The Nerve of Some Parents

I haven't written in a very long time, but I have been so agitated today and yesterday I felt compelled to get out at least some of my frustrations.

My wonderful daughter Megan turned 11 on Sunday and because her birthday is so close to Thanksgiving we usually end up having her birthday parties the first weekend in December.
Megan wanted to have a sleep over birthday party again this year because last years was an amazing success.
I asked Megan who she wanted to invite and her formerly best friend was not invited. I was fine with this because this girl is very dominate and won't let the other girls get a word in edge wise. We took her trick or treating and she dominate the entire night, and she always has some big "story" to tell, and I do not care what a kid tells her they have done, this girl has done it more as well as better. So when Megan said she didn't want to invite her I was thrilled because I knew that all the others kids that were coming to the sleep over were good girls, and the type of girls anyone would want to have around. We knew though that if this certain girl found out that she was not invited there would be an issue. Megan passed out her invitation while this girl was out of town for Thanksgiving thinking we could just avoid the whole situation. And of course true to the Stites family form we do not have any good luck. Megan took cupcakes to school Monday for all her classmates for her birthday and of course this girl in question is in Megan's class. So one she found out that Megan's birthday was the day before, and two some one told this girl that Megan was having a sleep over birthday party. So yesterday I am at work and my cell rings. I don't answer it because I was working and because I did not want to talk to this little girls mom that was now calling me. I could not think of a reason why this Mother was calling me as she has only called me like 3 times all school year. So I let her call go to voicemail. Finally I worked up the courage to listen to her message while I was on break.
The following is a direct transcript of her message.
"I it's _____, ______ mom. I am just calling to confirm with you. _______ is upset today, she believes that Megan came to school and is having a birthday party this weekend and she was not invited, which is fine I am not asking you to change your guest list, of course Megan can invite whomever she wishes and doesn't wish to invite to her birthday party.But I just wanted to confirm that with you so that I can talk with ______ and have it explained the proper way. So if you could call me back to that I can confirm with you yes Megan is having a party and yes ______ isn't invited or no I am sorry it was and oversight and _______ is invited, just so I can take care of it properly"
Are you kidding?? Should I have called every girl in the 6th grade and tell their Mothers that their Daughters were not invited and why they weren't invited so that their Mother's could "properly handle the situation."
If my Daughter found out some one was having a Birthday Party and Megan wasn't invited I would NEVER call up the mom to find out why, and then tell them it was so I could "properly handle the situation."
Megan has been coming home for weeks complaining about this girl and how much she doesn't want to hang out with her anymore because this little girl "lies and brags all the time." I told Megan that if she doesn't want to be friends with this girl anymore to just start distancing herself from her, but to not be mean or rude and say " I don't want to be your friend anymore." Megan says she has tried that approach and that the girl just won't take a hint and follows her everywhere. Well this last week this girl in question finally started hanging out with another girl and leaving Megan alone.  I had Megan had out her birthday invitations when this girl was out of town for Thanksgiving so as to avoid her feelings being hurt. This phone call was ridiculous, and I could not believe that some one would have the nerve to call me like this.
Guess what crazy Mom of the girl that is making my Daughter miserable, We can invited and not invite whomever we want to OUR party, but gee thanks for your permission to do so.
This classmate in question is very strange. When we were at the School's Fall Festival my Husband called my Daughter "sweetie" and this child says to my Husband, "Megan can be your sweetie, and I can be your honey bear." WHAT?? Then later my Husband said to some kids that Megan was his Daughter, and this classmate says to my Husband "well I am your Daughter too aren't I?" My Husband and I looked at each other like this little girl was a nut job. Who does that? I mean I have not been thrilled by this little girl from the beginning and was patiently waiting for Megan's and her relationship to fall apart, and I was so excited that was finally happening and then this Mom starts to be weird too.
We had our fill of the weird and crazy classmates mom in the 4th grade. That mom was the craziest I have ever come across, and I almost had to get a order of protection against that mom. That crazy mom left me very aggressive and threatening messages on my cell phone, and I had to play them for the Prinicpal, and he agreed that mom in question was a nut job. My kid and I are still shell shocked by that mom and her Daughter. The Daughter wasn't as scary as the mom was, but the daughter was the one that was throwing gas on a fire to get attention from her mom, even when what she was telling her mom wasn't true. She just liked the attention and didn't have any idea how her mom acted toward Megan and I.
I still get the hair on my arms standing up thinking about that wretched woman I will call "G".
She would call me yelling and saying insulting things, and threatening me and cursing. Because my mom taught me to not fight mean and dirty and I am a lady I did not act like her in return. Well she took this as a sign of weakness in me for not acting like she was acting, and it didn't help. I would hang up on her rather than me say things I would regret or didn't think was fighting fair, and she said that me hanging up was immature. Really? I thought given the choices it was the highest road to take. First, you can not argue with crazy people, and she was crazy. Two, people like G love fights and will fight over anything they aren't picky, they just like the feeling and think it is a power trip. Finally, I wanted to stay on higher ground and be able to say to the Principal or the Cops that I didn't do anything to her. After her harassing me a few times, I got smart and blocked her phone number from ever being able to call my phone.
The last couple of years have been nice with no drama from that whacky family, but I feel like I could be on the cusp of another strange family. I do not know what it is about me but I can promise you that if they is a weird or crazy person anywhere in a 3 mile radius around me they will find me. I attract weird and crazy people.


