Recently in Family Category

Ya know, just when I think things are getting better, starting to looking up, life decides to kick me in the ass again.
Both of the teens have been really sick all week, I've so far remained unscathed, finally starting coming down with it myself.
They started theirs last Thursday, a full week and neither of them are better yet, well Mark is starting to get a little color in his face, but Sebastian is in pretty bad shape.

Around 6pm or so this evening, my nose started getting wicked stuffed up, I coughed and nearly hacked up a lung, (I'm pretty sure my right lung is still loose from being jarred like that) my chest hurts, and while I was coughing up that lung, this ripping and burning sensation tore all the way up through my esophagus and throat, and my tongue also started twitching and feeling scratchy too.
I'm trying to fight it off, I have echinachea, some antibiotics left over from my surgery, Nyquil, Tylenol, multivitamins, and lots of juice even though that will give me hives. (allergic to orange juice and most juices)

As far as my insomnia, it's not really any better.
I was awake from about 7am Tuesday, and didn't go to sleep until about 5am today, Thursday, and only slept for about 5 hours.
I've been wide awake all day, and right on schedule it seems, I caught my second wind and am so wide awake that if it wasn't so late at night, I'd be cleaning the house.
This has to stop but all sleeping aids, even prescription ones, have the exact opposite effect.
Instead of putting me to sleep, they perk me right up and make me behave like I took 20 hits of speed or drank 5 gallons of coffee.
I'm hoping because I'm starting to get sick, that it will somehow make me get some sleep tonight.

I have some stuff to do and then need to get back to answering all kinds of emails.
They are built up in there and I'm working on it all k?
O-k.

I have a ton of  office supplies that I need to re-organize to make it easier for me to do all the various things I do and need to do.
Filing, writing, printing etc etc.
I need to get new inks for my printer or just a new printer totally, and I need a way to be able to write comfortably.
Because of the way my head is, I have a really hard time filling out forms that I need to write the answers in.
I don't have a good height on my desk or table.
I did get a wicked good deal last night on a HP Photosmart A524 Compact Photo Printer,
just like the one in this deal, minus the camera.
It's brand new, well used once, comes with everything, including about 80 sheets of photo printing paper.
Guess how much?
$25.
Yup, I got it from a guy on the local forums for just $25 plus like $10 for him to ship it to me because I have no way of picking it up in St. Pete, so he's packing it up and mailing it to me today.
Awesome.
Now I'll be able to print out the best pics of the teens and mail them to Great Gram.
Mom and Dad can save them to their computer, but Great Gram doesn't have a computer, so I sill have to snail mail her pictures and stuff.
So anyway, I need to make room on my desk and table for all of the stuff I have.
My tower, my scanner, and now the photo printer.

One of the reasons I keep my house so dark, as I posted about earlier, was because it saves me money.
Having your curtains and blinds open during the hot months let's heat in, making your ac have to work harder to keep you cooler.
I'm also a huge nag, just ask the teens, about turning off lights and other appliances like fans, computer monitors, etc etc, when people leave rooms.
I do have lamps in every room, but I like to keep it dark and only turn them on when we need to see something, or if someone comes by and says it's too dark in here.

And because I'm all about saving money, I have slowly been buying the new energy saving CFL bulbs, and when I replaced one in the kitchen this morning*, I noticed it had a sweepstakes thingy on the package.
You can enter to win $25,000 to redecorate your home, no purchase needed, so go ahead an enter.
If I won, I'd definitely go and buy some really nice but discount furniture to redecorate my home with.
I'd hit the sales, the build it yourself furniture stores, clearance sections, wherever I had to go to make that $25,000 stretch as far as possible so that I could do every single room.
Get both boys and myself new beds, new dressers, some new living room furniture, a new pc desk and chair for me, all kinds of stuff, and I know with that kind of money, I really could do every room in our house, and have money left over to do other things with.
I pride myself on thrifty.

*When I replaced that bulb, I noticed that I had replaced the 2nd bulb in that light awhile ago, probably about 3 months ago, and anyway, it has an old fashioned screw on light cover which collects dust and little moths and other bugs that are attracted to light.
I clean this out every time we have to change the bulbs, but with the new CFL's, they can last up to 5 years.
Yes, 5 years.
Sad to say, I admit that the only time I clean this light shade is when we have to replace the bulbs.
Can you imagine how many bugs are going to be in it in 5 years?
Ha!

I used to have a massive collection of Barbie dolls and accessories when I was younger.
I had the camper, the corvette, the townhouse, hundreds of pieces of clothing, and just about every version of the doll as they made.
I started collecting certain dolls though when I got older.
I collected the holiday Barbies and the designer Barbies, the ones who had their gowns made by real high fashion designers like Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, and others like
Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren, and Oscar de la Renta.
I kept all of these dolls in their original boxes, and saved them at my mothers house.
My plan was to give them to my daughter(s) when I had them.

I ended up with boys though.
*sigh*
So I gave all of my dolls and accessories to my best friends daughter.
I gave Shell's daughter Jamie all of my collector Barbies.
She loved them when she saw them, I still remember Jamie's face when I gave them all to her.
She was still just a little girl, and I had given birth to Sebastian, and so Jamie was about 6 or 7 I think, and she loved them. Her eyes lit up when she the dolls in their gorgeous holiday designer gowns, they were so pretty.
They really were too. You can probably look them up on places like ebay, I bet they are all worth some money now.
I don't regret giving them to her, I was just looking at stuff today and remembered all of the dolls and stuff.

I'm finally starting to get my bearings around here after a month out from the surgery.
I'm slowly starting to do some cleaning and cooking, not much, I get tired and sore rather quickly, but I am at least making dinner every other day, to every 2 days, which the teens are quite happy about.
They've been eating a lot of take out, frozen nuke 'em foods, subs from Publix, lunch meat and tuna sandwiches etc etc.
They were getting quite tired of it, so I made my first meal the other night.
I made some shrimp and french fries, and only needed help getting the cookie sheet in and out of the oven, because I'm still not allowed to bend over, pick up, too much.

I think on Saturday, Chris, Mindy's husband, is coming over to finish the AC unit stuff.
He's going to remove the old rotted drywall from the old AC unit dripping water so much, and I think her son Jeff is coming to help, and install new drywall.
That's good, because as helpful as Mark is, he's never done drywall before and wouldn't really be much help at all.
We can paint later on.
My sis was planning on bringing some paints at some point, and painting the living room for me. She had some colors left over from when she painted her new house.
So things are getting on, I'm doing better slowly, and hopefully it will just keep getting easier and less painful to do stuff around here.
I hate not being able to do stuff.
I'm such an independent person, so to not do stuff is driving me crazy.
I hate "resting".

