Leave it to the Professionals!

I’ve never claimed to be a writer, although I do sometimes love to get my thoughts on paper. The other day Bob and I were on our way to work, and as we approached E’town, we could see and smell the smoke from the wildfires that took place in Fort Knox and Sonora. It was an eerie feeling as we drove through the smoke, so I wanted to try to capture it in writing. Well, I wrote my short descriptive story about our drive to work that morning, and I asked Andrew to take a look at it and let me know what he thought. Here’s my story:

"A pungent odor filled the air as we made our way down the WK Parkway this morning. A caliginous sky left us questioning the events of the previous evening. An old combine, with not enough grease on its bearings, had sparked a field of soy beans. What started as a small, containable fire rapidly grew into the area’s worst wild fire. Burning out of control, consuming acres and acres of soy bean field, the fire quickly approached the small community, threatening the homes and barns standing in its path. The quick response of the fire department, combined with the Forestry Department’s knowledge, and the local farmer’s tractors, brought the fire in control within hours. Throughout the night the fire was watched, with nervous hearts, to assure the wind didn’t stir the still burning embers.


This morning, making our way to work, we were witness to the remnants of the devastation. The air, thick with smoke, lingered throughout the town, creating an intense fog for the morning commute. The smell, lingering in the air, thick and heavy, bringing back childhood memories of our wood burning stove, was embedded deep in our nostrils."

I guess I should have known that a professional writer would rip it to shreds. LOL! Good thing I’m not sensitive to constructive criticism. Andrew replied with the following:

“Well, it needs a middle and an end. A story, for the most part, is about character, and what you have here, is a premise for a story. I need to see character(s) and what they learn, going back to the memory of a woodburning stove is good--but more specific, what does a wood-burning stove smell like to you--and I want to see more and more of this happening. And, on that note, leave out the Fire Dept, the Forest Dept. that its the area's biggest fire. That's exposition. Again, bring it back to characters. Or, make what you have much more concise, and create a metaphor for this fire and your memory, and really elaborate the images that are brought up, but conclude on something punchy...this could be a comment on something going up in smoke, an old flame, whatever, but it could be great. (The note about the combine is very beautiful :) )”

After giving me this tidbit of information, he went on to write how he thought I should have written the story. Here’s his version:

“The road was black as pitch for the furrows of smoke and ash like fat flakes of snow. In the distance, the waves of fire crop licked the sky, and the black clouds rolled up like burning wallpaper. There was a smell in my nostrils, one of kindling, an old wood-burning stove on a brick hearth in Winter. My eyes watered then as they do now, my second marriage the heavy cherry log that melts, melds with the soot. The soybean field smolders now, waiting for fairer weather to be burnt out.”

Talk about pencil envy! After reading his version, my sad little story didn’t seem fit, even for a children’s book. Also, do you know how long it would have taken me to come up with something like that! Not in my lifetime! LOL! Of course, I was only writing a short description of what we experienced, but Andrew, in his response, wanted me to make it into a story. There’s just not enough time in the world for me to come up with something like that…. I guess that’s where the saying “Leave it to the professionals” comes into play.

I’m very proud of Andrew, and truly welcome his input on my inadequate writing skills. I hope to see him published in the near future.

TTFN!

What to do, what to do???

Now that we have doctor’s visits out of our schedules, life seems pretty calm. No appointments, not nearly as much worry, what do we do with ourselves? It feels like I have so much free time on my hands. Final diagnosis for Mya: None. We are in the wait and see if it happens again mode. Hopefully she never has another episode. I’m still left with the question of “If it happens again, then what?” I guess we’ll see.

Andrew and James will close on their house this week. I couldn’t be more excited for them! Andrew has plans drawn up of what he wants to do to the house as far as some small remodeling, and tons of decorating. I can’t wait to see the finished product! Of course, it will take place over time, and not happen over night. I know that disappoints Andrew. I think he gets his impatience from his Mum. LOL!

Bob and I are planning a Halloween party for the immediate family. Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year. The scarier we can get the house, the better! Of course, since we will have smaller kids at the party, we will keep the tricks as mild as possible. Don’t want to send anyone home with a permanent fear of the dark! LOL! I’ve got several games planned, as well as “hayride style” trick or treating through our neighborhood. I think the kids will have a great time!

There’s a lot of turmoil and chaos going on in the family right now. I have a feeling it’s going to make for a very awkward Christmas gathering. I hate it for Mom, and really wish everyone would come to their senses, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. Maybe, one day, people will grow up and realize the world doesn’t revolve around them alone. Sorry, I just had to get that out there, in case the right people are reading my blog. GROW UP AND GET OVER YOURSELF!

Work has been crazy busy this year. Based on our business you would never think we were in a recession. I hope it continues to boom through 2011 and beyond.

I’ve been thinking about a hobby, but can’t really decide what I would like to do that doesn’t require a huge investment. I used to love to scrapbook, but I just can’t seem to get in the right mind set to get started back on that road. I’ve tried the cooking thing, and that just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ve been reading a lot lately, but I don’t really consider that a hobby, it’s more of my relaxation time. I’m looking for something to occupy my mind and hands. I’ve considered photography, and even have a make shift studio set up in the basement, but I can’t afford to get all the great pictures developed. LOL! I think it’s because I want a copy of all of them, and multiple copies to share. Although I love having a digital camera and the ability to sort out the crap, I don’t like the idea of not having a picture in my hand. I need to sort, look, rotate, and study my pictures to see which ones really capture what I see in the lens. I can’t do that with a digital without tons of development costs. There’s a wide variety of editing software out there, but like scrapbooking, I just can’t seem to get my mind focused on learning all the “tricks”. We have an editing program on our computer, but so far I’ve experienced some unwanted cropping when transferring my final masterpiece to a photo developing website, so I never use it. I can’t figure out why the software is cropping a huge portion of pictures during the transition. Maybe I need “Photo Editing for Dummies”! LOL!

TTFN!

How do you spell relief! E-K-G

Great news! We just got back from the Cardiologist and everything is fine with Mya's heart! She does have the small hole, but nothing that will require surgery, or even follow up visits with the Cardiologist!

It was listed on Mya's paperwork that she had Long QT, but the doctor couldn't figure out why. While we were there, they did another EKG and Echo, and both showed her heart to be functioning perfectly. The doctor looked at the results from her previous tests, and said those looked good as well. It's a mystery to everyone as to why that was put on her paperwork.

