Night shots

Did you see how cool my house looks decorated for Christmas????

My future home

Alright! I'll give you a break, but tomorrow we're checking out the night views ;)

The entire month of November in 1 post

It started off at the end of October w/ Ben starring as Lighting McQueen at his schools trick or treat parade and dance. It took me a solid week working 3 hours a night to create this for him, but I loved it, his parents loved it, and so did his schoolmates. Ben loved to rev the engine w/ the little steering wheel and gear shifter that was secured to his tray!

This costume is too big for his family or I to keep around our houses, so it's FOR SALE!!! All monies will be donated to PKS Kids for research of Ben's disease and also to his class for them to buy more adaptive equipment for Ben and his classmates!

Ben and his dad also have some artwork left over from this season's artshows. They paint amazing work and charge meager fees. Check them out benandbenniewaddell.blogspot.com Read through the links on the left hand bar to find "art for sale" and also scan through their blog to find interesting info about all people in general and the Waddell's in particular. Oh yeah...they often throw in some new art to look at!

Rodney's in love w/ watching his own TV in his room,

or the new (to them) big TV in the living room.

Where ever he is you will find this little red chair.

He has learned how to put on a shirt by himself. A few Sunday's ago his mom gave him his morning meds and formula to drink while she got everyone else ready. She laid his clothes at the top of the bed like usual, and when she returned he was fully dressed!

Every few months this boy proves how wrong the doctor's are about kids like him and Ben! Rodney double his life expectency yesterday! He turned 8!!! They said he would go before 4...suckas!!! They don't care to feel the determination in these kids, their families, and caregivers!

I am sooo proud of the progress that Rodney makes everyday. We are already working on potty training, and I expect we could be in big boy pants by spring, at least for the day time! Look down there to see Rodney put his shirt on by himself.

http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/tnl2000/Blackstones/?action=view&current=Ididit001.flv

On a personal note: O.B. and I have decided its time to start trying again to create a Baby Boop. I planned all the days with birth control pills, vacation days, ovulating days, DTD days. So, I am now taking the 4th of 5 days of Clomid 150mg. It's a very high dose, and the drug has a tendency to make a perfectly sane person HOMICIDAL if the trash isn't taken out on Wednesday, the potty isn't wiped, fall leaves are brought into the house that has just been vaccuumed!

And to top it all of! I'm taking my psychotic tendencies to Disney World for 10 days w/ O.B. and friends-George and Jane Jetson! This is the place where DTD must happen everyother day w/o fail or we will fail again! So, here I am going pyscho about the planning for everything. I have to work 10 hours tomorrow, do laundry, take out trash, fold laundry, trim the flowers, pack the laundry and sundries, and do a general fall cleaning on the house so the realtor can show it anytime while we are gone! AND we leave in 2 days!!!!!!!!!

I promise to return sometime the 2nd week of December to give updates on "my boys", lots of pics from the Disney trip, and status "Yes or No" on Baby Boop!

Feel free to use the comment section to start a poll or a prayer chain about success of creating Baby Boop! It'll be an interesting story for him/her as they grow!!!

Some "early morning" humor to start your day.

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we're in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just turned 3-year-old, and you never have to ask him to turn up the volume; it's always fully cranked. There have been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not so audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco. Halfway through our shopping trip nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to last stall:

"Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?"

At this point, I started mentally counting how many women had been in the restroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full. 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.

Cade continued, "Mommy, you ARE going stinkies, aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh, Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh, I see dem! Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You ARE gonna get some candy!"

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me. Where is a screaming new born when you need one? Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, "Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some."

"No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh! Mommy!" He started to gag at this point. "Uh oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!

As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: Okay, there are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

"Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done doing stinkies! Get up! Get up!" He grunted as he tried to pull me.

Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door. "Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at, Mommy? You wooking at da wady's feet?"

More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation. "Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy." He started pounding on the door. "Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!"

I saw that my "wait 'em out" plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found, standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, "Where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy?" But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, "I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as 'Mommy' to this little fellow."

Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives with her family in Grand Rapids , Michigan , where she no longer uses public rest-rooms with her 3-year-old in tow.

I had a very long response to this and Blogger ate it! I guess that will happen when you try to blog on Ambien. Oh well! Maybe tomorrow!

Remembering

Sweet Baby

Do you know I have already seen you?

You are so far away from me,

yet I have felt the touch of your soft skin.

I have stared at you in awe…

marveling at the fact that you are mine.
I have felt you in my arms,

as I touched your fine hair

and stroked your smooth, round cheeks.

I have looked at your sleeping face,

as I wondered if you looked like me or your daddy.
Oh, how I do not want to awake from these dreams

and return to my place of empty arms.
But for now I will.

I can only try to remember you, little one,

And the feeling of you nestled in my embrace.