We don't get "fall" here, we don't really get winter or spring either.
Fall consists of it being hot, but not August summer hot.
Winter is warm, about 70 every day, and spring is warm to hot.
Summer is just hot, hot, hot.
So I don't get to see the seasons changing in person, I don't get to see the beautiful spring flowers bloom, I don't get to see the first snow, or the blizzards that cover the back porch in person anymore, since leaving Maine 11 years ago.

But my mom sends me pictures all of the time of their yard, and from their fenced in and full of plants and trees back yard, I am now getting to see the beauty of the fall colors.



















The greens, yellows, and fire red colored  leaves, taking over the whole property. It starts off slowly, and in a few weeks, this whole yard will just be nothing but the beautiful colors of the fall leaves.




















Thanks mom for sending these to me.
I can pretend that it's really fall here while my ac cranks out the cool air, because it's still 81 degrees here.

It's been an incredibly long day for me already.
I barely slept last night, not going to bed until almost 7am this morning, and was back awake by 10am.
I just couldn't sleep at all, far too many things on my mind.

My own health issues for one, I was just thinking about it all far too much, driving myself nuts.
And then my sister called me and told me that our Dad was in the hospital, he had what is called a transient ischemic attack , which is a transient stroke that lasts only a few minutes. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly interrupted.
He had 3 (three) of those this week!
I've been worried about my Dad all night and all day now too.

My Mom emailed me and gave me the hospital phone number and his room number, so I called him and he sounds ok, just very tired.
He told me not to worry, he's fine and he'll be going home tonight, just waiting for them to cross the t's and dot the i's.
He's hoping to be released by tonight, and he's being very stubborn.
He refused to take the blood thinner Heparin , he wants to see his primary care physician and his cardiac physician, he doesn't trust Southern Maine Medical Center at all, and Heparin is the drug that has been in the news (link above) a lot lately for possible recalls, and it's the drug that was given to Dennis Quaid's twin babies in an extremely high dose which almost ended their lives.

I was upset about this because my parents did not call any of us kids, my sister had to beg our Mom to tell her where Dad was, and Mom said that's what Dad wanted, he didn't want any of us to know and worry until they knew for sure what had happened to him.
But he's our Daddy ya know?
We love him and worry about him, and not being told how our parents really are, is just as upsetting as hearing how they really are.
We kids need to know this stuff.
I know I live too far away and can't fly back home right now, but I still want to know this stuff, they are my parents.

And I also spent most of the morning dealing with Verizon again.
My phone line last night was all static, my DSL kept going in and out, and when I called tech and repair, they kept telling me the problem was inside my house, my equipment.
Well a repair tech came out here this morning and guess what?
The problem was not on my end, it was in the line up the street, a major telephone line had gotten fried, he repaired it, but I am so sick and tired of Verizon's crappy customer service, they always blame it on my end before they even investigate the problems.
I'm just sick of it.
I pay my bills in full and on time every month, except last month because I was in surgery, but I always pay in full and sometimes Verizon forces me to pay more than my actual bill.
So why the hell do they treat me like crap all the time?!
It's just crappy customer service no matter what the issue is.

I'm tired and worried, and not feeling so well.
I either caught the stomach thing the boys have or I'm just exhausted.
I'm going to go lay down on the couch and watch Iron Man, get some rest, and I'll be back around later on. 

The teens, as I've said, have been doing all the household stuff, the cooking and cleaning, and the shopping.
I needed a few things from the store today, so off they went.
When they returned, Sebastian declared that he had broken his foot in several places.
I had him take off his shoe and I took a look at it.
I saw no redness, no swelling, no black and blue, but every time I touched his heel, he let out a yelp.
I took a closer look with a flashlight, and saw what may be a plantars wart, but may also just be a small cut that I can't really see, or something else, who really knows? I'm not a doctor.
He's always walking around barefoot, he goes outside to get the mail in bare feet, he took a walk through the backyard yesterday with no shoes, so it could be anything.
So I grabbed some Neosporin and a big band-aid, and patched him up.

A few hours later, I got an email from him.
He took it upon himself to look up what he thinks is wrong with his foot.
What does he think he has?
Plantar Fasciitis .
Yes, he thinks that's what's wrong with him.
He always thinks something is wrong with him, not to the point of being a hypochondriac, but every time he has the sniffles or a cough, he's sure that he's caught the Avian bird flu or something just as horrible.
He's funny like that.

Part of me thinks he's always worried that he has something because of me, because of my constant and ongoing health issues.
I think he's worried about illnesses because he only has one side of his families health history, his father's side.
My side is unknown because of me being adopted, and cancer runs on his father's side.
I think he may be panicky and worried that he's going to really get some sort of illness, so he's mentally preparing himself for it if and when it happens.
I don't press him about his worry about being sick, I know that when other health issues have come up, he gets all teary eyed and upset, talking about my health stuff really gets to him.
One of these days, I will sit down with him and try to work out why he's always worried about being sick with something, see if we can't get to the heart of the matter, but for now, I'm just not going to press him on it, he's already dealing with a lot of things. 

My sister came over today with my niece Skye, and they brought us lunch from Boston Market.
Then she took Sebastian to Publix to get some more food and other items that they forgot when he and Mark went the other day.
I had her pick up the Glad Press n' Seal stuff  (yes, the plastic wrap for food, sticks to the skin and makes a water proof seal around wounds that need to stay dry) so that I can take a full shower and not get my sutures wet, and also some hair elastics so after she raked through the matted hair, she could braid it.
I didn't have any more of them in my basket because I always do the girls hair when they come over.

Then the hair hell began.
My sister has a considerable amount of patience and she tried so hard to not pull my hair and hurt me, but the hair was just so matted that no amount of gentleness could stop the pulling and pain.
Here's what ended up coming out, it's a lot of hair, it's all tangled and matted, there was absolutely no getting a brush, comb, or pick through it, so we did the only thing we could do.
We cut it out.

























































After we got all of the knots and matted clumps out, I wiped away my tears, and got a grip on myself, and she then braided my hair for me so that this won't happen again during the long recovery process.
At least once a week from now on, the hair will have to be unbraided, combed through with heavy conditioner, and then braided again.
 




