Bob and I are both extremely relieved to get this news. It's caused a lot (and that's an understatement) of unnecessary stress this past week, but we're so grateful to find out everything is fine.

We're scheduled to see the Neurologist again, on Thursday. Depending on what he says, and now that we know it's not a life threatening thing, we may just opt for the wait and see approach. Maybe this is something she will outgrow.

We want to thank everyone for their well wishes, prayers and support! It means a lot to us!

TTFN!

Nervous Nellies! That's what we are!

As you know we took Mya to Kosair on Friday, August 27th, to have an Echo and an EEG. The results of the EEG were normal, but when I spoke with the doctor about the Echo, he said it shows that Mya has a hole in her heart. The doctor assured us this was not a life threatening thing, and it's quite common (not that it makes us feel good about the news!). We will see a Pediatric Cardiologist on September 27th so they can review the results, and I'm sure do further testing on her heart, and see where we go from there.

The Pediatrician also stressed, over and over, that the hole in her heart has nothing to do with the "seizure" episodes Mya has been having.

This is what we were dealing with the past few weeks. Not getting overly excited, knowing it was easily fixable.

Well, yesterday I "accidentally" found out more about Mya's test results. On Saturday I received the paperwork to fill out for the Cardio doctor. On the paperwork, it asked that I call to confirm, and it also stated that I needed to bring in all the test results from Mya's previous tests. Well, when I called to confirm, and also to make sure the Pediatrician had sent all the test results, the lady started going through paperwork and reading off which test results she had, and what each one showed. She got to either the EKG, or the Echo (I can’t remember which), and said, "here are these results with a diagnosis of Long QT Syndrome". I said, excuse me, and then proceeded to question the diagnosis of Long QT. Yes, the test showed she has Long QT Syndrome. No one had told us any of the results show Long QT. I can only assume, since the Pediatrician stressed over and over that her syncope and seizures had nothing to do with the hole in her heart, that they preferred to let the Cardio doctor give us Long QT results and explain things face to face, rather than the nurse trying to explain on the phone. At least I hope that’s the case, otherwise, we’re going to start questioning whether or not we’re with the right Pediatrician.

I'm attaching, below, a link that explains a little about Long QT Syndrome. To be honest, this scares me more than the hole in her heart. Everything I’ve read seems to lead to the severity of possible cardiac arrest. However, after reading the article below, it does answer a lot of questions as why things were happening to Mya the way they did. On the flip side, now that we think back, knowing she’s had the “fainting spells” since she was a year old, she could have gone into cardiac arrest at any point in her life and we wouldn’t have known why until it was too late. What’s even more scary is that she started out with only the fainting spells, and those graduated into fainting spells with seizures to follow. Now we're even more anxious to see the Cardio doctor on Monday.

http://www.bing.com/health/article/mayo-126133/Long-QT-syndrome?q=long+qt+syndrome&qpvt=long+qt

More to come next week after we see the Cardiologist!

TTFN!

Another Day, Another Test

Today we go for more testing on Mya. The tests today will check her heart and heart function. Since the people at Kosair mentioned heart tests on several different occasions, we brought our concerns to the doctor’s attention. Based on Mya’s last episode, the doctor seems to think that Mya is having seizures, but she wants to rule out heart problems, and also sleep apnea. The last seizure happened through the night, and if it was brought on from breath holding due to sleep apnea, the doctor would be thankful. We’re not real clear on what the heart would have to do with seizures, but I’m anxious to rule out any heart problems.

We did take Mya to see the sleep specialist, and let me tell you, that was an interesting visit. Just imagine, when you walk into the room at the doctor’s office, what it looks like, the table with the paper draped over it, the sink, and all the scopes used for looking in the ears and throat. Well, at the sleep doctor, the room is actually a bedroom. I think my jaw dropped when we entered the room. It was nicely decorated with low lights, decorative pillows laying at the head of the queen size bed, a nice big recliner, TV, end tables, and all the makings of a bedroom. I have to give the decorator kudos; it was a nice relaxing environment. Bob and I sat on the recliner, and the doctor sat on the bed. Of course, we had to hear a lecture on sleep, sleeping patterns, and the importance of sleep. The doctor was very monotone, so it was hard for me to pay attention, especially with such an inviting looking bed. LOL! I’m joking. Personally, I didn’t care for the doctor at all. He was very condescending when speaking to us about Mya’s sleeping habits. He asked about her bedtime, as well as what time she gets up in the morning. I told him (she sleeps about 8 to 9 hours through the night). His response was, “now, do you think that’s enough sleep for a 4 year old?” I told him I didn’t think she had any issues. I got the look! I proceeded to tell him that she takes a 2 to 3 hour nap pretty much everyday. I was still getting the look. This doctor told us he thinks Mya is chronically sleep deprived. I’m thinking if he wants to see sleep deprived, he needs to ask about my sleeping patterns. Seriously! LOL! Anyway, we are scheduled to take Mya for a sleep study on the 9th, but I’m really not convinced she has apnea. We were sent home with a brochure that talks about apnea and the signs and symptoms, and other than snoring, Mya exhibits no symptoms. Even her snoring isn’t the choke and gag type snoring he was describing, it’s just normal snoring. That test may be ruled out!

On Friday we will take Mya back to Kosair for an EEG. If she’s having seizures, the Neurologist is hoping to catch the activity on the test. It’s really bothersome to me because we’ve had so many tests, and the Neurologist is ready to diagnose her with seizure disorder, or epilepsy, based solely on what we’ve told him, and put her on medication. Bob and I aren’t ready to commit to a lifetime of medication for our 4 year old. Of course, if the EEG shows the seizure activity, we will do everything needed to assure the seizures are controlled. On the flip side, if all the testing comes back normal, we’re back to “what’s causing the fainting, seizures and memory loss”?

When we speak of Mya’s memory loss, we’re not talking about her having no memory of the seizure’s, we’re talking about her losing an entire day’s worth of memory, or at least 6 to 8 hours prior to the seizure. As a mom, that’s scary. We know Mya is a bright child, and we know that she doesn’t forget anything, so when she’s not able to remember what happened the evening prior to the seizure, something isn’t right. Especially if it was a significant evening, not just an evening at home watching cartoons. My biggest concern is what this will do her learning development during her school years. Based on the past episodes, she would lose an entire days instruction if she had a seizure after school one day. I guess we’ll take what’s given to us and handle it the best we can.

