It was a good year.
Our marriage is still going strong, we had a few rough spots, but when we both cooled off enough to be able to look objectively at both sides we've come across that bridge better than ever...at least where my opinion is concerned.
Our children are also doing great. Mikeal has stayed on the honor roll and is in some classes that are more advanced than just 2nd grade. He also started wrestling a few months ago and is doing great with it! Mikaila is growing everyday it seems. Since figuring out a few things about her life has been MUCH more peaceful, everyone is sleeping like they're supposed to, overall it's just a much better home life.
We've made great strides in buying this house, I believe within the next month or two the actual title deed will be switching over into our name, and from there we'll continue with the payments we're making. We'll of been here for 2 years this coming April 1st. Now, where this house isn't perfect and does need some work & expansion done to it, I love it! It's going to offer & afford me the ability to use the skills I've learned during my life to make my children's home that much better, also while teaching them some handy skills in the process. Our only real complaint is the location - and not even so much the location as the proximity of the neighbors right next to us, they're some of the most vile persons I've ever had to deal with and I have nothing nice to say about them.
All and all I feel it's been a good year. We've learned several things, our standard of living has improved, and I have great feelings about the coming year. :)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sonofab!tch!
Well, the jerk is back out of the county jail. Means that yet again he lied well enough and got others to lie for him, so was able to skirt out again.
I'm not one to count on the fact that maybe he learned a lesson this time, because I know he didn't. This will continue on for the rest of his life. But of course, according to his mother he's been trying to end his life, so maybe that will be sooner than later?
Yes, I'm not too terribly happy over this development, to the point I just don't have a lot to say about it.
I'm not one to count on the fact that maybe he learned a lesson this time, because I know he didn't. This will continue on for the rest of his life. But of course, according to his mother he's been trying to end his life, so maybe that will be sooner than later?
Yes, I'm not too terribly happy over this development, to the point I just don't have a lot to say about it.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
On Second Thought
I'm not going to mess with making it private. Its my blog, the things I share here are things I wish to share with the public. If someone wants to continue to be immature we'll just continue to laugh at them, roll our eyes at them and the like. They're the ones getting upset over the content of my blog, and yet continue to read it, so they'll just work until they are able to find away around privacy settings anyways, so why give them so much more work to do, they already have a slew of kids and a marriage they ignore anyways in their endeavors to upset themselves, why should I contribute more to that?
Just Going to Have To
Because of the extreme immaturity of some folks I'm going to be making my blog private, available only to viewers of my choosing, if you would like an invite and did not get one, please leave me a comment, or send me an email. Invites will be going out this week, I'll be closing this to the public in the next week or so. Kinda sad, I know for ME to have to put my blog private, especially when I'm not opposed to sharing it with everyone, but because of the immaturity displayed, by a persons or two, because they have issue with what I write but insist on coming back to get their panties in a wad, over and over, only to call my husband, whine to him about it, at his place of business, nonetheless, I'm just going to close this from their temptations. Its also been freaking me out QUITE a bit that they use the reason of "we just want to see pictures of the kids" is just kind of creepy. If they really want pictures of the kids they can ask, give an updated mailing address, not return the packages sent to them, not insist that we make NO contact to them.
Quite mature for them to seek out trying to create drama, it's been shown repeatedly that they're not mature enough to handle acting like an adult, they wished for us to make no more contact, so we abide by their "rules" only to have to hear from them every few weeks about some new complaint or whatever, thinking that they can make my marriage to my husband just as pathetic as their own. Well, guess what, those things that you call my husband about in regards to MY blog - he reads my blog, he knows what's there, he doesn't give me grief then about what he reads - when you call him and complain about what I write in my blog and he comes home and tells me about it - we have some coffee and a laugh about it, followed by an eye roll, and that's the end of it.
So that is that. Have a good day.
Quite mature for them to seek out trying to create drama, it's been shown repeatedly that they're not mature enough to handle acting like an adult, they wished for us to make no more contact, so we abide by their "rules" only to have to hear from them every few weeks about some new complaint or whatever, thinking that they can make my marriage to my husband just as pathetic as their own. Well, guess what, those things that you call my husband about in regards to MY blog - he reads my blog, he knows what's there, he doesn't give me grief then about what he reads - when you call him and complain about what I write in my blog and he comes home and tells me about it - we have some coffee and a laugh about it, followed by an eye roll, and that's the end of it.
So that is that. Have a good day.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
That basically sums up the conclusion that's been drawn related to Mikaila's behavior, speech, etc "issues". She basically just doesn't process things like everyone else and thus seeks out extreme or extra stimuli. Hyposensitive is basically what describes her best. Hyposensitivity is characterized by an unusually high tolerance for environmental stimuli. A child with hyposensitivity might appear restless and seek sensory stimulation.
The things I marked off under the hypsosensitivity to movement section include :
__ in constant motion, can't seem to sit still
__ craves fast, spinning, and/or intense movement experiences
__ loves being tossed in the air
__ always jumping on furniture, trampolines, spinning in a swivel chair, or getting into upside down positions - she will try to stand on her head anyway possible, hands on the ground, one foot up in the air, with her head down between her hands, she just hasn't quite mastered standing on her head, but she's working on it...its a daily battle almost to keep the couch cushion ON the couch! She loves to bounce, jump, hop, you name it. Her most favorite activity is to jump on our bed, when she's able to get into the bedroom. She's even climbed up onto my dresser and jumped from the dresser to the bed - there's an average of about 6 inch space between the two when she is able to get onto the dresser, just because the bed gets pushed against the dresser so I can open & shut our bedroom door.
__ loves to swing as high as possible and for long periods of time
__ is a "thrill-seeker"; dangerous at times - QUITE dangerous, QUITE often...I think I have gray hair now...and I've not even hit 30 yet!