I look awful.
I had just spent nearly 2 hours getting my hair fixed, I cried a lot because it seriously hurt.
My eyes are all red, I have huge dark circles under my eyes, just ugly looking.
My hair had been in a ponytail since the 8th, had not been washed, conditioned, or brushed since that day.
It was a huge huge mess, and even after soaking it in de-frizz serum, Infusium, and half a bottle of conditioner all at the same time, that big huge matted section could not be combed or picked through, it was excruciating pain, every hair felt like it was being ripped out by the roots.
My scalp is raw, I'm surprised it's not bleeding from having all those hairs pulled on.
My sister tried to work through it, she really did, but I couldn't take the pain anymore and told her to just grab the scissors and just cut it out.
Hell, my surgeon's team had already shaved parts of my head, cut other areas, I knew I was going to lose some hair, so cutting it out was the only thing I could do for now.
Once I'm healed up a bit better, I'm going to have to go to a salon and get it all cut and evened out and stuff, and also get a pedicure.
 
My feet are a huge mess as well, but we can't just cut the toes off now can we?
It will be the usual embarrassment, the little Korean ladies will talk about my gnarly toenails and my rough heels in their native language, as they try to make my poor battered feet look more human-like and less disgusting looking.
The girl doing my feet will say something, and then the other ladies will find some kind of reason to come and walk by her station and take a glance at my feet, say something in Korean, and I know it's not nice stuff, it never is.
I may not understand the language, but disgusted and grossed out are a universal emotion that is easily recognized in facial expressions.
I have not been able to bend over and care for my feet on my own in just about 3 years now.
Having titanium rods running the full length of your spine makes taking care of your own feet damn near impossible to do.
I really wish I could find a mani/pedi place close to home and my local shopping places where at least one of the people speaks English so that when I explain why my feet are so bad, they'll understand me.
I try to explain it to the Korean girls, but they just don't understand words like spine fusion, titanium rods, no bending at all, impossible to take care of my own feet, sorry they look so bad but I tip really well for all of your troubles and good work making them look nice.


I really appreciate my sis helping me today.
My hair was an absolute disaster and every single night of sleeping and naps, just made it worse and worse.
I can only lay on my back, so the hair was just getting more and more matted.
I feel a lot better now, it's fixed, it feels better, it will be less hot, less of a pain in the ass, and way less embarrassing when the nurses and friends come over to see me.

Now I'm off to find something to eat and then lay down on the couch and watch tv for awhile I guess.
Later days.

The teens and I watched Street Kings tonight, a Keanu Reeves cop/action thriller, and it was really good.
It has a top notch cast, Reeves, Forrest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Cedric the entertainer, Jay Mohr and John Corbett to name a few.

Quite a few people on the local forums said it was really good, my sister and her husband also said it was, so I Netflixed it and the teens and I watched it tonight.
I'm still not typing all that well, but my review is in the link posted.

Now I'm off to watch Pathology starring Milo Ventimiglia of Heroes, and check it out.
It got 3.5 stars out of 5 on both Amazon and Netflix, so it shouldn't be too bad.
I'll review it if I can when we're done watching it.
My typing still sucks and my brain is all muddled, so my reviews are not exactly great, but I know a good movie when I see one, same with the bad, and I'd never tell anyone to watch something that really sucks.

You have no idea how hard it is to just lay down and relax, to stay relaxed.
I'm a single mom, there's things that I should be doing like laundry, dishes, cooking meals, and I simply can't.
I spend all my time either on my couch watching the tube or trying to be on line answering emails.
I can't sit here long though, like 20 minutes tops, and then I have to go lay down for hours.
It really kinda sucks.

But I did talk to my doctor's nurse, Cindy, today about the brace, they are calling the brace people to see about getting a custom fit brace for me because of how short my neck is, and because the ones they make simply are far too big for me.
It will be really nice to have a brace that fits.

Not much else is going on, nothing can be, so back to the couch I go.
Gossip Girl is on.
Later days.

Was talking with Shell about the teens going up to Maine for the summer to work at Funtown.
Season is the opposite here, and Funtown cannot get teens to work there anymore, so Shell was thinking about me sending the boys up there, they could stay with her during the week because she literally lives right down the street, and then stay with my folks on the weekends, and also visit with Great Gram and Aunty Heather the whole summer, and they'd be making money etc.
It's a cool idea because they'd get to visit with all the grandparents the entire summer, make paychecks, and have fun working at an amusement park.

Funtown has not changed at all in all of these years.
I went to their site and looked at the attractions, and they still have all of the same rides and stuff they had when I was a kid.
They have added some new stuff, but all of the old and fun rides I rode as a kid are still there.

One of the coolest ones that is still there and has been since 1976, is the Astrosphere.
This is just a Scrambler ride, but it's inside a dome that displays weird and semi-scary images on the dome, has a laser light show, and has played the exact same song since 1976, "Fire on High" by ELO. (Electric Light Orchestra)
This ride is famous, everyone in all of New England knows this ride, people wait in line for hours to get on and ride it, and it is so cool to me that it is still there.
Check out this video that someone made of it and put up on youtube.

Susan got a baby doll for her birthday that pees, has diapers, all kinds of stuff, from my sister, her mom, and one of my sister's friends got her a baby stroller that is real, it looks like one of the more expensive baby strollers you'd buy for a real baby.
Well it is for a real baby, but you know what I mean.
Susan loves that baby an the stroller. Every day, she wants to take the baby for a walk, and my sister obliges her and takes them, both Susan and Skye, and their babies, for a walk around the neighborhood.








They have so much fun walking their babies, Skye has a baby and a play stroller, not a real one like Susan's, which has caused a few minor squabbles, but they get over it and play nice most of the time.
And Susan also loves to put band-aids over all of the babies with her "doctor kit" I got her for her birthday.
But when I saw her stroller, I was jealous, it was nicer than the ones I had for my kids.

Tomorrow, er, today, I have my pre-surgery consult with Doctor M.
He's going to tell me exactly what he and his team will do during the surgery, how long I'll be asleep, breathing tube, ICU, how many days to expect, (I'm holding him to 4!) what kind of pain to expect, what they'll have me do upon waking, physical therapy, etc, all of the nitty gritty details.

I have my own questions too.
Can I bring and wear my own clothes on like day 2 or something, will I be able to put my contacts back in, (I don't have a pair of glasses to wear) is this going to cause me to start a surprise menstrual cycle like the last surgery did, and if so, can I bring my own gear this time, or are they just going to make me lay there on a "pee pad" like last time.

