WOOHOO! ]]> http://www.geannie.com/blog/archives/society-proceedings/attention.html http://www.geannie.com/blog/archives/society-proceedings/attention.html society proceedings Fri, 18 May 2007 09:30:27 -0500 {NOTICE: as stated a couple of months ago, because of nasty, horrible sp@mmer people, my comments have had to be shut down per host's orders. they were hitting my site so hard it was shutting down the server. *obnoxious sp@mmers!* so anyhow, in order to contact me until SOMEDAY i get a new blog software up and running, you need to email me... and PLEASE DO!! thanks!}

i m-must do a m-me m-me, folks. that's all there is to it. sorry about the cryptic messages to get you here, but really...

claire made me do it! ;)

*ahem* okaaaay, not the cryptic stuff

so here i goes...

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. i am a very indecisive person most of the time. i have trouble focusing on one task. that's mostly because i'm so scatterbrained, i usually have a ton of things that need to be finished...i can't concentrate on what i'm trying to do for seeing all the things around me that are undone. this drives me nuts and sometimes leads to a very ungood depressed episode fo rme.

2. my mother bases her whole opinion of you (or at least me) on how clean your house is and how well organized you are. at least most of the time she's that way. now i love my mom, don't get me wrong. she's the most loving, giving person you'll ever meet...but she can really make me a wreck when she's like worrying about what people will think. her mother never made a big deal about a super-clean house. they were poor and mom always felt like if she could clean what little she did have, then everything would be okay. so she cleans like... well, like rabidly! mom's always been very concerned that people think well of her and all of us. she gets embarrassed easily and over very trivial things. she's not like 'snobby' concerned, but worried someone will think we don't behave acceptably or dress acceptably, etc., etc., etc. all this kinda fussing is part of what made/makes me as nervous and such as i am, i believe. and there are other factors, too. i'm not playing the 'blame it all on the mother game' at all. this is just a fact about me.

3. for those who don't know (if there's anyone besides claire still reading here! lol!) i have had diabetes for 32 years. i'll be 40 in november. (you do the math. ;Þ ) most of my life. up until november 2, 2004, i was taking up to 7 insulin injections a day trying to keep my blood sugar under control.... and failing! that's when i got my insulin pump! i. love. my. pump! it has changed my life so much! not that it's perfect, but living with diabetes is sure a lot simpler, that's for sure and certain!! since march of last year, i've lost 30 pounds due to several different things...a] neuropathy/stress/nervous stomach causing me to be nauseated and not eat nearly as much for several months ... which lowered my insulin needs {more insulin = more food -- they must balance} and b] going on a migraine med which caused a lessening of the appetite, still losing more weight (which also lowers need for insulin {lower body weight=lower insulin needs} and c] basically what i just mentioned... the mere fact that i was losing weight, thus needing less insulin, was helping me lose weight! clear as mud? i hope not, but that's how i went from wearing a very tight size 14 jeans to a loose size 10. woo- and hoo! ;)

4. (man, this IS getting hard!) um... i love flowers and backyard birds and butterflies. right now, i don't have much of either because i haven't had the time nor money to spend on getting a nice area ready. i don't even have seed in the feeders, that's how awful i am. :( i have a couple of red knock-out rosebushes. one mom just got me this year, so it's blooming. the other she gave me last year. the bad cold snap got it, so it's had to grow back out again. i put out a couple of hydrangeas, but they look awful. should they do that after setting them out?? *worried face* my dream is to have a wonderful flower garden complete with a pond and small waterfall and no deer skull looking at you from the wall of the fort and no dog pen right in your face when you sit on the patio and no pile of car parts or big ol' trucks looking at you like a creepy monster either. just flowers and water and birds and butterflies. that's a l l ! ! ! hmph!

5. um... oh, here's another boring medical one. i have cataracts. yep. at 39. pardon my french, but .... they suck! diabetics tend to get cataracts earlier than usual annnnd they tend to not do very well with the cataract surgery (because they don't heal well) so i dunno what will happen in the future. of course mine aren't that bad right now. but they sure have put a damper on my reading. i absolutely cannot read a thing unless it's really giant print without my +1.25 drugstore readers. yep, i know those aren't even that strong, but i can hardly read a thing without 'em. urgh!

6. we had revival at our church last week. i know. usually people will say, "we had a revival at our church" which i guess basically means the same thing. and i'm not picking at anyone out there, i'm just generalizing here, okay? i guess when you say "a revival" it kinda sounds like something you take outta a box, ya know? anyhow... even if we did say "a revival" our church and community was revived. Dr. Stan Frye was the 'evangelist'. it's in quotes because he's not actually an evenagelist. he's a missionary. he's been pastor of some giant churches, some that started out tiny...and for years, he's been going over to africa on these trips. not your average mission trip. he went to places that mission boards weren't sending people. you can read more about it on the website. but the man is fascinating. i don't think i've ever met anyone so on fire and literally anguished for lost souls. he was in a wreck over there at the very beginning of setting up this missions organization, when there really was no one to contact, etc.... and his best friend died in his arms. he told the story to us and it was traumatic to me just to hear him tell it through his tears. he preached without fluff, without apology and without caring whether he was going to hurt your feelings. he told you what you needed to hear. that i'm not doing enough for God. that i'm not focused on what's really important and one day, i'm going to have to answer for that. that i need to put the Lord first in my life and let the rest of it fall into place (and it will). he really "socked it to me". and i really needed that.

