Happy 7th Birthday My Babies!

On Saturday my pumpkin s celebrated their 7th birthday.  I wanted to celebrate their birthday in a big way this year.  At least that was my intent.  Life has another way of working things out though.

I ordered a bouncy house for the children this year as a  surprise.  I had ordered the bouncy house right before Joseph broke his clavicle.  I thought I would be okay because his shoulder should heal right before their birthday.  Then, of course, poor Joseph falls again and hurts his should more on Thanksgiving Day but I was still holding out hope he would be okay for his birthday.

Two weeks before their birthday I placed an open invitation to people to attend the children;s birthday party.  This is a HUGE deal for me since I am always worried about Joseph catching some sort of respiratory illness and getting extremely ill.  I wanted the children to have a birthday they would remember this year.

I had several people tell me that they would come over.  The day before there was talk of a lot of rain.  I cancelled the bouncy house.  I reminded people online about the party the next day.  I was planning to make homemade play dough and we made two cakes to make sure we would have enough.  We made a chocolate cake for the children.  It was what they requested.  We also make a spice cake to make sure plenty of cake was on hand.

I started to get people saying they would not be able to come.  They had plans that changed, their kids were sick (which I did appreciate they did not come over!), and some never got back to me.  On the day of their birthday no one showed up.  We had the respite worker come over.  She brought her son.  They has a nice time playing with her son.  John and I decided to leave and head to a Goodwill across town where they are suppose to have nice clothes.

We took off and one of the moms asked about coming over but we had left the house all ready.  We ran into a HUGE storm heading to the Goodwill.  While there we found clothes to be on sale.  They did have nice clothes.  Not much in the way of pants but I found shirts for James, shirts, leggings and dresses for Margaret and Joseph did not really need anything since he wears James's hand-me-downs.  We also got some board games and books.  We used the clothes, books, and games as a new tradition this year.  Normally they get stuff for wither their birthday or Christmas since they are so close together.  This year we decided to give them each a small present every night between their birthday to Christmas.  They either got some clothes, a book or a game.  The kids are loving the new tradition of our version of the 12 days of Christmas!

Barfing and Broken Bones

This is Joseph's sad face. If he is looking
at you like this then he is either faking
or he is in SERIOUS PAIN!

Catchy title isn't it?  LOL  Be glad you have not been in my house the last 48 hours! Yesterday all the strength and time I had to post went into yesterday's post on No Shave November.  So you can tell I wasn't up for much!  LOL

After spending some time outside on the back porch with my husband I hear what I first thought was a cat howling in the distance.  John said he thought it was one of the children and went inside to check it out. He came back out a bit later to tell me that James had barfed all over his bed.  He cleaned out the bed and changed James's clothes.

We went into the house for the evening and went to bed.  A few hours later Margaret was screaming.  She had also barfed in her bed. So she was cleaned up and sent back to bed.  Joseph did not want to sleep by himself at that time so he came into my bed.  We all went back to sleep.   I woke late the next morning to head to work.  I had no idea what was going to happen next.

John had made breakfast.  It was delicious. Right as I was finishing up and thinking about running out the door Joseph falls out of his chair and on to the tile floor.  He smacked his left should and the left side of his head on the tile.  My poor baby was crying.  I picked him off the floor.  Daddy takes a look at him and asks where he hurts.  Even though I felt a HUGE (half dollar sized) goose egg on the back of his head that was not where he complained he was hurting.  He said his left should hurt.

This concerned me since this was the same side that he broke when he was two.  I swear I was gone for THREE minutes at best! I had to go to the bathroom.  The children were busy watching PBS so I thought I could make a run to the bathroom.  It is about the only time I have to myself...IF I'm lucky!  While finishing up in the bathroom I hear a LOUD thud and a sharp cry out of pain.  I rush out of the bathroom and into the living room to see all the children calmly laying in the floor watching TV.  I had NO idea what happened but I figured it could not have been too serious or I would have seen someone crying.

That night, when Joseph went to bed, he whined and and could not get comfortable on his left side.  I thought it was strange but then thought nothing more of it. The next morning we got up and he went to physical therapy.  Even the physical therapist thought he was only "off" and seemed to be whining a bit that day.  She had NO idea either!