We had another scare in the family. My brother, Joe, who was diagnosed several years ago with melanoma cancer, had a place come up on his head. The spot that came up was on the rim of the “hole” he has on the side of his head from the original cancer removal. Thankfully, he took immediate action and went to the doctor to have it checked out. It was nothing to be concerned about. The doctor checked him from head to toe and said he looks great! Wonderful news! The doctor did stress, since Joe is coming up on his 5 year milestone, he would like for him to have a PET scan done so they can catch anything that might be microscopic in size. Joe will schedule that and we’ll all keep our fingers crossed for the best.

Andrew and James put in a bid on a house yesterday, so that’s exciting news! I hope they are able to get a home of their own. The apartment they live in hasn’t been as nice as originally perceived. As with any apartment rental, they’ve had their share of problems. Now they know why the rent was a lot cheaper for the size of apartment they leased.

For Andrew’s MFA at Murray, he will still spend a couple of weeks, a couple of times a year, at Murray State, which isn’t bad. I was really pleased to hear that Andrew wouldn’t be moving to Murray. I can hardly wait to see something complete that Andrew has written. I’ve read a few of Andrew’s stories, but none of them have been complete, so I was left hanging for the outcome. The plans for the book to be published with Nickole Brown have been delayed to 2011. I was so hoping they would be able to complete that this year. I’ll patiently await its release!

I’ll have test results, and hopefully good news to post within the next week or so.

TTFN!

Racism and Prejudice At An Early Age

For this post, I’m not sure if the correct term to use is racism, or prejudice, so I'll give the definition of both.

Racism: 1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.  2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination. 
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Prejudice: 1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.  4. such attitudes considered collectively: The war against prejudice is never-ending.  
5. damage or injury; detriment: a law that operated to the prejudice of the majority.


Maybe both definitions apply, but for this post, I’m going to use racism when telling my sisters story.

My sister had to take her daughter to the doctor yesterday. I won’t go into the details of why, but it turned out they ended up sitting in the waiting room for hours. When I spoke with my sister, she said that she just can’t get over the people you meet when you’re in a public place. She went on to tell me what happened in the waiting room.

In the waiting room, there was my sister and her family, a family of color that we’ll call Family A, another family of color that we’ll call Family B, a white family, and a family, as my sister described, from Middle Eastern descent. Family A had several children, one boy being very young, and all the kids were playing and behaving themselves quite well. The young boy approached my sister and started talking to her in his toddler jabber, and my sister, being polite and knowing how toddlers like to chatter, tried to carry on the conversation. Out of the blue the little boy looked at my sister and said, “You’re a white bitch!” My sister didn’t know what to say! However, the lady sitting beside her, from Family B, didn’t care to speak her mind. The lady looked at my sister in total disbelief and said, “Can you believe that?”, then turned to the toddler’s dad and asked the age of the boy. He’s 2. The lady from Family B just couldn’t contain her anger. She looked at my sister and said, “He’s 2, now can you believe that!” Then she turned on the dad. She told the dad that he needed to send that boy to live with her for a while, “I’d break him from that cussing real quick!” she shouted, for everyone in the waiting room to hear. The dad, being embarrassed, called the boy over, put him on his lap and proceeded to tap his little mouth, as punishment for what he had done. After tapping his mouth, the dad then apologized to THE LITTLE BOY! The lady from Family B just about came unglued! She looked at that dad and told him how he didn’t need to be apologizing to that boy, and just on and on and on. My sister just sat there in total shock over the entire ordeal.

Okay, later on, while still waiting to be seen, another child from Family A, and the son from the white family were playing. My sister said she figured they were around 6 or 7 years old. The two boys, one white and one of color, were playing with a toy that either belonged to one of the boys, or was a toy they have in the waiting room at this office, I’m not sure which, but they were playing fine when all of a sudden, the little boy of color took the toy and triumphantly announced to the white boy that he could no longer touch the toy. “I’m the king, and you’re no longer allowed to touch the King’s toy!” The white boy just looked at him and said, “You’re not a king.” The boy of color says, “Yes, I’m the king, I’m Obama, you can call me King Obama!” The white boy, in reply, says, “My dad said Obama is the President, and he’s a ni**er!” My sister about fell out of her seat! Other than the white dad being thoroughly embarrassed, my sister didn’t say if words were exchanged between the dads. And, the lady from Family B wasn’t there to witness what had just happened.

I can only imagine this scene in my head. I couldn’t believe what my sister was telling me. This incident tells me that we’re teaching our children, at a very young age, to be racist. I know that none of those children would have said what they did, had they not heard it at home. Racism and prejudice are taught at an early age. I guess there might be circumstances, when you’re older, that a tragic experience might leave you feeling biased, but what these kids were saying was taught.

When we were growing up, using the “N” word was just as bad as any curse word you could think of. We weren’t taught to hate, or even dislike, someone that might be different. I can’t imagine teaching my children to dislike someone of a different race, religion, etc. I was under the impression that we were starting to get past the differences, but after hearing this, it tells me that we’ll always have generation after generation of racism and prejudice. Maybe I’m just naïve.

My sister went on to tell me that the white family appeared to be very “redneck” in their ways. I guess after their sons comment, one can agree. The man of Middle Eastern descent approached the white family, only to discuss their children’s common issues at hand, and the white lady was very rude to the man. She wouldn’t look in his direction, and wouldn’t speak to him to answer his questions. As Stacey put it, “she’s was just out and out rude and made no qualms about it.” Since this office was a Pediatric Orthopedic Specialist, all the parents in the waiting area had children with orthopedic issues of one form or another. I’m sure the Middle Eastern man was just trying to strike up a conversation to discuss what issues they were having with their child to compare to what they were experiencing with theirs. The white lady snubbed him completely. The guy finally said, “I guess it’s just trying times for us all”, and left it at that.

I think it’s sad to hear stories like this. Maybe, as a Libra, I just want peace and harmony all around. One can always hope!

TTFN!

