a good mood even while she was hacking. So we had some friends over one night. I told Day to make sure they knew we were sick. They thought they'd "be fine" just like I did when we went to see someone with a sick baby. See, the problem here is that there has been a lack of flu shots. More and more folks are getting sick with these weird mutated germs. My sis and her husband had it too. They went to the doc and he said STAY HOME for a week. CALL OFF WORK. He said this is turning into an epidemic in Porter County because people don't or can't take off work. Guess in my older and wiser age, I'm learning to make different decisions. So if you wanna come see me and you're sick, DONT. And if I'm sick, I'll be sure to tell you. Wow. that was a nice blog, huh? cheers to you.

You Know You're a Mommy When:

2005-01-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

- Instead of thinking "I wonder if anyone will see that little spot down by the hem" you think, "Well, if I pull my jacket down far enough, no one will see that big spot. Besides, they don't stink too bad yet."

- ...you can balance your checkbook, talk on the phone and open your mail all at the same time while sitting on the pot........'CAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY FREE TIME YOU HAVE...

- Boogers don't scare you any more. Unless you can't get them off your fingers.

- It doesn't matter if the whites and the dog towels and the baby stuff all get mixed up together in the washer. At least you can walk thru the laundry room now.

- YOU are the one saying.........."just wait 'til you have kids........."

- That baby that "will NEVER sleep in your bed" is now sleeping in your bed while hubby sleeps on the living room floor. Because at SOME point this week, you DO need to sleep.

- You set land mines at the front door when baby is napping, because the next person that wakes her up is GONNA DIE SUCKER!!!!!!!!!

- The Johnson's "having a baby changes everything" commercials make you cry. So do the life insurance commercials.

- Your heart is so big, you can't believe it.

Patty thoughts: Gonna try the Blog This! Option.

2005-01-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I am back after a few days. Okay, I may not be able to post every day. My days consist a lot now of cleaning up poop, getting spit at, picking up fuzz and wiping noses. Well, enough about Obie and Smudge. Haha. Wow. Never realized how much I could love a little one. Annalynn is the joy of my life. Makes her poppy cry. All he has to do is look at her. She waved at me last night. Not just a chance gesture, but a real wave. A wave that said, "I see you. Hello momma. I'm here." I was in Day's office which he refers to as "ONE BIG ASS LAUNDRY ROOM." And I was watching her play in her room at about 11:00 last night. Yes, I mean PM. And when she realized I was gone, she looked up and we locked eyes. She got this cute little grin on her face. I waved at her. And she raised that little arm right up and waved right back. Hmmmmmmmmm well, now that I come to think of it, it looked more like a Hitler kind of wave. Nah. I waved again. That little arm shot up and she just smiled. I'm tellin ya folks. Wait til you have kids, those of you that don't. (Hmmmmm, that's mostly who reads this stuff. People that have TIME.) Time, a very precious commodity in this day. I know now what it means in Proverbs 31 when it speaks of "....her light burns far into the night." I used to think, "well lady, just go to bed." HAHAHA. Nope, that's the only time you get stuff DONE. Like putting my mindless ramblings on to the internet for all to see. Baring my soul to the world. My friends all moved away. Well, most of them, so now I turn to my beautiful computer monitor for companionship. Thanks for listening. Nite John boy. (why didn't they ever say "Elizabeth girl? was he gender confused???)

First order of business

2005-01-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

This has griped me for some time now and I finally have a platform to address it. It is a problem that has become so common, it is just accepted now. If this is offensive to you, please forgive me and just skip this post. The problem is.....................better sit down.................the misused apostrophe. Yes, I know there are those of you out there who have probably wished for years you had the nerve to address this and have been suffering in silence, but here it is now, out in the open. Okay, as I understand it, when I learned about this in GRADE SCHOOL, the apostrophe was used in place of a missing letter or letters. Like "you're" as used in the sentence "You're going way too fast honey, please slow down." You see, I am trying to say YOU ARE going too fast but I leave out the "a" and insert an '. (doesn't really save much time or ink, but someone thought this up...) It is also used to indicate posession. No not the demonic kind, but rather, for example "That is Susie's puppy." See, it belongs to Susie. I was taught that the apostrophe is like a little hand pulling something towards the owner, imagine the apostrophe the way most people write it, not like on this keyboard, but it is curved a little. So it's pulling the puppy towards Susie. The apostrophe is NOT to be used to pluralize something. For example, "There are too many car's on the highway." THAT IS INCORRECT USAGE OF THE APOSTROPHE. So STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw a billboard a few years back that has haunted me e're since (see, the ' replaced the "v", now you're catching on.....) It said "The new FORD'S are here." Put out by the Ford Motor Company. WOW WOW WOW WOW. Who missed that one????????????????????? So if you can forward this to as many people as possible, and correct the mistake when you see it, maybe we can stop this epidemic from reaching mass proportions. Just discussing this to the extent that I have, I need to go lie down and have some chocolate and put a cold rag on my head. Nice chatting with y'all............

Well, here I am.............

2004-12-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well, Levi told me to get one, so I did. So I'll share my thoughts with y'all. I have just one question...WHO CARES WHAT I THINK?????