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In honor of my 200th post

The pirate speaks, Just a smartly note t' say hi! In honor o' me 200th post and me bucko Patsy on Talk like a Pirate day, I decided t' give a few words that would make old Captain Jack proud.

All be good at home. I canned 7 quarts o' peaches tonight. That scurvy dog man o' mine kept tryin' t' steal them and eat them- he needs t' be thrown in t' stocks..ARRRR!

well me buckos, thar be not much more I can write in this language, so off t' bed with ya

oh yeah, and have some rum and stuff!

100lb of peaches and 25lb nectarines...

Whew! Was I tired yesterday!

I went to the u-pick orchards with friends and we came home with a huge lot. the peaches were free as it was the LDS orchard and they were gleaning. I had Harrison on my back in an ergo...and sling bucket on my side crawling up ladders picking peaches! It was truly picture worthy. then we stopped at the orchard next door and I got 25 lbs of nectarines for $10

I have jars and got my book to learn how to can.

I think I bit off more than I can chew! LMBO

here are the nectarines I canned today...first time ever! LOL

I couldn't figure out how to get more in the jar without mushing them (I just shook it around to help them settle down in there more)-so there seems to be a lot of space at the bottom
and the first jam I have ever canned: roasted apple butter and kiwi jam

I think this could be addictive! There are so many great recipes out there. The problem is all the stores and all the thrift stores around here are TOTALLY OUT of jars and other canning supplies!

I really want to get one of these for next year so I can do applesauce, pear sauce etc

McCain and Palin's health insurance joke..er plan

this astounds me. truly astounds me. how McCain and Palin can even think this is ok....
From the NY Times...an independent study was conducted concerning the McCain-Palin health care plan...this is some excerpts below

These are changes that will set in motion nothing less than the dismantling of the employer-based coverage that protects most American families. A study coming out Tuesday from scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Purdue and Michigan projects that 20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it under the McCain plan.

For starters, the McCain health plan would treat employer-paid health benefits as income that employees would have to pay taxes on

The net effect of the plan, the study said, “almost certainly will be to increase family costs for medical care.”

and then:

Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance

Really Mr Goodman?? Really?? So instead of having insurance, people should go to the ER for medical care-get charged 4-5 times that of what they would pay in the doctors office, and then if they can't pay for it...depend on the hospital to write it off? or get sued for non-payment...or heck,lets just declare bankruptcy.
yup-that sounds like health insurance to me!

Brilliant plan. Truly brilliant.


Knock knock
who's there?
McCain
McCain who?
just another scary man behind a mask as Scooby Doo would say

Top 5

Got a call from Kaitlyn's cross country coach on Friday. She was asking my permission to enter Kaitlyn into the Bob FirmanInvitational this next week. From what I understand-it is a huge meet! 5-6 states are involved. they only send the top 5 kids from each team-and Kaitlyn is one of them!
Of course I said yes! She will have fun. And it is local to us so we can go watch.

Go Kaitlyn!

Lots on the plate

Wow, there is just so much going on!

First off, we all started school! Shawn and I included. Doing pretty good so far. Knee deep in chapters and quizes and a biology research paper.

We were able to go down to Twin Falls to see the family. As you read before, my grandfather is not doing so well. We celebrated him and grandma's 60th wedding anniversary and family came from all over.

Here are a few pictures.


Grandpa and his brother Pete


My Uncle Stan and his toy!



My mom (the red head) and her siblings...plus grandma and grandpa



Me and my crew of motley cousins
(oh yeah, and my stinker little brother in the cowboy hat!)



and my daughter..is there any doubt she is related to me?


Conner has started football and Kaitlyn cross country. They are loving it and have had a few games already.

Conner and Noah both got bounced up into accelerated Math due to their ISAT scores (conner's was high enough to graduate) and Noah is also in accelerated reading.

Shawn is busy with school and work and I am trying to keep it all pulled together.

People never fail to amaze me

I came across this article which was about a very mean obituary printed in a paper/online paper in California

It was later pulled because it was so "mean". However, I think it is due to all the backlash that came about.
Seems the paper did indeed verify the woman's death before they ran the obituary-but then it was decided ... well, that it was just mean and pulled it, especially considering the guest book that got over 200 signatures of cruel nature.