Mya's MRI Results

First things first, Mya’s MRI came back normal! We are so thankful for those results. However, while we were at Kosair, the good people up there left the question in our minds as to why they haven't checked Mya's heart. At least 3 different people questioned us about her "heart tests", which she has not had. One lady even stated, "She’s having this problem, and they haven't checked her heart?" So, now we have to wonder about that. In the mean time the doctor has told us to call them immediately if she has another episode and they will run an EEG to monitor for seizure activity. We're discussing what we should do as far as approaching the doctor about the heart stuff.

Last night, when putting Mya’s pajamas on her, I noticed a terrible looking rash on her chest. The discharge papers from Kosair said that we should contact our pediatrician immediately, call 911 or take her to the nearest emergency room if she develops a rash. We weren’t sure if a reaction to the MRI contrast would develop a rash at this point (it had been more then 24 hours since the test), so I called Kosair, Care First, and then the local hospital, trying to get someone to tell me whether or not we should panic be concerned. The lady at Care First said the contrast, being put in an IV, is in her blood system, and could cause an allergic reaction at various times. She advised we take her to the ER since the rash could quickly turn into Anaphylactic Shock. To make a long story short, after several phone calls, we ended up at the ER to have the rash evaluated. It was a simple allergic rash, to something, but not the MRI contrast. The doctor at the ER told us, had it been a reaction to the contrast, she would have had problems within a few hours. Bob and I thought that might be the case, but after the Anaphylactic Shock comment, we didn’t want to take any chances.

While at the ER, with a doctor face to face, and not a nurse on the phone, I took the opportunity to ask about Mya’s passing out, seizure episodes, memory loss and why Kosair kept referring to the heart tests. Should we push the heart tests on her doctor? Should we be overly concerned that she might have a heart defect? The ER doctor told us that we should probably approach our pediatrician and let her know our concerns. Bob seems to think we should wait until she has another episode and follow the doctor’s instructions. I’m still torn. While I’m extremely worried there could be an underlying condition, I don’t want to put Mya through a bunch of testing that might otherwise prove to be unnecessary. The episodes are so scary, and I would love to be able to find out what’s wrong and hopefully prevent another one. As a Mom, and you moms out there know how it is, you know when something isn’t right with your kids. In Mya’s case, I know she doesn’t forget anything, not even the smallest details, so for her to be having the seizure like episodes, and losing almost an entire day’s worth of memory, tells me these are more than just passing out spells. Oh, I forgot to mention above, the pediatrician has diagnosed her “episodes” as Syncope, which is considered to be “fainting spells”. I’m not so convinced, yet I can’t decide what to do. I don’t want to come off as a Munenhauser mom (just a little humor), but this really worries me.

On a different note, my brother was admitted to Life Springs yesterday. The doctor said he is suffering from severe depression. I just hate this, and I feel so helpless. Joe has been through so much in the past 5 years. His battle with cancer, and not being able to afford to complete his chemo treatment, losing everything, and now going through some personal issues, I can see why he’s having problems. I wish he would have talked to someone sooner, and not let himself get this point. I’ve never seen this side of my brother. He’s always been so laid back and easy going. I wish there was something I could say or do to help him. I hope he gets the help he needs. I’m just thankful that he asked for help.

As usual, it’s never a dull moment in our family!

TTFN!

Gulf Shores in June

The pictures above show the oil washed up on the beach.  We arrived in Gulf Shores on Monday, but we didn't see this until Thursday evening.  When we walked to the beach on this evening, you could smell the oil.  The next pictures show the ocean water on this Thursday evening.  The camera didn't capture the color of the water that we were seeing.  The color was a reddish black, it's really hard to explain.

All in all, I'm glad we kept our reservations and went to Gulf Shores. 

 

Just stuff...

I mentioned below that I had registered Mya for preschool, well she didn’t qualify. I really didn’t think she would since she has no learning disabilities. The preschool program here is designed for the lower income families, as well as children with disabilities. I was hoping to get Mya in due to her social skills, but it didn’t work. Mya, who hardly ever talks to strangers, and will cling to my leg like a leech, was little Miss Social Butterfly during her evaluation. She excelled in all the testing, even giving the teachers some new insight on what’s what! LOL! One of the tests required her to name the object shown, and tell its use. For example, when shown a picture of a car, she was supposed to say “it’s a car, and you drive it”. Pretty simple pictures were shown, but there was one that even I was surprised at her answer. The picture was a coat hanger, or clothes hanger. The teacher showed her the picture and asked her what it was, Mya says, excitedly, with no hesitations, “it’s a ringer dinger”. The teacher, looking extremely puzzled, asked her again, and again Mya, so sure of herself, repeated her answer. The teacher looks at me, clearly puzzled, and I could only shrug my shoulders because I had no idea where Mya was going with this. The teacher asked Mya to explain the ringer dinger, so Mya, so proud to be able to enlighten someone, proudly says, “You know, a ringer dinger! When it’s dinner time, you ring it to let everyone know it’s time to come and eat!” After she said this, the teacher and I both got a look from her as if we were totally ignorant to the concept of a ringer dinger! LOL! Anyway, based on the conversations she had with each of the teachers, she’s not lacking academically, and we don’t qualify based on income, so Mya won’t go to school until she starts Kindergarten in the fall of 2011.


I’m really nervous about Mya’s upcoming MRI. After her last trip to the doctor, I know it’s going to be a struggle for them to even get her height and weight. She now thinks every doctor’s visit will include shots. Of course, for the MRI, they will sedate her, and since they will use contrast for the test, that means an IV. Although I’m nervous about the test, I’m anxious to get the results. A few nights ago, I think Mya had a seizure in her sleep. It really scares me, yet I don’t know what to do. Do I get up and rush her to the hospital? Is it a medical emergency? There are lots of questions I need to ask the doctor if we’re looking at a seizure disorder. Even more questions if we’re not looking at a seizure disorder. Going back to the other night, I was laying in bed with Mya and she was doing her typical twitching that she does almost every night shortly after falling asleep, except this night the twitching was more of a jerking. I laid and watched and listened to her, and at some point she took a huge gasp for air, and started jerking to the point her back was arching. She jerked for what seemed like hours, but it was different than the normal twitching I’m used to, these were hard jerks. My first thought the next morning was sleep apnea (which she’s not known to have), however, after talking to her about the events of the night before, she had no memory, which leads me to believe it wasn’t sleep apnea. The memory loss is the most worrisome part for me. The night of the “possible seizure” we had spent the evening at my Mom’s celebrating my nephew’s birthday. There were several kids there and they all had a great time playing, we got to eat cake and ice cream, and so on. Mya doesn’t remember any of that. When I questioned her about playing with the kids, she said, “Makenna and Alyssa weren’t there, they were at Target”. Makenna and Alyssa were there, and she loves playing with them. When I asked about eating cake and ice cream and singing Happy Birthday to Casey, she looked at me as if she didn’t know what I was talking about, and then said, “Oh, I didn’t go”. Mya doesn’t forget things, especially an evening like we had at Mom’s. The memory loss is the same thing that has happened with the previous “seizure episodes”. I call them seizure episodes or possible seizure because we don’t know yet what’s going on. I hope we get answers from the MRI. In the mean time, I’m on pins and needles. I fear the unknown!  I hope to be posting good news within the next week or so.