What is happening to our society that schools can't have winners and losers because it might hurt some ones feelings or hurt their confidence so "everyone is a winner", and we can't invite whomever we want to our own private birthday parties because some one might get their feelings hurt.
Give me a break! When I was growing up it wasn't like this and we all grew up fine. So where did all this garbage come from. No not everyone can win all the time, yes people are going to lose. No, not everyone should have to be invited so as no ones' feelings get hurt. It is okay to only invite the people you want at your house and your party. Just like when your kid is at my house they will have to follow my rules. And believe me I have easy rules at my house for guest. Rule 1. If your hungry or thirsty help yourself, my house is your house. Rule 2, Treat me house at least as well as you treat your own house. Rule 3, when you are with me and I am responsible for you then you have to follow my rules and not run off because if you get hurt or lost then I am responsible for that as well. Rule 4, please do not steal from me because if you ask me for something I will probably give it to you. Rule 5, I will treat you like you are one of my kids, so I will make sure you are happy, fed, and comfortable. If these rules bother you then you probably should not come over to visit with us.
I would just wish that parents would teach their kids manners and that you should not smart off to adults, and treat others peoples property with respect.
This same girl that was not invited to our party when she went trick or treating with us smarted off to me when I asked if she had told a home owner that had just given her candy "thank you." She said "I don't want to say Thank you", and then another time she told me "I said thank you, I just said it under my breath and you didn't hear it." I told her "well if you said it under your breathe then the people at that house most likely didn't hear you". I am sorry if you want to hang with my family then you have to have common courtesy and be polite, because your behavior reflects back to me and my family.

So anyways, we have 6 lovely girls coming to the sleep over this weekend. All the girls that are coming are very nice girls with manners, and I won't have to worry about one girl dominating all the other girls, or have anyone that will brag to everyone about everything. Also if a girls says she has done something, this girl will not say she has also done it, but done it more and much better. Megan and I do not want any headaches this weekend, plus like the saying goes "you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with".

The plan for the sleep over is to have a fashion show in the fancy dresses that I have bought Megan for playing dressup, I also have several different size high heels for the girls to wear, and lots of pretty jewelry. Then we are doing blind make-overs. That is when a blind folded person applies or attempts to apply make-up to your face. Then they are making a cake that looks like a cookie with a frosting filling. We are going to watch movies, play games, I am going to shoot the fashion show with my camera. And many more activities. Then for dinner is spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad. For breakfast is eggs, and pancakes that can be colored or made in a shape of something, as well as you can make your pancakes into a smiley face with fruit and bacon and whip cream.
So I will post pictures after the party this weekend, but first I will post pics of my Daughter before and after her hair-cut.

Elbow Surgery

I just got approval from Workman's Comp to have surgery on my Left Elbow for the Tendinitis I have. I should have had the surgery months ago, but my Workman's comp Case Worker was an idiot. So after 3 Doctors  and waiting since January, I am finally waiting for the Doctors office to call to schedule my surgery.

I am hoping the surgery is soon as I have a week vacation the first week of July and we are supposed to go stay at a friends cabin and go swimming and fishing, and I want to take Megan to a couple of water parks. So I need my arm to be working by then.

So what they are going to do is make a 2 inch incision on the outside of my left elbow and go in and repair the tendon. The surgery last 45 minutes. They say it has a 96% success rate. Only 5% of the people that get Lateral Epicondilitis aka tennis elbow, ever go on to have surgery. When I had my MRI back in December it said that I have severe tennis elbow. 
So since Therapy, meds, and light duty didn't work, this better.

So after surgery my elbow will be in a sling for 10 days. That means I can not do anything with my elbow at all.
This means I can not straighten my hair because I can not hold the blow dryer or my round brush with my left arm.
So I will be going curly for a while.

Then I go to physical therapy after 4 weeks. I am not sure what I will be allowed to do between the 10days in the sling and the 4 weeks before I can do therapy. I guess I will just have to find out. However I figure if I can get into surgery in the next 2 weeks I should be pretty well along by the time I go on vacation.

So I should have a phone call Monday to schedule my surgery. 

New Foster Dog from Texas Puppy Mill

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have a new blog for my furniture creations and I spend a lot of time there and doing my furniture these days this is my new blog and where I spend all my time.

We got a new Foster dog like a week ago this last Friday. He came from a HORRIBLE Puppy Mill in Texas. He was one of 200 dogs kept in unspeakable conditions. My foster dog Finley was kept like this

I can't hardly look at this picture. One, it makes me so mad and dad at the same time and I want to do something bad to the man that put Finley here. Two, I can't stand the sad look on Finley's face because this is how I know him now.

This is how I know him because he loves to get petted. When we first got him he had no idea what it was like to be be petted, and now he follows me around the house trying to get as many pets as possible.
This little guy came to us with no teeth and we think he is about 4 yrs old. It is hard to judge a dogs age when they have no teeth. He has some back teeth, but his K-9 teeth have be ground down so that when he was used to breed he could not hurt the dog he was breeding with. However his front top and bottom teeth are all missing completely and they think it could have been from poor nutrition. I am hoping the guy that had him didn't pull them or anything because the thought of that kills me.
This poor guy as you can see from the above picture was kept in a raised cage and was left outside 24 hours a day in any kind of weather condition you can imagine for Texas. The holes in the cage were so large I guess the guy thought he was doing Finley a favor and put in 2 wire doors from dog crates so Finley could walk on them. As you can imagine Finley's paws are damaged from this cage. His paws are all spread out from having to stand and walk on the wires.
We have heard stories that possibly in the last couple months that the dogs were in Texas they were being fed only once a week. As you can see in Finley's cage he has 2 rusted coffee cans I would assume be for food and then one coffee can I would assume was for water. He also came to use with Girardia. Which is a parasite. They think from him drinking bad water.
Arizona Border Collie Rescue was contacted by the Texas Humane Society to see if we could take some of the dogs and we ended up bringing 21 dogs here and there are 3 or 4 more coming.
You can see video of these dogs at the Texas Ranch on youtube if you search "Texas puppy mill, 4-02-11."
It requires a strong stomach to watch the video.

We are so happy to have Finley and introduce him to a lot of first. He had never been in a real house. Never had a belly rub. Never used a dog door.
When we first got him it was a real struggle just to get him to come inside our house much less get him to stay inside the house. Last night was very special because it was the first time he slept all night in the house.
We got him fixed last Friday because the poor guy wanted to spray the entire inside of my house. He had never been told the word no, so when you would tell him no when he heisted his leg to spray he wouldn't even act like he heard you , because the word meant absolutely nothing to him.
Thankfully he is fixed now and hasn't tried to spray the inside of my house except for once since he was fixed.

