Been doing pretty good!

Woot! I’ve been regularly updating my blog.  Go me!!

So I finally got to go jumping last weekend, thanks to the lovely bank of Dad.  My daddy is so sweet, and I am a tried and true daddy’s girl.  He paid for my USPA renewal and for my jumps.  When we got to the DZ he said, “Where’s your helmet”    My helmet trap broke and I needed a new chin strap, and was just too lazy to go on and do it.  Lots of people jump without helmets all the time, so I didn’t think too much of it. 

Well that apparently isn’t good enough for my dad.  Next thing I knew he bought the helmet that was for sale in the display case and boom, I had a new helmet.  So that’s my birthday gift taken care of for next month.  ^_^

I had two jumps that day.  The first one was rough,  first time jumping in 8 months.  Man the butterflies were just a going, so much so that I almost didn’t make a 2^nd jump.  Dad talked me into it, and I’m SSOOOO glad I did.  It was a most awesome jump where I went out and enjoyed myself.  There was a cloud, shaped like a horseshoe, and I went right through the horseshoe part.  It was so cool!!  I probably should get me one of those gopro cameras and put it on my helmet so that I could show you all.  Maybe that’s what I’ll ask for Christmas... hmmm.

anyways here's a picture of my new helmet, modeled by the cutest 6 year old in the world.

Other exciting news is that my best friend is finally getting married to her boyfriend.  Let me give you the lowdown on this little story.  Almost two years ago, Alissa was sad she left her 2^nd husband, and was lonely and asked me, “Why can’t I find a rich good looking guy who loves kids and is good to me?”  She said it jokingly, but I knew that she was kinda serious. 

So that night, I was wracking my brain wondering if I could hook Alissa up with someone, as I laid down in bed and said my prayers, I said, “God help me out here, Alissa needs a good guy”  Boom! Shane popped into my head and I’m like… Duh! That would be perfect! 

This is why God rocks.

Anyways, after much pushing and shoving on my part because they are the two most shyest people in the stinking WORLD, they went on a date to the movies, and then started seeing each other on a regular basis.   After a few months… things went downhill.  They broke up, but decided to stay friends.  Things stayed this way for a long time.  They hung out every night together, went on dates, but they weren’t really dates, because they were just friends, (at least that’s what I was told).  Then earlier this month, drama happened, and they both spilled their feelings for each other and decided to date again.  Then yesterday I get a text “Shane and I are engage”   Commence Happy Kat Dance.

I have now thrown myself into Wedding Planner/Maid of Honor roll.  I have scheduled her hair and make up for their wedding date, commissioned someone to do invitation, and made a couple of appointments this weekend for her to try on dresses.  Dan is ready to bury his head in the sand because I’m so excited.  I’m even worrying Alissa a bit, but if she plans stuff now, she can do payment plans on the vendors and get it all taken care of now, and not worry about any big scary unexpected expenses popping up.

I’m also going to be planning her wedding shower, and I’m helping plan a baby shower as well.

I love this planning stuff!  Maybe I should go into the event planning business; we’ll see how these 3 events go.

I should probably make some spreadsheets up and some binders to hold all the information in. 

Ok now onto the soap box portion of my happy little blog.

Brystol Palin has come out with book, talking about her life.  You’re 20 years old chicky… You haven’t lived long enough to have a memoir, but the crap that you say in this book, you will regret in 10 years, cause trust me. I regret a lot of stuff I did when I was 20. 

It’s just a huge publicity stunt, where she rips on her ex boyfriend/fiancée Levi Johnson, and talk about how wonderful her mom is.  I mean seriously… her mom probably wrote the book and put Brystol’s name on it.  Oh and Levi is coming out with a book later this year.

I mean really people?  You’re not even old enough to drink, what do you expect to accomplish when you’re writing these books and trashing each other?  It’s like Facebook, but in print and you’re expecting people to buy it.