Will they be shaving off any of my hair from the back of my head?
I know they are going to have to shave a portion of my neck, I have really long hair, I know it comes down far on my neck, so when they shave that, will they have to go any higher?
And if so, please don't fuck it up and make it incredibly noticeable to people.
My hair has been falling out anyway, but I really don't want to lose a lot if they can help it any.

I don't know if I posted about my hair situation or not, but this whole neck thing has been the cause of a lot of my health problems over the last year, year and a half.
With the spinal cord being pinched off, it can't send the right messages from my brain to all of my organs.
The messages are being pinched off, not sent, or sent incorrectly to all of my organs.
All of my stomach and digestive issues, being sick for no real reason, (I don't really go anywhere to catch any germs or viruses) my skin smelling really, horribly bad after eating certain foods, stomach pain, cramps, constipation, or the complete opposite, having days where regardless how many showers I took, how much deodorant I put on, I would have body odor, and my hair falling out.

Everyone loses hair on a daily basis, but this isn't normal hair loss, this is clumps of hair coming out in the shower, coming out when I brush it, coming out when the wind blows.
I don't have any noticeable bald spots, yet, but it's definitely thinned out.
It's nowhere near as thick as it once was, and it's not due to getting old, this is directly related to my neck stuff.
It's been rather sucky.

Sebastian broke down last night.
He just exploded in this 15 year old ball of fear, worry, and anger over this whole thing, crying, screaming, hugging me so tightly I thought he'd break my ribs.
He said if doc screws up and I die, he's going to beat him up really bad right there in the hallway at the hospital.
Mark said Sebastian won't get the chance, because he'll kill him.
To say the teens are starting to panic and be really afraid now, is an understatement.
They keep saying little things, '1 week from today' or 'I hope this week goes by really slow, it may be the last week I ever see you', or 'on Saturday or Sunday night, I'm sleeping with you, I want to be near you as much as possible.'
They even came out tonight and watched the season premiere of Gossip Girl, a show they hate, just to "hang out" with me.

I keep trying to reassure them that it's all going to be ok, that I WILL be coming home, that I'm going to be fine, and Sebastian wanted me to promise him that, but I can't.
I can't make that kind of promise because I really don't know.
I just kept telling him that I will be coming home, that it will be ok, without saying the word promise.

I have so much to do this week, work, the house, helping them with school, still trying to keep this house running as normally as possible, but honestly, I can't focus on any of it for long.
I want to though, I have things that I need to get done, but my mind starts wandering, racing, then my heart starts racing and pounding, and then I get a massive migraine and have to go lay down.
I went to bed shortly after the boys did tonight, they went at 11:30, I went at 11:45, and I laid there checking to make sure their alarm would go off, that mine would go off again at 8am so I can get up and try and do some work before I have to leave at noon-ish, but I started panicking about it all, so I got up and set Snoozester to call me at 8am just in case my cell alarm doesn't go off.
And now here I am, sitting here blogging, awake again, just thinking about it all.

I know things will be ok, but now with such short time left to go, I just want to go do it, get it over with, enough of the testing and appointments, and talks, let's just do it!
I just want it done so I can come back home like I said, that's all I want.

Don't forget to say "Rabbit rabbit White rabbit" upon waking up this morning, and on the morning of the first day of the month every month.
It's an old superstition, and I really don't believe in superstitions, but I do it for fun.
Seeing as how I don't know exactly what time I'll be waking up tomorrow, er, today, I figured I'd just post it now.

Who knows, maybe it really is good luck, and I could sure use some good luck this month.
I'm having surgery exactly 1 week from today, I could use to make some big time money this week before I go which means I need to get back to work pronto, no more lazy bones-feeling like not doing anything, and hey, maybe I'll win some money or maybe a Caribbean cruises vacation or something for the teens and I to go on after I'm recovered.

A vacation is sorely needed I tell ya.
I'm tired, stressed out, worried about money and bills, and the teens at school.
I really don't want this surgery to affect them like the last time, I don't want them to miss any days for any reason.
I do want them to come see me, but not until after school each day, come at night only.
That way my sister doesn't miss any time at work either, she really can't afford to take time off, so if she goes to work, and they go to school, then come visit me after, everyone will be doing what they need to do, and I'll be getting rest and doing my physical therapy/up walking the halls and all that stuff so I can come home on schedule.

It's late and once again I'm wide awake, so I think I'm going to go dive into my work, get as much done as I can.

One of the things I've been thinking about since getting the news about my surgery, is that I will probably never be able to go take any more mini Orlando vacations to the theme parks for roller coaster fun again.
I've been waiting for a little over 2 years to be able to get the all clear to go ride coasters again, and now this.
This sucks.
I have never been on some of the newer coasters at any of the Florida parks since like 2004, and I really miss it.
We used to go to the theme parks like 20 times a year, and now I may never get to go again because of all of this crap.
I'm really bummed about it ya know.
It just sucks.
I'm not done being mad about this by a long shot.
I'm really angry about it, it's not fair.
16 days and counting, and the more time that passes, the angrier I get.

What was a category 1 hurricane, has been downgraded into a tropical storm again.
It'll be about 45-50mph winds, some rain, nothing major.
But all the Sarasota schools are closed, there's no garbage pick-up tomorrow, and all county government offices will be closed as well.

The kids first day back to school was today, and now they get a day off already.
I understand the whole better safe than sorry thing, but they canceled school at 2pm today, made the automated phone calls to parents, and they could have, should have, waited until later tonight to make the call on closing school.

Things are fine here, we have plenty of food and water should the power go out, I did all y hurricane shopping on Saturday, and we have plenty of candles, a big flashlight, a 24 our glo-stick for emergencies, plenty of stuff, but I doubt it will get that bad.

Ever feel like you're the injured person in the accident, and after getting slammed into by that 18-wheeler, you can't decide if you need a personal injury attorney or a truck accident lawyer?
That's how I feel right now.
Everyone is stopping, slowing down to take a look, rubbernecking, holding up the rest of the traffic on the highway, and making everyone late to where ever it is they need to go.

I'm tired of answering the same questions about my surgery.
How long will you be gone?
Will you have help when you get home?
How bad is it going to be?
Will the teens be able to help you?

