Walk For MS

Several years ago, my husband was diagnosed with RRMS (Relapsing/Remitting Multiple Sclerosis). Approximately 80% of people with MS have this type, which means that their symptoms come and go. When people with RRMS have a relapse, or an episode, or whatever they choose to call it, they can experience severe headaches, severe body nerve pain, numbness in their limbs, debilitating exhaustion, and a host of other symptoms. It's different for everyone.

Because he doesn't have symptoms all the time, we can be in denial a lot. When he's not in a relapse period, we kind of pretend it doesn't exist.

After several years, we've decided to do something proactive and join Denver's Walk for MS on May 1st. Hubby really wants to do the three mile walk, even though standing or walking for long periods of time can be painful for him. I thought he'd just sign us up for the 1 mile walk, but he really wants to do the three miles. I'm proud that he's finally recognizing and accepting the disease, and trying to do something about it.

I've set a personal goal to raise $250. I started yesterday, and I already have $70. That means I just need 18 people to make a $10 donation to reach my goal. I know things are tough right now, and if you can't donate, that's fine too! Words of encouragment are just as good. However, if you can spare the $10 to donate to MS research, I'd appreciate the support. The link below should take you to my donation page.

Thanks for reading!

Click here to donate!

What The F*$& Friday...The School Edition

Ok, two things today, having to do with schools:

#1. Our elementary school. And probably every other elementary school in the country. Or whoever it is that makes the decisions about which immunizations will be required.

Remember back when you were a kid, and everyone, at one time or another, got the chicken pox? The world didn't stop turning, you just itched for a few days, then got over it and went back to school.

When they first came out with the varicella vaccine, I rejected the notion because a) My two older kids had already had the chicken pox, and b) I had read that they didn't really know how long it would last, so someone could get the shot, then get the pox when they were 20, when it's actually dangerous. So I chose not to have my new baby immunized for chicken pox. '

Then when she was three, she went to preschool. When she was four, she went to pre-K. The year after that, (I think), they decided to require the damn chicken pox shot. So we went and got the stupid shot, and went on with our lives.

Just recently, the school has been sending me little email reminders that she needs a second chicken pox shot. Remember my concerns when she was first born about how they didn't know how long it would last, so like a completely neglectful mother, I chose to just let the kid get the chicken pox, instead of getting a questionable vaccine? Yeah. Well, now, of course, you need a booster. On Monday, they finally sent the letter that stated that if her immunizations weren't up to date by March 22nd, she would no longer be able to attend school until they were.

So what the f*$&, with the chicken pox shot? I hate, hate, hate it when my kids have to get shots. My oldest was a complete baby about it, but the other two? It doesn't bother them so much. But it bothers me, especially with this one which I feel is totally unnecessary.

So because I feel guilty, I promise her that after we get the shot, we can go to the store and get a DVD or a game or a toy or whatever. Wednesday I called my doctor and thought, well, while we're there, we'll just do a checkup, because we haven't done that in a while. Then Kylie can meet my totally awesome doctor whom I am completely in love with. I'd marry her, if I wasn't already married. But when I called the office, they said they didn't have that particular vaccine. What the f*$&?

Yay, so a trip yesterday to the health department, and then $30 for a new DS game, and we're all set, after I go to the office today and thrust the stinking shot record in someone's face. I swear if they make me fill out a damn form, instead of just Xeroxing the damn thing, I may kill someone. At some other time, we will discuss my loathing of filling out forms.

I know this is getting long, but my second beef with a school this week is that school down south somewhere...where is it, like Mississippi? Where they are canceling their entire prom because one girl, who is a lesbian, wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date. God bless the Bible Belt, because instead of a) showing a little tolerance and realizing this isn't a huge deal and letting people bring whoever they want to the prom, or b) somewhat less desirable, but just tell the girl no, you can't come with another girl, they decide to c) Cancel. The. Entire. Prom. For. Everyone.

Ok seriously...what the f*%&? Throughout my oldest daughter's high school career, she has gone to many dances. Sometimes she had a date, sometimes she didn't. Sometimes she went with a group of girls. Maybe they should outlaw that, since the chances are pretty high that a group of girls together could really be a lesbian orgy waiting to happen. Especially if they're all from the softball team, if you know what I mean. Wait, my daughter's on the softball team.

Anyway, I'm just seriously flabbergasted that they canceled their prom because a girl wanted to bring another girl as her date. What are they afraid of? I just don't get it. For those of you who missed the story, here ya go:

Mississippi Prom Canceled After Lesbian Date Request.

I hope the ACLU fries them. Just my opinion, of course.

Dear Universe

There are so many things I want to do, and it's frustrating.