I took Joseph home from PT and pulled off his fuzzy PJ jumper (he had been in for the last 24 hours; since I heard the fall) to see a HUGE bruise on his left upper chest by his clavicle.  I was HORRIFIED! I carefully bathed him and got him ready to head to a pediatric urgent care.  We got there and where immediately seen.  They took x-rays. He had a MAJOR break!  The doctor said a grown man would have been in tears if he had to crawl around on a broken clavicle like Joseph did.  She was AMAZED at his pain tolerance!  She gave us a script for narcotic pain medicine for him.

Now fast forward to my experience at the local children's hospital.  I took Joseph in and we had to wait in the the waiting room for about 75 minutes after being triaged.  I saw the other people come in after us.  They basically all had respiratory illnesses. I was worried we would pick that up while we were there.  I made sure we limited the amount of contact we had with surfaces and then used lots of hand sanitizer!

We made it back to the room.  The nurse and then the doctor made Joseph move his arm in various positions and watched his reaction.  At best he winced when he moved his arm.  The doctor and nurse were convinced that Joseph was not seriously injured.  I explained to them that Joseph had a high pain tolerance and they were not convinced. I'm not even sure they were going to send us for x-rays until I mentioned Joseph had broken his clavicle before and crawled on it without crying.

So we get sent back for x-rays.  They take FIVE films!  I had not seen so may taken before.  I had a feeling it was broken.  We head back to our room and sit in there for another hour waiting for the doctor to come in. Instead the doctor from the floor comes and and says Joseph's clavicle is broken. I told that doctor I had said it (the clavicle) would be broken to the first doctor that was treating us.  He quickly left the room.  Not ONCE did ANYONE offer to give Joseph pain medicine!

The first doctor came into the room and asked if I had heard the news.  I said yes, that the bone was broken.  I also pointed out I said I was worried it his clavicle was broken earlier and he needed to make a note in his chart about Joseph's VERY high pain tolerance.  He just looked at me.  I mentioned that I have told other doctors of Joseph's high pain tolerance before and they do not believe me because I am "just" the mom. So it would be nice to have documented proof.

Joseph all splinted up.

He rushes out the room as he mentions a tech will be in to help splint Joseph's arm. After some wrangling and me having to convince the tech to use the smallest sling and bandages available we got Joseph taken care of! I wanted to see the x-ray so I could see if the break happened at the site of the old break or it was somewhere new.  Plus I wanted to see the severity of the break.  His last clavicle break was very severe.  It did not help that he was crawling on it last time.  So I asked the nurse to see the x-rays.

Then something VERY interesting happened at Phoenix Children's.  I was told by the nurse I could not see the x-rays because of patient privacy. I said I wanted to see it and I wanted to take a pic of the x-ray on my phone on the light board in our room.  This way I could show his doctor a picture of the x-ray since I knew the records would not be ready for several days.  The head nurse was citing patient privacy too. Really? Um, no!  I am his mother, he is a minor so there is no patient privacy. If I am looking at the x-ray in our room then we are in a private setting.  This was a LOT of BS but I didn't want to fight about it.  From my earlier post on complex medical kids the first rule of hospital visits is to get back out the door as quick as possible!  I already had to ask twice for a copy of the Patient Rights pamphlet.  Now I just wanted to leave.

Out the door we went with the only medical advice given was to immobilize Joseph's arm to his side for the next three to four weeks and give him some over-the-counter motrin for the pain. Poor Joseph was hurting that night.  The next day I called his regular doctor for some pain medication.  She did not want to prescribe it (it has gotten RIDICULOUS in trying to get pain meds from ANY doctor, EVER, for ANY reason!) but in the end I won.  We got three whole days worth of Tylenol with codeine for him.  We are giving it to him only at night so he can sleep more comfortably.  He loves to sleep on his side so it pains him to sleep in the position he is most comfortable.  Now he can finally rest easy!

The good news in the story... We should be able to stop splinting his arm just in time for his birthday.  This is good because I ordered a bouncy house for their birthday!  Hopefully we will have NO more accidents!!!