Andrew started at Murray this month for his MFA. I’m so excited for him. When he won the writing contest earlier this year, one of his professors told him he should submit his story to a journal, so I’m hopeful he can get published soon. Getting published would be a dream come true for him! Of course, I would be on cloud nine as well! LOL! The book he’s going to illustrate has been delayed several months, but I think the author is hoping to have something published by early 2011. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have your literary skills, as well as your art skills published! Go Andrew! I’m so proud of what’s he accomplished, so far, in his life! Currently, Andrew and James are looking to buy a house, but so far they haven’t been able to find anything within their price range that doesn’t need a complete overhaul. They’ve decided to stay in the Louisville area since it offers more opportunity than living in a smaller community. I wish them luck, I know how stressful it can be to find, and buy, a home.

Crazy, hectic as usual!

TTFN!

Good News So Far!

Got a call from Mya's doctor today, telling me that her X-ray's and blood work came back okay!  Now we wait for the MRI, to check for seizure activity, and go from there!  Let's just hope we get good news from the MRI as well!

TTFN!

Rough Day in Mommy World Today

Took Mya to the doctor today to see about her "seizure" episodes. As some of you know, since Mya was very little, if she would fall and get hurt really bad, she would cry, hold her breath, pass out, start breathing, regain consciousness and everything was fine. The last 2 times, which happens to have been within the past month and half or two months, when Mya got hurt, she's passed out, but she didn't come to quite as quick (we're talking seconds here, not minutes), and she has had what we call a seizure. Talk about scary! The first time she did it when she was outside with Bob, about scared him half to death. The last time she did with me, while we were on vacation. Anyway, what really concerned me was the memory loss after each episode. So, today we went to the doctor to see what she says about it. Poor Mya, while we were there, the doctor asked if I would like to go ahead and do her 4 year check up. So I said sure, not knowing she would have to get 3 shots in her legs! :_( She cried and cried while getting her shots. Of course, I had to help hold her down, and any mother knows that's the worse feeling in the world. After going over everything with the doctor, she sent us to the hospital for blood work and x-rays of her hips (she's also complaining a lot lately about her hips hurting or popping). Well, at the hospital, the registration lady told us to go to the lab and then to the radiology department. Getting the vials of blood from her poor arm took 4 people. Poor thing screamed and cried, I felt so sorry for her. Off we went to X-ray. At this point in Mya's day, she didn't trust ANYONE to touch her! I explained and talked to her about the shots being over, and they only wanted to take a picture of her legs, etc., she was fine until one of them started to approach her, then she lost it, crying "I don't want another shot". Bless her heart, after we were finished with the x-rays, she looked at me, still sobbing and said, "Momma, I'm having a really bad day today."


Anyway, we go to Kosair on August 3rd for an MRI. The doctor said she was concerned about the memory loss after the seizure episodes. She explained that sometimes people can have seizure activity going on and it takes a trauma to actually trigger the seizure, so she wants to run the test just to make sure that's not what we're facing. FINGERS CROSSED!

This has surely been a busy year, medically speaking, for us. Ugh! Let's hope we're on a downhill slide!

TTFN!

Happy 4th of July! (the one that wouldn't post with the others)

Happy 4th of July!

So Much Going On, So Fast

What a month we had in June!  Bob got the big "C" scare, but we found out this week that everything is okay!  We fretted for weeks, waiting for test results and doctors visits.  A trip to the doctor to see if he had a fishbone in his throat turned out to be the discovery of him having Hashimoto's disease, as well as a nodule on his thyroid.  The ultrasound of the nodule showed clacification, so they were concerned it was cancer.  Last week he went for the biopsy, and we got the good news on Monday!  Very thankful!

Mya and I went on our "all girls" vacation with Mom, my sister, and my sisters 4 girls.  Had a great time.  Hope to have pictures soon (that's a rant all it's own).  I think the highlight was the Zoo at Gulf Shores.  The Little Zoo That Could, which truly is their logo, is such a fabulous place to take small children, especially animal lovers. I would say 80% of the animals at the zoo are able to be fed by the visitors.  Tigers not included!  LOL!  We bought a cup of zoo puffs and started on our merry way.  First stop, low an behold, was the kangaroo pen.  Or they may have been wallaby's, I'm not sure.  Looked like kangaroos, and Mya called them kangaroo's, so I'm going with kangaroo's.  Mya was able to go into the pen and hold, and feed, a baby.  I'm so anxious to see those pictures!  I don't think anything could have ruined that moment for Mya.  We spent 15 to 20 minutes with the baby kangaroo, and I finally told Mya we needed to move along.  As we passed the animals, she had to stop and feed each one that had their nose sticking through their pen.  I tried to explain to her about putting the zoo puffs in the palm of her hand and letting the animals eat from her hand, but no, that's not the "Mya way".  She had to give each animal an individual puff.  You can imagine how long that cup of zoo puffs lasted!  LOL!  Actually, we ended up throwing about a fourth of the cup of puffs into the duck pond on our way out.  For the rest of our week in Gulf Shores, Mya wanted to go back to the zoo!  It was great!