The sad thing is… people will buy it.  The same people who was Fox News all the time and think that Fox News is fair and equal reporting. /commence eye roll

Another thing to eye roll on is the fricken government.  Obama went on the news last night, saying they are starting preparations to bring 33,000 troops home by July next year, and then even more by 2014.

Then Democrats cried out, “That’s too fast, it’ll make Afghanistan fall apart”  and then the republicans turn around, “That’s not fast enough, bring our people home!”

I mean really?  Is the political divide so bad that we have to criticize everything that Obama is doing?!   Like check out this cartoon, from NPR Double Take http://www.npr.org/2011/06/14/137175063/double-take-toons-gop-all-stars

Obama did a lot of things that the republicans want, and a lot of things that democrats wanted.  He’s not the best president, but he’s not the worse.  He’s done what he can to do to do compromise, and in the process, he’s making everyone made because they want their way or the highway.

That’s enough political stuff.  I have a friend who does a feral cat rescue.  Basically she buys food for feral cats, traps them, gets them fixed, and let’s them out into the wild once more; because they are feral they can not be adopted.

However, the last 3 weeks, she’s been like peter piper and has every lost kitten and puppy come find her.  I’ve been helping her find homes for some animals.  She cares about these animals so much, that she got plane tickets all the way up here to give two kittens homes. She paid more than my mortgage payment to get up here. I've been helping her try to find homes for some of the kitties that she has. There are SOOO many animals that need to go to good homes, most of the time they are euthanized, if they do not.  If you can go visit her facebook page Paws for the Cause Feral Cat Rescue and donate some money so that it helps buy food for the cats.

So please if you are looking for an animal, instead of spending a lot of money, rescue a homeless animal. You’ll never find a more loving companion.

Riding on the pity wagon

Oi, what a rough couple of days, and I’m an emotional mess on top of it.

Dan comes to me this morning, and says, “I don’t think I’m up for going down to your parents this weekend.”

Le sigh.  I mean, everyone understands Dan’s issues, but Dan was feeling this after the whole fiasco yesterday and it’s frustrating to me.  It happened yesterday, we had a problem we fixed it.  End of story.  Unfortunately, that is not always the case with Dan. 

Here’s the thing, I’ll have a bad day.  I will come home and vent for 20 -30 mins, Dan will listened and then the rational part of my brain kicks in and I calm down and everything is fine. 

Dan will literally not let it go for days.  Even this morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, he talked about his anger and frustration over what happened yesterday.  Then I get frustrated over him still dwelling on it.

I mean there are a lot of other things that could be wrong with out relationship, and it’s probably just because I am still an emotional wreck because of Aunt Flo visiting, and me worrying that this is the weirdest period that I’ve had in a long time, which could be because of the stress.  S

I know TMI, but it’s my blog. Don’t like it.. don’t nucking read it. 

I’m sitting here crying while I write this and I have no idea why.  I mean Dan has not gone to family functions before and I’ve been ok with it.  Why am I having such issues right now with it.

Look I do not have the easiest of situations, and I look at other people and wish that it was easier for me. 

Let me just step on the pity party wagon a little bit.

I will never have my own children, I will constantly be Mama Kat and not Mama, and that sucks ass. Not because of my parts not working, but because Dan got fixed during his first marriage.  I don’t blame him or his ex-wife; it’s something a lot of couples do when they do not want to have anymore children.  I have come to terms with this a long time ago, and I’m fine with that. I have two wonderful beautiful step-babies that I love to death, and I could not imagine my world without them.   But I am just the step-mom, I’ll never be as important or as awesome in their eyes at their mother.  When the boys get married, they will dance with their mom during the mother/son dance, and I’ll be off to the side taking pictures.  I know their mom and I will be right there next to each other helping plan and doing wedding type stuff together, but that one little moment.  I will never have.  For the most part this does not bother me, but sometimes, like today, it hurts like hell.