Playing Catch Up

Photo Credit: http://buckyandlouissa.tumblr.com

Tuesday December 11 - I was crying and worried about the CPS visit along with having to find a new nanny. I was worried about losing my job since I was going to have to take a lot of time off from work and I did

not have the time to take off. Having fired Bailey is HUGE! It will be VERY hard to replace her. I had asked John about coming back to Nevada where we could live with him and I could stay home again and take care of the children. John’s first reaction is that he said he did not think it was a good idea. He said he was not sure if he could be around the children. He did not think it would be good for him. (John read my blog and said he was referring to ME, his wife of all most 13 years, as the one he is not sure he can be around. Though this hurts my feelings it at least makes me feel better about our last conversation. )  

Wednesday December 12 – On my first day home I get a text from John about 10:30am. My comments are in parentheses. It said…

I have made a decision. I cannot have you move back to Vegas to live with me. If you could somehow move back to Vegas and live somewhere else, that would be great. I came to this decision based on a couple of things (Neither of these were the reason I got the day before involving the children). First, we can’t afford it. With my salary, we won’t qualify for SSI (since when? We did before? Did you get some big raise I do not know about?) I do not make enough money to support a family of five without a second income. No one I have ever talked to who is a teacher has children an lives on one income (then you have not talked to the right people. This is just you seeking validation from others for what you are doing.). Both parents work. The only way it would work is if you got a job and that would defeat the purpose (purpose of what? For both parents to be in one house? For James to see more of his father?...NOPE! Didn't even ask if I would work PT). As it stands now I do payday advances every month. And yes, I could get a roommate, and the roommate would provide me with additional income (I did mention that and then you could come and visit the children more. What does this have to do with the conversation too BTW?). If you came to live with me you would not have an income (Yes I would…SSI.) In addition, I have a two bedroom apartment. I am not willing to share a bedroom with you (I feel the same). You would have to sleep with the kids or I would have to sleep with the kids or one of us would have to sleep in the living room (OK, I will take the living room). Either way, this would be a temporary situation (Why? I am your wife and these are your children), but temporary to what? What is the end goal (to have stability for the children and I along with having James stop crying to me he wants to see you)? Us living together would be a transition, but what is on the other end of the transition (why do we have to leave?)? If your end goal is for us to get back together, I stopped reading your blog for a reason (why does this have to do with my blog?). Because it was hurtful (oh, get it now). Since going to counseling and CR, I have learned a few things about anger control (wished you had learned that years ago…maybe we would still be together now). Before mouthing back to someone, I ask myself three questions. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? You keep saying your blog is not a lie and you are right (so this means what I write is the truth…) . But is it necessary? To you it is. You have told me it is your place to “vent” but you vent at the cost of hurting my feelings (Let’s stop here and think about this. If you admitted my blog is the truth, you are hurt by my blog, then you are really hurt by the TRUTH. It is not my fault your actions hurt your feelings). You have never apologized for that (what? Speaking the truth. No, I have not). Nor should you (that sounds like a lie there. Otherwise why bring it up?). You are allowed to do whatever you want. I learned a long time ago I cannot control your thoughts and actions (but you did try really hard and when I did not follow along you punished me emotionally). I can only react to the things you do (the same here). So… because we can’t afford it (VERY WEAK argument) and this situation would be temporary … since you obviously still harbor a great deal of anger (yes but I asked for us to do couples therapy to help with that) and chose to “vent” the way you do (who else do I really get to talk to? Would you rather me talk to my mother? I think we both know how that turns out)…I think it would be better for you to move back to Alabama (I am sure you would…an option I talked to him about and where I have my parents). We will talk about how to do visitation then (why bother?).

John has no idea how much his text hurt me. That he would rather turn us away. I cried. James asked where did I get hurt…lol. That is what I ask him most of the time he cries. That day I placed a new ad for a nanny and I hoped for a miracle.