Finley is just about a perfect dog. He doesn't mind other dogs at all, and especially loves to play with our other BC Mardi. They have a blast together.
I didn't think Finley would even know what a toy was, but he found some in our backyard and LOVES to play with toys.
He loves cheese. I buy string cheese and pull strands of it to give him and it is his favorite treat above all else.
He loves to jump on our bed and roll around on his back.

I guess he is doing better than all but one of the other 20 dogs they brought to Arizona from Texas. Some of the dogs still aren't letting people pet them hardly at all. Some of the dogs are still almost paralyzed in fear. They are Ferrel, they just don't know what it means to live in houses and to have people that want to pet and buy stuff for.

All I know is that when Finley finally does go up for adoption it is going to take a VERY SPECIAL person to come to our house before we will let this dog go.

After sleeping in the house for the first time all night, now he tried to sleep between us in our bed, but he didn't want to sleep. He kept poking us with his nose so we would pet him and then he would not lay down and go to sleep, and we tried to get him to for 30 minutes. So reluctantly we had to have him leave our bed.

We have foster several dogs for AZBCR and Finley has come around faster than some of the fearful dogs we had gotten from shelters that had used to been peoples pets. This poor dog was never anyones pet he was solely there to make this horrible man money.

I love this dog and I am so happy that there were people in Texas willing to save all 180 dogs lives that were at the puppy mill. I am also happy that Arizona Border Collie Rescue was able to help 24 dogs and bring them to Arizona to start a new life and be treated the way any dog should be treated. I would have been happy with any dog that they handed us from this puppy mill, but I am sure happy it just so happen it was Finley.

I make this promise to you Finley. I will do everything in my power to find you the best home possible AND also if who ever takes you decides they can't keep you they can always bring you back to our home forever and enternity we will take you back.

Car Accident! When all I Wanted was Oops Paint from Home Depot

At least I got 2 gallons of Oops Paint before the accident, and was happily on my way home with it when the accident happened. But it was all good because I got a gallon of Behr Paint and Primer in One, in a Satin Finish AND in a nice white for $5.
I also got a nice Behr premium paint, in a very nice off white to beige that was a $26 gallon of paint in an Eggshell finish for $5. So I was happy.
and THEN!........

I am not sure what it is about me, but people LOVE to run into the back of me in my car.
Last night on my way home from Work and buying paint at Home Depot, I was sitting at a red light when I heard that unforgettable shrieking of brakes and tires.
I looked up in the rear view mirror just as a lady in a small Ford Ranger truck slammed HARD into the back of my Jeep Cherokee. I hit my forehead on the steering wheel, my drink in the drink holder went everywhere. As soon as I realized exactly what happened I sat that for a second, and my head hurt, and my back hurt. I just froze, it took me a minute to just think. Of Course, I went to call my husband and couldn't dial the phone, and then I gave him the wrong intersection I was at. I told him an intersection closer to our house and in the opposite direction of where I actually was.
The lady that hit me was a very nice apologetic woman in her 50's, she had just picked up her Dad's truck as her Ford Expedition was in the shop for repairs (thank God). She admitted to not paying attention and running into me.
I was shocked at how hard she hit me, I am not even sure she had begun to slow down for the red light that I was sitting at.
He car appears to be more damaged than mine, she had fluid leaking from the radiator and broken lights, and grill, and who knows what all else that was broke.

My back hatch on the Jeep will not open and is smashed in, the bumper is all messed up, it is part metal and part plastic, and the plastic is about to pop off. Of course who knows what type of damage there is to my Jeep that I can't see. My back and head hurt too much for me to lean down and look under the Jeep last night and surely I am too sore today to bend over and look. I have a bruised lump on my forehead, my lower back hurts, I have been dizzy all day, the bottom of my right foot hurts. and my neck is bothering me and stiff on the right side and hurts at the base of my skull on the right side, I am tired, and HAVE to wear my glasses today as I think my vision sucks a little more today, but it may be because I am so tired. It is actually kind of fun being this dizzy. I am running into things and falling over things.

They asked me if I wanted the Fire dept to come out to the scene last night, but since I had called my Husband first I did not want to have the Fire Dept there and scare my Daughter when Lloyd pulled up with her. Plus I do not like attention or to go to the Hospital unless I am dying. I would have felt like a fool had they showed up to look at my bump and my back, I need there to be blood before I would allow anyone to call the Fire Dept.

This morning I woke up sorer so I am leaving work early to go to the Doctor, I don't know if they can do much, but it will make my Husband happy and I just want to make sure all is okay as I have a Daughter I need to raise, so for her I am going.

My Husband of course was none to happy that his Jeep is damaged, plus right now until it is fixed we can not haul furniture for me to redo, and I wanted to go to an auction tomorrow night.

I am not sure what is is about me that people like to run into ME.
About 7 years ago I was at Desert Ridge and a Escalade backed into me from their parking space, then about 5 months later I was in a line of cars trying to leave a QT mini mart and a guy in a HEARSE backed into me.

Then when Megan was 4 I bought a brand new Kia Sorento, and after I had it about 6 months a guy in a Acura ran into the back of me when I was sitting at a light (again) exiting the 101 freeway. Again the other person's care the worst part of the damage. I think her totaled his car and just wrecked my bummer.

Then again another 4 months after that guy hit me, I was making a right hand turn in Gilbert, and I was sitting at the red light waiting for it to change, because it said "no right turn on red" and a guy in a pick up with a brush guard on it ran into my back end AGAIN. Again had to have bumper replaced and he messed up my exhaust pipe.

Let's hope people stop running into me. I really hope they fix the jeep and make my Husband happy, because I don't want him made at me if something happens to the Jeep, as I can not help it if some one ran into me.
So I haven't had an accident since then, until last night when again some one runs into ME.

I also hate dealing with insurance companies, and now I am missing work to go to Doctor and have to take PTO, and pay a $25 co-pay to go to Doctor, then possible co-pay for meds, and on and on.

I did feel bad for the lady yesterday as she got a ticket for running into me, and I am sure that isn't cheap, or she could take traffic school.

I just want to be able to haul my furniture again!