7. and in that spirit, i'm going to tell you some of the things the Lord has done for me. first off, he saved my soul from eternal damnation. that's probably not popular to say, but it's the truth. i was eight when i went up after the preacher's daughter came back to where i was crying (everyone else was!) and asked me if i wanted to be saved. (well, of course i did! i didn't quite understand what that was at the time, though) i went on and got baptised and thought i was all okay. really, i never gave it much more thought, being a snot-nosed kid and all. but during an evening service one night when i was 11, i felt something. i didn't know what it was, though. when i went to bed that night, i couldn't sleep. i tried and i tried, but i just couldn't. something the preacher said was making me wonder if i was really saved or not. i went crying downstairs to my parents' bedroom to get some help... for some reason neither mom or dad would wake up fully (unusual) and so i had to go pray it out myself until i felt this gigantic weight lift off me.
the next morning (at that time, we did saturday night & sunday morning services) i went up during invitation. i guess they misunderstood me again because they treated like a rededication and at the time, i didn't know for sure if that was what it was or not. but now, i believe that's the night i got saved. not when i was eight.
*heh* how's that for confusing? :)
God kept me safe through my school years. being a kid with diabetes was probably a lot more dangerous back then than it is now. we didn't carry meters to school because they were too expensive! my blood sugar probably stayed way too high most of the time! but i never had any bad complications til after i had both my kids.
speaking of kids... if you can believe it, i occasionally still get the "i didn't know diabetics could have kids" remark. even in the 'twenty-aughts"! lol! God gave me two healthy, cuddly baby boys who've grown into two healthy, handsome, intelligent young men. what a blessing!
He saw me through the horrible depression that followed having my thyroid gland completely destroyed when I was diagnosed with grave's disease. having your thyroid levels go from 5x above normal to zilch? um... not good! that was a dark time, but God helped me make it back to the light.
God pulled me through the nightmarish Stevens-Johnson syndrome. go. read. keeping in mind that before i was finally admitted to the hospital for my two week stay, i'd already been to the e.r. twice in the past 10 hours and sent home. *sigh* see how much the Lord's brought me through?
for some reason, He keeps me around down here. and what a poor example i am. *hangs head in shame*

this past week has rekindled my thirst for the Lord. it's brought our family to church when otherwise, we wouldn't have gone. it's put a desire in us to go at times when we haven't been. i just pray that we can stay close enough to The Fire that we don't let our flame die down.

okay...tag seven people? i'm not sure i even know seven people who still remember me anymore! *siiigh* lemme think a minute.... *think, think, thi...* OUCH! ahhh, okay. how's about marty of not to scale, k8 of two wild monkeys (if she ain't off havin' a baby already), michele of coffee soups, moni of tuff toenail (if she ain't off havin' a baby already), dia of diamonds in the rough, linda of linda's lunacy and osray of being there. ha! i did it!

now...let's see how many-a them do it! hmmmm.....

everyone's okay here... if there's anyone out there still checking by this place.
*sheesh!* i can't believe i've gone this long without posting!

still no help with the wordpress problems. i'm thinking maybe i should just start using the different url and have a link back to here for archives or something. ?? i just dunno. and i dunno when i'll get time to do that anyhow.

we've been busy with all sorts of things. wish i had time to post the pix. maybe i'll just stick a slide show up later.

hmph. that was easier than i thought... enjoy:

here's what we've been doing in no particular order::

we took everything out of our attic in order to have aluminum insulation installed. my attic now looks like a spaceship and too much of the stuff that needs to go up there is still down here. GAH! that was over a month ago!

we got rid of a ton of stuff... tommy took off the entire week and we just worked our guts out. we went through both boys closets and got rid of a lot of stuff, too. most of it i'm putting on ebay, which is a totally new venture for me.

i'd only ever sold one or two items on there. now i'm listing 6 to 10 at a time and i feel like i'm doin' big bidniss! so far, it's been okay, but i had one international deal that was kinda difficult to get shipped, but it finally worked out. *whew* i just get nervous thinking i'm going to mess something up, etc. i worry about losing money if something doesn't sell, etc. it's a little stressful to me, but we've got tons of stuff that's never been worn and the extra money would sure be helpful. duh! ;)

tucker fell off a 20foot cliff onto rock about 2.5 weeks ago. scared me to death. he ended up with just a jammed front leg, amazingly. God must have been watching over that crazy dog. the vets couldn't believe he was even alive, let alone that he could walk and didn't break his leg! what a miracle. he's just barely limping at all now. :D

neuropathy in my feet started getting lots worse about a month ago. finally got so bad i could hardly walk on them. i was hoping there was a new med i could try.... and there was, but doc also upped my current med, neurontin, too. the other med is cymb@lt@. i hate taking new meds. hate taking so many meds. hate adding a new med w/o going off something else. *sigh* but it does seem to be helping. it's been a week today and i'm still not quite adjusted to it. but it sure has helped with the grogginess and seems to give me a little more energy. but then on the other hand, it or something else, makes me feels completely dead to the world at other times. *sheesh* can't win for losing. gah.

tommy and i spent this past wednesday and thursday at st. joseph hospital with his dad as he underwent a heart cath. he had an 80% blockage in the bottom of his heart which they cleared and then put in a stent. that man beats all i've ever seen, though. he was awake talking to the nurses and doctor the whole time. he never had to have one pain pill the entire time. he walked the whole way out of the hospital (it was a long way, too!) he came out just the same way he went in except for that plastic braclet!! lol!! he seems to be doing fine as long as we can keep him from messing around and blowing the plug out of that artery before its healed! we're just so thankful that God made all this so smooth and easy with no complications or pain. :D

so...the guys are all just working... corey's working on his car more and more. hope he gets that thing done soon. i get tired of him taking mine all the time! lol! it's a long way to moe-lissa's house! rofl! ;Þ casey is doing better about working on his lessons, thank the Lord! tommy is still not smoking and is dealing better with the stresses at work and of course THAT tickles me pink!

okay.. there. you got a blog anyhow! surprise! (not)

i really have to go now. my house is a disaster and has been for forever. i can't seem to make any headway with it and it's killing me. everyone's gone now, so i'm gonna see what i can accomplish all by my lonesome and hope my energy holds out!

love you guys!