Thursday, December 13th – It was the babies 5th birthday. I cannot really call them babies any longer. They are getting big. Especially James. Margaret wanted Hello Kitty carrot cake and I was determined to give it to her. I wanted to make and have a big party for them but I could not. With the stress of trying to find a new nanny, missing work and the pending CPS visit I could not get it together. To be honest all I felt was depressed. Later in the day Alexa came over and I went out to buy the children balloons and cake. I bought chocolate cake mix and a carrot cake. I got a Hello Kitty cake topper for Margaret. I also got a candle that was the number 5. Previously I had gone to Party City and got some Hello Kitty decorations, party hats, streamers and a couple of other things. The birthday presents I got the children had come in the day before. While out my car died. It was the battery, then the bolt broke that clamps the terminal to the battery, then I had to cut that one off and install another one. It was a huge mess and now my car is not quite running right but after sinking all most $200 into repairing it I did not want to spend any more money at the moment. I wanted to make sure I have at least some money for Christmas and their birthday. I finally made it to where I was going and back home. I got back JUST in time because I had about 40 minutes before Alexa had to leave. I asked her to wrap all their gifts. Alexa was sweet enough to buy the children something for their birthday. So she went and wrapped the gifts. That girl is a really good gift wrapper! That gave me time to spend with the children. By the time she was done her dad arrived and brought over the gifts for the children. They were cute. James and Margaret got backrest pillows. James got a batman pillow while Margaret got a Hello Kitty. Joseph got a pillow pet. He immediately went to lay down on it…lol.

I let the children open presents. James is SO funny when he is opening the presents. He is so excited and having such a big time. James was the one with a vision on this birthday. He told me he wanted birthday party hats, streamers, cake, and ice cream. I am sure it was from watching Blue’s Clues. I did what I could to make that vision come true for him. I got him one of the things he has been wanting a LONG time (about a year!), a camera. He was SO happy when he got it…lol. John got Margaret a Hello Kitty (HK) pillow that she loves and I got her a HK backpack along with two small HK dolls that she call HK babies…lol. Joseph got a guitar/keyboard combo from me that lights up and John sent him ABC flashcards that are touch, feel and scented. The touch part is the braille for each letter. They are pretty cool. Good job! I had not seen those before. I have several cute pictures of the children. They were blowing out their candle and I could not good picture of them because they were moving too fast. So after we had some cake I was lighting the candle over and over again to try and get some more pictures of the children. In getting pictures of James he was going too fast so I thought I would shoot some video and see about trying to get a still out of it. I started the video and James does something that shocked me. He makes a wish before blowing out the candle. I don’t know where he got this idea except from Blue’s Clues maybe or Yo Gabba Gabba. He got the idea backwards but the thought is there. Listen to what he says…

James is basically saying he wants John to come here or us to go there. I am not sure what he meant but he wants to be back with his father. It broke my heart. I had tried to make his birthday special and yet he thinks about John and wanting to be with his daddy. 