My first Shabby Chic Creations

I bought this cabinet on Craiglist for $30

And I removed all the hardware, sanded it to prep it and then put primer on it, and I thought hand painting was better and so that was what I did. Only to learn that most smart people out the spray paint their furniture, well live and learn this was my first piece.

When I went to the store to pick out paint my Husband went with me and he was over looking and found where you can buy paint for next to nothing because people bought a custom color and for whatever reason didn't buy it. So I found a galon of very good paint in a green I thought would be perfect for the cabinet and the entire gallon of awesome paint cost me $5!

After I painted it, I distressed it and then sprayed it with a Polyruethane coating and below is the end results of my work.

I thought the color would be perfect for it to be shabby chic, and then after I put it on, I thought that this would make a very cute cabinet for a nursery to put baby stuff in.
Well it is currently listed on Craiglist and is for sale.

I am now working on 2 little tables, but unforunately I did not get before pictures of these tables and I really wish I had, because they both were very ugly and now they look beautiful Shabby chic and will be up and available for sale soon.

A Double Standard is a Double Standard...is it not?

I have always been on the thin side my entire life (well except for when I was born, I weighed 10lbs 6 oz) and all my life people have made unwanted comments about my weight. I take issue with this for many reasons.

One, I do not think anyone should ever comment on any one's weight period. I have been told numerous times "you are so skinny it is disgusting." I am sorry but the last time I checked being told you look disgusting is NOT a compliment. I do not want to hear any one's opinion on my weight.

Secondly, if I told some one "oh my gosh you are so fat you look disgusting" I would be fired from any job, and/or killed by the person I said that too. Yet when you are thin people think that your weight is up for conversation, well they are wrong.

Please do not tell me that I should take these comments as a compliment, or that when people say things to you it is because they are jealous. I do not care, I find it just as rude as if some one was to comment on an overweight persons weight issues. I had an incident at work recently where a coworker said "you are so skinny it is disgusting."
Well I went to my boss because I find this highly offensive and not something I should have to put up with at work. My boss told me that I need to simply tell the person that I what they are saying hurts my feelings, and that she was sure that the person meant it as a compliment. Well I think that is unacceptable. I told my boss that if the roles were reverse and I had made the same comment to an overweight coworker that I would be fired, and she AGREED, yet the punishment for the coworker that made comment to me was that my boss "would talk to her", but she would not be in trouble she just must not realize what she is saying to you is upsetting you." WHAT??? Are you kidding? If the roles were reverse the person making rude comments to an overweight person would be FIRED, but because I am not overweight, this person will only be "talked to"!
That my friend is what you call a DOUBLE STANDARD


So I did not ever confront this co-worker and over the months that comments have continued and I have said nothing. I am not one to confront people and I would feel like an idiot saying "you hurt my feelings". Well so yesterday this same co-worker made another comment. I was going to let it go but she caught me on a bad day as you can tell from yesterdays post. So I told my Husband and he said I should tell my boss, and the more I thought about it the more I thought I should too.

So I wrote my boss and email and this morning she came to talk to me. Then very shortly after that here comes the co-worker that made all the comments. She tried to sneak in my office and put a note on my desk but Bam I was sitting here and I said "Hi how are you?' and she proceeded to tell me she "was sorry and that she wishes she had my figure and (then another back hand compliment) she said I think of you as a girl, you have a girls figure." Oh so that is nice at 42 I have a girls figure! Thanks!
I do not think her apology of note was very sincere, I detected a note of anger and unhappiness that she had to be talked to by my boss not that she was actually sorry about her comments. So whatever at least she won't dare make another comment to me, but I am still upset that we have this HUGE double standard in our society.
I have another co-worker that is very thin and she has had the same issues with people at work and has been told the same thing as I by my boss, and it aggravates the both of us that we have to put up with this from our co-workers but yet overweight people here are protected more than us.

So I guess as always this is something I will just have to deal with. I remember as a kid and my entire adult life have do deal with these comments. I remember one time I had a job when I lived in California and I worked with this one woman who happened to be very over weight and she was constantly making rude comments to me. I called my mom in tears and she was so funny she made me a shirt on one side that said "why am I so skinny?" and on the other it said "because I am lucky." She wanted me to wear it to work so this co-worker of mine would see it and hopefully leave me alone. By the way, this co-worker in no way meant for her comments to me compliments she did it to just be mean.


I don't know maybe I shouldn't be so sensitive about people making comments about my weight, and actually sometimes I do take things they say as a compliment, but that being said I absolutely hate that there is a double standard when it comes to this.

Well there is my rant for the day!

The good news is my Husband and kid areout of town this weekend and I am going to have my own mini vacation ALONE! I am thrilled to be alone and have some me time. The problems is I started out not wanting to do anything this weekend but now I have a ton of things I want to do around the house I doubt I will have time to do them all much less get to be lazy like I want. I promise though I will get a couple of naps in.

Have a great weekend!

My mom always said if you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything at all!

Therefore that is why I have not posted in a while.
I haven't quite finished the 2 pieces of furniture I am repainting and working on so I am not post about that.
My Husband still hasn't found a job in this wonderful economy we have Thank you to all involved in the HORRIBLE job market, I just can't Thank you enough!
While I am at it, let me thank the oil companies for driving up gas prices for no real reason except with the unrest in the Middle East it was a great excuse for them to get greedy again. Please don't tell me it has to do with anything else but greed. Because wait until all the reports come out and I promise you the oil and gas companies will be recording record profits! Well yippee doo for them! Meanwhile our grocery prices go up, we can't afford to drive anywhere, and my Husband is still unemployed which makes filling up the car even more enjoyable.

(Let me take the time here to throw out there that my Husband is unemployed but at no fault of his. He was blind sided with a lay off, and he spends a lot of his day filling out resumes and if I know him in the last couple weeks he has been unemployed he has probably send out a 100 resumes. So I just want to throw this out there so no one think he is a slacker and doesn't desperately want a job)

So as you can see I am in just a peachy mood. I will say this I do not recommend giving up smoking and a Starbucks habit all in the same week, things tend to get a little rocky when you take these things away from people.