__ always running, jumping, hopping etc. instead of walking - this one is hit and miss, as she WILL walk, if I make her hold my hand and stay pace with me...which could be counted as a quick walk by most 2 year old standards, since I am quite long legged, but she keeps pace beautifully.
__ likes sudden or quick movements, such as, going over a big bump in the car or on a bike - she LOVES going down the dirt roads & hilly roads, any dip whatsoever in the road produces a "weeeeee" from her, even if she had immediately before the "weee" been fussing
Then the Sensory seeking behaviors are :
__ seeks out jumping, bumping, and crashing activities - Mikeal really seems to enjoy this..
..as he's often the "target"
__ stomps feet when walking - depends on the shoes she's wearing, the louder clack she can get out of her shoes the harder she stomps, she rarely stomps when barefoot
__ kicks his/her feet on floor or chair while sitting at desk/table
__ bites or sucks on fingers and/or frequently cracks his/her knuckles - not really so much, but she does bite her toe & finger nails...CONSTANTLY! I don't think I've had to trim them more than once since she got top & bottom teeth in..
__ loves/seeks out "squishing" activities - I think she satisfies this craving by putting the dog's food into the dog's water dish, making the food squishy, then play in that...she also like to play in shredded wheat cereal once it's soggy..
__ enjoys bear hugs - if you give her a hug and it's not tight enough she'll hug you tighter, hoping you'd do the same to her, OR she'll pull your arms tighter around herself
__ excessive banging on/with toys and objects
__ loves "roughhousing" and tackling/wrestling games - hence one of the reasons I can only scrub my kitchen floors if she's sleeping or isn't home, she has tackled me to the ground, with a shoulder to my throat, and its with MUCH more force than you'd expect from a 30 pound 2 year old, it HURTS to go over on a concrete floor.
__ frequently falls on floor intentionally - about the 2nd time she went down HARD on the, again, concrete floor or landing on a toy she'll look to be sure there is nothing in her way of going to the floor, then will throw herself with only enough force to be on the floor, not actually hit the floor....
__ would jump on a trampoline for hours on end - she can jump on my bed for hours and hours and hours upon endless hours if she's allowed...otherwise she jumps across the floor here in the living room, jumps from the couch to the couch cushions that are on the floor...always constant motion.
__ loves pushing/pulling/dragging objects - this one I'm a bit hesitant to mark really. She does love pushing around her play stroller, especially if the cats are agreeable to it, she mainly though pushes around her smaller furniture, tote boxes, and stools in an effort to be able to reach something that she wants.
__ loves jumping off furniture or from high places - I swear I have mini heart attacks 50 times a day...FORTUNATELY though she has only really attempted the unsafe jumping when Brian or myself have been there to "catch" her.
__ chews on pens, straws, shirt sleeves etc. - not really so much these items, but similar items, small hard plastic items mainly, like they're gum....I have given her gum and you'd think she just won the lottery or something. One small 1/4 piece of gum can keep her attention for the better part of at least an hour, she doesn't really start "playing" with it, such as with her fingers until she starts to get a bit bored with chewing on it, which takes a while...at least in standards of a 2 year old.
So her occupational therapist sent me a few copies of pages from a book - the book being The Out of Sync Child - the sections she gave me were mainly covering a "sensory" diet. Basically a lot of ideas of activities and stimuli to help her meet her cravings, and both of us keep our sanity.
If I have time later I'll put on here our sleep struggles and progress recently made in that area. :)
The things I marked off under the hypsosensitivity to movement section include :
__ in constant motion, can't seem to sit still
__ craves fast, spinning, and/or intense movement experiences
__ loves being tossed in the air
__ always jumping on furniture, trampolines, spinning in a swivel chair, or getting into upside down positions - she will try to stand on her head anyway possible, hands on the ground, one foot up in the air, with her head down between her hands, she just hasn't quite mastered standing on her head, but she's working on it...its a daily battle almost to keep the couch cushion ON the couch! She loves to bounce, jump, hop, you name it. Her most favorite activity is to jump on our bed, when she's able to get into the bedroom. She's even climbed up onto my dresser and jumped from the dresser to the bed - there's an average of about 6 inch space between the two when she is able to get onto the dresser, just because the bed gets pushed against the dresser so I can open & shut our bedroom door.
__ loves to swing as high as possible and for long periods of time
__ is a "thrill-seeker"; dangerous at times - QUITE dangerous, QUITE often...I think I have gray hair now...and I've not even hit 30 yet!
__ always running, jumping, hopping etc. instead of walking - this one is hit and miss, as she WILL walk, if I make her hold my hand and stay pace with me...which could be counted as a quick walk by most 2 year old standards, since I am quite long legged, but she keeps pace beautifully.
__ likes sudden or quick movements, such as, going over a big bump in the car or on a bike - she LOVES going down the dirt roads & hilly roads, any dip whatsoever in the road produces a "weeeeee" from her, even if she had immediately before the "weee" been fussing
Then the Sensory seeking behaviors are :
__ seeks out jumping, bumping, and crashing activities - Mikeal really seems to enjoy this..
..as he's often the "target"__ stomps feet when walking - depends on the shoes she's wearing, the louder clack she can get out of her shoes the harder she stomps, she rarely stomps when barefoot
__ kicks his/her feet on floor or chair while sitting at desk/table
__ bites or sucks on fingers and/or frequently cracks his/her knuckles - not really so much, but she does bite her toe & finger nails...CONSTANTLY! I don't think I've had to trim them more than once since she got top & bottom teeth in..
__ loves/seeks out "squishing" activities - I think she satisfies this craving by putting the dog's food into the dog's water dish, making the food squishy, then play in that...she also like to play in shredded wheat cereal once it's soggy..