Friday, December 14th – I was home yet again. I had no choice. I had a few people apply to the nanny position but I have yet had a chance to interview them all. So far there had been three and I had only spoken to one person that day. The rest of the day I was trying to enjoy with the children before the CPS worker showed up. Having not been with the children all day I had forgotten how busy they can keep someone. Personally, I like it. I know it makes me get up and run around with them. They were having fun trying to see what I was doing with my emails. I was able to get Natalie to come over and act as a witness when the CPS worker arrived. I was nervous. I knew I did not have to corporate with the investigation but on the other hand I wanted everything to go away so I wanted to corporate if I thought the CPS worker was being reasonable. I met her out on my front porch. I said I was confused as to why she was here. She said an anonymous complaint had been filed with CPS. She said she could not tell me who it was. I said ok. Then she said I was accused of neglect. She first asked me about the children. She asked about Joseph first. She said he was listed as developmentally delayed. Yes. Is that all of his diagnoses? I laughed and said no. She asked what they were and I said I would not be able to tell her off the top of my head. That the list was rather long. She said the first allegation was that I said Joseph had to be fed pureed food and I was feeding him stuffing causing a possible choking hazard for him. All I could think of is ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I said I know the DDD worker who was in my house reported me because he was the ONLY person who has been in my house AND the ONLY person who would have seen me feed Joseph stuffing. The CPS worker promptly said she could not say and I told her it is obvious. I said I also told the DDD worker that Joseph ate tiny star pasta with baby food mixed in. Did he mention that? The CPS worker said no. I said Joseph can eat soft foods. He cannot chew the food. I tell people baby food because it is easier to explain and I do NOT trust other people to feed Joseph. Being his mother I know what he can and cannot tolerate. I said the stuffing was homemade and I knew exactly what was in it. I had tiny egg white pieces in it. The feeding therapist told me I had to practice with Joseph on eating things with more texture so that was what I was doing. Then we discussed Margaret. She said all the children were a concern with safety. I said that was right. That is why I have a chain lock on their bedroom door. I said I have tried to separate the children before but they cry when I have done that so they are all in the same room. I put the chain lock on the door so they cannot wander the house. I said Margaret is WELL DOCUMENTED having a problem with personal safety and safety in general. I asked if the DDD worker had mentioned that Margaret has brain damage. She CPS worker said no. I explained that Margaret had been diagnosed with brain damage and that information was given to the DDD. Was there any mention that she is autistic? Again, the CPS worker said no. I said Margaret has issues with speech. She understands fine but she cannot express much in free speech. We think that is due to the brain damage. I said if Margaret or Joseph got out of the home they cannot give any pertinent information about themselves like their full name or the address where they live. We talked about James and I said he was the smart one. He was the one that tends to release the other children. I said he just needs to see you do something once and he has it. That he is diagnosed as autistic and has issues with social interaction and emotional maturity. After talking for about an hour outside I invited the CPS worker into the house. I knew after talking to her she was NO WHERE close to having the full picture of the situation. I let her into the house and the kids ran up to her and said hello. The CPS worker then wanted to looking the refrigerator and see if there was food. I told her I had food on the counter in the middle of prep because I was about to make chicken pot pie. She looking in the refrigerator and it was STUFFED full. I then took her back to the bedroom. She looked at the lock. I showed her how I chained the door and then left it propped open to the length of the chain. She glanced and I said she needed to look through the opening. When she did I said notice how all the children’s beds are placed along the wall so I can see everyone when I look into the room. That was done on purpose. She said the locks were a fire hazard concern but they were not against the law. I told her right there if they are not against the law I am NOT going to remove them. I said I had talked to therapist and other people about what I should do with them once they got too big for the baby gate to hold them and it was agreed that a chain lock was the best idea. I said I was concerned about the safety and welfare of my children just as CPS was and that was why I lock them in at night. She asked about an alarm and I said I was concerned I would not hear it. I also said Margaret often wakes during the night and can do so multiple times. The CPS worker asked if she had been diagnosed as an insomniac but I said no one has done so yet. Knowing how Margaret refluxes and has constipation issues I would imagine that is why she is often up. In any case I said I would lose sleep and a sleep deprived caregiver and/or worker is not a good choice either. At that moment Margaret came down the hall and sat on the hamper. The CPS worker asked if she could talk to the children. I said sure as long as I was present. She said that was fine. I asked how she wanted to talk to first. She said Margaret since she was right there. I said that was fine but I warned her that Margaret has Hello Kitty on the brain and that was probably all she would talk about. So the CPS worker asked Margaret her name. Margaret said, “Hi, my name is Margaret.” So the worker asked her what is your last name and Margaret said, “Hi, my name is Margaret.” LOL At least Margaret proved my point that she cannot give pertinent information about herself. Then the CPS worker asker her another question (I don’t remember what she said) but Margaret started to talk about having Santa bring her a Hello Kitty chia pet…LOL. So the CPS worker gave up and asked to speak to the boys. I said that was fine but Joseph would probably not answer any questions and if he did he would most likely be repeating what she said. James was the one that could answer any questions but I said that would depend on his mood. The CPS worker asked Joseph a couple of questions. I did not hear what she asked but I know the answer for the first questions was “nuf-fing”(nothing)…lol. I think that is Joseph’s pat answer for most questions. He says it SO cute too! LOL I did not hear if he said anything to the second question but I doubt it since the CPS worker did not ask anything else. She then turned her attention to James. She asked him his name. He said, “My name is James.” So she asked him if he knew his last name. He said, “My names is James H. “ I was SO proud! You have no idea how much I have worked with him in saying that correctly! The CPS worker asked him a few other questions and I told her he was able to name off all the planets. He did and again I was proud! He did SUCH a good job! At the end the CPS worker was done and asked a few questions about me and John. I said I was not comfortable in answering questions that relate to John and she should talk to him herself. So that is how the visit went. I am not sure what will happen with the case nor when it might close but at least the visit has been completed. Saturday and Sunday – The kids kept me busy and I had no problem with that. I also used the time to get clothes washed and sorted for the children and myself. We had a nice time and James has been enjoy a math game John got him. Sort of like a Speak and Spell but with math. It is hard for James to do but he slowly starting to learn the math facts. This should be interesting after he has had it for a month or two…lol.