Right now this Country is looking pretty sad. We have beyond record number house foreclosures, gas and food prices are soaring faster that we can keep up with, unemployment is threw the roof, and worst of all a certain male celebrity with or with our mental and drug issues is captivating this Country. It is all so sad and upsetting and I wish I could just tune it all out and it would simply go away.

The sad thing is I am not sure what if anything cant change things around for this Country. It certainly isn't Obama, and I am sure it won't likely be any other yahoo out there that thinks they can run this Country. I guess we can only be the Top Country for so long, you can't always be the top dog and the best at everything. Eventually you have to slip and be 2nd or 3rd or worse.

Do you want to know what is the saddest thing of all is?
I am sitting here thinking, naively I might add, that all I need is a weekend home alone with no one around and things will get better. LOLOLOL!
Well I am seeing this now, but whatever, I want to stay up late and sleep in late, watch hours and hours of HGTV, no shower, not eat, and work on my furniture items I am redoing. That is what I want to do this weekend, and the only way any of that will happen is if I am home alone. If anyone else is home with me then it will be impossible because there wil be cooking and cleaning and mothering and always something to be done.
When I was a kid my Mother was a single Mom to us from the time I was 10yr old up. She used to threaten to go on strike all the time and we never could figure out why, we didn't think we ever did anything wrong.
Well guess what Mom I now understand why you wanted to go on strike, and some times I do too.

I know I am a wimp and I will be the first one to admit it and I don't care. I am not a single Mom, I have a Husband, I only have 1 very good sweet loving child that is 10yrs old, and I have 3 dogs, and I work a full time job. BIG DEAL! My Mom raised 7 of us, with no money and no man around. I should be able to do what I do without wanting to go on strike.
So I am simply going to blame this entire blog on my lack of Starbucks and Cigarettes!




I will try and be better tomorrow but no promises with no cigarettes or Starbucks.

Megan's Honors Band Concert - March 2, 2011

Well with all the negatives in the world and in our life right now I need to write about something positive and that something positive is my kid, my loving beautiful, big hearted, amazingly smart, and talented Daughter Megan.

She plays the flute and only started at the beginning of this school year. They actually only started playing their actual instruments in October and she already had one concert and last night was her second concert.

She was asked to be in Honors band by her band teacher Ms Shaeffer. So this has meant us getting her to school 30 minutes to an hour early for the last week and a half so they can practice for the concert she had last night.

Megan practices every night so I can hear how well she is improving but I was absolutely blown away last night when I heard the entire Scottsdale South District 5th grade Honor Band play! WOW!
There was 3 different age group playing last night. The 5th graders did 2 songs, the 6th graders did 2 songs, and then the 7th and 8th graders did 2 songs. I was absolutely blown away by all of the bands because they all did an amazing job and played some pretty tough music.

Megan's first band concert was entirely different, as parents we think our kids are perfect, and it was all parents and proud family members at the last concert and I have to be honest it was not the best sounding band. I thought it was good because of how short of time they had all been playing but it in no way could compare to last night.

Then we found something last night that was extraordinary and really touched me and impressed me.....All the band teachers that have been practicing at their many different school spent the entire day yesterday and evening preparing and helping the kids for this concert did it all on their own personal time without ANY pay. They all took the day off with no pay to put on this concert.

This is very amazing and touching to me. In this economy and day and time I am shocked that there are teachers and people out there that are willing to do such a thing so a bunch of school kids can play their band instruments for their parents. That is true dedication and frankly I wish more people were committed to kids and their educations.

We have plenty of politicians that have no problem cutting our school budgets. When are people in this Country going to realize that our kids and their educations are #1 priority and we need to make some serious education reforms and make cutting education budgets unacceptable. I could go on and on about this but I will save it for another time.

So anyways back to the concert here is a picture of the entire 5th grade band but you can't even see my kid.

The concert was held at Coronado High School in South Scottsdale.

The place was packed with a lot of very proud family members.

Megans' Aunt Karen and her Cousin Daniel came to see her performance. Cousin Daniel plays percussion in his high school band and has played percussion probably since the 5th grade. I am hoping that Megan will continue to play all through High School as well.

 Here is my Sister and Megan's Aunt Karen with Megan after the concert.

This is Megan Band teacher Ms. Shaeffer. She is a very dedicated and awesome teacher. She does very well with the kids and took the entire day off without pay yesterday to make this amazing concert happen.

And this is Megan and I from last night.

After the concert we took Megan to her favorite place to celebrate we went to http://www.yogurt-land.com/

Megan absolutely loves to go Yogurt-land and get a couple different flavors of Frozen Yogurt and put on a bunch of the strangest topping combinations.

When I was a kid any time we had a play or something at school  or church my mom would always take us out for dinner or ice cream after to celebrate and I wanted to carry on the tradition with Megan.

They announced last night that there is going to be a 3 week Band Camp this summer and that the kids will learn as much in that 3 weeks as they would in an entire year of band at school so I am really going to see what I can do to encourage Megan to go and make it so she can go.

I would love for Megan to continue playing the flute forever. She does a great job at everything she tries and wants to do, and I think it teaches kids great discipline and they say that kids that play a musical instrument do better in school and score higher on the SAT's and a ton of other benefits so why would you not want your kid to play an instrument!

Good Job Megan!! Mommy and Lloyd are VERY proud of you!!!

Life is sucking hard! My Husband needs a job NOW!

So my husband lost a job of over 2 years back in May 2010, and was unemployed for 5 months. Then he got a new job that was a nightmare. Crazy boss and it was impossible to make any commission because of that crazy company policies and they tracked every phone call, and every email, and even had GPS in the Blackberry so they could track their employees out of the office. Well luckily Lloyd was able to leave that job for what we hoped was a better job with a better chance of making a decent commission...... WELL.

This boss was absolutely crazier than the last, and when I say crazy I mean absolutely certifiably CRAZY.
And just when Lloyd was about to land a job that was going to be double what the whole office had done for the entire last year he was fired. That's right fired! He had just had his final meeting with the company that was potentially going to give his office a nice chunk of work and Lloyd a very nice commission. And this guy comes into my husbands office at 4pm and tells him that the company is going in a different directions and how it was nothing Lloyd did wrong but that he was being let go right that minute and they handed Lloyd his final check.

