Saturday, April 24, 2004

LIFE CAN BE OVERWHELMING

I have discovered that when I am not feeling well or life becomes overwhelming that I tend to withdraw... hmmmmmm, I guess I need to work on that. Okay...life has gotten insane at this end...but would any of you really expect any less if it concerned me? LOL. First some distressing news is that "something" attack the puppies we had left...some sort of illness...it hit all the puppies at once-we lost seven puppies in a lil over 48 hours. We have no idea what it was....neither does the vet.... but it really broke our hearts having to bury all those sweeties. Holding them to make them comfortable until they stopped breathing really can tear your emotions up. We have three puppies left...they have the hearts of a lion and have pulled through...it is amazing. I think by sunday they will be going to their new homes...so that is a positive note on a stressful situation.
     Now in case you did not know this yet...we live in Florida and the school system here runs on a different schedule here. So school here is letting out by the end of the second week in May....but we also start school here in August. The only reason I mention this is because my sons graduate in May...OMG---I feel so old, they will finally be done and life for them will just start beginning. I am so thrilled for them...however on the same note the chaos is just beginning with graduation practice and getting the graduation gowns and so on. End of the year parties and family wanting to give their two cents worth of advice to them. So needless to say-this is not a calm time around here. I just received a notice from my nephew's school saying that they are promoting him to first grade...that between the last grading period and this one he has made vast improvements. Go figure-I wish they would make up their minds.
     Also we ran into some major financial difficulties---so we have had to deal with alot of that garbage but hopefully that is all resolved. Finances seem to turn people crazy when things are not well...I really dislike that.
     I also have been working on some major projects that I promised myself I would do for my children when they graduated from high school. I am making each of them their own photo scrapbooks of their life from birth until graduation...that is my gift to them... I know it may sound corny...but it really is something from my heart to theirs...and believeit or not-the boys have been expecting them for quite some time and really want them to take with them wherever they chose to go... so I have been trying to finish them off.
     So as you can see-life has not been easy here... really busy and abit overwhelming but maybe by the end of May things will come down... at least that is what I am hoping for.
     Well I have to get back to my creative projects before the inspiration leaves me... I hope you all have a wonderful weekend-BTW...did I mention yet that my kids have a four day weekend...some kind of teacher work day .... so of course it makes for a busy weekend...for now-----PEACE!!!!

Thursday, April 15, 2004

YES--I AM STILL HERE

Hello one and all....I realize again I have abandoned my lil journal...But the good news is that I have many things to talk about. FINALLY...My desktop puter has been fixed. One of my sons (after me begging for days) sat down and fiddled with it and sure enough everything was restored. I could not believe it, but of course I am thrilled. I love my laptop...just toooo cute, but I have absolutely nothing on it for my creative juices to get flowing--so hoppefully I will be back to normal here (whatever normal is). First the stomach flu or virus has been going through our house so that put me out of commission for a couple of days. That is the worse feeling in the world-I would much rather have a head cold then that. Then my van (again) has broken down. I think it is now being held together by bubble gum because we have no idea how long it will last. Then of course teenagers have stretched the limits and that was a bit of a war at this end--hopefully they got the point. We only have one month to go to graduation and then we will see what happens. One son is just about ready to leave for Crown College in Tennessee...he has his heart and soul intending to become a minister. So now we are busy trying to set up things for that....financial aid and sponsorship through his church and such. It has been abit stressful for me. I just want everything to be okay.... and it seems everything has ten obstacles to go through. I do not remember it being this difficult when I went to college.
     Now the other son is trying to see how much he can age me before he finishes high school. Last saturday he told me that he was going to watch a friend of his race at the speedworld racetrack that is across the field from us. (yes it is VERY noisy here). This is nothing new about watching his friend race---he just has not done it in awhile. Well, by midnight my son and his friends came bursting through the front door and my son comes running up to me with a big trophy in his hands. YES.....my son the sneak has been fiddling at his friend's house and preparing a junk car to race. My son won second place. I would be so proud of him but there is a part of me that does not like being deceived. I will definitely post a picture of him and his lil trophy soon...just have not gotten to load up anymore pics lately. He was so excited and I can understand...he wanted to put his trophy in my puter room because that way everyone can see it when they come in. I asked him why he did not just tell me he was going to race instead of making up a story--he said he just did not want me worrying about him because he knows that stress only adds to the anxiety of my illness. BOY--that kid is good at sucking up. Well in a way he is right- because I would have worried myself beyond words....but then again if something had happened to him I would have never known it. Now the other son (who wants to be a minister) wants to race on weekends--he said he wants to try it out before he leaves for college...some "innocent" fun were his words. It amazes me how my boys may look alike because they are twins....and they fight constantly because they are such opposites. But if one son does something the other has to do it tooooo. Just to see what would happen. This is where I am driven over the edge. I guess from now on I will be heavily sedated, on weekends,  until they are home from racing. I think they do this stuff just to see how far they can push me to that edge.
     My lil nephew has been quite the pill lately trying to push his own limits. I received a letter from his school saying that they are recommending that Anthony repeat kindergarden. Anthony had a ton of adjustment problems at the beginning of the year and has not been able to stay on the same level as the others. Here it is up to the parents if a child should be held back...the state does not automatically do it. I think, unfortunately, that we will let him be held back. I say unfortunately because that will mean his friends move on without him.... but He really has not completed any full levels like the others. Here they have to be reading in kindergarden.... he is still having problems recognizing some letters. They also have to do simple basic math...he also cannot count to 100 without stumbling sometimes. So this summer lil boy will still be working on all this so that he can bloom next year. All of us have been helping him this past year with homework and such but he is not completing school work and such so that has hindered him.
     Well of course I have much more to write about but I will save that for another time....I think I am actually getting sleepy. Thanks to all of you that keep stopping by and reading my journal--it really touches my heart that people actually want to read something I write about. Again....PLEASE leave me your journal addy so that I can check you out if you have not done this yet. Until Next Time ...... PEACE!!!!