__ enjoys bear hugs - if you give her a hug and it's not tight enough she'll hug you tighter, hoping you'd do the same to her, OR she'll pull your arms tighter around herself
__ excessive banging on/with toys and objects
__ loves "roughhousing" and tackling/wrestling games - hence one of the reasons I can only scrub my kitchen floors if she's sleeping or isn't home, she has tackled me to the ground, with a shoulder to my throat, and its with MUCH more force than you'd expect from a 30 pound 2 year old, it HURTS to go over on a concrete floor.
__ frequently falls on floor intentionally - about the 2nd time she went down HARD on the, again, concrete floor or landing on a toy she'll look to be sure there is nothing in her way of going to the floor, then will throw herself with only enough force to be on the floor, not actually hit the floor....
__ would jump on a trampoline for hours on end - she can jump on my bed for hours and hours and hours upon endless hours if she's allowed...otherwise she jumps across the floor here in the living room, jumps from the couch to the couch cushions that are on the floor...always constant motion.
__ loves pushing/pulling/dragging objects - this one I'm a bit hesitant to mark really. She does love pushing around her play stroller, especially if the cats are agreeable to it, she mainly though pushes around her smaller furniture, tote boxes, and stools in an effort to be able to reach something that she wants.
__ loves jumping off furniture or from high places - I swear I have mini heart attacks 50 times a day...FORTUNATELY though she has only really attempted the unsafe jumping when Brian or myself have been there to "catch" her.
__ chews on pens, straws, shirt sleeves etc. - not really so much these items, but similar items, small hard plastic items mainly, like they're gum....I have given her gum and you'd think she just won the lottery or something. One small 1/4 piece of gum can keep her attention for the better part of at least an hour, she doesn't really start "playing" with it, such as with her fingers until she starts to get a bit bored with chewing on it, which takes a while...at least in standards of a 2 year old.
So her occupational therapist sent me a few copies of pages from a book - the book being The Out of Sync Child - the sections she gave me were mainly covering a "sensory" diet. Basically a lot of ideas of activities and stimuli to help her meet her cravings, and both of us keep our sanity.
If I have time later I'll put on here our sleep struggles and progress recently made in that area. :)
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Guess I'm going to have
to put this up here every once in a while.
If you want nothing to do with us, but yet insist upon being a petty bitch, by spending all your time finding something to be offended about by reading my blog just STOP.
You are not going to do anything but invoke more ridicule to yourself.
Stop being petty. Go take your 5 minute walks once every few months to get in shape, use that time to think about how to better your life & the lives of your children. Work on your marriage. In other words, MIND TO YOUR OWN BUSINESS! It's part of being an adult. Quit worrying about what anyone else is doing, especially when it doesn't effect your life.
It would make a whole world of difference to your marriage - likely not, but it might - if you took the time to be involved in it more than you're involved with the lives of everyone else.
It is also QUITE IMMATURE to call my husband at his place of business to complain about something that *I* wrote. You have a problem with *MY* blog you talk to me about it or you quit reading it. It's that simple.
Thank you, have a good evening. Merry Christmas!
If you want nothing to do with us, but yet insist upon being a petty bitch, by spending all your time finding something to be offended about by reading my blog just STOP.
You are not going to do anything but invoke more ridicule to yourself.
Stop being petty. Go take your 5 minute walks once every few months to get in shape, use that time to think about how to better your life & the lives of your children. Work on your marriage. In other words, MIND TO YOUR OWN BUSINESS! It's part of being an adult. Quit worrying about what anyone else is doing, especially when it doesn't effect your life.
It would make a whole world of difference to your marriage - likely not, but it might - if you took the time to be involved in it more than you're involved with the lives of everyone else.
It is also QUITE IMMATURE to call my husband at his place of business to complain about something that *I* wrote. You have a problem with *MY* blog you talk to me about it or you quit reading it. It's that simple.
Thank you, have a good evening. Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Update about Mikaila's Therapy Progress!
Because I really have nothing better to do than try to hold her and receive several more bruises, I might as well...(1:30am, when I started this post)
Her vocabulary is starting to "explode" in recent weeks, mainly due to the fact we have been able to figure out that if the words come with some sort of ACTION she's more willing to say them, so we're adding in a little bit of pseudo sign language into her verbal language.
*Making a circle with both her hands, like she's holding a cup, is for drink & she says "dink"
*Clasping both her hands together, looking like she's begging with big ol' puppy dog pleading eyes is for please (Brian taught her this one) - she does repeatedly say "peassssss"...and really with that set-up it's HARD to resist
*She's counting to 3 now, usually starting at 2, after you say 1....so that goes "(me: One) her: tew, tree, WEEEEEEEEEEEEE followed by some death defying stunt.
*ANY time she even remotely bumps into ANYthing she will say "owie", make a bit of a fuss, get a kiss, & all is well again...this mainly started after she tried to stir dinner without my assistance - I had turned off the burner, before running to go to the bathroom, but the pan was hot & she grabbed it and the spoon to try to stir it. BUT now, FINALLY everytime I have the stove or oven on she puts her hand just close enough to test the heat, then will say "haw,(hot) NO, owie"
*She crosses her arms across her chest for Thank you, while saying "tanks" UNLESS her hands are full with whatever it is she'd been wanting, then she'll just nod and say "tanks"
*She follows me around, or when I'm getting onto her she shakes her finger at me and tells me "NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO"
*When she eats something she likes she'll let you know it's "g d tuff" (good stuff without the oo)
*Anything empty is referred to as "aw gon" (all gone) complete with a twisting of her wrists & she'll take the empty dish to the sink & trash to the trash can...now if I could only get the guys trained to do this
*and she'll "shhhh" someone, complete with a finger over her mouth if they're being too loud
That's all I can think of. Figuring out that putting an ACTION with different words makes a complete world of difference in our frustration levels with each other, she gets frustrated because I can't figure out what a finger point to the fridge is with the E E E and I get frustrated because she's frustrated, wants SOMETHING, is INSISTENT on trying to get it, but after 50 guesses as to what she may want and her throwing a tantrum that that wasn't WHAT she'd wanted, kinda wears on you, especially when it's repeated every few minutes.