Both Lloyd and I are in absolute SHOCK. How the heck can a company do this to people? How do they justify in their heads letting go of a man that single handily just increased their revenue to over double what the entire office did in the entire time it had been open?
THE only good thing that came out of it was that the insanely crazy boss got fired too, but that does not good to us now that Lloyd is unemployed now.

I have absolutely no idea how we are going to survive until Lloyd finds a new job. I am praying hard he can get back on unemployment but they cut out the extra $25 a week they were giving to prior military, and I am just hoping we can still get the max $250 a week of unemployment, if we can't get it or do not get the max we are for sure going to be in HUGE trouble.
I am also praying that it does not take Lloyd another 5 months to get a job because I am sure we will be homeless long before then.

Right now I am so angry at the world you have no idea. How and why does this keep happening to us? Why can't we catch any kind of a break? Why can't Lloyd find a decent job?
I am not asking to be rich, I just want us to be able to pay our bills and maybe even get out of some debt.
If we didn't have 3 dogs we could go live in a small apartment and be in pretty good shape. But how the heck do you get rid of 3 members of your family to do that?

I am so angry and upset all I know is  that I have to turn this whole situation over to God because I know that I can not handle this with out him. I keep telling myself that God has to have a plan for us and we just can't see it yet, because I don't know why else this could possibly keep happening to us.

I know that Lloyd is a hard worker and this can't be anything he has done or hasn't done, but we have to find him a job and one fast.

So if anyone knows of a outside sales position or any other job that pays over $30,000 I don't care if it is digging ditches please let us know.

Lloyd email address is lloydstites@yahoo.com

This weekends plans

Tomorrow I am going in search of buying this....

I found an ad for it on Craigslist and I am going to go look at it.
I want to buy and redo it and see if I can't resell it for some nice cash.
There are a couple of issues though
1. I don't know if I should paint it or leave it a wood color

2. What if when I am done with it I fall in love with it and don't want to sell it?
I am afraid if that happen that my Husband will be made and not let me buy more of these to re-purpose.

Well cross your fingers that it is worth buying to re-purpose as I am very excited at the prospect of having this as my pet project.
I have another small table at home that I purchased at a Goodwill that I also want to re-purpose and sell and I need to get started on it soon.

I am looking for more cabinets like this, small tables, bookcases, cabinets without glass fronts, and bed side cabinets to re-purpose.
I am also looking to buy an old solid wood door and/or one that has some stain glass in it as I have a friend that turns doors into benches. So if you know of such a door for $25 or less please let me know.


As for the rest of my weekend...Megan has a sleep over at  Friends house Saturday night, Sunday we have church and I took Monday off to hang out with my Daughter and my Husband. So it should be a good weekend. I am for sure looking forward to it despite the project rain and cold weather.

Tennis Elbow aka Lateral Epicondylitis

This is what I have in my left elbow. This has been going on for just 1 month shy of a year. Not sure if you all know this but it is a very painful condition. So much so that I realized something was wrong whenever I would go to reach for something and pick it up with my left arm it was followed by excruciating pain and it could be something as light and small as a pen would cause the horrible pain.

This first started to cause me pain in March of 2010. I had no idea why my left elbow hurt, and burned. In May I was at my primary care Doctor for another issue and mentioned that my elbow hurt. He examined it and said I had Tennis Elbow, and that he could fix it real fast by injecting it with a steroid and some numbing medicine. Well all was fine and dandy for 3 month, well except for where the injection turned my elbow white, and ate away some of my muscle in my elbow.
So jump to September my elbow starts really hurting me again, and not at home, at work. I realize that the job I do was causing my elbow pain. So I told my boss and I went to Occupational Health and started the Workman's Comp process.
Sept 13, 2010 I start at the Doctor for Occ Health, I am told to wear a Tennis Elbow brace and start PT. I go 3 days a week for 2 months, no improvement.
Then Occupational Health Doctor sends me to a Surgeon. Surgeon says continue PT for another month, take and anti-inflammatory and rub some arthritis cream on my elbow 4 times a day. I go back 1 month later and still no improvement. So then the Surgeon sends me for MRI on the elbow.
When I get back the results it says I have "severe lateral epicondylitis" and blah blah blah

This is kind of what my elbow looks like, only mine is worse than this patients.
The Surgeon says that I have 2 choices that I can do.
1. a PRP injection- now this is not FDA approved and is considered experimental on the elbow.
It involves the following. They draw out my own blood, then spin it down until they can get to just the platelets. They suck up the platelets into a syringes and inject them into my elbow is 5 different spaces.
Now I know you all are thinking "big deal", well you would be right, and here is why I do not want this procedure done.
They do not numb up your elbow, or sedate you this is done without anything for pain. They don't just inject the platelets into your elbow, they put it in the tendon in question by scraping the tendon with the needle all the while injecting the platelets AND they do this 5 times in 5 different spots.
Now I don't know about you but this sounds pretty painful to me.
The Doctor never told me anything about the procedure AND he left his MA to tell me all about it and the pain part.
I said well how painful is this, and she said "some people scream, some curse, some yell, and some do nothing."
Well I am the one doing nothing because I am not going for the procedure. PLUS I have been told by a few people that it doesn't do a darn thing so NO.

and the
2nd opinion is Surgery

Where they go in and some how fix the tendon.
The down side is the it takes a long time for it to heal but it is more likely to fix the problem.

Well because this is Workman's Comp related I have to go threw a Case Manager. I called him and told him what the Doc said and told him I did not want the PRP, and I would like a 2nd opinion.

6 weeks later after waiting for the approval and actually getting an appointment I FINALLY go my 2nd opinion TODAY.
This Doctor tells me that I could do the PRP, the surgery, OR another experimental procedure where they use shock wave therapy to fix the tendon.
The same shock wave thing they use to break up large kidney stones, they would use on my elbow. I have no idea how in the heck they think  that will fix the tendon.