Thursday, April 8, 2004

ANOTHER DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Ahh yes...my son and his friend cleaned up our front yard of car "things" and weeds and whatnots to get the yard ready for the spring. I must say I have never seen it that clean before. It looks marvelous. I guess him and his buddy have made a deal with my hunnie that if they get the yard looking good that my hunnie will teach the friend all he ever wanted to know about car mechanics. My honey used to be a mechanic in the army and it has always remained a hobby for him.  He even helps out the local mechanic with repairs when time allows. So this kid is desperate to learn as much as he can so that he does not have to pay others to fix his lil rod (mazda rx-7). Now my son who is his friend-got himself a mazda rx-7 also. Of course they just had to have the same kind of cars. This is the same kid whose mother went off on me on the phone a couple of weeks back. Apparently she found out how wrong she was about the whole ordeal and now her son is always here.
     Now for the not so happy news--the same son that is mentioned above was told to go to the corner store last night to pick up some spices that were needed. Well I noticed he was gone for quite some time and then I got this strange feeling in my stomach like something was so wrong. Sure enough the son arrived home and it turns out he was in a accident. No One Got Hurt.....and he was not at fault which surprised me. The whole thing is also going to be forgotten because the other driver had no insurange, no legal tag etc... (which in this area-is not unusual). So the damage on my car is easily repairable. I guess I need one new headlight lens and a new grill. Again my children aging me prematurely seems to be the goal of the year. They sure are pushing the right buttons. Now the other son who happen to go the church retreat this past week..he is really really serious about pursuing a career as a pastor. He always wanted to be a pastor, ever since I could remember. I think it is a wonderful thing because he whole heart's desire is in it. But his transformed way of saying things like--if he hears something positive he says/shouts, ALLELUIA. It does not bother me because I am used to that from church and have done it a few times myself...well my sister in law is not enjoying it at all. I feel bad because I really thought that this would bring a peace between the two of them because he is changing for the better. But no such luck. I think the two of them have the type of personalities that just simply cannot get along. I really cannot take the yelling and nastiness between them anymore. It hurts to hear the harshness and no matter what I say nothing gets resolved.
     Just to bring you updated--I am still staring at my desktop computer. It looks so lonely and needs to be played with but we still cannot get the desktop icons and such to come up. Now my son did manange to bring it all up under safe mode and all my things are there... now we just have to figure out how to move the folders I want to save to the networking folder so that we can reformat my puter. So I am still using this laptop-and tho I love it because when we travel it allows me to keep in touch with everyone...It just is not the same. Ichose the animation above because you can just smell spring in the air...slowly but surely Florida is moving up into those temps that makes life uncomfortable but nothing major yet. I am so NOT looking forward to another scorching summer. It really makes it so difficult to breathe in. Well I thought I would just drop a line to fill you on my crazy life--more to come--PEACE!!!

Monday, April 5, 2004

IS THIS WEEK OVER YET???

Yes I know again days gone by....and no word from me. I am writing to you all from my laptop. All of my cool programs and pictures and everything else is floating somewhere on my desktop computer.  I would take the puter to the tech guys but only God knows when I would get it back...and I would miss it way too much...I know that does not make sense but for now ... that is the best excuse I can come up with. So here I am on my lil laptop trying to keep a stiff upper lip, braving it through the compactness until my big baby gets fixed. Okay enough feeling sorry for me... and my lil electronic baby-onto pressing teenage problems. Yes I said that evil word "teenage". My sons are now to the point where they feel they no longer have to inform anyone where they are going nor who they are with and how long they are going to be gone. Yes I know they are 19 years old and they are old enough to be responsible for themselves...but like I tell them-it is common courtesy to let us know that you have left the house and will not be back until whenever. Well this is getting to be a serious problem here...So now that we are laying down again the law-all of a sudden we hear that famous speech of " I am 19 now and old enough to do what I want"... believe it or not- my response is- Do it someplace else...not in this house. Okay... hopefully this problem is now resolved and all will be back to normal-in the meantime..I am just going to stare at my desktop computer and moan abit--PEACE!!!

Thursday, April 1, 2004

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY

AHHH..april fool's day...not my favorite day of the year...but i cannot believe how fast March went by and April is already here. Time sure flies when you are playing on the net. Well one of my son's has left for a church retreat for the week. Last year when he returned was renewed and inspired to do so much with his life and the world around him...so hopefully he will come back the same way. The other son had to stay here and go to school...he missed way too many days for my liking and the school's. Well have I mentioned that my van got repaired and as fast as that happened, now other things are wrong with it. Something about the thermostat and the struts. Oh Yea!!! If it is not one thing it is another. Hopefully it will get us through the rest of this week until pay day. Also I need to mention that my computer has crashed...yes I have big booboo lips. So right now I am using my laptop which takes alot of getting used to. My desktop comes up on my regular puter but none of the icons and such...so I am unable to do anything...if anyone has any suggestions...I am open to try anything. Also have I mentioned lately that the puppies are now driving me crazy...they are seriously into that chewing stage and really destroying what is left of my house. Lord, I need a vacation. Okay then--Just wanted to check in with everyone...Have a GREAT FOOLISH day..PEACE!!!!