since the comments don't work....EMAIL ME!!! ]]> http://www.geannie.com/blog/archives/board-of-directors/subject-g/please_be_patient_were_experie.html http://www.geannie.com/blog/archives/board-of-directors/subject-g/please_be_patient_were_experie.html subject G Sat, 12 May 2007 10:29:31 -0500 heh. what a title for a post about my baby's eighteenth birthday, eh?

i can't believe it's been so long ago that he was so tiny! and then again, it seems like eons...

pay no mind to that big-nosed gal with all the hair and the goofy look on her face. she has no clue what she's doing.

i went to a 'local' ob with corey. well, local as in 'next town over'. there weren't any good ob's here at that time. anyhow, the ob i had was scared snotless of me, but he muddled through the best he could. i mean, really. he did do his best and i appreciated that about him.

the whole hospital experience, though? well, that i really coulda done without. i dunno if the staff was as clueless about diabetics in general or just recently-pregnant lactating ones. GAH! i had iv insulin, then fluids and then two other meds that I can't quite recall... one may have been my long-acting insulin and the other maybe um... antibotics. something like that... anyhow, i had a total of three iv pumps (big ol' computer boxes that gave the iv meds at specific rates & times) mounted on two rolling poles. it was hard for me to really hold corey while i was in the hospital with all that crap on me and forget any 'rooming in'... that was unheard of back then.

he weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces and was the biggest baby in the nursery except for some 11-pounder who was delivered naturally but thankfully that one went home in a couple days. (we were there a week!) and so corey was once again the Biggest Baby in The Place and a marvel to all who passed by.

*sheesh*

so extremely, unbelievably long ago...and now? now we have this...

actually, since i was so bumfuzzled when casey's birthday came, i'm going to showcase some of his cutiepieness too.

casey also held the title of Biggest Baby in the nursery most of the time he was there... this time we were in a bigger hospital in a much, much bigger city. lol!

he earned the nickname "bruiser" because when he woke up hungry, needed a diaper changed or was just generally unhappy in any other way, he'd scream and squawl and rock the bassinet so much that soon the nurses learned to always "make sure Bruiser's crib is locked down." lol! i swear! they told me so... every single time they came rushing him into my room! lol!

rooming in was the in thing this time around AND i had NO iv's after the first day. if i'd had any clue at all that travelling the distance (80+ miles) would make THAT much difference, i'd have done it the first time! i was so much more at ease (helps to have knowledgable staff caring more about your needs than the sacred rule book, kwim??) anyhow... i was out this time in 4 days instead of 6 which made everything nicer since i had another little man at home anxious to get his hands on his new little brother.

so here we are... from 9 pound 7 ounce chubby-cheeked wiggle worm to this::

well, no more chubby cheeks. ha ha ha! that's all i got to say about that.

Happy Birthday to my boys. i love you more than you know.

the above petition is about more than keeping a former drug-addicted-turned-aging-bounty-hunter dude from being tried on ridiculous charges and sentenced to years in a Mexican jail. it's about insisting upon a little sanity. on a little control at our borders. y'know... those kinda things.

[EDITAGE::: after reading this over again, i see that i should have indicated in some way that personally, i'm okay with the dog. i've watched him on several occasions. he's an... erm... eccentric fella. *heh* but what he does is good. he takes people off the streets and not only that, he tries to counsel them. he (and his "posse") tries to make them see what they're throwing away by following the criminal path. he cares for them. so even though duane is a rather rough, even scary looking guy with his thin feather-laden braids interspersed through that blonde poof he usually sports up top and the terminator sunglasses and the leather arm bands, vest-on-skin with matching pants... well, i think underneath it all probably lies a heart of gold.

there you go, dog. i'm with ya, bra. ;) :::END OF EDITAGE]

the gif links to a prezidential canditate's website (a dude i'd never heard of, but i liked what he had to say)... his was the most professional, sensible petition (i've found many sites w/letters or petitions on dog's behalf) and was addressed to the proper authorities. your geographical info is sent to your state capital, then your senator/representative signs the petition (and i assume a number is attached to the signature according to how many signatures are actually submitted)

okay... next topic? the whole ru+ger's thing?? and i have to grit my teeth to just call it "a thing", but to keep my site off the search engine radar, that's what i'll call it... wait. no. it was an outrage. i dunno about any other women out there... women who, like me, are not black, but i was completely livid about this thing. most of you probably know, but in case there's anyone who doesn't... there are two white ladies on the team. one of them spoke quite a bit at the initial news conference (at least i think it was the first one) and she seemed to be just as furious as any other woman on that team. i know i felt totally insulted by it.

now, i'm no women's libber. (lol!) but i am all about respect and the complete injustice of referring to a group of people in such a derrogatory way without any thought to the consequences. i'm not into the "fire him/don't fire him" debate and i'm surely not waving any banners behind one of the main "civil rights" fellas who has been making the rounds on all the news programs and confronting the ignorant dolt who made the comments... no way.

i just believe that as HUMAN BEINGS? we oughta be a little incensed about this. juuuust a tad. *duh* am i for dumping free speech? nope. but i am for public insistance upon cordial treatment of others. i do think that public speakers, especially PAID broadcasters, should be held accountable for what they say.

i know the law and lady justice are blind. that's obvious with just a quick read through the constitution and bill of rights, but that's what humans are for. (i started to say 'judges', but here lately? i'm not sure 'judges' and 'humans' are always one and the same what with many of them repeatedly turning loose rapists and drunk drivers. *gah*)

see? that wasn't so nice, was it? but it wasn't directed at a particular judge or even a certain "team" of judges. it was a general statement with the qualifier "some" thrown in to show i'm open to the possibility that there could perhaps be a judge who is also a human out there somewhere. besides that? it wasn't even a nasty thing to say!

all i'm saying is that we as a society need to grow a brain, a conscience and pick up a moral compass before we check out with the miracle-gro.