She is starting to do a LOT better at transitioning from one activity to another, isn't focusing so much on one particular toy/activity. In the past she'd leave what she was doing for 2 minutes max, before going back to doing it or throwing a fit if she wasn't allowed to.
Her therapist did share a link with me on Sensory Disorders, that has a complete check-list of things for me to go through and mark off whatever I think describes her...go figure that she "scored HIGH" in the section of Hyposensitivity To Movement or Under-Responsive, meaning she constantly is seeking out movement, always has to be on the go go go go AND loves Sensory Seeking Behaviors, again movement related, so I'm going to bring that up at our next therapy session...
I just finished reading a lot on that site, as I was basically forcing Mikaila to sit still long enough to go to sleep But at least she's out now...time was only 2:40 when she finally STOPPED long enough TO go to sleep. It takes every bit of my strength that I can get mustered up at this time of day to hold her arms & legs still long enough to get her to BE still, then she'll finally relent when she realizes she is NOT going to fight her way out of it this time because I am at the end of that rope, so then she'll cuddle in, continuously move my head just so to suit her, move my arms where she wants them, often wanting me to squeeze tighter around her, then she's out. I honestly just don't have good strength to keep doing this and I am in so much flippin' PAIN it's not even describable. One of these days I figure I'll be able to have enough scrimped back to where I can treat myself to something like a massage, because heaven forbid my husband who went to massage therapy school for a short period of time, before one of his work related injuries, would give me a good massage. I know he works and such, plus has a pretty full social life so that puts time constraints on us...then there's the matter of Mikaila and her no sleepiness, making it such that I can't even think about going to bed until some 4-6 hours after Brian's been snoring.
I digress though. I'm really happy about figuring out about putting some actions with words, because she REALLY absorbs all of that unbelievably!
Now it's a matter of figuring out some other actions to go with a few other words (mainly just for our joint sanity) and hoping that she picks up saying other words without actions to go with them all. 
Her vocabulary is starting to "explode" in recent weeks, mainly due to the fact we have been able to figure out that if the words come with some sort of ACTION she's more willing to say them, so we're adding in a little bit of pseudo sign language into her verbal language.
*Making a circle with both her hands, like she's holding a cup, is for drink & she says "dink"
*Clasping both her hands together, looking like she's begging with big ol' puppy dog pleading eyes is for please (Brian taught her this one) - she does repeatedly say "peassssss"...and really with that set-up it's HARD to resist
*She's counting to 3 now, usually starting at 2, after you say 1....so that goes "(me: One) her: tew, tree, WEEEEEEEEEEEEE followed by some death defying stunt.
*ANY time she even remotely bumps into ANYthing she will say "owie", make a bit of a fuss, get a kiss, & all is well again...this mainly started after she tried to stir dinner without my assistance - I had turned off the burner, before running to go to the bathroom, but the pan was hot & she grabbed it and the spoon to try to stir it. BUT now, FINALLY everytime I have the stove or oven on she puts her hand just close enough to test the heat, then will say "haw,(hot) NO, owie"
*She crosses her arms across her chest for Thank you, while saying "tanks" UNLESS her hands are full with whatever it is she'd been wanting, then she'll just nod and say "tanks"
*She follows me around, or when I'm getting onto her she shakes her finger at me and tells me "NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO"
*When she eats something she likes she'll let you know it's "g d tuff" (good stuff without the oo)
*Anything empty is referred to as "aw gon" (all gone) complete with a twisting of her wrists & she'll take the empty dish to the sink & trash to the trash can...now if I could only get the guys trained to do this
*and she'll "shhhh" someone, complete with a finger over her mouth if they're being too loud
That's all I can think of. Figuring out that putting an ACTION with different words makes a complete world of difference in our frustration levels with each other, she gets frustrated because I can't figure out what a finger point to the fridge is with the E E E and I get frustrated because she's frustrated, wants SOMETHING, is INSISTENT on trying to get it, but after 50 guesses as to what she may want and her throwing a tantrum that that wasn't WHAT she'd wanted, kinda wears on you, especially when it's repeated every few minutes.
She is starting to do a LOT better at transitioning from one activity to another, isn't focusing so much on one particular toy/activity. In the past she'd leave what she was doing for 2 minutes max, before going back to doing it or throwing a fit if she wasn't allowed to.
Her therapist did share a link with me on Sensory Disorders, that has a complete check-list of things for me to go through and mark off whatever I think describes her...go figure that she "scored HIGH" in the section of Hyposensitivity To Movement or Under-Responsive, meaning she constantly is seeking out movement, always has to be on the go go go go AND loves Sensory Seeking Behaviors, again movement related, so I'm going to bring that up at our next therapy session...
I just finished reading a lot on that site, as I was basically forcing Mikaila to sit still long enough to go to sleep
But at least she's out now...time was only 2:40 when she finally STOPPED long enough TO go to sleep. It takes every bit of my strength that I can get mustered up at this time of day to hold her arms & legs still long enough to get her to BE still, then she'll finally relent when she realizes she is NOT going to fight her way out of it this time because I am at the end of that rope, so then she'll cuddle in, continuously move my head just so to suit her, move my arms where she wants them, often wanting me to squeeze tighter around her, then she's out. I honestly just don't have good strength to keep doing this and I am in so much flippin' PAIN it's not even describable. One of these days I figure I'll be able to have enough scrimped back to where I can treat myself to something like a massage, because heaven forbid my husband who went to massage therapy school for a short period of time, before one of his work related injuries, would give me a good massage. I know he works and such, plus has a pretty full social life so that puts time constraints on us...then there's the matter of Mikaila and her no sleepiness, making it such that I can't even think about going to bed until some 4-6 hours after Brian's been snoring. I digress though. I'm really happy about figuring out about putting some actions with words, because she REALLY absorbs all of that unbelievably!