Soooo I call back my Case Manger and tell him what this Doctors says, and now my Case Manager wants to send me to a THIRD Doctor for another opinion.
My CM called it a Independent Medical advice. So I am supposed to hear from some one by the middle of next week to find out where I go next with this elbow thing. And if it is anything like last time I was waiting to get into see this last Doctor it was 2 weeks NOT a couple of days/
I have hear that Arizona is one of the worst States to have a work related injury and I completely believe it now.

So I don't know what this new Doctor is going to say, all I know is that I want my elbow fixed and I want it fixed right and fast.
This is a very painful deal, and I am tired of my elbow burning and hurting all the time.

So I guess all that is left to do is pray that God will help me threw this and that he will give the Doctors the knowledge and the skills to fix my elbow.

BTW typing in one of the things that cause Lateral Epicondylitis.

Our Foster Dog Emma did find a new home

This is the couple that adopted Emma this weekend.
We were very sad to see Emma go. Of all the dogs we have fostered she was by far the best, and if we didn't already have 3 dogs we would have for sure kept her.
Unfortunately this couple changed her name to Zia, they had her no more than a hour and said she wasn't answering to her name so they changed it to Zia. Well I promise you Emma knew her name, she is 4 years old and came to us with that name and she knew it very well. We didn't care for her name but we wouldn't have changed it because of the fact it was the name Emma knew.
But whatever people do the strangest things, and as long as they are a good loving family to Emma I guess it doesn't matter what they call her.
Emma we miss you very much and it feels like our home is empty without you. If you ever need to come back to us we will gladly take you whether it is today, tomorrow, or 10 years from now we will gladly take you back.
Good luck Emma! and much love to you!

My Valentine's Day Gift

This is my AWESOME gift from my Daughter.

When I was younger like in my Teens and 20's I always wanted some one to buy me a heart shaped box of chocolates and I never got one. Well that was until this Valentine's Day when my beautiful loving Daughter Megan go me the above box of chocolates and the beautiful home made card, which by the way are the only kind of cards I like to get from her.

So I just had to share with everyone my wonderful Valentine's gift!


Thank you Megan and I love you with all my heart!

Megan's First Band Performance

Megan had her first Band performance recently and I was shocked at how well the kids played for them only beginning to play their instruments in September of this year. It was a little hard at times to tell what song they were playing but I was so incredibly proud of the job they did.
The Band Instructor told us to watch for them bouncing their feet to the beat of the music, if they kept their eyes on her, and if they held their instruments in the correct resting position. Megan did everything perfect (of course, but I am not prejudice) and did an amazing job.
Here is a picture of her before the concert

I played the flute when I was her age too and I was never as good as she is. She pays attention and is eager to learn and really know her stuff. She can read the music very well, and that was the part I never paid enough attention to.
She is now going to be in Honor's Band which means she will be attending band twice the amount every week that she is currently doing it now. I really hope she keeps this up and continues to play threw High School and beyond. I can see her playing in High School Band and Orchestra.

I was shocked to see so many boys playing flute, I just for some reason didn't think that boys would want to play flute.

It was so funny before the concert began there was so many parent clamoring to get pictures of their kids that the Band Director finally said "okay if you want to get pictures now is the time to do it, for the next 5 minutes take all the pictures you can." Let me tell you the parents went nuts. It was really quite funny to watch. I wasn't able to get the pictures from the right angle I wanted because there was so many relatives taking pictures, I at one point had to even get on a chair to get a shot of Megan.
After her concert we took her out to celebrate her awesome job and we went to her favorite place Yogurtland. She loves that place, she gets about 3 flavors of frozen yogurt, and about 6 toppings, I am surprised she can eat all the stuff she puts in her yogurt, but it makes her happy so I do not care.
When I was a kid my Mom always took us out after any performance at church or school to celebrate and so I wanted to have the same tradition with Megan.

Yesterday I was looking at a picture I found of Megan last year, and I was just overwhelmed and had to sit and stare at the picture for 10 minutes. I can not believe that God blessed me with this awesome loving, beautiful child. I just can not figure out what I did in my life to be blessed with her.
Now I know all parents think their kids are the best, and they should, but I am just awe struck by what an amazing gift from God she is.
She is beautiful, smart (way beyond me at that age), she has a heart of gold, she never wants to hurt anyone in any way, and would be crushed to find out if she has hurt some one's feelings. She loves animals of all shapes, sizes, and breeds. I literally thank God every day for blessing me with her.

So anyways I digress, I look forward to hopefully many more band concert with my Daughter.
and just because I love her and think she is so amazing here is another picture of her from that night.

I probably shouldn't brag about my daughter, but I am so very proud of her and everything she does, so please forgive me.

Gotta Love Goodwill!

I love Goodwill, heck I love second hand stores. My husband and I went this weekend because Saturday was 50% off day. He needed work clothes and I like to go there any chance I can. I love looking for clothes, household items, items to use on photo shoots, items to make craft projects with, and you name it and I like to buy it at Goodwill or any other second hand store I can find.

Saturday my Husband got 5 dress shirts and about 3 pairs of dress pants for work and I think it came to some where near $25.
I bought like 5 pairs of shorts, one pair of khaki pants, and 3 tops for my daughter and it came to around $25.
I am not saying which Goodwill we went to or which ones I frequent because I love them and want all the good things I find for myself.

I currently have a list of items I am on the hunt for at second hand stores, I need wood decorative picture frames of all sizes and shapes, an decorative stand that may have been for a candle or something like that, that is about 4 to 6 inches high, don't care about the color or anything because it will be getting painted. glass, wood, or metal material for the stand all would be okay I need it to make a cake stand. I am also looking for little cabinets, little tables, book cases, or end tables made of wood that have potential to be re-purposed.
And then I am always looking for clothing items for my self, my family or for the household things.

