The Known Enemy

Okay, so why is it ok for Obama to be friends with a known terrorist? I don't want to hear that he is only "friendly" with him, damnit. Let's call it what it is.

Pictures....

I am able to upload pictures today. These pictures go with my post below. I'm sure you can figure out which pictures go with which paragraph. So, read the post below then look at the pictures, k?, k!
S.

Dear Sandy

My friend left me a message chastising me for not keeping up on my blog. I have so much to tell but when I get a free moment to do so, I feel too tired for the task.
But, I don't like to disappoint. So........

Dear Sandy,

The summer has gone by way too fast. This marks my last week of official summer vacation. Back to school next week. I must admit I look forward to returning to work, but I mourn the end of my beloved summer. Bittersweet.

June came and went in a hurry. Gary and I managed to get away for an overnight to Put In Bay. We dropped the top on "Anglbug" and hit the road on a Sat. morning and came home Sunday afternoon. A short trip, but wonderful as well. The pool opened and that's usually where I spent 3 days a week as Asst. Manager. The boys were hired as lifeguards this summer so we have spent some real quality time together. Let me say,I don't think they liked having me as their "boss" at first, but we worked things out.
Molly spent a week at camp and stayed true to character when it took me 45 minutes to get her in the car at the end of her stay. I gave her all the time she needed amidst the tears, and hugs and promises to "see you next summer".

July has managed to breeze by even quicker. A few of the month's highlights included spending 4th of July with one of my dearest friends. Colleen and I grew up together and she has lived in California for a long time..but she came "home" for the 4th. So we were given a whole day to just "hang out".
I also got to spend a crazy fun night with another dear friend with whom I had lost touch. Andrea and I went to high school and college together. She's been living in Washington State and I hadn't seen or heard from her in years. We re-connected and got together for dinner and drinks when she was in town. My wonderful friend Jamie was able to join us as did crazy Shelley who helped orchestrate the whole thing.
Lots of laughing and lots of stares from people who just don't get it!!
Also spent a week in Florida with Gary and the kids. We spent time with my brother and sis-in-law which is always a good time. Took a trip to the Everglades and an airboat ride to see the alligators! Let me tell ya, there's lots of alligators in the Everglades!! I can never get too much of the beach....it's good for my soul.

So Sandy, here I sit thinking of all I have to do to get not only myself, but the kids ready for school this year. Andy is ready for senior year and all the excitement that comes with it....I'm living vicariously through him. We took a tour of OU this past week and it gets me all nostalgic. Re-living your youth can really pull at the heart strings. Man, I've had some good times growing up! Collin will be a junior and Molly is sooo ready for 8th grade....she proclaims quite often that this will be "her best year ever!"
There's still things I didn't get accomplished this summer that I wanted to.
a. Paint Molly's room..it was going to be our mother-daughter project this summer
b. Go to camp with Donna, you, and Susie
c. lose 15 lbs
d. lose another 15 lbs
e. blog more
f. try my hand at painting...I don't know why, but I've really had the urge to buy some paints and brushes and a palette and go for it!
g. girls day/HH at the beach waterpark

However...I DO look forward to fall so we can make our girls trip to Brown Co.

I hope I haven't bored you "Sanny". I will try to post more often so I don't go on and on and risk losing your attention.

Love,
Sharon

PS...I intended to post pictures throughout this letter but the damn blogger refused to let me upload my pictures...I'll try again later :)

Just Wondering

It's 2:30am...just got home from a night of drinking beers with my sister. Checked the internet, as I always do, and saw a headline from "The Buzz" on gay couples who have "come out". WHAT THE HELL!!!! Now, I am not at all homophobic..BUT...I don't understand why lesbian couples look as if they are heterosexual! One takes the femine role..the other takes the male role. Why is that? Just wondering. One wears the dress, the other wears a pant suit.
Any insight?

Prom

Andy attended his first prom with this girlfriend Megan. They had a great time. I was so excited for him that I swear if he had asked me to tag along I would have!