I will try to hold onto that feeling,

finally knowing what it is like to be a Mother.
I will try to remember that dream with hope and not with sadness,

Praying that maybe…

Just maybe

My Sweet Baby

Is not so far away after all.

author unknown

Please remember those of us that have lost babies, born and unborn, on October 15th...Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day.

2 Days with Earth's Angels

Buddy Walk 2007

at

Furman University

What could be better than free ice-cream, soda-pop, hot dogs, and Furman cheerleaders??? How about around $10,000 to support Down Syndrome Family Alliance of Greenville? I had a great time walking w/ the Blackstone family! Rodney is featured in the middle of the passle of cheerleaders! He is one of "my boys". I get paid to play with, watch movies with, and feed this awesome young man. He is constantly moving and bending into the weirdest positions. The never ending string of Veggie Tales and Sesame Street movies will give you crazy nightmares. And the belly of this boy is a deep dark pit...it holds every food imaginable in generous amounts...except CHOCOLATE!!! Weirdo! ;)

Special Olympics 2007

Challenge Day

at

Bob Jones University

Ben worked with his volunteers, John and Cole, to earn 2 gold medals and the pretty rose (that I'm guessing was given to mom and sissy!). For this day, I got paid to follow around these 2 strong college guys while they pushed and pulled Ben, his Red Racer, and all his equipment around the field! All I had to do was make sure he wore his sunglasses outside and kept from losing his Passy Muir Valve...we wouldn't want him to be quiet (?) Not really! He loved talking to all the volunteers there and even amazed the Speech Pathology Professor! We are really looking forward to our next Olympics this spring at Furman University. Meanwhile, we'll keep painting, learning to talk and walk, and having all around fun!!!

"It's alright to cry. Crying gets the sad out of you. It's alright to cry. It might make you feel better." Free to be you and me.

I have to admit that I've been doing this quite a bit lately. It might be hormonal, frustration, or just because I need to get the sad out!

As you have seen in my intro...I'm a nurse. This is the only area of my life right now that always makes me happy. I love, love, love "my boys". My older (by 7 weeks) is linked to the left. My younger, I will introduce after getting permission from his folks. Let me just say that every night before I go to bed, I look forward to seeing one or the other, or both the next day! They always make me laugh...at least once each shift ;) In one house we are learning to poopy on the potty, the other, that some colors of paint taste bad.

A wife. What wife doesn't cry on occassion??? I work full-time, take kickboxing 3 days a week, pay the bills and balance the budget, cook dinner, clean the house, arrange for the "house from hades" to be fixed, that house and this house to be sold including the extra cleanings that showing w/ an hours notice requires, laundry, trash, arrange for the yards to be cut, and "scratch". I literally scratch the body part that O.B. points to...with his perfectly healthy finger! He works. For the P.D. that shares too much love if you were born with the right body parts....O.B. obviously (thankfully) was not born with said parts. And he works out. He wants to be a (geriatric) body builder. Good for him. During the 3 hours a day he is gone, I'll wipe his dribbles from the toilet rim, scrub the grease stains from the carpet that he left with his duty boots, and try to figure out how we are going to pay the power bill now that he bought:

But, I Love Him! Somedays, I really don't know why, but others he shows the strength to not strangle me, and he has a big shoulder to cry on!

A wanna-be mommy. In other words, "I WANT TO BE A MOMMY!" So, go...do the deed (DTD), baby dance (BD). Done that! Now what? Do it again...is 5-8 times a month for 3 years enough? Not yet. Because there still isn't a Baby Boop! Go to the doc. Been there so much the nurse recognizes my voice and I don't have to show my face to get fertility meds called in to the pharmacy. Actually...she has said that she doesn't want to see my face anymore. She has referred our case to a reproductive endocrinologist (RE). The beautiful state of SC does NOT require insurance companies to cover infertility treatments. It looks to me like Yoda needs to find a new home! I think I can get enough out of him to pay for the first 5 shots that will help us achieve the dream of parenthood, hehehehehahahaha ;-) I have alot of Star Wars for sale...what piece do you want? I need to invest in a turkey baster!

It's gettin' HOT in here!

The "stufff" is hitting the fan at Officer Boop's PD! One of the guys quit and had a revealing exit interview that was attended by the chief, city mayor, and city administrator. He let them know about all the inter-office affairs, property theft, and time theft! The chief was told "Find out what's going on and fix it, or else! You can either do it in-house, or I'll bring in an outside agency to do it for you!" So far there has been 1 sergeant poly-graphed...he's expecting his 3rd child w/ his corporal. He's married (obviously to someone other than the corporal), she's just a baby machine! She often is running personal errands, picking up her kids from daycare, or just "gone" while on the clock (even leaving a crime scene in the middle of an ongoing investigation)! All of these things were reported by 2 officers last summer...they were then black-balled, one has been fired and the other sent back to street patrol! There were alot of people that covered up the issues that were brought up. All of those people are now being investigated and most will probably go through polygraphs also. All the way up to lieutenant! With everything going on there be anywhere from 1-20 people w/o jobs in the near future!!!