I just wish I had more time and money to go to more second hand stores. Money is the biggest reason I do not get to go more second hand shopping. I seriously get up Saturday morning at 7 am, not shower or do my hair and shop the entire day and not care how far I have to drive. That would be a dream OR not to have a budget either. I would love to be able to go to second hand stores all over the entire State of Arizona. I am not under an illusions I totally understand and know that one time you can go to your favorite store and find a ton of great items only to come back a week or so later and not find anything good for a month, but I am okay with that. Sometimes that is the fun because you never know what you are going to find IF you find anything at all.
In fact the weekend my Husband and Daughter are going out of town for the entire weekend is 50% off Saturday, but now I am torn between sleeping in super late and then crawling to the couch to spend the ENTIRE day watching HGTV, or getting up early and spending the entire day shopping at Goodwill stores.....
I guess that will eventually be determined by my wallet that weekend. :)
Hope to see you at a second hand store near you!

Soon to lose another Foster Dog from ABCR

My Husband and I have had 16 foster dogs at our house for ABCR, and we are about to lose our latest dog to her new forever home.
Our all the dogs we have had in our house, including the one Border Collie we kept, Emma is by far the best dog we have had with us. She absolutely do not have ANY bad habits.
The only thing Emma is guilty of is occasionally being a little possessive but that is easily corrected.
She is a little bit of a picky eater and thinks she has to have wet food mixed in with her dry, but other than that all she wants to do is be petted by anyone that is willing to pet her.
I also have never seen a dog that likes to be brushed more that her.
It took us forever to get her to use our dog door but she is completely potty trained so it really isn't an issue.
She came to us a owner turn in, because her former owners said they didn't have enough time for her.
Everything her former owners told us about her was completely off base. They said Emma didn't like women or kids, and that she only liked men. Totally NOT true, she loves me, my Daughter, and all her Friends, and my Husband.
They said Emma didn't like to go for walks, NOT true, she LOVES going for walks.
Emma is just an awesome loving dog. When we first got her she acted like she didn't know what a pet was, but now she will come up and beg for pets, and if you start to pet her and then start she will hit you with her paw to try and get you to pet her more.
Every morning when I get up she wants me to scratch her bum in her lower back nearest her tail, and then she will lie on the floor and show me her belly and wants to be scratched there as well.
I would say 90% of the time when a foster dog we have goes to their new forever home it is very sad, but Emma is one of those that will stay in our hearts forever. We have had her 2 months yesterday. I am sure Emma thinks we are her forever home, and we would love nothing more than to keep her forever, except for two things. One we have 3 dogs currently that are our children and 4 dogs forever would just be too much. Secondly, if we were to keep Emma then that would mean we have no more room in our home to save any more dogs, and we would like to continue to save dogs lives. Plus we are always very careful in picking out our dogs new forever homes and make sure they go to the very best new homes.
So even though it will break out hearts to let Emma go, we will know in our hearts that she is going to a very special new home with people that will love her and treat her the way she should and deserves to be treated.
So here is our pretty girl....

So Emma we wish you well when you leave our home to go live with your forever home, and we hope you never forget the love we showed you, but we hope you will live out your life being petted and brushed like no other dog out there.
We will miss you and you will remain in our hearts forever!
Good luck Emma!

Megan's 10th Birthday Party-Sleepover

This year for Megan's 10th Birthday party we had the party at our house with a sleepover.
We had 7 girls plus Megan. We had a lot of activities planned because I learned long ago when you have this many girls you need to keep them very busy.
The theme Megan choose was Egyptian. So one of the activities we planned was a Mummy wrapping contest

We also had a very successful Scavenger hunt in the back and front yards combined. They had to find a list of items from something that doesn't belong in nature, to something that starts with the letter M, to things we planted like a compass and snakes to go along with the Egyptian theme and exploring.
We then had a egg toss just because they are fun. This activity was one of the girls favorites.
In fact one of the girls had another sleep over at our house after the Birthday Party and asked if they could have an egg toss. So it was a very simple game that the kids loved very much.

Then through out the night we made cupcakes and decorated them, we decorated pillow slips for the girls to take home. We made melt beads, played Twister, and the girls had their own whacky talent show and here are a couple of pictures from those activities.

Then we made virgin Shirley Temple's because Megan wanted drinks in "fancy" glasses with umbrellas.

I heard a lot of the girls saying that this was the funnest party they had been too, and that it was even funner than their own Birthday party.
I was thrilled because I just wanted Megan to have a good time and I think she did.
And here is a group shoot of all the girls at the Party.

I know that the girls talked about her party for a while at school.
I would not mind having a party like this again simply because it was so much fun.

Megan's Art Exhibit 2011

So Megan was attending the Boys and Girls club every day after school and all summer. Now she will just be attending in the summer. Well during this last summer Megan made an Owl Collage with her Art group. They have contest every year for each age category, well Megan's owl received 2nd place out of her age group for the entire Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale. And the Art Director for her branch Jen Hughes (whom I love) was able to have all the winners Art pieces shown at the Phoenix Art Museum for the entire month of January. Well of course we had to go check it out and below are some pictures from the Exhibit.
She wasn't in the best mood this day but you can't really tell from the pictures.
Lloyd and I are very proud of her for doing so well, of course.
I am thankful to God EVERY day that he blessed us with such a wonderful, warm, big hearted, loving, bright daughter. She is the apple of my eye!

                         The Family

                  Megan's beautiful Art Work

This is Megan's Art Instructor Jen and Megan with her beautiful art work!

New Years 2011

Well I can't believe how long it has been since I posted anything, but really my life is pretty boring.
I will post pictures of Megan's Birthday Party soon, and our Christmas. Tonight though I want to post pictures of our trip to the snow New Year's Day.
Megan and I went to sleep New Years Eve by 9:30pm.
So here are a couple of pictures from our trip

 and below is a church and a barn I fell in love with in Strawberry, Arizona

We had a lot of fun.
I hadn't seen that much snow in the Payson area in more than 20 years.
I would love to go back, but it seems like every weekend we have stuff to do that keeps us away.

Well besides my New Year's Resolution to stop smoking, I promise to post more on my blog.

I surely hope that 2011 is better than 2010. Between Lloyd being unemployed for 5 months and a bunch of other stuff, I sure hope this year will be better.