Two Moms....One Day

The remains of Matt Maupin were found. A young man from Batavia, Ohio, he was stationed in Iraq when his convoy was attacked and he was taken captive. That was 2004. He was 20 years old. The Maupin family was given the news just yesterday. Yesterday, I went to a college fair with my 17 yr. old son. From there we went to get his tux for the prom. Sunday, March 30, 2008. One mom's day of excitement and fun and thoughts of bright futures, another mom's day of pure and complete devastation. I wonder what Matt's mom was doing while I listened to Andy speak with a rep from OU about applying for their School of Journalism. I wonder what Matt's mom was thinking while I was thinking that I can't believe my child is growing up. I wonder how Matt's mom was able to fall asleep last night, while I was able to succumb to slumber the minute my head hit the pillow. One day. I'm sure that for the past 4 years her only desire was to hear that Matt had been found, that he was alive and well. Who wouldn't hold on to that hope? Now her grim reality is that her son won't be coming home. Ever. One world. Less than 1 hour from where I live. A woman grieves the loss of her son, while I celebrated the life of mine. What a reminder that was for me to hug him a little tighter and laugh with him a little louder.

Get Big!

Let's go Xavier! Bring home a winner, Muskies!!!!

The B#@*! Pissed Me Off

It has rained continuously for 48 hours....enough already. Woke up to sunshine today, although a bit nippy. Who cares....give me light!
My traditional St. Patty's Day outing was another success. Celebrated the wearing of the green, listened to some bagpipers, drank a few beers (ok, a lot of beers) and pissed off my brother! See, he has this girlfriend who drives me crazy. Toward the end of the night I hear her in conversation with my sister talking about how psycho my brother's ex-wife is. The ex-wife who happens to be my friend. So I felt obliged to straighten out some information for her. Of course that entailed throwing out some facts that maybe she didn't want to hear...but damn, she pushed my buttons! Next thing I know the girl is in tears and my brother is pissed....although, if you knew the boy you would know he brought most of it on himself...well, all of it really! Such an end to what had been a glorious day. So I felt kind of bad for making her cry (even though she started it). I sent her an email to apologize for getting involved in the conversation and saying things I shouldn't have...and that after 100 beers it wasn't the time and place. WELL, girlfriend got an attitude with me and wants to try and put me in my place. NOW I wish I would have told her more! It's a damn soap opera! It does add a bit of excitement to my otherwise ordinary life, I might add. I told her that accepting apologies is a major social skill she needs to work on. I'm sure that didn't help at all. Oh well.........
Can't wait till next year's festivities. Somehow I don't think girlfriend will be joining us.
Peace out.....

Tid Bits...

1.Winter storm headed our way tonight and into tomorrow...Great! Mostly icy rains and snow showers with little accumulation. If we can't have one good snowfall before spring, then just forget it!

2.I'm directing the school play, "Beauty and the Beast". Imagine directing 27 kids who have behavior issues. What the hell was I thinking? Our "beast" quit because he can't find it in him to tell Beauty that he loves her. He "don't use words like that". Shit. My "beauty" can't make it to rehearsal for the next 5 days because she got suspended from the bus. I told her, "Beauties don't get suspended from the bus!!"
Shit, shit. And now, the only bit of talent I have to work with is being transferred to another school. SHit, shit, shit!

3. Started our second round of Biggest Loser at work. I had gained back a few since our first round, but am back down another 10.

4. Only 45 days till St. Patricks Day!!!

Pictures of the kiddies modeling some of their new gear!
Christmas was wonderful! Had our traditional Open House....which didn't close down till 5am!! I'm tired.
Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!

The Pain Is Over and I Met Some New Friends

After two weeks of pain from that damn tooth extraction I was finally able to get back to the land of the living. What a horrible experience that was! So now I have another dental situation arising. I have an impacted wisdom tooth that has a cyst developing on it. Nice! It needs to be attended to or there is a possibility that it could erupt and cause my jaw to fracture. Double Nice!
What a bunch of crap!
So last weekend I went with 3 friends to Brown County, Indiana. Had a blast! We left early Sat. morning and checked into our hotel by 10ish. Brown County is a quaint little town that hosts tons of shops and art galleries. So we started out on a beautiful fall day and worked our way through the shops. Long about 3pm, I believe it was my friend Donna, said "I'm ready for a beer". Well, there's not really too much to be offered in that area. But I did remember a place Gary and I had stopped in several years before. We found that same place....The Speakeasy. We stopped in for 1 and walked out at 8:30! Whew! Fun, fun, fun. We met the greatest group of people. We met 3 couples who were there when we arrived. They were our first encounter and we immediately hit it off! Then 2 more couples came in. They had purchased a replica of the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story"....remember that? They ended up plugging it in right there. They joined in on our fun! There was no juke box....so we just sang! And believe me, we sang to anyone walking in and everyone walking out! It was definitely one of those "you had to be there" moments. We all left that night with exchanged email addresses...as soon as my friends get their pictures to me I will be posting them! We did nothing but laugh the whole time...I felt like I knew my new friends forever. Such a big world it is, but so small in so many ways!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.....enoy yourselves wherever you may be!
S.