While we were in Gulf Shores, we stayed at a beach view condo.  We made the reservations in early March and were really concerned what we would find on the beaches when we arrived.  To our surprise, the beaches were white and the water clear.  My sister, Stacey, and I had been watching the news, monitoring the oil, and were hearing a lot of stories.  Of course, when we called the condo people, they assured us everything was fine, but we were a little leary.  A few weeks before our check in date, Stacey called the dolphin cruise people, Southern Rose, and asked them what was going on.  The lady at Southern Rose told her to cancel the reservations and not even think about coming!  The dolphin cruises were shut down, the parasailing (which is one thing Mom wanted to do) was shut down, the beaches are closed one day, open the next, the water isn't fit, and so on.  Okay,  now what?  Do we go, or do we try to find something on the east coast?  We talked it over with Mom, and Mom said we would go as planned and just deal with anything we encounter.  As I said above, we were pleasantly surprised to see the clean beaches and clear water.  Now, we did notice each morning the "oil slicks" floating on the water, but by noon or so, they were gone.  I'm not sure what to call it, other than oil slick, although I don't think that's the correct word.  I took pictures and will share when I get them.  To describe in words, it looked like a small streak of oatmeal floating on the water.  The oatmeal would float in each morning, and then disappear.  Thursday evening we walked to the beach, and it was a different story.  The first thing you notice is the smell.  Think of the smell in an auto body shop, that's about as close of description as you can get.  We hadn't noticed the smell the previous 3 days we were there.  Secondly, we noticed the water this evening, it was a deep reddish, almost black, color.  We were quite surprised since we had seen nothing like this since our arrival.  Later than night, sitting on the balcony, we noticed ships lining up on the horizon.  In watching the news, we found out the ships were putting up a boom to try and contain the oil.  The next morning we fully expected the white beach to be black, but it wasn't.  The crews working in Gulf Shores, cleaning the beaches, were/are doing an excellent job in keeping their area as pristine as possible.  I'm not sure if the crews are locals, or out of state, or if they volunteered, or are on a payroll, but who ever they are, they deserve a standing ovation for the outstanding job.  

Tomorrow is our big 4th of July shindig at Papaw's farm.  I'm sure Papaw is hoping for 700 people or more to attend this year, but I bet my Mom is hoping for 70!  LOL!  Mom works so hard getting everything prepared and making sure things run as smoothly as possible.  It's a lot of hard work, before and after, but it brings a lot of joy to the people attending.  My uncles do a great job with the fireworks!  It's nothing as orchestrated as Thunder Over Louisville, but for a bunch of country folk, it's a nice 30 to 45 minute fireworks show!  The kids love it!

I keep mentioning "when I get my pictures", so I'll explain that big thorn in my side!  I didn't want to risk ruining my good digital camera at the beach, so I decided to take my 35mm camera instead.  I did the same thing last year and it worked out great!  I'm not a patient person when it comes to getting my pictures.  I ALWAYS use 1 hour development.  While we were on vacation, I had 4 rolls of film that I took to the local Wal-Mart to get developed.  Low and behold, Wal-Mart no longer develops film in an hour, they only do send out.  Okay, fine, I'll have to wait until I get back home and take it to my local Wal-Mart.  Surely they still develop film???  NO!  I had no choice, if I wanted matte finish prints, but to send it out.  According to the chart, if you send your film out on Saturday or Sunday, before 2pm, it will be available for pick up on Thursday, after 6pm.  Last night I rushed to the store to get my film, hardly containing my excitement, only to find out, it hadn't been returned.  I explained to the guy that "the chart says" and he said the truck only picks up on Saturday and Tuesday, so if I dropped my film off on Saturday, after 2pm, it didn't get picked up until Tuesday.  I still referred him to the chart, but I don't think he was getting it.  I told him they might want to think about updating the chart!  Now it will be Saturday before I can get my pictures.  In reality, it will be Sunday for me because we have the 4th of July party going on, and I won't dare leave, and lose my parking space, to go get the pictures.  Whew!   I'm liking Wal-Mart less and less these days.  You can bet I will be taking a digital camera on my next vacation! 

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

TTFN!

Fabulously FOUR!

We recently celebrated Mya's 4th birthday!  Hard to believe she's 4 already!  Here's some Fabulously Four pics I took of her on her birthday!

Easter 2010

Click here to view these pictures larger

Another Month Has Come And Gone

What a March this has been! I’ve signed Mya up for preschool, had surgery, and we’ve welcomed two new babies to the family!

I was very hesitant about signing Mya up for preschool. My biggest concern for her is her social skills. Mya has a hard time with her peer group, as well as separation anxiety (that’s what I like to call it) from Momma. We haven’t been approved for public preschool as of this posting, so we’re not sure if it’s a go or not. I take her for her evaluation in April and we will find out then, or shortly thereafter. Although I would love for her to be approved, I won’t be terribly disappointed if she’s not. I know we don’t qualify based on income, so I’m hoping the social thing will get her in. We’ll see!

I had “female” surgery a couple of weeks ago, and still struggle with the after effects. One of my biggest complaints right now is being extremely tired. I could curl up anywhere, at this point, and drift off to sleep. There are other things I’m dealing with, but it’s manageable. It makes for long days at the office and a very tired Momma when I get home. As I said to someone, after my first day back to work, my butt was dragging come 5 o’clock! To be honest, it still is. I’m hoping this will pass soon.

My two nieces had their babies last week. It is so nice to have new babies in the family again. Braiden Joseph came into the world on March 23rd weighing 7 pounds and 9 ounces, and Payton Nicole came March 25th weighing 8 pounds and 2 ounces. Both babies are healthy and beautiful! Speaking of babies, for those that don’t follow me on Face Book, we have four more babies coming this year, one arriving in July, one in September and then two in November. Christmas will be more than a house full this year! I can’t wait! I love being together with the whole family, especially if there are plenty of babies to snuggle and spoil!

Saturday I will go to a good friend’s baptism. Connie has decided to explore the Catholic religion and has been attending the classes, mass, and all the other things required to become Catholic. Sorry, I’m not Catholic, so I don’t know all the proper terms for what she’s been doing in preparation for her baptism. I’m proud of her for pursuing her beliefs. For as long as I’ve known Connie, she has always been interested in Catholicism. Of course, I have to joke with her about confession. I tell her it’s a good thing that she only has to confess for the sins she commits AFTER she’s baptized. The priest would have to be there for a week to hear her confessions prior to baptism. LOL! I’m truly joking, Connie is a good person, and I just like to give her a hard time.