the formerally guilty-as-sin but now innocent-as-doves duke lahcrossey players? more horrible injustice here.

i think the good-for-nothing da should be run out on a rail... okay, he should be sued AND charged with all the screwups he made in this whole thing. and this woman? this exotic dancer s t r i p p e r ... let's just be truthful here, uhkay? so the rumor on her is that she has some mental problem and so she didn't know what she was doing or some such drivel. *gag*

gee, `dep-a-dy` barney... then that oughta be all the more reason to go pick 'er up, doncha think?

she needs a thorough mental evaluation, and heck, there should probably be all the other physical afflictions the three students were subjected to while we're at it. fair's fair, after all. let's see how mentally stable she is. if she's got a li'l problem (hmm, maybe the kind that comes in a bottle or syringe? we wonders...) then by all means, lock her up in some "treatment facility" where she can be safe (AND OTHERS CAN BE SAFE FROM HER in case she cries wolf again & pairs up with another despicable da, kwim vern?)

but really, an equally big outrage? where are the so-called 'civil rights leaders' who have been squawling like banshees over the whole eyemush (perfect name for him, don't you think? *heh*) comments??? are they screaming about the year that was stolen and turned into a nightmare and a financial drain for these young men and their families??? um.,, nope.

these boys had CRIMINAL CHARGES leveled against them, had their names, addresses and photos plastered ALL OVER television, the internet and most every newspaper around the world! as disgusted as i am over the ru+gers deal, i am even more nauseated by this injustice. is it really like that? are we really willing to ignore such a horrible thing just because we're all ashamed of what some ignorant, arrogant, offensive old white man said??

does the press feel too guilty to expose the inconsistencies?? do we feel to embarressed by our attitudes and words that might sound too much like eyemush's?? dear Lord, i hope that's not it. surely we're more mature, more informed and educated or more well behaved than that?

*sigh*

wanna discuss it? EMAIL ME!!!! if i have the time annnnd the brain cells, we'll chaw the fat about this stuff. if not, i'll still respond. i just like getting your emails! :)

on the same subject as this whole post, but sorta kinda totally different.....

CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW TIGHT MY NECK AND SHOULDER MUSCLES ARE???

nope. i guarantee you can't. (& neither can this cat! LOL!)

ttfn----

ps::: i'm getting closer on the wordpress stuff. well, at least i THINK i am.... only time will tell, i s'pose. *heh*

Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.
-- Mark Twain

that sounds like the answer to many of life's just plain stuuupit mistakes and ideas, doesn't it? i mean, to be born with the wisdom from years of living while your body grows younger and younger? woah.

sounds like da bomb, don't it?

but God didn't make us that way, so i assume that wasn't such a good idea after all. or perhaps, just maybe, that's what heaven will feel like. i dunno, but after this weekend and this whole month... well, i would be really tempted to swallow a dose of mr. twain's formula given the opportunity!

i can't believe it's been almost a whole stinkin' month since i posted anything!!! gah! now that is just plain sad! but in my defense... i have been REALLY busy.

here are a few pix to prove it....

i know. he's gorgeous.... gets that from me, of course. [*choke, sputter, hack*] okay, well... some of it at least. ;)

yes, it finally happened. one of our boys graduated from high school. as he put it in the speech he delivered during the ceremony... "I'm graduating not just from high school, but from homeschool... so this is my parents' graduation as much as it is mine..."

i was so pleased with how things went, barring a few peevish things i wish hadn't happened, but most everyone he'd invited showed up and all the well wishes and words of support and encouragement were such a blessing.

probably more so to us than to corey. as much as i've almost dreaded this [graduation - proof my baby boy is now a grown up, yadda, blah]... even though the kid's been done with his 'school work' since february... when it was actually happening... when i, with tommy beside me, handed corey his diploma, i was so proud my heart almost busted clean outta me. ;) all the years of crayons and standing at the copy machine making up 'school' stuff, all the field trips and spontaneous nature walks with best friends, all the times we worked together on wording a paper or speech "just right", all the ribbons won, the trophies awarded, the pictures in the newspaper... all those achievements were rolled up in those few seconds when that blank (ha, ha) piece of rolled up paper tied with silky blue ribbon passed from my hands to his.

i would be the one with the slitty eyes from crying. sheesh! case was our trusty camera man.

hawgface & moe-lissa
{inside joke... sorry you few cyberfoks who still even read here, *sniffle* but those who understand will.... um..... well... understand!!}

um, okay... as for the rest of my busyness... just the sheer task of cleaning this place up, including the making of room for the fitting of like 30 people in my house? um... let's just say that now? I CAN'T FIND ANNNYTHING!!!!

urgh!

so, casey has turned 14 while i was in recovery. lol.

who knew how much i'd miss those sparkling-eyed messy-faced smiles?

he has been impossible re: giving any clues/hints/ideas or otherwise about what he'd like to have or do for his special day. he's been pretty sick with bronchitis, so that does kinda dampen the whole celebratory mood. anyhow, his dad finally came up with an idea... so monday, i took case over to the archery shop near our house. and there i sat and stood, alternately of course, for like 2 hours! it wasn't all bad. the couple that run the place are a hoot and i got to watch casey in action, too. we got him some bow equipment and he bought himself some arrows, too, so i think overall, he had a good time.

and then! my mom and dad took him out for supper! tommy's parents gave him a card and some money when they were here for the graduation.

corey's birthday is next week. he says he just wants a cookout. lol. isn't it hilarious how kids can put "just" in front of anything? lol!! "i just want the moon." lol!

hey, at least he didn't ask for something out of the realm of possibility. thank God for that! ;) and shoot, we need to have a cookout.

just not sure if the weather's gonna cooperate. we were sleeping with the windows open just a couple nights ago and now? it's almost 40* lower than the highs have been for almost two weeks. bring it baaaack!!!