So here it is-the entire thing. The obituary of Dolores Aguilar

Dolores Aguilar
1929 - Aug. 7, 2008

Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by her husband, Raymond,her son, Paul Jr., and daughter, Ruby.

She is survived by her daughters Marietta, Mitzi, Stella, Beatrice, Virginia and Ramona, and son Billy; grandchildren, Donnelle, Joe, Mitzie, Maria, Mario, Marty, Tynette, Tania, Leta, Alexandria, Tommy, Billy, Mathew, Raymond, Kenny, Javier, Lisa, Ashlie and Michael; great-grandchildren, Brendan, Joseph, Karissa, Jacob, Delaney, Shawn, Cienna, Bailey, Christian, Andre Jr., Andrea, Keith, Saeed, Nujaymah, Salma, Merissa, Emily, Jayci, Isabella, Samantha and Emily. I apologize if I missed anyone.

Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.

Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again.

There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM.

Freaky moment, and lesson learned ie car windows

so today I get an email that my library book I requested from out of state is in. I decide to take the kids to the park and swing by the library and then come home

I get all the kids dressed and we load up in the van and take off. A few minutes later I hear the kids screaming.

"ahhhhh!!!"

me: "what? what" starting to panic

kids: "ahhhh" "theres a caaaaaaaa" "ahhhh" more screams.

I am seriously panicing and look in the rearview mirror and see this freaking CAT crawling up and over Noan and it starts sprinting to the front of the van

*insert kids still screaming bloody murder" you'd have thought they were in danger or something

so the danged cat comes on the left side of the van, up and over my seat, over my shoulder and lodges itself in the front windshield with its claws firmly implanted in my leg

OWWWWWWWWWWw

I am screaming in pain, the kids are screaming still in fear...and yelling at me to get it out! and I am swerving to the side of the road to try figure this out

I pull over. and I am sitting there "get it out!" "open the door" more screams

my leg-still hurting from the claws dug in. I am thinking at that moment, crap- how do I get it to let go of me and get out?

SO i open the door and he is laying on it partially so his body starts to go with it...he finally lets go and takes off out of the van and runs about 6 houses down the road before he turns around and looks back at us.

the screaming-blessedly stops

I don't know who was more scared...the kids or the cat wondering what the heck all the screaming was for!

oh yeah-and the only thing we can figure is that it got in the van last night before the storm hit and we closed the windows...so now I am going to have to start looking for animal poop - oh JOY! not!

Some new longies for my little man

so I am being super prepared and getting the fall/winter knitting done- well, not done but at least started now!

Here are Harrison's newest longies . Blue and brown peace fleece. they are a bit long, but should last him a while. They go down over his feet and he kind of freaked out and was trying to rip them off his toes at first! I guess he inherited his mama's penchant for NOT covering her toes! LOL

How do you prepare to say goodbye?

This is a really hard post for me. But I am hoping that by typing it out and getting it off my chest, maybe I can start to deal with it.

To give some background first:

I never grew up with a dad. My biological father left my mom when she was pregnant with me. I found out just a few years ago that he is 100% mentally disabled according to the government in relation to his service in Vietnam..so I understand now.

But I didn't know that as a child.

I grew up feeling abandoned by my father and wondering what was so wrong with me that he didn't want anything to do with me.

My mom-she is wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better relationship with a parent. We lived in California until I was 16. When all the other kids were sneaking out, drinking, partying etc...I wasn't. My mom knew that she could utterly trust me to be a good person...and I was.

This brings me to my hard part.

The only real father figure I had growing up was my grandpa. He was always there for me. my grandparents were always there and helped to raise me. The closeness we have is wonderful. Even knowing my real dad now, my grandpa WAS for all intents and purposes my dad growing up.

A few years ago, my grandfather had a stroke. My grandma didn't take him in until the next day and as a result, he did not get TPA which could have helped to reverse some of the affects.

Following his stroke, he really struggled. He is a very proud man. He had a hard time walking and talking clearly. He recognized that his body failed him and he gave up. He just seemed to throw his hands in the air and decided that life was not worth living anymore.

He started smoking again. He stopped doing fun stuff. He mopes around.

For 2 years he has done this...and now-he is having strokes again and they don't know how much longer he has left.