Sunday morning, when we wake up, the Easter Bunny will have hidden eggs in our yard! This is a new tradition we started with Mya last year. In lieu of a basket full of candy, we hide treat filled eggs in the yard for Mya to find. Last year it was a great success, and she’s really looking forward to finding the eggs this year! Since Mya is not really a big Easter candy eater, this makes it much easier for us, since we won’t have to worry about candy laying around the house for months waiting for someone to eat it. The candy she will eat will fit nicely in the eggs, and I figure we will put a few Pet Shop animals in some of the eggs, kind of as an extra surprise. We will have our huge family dinner at Papaw’s, as we always do. After we eat, the kids will get to have a HUGE egg hunt. I’m sure I’ll have pictures on my Face Book page afterward.

Mya and I will go on our girl’s only vacation with Mom and Stacey again this year. Again, we will head to Gulf Shores, Alabama! I’m really looking forward to it. It’s such a nice relaxing time, the place we stay doesn’t appear to be overly crowded, and is very family oriented. One would think, with 4 little ones, it would be wild and chaotic, but it’s not. The girls play well together and have a great time. I do dread the drive! At least we leave early, early and the little ones will sleep most of the way there.

Today we bid our Retirement Farewell to a very dear co-worker, Elizabeth Bailey. Elizabeth had 36 years with the company and started her retirement after lunch today! I am truly going to miss working with her. I’ve worked very closely with Elizabeth for the past several years and our relationship crosses the co-worker boundaries. Elizabeth has been so kind to me and my family. I told her today that I wasn’t going to say goodbye because I plan to see her often in the future.


Looking at my calendar, it looks like April will be just as busy as March has been! That’s okay, it’s Spring, and I’ve been waiting for this weather for 4 months now! Bring it on!

TTFN!

This and That and Blah!

Wow! Christmas gone, now Valentine’s Day, before you know it Easter will have come and gone as well. It seems the older I get, the faster time seems to slip away from me.


I’m looking forward to Spring! I’ve seen enough snow this year to last me a lifetime. For the past couple of days we’ve at least had sunshine. Prior to that, it’s been cold and dreary. I think SAD has officially set in on me. We did have a great time playing in the snow. My brother and sister, and their families came to the house for Bob’s birthday and we had a great time playing with the kids. My sister, Stacey, was so sore the next day from pulling everyone on the sled! The snow we had at the time wasn’t the best sledding snow, so you couldn’t just shoot down the hill. We took turns pulling each other down the hill, with the intent of throwing one another off the sled when we reached the bottom. Stacey did most of the work since she pulled all the kids. She was very sore the next day. Of course, I laughed at her!

I will be having surgery on March 19th, and after talking to my cousin, who had the same procedure, I’m REALLY nervous about it! She informed me of the pain that I will experience afterward. Yikes! She did tell me that once the pain and everything goes away, I will not regret having the surgery, so that’s a good thing!

We’re still in limbo about sending Mya to preschool. She doesn’t need it for the educational value, but she most certainly needs it for the social skills. Being around adults all the time, I think she’s very timid around her peer group. Of course, there’s the screaming at the top of her lungs if Momma isn’t in sight, that I’m fretting over, so I’m really torn on what to do since preschool isn’t required, but I think she will benefit from it socially.

Papaw had his knee replacement surgery and it didn’t go as well this time as it did the last. I think it was mostly due to him being sick before his surgery. I don’t think his body was in the shape it needed to be in for the surgery. I’m not a doctor, but that’s my opinion. Now he’s doing very well. He’s still not eating like he was prior to being sick, prior to his surgery. I think he said he’s lost 15 pounds. We’ll see how that goes.

We’ve discontinued Mya’s gymnastics classes for a while. There’s been so much going on that we decided to postpone classes until the Spring. I hate to not take her, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Andrew is now considering finishing his degree at Murray, instead of U of L. I love the town of Murray! If I remember correctly, Murray is only place in Kentucky that has the program he needs to finish his degree. I think the next closest place was Illinois. At least he’s getting to experience life in other cities, although I think he really likes living in Louisville.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my last post that Mya finally braved the ear piercing lady at Wal-Mart! On December 28th, we stopped in to pick up some snacks to take on our trip to Michigan and, as always, Mya wanted to stop by and look at the earrings. As always, we tried to talk her into getting her ears pierced. Well, it took some doing, but the lady that did it was very sweet and convincing. To make a long story short, the first earring was no problem, until it was finished. Mya looked at me, with tears in her eyes, rolled her little lip down and said, “It hurt…” I knew then the second hole was going to be a struggle. It was! I had to hold her for the second one. After it was all said and done, she was so proud of her new Minnie Mouse earrings! She tells everyone the lady “snapped” her ears. We laugh to hear her talk about it. The other day I asked her about getting some new earrings since her 6 weeks were past. She doesn’t want new earrings, she wants her Minnie Mouse earrings. I think she’s more afraid that the lady will have to “snap” her ears than anything. I’ve tried to tell her that we could take the earrings home and I could put them on her, and there would be no more snapping. No! She loves her Minnie Mouse earrings! LOL! I’m perfectly fine with that!

TTFN!

Christmas Morning

This is the Christmas morning expression I mentioned in my blog below....

My Brother

My brother and his wife came to play cards and while they were here, Tim let Mya polish his toenails!  LOL!

It's Already January!

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been this long since I posted. December was such a busy month, as I’m sure it was for most people. We had so many activities and occasions going on, that it almost became a blur.


We, along with many friends, went on the Santa Express in New Haven. It was okay. I honestly don’t think it was worth what we paid for the tickets. Mya did get to see Santa, which was supposed to be the highlight of the train ride. The train personnel served hot chocolate and cookies on the ride. The train travels from New Haven to Boston, and when we turned around in Boston, we picked Santa up and he rode the train back to New Haven. Sounds great in theory, but when you have 8 passenger cars full of kids, the time with Santa consisted of him walking a straight line through your car shouting HoHoHo!, and he was gone. There was an opportunity to have pictures taken with Santa when we unloaded at the train station, but being the last of eight cars to unload, I wasn’t up to standing in line to wait for Mya to NOT sit on his lap. One unexpected passenger on the train was Rudolph! I think the kids were more fascinated with him than with Santa, or at least Mya and Kaden felt that way. Rudolph did spend about 30 seconds with each kid, but he was on the train for the entire ride. I’m not usually one to complain, but I guess I expected more than what we paid for.