Now it's a matter of figuring out some other actions to go with a few other words (mainly just for our joint sanity) and hoping that she picks up saying other words without actions to go with them all.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
I made a mad dash to my grandma's this morning to do a load of bedding from my bed, because we only have one set of sheets for our bed & Mikaila had decided my bed needed a good soaking... 
BUT Brian had to be at work by 11, cutting my window WAY down in order to be able to do it without taking both the kids with me. I had until 10:30 to make it back home...I made it...
BUT on my way home, flying down the highway, behind a pick-up truck loaded down with insulation, 2x4s, etc, going 65mph one of his unsecured bags of fiberglass insulation comes flying out at me. The guy driving the truck was completely oblivious to it flying out, of course I was almost getting ready to pass him at this point, so I was fairly close
and the bag nearly got hit by my minivan.
I honked, flashed my lights at him, but he didn't stop, so I pulled in at the nearest safe spot, ran back down the highway...as I was pushing my 10:30 deadline (it was 10:27, by the van clock)...grabbed the bag from out of the middle of the highway & threw it in the back seat.
I got home, just before the "buzzer", called the local lumber store, and sure enough my Nana Pennye's son answered the phone. I explained to him what was up, he of course knew exactly who I was talking about and will either let him know where he can find it or will come by and pick it up to hold for him when he comes back in for it. It's an older man and he doesn't see a need for cell phones, so there's no way to get ahold of him at this time.
That's a $60 bag of insulation...
BUT Brian had to be at work by 11, cutting my window WAY down in order to be able to do it without taking both the kids with me. I had until 10:30 to make it back home...I made it... BUT on my way home, flying down the highway, behind a pick-up truck loaded down with insulation, 2x4s, etc, going 65mph one of his unsecured bags of fiberglass insulation comes flying out at me. The guy driving the truck was completely oblivious to it flying out, of course I was almost getting ready to pass him at this point, so I was fairly close
and the bag nearly got hit by my minivan. I honked, flashed my lights at him, but he didn't stop, so I pulled in at the nearest safe spot, ran back down the highway...as I was pushing my 10:30 deadline (it was 10:27, by the van clock)...grabbed the bag from out of the middle of the highway & threw it in the back seat.
I got home, just before the "buzzer", called the local lumber store, and sure enough my Nana Pennye's son answered the phone. I explained to him what was up, he of course knew exactly who I was talking about and will either let him know where he can find it or will come by and pick it up to hold for him when he comes back in for it.
It's an older man and he doesn't see a need for cell phones, so there's no way to get ahold of him at this time. That's a $60 bag of insulation...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Court Hearing 12-16
The one this afternoon was for the modification of child support. They increased the required payment from $159 a month to $223 a month...I then inquired about Mikeal getting his Indian enrollment card, seeing as his sperm donor is Creek...and the sperm donor (aka SOB) gave some sort of sob story about his is too worn, but his MOMMY has copies of it...no word on whether or not he'd have her send a copy. THEN the SOB proceeded to tell the judge that because Mikeal was born in Indiana that he shouldn't be able to get an ID card...as if WHERE you're born makes a difference on WHO you're descended from...
The judge asked me if there was anything else I wanted to see done about this whole case and I simply just told her that as far as I'm concerned he can either sit where he's at until he rots or until what he owes is paid off.
SOB then tried to give the judge some sob story about ME not letting him have his visits with Mikeal...supposedly every other Saturday...Truth be told on that matter, as per the divorce & custody decree, he's allowed ONE two hour, court SUPERVISED visit, per month, on the 2nd Saturday of the month & HE is to arrange all of that with the court officials that'd be supervising the visitations. Any modification on that can ONLY come AFTER he's gone to the divorce counseling seminars that I had to go to.......
BUT because his lawyer wasn't there this afternoon this is to be continued until 1pm tomorrow afternoon, again preceded by a different hearing at 9:30am on his criminal charges - bail jumping, hot checks, & the like....
I was told I didn't have to show for the hearing tomorrow, BUT I'm planning on going because this is something that concerns Mikeal & I'd rather know firsthand than try to get information from someone later...I also plan on going so that if he's to bring up some sort of matter that would require my input or my presence I can be there in person and not have to be summoned to court at some later date.
I also kinda get a bit of a kick out of seeing that loathing look on his face and dirty looks aimed at me...after all he's the one in the orange jump suit and I'm not...and I also kinda really enjoy watching him make a fool of himself before the judge. He made my life a living HELL for the almost not quite 2 years I was with him, this is my personal payback, of sorts.
They based the payment amount on the minimum state requirements. Minimum wage has gone up QUITE a bit since child support was first ordered in 2006, hence the hike in his required minimum payment.
Makes not much difference to me, just because the state says he SHOULD pay whatever doesn't mean he will, and it's not quite like he was paying it all this time & suddenly stopped & I'd been relying on the payments each month, I've only gotten not quite $800 since I left him in 2003, so whatever. I NEEDED the money back then. Now it'd be a VERY nice cushion & we could do a few more things quicker, but I can't quite miss what I never had.
The judge asked me if there was anything else I wanted to see done about this whole case and I simply just told her that as far as I'm concerned he can either sit where he's at until he rots or until what he owes is paid off.
SOB then tried to give the judge some sob story about ME not letting him have his visits with Mikeal...supposedly every other Saturday...Truth be told on that matter, as per the divorce & custody decree, he's allowed ONE two hour, court SUPERVISED visit, per month, on the 2nd Saturday of the month & HE is to arrange all of that with the court officials that'd be supervising the visitations. Any modification on that can ONLY come AFTER he's gone to the divorce counseling seminars that I had to go to.......
BUT because his lawyer wasn't there this afternoon this is to be continued until 1pm tomorrow afternoon, again preceded by a different hearing at 9:30am on his criminal charges - bail jumping, hot checks, & the like....