I am married to a man with a serious disability and he will never work again.  For the most part I have to be the strong one, the rational one, and be supportive to him when he has an attack.  I can not always count on him being there at a family function or an event with just us.  We have bought things for him to attend and then he has an attack and that’s money gone down the hole because he can not go.  I am sometimes left with the kids by myself, and sometimes it can get a little rough with two rambunctious little boys and one step-mom that’s learning a lot on the fly. 

I am an adventurous person, who likes to go and do things… my husband with his condition would rather stay home. 

I love my husband dearly, and he is the best and most wonderful man that I know, but we have our problems just like everyone else, and sometimes it gets to me.  

Ok, that’s enough time on the pity wagon, and by typing this all out has helped me a lot.

That’s another good reason to just have a blog, so you can type out your thoughts and realize there’s a lot worse that could be going on in your life than just this. 

Ok Withey, stop feeling sorry for yourself, you have a lot of stuff to get ready for this weekend.

Oi what an afternoon!

Today was an odd day to say the least.  First off I woke up late, so I had 20 mins to get dressed and out the door, so no make-up or anything, and I forget my phone.  Work then is slow because I could not get a hold of an agent to save my life today. 

Suddenly Dan sends me an e-mail asking him to call him.  Ok, when that happens I know there is an issue, I borrow my co-workers phone and then head out to the break room.  

Dan answers and he is quite upset.  The nurse at Saginaw Pysch decided to look into Dan's massively huge file, and came to the determination based on paperwork, that Dan was not taking his medication as prescribed.  Namely he was not taking two of his anti pyschosis medicine.  So he must not be doing good, and therefore he must go into rehab (again) to make sure he's taking his medicine. Dan explained that he was doing everything and she balls out told him, no you're not, I don't believe you. 

Now they say he's not taking two medicines that he should be, and they're right Dan was not taking two medicines. One he wasn't taking because it's fricken $2,000 for 30 pills and the other he's allergic to.  Both of which we explained to the doctor. 

So Dan is understandably upset and so the nurse schedules Dan an appointment for 5:15 and I said I would go along to give support. 

We get there, Dr. starts accusing Dan and until we pointed to paperwork that said, "remember you took him off of this for this reason"  that he remembered. We brought the nurse in explained it to her, and we came to the conclusion yes Dan is taking his medicine that he is suppose to. 

So that's what happened today, let me explain how this whole mess came to be:

Back in April, Dan got his usual prescriptions filled, but it was at the end of the month which is always tight for us, so instead of getting a 90 day supply he went and got a 30 day supply.  Pharmacy said that's fine, we'll give you the other 60 days later.  So 30 days pass and it's time for more pills.  Goes up to the pharmacy, and they said, "well you shouldn't need a refill, we'll have to call the doctor" This is where is gets a little messed up because everyone forgot that we only got a 30 day supply.  They call the doctors office, they said.. "he shouldn't need any more till July"  which sends up a red flag, which causes the doctor's office to look into his file.  The psychiatrist, who barely speaks English and has even worse handwriting, never put down in his chart that Dan stopped taking some medication.  Dan's therapist then reports that Dan has been having some difficulty sleeping and has been having nightmares.  To which the nurse then says, "well he's not filling his anti-psychosis medicine, he's altering the prescription and therefore he must be a bad person"  

So at the meeting with the doctor, Dan gets angry... doctor gets angry, and I have to step in and make everyone calm down and look at paperwork. 

At the end, doctor prescribes Dan a new anti psychosis drug, because when we said, "we can't afford 2k a month for medicine"  he dropped it and didn't replace it with anything.  

So basically this all happened because of shoddy record keeping.  

Quiet Week

So, it’s been somewhat of a quiet week.  Not a whole lot to report. 

I got my surgery kit from my doctor, telling me what to expect and when to be at the hospital and all that fun happy jazz.

So I think I’ll talk about some of my opinions.