Under Pressure

I went to the dreaded Dentist a few weeks back and he told me I needed a root canal. Ok. So I call my insurance company to see what the cost will be. To save this damn tooth would cost me $900. After much consideration, I responded to the dentist with a quick "pull the damn thing!". I gave him my reasons and he agreed to extract tooth number 19. Shortly after the appointment was made, the nurse called to explain..."Dr. C. just wanted me to tell you that although you will be numb there will be quite a bit of pressure." No problem, I'm down with that. SO...I go to my appointment on Monday, sit in the ever so intimidating dentist chair and get my shots of novocaine. Prepared for the extraction, the good doctor begins the procedure. I HAVE NEVER FELT SO MUCH PRESSURE IN MY HEAD!! I felt like the right side of my head was going to burst open and spew my brain out! It was awful. I was holding my head and thinking,"FORGET IT, STOP, GIVE ME THE F'N ROOT CANAL, I'LL PAY $9000!" Damn! It finally was over, he packed my mouth with gauze and sent me on my merry way. Things were good till Monday night when the novocaine wore off. The pain kicked in and I started on my ibuprofen. I had Vicadin for back up...which I used last night....then woke up this morning light headed and sweaty and in more pain. Son of a ....! So it ends up I now have an infection and have started on penicillan. This has been a nightmare....AND I BETTER WAKE UP SOON!!!
Not that all of this is any excuse for my absence....I've just been lazy. I have been checking in on everyone, though. And it sounds like you all are doing well. Hopefully soon I will be able to say the same thing about myself!

Get Over It

My professional response to a whiny 10 yr. old who was throwing a fit because somebody got in front of him in line:

"BUILD YOURSELF A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT!"


Only 150 days till summer break!

Things That Make You Go Boo!

The Halloween Campout proved to be another year of great fun. I didn't go as well with my eating as I had planned (remember, I intend to be "the biggest loser") but it wasn't too disastrous. I stepped on the scale this morning fully prepared to have seen the same numbers, but it was actually down 2 lbs! This group picture is of a few of us on our trip to the restroom at 3am!(yes, those are wigs) It's pretty sad when we have to take the Boones Farm with us! The 2 girls are my great nieces. Little "J" dressed up as Dora the Explorer. Notice that big "J" wasn't as thrilled with her costume.

I'd also like to put a shout out to my buddy Luke! I work with "Lukey" and although he's not a blogger he'll occasionally check out mine. He asked today why I never blog about him so I told him I was going to throw his name out there just so he can see it in print. "Mr. Wuke", as one student calls him, is a good dude and makes me laugh everyday. Here's to ya, Luke....

Off to the gym now, people....I ain't playin' around!
S.

What I Could Do With 5 Minutes!

Had a meeting today on one of our students. An adorable, funny child who has stolen my heart! She is a victim of SEVERE sexual abuse. The details would make you sick! I wish I could take this precious girl, wipe out her memory, take her home with me and never tell her she hasn't always been mine. Give me five minutes with the woman who dares to call herself this child's mother. This woman who not only allowed it, but watched it and participated in it. I know it's not professional, and definitely not Christian, but with those 5 minutes I would kick some serious ass!!

On a lighter note....we're going camping this weekend. The annual Halloween Campout. Always fun. Everything is packed and ready to go. The Boones Farm is chilled and ready to be opened up around the first campfire.

Have a great weekend!

S.

Bad Blogger....Bad, Bad Blogger!

It's been almost 2 months since I have posted anything!! Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger! I have decided to try and write something atleast every other day...I am challenging myself. Now, I can't guarantee it will be anything of great importance or much value, but I'm going to see if I can do it....hope you don't get bored with me! If I get to be too much just let me know and I'll slack off a bit....I don't seem to have a problem with that, I can be quite the slacker!

Myself and some friends at work have started a contest..."the biggest loser". Everyone put $10 in and whoever loses the highest percentage of weight by November 16th wins $100. So far the hardest part has been sharing your weight with each other..YIKES!
Wish me luck.