The train ride was early December, and mid December we had Christmas dinner with good friends and let the kids exchange gifts. It was nice to visit and let the kids play. It’s always good times when you’re with good friends.

With all the commotion of Christmas, and the anticipation of Santa, poor Mya had taken all the “being good” she could stand. At one point she told my sister that she didn’t want Christmas to come, she was tired of being good. And that was about 2 weeks before Christmas!

The weekend before Christmas we had our Christmas at the house with all the kids. Since we don’t get to see Crystal and Chris on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, we have to schedule our family Christmas accordingly. It was nice to have all the kids at home with us. To be a mixed family, everyone meshes very well. Mya was so excited to have her brothers and sister at the house. She always looks forward to their visits. We had a nice dinner for the kids and then did our gift exchange. I always look forward to Christmas with the kids. Everyone had a nice time.

Also, the weekend before Christmas, my brother got married, and I was “hired” to do the photography. I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else, but I know how it is to be strapped for money, so I did it for them. It was a beautiful wedding. My new sister-in-law did an outstanding job on the decorating! It was a Christmas Wonderland. Stunning! Tracy was very pleased with the pictures, although I haven’t seen them all yet, they’re still on my camera. We did take the camera and let them download them so they would have them since we weren’t sure when we would be getting a new computer. I was relieved to hear they were very pleased with the pictures. Whew! That was a huge load off my shoulders. I photographed my niece’s wedding, and out of 14 rolls of film, there may have been 5 pictures that turned out. Talk about being sick to your stomach. Thankfully, there were two of us taking pictures, so it wasn’t a total loss! And, that’s why I don’t photograph weddings!

On Christmas Eve the family got together at mom’s, and talk about a house full. Mom and Dad have a very small house and there were probably 35 or so of us there. I love it! Nothing says Christmas to me more than the family being together, laughing, talking and having a nice time together. No arguing, no bickering, just good old fashioned family time. We used to get up at 4am and go to mom and dads on Christmas morning, but the grandkids started getting old enough that they were ready for Santa on Christmas morning, so we switched gears and changed it to Christmas Eve. We don’t do the traditional Christmas dinner at moms, we do snack foods! YUM! Those are my favorite! Cheese trays, little smokies, dips, sandwiches, all the “it’s so bad for you, but boy does it taste good” food! Everyone pitches in and brings their “signature” dish, or something new they want everyone to try. Makes me hungry just writing about it!

Christmas morning was so exciting at the house. This was the first year that Mya was really old enough to understand what was going on. When she walked downstairs and found the presents from Santa, she was so excited! It was fun for us to watch her open her gifts. Every piece of paper, and tape, has to be removed from the package before it’s officially considered unwrapped! It was great! It’s a serene feeling to watch the little ones. It’s a magical time for everyone. That’s what I love so much about Christmas.

After the morning excitement at the house, we get dressed and head to “The Farm”, which is Papaw’s house, for Christmas dinner with the rest of the family. This Christmas consists of all my aunts and uncles, and their kids and grandkids. Another crowded house moment! It’s been this way as far back as I can remember, and I hope to be able to see another 40 years of it. I know in reality I won’t, since Papaw is now 88, but I hope that someone will keep the tradition going. One thing we learned on the way to The Farm, Mya is way too smart for a 3 year old! LOL! She informed us on our way, that, “she can be mean and Santa will still bring her presents!”. It was cute to hear her say that, but scary too! If she’s figured that out at 3, what will she have figured out by the time she’s 5! I’m afraid to think about it.

Like I said, December was a crazy, busy month for us. Way too much going on, doesn’t seem like you really get the chance to sit back, relax and take it all in.

The week after Christmas, we decided to visit Bob’s sister in Michigan. We left on Tuesday and returned on Sunday. It was a long drive getting there, but it was nice. We didn’t do a whole lot while we were there, but that’s okay, I rather enjoyed hanging out at the house, just visiting. They did host a New Year’s Eve party and we met some new people. Since Mya was with us, I ended up not being able to participate in some of the activities. I did get to play Rock Band for a while, and that was a lot of fun! Around 10:30 or so, Mya was getting tired and cranky so I had to go up and try to get her to sleep and, to be honest, I fell asleep with her and didn’t get to ring in the New Year with everyone else. I was slightly embarrassed, and felt a little bad about it. All in all, we had a great visit!

Now we’re into the New Year and things seem to be slowing down somewhat. Work is picking up, which is always a good thing. Home life was getting back to normal, but then the dishwasher tore up, and our computer had already been messed up. We now have both of those items replaced, but not installed. Can’t wait to get that finished! I have tons of pictures on my camera that I’m anxious to get downloaded, and I throw a fit when I have to wash the dishes by hand. I know that sounds so spoiled, but of all the household “chores”, that is the one I hate most!

This week Mya has been sick with a stomach bug. Poor baby, she doesn’t understand what’s going on, and the first time she threw up, she freaked out. I don’t recall her ever having a stomach virus with vomiting. I felt so sorry for her, after throwing up so many times, she starting having dry heaves, and she would cry and heave, and cry some more, and heave some more. She would cry and say, “It won’t come out Momma”, I just wanted to cry with her. I didn’t, I would just wipe her tears and tell her it’s okay and that I would be right there with her. I hate those helpless moments. She is feeling better now, although not quite back to her normal, hyper self. She’s still not eating much, she wants to, but then when she goes to take a bite, I guess it makes her nauseous, and she ends up not eating. At least she’s drinking and that’s what matters most right now.

Next week Bob will turn 50! I was going to throw a surprise birthday party for him, but the weather is so unpredictable I’m afraid to schedule anything. Last year on his birthday we were huddled in the basement with no electricity, no hot water, etc., due to the ice storm. I debated on it for weeks, but I think I will just have cake and ice cream for him at the house, and keep it more intimate. I think he would like that better than a full blown party anyway. I think…

Oh, and more exciting news from Andrew! On Wednesday, he is scheduled to meet with an author about illustrating a children’s book! I’m so excited for him! This is his second offer!  I think it would be awesome to see his name published, and also for him to get his career started as an artist! I keep my fingers crossed for him, and of course, support him any way I can. I couldn’t be more proud of him!

That’s pretty much my past month and a half in a nut shell! Or at least the highlights of it anyway.

TTFN!