I was told I didn't have to show for the hearing tomorrow, BUT I'm planning on going because this is something that concerns Mikeal & I'd rather know firsthand than try to get information from someone later...I also plan on going so that if he's to bring up some sort of matter that would require my input or my presence I can be there in person and not have to be summoned to court at some later date.
I also kinda get a bit of a kick out of seeing that loathing look on his face and dirty looks aimed at me...after all he's the one in the orange jump suit and I'm not...and I also kinda really enjoy watching him make a fool of himself before the judge. He made my life a living HELL for the almost not quite 2 years I was with him, this is my personal payback, of sorts.
They based the payment amount on the minimum state requirements. Minimum wage has gone up QUITE a bit since child support was first ordered in 2006, hence the hike in his required minimum payment.
Makes not much difference to me, just because the state says he SHOULD pay whatever doesn't mean he will, and it's not quite like he was paying it all this time & suddenly stopped & I'd been relying on the payments each month, I've only gotten not quite $800 since I left him in 2003, so whatever. I NEEDED the money back then. Now it'd be a VERY nice cushion & we could do a few more things quicker, but I can't quite miss what I never had.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Mikeal's First Wrestling Tournament
He did AWESOME!
He did not win either of his matches, but he did great! I did find it a bit funny to find that his coaches called in his name as Bonds, but it's all good and well, neither Mikeal nor myself minded. Pictures can be found here.
We went to his first tournament Saturday. His first round he went up against a girl...she had him pinned in the first round, he didn't give up, and he tried, but it was quite obvious that she's been doing this for a while, else has a few older brothers who've taught her quite a few things. Mikeal left the match smiling, regardless. I can't tell you how many of those kids I saw BALLING because they'd lost their match! Then to top it off their parents or coaches getting onto them, making them feel even worse.
His second match was against a boy in the "loser's bracket" he didn't win that match, but it wasn't because he was pinned, it was just because after the end of 3 rounds the other boy had more points. The other boy was rough on Mikeal but he didn't give up again and despite getting a bit of a bruising he again walked away from it smiling.
I was so completely proud of him!!! I'll upload some pictures when I get them loaded onto the computer.
But it was NOISY in there.
Just imagine 4 matches going on at the same time. Divisions 1 & 2...which are ages 5-8...roughly 100 kids in that age group, in that small gym. Because of the 4 matches you had roughly 16 coaches all screaming at the kids, telling them what moves to make...2 coaches per kid wrestling. Add in on that parents, grandparents, etc cheering on the kids on the mats, AND siblings all playing, yelling, running around...it was like an utter madhouse!
Poor Mikaila, who hadn't had but a couple of hours of sleep REFUSED to go to sleep, even when I'd take her out where it was significantly quieter...but she did finally sleep for about 5 hours, while I did the Christmas shopping, wrapping, the drive home, etc.
But I'm REALLY proud of Mikeal! I was so awesome to watch him "lose" because to see him after not being announced the winner you could tell that it didn't bother him and he just had a ton of fun! His coaches are also quite awesome!
He did not win either of his matches, but he did great! I did find it a bit funny to find that his coaches called in his name as Bonds, but it's all good and well, neither Mikeal nor myself minded. Pictures can be found here.
We went to his first tournament Saturday. His first round he went up against a girl...she had him pinned in the first round, he didn't give up, and he tried, but it was quite obvious that she's been doing this for a while, else has a few older brothers who've taught her quite a few things. Mikeal left the match smiling, regardless. I can't tell you how many of those kids I saw BALLING because they'd lost their match! Then to top it off their parents or coaches getting onto them, making them feel even worse.
His second match was against a boy in the "loser's bracket" he didn't win that match, but it wasn't because he was pinned, it was just because after the end of 3 rounds the other boy had more points. The other boy was rough on Mikeal but he didn't give up again and despite getting a bit of a bruising he again walked away from it smiling.
I was so completely proud of him!!!
I'll upload some pictures when I get them loaded onto the computer.But it was NOISY in there.
Just imagine 4 matches going on at the same time. Divisions 1 & 2...which are ages 5-8...roughly 100 kids in that age group, in that small gym. Because of the 4 matches you had roughly 16 coaches all screaming at the kids, telling them what moves to make...2 coaches per kid wrestling. Add in on that parents, grandparents, etc cheering on the kids on the mats, AND siblings all playing, yelling, running around...it was like an utter madhouse!
Poor Mikaila, who hadn't had but a couple of hours of sleep REFUSED to go to sleep, even when I'd take her out where it was significantly quieter...but she did finally sleep for about 5 hours, while I did the Christmas shopping, wrapping, the drive home, etc.
But I'm REALLY proud of Mikeal! I was so awesome to watch him "lose" because to see him after not being announced the winner you could tell that it didn't bother him and he just had a ton of fun! His coaches are also quite awesome!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Completely Drained, but VERY Accomplished!
Outside of buying stamps...which I forgot to get AGAIN, and I blew my budget today, so I'm not able to spend anything until Christmas Eve ...I'm DONE!!! At least with the main things. The food is all bought...as far as I can remember...presents are all bought, wrapped, & sitting in Nana Pennye's backroom No snooping that way!
I got up at 4:30am today , took Mikeal to his wrestling tournament, he ended up staying after he was done to ride home with one of his buddies, & since I was in a "big city" I hit up a couple of places and spent my entire budget, BUT I did get everything I'd intended on getting, then some , just have to get a few more stocking stuffers. 
Brian was at work so I was able to even get his present.