So....have a lovely evening, everyone. And I'll talk to you SOON!!
S.

My New Baby!

Looky at what I got!! So after my reading with my psychic he reinforced with me how important it is to really live your life, not just get through it. Therefore, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and do something for just me. Get something that I really want instead of settling for something else until the time is better. I stepped out of my comfort zone and acted downright stingy! Oooooh, but I'm lovin' it!!! Everybody is telling Gary that I'm spoiled...I call it being understood!
Wanna go for a ride?
S.

Listen To This

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Attaching a few photos of my son's Yellowstone vacation with his best friends family. He won't be home for another week...I miss him!


Ok,get ready for this. Last week I went to see a man named Thomas Windlow. He is a Natural Psychic Medium. My sister had gone after hearing about him from several friends. She called me immediately following her appointment and was in awe of him. I decided to make arrangements for my own sitting with Mr. Windlow. I was very nervous the night before I went. Would he tell me something I don't want to know? Would nobody from the other side even want to say hello to me? Was I being disrespectful to God? I questioned myself right to his door. When I entered the home he uses as his office I was still quite nervous...his receptionist is very freaky. Although very friendly, she possessed a high pitched shaky voice that reminded me of something from the land of Oz. She was very animated and wide eyed. Thomas entered the front room and introduced himself and said he would be with me momentarily. He was in the midst of his morning donut and coffee. He walked out to the front porch and this is when my heart really started to race. Could he sense something around me? Were there dark demons he was trying to make sense of? Was he trying to figure out how to inform me that my life is doomed? Was he buying time? He finally re-entered and walked me to his office. He was very kind and calming... a good thing at that point because I was ready to crap my pants! He began by bowing his head in quiet prayer. He then lifted his head and proceeded. Mr. Windlow began by telling me he saw me surrounded by the color green, which means I work with children in the capacity of teacher or counselor of some sort. TRUE. He told me my Dad had passed and that he was behind my left shoulder. TRUE. My Dad was showing him that I have 3 children, 2 boys and a girl, and that my daughter was born right before my Dad passed. TRUE. (he died 3 weeks after Molly's birth). An uncle who was like a second father to me came through. He told me that my son was named after him. TRUE. My grandmother who I never met (which he also knew) came through. He told me that she has walked with me my whole life and that we have some kind of bond....I was named for her. AMAZING STUFF! He described each one of my kids and my husband as if he has known them their whole lives. He talked about what stresses I carry with me and described fairly accurately my feelings about my life. He gave spiritual advice. I was with him 30 minutes but it felt much longer....I really wanted to talk with him all day. His messages of love from my dad, and my uncle, and my grandmother, were so so comforting. They really do exist beyond this earthly plane. I've always believed that and had faith that they do, but it sure is wonderful to get some validation of it all. It was amazing to hear from him that my dad watches over my kids, and hears me when I talk to him, and wants me to talk to him more often, and sometimes sits on the end of my bed. There's too much to explain...but he said things that he had no way of knowing, or could possibly have guessed. I'll admit that I do still have that little pang of guilt for somehow betraying my blind faith...but I really believe that Thomas Windlow was given a gift from God. One he was intended to share.

Quiet Morning

It's Tuesday morning, 10:22, and I am the only one awake...ahhh, I love summer.
Molly left for camp on Sunday. I miss my baby but I know she's having a blast. The boys are both free from either work or football and are enjoying a day of sleeping in!
Later today my sister and I are joining our mom on a trip to Argosy Casino...she has a free nights stay. Mom loves to gamble and actually does fairly well. Patty and I could care less, but we figure we'll have some fun spending a little, people watching, and enjoying a few drinks! I look forward to the sleepover.
Well, I think I'll take a walk this morning....maybe the "bums" will be up when I get back!
Have a great day!
S.

Happy 4th!

Just a couple pictures of our vacation at the beach....

Happy 4th of July, my friends! I'm off to enjoy a day of kickball! The tournaments are today and our first game is at noon. We don't have a very good record, let me tell ya. Actually, we finally won our first game this week...we are officially 1-8. Woo-Hoo! Even the umpire was excited for us. But I don't want to mislead and let you believe it's because we finally got our act together and worked for it. The win is actually a result of the other team lending us a few of their young players in addition to my son and 2 of his friends! Some people refuse to call it a win....I call it pure, sweet, victory!