Answering the same questions all the time, makes me stop what I'm doing, and have to think about it, and I'm already tired of thinking about it.
I'm answering though because there are genuine people who care, my friends, family members, total strangers on my fave local forum where I play, where they only know me by my posts and my name, but even posting it in the private girls forum, people still talk, so I got a lot of private messages about it, had to reply to posts about it, and all that stuff.

I have a few weeks before I go, I don't know much information yet, I don't know how long I'll be there, I don't know if the insurance will let me have a home health aide, I don't know how bad it's going to be, any of that.
All I know is that it's a 6-hour surgery, and that he promises he can fix me.
That's it, that's all I know.
When I know more, I'll blog it.
But in the meantime until I learn more, I'm trying to live, I'm trying to deal with it all and accept it.
There's more to it than what I've posted, but every time I want to post it, I end up crying because of how big this whole thing is, of all the answers it gave me, and all the what-ifs that still hang in the air, and how much time I have to spend with my sons before I go in for it.
That's what's most important right now, being with them, and spending time with them.
I know it's not what other people want, people want more, they want answers, they want stuff I can't give them.
But it's all I have and it's what's most important.

Last night after getting home from Chuck E. Cheese for my niece Susan, my insomnia from the night before started to catch up to me.
I found myself sitting here in my chair dozing off several times.
I had been sitting here at like 6:15pm, and when I woke up, it was 8:30pm.
I was supposed to go in to the boy's room and fix the video card settings to show more detail on their games, and get some papers ready for today's medical phone calls.
But I was so tired, I laid down on the couch at like 10-10:30, and that was it, out and down for the count.

The teens slept over my sister's house, so at like 8:20 this morning, I hear this knocking on the door.
It was them, my alarm I had set for 8am never went off, so ooopsy.
They said they had just knocked that one time, so at least they hadn't been out there banging on the door for an hour.
Then as soon as I let them in, fixed the door caterpillar, I then laid back down on the couch and fell asleep again.
I hadn't slept for like 38 hours, so I was way tired, and just needed all that sleep to catch up.
Then when I woke up at 11am, I ran to the corner store for some soda, and then came back to get myself ready for the medical phone calls at 1pm.
I spent about 2 hours on the phone answering questions with the surgical intake nurse, she wasn't able to give me any information on how long I'd be in the hospital, but Doc Moreno or Cindy would be able to answer all of those questions for me later.

Then I tried to catch up some emails and gave up.
I'm not answering any questions for anybody about things that happened a long time ago.
It's over for me, so move on folks, the show's over.
A year ago when I laid out what I was doing, was the time for people to ask questions and get answers, and yanno, maybe even help me, but no one did, so I took care of it, it's done.
I am ok with being called a disgusting human being for not helping others now, it's fine with me, no one helped me when I needed it or asked for it. Call me selfish, call me mean or a moron, and yes, I do know who I emailed recently about something to do with work, so um, yeah, nice try hiding behind the name "anonymous".
Hello! I wasn't born yesterday people.
It's done, over, don't bother emailing me about it now.

I made the call to the lawyer to schedule a time to get the DNR and WILL verified, asked a quick question about something else, he said we can talk about that at the appointment, told me to bring the papers and stuff with me, so I will have all my medical stuff and my other stuff taken care of by next week, or answers at least.

Right now I'm making dinner, some yummy BBQ'd boneless/skinless chicken breast, and some broccoli with cheese, and then I have the dishes to finish up, and a load of laundry to start.
I don't think I have much on the agenda for tomorrow, haven't looked yet, and Google calendar hasn't emailed the daily summary for tomorrow yet, I should get that around midnight.

I know that I do have some work to catch up on.
Due to passing out cold last night, I didn't get all of my work finished, but I did get most of it done.
I only have about 5 or so left, so yeah, I got almost all of them done before going out yesterday.
It's ok with me, I am not late on anything, it's all actually not due until next week, so I'll get it all done by tomorrow, and then take on whatever else they need done.
Ok, time to go check the dinner, later days!

I was feeling really down last night when I posted that I might not go to Susan's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow afternoon, I was in a bad place, dealing with all kinds of stress and worry about bills and stuff.
And I haven't had a chance to go shopping for baby gifts for her present yet.
She's not a baby anymore, but she has to have child safe toys, know what I mean?
She's still at that age where you just don't give a little girl a toy with tons of tiny pieces.
I know what I'm giving her, but I'm going to give it to her on Friday night when we all go out to Chinese to celebrate both her and Mark's birthday.

She loves to play doctor, people doctor, animal doctor, couch doctor, she's always fixing things up, she loves bandages and band-aids and stuff, so I'm getting her a first aid kit.
My sister told me to get it for her, so don't look at me like I'm a crazy person. *laughs*
She really does love first aid kits, so I found a smallish one, it seems to be the perfect size for her, and I'll remove the fingernail clippers, the tweezers, any lotions or things like Neosporin and stuff like that, and that way she'll be safe.
She will absolutely love it, I know it's the perfect gift because she always wants to play doctor when she comes over, she's the reason I don't have any more band-aids in my first aid kit now. *laughs*

Anyway, I will not be missing her big special big girl birthday party, she's my little buddy, I have to go and celebrate with her, take some pictures of both her and Skye, so I can add some new pics to my digital keychain.
I love that thing!
It can hold 107 pictures, and I uploaded what I thought was a lot, but it was actually only 59, so yeah, I have plenty of room left to add new pics of my girls.

On Sunday, my sis is taking the teens and her girls, and a few friends to one of those franchise kids play places for Susan's birthday party.
She asked me if I want to go.
I honestly don't know.
I would hate to miss her party, Susan is my little bud, but I'm not feeling well, I have a ton of stress and a ton of work to do.

I have a million things to do at home here, plus I have a bunch of actual work to do, and I really need that money.
In order to get all that money on payday, I need to have them all done by Monday morning.
I'm sure I can do it if I just start working and don't stop.
I really need that money, and I really want to be there for Susan.
I'm sure I'll go.
I'll make myself a deal, if I can get more than half my work done, I'll go, and then I'll have to do all the rest of them done by Monday morning.
I can do it if I don't get sick again.

I haven't heard from Cindy yet, so today has just been a waiting game, doing other things to occupy myself, and my sister came by with a few things from my parents.
She had gone up to visit them last weekend, and brought me home some of my mom's most awesome blueberry muffins, some chocolate chip ones, a button up sweatshirt/jacket for me from my mom (thanks Mom!), and a painting my dad made for me.
I took a photo of it so you can see it.
I love it and am going to get it framed.
It's really so beautiful, I love it and you Dad!
You can click it for bigger.