I will have to tell about the good things John did in a post tomorrow and all sorts of other adventures.

It's My Birthday!

Yea!  It's my birthday!!!  It is not everyday that one turns 40!  In some ways I am sad I am 40.  I would love to turn back time and be celebrating my 30th birthday instead today.  On the other hand I will not grieve for the time I have lost.  Some decisions in my life I have made and they turned out GREAT and others have been an unmitigated mess but I cannot say I am sad or sorry for my choices.  I have five wonderful children and one little angel.  I love them all!

I have two older children.  I do not talk about them a lot here because I am not sure they would appreciate it.  My oldest son, Jerrin, will be 20 at the end of October.  He and his fiance are expecting a child in February.  This will be my first grandchild!  I have been trying to contact my son for over a week now and he finally called today.  It was SO nice to hear from him.  I had been worried since no one had heard from him in at least a couple of weeks.

Then my oldest daughter, Caitlin, I had spoken to yesterday.  She celebrated her 18th birthday on the 2nd.  She told me Happy Birthday and said she had even read my blog.  She is a sweet kid, for the most part...lol, but I do enjoy talking her since we seem to have the same sense of humor.  She is working hard in college and this is her first year here.  I am proud she is doing such a good job!

The  little children were excited.  They were happy and excited to celebrate my birthday with me.  :)  We went out and I let them pick my birthday cake and ice cream. We had a good time.  I got a chocolate mousse cake.  Yum!  Then we got two small containers of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  We got Cherry Garcia and American Dream. We ate half of the small container of Cherry Garcia tonight.  James and I thought it was delicious!  Poor Margaret on the other hand was NOT happy. She seems to be rather sensitive to cold stuff and she has a bad habit of holding the cold stuff in her mouth.  She took two bites of ice cream and on the third bite she screamed. She had BIG fat tears in her eyes and her mouth was hanging open with ice cream in it.  I had her spit it out and I knew she must be experiencing an ice cream headache or brain freeze.  My POOR baby!  I held her and dried her eyes.  I asked her if she was better now and she said, "Yep" and took off to play...lol.  You have to give her an A+ for resilience.  : )

When I got the cake out the kids were buzzing around.  I put candles on it and let James, Margaret and Joseph blow them out.  James and Margaret were having a blast but Joseph seemed scared of the fire on the candles.  He did not want to get too close. Over the holiday weekend my whatever (husband, soon-to-be-ex, or something) had the children.  When he dropped them off yesterday he told me Joseph had fallen down four stairs at his place.  OMG, you should see the damage done to his lip and chin!!!  It was awful!  Joseph really has no business on stairs and that worries me.  I have all ready had to pull his two front teeth  because they keep getting banged up when he fell but now the next two teeth are getting the brunt of the damage.  At this rate I am going to be told those must be pulled too.

I am too exhausted tonight but I will post pictures tomorrow.  I don't know why I am so tired but while I am sleepy I want to take advantage of it and actually sleep.   I tend to be an insomniac and can't ever get sleep.  This has worsened with the break-in of my house.  So now I am going to head off to bed and I will get pictures up tomorrow.  I am looking forward to scanning  in a bunch of old pictures and I will post several of them online.

Bon Bons and Birthdays!