I got back to town (as the tournament was about 1 1/2 hours one way away) just as the parade was starting here in town, but Mikaila was SNOOZING! Poor girl! She didn't get to sleep until almost 2am...then woke at 3am, went back to sleep quickly afterward. I dressed her in her sleep at 5am, put her in the van, she fussed a bit, then went back to sleep. We get to the gym at almost 7am...she wakes up as I'm putting her in the stoller, hoping she'd sleep through most of the morning, as she's the type to sleep in until noon, ESPECIALLY when we have a late night - Brian had bought a new tree, so we took down the old tree & put up the new one, and that was just WAY too exciting for her to go to sleep, or even stay in her bed - Once everyone started showing up it got LOUD in there and there was just so many new and exciting things to try to do, she didn't fall back to sleep until she & I left at noon, we were barely out of the parking lot before she crashed...she slept all the way through a trip to Wal-Mart, a trip to a toy store, and another stop. Two hours of shopping, in and out of the carseat, into the bottom of shopping carts, etc. dead to the world. She did wake for a brief few minutes when I'd decided I was done and was going to get something to eat and head home...she screamed through two blocks, then while I was placing my order for the two of us...and crashed before we got our food. Then slept through my unloading the stuff I'd bought at Nana's house, slept through my wrapping the gifts, and did NOT want to wake up when I tried to rouse her enough for us to head to where Brian works to watch the Christmas parade. So a 5 hour nap, or so...yea, tonight is going to be F.U.N!
I have only had about 25 hours of sleep in the last week or so.
I feel like I have been go go go go go going for the majority of the last week. I've been up HOURS earlier than normal everyday since Tuesday, I've been gone more hours than I have been home everyday since then. I've gotten a LOT of stuff taken care of this week, but ugh!
I still have to do something for Mikaila's birthday, tomorrow... 
...I'm DONE!!! At least with the main things. The food is all bought...as far as I can remember...presents are all bought, wrapped, & sitting in Nana Pennye's backroom No snooping that way!I got up at 4:30am today
, took Mikeal to his wrestling tournament, he ended up staying after he was done to ride home with one of his buddies, & since I was in a "big city" I hit up a couple of places and spent my entire budget, BUT I did get everything I'd intended on getting, then some , just have to get a few more stocking stuffers. Brian was at work so I was able to even get his present. I got back to town (as the tournament was about 1 1/2 hours one way away) just as the parade was starting here in town, but Mikaila was SNOOZING! Poor girl! She didn't get to sleep until almost 2am...then woke at 3am, went back to sleep quickly afterward. I dressed her in her sleep at 5am, put her in the van, she fussed a bit, then went back to sleep. We get to the gym at almost 7am...she wakes up as I'm putting her in the stoller, hoping she'd sleep through most of the morning, as she's the type to sleep in until noon, ESPECIALLY when we have a late night - Brian had bought a new tree, so we took down the old tree & put up the new one, and that was just WAY too exciting for her to go to sleep, or even stay in her bed
- Once everyone started showing up it got LOUD in there and there was just so many new and exciting things to try to do, she didn't fall back to sleep until she & I left at noon, we were barely out of the parking lot before she crashed...she slept all the way through a trip to Wal-Mart, a trip to a toy store, and another stop. Two hours of shopping, in and out of the carseat, into the bottom of shopping carts, etc. dead to the world. She did wake for a brief few minutes when I'd decided I was done and was going to get something to eat and head home...she screamed through two blocks, then while I was placing my order for the two of us...and crashed before we got our food. Then slept through my unloading the stuff I'd bought at Nana's house, slept through my wrapping the gifts, and did NOT want to wake up when I tried to rouse her enough for us to head to where Brian works to watch the Christmas parade. So a 5 hour nap, or so...yea, tonight is going to be F.U.N!I have only had about 25 hours of sleep in the last week or so.
I feel like I have been go go go go go going for the majority of the last week. I've been up HOURS earlier than normal everyday since Tuesday, I've been gone more hours than I have been home everyday since then. I've gotten a LOT of stuff taken care of this week, but ugh!I still have to do something for Mikaila's birthday, tomorrow...
Friday, December 11, 2009
Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe
This is the recipe that I use, there are other variations and it's fairly easy to variate it according to your personal needs.
You will need :
**1 good sized clean bucket, with a lid, I use the Scoop Away kitty litter buckets
**Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - this is different than Baking Soda, do not inter use the two! For those of you who are local folks, I have been able to find it at Reasor's in Langley, you might be able to find it at the Amish Stores in Chouteau, but I don't know for sure????
**Borax 20 Mule Team - easy to find at Wal-Mart, etc
**Bar Ivory soap
**Large pan for boiling - I use an old stock pan that I don't make use of otherwise.
**Funnel
**Wooden spoon, paint stir stick, something durable that you can stir with, plastic doesn't seem to do quite as well as wooden.
**Old laundry detergent bottle(s)
**Optional :
OxyClean powder, including the OxyClean does make the price a bit higher, but for badly grimy clothes it works great as a booster to the detergent itself.
Essential oils, scent of your choice
Directions :
1. Put pan on the stove, add a half gallon of water.
2. Grate the bar of Ivory soap, add it to the water, start it boiling.
3. Boil the water, with the soap, until the soap is completely liquefied - VERY important! You do not want to see any solid flakes, at all. I use an old wooden spoon to stir & check for
4. After the bar of soap is liquefied, add 1 cup of the washing soda, 1 cup of the Borax, & one scoop of the OxyClean, if using the OxyClean, and add in another half gallon of water, boil until all ingredients are dissolved.
5. In your bucket have 1 gallon of cold water waiting.
6. Add the boiling water to the cold water.
7. Mix well.
8. Add in another half gallon of water, mix.
9. Add in 10-15 (or so) drops of the essential oils - basically whatever your desire is on strength of scent.
10. Use the funnel to pour into old detergent bottles, but leave room to shake the bottle.
11. As the detergent cools it has a tendency to separate & thicken - shake well before each use to remix.
12. Store any left over detergent in the bucket with a lid, stir well before refilling your container.
Estimated initial start-up cost is less than $20. When making the detergent without the OxyClean the cost per 2 1/2 gallons of detergent is roughly $1.25. Two and a half gallons of Tide will run you an average of $60. Adding the OxyClean ups your start up cost to roughly $30, and the price per 2 1/2 gallons is about $2.50. This, in my person opinion & experience, out preforms Tide & similar products.