I'd really like to know what the point was of fighting for and trying to get, and "winning" a higher child support amount, if it's not going to be enforced?
I got the court papers today.
It said that starting immediately, meaning August 1st, 2008, the day he "gets paid" and makes a deposit to the child support, that the new amount of $77 per week was going to start.
It didn't.
I checked it today and he did make a payment alright, but it's an amount that he chooses to pay, not the court ordered amount of $77, it's $37.20.
I thought court orders were supposed to be enforced?

What do I have to do, pack up a few Briggs and Riley suitcases for myself and the teens, and actually go up there to speak to a judge?
Do I have to beg the judge to enforce his own order?!
This is ridiculous!
What was the point of all of that, the hearing delays, and the paperwork, and all the evidence that I had to supply, because he refused to turn his in, they refused to make him, nobody investigated, and they only have what they have because I sent it to them?!
This just makes me so mad.
Child support court and enforcement is a complete joke in this country.

The child support hearing lasted all of 10 minutes, 5 of which were spent on hold waiting for the magistrate to call the room to order, and putting me on speaker phone, swearing me in, and all that hoopla.

Present in the courtroom today was myself, the Maine DA, someone from children and family services who was there to verify that I was indeed the ex-Mrs. Cooper, social security number xxx-xx-xxxx, and to state the names and ages of my minor children that are in my full-time custody.
I named them, Mark and Sebastian Cooper, ages 15 and turning 17 in a few weeks.
Also present was my ex's lawyer, I think. I heard a low mumble "present your honor",  when the name Bob Montblahblahblah, was announced, and the judge who spoke his name so fast I didn't catch it, but it will be on the finalized child support modification paperwork which I will get in the mail within a few weeks.

Because my ex-husband did not appear in court or by phone, and did not turn in his paperwork at all, or not in enough time for the judge to look it over, (again, something was mumbled about interrogatories, we have the ex-wife's, do we have Mr. Cooper's? something was mumbled) the judge would not back-date the child support amount to January 1st 2008, the date the DA officially filed for the modification with the courts, because even though it's such a low amount,  Mr. Cooper has 3 other minor children who he is current on paying child support for, that paying that amount may cause him to fall behind on those child support payments.
Whatever.

So based on the income and asset information the DA does have on my ex, the child support was raised from $21 per week to $78 per week.
From $84 per month, to $312 per month.
It is a huge improvement, but really, after 15 years at $21 a week whenever he felt like working, whenever he felt like paying, it's still not a truly acceptable amount.
It will help a lot, it won't be so much of a struggle now to buy them all of the things they constantly need like the sneakers they grow out of every 3-4 months because they are growing like the giant redwoods, and the clothes they grow out of for the same reason, and all the school supplies they always need for class projects, and those odd items that the teachers require or your student does not get a credit that they need in order to graduate, and the gazillion other items that teenagers need to have all of the time.

The new child support order is to go into effect immediately, as in tomorrow's child support deposit which will be placed on that lovely Florida state child support card they made me get, *eyeroll* and the funds will be available on Tuesday by mid-day, if he actually follows the court order.
If the new amount is enforced every single week, the $312 a month will definitely help to pay for the things that Mark and Sebastian always need.
Mark is at 6foot 2inches now, Sebastian is at a solid 6feet, and they are not done growing yet.
Just over the very short summer vacation, they have both grown 2 shoe sizes, and each of them has grown another pant and shirt size, so yeah, the new amount will be a major help to provide all of the things they need.

That's all I've ever wanted, to get some help paying for the things that two growing young men always need.
I wasn't fighting for this modification as a way of getting back at my ex-husband, I simply wanted him to help pay for the things that HIS sons need.
I didn't make these babies on my own, they have a biological father that they never see and they don't want to because of the very last words he ever said to Mark.
And ya know what?
I don't blame my son for never wanting to speak with his bio-dad again.
Those words stung him so bad, it crushed him that day, and if anyone even brings up his last visit with his bio-dad, he becomes immediately enraged, and will get up and walk away to go and be by himself, to calm himself down.
He's tried over the years to email his bio-dad, to try and get past that day, and every time he messaged him on myspace or sent an email, he wasn't believed, his bio-dad always thought it was me.
No, it wasn't, and every single time he got turned away, it was just another knife in his heart.
There are so many scars there now that attempting to repair that broken relationship will be an impossible feat.
Both the boys have their bio-dad's myspace pages and ways to contact him, they have their own email accounts on their own computer, and are free to try and contact him whenever they want to, if they want to.
Neither one of them have tried in almost 3 years now.
They don't even look at those myspace pages, and we don't discuss him at all in this house unless they bring him up.
I let them say whatever they want, spill all of their feelings out, do what they have to do, and I just listen.
I gave up trying to help repair those relationships a long, long time ago.

I didn't mean for this to turn into one of "those kinds of posts", but when I see them hurting, when I hear them talk about that last visit, and how he cares about his other 4 kids more than them, it kills me inside.
I can't take their hurt away, I can't make it any better, nothing I say will ever erase the memories they have of him saying the things he did to them.
They knew nothing about the child support modification and hearing today, if and when the new support payments come in, I'll let them know that I did my best to get it increased, and we'll go start the school shopping after 2 full payments come in, which will be right in time for my SSDI to come in, and we'll be able to go get them new shoes, clothes, backpacks, and all the basics they will need, and then when we get the specialized lists, we'll use the next week's payment to get most or at least some of those specialized items. 

And then every 3 months, new sneakers, pants, and shirts.
I wish upon a star every single night that they stop growing soon.
I look like a midget standing between them, and I gained 3 full inches in height after my back surgery. *LOL*

Mark got a couple cards in the mail for his birthday, and just like he asked for, he got some money.
He decided that he didn't want me to cook dinner last night, he was going to order a bunch of wings from Wings n' Weenies, and he'd treat the family to dinner.

He ordered a half and half box, 50 wings, 25 hot and 25 bbq, and we all sat down and ate the very tasty wings while watching Rocky V.
Then after, we all went back to our chosen playthings to do.
Mark went back to the Xbox, Sebastian went back to his on line video game, and I went back to surfing the net, reading blogs, and playing on the local forums.