*ahem*

anyhow, other than sis's first wedding anniversary also coming up [and pray for me you guys... i have really, reeeally awful feelings toward her husband. lazy, critical of everyone around him, demeaning to my sister, rude and whiny. um, okay... i've said too much, so i'll quit. it's just getting really bad. i mean me! i don't like it when someone can just make me furious just by thinking of them, ya know? i know this is a challenge, a test or whatever you want to call it. but i need to overcome this, and i don't have a clue how. *blush* um... *awkward silence* er... i didn't mean to go into all that, but that just proves my point. just the mention of something concerning him makes me go off. (oh, and i reigned in big time here, ya'll) *sigh*

well, i have got to get off here. i still haven't got wordpress ready to go. i mean, yes, it's installed, but at a different url, and i don't want to change urls! what i want to do is move all this stuff into wordpress and then put all of it here. the very nice man named michael who helped with the installation said that once i got the data moved (is it importing or exporting? i have no idea!) into wordpress, he'd help me get it all moved over to this url.

heh. so that leaves me, with a bunch of other junk to do already and no time to work on this import/export stuff. *wah!!* anyhow... just wanted to update you on that, but please, PLEASE do EMAIL ME!!! cuz i LOVE hearing from you guys!!! (& a big hug to you fweeties who have emailed! THANKS!)

okay... gotta git.

love yas!!!
*smooch*

-> wearing a bright pink t with tiny gold and silver studs that spell out Queen of Everything ... no one seems to take notice.

-> in the throes of planning corey's graduation ceremony. to be held at school. in the 'auditorium'. which means here. in the family room. *ha*

-> likely to die before it's all over.

-> a by-the-hair-of-my-chinny-chin-chin survivor of my mother trying to freak me completely out with wanting to move the graduation to summer, etc., change it to a cook out, etc., and completely take over the whole thing entirely etc. (which is why i hadn't told her about it!!) but since corey didn't want to wait that long for a graduation ceremony anyway and we're moving forward with the original plans (sort of!)....

-> expecting new carpet tomorrow... after going to pick it out totally spur-of-the-moment yesterday. ends up being for two rooms since the roll was off the warehouse floor and there'd be just enough for my bedroom after doing the living room and hallway (which look absolutely crappy!!!) the carpet is an imbursement given back for the assistance i have given and will, obviously give in future to the advancement of the enterprise overseen and manipulated by my parents. *ahem* how's that for vague and unintelligible??

-> mad at self because i've misplaced several important papers in the past few days. very angry. am hoping they'll turn up as we uncover from the mess made from laying of carpet. ??

-> excited about helping a used-to-be neighbor and long-time friend get familiar with homeschooling. her daughter is casey's age. i think both of them have wanted to try homeschooling for some time, but the mom works and the daughter made such good grades, they just never pursued it. but in the last year of middle school, the kids are meaner, the teachers have become unfair and the general atmosphere has become such that the daughter is downright unhappy. so much so she gets physically ill. :( anyhow... i've been trying to console/counsel/cheer them on in making this decision.

-> freaking out about sis's THIRTY SIXTH BIRTHDAY this sunday. *eyes bugging* how on earth did that happen?!?! of course, that means i'm like, waaaay old now, too. but to realize she's 36??? even though she's a grown woman all on her own and stuff... *sheesh* for some reason, that number is just freaking me!

-> like *blink, blink* because someone just called my cell phone asking for mamaw. /8^O what the heck?

-> the lucky contestant who's up for "hand tommy the tools" tonight. he got a call about three hours ago to do a job he's done probably three times in the past 12 years. *shrugs* eh, he saaaays it won't be too hard or too long and these people (car dealership) pay faaast... well, it'll be some much needed moolah around here. [addendum::: casey went to help since they cancelled emt cadet meeting a-g-a-i-n] so i got to sneak in a little nap!

-> sad to say this is all i have to tell you. or that is.. that's all i have time to tell you. i have so many thoughts i really need to 'flesh out'. stuff about mamaw and some of the things i've learned about since her death. things i wish i'd known or understood more about... and of course, my feelings about graduating my baby in a few weeks. *sheesh!* only a two days before his brother will turn 14 and then two weeks before he will have his own 18th birthday. where did my little boys go??? *sniffle*

-> glad i didn't forget to mention... basically the one viable option for a decent blog (ie: one with usable commenting!!) is to transfer everything from moveable type to another blog software. wordpress has been suggested by the hosting company. i know nothing about wordpress and obviously, just don't have time to research it right now. anyone who wants to give me a little insight on how well it does (or doesn't?) work, please email me!! {don't forget to change the doodads in the email address!}

thanks.

blessings to you!

COMMENTS ARE DISABLED NOW BECAUSE OF NASTY, DESPICABLE SPAMMER SNOT-PEOPLE!!!!

so...should you want to reach me, please do so in this manner:::

me [at] geannie [dot] com

(you know what to do, right?)

please lemme know whassup wif you, uhkay?

i'll try my bestest to get some sort of post up reeeeeally soon! promise!!

*muwah!*

just live the best she can, i figger.

lessee....been drivin' that bronco. you'd be very surprised how nice that thing drives!! i hope it brings a good price at the auction. if it doesn't, we're not selling it! hmph!

got the explorer (it's shed the "exploder" title once again! lol!) fixed. turned out that six of the plugs and wires were basically burnt up!! gah! now it's amazing how great IT runs, too! *sheesh!* if only people would LISTEN to me when i say "this thing sounds funny... i think something's wrong with it..."

speaking of LISTENING... tommy got his hearing aids!!! YEHAWWWW!!! so far, it's been a real rollercoaster ride for him... and for the rest of us, too. he kinda goes from being amazed at what he can hear that he couldn't before and hasn't in a looong time to being frustrated at some of the annoyances that naturally come with these things.

but.... he is having some real trouble, too. he has some tmj issues. he got his jaw knocked out of place when he played football several decades ago... and ever since, (because, i assume/know he didn't get proper medical treatment) it pops when he opens his mouth a certain way... like to yawn, or sometimes when laughing or when he goes to bite into a giant burger or something. (although now, it does it almost anytime he chews) *lol* you get the idea. anyhow... you can feel how much movement there is down in his ear canal. thankfully, it's mostly on the right side, which is the side with the least problems.

so far they've shaved down that ear piece, but he's worn it so much assuming it would just "break in" that now it's too sore, so he has to go 24 hours without it. and he is having a lot of problems with the tubes getting moisture in them (happens a lot with people who work outside or are in any area where there's a lot of moisture in the air (like when steam cleaning equipment)... but he drove down today to get some special stuff to help with that.