Being unemployed, and my husband being unemployed is downright frustrating. Plus, my husband is starting to drive me nuts, with his being home all the time. I've been afraid to mention that he has a really good prospect and I'm not going to talk about it because I'm afraid I might jinx it, but please...any good thoughts/prayers/sacrifical items appreciated.

I was just reading June's blog where she was talking about some time she spent in Paris when she was but a youngin' of 25.

It got me to thinking about so many things I want to do and see, and the financial thing right now just sucks. I don't even have time to dream or plan, because I am so consumed with anxiety. And that's with medication. I'd hate to think of where I'd be without that right now. Probably in the fiery pit of my own demonic craziness. I want to travel. I want to go to London, Paris, Rome, Athens, Berlin, Dublin. Norway, Finland, Switzerland. Sweden and Holland. Spain. I want to go to Japan and Austrailia and New Zealand. I want to go everywhere. Ok, maybe not the Middle East right now.

So, I have a solution. I know it's not cool to ask for these types of things, but I really think this would be a good thing.

Dear Universe:
The Powerball jackpot right now is at $170 million. Do you know what I could do with that? Do you know how many friends and family members would benefit from my windfall? My parents could pay off their mortgage and ever have to pay another bill as long as they lived, and they could travel wherever they wanted to go. Same with my in-laws.

My brother could have his new house paid off, and never have to worry about paying for their daughter to go to college.

I have some friends that would also never have to worry about how they were going to pay for their kids to go to college, or how they were going to pay their bills.

I have a vision of taking everyone close to me on a fabulous vacation.

I would donate a huge sum of money to MS research. And the Susan G. Koman foundation, two issues that are very close to my heart.

I would never again have to worry about sending my kids to college, or what they were going to do with their lives. I could stop the worrying, my God, the endless, crippling worrying.

So here's what I'm saying: I know the odds are astronomical. But...someone is going to win that jackpot at some point. And whoever wins, had the exact same astronomical odds that I have. So really...why not me? You have no idea how many people you'd be helping. Lots and lots of people. I have big plans. I just need the money. What do you say, Universe?

P.S. - I am fully aware that I spend way too much time thinking about this.

What The F*%& Friday!

Welcome, Dear Readers, to the inaugural installment of What The F*$& Friday, which may or may not become a regular feature.

When I talked about this last Saturday, all four comments I had said they couldn't wait for What The F*$& Friday. This, my friends, is a lot of pressure. I've been fretting all week (do people still say fretting? That sounds like something my grammy would have said) about what to write. I had a million ideas and none at the same time. Some of them were funny, some not. Congress, healthcare, my teenager, dog poo sinking under the snow, being unemployed, Facebook weirdness, and my husband's inability to hit the laundry basket. I actually took a picture of that one. My husband's boxers, and one sock on the floor next to the basket, with the other sock draped halfway over the rim. However, it was a crappy picture (cell phone, bad closet lighting), and I figured that this wouldn't be news to anyone who has ever had a husband or a child. Or a live-in boyfriend.

Today I'm going to talk about the trials and tribulations of my oldest daughter, who is 17 years and 11 months old. This will be important later. She's having a rough month. On President's day, she was in a car accident. She was driving herself and two softball teammates to a movie after practice, when some dumbass 17 year-old girl with no driver's license turned left right in front of her, totaling her car. Luckily, her two passengers were unharmed (and all wearing seatbelts, yay!). My daughter was fine at first, but she woke up the next day with severe neck pain, and was diagnosed with a cervical sprain, which we used to call whiplash. She is fine now. However, the last few weeks have been a complete clusterf*$& with the other driver's grandfather's insurance company. It was her grandfather's car. The grandfather told the insurance company that the girl took the car without permission, and therefore he was denying any liability. Excuse me, what the f*$&? I didn't realize that when your underage, unlicensed granddaughter takes your car for a little joyride and causes an accident that was 100% her fault, that you had the choice to deny liability. Sorry Grandpa. Your car, your insurance policy, your granddaughter, your responsibility. Thankfully, that's exactly the way it turned out. Now we're just negotiating the amount that a company that rhymes with Biberty Lutual is going to be paying us for the car. Our insurance company rocks. We only had liability on daughter's car, but they went to bat for us with Biberty Lutual and we'll be getting enough money to get her another car.

My other beef happened just yesterday. Not only was my poor daughter in a car accident, but she has been stricken with not one, but two cases of tonsillitis. She has never had tonsillitis before in her life. My mother (her temporary legal guardian) took her to the urgent care the first time. They tested for strep, negative. They tested for mono (which she had last year), negative. Gave her antibiotics and sent her home. They worked great, she finished them, and she was fine for about three days. Then on Wednesday, her throat started hurting again. By yesterday after school and softball practice, she was in a lot of pain again. She tried to reach my parents, but they didn't answer their cells. This happens, as they are old and if they're in a noisy place (like an ASU softball game), they won't hear the phones.