We all went to bed pretty late, that may have also contributed to this morning's barf-o-rama.
I woke up and just wasn't feeling right.
I was really hot, had that clammy feeling, but I blew it off.
The yucky feeling started to feel worse, so I went back to the couch to lay down.
Then it hit me like a freight train.
I got up off the couch as quickly as possible and ran to the bathroom.
I barely made it in there in time before the vomit started to rise up my throat.
I must have been in there puking for a good 10 minutes, and it was all bbq chicken wings.
I know it was the chicken because I did have some ice cream later in the night, but all that came out was bbq wings.

They were mighty tasty last night, but they don't taste so good coming back out.

The stress of it all, the stress of living and trying to keep my head above the financial waters, is starting to get to me big time.
I want to just hire a couple of moving trucks and pack up all of our stuff, stick it in storage, and just go away.
Just leave, go somewhere, go anywhere, I don't really care anymore.
I'm so tired, I just can't keep getting a little itty bit ahead, and then get hit with another unexpected bill or appliance replacement cost.
It's too much for me right now.

I have the stress and worry about whether or not I'll be having neck surgery, I have the child support court hearing coming up, I have all kinds of bills and expenses due in the next few months, and every little thing is catching up with me and overwhelming me right now.
Like right. this. minute., I feel like crying, just curling up in a ball and crying and screaming and kicking and shouting.
I just want it all to stop or at least slow down.
It's one thing after another these last few weeks.
Last week, the boys got in that fight and hurt each other, I have bills I'm trying to pay and I'm not getting enough work, the economy is getting worse and I think it's affecting the industry I'm in because work has slowed down a lot.
And I have the child support court hearing next week, and I'm just not feeling up to fighting for it right now.
Like today is just not a good day, the whole thing just has me way stressed out because I have other things going on that are occupying my mind right now, and to have to deal with that a few days before I find out if I have to have neck surgery, well, it's just upsetting me so so much.
Anyone understand that?!
I just have things that I have to deal with and am worried about, and I want what's right, what's fair, but I'm so emotional right now that I am afraid that I'll end up crying halfway through the hearing when his lawyer starts asking about my health.
It was one of the questions on the interrogatories, and I know his lawyer is going to try and make it seem like I am not a good mother because of my back surgery and stuff.
My health issues have not stopped me from being a good mom, I do a damn good job, and I pay for everything by myself, and I have the back-to-school expenses coming up really soon that I will be paying for myself again..
They go back to school on the 18th of August, and they need clothes and supplies, and so that's another big expense that I have to take care of.

And then tonight the lawn mower rip cord thingy breaks, so now I have to either repair that part OR I have to buy another lawn mower.
And Sebastian was outside playing and he slipped and twisted his knee, so he spent a few hours on the couch this evening with an ice pack on his leg crying that it hurt.
It's NOT broken, but he did twist it, it's painful, I know that because I've done that and it really hurts pretty damn bad.

But you see!?
It's just been one thing after another and it just keeps coming, and it all hit me tonight.
I'm just an emotional mess tonight so I'm sitting here blogging instead of crying and being all upset in front of the kids.
These blogs of mine are not a business, they are my therapy, they help me cope with everything in my life by letting me say all of the things that are on my mind, they help me deal with my life and all of the things that happen in it because I am stuck in my house and I have no one that I can talk to.
I have had a bad day and now that I've dumped it all here, maybe I can let some of it go.

I was so tired after getting home today, I ate a little something and then laid down on the couch.
Big mistake.
I fell asleep and just woke up.
Hopefully that little 3.5 hour nap won't cause any major problems in my sleeping patterns for the rest of the week.

I may still end up having to take Mark to the ER for his hand.
It's swollen up a bit more tonight, and he says it hurts a lot now, so maybe he did actually fracture it.
Dammit.
I wrapped it in an ace bandage, and have had him icing and resting, icing and resting, and we'll just have to keep an eye on it.
Stupid kids.
Gah.

I have like 900 emails and blog comments to reply to, I feel terrible about not replying to them yet, I always try to reply within 48-72 hours, but this past week has just been an odd one and thrown me off track.
I'm really going to try to reply to every single one tomorrow.
Right now, I probably have about 300 blogs to catch up on.
I'm awake now, might as well right?

I wanted to tell you that Menopause the Musical is really a great show.
We saw the 2pm performance today, a sold out show, and it was absolutely hysterical.
It was seriously a super funny show, I was laughing till I nearly pissed myself, had tears rolling down my cheeks.
The whole audience was laughing up a storm, they got a standing ovation at the end of the show it was that good.

Thy come back here about every 3-4 years, my sister had seen the show then, so she knew how good it was.
The same women who starred in it then, are still doing it today which is kinda cool.
Steady acting gig right?

The songs were absolutely hysterical, the skits were really funny, I LOVED the hippie-ish older woman, and the goody goody woman from Iowa.
They were so damn funny, their facial expressions, the way they moved their bodies.
All 4 of the women had amazing voices, it was just such a good show, you really should check the tour schedule and see if they will be doing any shows near you, and then get a couple of your girlfriends together, take your menopausal mom, and go have a great gal's night out.

Oh, and I was unable to get any pics or video because they have a very serious no camera rule, and they have people walking the aisles to make sure no one is taking any pictures, drinking anything other than the bottled water they sell, or eating.
The Asolo theater is a very old one, it was fully restored to it's original beauty, so they are very strict on the rules there. 

I didn't tell you what I'm doing tomorrow afternoon/early evening did I?
My sister's boss Cary, my sister, her friend Hanata, and myself, will be having a nice lunch together and then going to see a performance of Menopause the Musical. (movie auto starts upon going to the linked site)

It all starts with four women at a lingerie sale with nothing in common but a black lace bra AND memory loss, brain skips, hot flashes, night sweats, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex and more! This joyful musical parody set to 28 classic baby-boomer songs from "I Heard it Through the Grapevine, You'll No Longer See 39" to that disco favorite "Stayin' Awake, Stayin' Awake" will have you cheering at your seat and dancing in the aisle! It's definitely not The Silent Passage anymore!

We'll be seeing it at the Asolo rep theater in downtown Sarasota.
I've only been there one other time in the 11 years I've lived here, I completely forgot about that when Jo (my sister) told me where we were going.
I went there about 2, maybe 3 years ago, (?) to see some play.
It's out near the Ringling mansion/museum.

I'm going to try and sneak my camera to take a small video of at least one of the songs.
I went searching on youtube for anything about it, and all I found were 2 commercials for it, and a few interviews with the cast members, and a bunch of videos for some other musical about menopause called Hot Flashes the musical.
They really should put up more videos about it so maybe more people would be interested in seeing it.
Apparently it's very funny, but how would anyone know other than word of mouth from friends who may have seen it, if there are no snippets or clips of what we can expect?
A short video of people saying it's hilarious is not enough info for me to want to go see something ya know?
I need details, I'm a need information kind of gal.