So glad O.B. minds his own business!

"The Money Pit"

Welcome to the Boop's money pit, more commonly known as The House from Hades! This was all Officer Boop's brilliant idea..."we need to get this house and flip it! We could make an easy $20,000." That was almost 4 years ago. The stupid thing won't even sommersault, but I believe it does back-flips! 3 years ago we petitioned our county council to rezone the house as office-commercial so we could open a business in it (another of O.B.'s brilliant ideas). After sitting unoccupied for over a year we allowed 2 brothers to "rent-to-own". They started a small hispanic based real-estate company in our house, built up their business and decided that they couldn't get the money to complete the purchase, hmmmmmmm, convenient! So they tell us all this on Wednesday and are out by Friday! Back to empty :(

Last fall a (now former) friend decided to move back into our area. We offered to allow him to live in our rental for 2 months w/o requiring rent payments while he got a job and got settled in. Yeah, we're suckers! We also put the electricity in our names..."Here's your sign!" $6,000 in missing payments later, it's July '07 and "N.B. and O.B., I don't think I can continue to make these rent payments and pay the utilities (WHAT???????). I'm going to move back in with my mom."

2 days after former friend moved out, the A/C unit was stolen from the outside of the house. You know what I'm talking about....the big box looking thing outside!?! Yep, the whole thing! Gone!!! Funny thing is, the trashcans were moved over to block the view of that side of the house, the unit was turned off from the inside (yes, all the doors and windows were locked), f.f. used a panel van to move all his stuff out in the middle of the night and then payed us 3 $100 dollar bills the next day! I tried to call the recycling company down the street, but they gave me the runaround about checking for his and his friends name on their list.

"Two weeks" later the water heater blew up!!! That's the start of the current crisis with "The Money Pit/House from Hades".

"2 weeks" From start to finish it'll be 2 weeks. That's what the dude said on August 11th. It still looks like this! Only they added this hole :

And threw the trash into the tub and sinks...destroying them.

They also moved both toilets off the sewer holes. Wonderful! THANKS!!! And they are the Preferred Service Providers! Due to the extra damages The Paul Davis Co. caused, our check from State Farm Insurance is just enought to require us to send it to our mortgage company. They will then send us 1/3 to complete 1/2 the work. After inspection #1 they will send us another 1/3 of OUR money to complete the job. After inspection #2 they will disperse the final 1/3 of the money so we can pay the contractor. Fun!

BTW-the house has been For Sale since February when f.f. let us know his credit would not allow him to purchase the house. Original price $72,000. Current price $55,000 "AS-IS"! Anyone????

Sarah's angels!

Sister, Sarah, is from Ohio....no mountains! So she wanted to go for a hike today, but we had an Orange Ozone Alert. DH, Sarah, and I went driving instead. We stopped at Ceasar's Head State Park and walked along the edge so we could get good pics of the mountains. We came up to this:

So we get down inside and she wants to strike a pose:

Look closely at the top of the picture, where the exit meets the wood fence...do you see anything? Keep reading...

I decided to get a close up (unfortunately did not use the red-eye)

Nothing there!!! I know, these pics were all taken just a few seconds from each other! As she is walking out of Devil's Kitchen look what the camera catches:

It isn't dust! It's not on the picture before or the pics after! There isn't anything to reflect! On the original pic you can zoom in really closely and see a figure resembling an angel...with wings and a robe. There is also a noticable shadow on Sarah's back!!! There is a second lighter one at the bottom left side of the pic. I don't believe in ghosts, orb's, supernatural activites except angels!!!

The history is this: We were visiting my friend Tony on Sunday, and I asked him to tell Sarah his angel stories. He has many from his lifetime! He is actually in the process of publishing the book he has written containing his and other angel siting stories. He is a phenominal Christian man, and is always in the Word. He lives and breathes Christ!!! So, he was telling us and Sarah asked why she had never seen her angel? He said you haven't asked! So she stated that she would like to see her angel(s)!

4 days later!!!

Goals

In no particular order of importance or time-frame

1) Have a baby (or adopt) by summer of 2009

2) Loose 70 pounds and not the same ones over and over again!

3) Pay off the timeshare within 12 months (again...this is the 3rd time we have upgraded) Anybody need to rent a week somewhere????????

4) Pay off my car within 18 months

5) Pay off my school loan within 24 months (unless it is on hold due to continued schooling)

6) Sell this house yesterday (yeah right!)