How do I prepare to say goodbye to this wonderful wonderful man who was my father growing up? The man that I admire so much and look up to and love so deeply?

I am 2 hours away. and all I want is to be there with them. To help my grandma take care of him as his body fails and he looses control of his functions. To be there to hold her when she cries and to hug him as he accepts what is coming.

I don't know that I can do this.

Just days after his first stroke:

Please Heavenly Father, please make his time left here good. Let him be free of pain. Let him have some joy. Let me have just one more time at least to see him and put my arms around him and let him know how much I love him.

And please bless my grandma-that she will have the strength to physically and emotionally deal with all that is coming.

In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

baking frenzie

I found a great book the other day about making your own baby food...not your regular recipes either!

Today I decided that it was time to get things made. It was the complete and utter destroy my kitchen in the process day.

For Harrison I made:
peas, potatoes and leeks
blueberries and chicken
mango and chicken (his favorite!)
along with massur dal and carrots with jasmine rice from the other day

for the family we made:
1 loaf regular bread
1 loaf cinnamon raison bread
pumpkin muffins
HOMEMADE YOGURT..yes, I did it!

and we still have coming:
pumpkin bread and more regular bread

the house smells so good. now we just have to reclean it! LOL

You know what I LOVE

Toxic People suck

/rant

**edited original version. it felt good to get it out, but now it is time to delete it**

You must have a strong stomach for this one

Please be aware that I am warning you - this was difficult to read.

I opened my main email page tonight and saw a story about 9 people being charged in the death of a 14 year old girl that wasted away until she died. Included in those 9 people were the state welfare workers that were supposed to be keeping track of her.
Danieal Kelly's emaciated body was found in her mother's squalid house covered with bone-deep, maggot-infested bedsores in August 2006

Andrea Kelly refused to get her daughter food, water and medical treatment, and also repeatedly prevented one of her other children from calling an ambulance "for his obviously dying sister"

So this led me on a journey to read more about her, because as a mother it horrified me to read what had happened to her and how it had been allowed to happen to her.

It brought me to this website that tracks deaths related to state facilites, foster care etc. I made the mistake of reading every single one of them. It made me ill.

Some of the causes of death :

• Students say staff sat on Isaiah for three hours until he passed out and died.
• A review of Kyle's death by Alberta's Justice Department says the guards pushed the boy, whose legs were in shackles and who was handcuffed, against the elevator door, the door opened, and Kyle fell to his death. Police investigated his death, but no charges were laid
• (3 year old boy) He was wrapped in a blanket then taped to a high chair and left alone for two days while his foster family went out of town. When they returned, he was dead. They burned his body.
• Restrained in a straitjacket and held facedown on a bed, vomited, and choked to death while two staff continued to hold him down
• Death resulting from rebirthing
• Died after allegedly being forced to exercise at the facility after they were told he had an enlarged heart and should not participate in such activities
• Autistic and mentally retarded boy was restrained by 6 people who sat on his back. This occurred on his second day at the group home.

Most of these cases - no one was punished. I don't understand a society where we still punish the victims more than we punish the perpetrators.

Our 15 minutes of Fame....

So, a few months ago we heard of a model search for the remodel of St. Alphonsus Medical Centers "family center"
From the search:

The Center has been approved for a makeover by some grants that were given to encourage family and diversity. One of the ways the hospital can incorporate this in their overhaul is by having photographs of different children, parents and families displayed throughout the center

So I entered Harrison as they were specifically looking for a blonde hair blue eyed baby and we were chosen!

This last Monday we got to go for our photo session to be displayed around the hospital area that is being remodeled. Tonight we saw that one of the boys pictures made it to the photographers blog

Come see the boys!

I cannot wait to go and see our family photos around!

PCOS-do you know what it is?

After a discussion with a good friend of mine today, I realized I have not actually talked about PCOS with anyone lately, and definitely not here on my blog.

So what is PCOS?
PCOS-Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Oh..so it is just an ovary thing?
N0- it is sometimes said to actually be misnamed as many women do NOT have any problems with their ovaries.

But I am not fat. I can't have PCOS
yes, you can. Not all women with PCOS are overweight. Not every woman's symptoms are the same. There are quite a few skinny women diagnosed with the disorder.