The boys will be staying here and babysitting Susan while we're gone.
There's plenty of food, snacks, and things for her to do, and the boys are great with her, so I don't see any problems happening.
It should be a good time, and  I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

I don't think Mark realizes just how lucky he is.
No, we're not rich or even financially "ok", but he has a very easy life compared to other kids we know.
I very rarely ask him to do anything around here, but when I do, I expect him to just do it.

One of my friends son, the same age as Mark, has some major responsibilities, a lot is expected of him and it's not in a bad way expected of him.
What I mean is, his father expects a lot from him to help make him a better man when he grows up.
If he screws up on his grades, gets mouthy, does something wrong, he is grounded, and grounded not for just a week like I do, but a wicked long time.
He's finally getting some of his privileges back tomorrow after months of being grounded.
And that's if he doesn't blow it by tomorrow which he just might do.
But I applaud his mom and dad for being able to hold their stance with him no matter how mouthy a 17 year-old-know-it-all teenage boy can be.
It's so much harder when you're a single parent, I wish I could do what they do, or had someone to kick his ass when he needs it.
I just don't know what's wrong with him most of the time.
He sleeps all freaking day long, wakes up, eats, showers, and then plays his video games. Usually if I tell him it's time to take care of his chores, he just does them with no problem, and it's not like he has a ton of chores to do either.
Daily, he's supposed to check the trash and see if it needs taking out, and the recycles, and once a week mow the lawn.
That's it.
 
But today I needed help with the leaking AC unit, I am not strong enough to do it myself, and I'm not supposed to do it myself.
He acted like I was the biggest bitch on the planet for making him help me.
He said he was tired, that it's the landlord's job, that he was busy playing a game, why should he have to help.
Maybe he's not getting enough vitamins and nutrients, maybe I'm not making him eat enough vegetables or something.
Maybe I need to start giving him huge ass vitamins the size of horse supplements or something to get his ass up and out of bed at a reasonable hour, and to make him be in a better mood or something.
He doesn't even fucking realize just how easy he has it, just how fucking lucky he is.

I almost wish I could send him over to my friends house for a week, let her husband whip his ass into fucking shape, teach him to be respectful of the parents, and to show him just how lucky he does have it.
I wouldn't of course, do that to my friend and her husband, Mark can be quite mouthy, probably way worse than their 17 year old, and Mark would no doubt put up a fight.
But it would be awesome if he had a male figure in his life who would work his ass into shape. He has so much he takes for granted, and I try to tell him that all the time.
I tell him, just look at how long Jeff has been grounded, it's been months of no video games, no phone, no computer, no tv, no anything but his chores and in his room reading books.
For months.

I pay for everything.
I work my ass off to give them the things they do have like the yearly Xbox live subscription, the monthly PSU subscription, the monthly DSL bill so they can have the net for both the computer and the Xbox, and all the snacks he munches on all the time.
Every time I go to the corner store, I always come back with something for the both of them.
Anytime I go anywhere, I am thinking of them and if I have enough money to get them something special.
He honestly takes it all for granted, he just doesn't get how much he has, how lucky he is.
He could be grounded for months at a time like my friend's son.
Maybe I should do that.
Maybe I should just take everything away, unplug it all, cancel all the subscriptions, ground him from everything for months, and then maybe he'd realize just how good he does have it.

The rain is coming down so hard outside right now, that when I woke up this morning I wasn't sure if one of the boys were up and taking a shower or not. It really sounded like someone had turned on the Danze faucets and left them on.
It's heavy, heavy rain, beating against the windows so hard, I'm surprised the boys are still sleeping.

Last night we watched Tin Man, it was a miniseries on the Sci-fi channel that people said was pretty cool. It wasn't half bad.
I think the ending could have been done a lot better. It felt like they rushed to wrap up all the loose ends.

But anyway, there was a preview on disc one about another movie called the The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. It did look interesting, but what fascinated me most was that all of his stories take place in this fictional discworld.
"It consists of a slightly convex disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin, (similar to Chukawa or Akupara from Hindu mythology, though "world turtles" are common to many disparate cosmologies) as it slowly swims through space."
The movie had this beautiful sequence of discworld, and I wanted to share a picture of it with you.

 



It was swimming about in space all by itself, with the world on it's back. Pratchett took a belief that many cultures held for many years, and turned it into the world where his stories take place. The sequence was just really beautiful, and it's hard for me to believe that people held this kind of belief about earth. It was flat, it had corners, or it was carried about on the back of a huge turtle floating in nothing.

I really wish the boys pc had a wireless card so I wouldn't have to have a CAT5e cable duct taped across the living room floor.
Between Mark moving around a small table when he eats meals, and the cats clawing and chewing on it occasionally, and me running over it with the vac, the one we're using is starting to get worn up.

I know I have another cable that's the same length as that one, but I'm pretty sure it's in a box in my bedroom closet.
But which box?
I have no clue.
Maybe tomorrow when Skye is here, Mark can entertain her for a little bit while I dig through the closet to find the box so I can find the cable.

Have you started your shopping yet?
Have the kiddos written their lists?
Are they dropping hints about the latest gaming platform or toys they want?
Mine haven't started yet, but I know they will soon.

I'm not planning to have a party yet, but maybe I will.
I know my friend Jimmy does one every year, and then we all head on out to Ybor for some partying and hanging out with friends.
I wonder if he'll send out any of the cute little Christmas invitations again like he did last year?
I have no idea where he found them, but last year's invites were a wee bit naughty, actually, they were very naughty, so naughty in fact I had to hide them from the kids and I certainly couldn't scan and post it on my blog.
People would have been emailing me and complaining.
"Kat, my son/daughter/niece/nephew/grandchild was sitting on my lap when I opened up your blog and saw that. How dare you not place it below the cut?! What is wrong with you?!? You write a family blog for god's sakes!! I'm never reading your blog again!"

What's funny is I have actually gotten emails like that about other things I've posted, like the picture of that family who has like 18 kids, and the saying on the bottom of it made reference to a female body part and a clown car.
Some people just have no sense of humor, but I did start placing things below the cut after that and writing a very open warning about the contents below the cut so if they take offense to things or have a kid near their pc, they probably shouldn't click the read more link.