This is my last post tonight. It is late and there is a severe storm kicking up its heals outside. Don't want to get zapped! So, to the point, anyone have a security system? If so what brand, type, whatever. I am thinking about one since I am alone here with the kids most of the time. We're in a good area with low crime, but big deal. On some level I think its totally self-centered to believe for one instant someone would want to break into our house. I mean why ours and not the...

Debbie, Debbie, Debbie. I must know at least six women named Debbie. In my life, certain names seem to re-emerge again and again; Robert, Kathy, Tracy to name a few. But Debbie, though the name constantly recurs in my life with new introductions, was one of a kind. "Kids meet your new step-mom," dad announced when I walked in from a hard day in 8th grade. I was shocked to see him home on a weekday before 7 p.m. Amazement replaced shock when my baby blues beheld the long...

I was totally unprepared and ignorant when my child was diagnosed with a speech delay. The research is ongoing, but the main school of thought believes it a genetic condition. Meaning, it is almost entirely inherited. A speech delay is just that….a delay in speaking. My son can say probably 20 words clearly while other “normal” kids can say well over 100. As with most kids having this delay, his receptive language is higher than normal. Meaning, he’s a very smart cookie. There just s...

My aunt (who is the only mother figure in my life) is dying of lung cancer. Link By the time most people find out they have lung cancer (because of symptoms), they have about 3-6 months to live. Peter Jennings was diagnosed and died within three months. Once it progresses past being “operable” the survival stats for surviving even one year go way down to almost nil. My aunt was diagnosed a year and a half ago. By all accounts, statistically and in the opinion of more than five onc...

A thumping red white and blue basketball on the concrete drive is becoming the background music of our home.   My ten year old son spends most days now, as winter turns to spring, attempting to make every shot his skinny arms propel toward the basket.   In the last several days the thumping is more sporadic and even halting for long periods of time.   Every time I notice this phenomenon I look out to see the cause.   There standing in my drive is a well d...

I will be the first to admit I love my garbage disposal.   Yes I said love, not like, not even overly fond of, but love love love.   Why such an obsession with a noisy and usually smelly appliance?   It shreds, eats and removes all traces of biodegradable material from my kitchen.   I don’t have to scrape plates into a near full garbage can and then shove the messy can back into the cabinet.   I can’t stand to have a garbage can sitting out in the k...

Me and my youngest this morning.

For some reason this isn't showing in my article list...so I am just pasting here.  Me and my youngest this morning.

I woke up this morning at 4am.   Have you ever woke up early with your heart racing, your mind clear, and ready to meet the day?   Well, it wasn’t like that.   My three year old is having nightmares.   I’m not sure why, but it may have something to do with our trip to the Columbus Zoo on Saturday.   The day was hot and sticky.   The kind of day that makes you turn on the air conditioner in May even though you swore it would never ...

KFC, another blogger here... Link sent me these photos via email.  I asked her if I could post them here and was given the go ahead.  She hasn't done it because she has dial up and well....its dial up!! These pictures are from Brian's Graduation from The Virginia Military Institute (VMI).  The oldest military college in the US I believe.  KFC blogged about their graduation adventures and Brian's many accomplishments here, http://kfc.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=117844 ...

Today I was approached by the father of my son’s friend.   I will call him D.   D asked me if I’d be interested in keeping his son for about 7-9 days in September.   He is selling a house in Florida , and his wife will be out of town as well doing something else.   He doesn’t want to pull his son out of school for a week.  (The second week of school.)   This is the same kid I wrote about before and you really have to understand our h...

I love my Aunt Shelby. When I was a little girl and lived with my dad in Marysville, he’d take us to see our aunt. She is his sister, the only girl out of 5 boys. They all grew up in Clay County, in a holler, pretty poor. My grandpa was a coal miner until a coal cart crushed his back. But Shelby married a young hillbilly at 17 and moved north to Cincinnati, or actually a town in Northern Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati. They didn’t have any money, she was pregnant and my uncle was ...

This morning at 3am my three year old started screaming, not a cry out for his mama, but a blood curdling “I AM TERRIFIED” type scream.   He’s never screamed like that in his entire life.   I jumped out of my warm cocoon of quilts and in the three seconds it took to get to my bedroom door I thought …. nightmare, but since he was still screaming, a stranger in his room.   Too late, I already passed the baseball bat.   I yanked my bedroom door open, ...

Ok, I admit it.  I love making these little montage videos.  So please bare with me for the next several days (gah, I hope its just days...you too huh?  What was that?  Oh you said minutes !  OOOOOOh.) while I play. Come see my Garden...outside my back door (well kinda...in the back yard anyway.) http://www.youtube.com/v/XI0Pc-FROR4"> src=" http://www.youtube.com/v/XI0Pc-FROR4 " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="350"> "

We PAR-TAY at my house. Link