*sigh* he's scheduled to come back for a recheck (and to also 'rework' the settings on his *ears*) in a couple of weeks. hopefully by then he'll have gotten a lot more used to them and will be ready for the new settings (for distant sounds, etc)

what else? well, i just got back a bit ago from another birthday club dinner. this time it was karen. 44!!! man... i think i'll have to be out of town this year when mine rolls around. after all the hard time i've given them over being soooo oooold well, they might try to make it hard on me this year. and i probably won't be in the mood for none of their nonsense! how immature! *pththt*

karen just got a new job in an office! no more driving a big ol' van picking up elderly and mentally/medicated people from group homes for transport to various places... from the grocery to hospitals to mental facilities to their homes out in the boonies in the dark! gah!

now... *whew* she has this cushy officey job. she's in and out a lot, but still she has this giant new desk and phone with its own extension and rolly chair and such. so diane and i got her a bunch of fancy desk stuff. she was wowed. ;)

i'm worn out!

before that i'd been to the chiro as my head had started hurting again. he had to "set" me four times before i got out of there!! first time, he didn't have me positioned right on the hard thingie where you lay your head. *gah* i usually tell him if it's right cuz i know when it hurts like the dickens, then it's right. but i figured maybe now it was supposed to be in a new place and i shouldn't boss him around so much.

so when i sat up and he felt for that nerve. *OUCH!* there it was. it didn't take. i told him then about how i'd kept my mouth shut about the position being wrong, etc. he told me to speak up! if we were gonna do this, we'd might as well do it right and since i knew where the 'sweet spot' was, then i needed to help him position me on it so the alignment would count!

me: well, i didn't wanna boss you too much
him: i'm used to it. i'm married! --- *then a sound of 'oops, did i say that out loud'*
me: fine then. i got it covered. that ain't right.

that man is such a hoot!

so this time, while he had me down there, finally in that horribly uncomfortable position, he clicks me with the magical machine. then, he says, let me put that back on there a bit snugger, just in case. i am notorious for popping outta alignment in mere minutes/hours after being 'set'.

then, shame on me, i forget my cervical collar to brace my neck.. but he puts me on the therapy table where you lay on your stomach with your face in a hole while electricity is pumped through specific points on your body for a certain number of minutes while smokin' hot heater thingies are laid over top the electric zappers.

while in there getting hooked up, i talk to my friend, jo, who's the receptionist, secretary, bookkeeper, physician assistant, therapy lady, x-ray developer and sometimes babysitter of doc's kids.. lol.... we hardly ever get to talk, so today while it was slow, we talked in the therapy room... me with my head not in the hole, but turned sideways.

i never thought about that being a bad thing til she left and i put my face in the hole and heard the big pop in my neck. oops. out again.

so, after the electro-burningfire timer went off, i told jo my neck was out again. doc came and checked me.

him: yep, it's out
me: see, i told you it was!
him: i HAVE to check. otherwise, why wear the white coat?

gah! fruit loop. so, he set me again. this time i barely moved my head at all! i drove STRAIGHT home, found my collar and strapped it on for about 2 hours before time to go pick up karen and go for dinner.

did i mention that i'm tired?

i am.

gonna go snuggle down with some blankets, a few pillows and watch monk and psych! ;)

have a great weekend, ya'll!

*smooch*

*hmph* *roflol*

okay... um, tommy bought this bronco last week. for a couple hundred bucks. the guy thought the tranny was bad because there was fluid leaking. turned out the seal was just bad. sheesh! anyhow... the motor AND tranny work great and in fact the engine in the bronco is better than the one in tommy's pickup, so he began switching them out.

*GAH!*

i hate it when he does stuff like that!! he worked on it at his work in the shop. they're allowed to do things like that. well, actually, MOST of the guys do things like change oil, etc. NOT start interchanging parts with two or three vehicles. *SHEESH!*

anyhow, he's got the pickup engine into the bronco and it's runing fine. some idiot had towed the thing with a chain by the front axle and so that has a little curve in it and turning is like rough!! urgh! but it runs really good! he switched insurance over on it so he could get it licensed (and ready to sell -- he stands to make a good profit on it, THANK YOU, LORD!) but now looks like we'll need to drive it for a couple of days!

the engine in the exploder is missing! (thus the title!) i had to drive it in the awful SNOWY weather at like midnight on saturday. casey had gone with tommy to help set the engine in the bronco. (they have a chain lift, but it has to be lined up, etc... takes someone on top and underneath to get it set just right) of course, this and that went wrong and it took longer to get ready to set the engine, so it was that late before i could get casey.. actually, i hadn't gotten a call from them (nor had they come home!!) so i just loaded up and went by myself!