7) Sell the rental house tomorrow (double yeah right!)

8) Read at least 1 chapter in my Bible everyday

9) Join a church

10) Figure out how to use Blogger

Football Virgin!!!

My 15 year old sister has never been to a football game. Not a pro game, not a college game, not a high school game, not even a pee-wee game!!! I asked her around 2 this afternoon if she wanted to drive through the mountains to take pics or go to a football game.

"Are the mountains going to be there tomorrow?"

Uhhhhhh, yeah!

"I've never been to a football game. Let's go!"

So, away we go! We arrive early to hit up a tail-gate party, but we only knew one person there (the author of a great blog http://www.benandbenniewaddell.blogspot.com/ )! Bennie is a great guy, dad, artist, and friend! His son is my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday patient, stay tuned and you will learn alot more about him... and you'll fall in love with this family the same way I did!

OK! Back to my sister, she's 15. She is #4 of 6 kids and is the most mature so far!

Really!! She is! She is an accomplished pianist (I will post a link soon so you can listen to a true talent) that's only been playing for 6 years, but is working on a repertoire for The Juilliard School of Music. She was in Brazil this July helping to paint a school with her church. She is basically self-taught as my mom homeschools her, my 10 year old sister, and my 11 year old sister. She has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up, except that she wants to get married and have as many babies as she can, and adopt even more. She's even offered to be a surrogate for me, if we don't produce Baby Boop before she turns 20 or so!!!! I LOVE MY YOUNGER SISTER !!!

BTW: Even though she doesn't look all that excited in the first pic...we did win the game!

GO FURMAN PALADINS!!!!!!

Giant Hairy HUH?????

We thought M.D.'s were making this stuff up -- until we checked the books

By: Kristina Grish for Women's Health Magazine

Whoever comes up with medical terminology definitely has a sense of humor -- or else they've been inhaling too much formaldehyde. How else can you explain conditions with names like retarded ejaculation and spastic colon? After curling up with a copy of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine and about half a dozen other toaster-size tomes, we found the silliest, grossest, most misleading vocabulary ever to escape a doctors lips and translated it into plain English. And since this branch of the medical biz clearly needs some assistance, we've offered up monikers we think are much more to the point. Heres hoping your man never becomes spermally challenged.

Docs call it: Cardiac Tamponade

Sounds like: What bright-siders make when life gives them tampons
Really refers to: A condition caused by blood or fluid buildup in the space between the hearts muscle and its outer sac
WH prefers: Bloated Heart

Docs call it: Cul-de-Sac

Sounds like: A good spot to crack open the keg, light bottle rockets, and call it a block party
Really refers to: A highly sensitive area (were talking orgasm-trigger level) behind the cervix

WH prefers: The C-spot

Docs call it: Giant Hairy Nevus

Sounds like: What you've nicknamed his member (behind his back)

Really refers to: A dark and often hairy birthmark that may cover a large area of the body (think your entire torso)

WH prefers: Epidermal Toupee

Docs call it Incompetent Cervix

Sounds like: Your vajayjay just blew its annual performance evaluation

Really refers to: A cervix that becomes weakened during pregnancy. Pressure from a growing fetus can sometimes cause it to open before the infant is ready to be born

WH prefers: Chubby Baby Syndrome

Docs call it: Jail fever

Sounds like: Whats playing at 2 a.m. on Skinemax
Really refers to: A bacterial infection spread by lice or fleas
WH prefers: Raging Cooties

Docs call it: Labyrinthitis

Sounds like: A pathological compulsion to send tourists in the wrong direction

Really refers to: A disorder that occurs when the inner ear becomes inflamed and irritated, which can lead to dizziness and balance problems

WH prefers: Weary Canal

Docs call it: Retarded Ejaculation

Sounds like: Someones spunk is special

Really refers to: An inability to ejaculate during intercourse or while masturbating with a partner
WH prefers: Spermally Challenged

Docs call it: Spastic Colon

Sounds like: Your poop chute could use a shot of Ritalin

Really refers to: A disease of the lower intestinal tract that can cause abdominal pain, alternating constipation and diarrhea, gas, bloating, and nausea

WH prefers: Busted Gut



Docs call it: Valley Fever
Sounds like: You're, like, totally hot for, like, dudes from Reseda

Really refers to: An infection caused by inhaling fungal spores that blow around the desert

WH prefers: Toxic Whiff

Docs call it: Wet Mount

Sounds like: How an Olympic swimmer celebrates after winning the gold medal

Really refers to: A test for vaginitis -- the catch-all term for common vaginal conditions (such as yeast infections) that can cause itching, pain, odor, and discharge
WH prefers: Crotch Scene Investigation