Money is not a problem until you don't have any ~ 

This is a quote by me....lol.  Having money is great but when you do not have enough of it life becomes tough.  I have a $400 electric bill that I have to pay.  I am going to make rent for September.  It made my landlord happy since I did not pay her for July and August because I just did not have the money. Currently everything is still on but no telling how long that will last.   I have asked several people for help financially but no luck so far. It sucks being poor.

 On a positive front I have been offered a job to work for the State of Arizona. Yea!!!  This is a great job for me.  There are logistical problems like paying for a sitter to watch my children, moving to Arizona in the first place, where will we live?  I do not start my job until the middle to end of October so I am actually thinking about living in a homeless shelter for a month or two.  I have to get money in first before I can pay anything out.  I don't know what I am going to do but that is another problem what will have to wait until tomorrow.  If I think about everything now then I will just get scared about this fantastic opportunity. 

I may be going to Arizona in the beginning of October because I need to get down there a bit early to scout things out and see what aid I can get for the children and myself.  For the first month or two we will be down there we will be DIRT poor.  Once I get going in my job and get a paycheck coming in then most things should straighten themselves out.  If anyone knows about disability services and such in Arizona please let me know!

In the meantime I will try to enjoy my bon bons because I have a lot to celebrate.  My birthday is coming up soon, right after the Labor Day weekend, so I am hoping to have a good time in Las Vegas before I have to leave my beloved city.  I am hoping I will learn to love Arizona as much as I have loved Vegas. 

And people wonder why I cannot get anything done...

I am not sure if any of you realize, in a moment of infinite wisdom, I decided to attend graduate school. This decision came out of the need for money along with the desire to complete the master's degree I started in 2003 but did not finish. So Monday I started by reading the class material. My new class started October 3rd, Landscape Ecology and Planning, sounds like fun huh?

On Monday I also made several phone calls trying to follow up with things. Heck, I just remembered I still need to work on getting Joseph a wheelchair and fight Medicaid trying to convince them I need help with the children since Margaret and Joseph seem to have NO safety awareness skills. I am also been pulling out clothes to try and consign them.

There is a major consignment sale in Las Vegas called As They Grow (http://astheygrowlv.com/) and for the last two sales I have spent a lot of money but was able to buy entire winter wardrobes of clothes for the three children and toys. For the past week my house has looked like a clothes bomb went off in my kitchen and living room. The only good news from all that is I have realized that Joseph has SOOOO many clothes he does not need a thing but shoes. James has a lot of clothes too. Just a few size 4T shirts and pants. He fits snug in 3T now and I would hate for him to grow on me over the winter and then I would not be able to find him warm clothes. Margaret is really the only one in DIRE need of clothes. When the weather turned cool here I had to dress her in boy's clothes because she did not have any warm clothes to wear.

Then I have been dealing with the school district. I COMPLETELY spaced out on the fact I would have to have the shot records for the children to enroll into school even though they are in a homebound education program.

I have been working SO hard on the consignment sale (did my volunteer shift today from 9am to 1pm) to tag clothes that my carpel tunnel is acting up and KILLING me. Got to get home and work on it more though. John was suppose to tag stuff for me today and I was suppose to get the day out but that is not how things are going to work out.

Oh, and my cool new phone died. My LG phone that was my birthday present died. The touch screen is acting up and of course it is 10 days after the warranty date so the $200 John was kind enough to spend getting me my cool birthday present is no good. :( I am SO sad because I LOVED the phone.

I also cannot get into my online school right now to do my forum posts. I had set the time aside but the school's computer system is acting up and I cannot get in. John, I just noticed messaged me on FB saying he has a massive headache and is throwing up. Now I get to go home, deal with John, take care of the children, finish getting my consignment stuff on hangers and input into the computer tonight before 10pm when the computer system closes and keep trying my school to see if I can get in and post my four forum post responses. Wait, I forgot about cleaning the house especially the kitchen! I doubt the cleaning fairy has come over since John is sick. What is worse is I know I am forgetting at least two other things. Sigh! I am just tired thinking about it.

One final thing while I am remembering...please click on the ad box to the left (AdSense) if you see anything of interest. This is how I am trying to raise more money for Joseph's Cause. If you can please donate to his cause and feel free to share his story. There is more to tell on that one but in another post. :)