i hadn't driven in such weather in ... well, probably never!! there was probably only an inch and a half or two inches down (yeah, nothing compared to up north, i know!!!) but it was blowing and slick, nevertheless! it just doesn't get that way in kentucky anymore. :( and nobody will let me drive most of the time. *hmph*

anyhow... we live "up high" so i had to make the choice of which hill would be least slick AND which would be least likely to send me off in a ditch if it was really slick! some of those hills are daggone curvy! so i went down the one toward the train tracks, linda. no one had been down it, so i had some traction, but it was slick underneath there! i even made that 90○ turn at the bottom without wrecking. ha! anyhow.. i almost died when i saw that the parkway had only one lane, and "lane" is really stretching it. it was more like just a couple of hit-and-miss tire tracks, ya know? i'd never seen it like that before!! usually, once you get out of our little "sticks" road and hit the 'city' streets, it's like it never even snowed there. always clear and boring. lol!

it did really shock me, though. even the bypass was that way!!! the ramp was totally covered with snow and then back to those two sorta-there tire tracks. *shiver* but anyhow... i made it to the shop. i had to wait almost an hour because they still weren't quite finished setting it. case was tired and huffy. tommy was tired, but his usual 'buzzed' to be getting more done all the time. i don't know how he keeps going on those things. in all that grease and oil. (he was covered) *blech!*

after they got the bolts in to hold the engine, tommy asked if i'd go get some gas for the bronco. okay, yeah.

so, case and i drove across town. main street wasn't even totally cleared. *gasp* we got to the gas station, filled the can and put some more in the exploder, i got case a hot cocoa and tommy the coke he'd ordered and we headed back. that's when i noticed the shudder in the exploder getting worse.

it's had this shake/shudder when it's idling for awhile, but i've been poo-pooed and blown off about it. well, NOW they're not poo-pooing me. the thing is shaking like an earthquake on wheels!! can't figure out if it's a sensor or a plug, etc.. tommy looked at it last night but couldn't find any fried wires or plugs, so they left it in town to be scanned sometime today. *sigh* it wasn't showing any codes, which was odd. i'm just glad it didn't do like it did when it was having those tranny problems. ACK! =8^O

anyhows... i'm here, stranded -so to speak- with this big ol' old bronco to drive. i need to go get some scripts cuz i'm out and need to go hit the computer down at mom's again today.

it almost killed me yesterday... but that's another post.

ARGH!!!! = 8^S

gotta git busy. hope you're all having a great week!!

hugs....

my baby is ready to graduate. *sniffle*

i got the tassel with '06 on it because if not for having taken off about 3.5 months to work full time with my dad while tommy's dad was in the hospital and home recovering.. well, he'd have already graduated.

he wanted traditional black (how boring are boys?!?! sheesh!) with a blue/silver tassel. at least i get a little color.

i have no idea what we're gonna do. it'll be a couple weeks before the duds are delivered, so i have a bit of time to come up with something or go crazy while not coming up with something.

more likely that last one. gah.

i'm not sure what's gonna happen with the little (and i mean tiny!) church we've been attending. meaning there just aren't very many people there. i suspect the cold weather doesn't help that a whole lot. neither does the fact that one family that sorta promoted the church in the beginning has now left and i'm not sure what might be going on in that situation.

i know one thing though, the little place that's rented now for the church belongs to that family. *a-heh* yeah. last i heard, though, they'd agreed to extend the lease til the end of this year. maybe, i said maaaybe another place can be found by then. *shrugs* i dunno.

but.... *sheesh* talk about your rabbit trails!... the pastor's wife just came outta the blue back around Christmastime and started talking about some sort of graduation party and how the church wanted to do something for corey's graduation, etc.

when i told her i couldn't speak for him as to a date he'd be "finished", and i still hadn't really come up with any definite plans for a celebration....

she kinda jumped in telling me "we" could do something at the church, but we'd wait til like may, "y'know, closer to normal graduation time.."

i musta made a funny face because she then pedalled backward with "not that you're not normal..." etc. *sigh*

anyhow... i didn't pull out my gigantic hat pin and bust her bubble right there and then, but we'll have his party whenever we get good and ready. "normal graduation time" or not. *gah*

i guess she may have been thinking more about being able to find graduation cards or gifts or something??? but you can get those at any time if you look around a little. *shaking head* i just don't know what all that was about, if anything!?

but never mind.... my baby has finally finished and i'm pretty stunned. not that he finished (shame on you!!) but that i'm at this mile marker! who put me over on the supertrain?? i didn't WANT to be on the supertrain!! *waaaahhhh!*

sheesh. so here i am with my whole life/brain/house/mind/house(repeat repetitively) all a mess and i need to figure out what to do for my picky/hard to figure out/choosy/fussy/nice/finicky/handsome son's first graduation!!

*blabadablabadabla* with the finger flapping of the lips as in craziness.

help me?

• the last couple of times, i've seen the physician's assistant at the endo's office. her name's rebecca and she's cool.


• my A1c was 6.3% this time. up .03 from last time, which she was pleased with.


• i'd lost 6.5 pounds since the first of january. go, me! don't ask me how. dunno except stress & not eating much b/c of stress. i don't recommend this diet.


• she lowered my basal rates even more. (lowered them last time, remember?) so now i'm taking less than 20u total! total!! hard to believe when i first got on the pump in 11/04 i started w/over 60u per day! gah! no wonder i've dropped a few pounds! sheesh!


• my sugar's already been bouncing around a bit. it'll take a day or two to see if these rates will work, so i gotta just stick it out. the docs would rather me have a few highs (around 200) than so many lows (over 75% of my tests were below 80!)