So, my daughter, being 17 years and 11 months old, drove herself to the urgent care. They refused to treat her because she is a minor. Now here's my issue: Did you know that my daughter, who is 17 years and 11 months old, can go to the doctor or a clinic and discuss birth control, pap smears, abortions, or anything gynecological in nature by herself without a parent or guardian? But if she has a swollen, red throat, which is almost certainly a recurrence of tonsillitis, she has to have her grandmother with her or they won't treat her? What. The. F*$&?

As a result, she had to go home, wait until my parents got home (after the urgent care was closed) and go to the emergency room where they spent the entire. night. They got there around 8:30pm and didn't get home until after 4am. Seriously. What. The. F*$&.


On the bright side, she will be here for a spring break visit next Friday, then after graduation she is coming here to live with us! I feel a little badly that my 73 year-old mother had to spend all night in an ER waiting room. I can't wait to have my daughter back with us, where she belongs.

I hope you all enjoyed What The F*$& Friday!

New Feature

So, after reading Dawn's post entitled "What the Hell? Wednesday!", I came up with this great idea. Ok, so it's Dawn's idea, and I just changed the day.

Yesterday I was going to write a post called "What The F&*$ Friday!" You see, my plan was that every Friday, I'll go through the news and find something totally ridiculous (because really, how hard can that be?), and write a post about it. Please don't tell me six million bloggers already have this feature on their blogs on Fridays. It'll just depress me.

So I set out to write this post yesterday, and I'm pretty sure it had to do with that whiny Russian ice skater that won the silver medal (or, in his world, platinum), but then I got distracted. My crops were about to die so I had to harvest them, plow and replant, milk the damn cows and gather the damn eggs, and then I had to comment on some friends' statuses (stati?) and upload some pictures and drive someone somewhere and move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and unload the dishwasher and yell at the dog for the bazillionth time to get the hell off my bed and check my email and pick someone up from school and get the laundry out of the dryer and fold it and put it away, and then write to the Guiness Book of World Records and tell them that I am applying to be the person with the longest run-on sentence ever, and who the hell can remember what they were going to write after all that?

Stay tuned next week for the inaugaral installment of "What the F&*$ Friday!" Maybe.

In the meantime, here are some pictures. On Thursday it snowed all afternoon and into the night, and Friday we woke up to one of my favorite kinds of days. Bright blue sky, not a cloud in sight, and snow-covered everything. When the sun's out, the snow sparkles and it's just gorgeous and I cannot get over it. I went up to Red Rocks early to try and get some pictures of the snow on the rocks before the temp could get up to our high of near 50 yesterday and melt it all.



This is a tree across the street from me that has nothing to do with Red Rocks. But I just think it's so beautiful with all the snow on it.

This is on the road that leads up to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is a pretty famous place for concerts. There is a visitor's center and museum up at the top, and it's really cool. On the walls, they have a list of everyone who has ever played there, going back to the 1920's. Of course, in the 1920's there were only two or three people each year, and they were playing a harmonica and a metal tub, but still. Did you know that for the past 10 or 15 years, Blues Traveler has played there every 4th of July?

Another picture on the way up. Or maybe on the way back down. I get confused easily.

The history of this place is so neat. Did you know that when the Beatles played here in the 60s (I forget what year), the price of a ticket was $6.60? That's the stage way down there, and I'm standing at the top railing. I've never been to a concert here, but I'd love to go to one. Maybe this summer. You'd be able to see all the benches where people sit, if they weren't covered with snow.

I'm going to miss the snow when it's gone. I hope the summer is short. Yes, I know I'm crazy.

Dichotomy

My baby.



This kid, with two teenage sisters, is sort of stuck between childhood and teenage-hood. I found her last night talking to her friend Courtney on the phone while sitting on her bed, which is draped with her favorite monkey blanket.

The pose reminded me so much of the older girls, but upon closer inspection? She was reading a book to her friend over the phone. The name of the book? "Kitty's Special Job."

She is torn between wanting a cell phone (um, no...not for several years) and loving her stuffed animals. Between playing with her Legos, and wanting to hang out with her 15 year-old sister and her friends (which her sister does not care for).

She puts her plastic pet dinosaur to bed every night in a special purple box next to her bed. She loves me. She tells me every day. She still wants to hold my hand when we're walking together. And she wants to be grown up, so very very much.

Every day, I make her promise that she's still going to love me when she's 13. And every day, she says "Of course I will, Mommy!"

One day, I'm going to get that on video, for evidence.

Wordless Wednesday

Ok, so it's not Wednesday and it's not wordless. I'm a rebel like that.




It is wordless in that I don't even know what to say about this picture, except that it cracks me up.