But I have children. PCOS women cannot have babies.
Not true. Infertility is certainly a symptom of PCOS, but many women can and do have children with PCOS

My doctor said I don't have it. He must know what he is talking about.
Sadly, many doctors are not educated on PCOS and fail to see the bigger picture of linking all the problems together.

Common signs of PCOS. You do not have to have ALL of these symptoms to be diagnosed!
*Irregular or absent menses
*Numerous cysts on the ovaries in many, but not all, cases
*High blood pressure
*Acne
*Elevated insulin levels, Insulin Resistance, or Diabetes
*Infertility
*Excess hair on the face and body
*Thinning of the scalp hair (alopecia)
*Weight Problems or obesity that is centered around your mid section

Sound familiar at all? I didn't even know what PCOS was until the week before I was diagnosed. that has been 8 years ago now. The doctors I had seen for 4 years before that never suspected nor tested me for it.

Take the quiz to check your symptoms!

ugh-it is that time again

can you believe the kids go back to school in 29 days???

and then I start 1 week later. *EEK*

so what time is it that I am so ho-hum about?? school shopping! I really despise having to buy new clothes for the kids. They are so hard to fit with their skinny bodies and long legs...and it seems like with this "almost recession" that everything is at least doubling in price.
*sigh*

Conner is leaving tomorrow for his trek to martins cove. He is really excited. And tomorrow is Shawn's birthday. he will be 36!

you know, I just had a brain fart and totally forgot my point in coming out to blog today, so I will end it, post it, and try to remember and come back later! LOL

win the ultimate baby wearer essentials carrier contest

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Back to knitting

man, it felt so good to pick up my needles and ignore my sewing machine!
Kind of like an old friend that has come home-to my hands!

I went out to Ravelry tonight. (and for all you yarnies, if you don't know what ravelry is--lets just say it is the best invention on the internet ever! and you must go now and sign up!) anyway, out on ravelry tonight and found so many projects I want to start working on. In my queue (which if you are not a member, you can not view) I have several sweaters I want to do. I think I am going to get the yarn dyed up to make Harrison the Tulip Sweater I will of course be dying the yarns in boyish colors geared towards the fall, but it is the one I am most looking forward to doing!

I also have the Wonderful Wallaby ready to go. It is an adorable hoody for the kids! You can do an adult version too, but I just am not ready to buy that many balls of yarn! LOL

My fingers are itching to cast on a new project. I finished a custom order diaper cover soaker and now I am just waiting...waiting to hear my fingers talk and tell me which needles to chose and which project to start.

Stay tuned.

whew ! stash game is over and the boys are coming home!

all in all, I ended up with:
106 3/4 yards sewn
36 yards donated to charity
purchased only 2 yards

total stash depletion was 166 3/4 yards!
In the last 6 months, I have sewn, sold, traded or trashed over 300 yards of fabric!

Or course, I am still in denial about the 5 boxes of fabric in the garage. Luckily, I don't hear it calling to me anymore as it is really burried out there!

This is one of my prize items made: my new diaper bag!

modeled after Erika's style. This type of bag has been a favorite design of mine for a long time, I just never saw it with a pocket until I saw hers!

The applique is a free clip art I got when I googled mother nature.

It fits 12 cloth diapers,and my changing pad. with a wet bag, I could get probably 10 diapers and the changing pad. of course, if I was just shoving stuff in instead of setting it in neatly, it would fit more!

on navy blue corduroy

The boys will be home tonight. I am excited to see them. Their plane was late leaving so they got stuck in san francisco for 4 hours! I imagine conner was wanting to run around and play Monk, but alas, they got the boys a room so they are settled in and waiting.

Coconut bread just came out of the oven. It smells great...and I have Harrison crawling everywhere and chasing the vacuum as I try to clean. Good times I tell ya!

starting on my christmas knitting for family

I am getting ready to start my knitting for the family for Christmas



I think I am going to do some cute dishcloths to match kitchens for some.
a few pairs of longies for Harrison.
a doll or animal for the kids



But the most exciting project of all is for my dear brothers - inlaw

the pattern is originally to make a blanket, but I am going to do hats instead.

I think it is great that they will have Obama's sign of hope to share with everyone around them..........
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gotcha peter and james!