• that's all she wrote. buh-bye!

everything is finally over. the funeral home was booked solid. maybe i already mentioned that (and i'm too lazy/tired to go see if i did) but anyhow, the funeral was friday morning.

as mom, dad and i went through the visitation sign-in book, there were approximately 250 people who came by, which would not have been possible had we had the funeral earlier, so the waiting worked out well.

mamaw looked so wonderful! it was just amazing. she looked as if she were just lying there asleep. the lady who's done her hair for years came in to fix her hair, so she looked just like she always did on a friday or saturday evening. she instructed the makeup people on how much and what colors to use. she told daddy about how she sang to mamaw while another service was going on as she worked on coifing her short silver tresses. such a sweet lady.

mom found this red suit with some sparse silky "vine" stitching and tasteful sequined flowers around the cuffs and lapels and then a perfect white blouse and necklace to go with. mamaw always loved to wear red and looked gorgeous in it. they were even able to lay the larger part of her cut wedding band on her finger (remember, corey had to go cut it off just before Christmas because of the swelling) so she appeared to be really ready for church, with the ring she never took off and all.

we ended up not having to sing or being able to get into a recording studio either. daddy amazingly found a cd with some recordings of the good old songs by some of the originals from 'back in the day'. :) it worked out well, even though i'd never seen a service where there weren't live singers. the songs and the way they were sung were perfect. "Peace In The Valley", "Just A Rose Will Do", "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" all of them, mamaw's favorites.

there was and is family *crap* galore going on, but none of it spoiled the service. no one acted out or caused a scene, for which i am immensely thankful! i just don't know where we'll go from here. i am shocked but then not really... and i'm definately confused and i'm completely saddened. even though i knew this day was coming. the day when those who have seemingly wanted so much to do it would finally break any ties left in this family. the song, "...will the circle - be unbroken - by and by, Lord? by and by?" seems so regrettably appropriate here.

================================

[february 9, 2007]

i think with that part of the family (dad's brother's, (& only living sibling) kids) mamaw was the only thing that forced contact from them with us. the whole family dynamic in uncle's family is too bizarre to relate here, so i won't, but the cold shouldering and nasty looks were hurtful, even though we knew they'd happen.

actually, let me clarify that it wasn't uncle's kids who did the worst of that stuff. it was the granddaughter. she spoke not one solitary word to any of us and more than once i caught her throwing daggers at us with her eyes! there's no other way to describe it.

i have no clue why except that she'd been told something by her mother, who was extremely cold to us as well, but since she knows 75% of the people in this county, she played the pulling-together relative when anyone was looking. it's just so desperately sad.

i'm restraining myself now... as i could go on relating tale after tale of times we've opened our hearts and homes to them only to be snubbed later on.... but i'm too tired. why waste the energy?

since mamaw lived right in dad's yard and he saw to all her needs, repairs to the trailer, trips to doctors, etc., etc... of course he helped draw up her will. it's not like she had a fortune to leave behind. but she had things of sentimental value. true sentimental value to us. but a kinda sudden "oh-i-want-that" value to others. gah.

anyhow... dad bought mamaw's trailer and set up the paperwork/will/whatever so that it was hers as long as she lived. i don't understand how this works exactly, but some way dad agreed that she could will the trailer to dad's brother (who has trouble maintaining a consistant living area -- *ahem*) so unc's been trying to sell the thing since he can't afford to get it moved nor does he have a place to move it to so as to live in it himself (and his wife). now i'm not sure, but i think that unc must pay dad whatever the trailer appraised for, so unc has been really scrambling to find someone who'd buy it for at least SOMEthing more than that.

with me so far?

that's okay. i don't get it most of the time either. gah. apparently he's "got it sold" to a nephew of his wife's and is "waitin' for the paperwork to go through". *sigh* i hope it happens soon. we worked our butts off clearing out that trailer real quick-like because he kept saying he had the thing sold. so no leisurely sorting through and neatly packing things. nope. we just had to empty drawers and closets asap, haul all that up to dad's shop and/or garage... get all the heavy furniture hauled up there, all her meds that still needed sorting (which came from mail order and needed to be called about? etc!) gah!! it was a real mess!

anyhow. that's been our lives here lately.

besides that stuff? if you can recall, i think i only mentioned it once or twice in passing, but i'd been working on the year end payroll stuff for dad's business.. w-2's and all the 4th qtr reports, etc, etc., gag!!! last thing before mamaw died, i'd hit a snag thanks to some freaky mistake that i could find nowhere and made no sense that it'd even be there in the first place, yadda, yadda...

all that stuff has to be done by 1/31 and so after the funeral, and kinda getting our bearings back over that weekend, i had TWO DAYS left to get alllll that stuff done. ARRRRRGH!

thank God, i did get it all done. not quite sure how, but i did. then i went and bought a $200 program for their computer to put their books on, cuz frankly? i'm tired of having to go through this panicky mess all the time. and mom doesn't have the time or surplus brain power to fool with this stuff. not with her booth at the vendor's mall, and all the other stuff going on with daddy's business. etc., etc., etc.

sheesh. but then i find out we'll need yet another program to put with this one to actually DO the payroll completely, and not just keep track of employee time. #$(*&$#(*&!! boy, if that don't burn my hide! my mammy & pappy don't understand this computer stuff, so having to go back and explain, or TRY to at least, to them that weeeeeell, this program WILL do SOME of the stuff we need.... just not alll of it.

grrr.

anyhow... as it is, i will have to do backtracking seeing as how it's almost the end of february and i haven't got to put annnny of their info into the computer yet. gah! i'm trying to get my house a little more under control first.

ha! who am i kidding? i'm trying to flippin' find the floor around here!! i've had migraines galore since before mamaw got bad sick and during her worst illness and of course, her funeral, etc.... i had a ton of stress-induced low blood sugars. i mean i had a LOT of them. so my house is disasterous because i haven't stopped since before thanksgiving and when i do stop? i crash.

*siiiigh*

okay. i'll stop whining now. guess you wish i'd just kept this here post in drafts, eh? ;Þ or maybe you just see why it took soooo long to finally get it posted.

if you think of it, say a little pray for me? i would greatly appreciate it.

dunno when i'll post anything of interest again. don't just dump me though, please? at least leave me a dear jane letter. that's the least you could do. *sheesh*

*pththt*

gotta go now...

much love to ya'll!

eh. i dunno. i guess that's pretty much right.

unless i have a headache.