Enjoy!
You will need :
**1 good sized clean bucket, with a lid, I use the Scoop Away kitty litter buckets
**Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - this is different than Baking Soda, do not inter use the two! For those of you who are local folks, I have been able to find it at Reasor's in Langley, you might be able to find it at the Amish Stores in Chouteau, but I don't know for sure????
**Borax 20 Mule Team - easy to find at Wal-Mart, etc
**Bar Ivory soap
**Large pan for boiling - I use an old stock pan that I don't make use of otherwise.
**Funnel
**Wooden spoon, paint stir stick, something durable that you can stir with, plastic doesn't seem to do quite as well as wooden.
**Old laundry detergent bottle(s)
**Optional :
OxyClean powder, including the OxyClean does make the price a bit higher, but for badly grimy clothes it works great as a booster to the detergent itself.
Essential oils, scent of your choice
Directions :
1. Put pan on the stove, add a half gallon of water.
2. Grate the bar of Ivory soap, add it to the water, start it boiling.
3. Boil the water, with the soap, until the soap is completely liquefied - VERY important! You do not want to see any solid flakes, at all. I use an old wooden spoon to stir & check for
4. After the bar of soap is liquefied, add 1 cup of the washing soda, 1 cup of the Borax, & one scoop of the OxyClean, if using the OxyClean, and add in another half gallon of water, boil until all ingredients are dissolved.
5. In your bucket have 1 gallon of cold water waiting.
6. Add the boiling water to the cold water.
7. Mix well.
8. Add in another half gallon of water, mix.
9. Add in 10-15 (or so) drops of the essential oils - basically whatever your desire is on strength of scent.
10. Use the funnel to pour into old detergent bottles, but leave room to shake the bottle.
11. As the detergent cools it has a tendency to separate & thicken - shake well before each use to remix.
12. Store any left over detergent in the bucket with a lid, stir well before refilling your container.
Estimated initial start-up cost is less than $20. When making the detergent without the OxyClean the cost per 2 1/2 gallons of detergent is roughly $1.25. Two and a half gallons of Tide will run you an average of $60. Adding the OxyClean ups your start up cost to roughly $30, and the price per 2 1/2 gallons is about $2.50. This, in my person opinion & experience, out preforms Tide & similar products.
Enjoy!
Homemade Laundry Detergent vs Store Bought
At least in my home...
Back in February I started making my own laundry detergent, I've used it without fail until about 3 weeks ago...I'd ran out of washing soda & had not been able to find any anywhere in the last (almost) year. So I ended up having to buy laundry detergent.
Comparison #1: I spent $12 on this one bottle, a bottle that is quickly coming to an end. I only spent $12 on the last almost whole year's worth of homemade laundry detergent.
Comparison #2: The SMELL! Oh.my.word! I buy unscented, dye free laundry detergent, when I do buy it, because it'll break me out just to touch it otherwise, much less wear it. But after using homemade detergent, which just has a very light, plain clean smell to it, scented if I add some essential oils to it, but very neutral overall...then using this dye free, perfume free detergent -
I can honestly smell all the chemicals in it! FTR, I've been using the ALL Free & Clear.
Comparison #3: The FEEL of my clothes. I could actually tell that my cotton clothes were cotton, etc, they just felt like fresh crisp clothes with the homemade laundry soap. With store bought detergent - I can feel the detergent ON my clothes I don't use much detergent either, mainly because of my skin problems, but also because it is so darn expensive!
Comparison #4: Did I mention the smell??!! I'm in the process of drying the last load of this week's laundry escapade and it just STINKS! Yes, it smells like laundry detergent, but it smells chemically!
I'd put a comparison #5 for how well they each clean, but they both do a decent job at getting out the dirt, grease, etc in the clothes, without a pretreatment.
SO! With that list I am so happy to of been able to find, quite by accident, that the grocery store down the way, opposite of the way I go, in the next county over, actually has washing soda in stock!!!
I can go back to washing my clothes in MY detergent!!!!
I really can't see myself going back to store bought detergents, it's just completely not worth it!
Back in February I started making my own laundry detergent, I've used it without fail until about 3 weeks ago...I'd ran out of washing soda & had not been able to find any anywhere in the last (almost) year. So I ended up having to buy laundry detergent.
Comparison #1: I spent $12 on this one bottle, a bottle that is quickly coming to an end. I only spent $12 on the last almost whole year's worth of homemade laundry detergent.
Comparison #2: The SMELL! Oh.my.word! I buy unscented, dye free laundry detergent, when I do buy it, because it'll break me out just to touch it otherwise, much less wear it. But after using homemade detergent, which just has a very light, plain clean smell to it, scented if I add some essential oils to it, but very neutral overall...then using this dye free, perfume free detergent -
I can honestly smell all the chemicals in it! FTR, I've been using the ALL Free & Clear.Comparison #3: The FEEL of my clothes. I could actually tell that my cotton clothes were cotton, etc, they just felt like fresh crisp clothes with the homemade laundry soap. With store bought detergent - I can feel the detergent ON my clothes
I don't use much detergent either, mainly because of my skin problems, but also because it is so darn expensive!Comparison #4: Did I mention the smell??!! I'm in the process of drying the last load of this week's laundry escapade and it just STINKS! Yes, it smells like laundry detergent, but it smells chemically!
I'd put a comparison #5 for how well they each clean, but they both do a decent job at getting out the dirt, grease, etc in the clothes, without a pretreatment.
SO! With that list I am so happy to of been able to find, quite by accident, that the grocery store down the way, opposite of the way I go, in the next county over, actually has washing soda in stock!!!
I can go back to washing my clothes in MY detergent!!!!I really can't see myself going back to store bought detergents, it's just completely not worth it!
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