This whole Weinergate thing… has gotten WAAAYY out of hand.  Ok, so the guy’s a sleezeball, we get that much.  He basically cheats on his wife, and uses the internet to boost this self esteem.   I can guarantee you that is the reason why he does what he does.  The thing is, he shouldn’t lose his job over it.   As far as anyone’s been able to tell, he used his personal phone, his personal computer, and his own stuff to do these stupid things.  He didn’t use federal money to do this, and therefore did not violate any federal laws that I am aware of.   To be honest, he’s better behaved that John Edwards or any of the other douche bags that have been caught screwing around on their wives.  The media has been covering this way too much, and the late night talk show hosts have been going over it way too much as well.  Then again, the media covers everything way too much.

Went camping this weekend, had a pretty good time.  Note to self, don’t go camping when you’re PMSing, it does make for a happy time.  I was ok for the most part, but my patience was very thin, and by the time we got home, it was gone.  I did do ok though for the most part.  The boys had a blast; they loved the paddle boats and wanted to go on them all the time.  After two rounds on the paddle boats Mama Kat’s legs were very tired. So I convinced them to spend some time in the pool.  After two hours there, they really wanted to go back on the paddle boats, and the promised they would do the peddling, and all I had to do was chill out in the back.  So they did.  They paddled all the way out to a fountain and then back for the most part. Their little legs pooped out about a hundred yards from the dock so I took over again.  By then the sun came out and they got to go play on the beach and swim in the pond.  The next day they learned how to fish in the morning, but it was cold and cloudy and the fish weren’t biting, so we called it a day packed up and headed home.  We were all very tired and spent the rest of the day relaxing, but little boys get bored easily.  Kicking them outside proved fruitless since the mosquitoes were horrendous, and I didn’t want them playing videos games all day the classic phrase, “I’m bored” filled the house, and that’s when my patience ended.  Fortunately my wonderful glorious husband was able to take the boys and I went and hid in my room for the rest of the night.

Saturday we went and visited my niece at her dojo for a bake sale for St. Jude.  Tabbed seemed very happy we were there.  She’s doing GREAT in school and is now a yellow belt. I must say I am EXTREMELY proud of her!  It’s not often that you see a lot of girls her age that is not always on Facebook, doing well in school, and not hanging out with the wrong crowd.  She’s going to go far and do lots of great things.   My nephew Jake won a contest for building a boat using only a certain set of materials.  The kid’s a geniuses and is probably going to be richer than I will ever achieve in my lifetime.  He just knows how things work and how to put them together.   I must say I’m a very proud aunt.

Ben and Nick did great in their new school.   Ben is making leaps and bounds in his improvement, though we need to monitor who he hangs out with.  He met a boy camping who was about his age, and whose mother said he was autistic too. We thought great, someone Ben can hang out with!  After a few hours of playing with this child, we decided that was enough hanging out with Dylan. He was very rude and disrespectful to his parents, and Ben picked it up.  So Sunday Ben was not on his best behavior.  After a long talk, Ben immediately improved and offered an apology, but it really made me realize how much he picks up from kids.  Ben and Nick are wonderfully behaved.  When I see other children and then look at Ben and Nick I realize how blessed we truly are.  Ben and Nick both know to respect their elders and use their manners.  Ben forgets from time to time, but a quick reminder usually sets him back on track. 

Anyways, Nick brought home a DVD from his class. His teacher made a DVD of pictures of all the kids throughout the year. It was great seeing that.  I’m going to make a copy (found out I could do that with my laptop) and send the original back with their mom.

Speaking of being blessed, Dan and I are also blessed to have a great relationship with the boy’s mom and her boyfriend.  I can’t tell you how many times I meet parents and they do not have a good relationship with the kid’s biological mom/dad.  I tell people that I’m friends with the boy’s mom and they give me a weird look.  We’re not the best of friends, but we go shopping for the boys together.  We buy stuff for the boys; she buys stuff for the boys.  All of us go to special events for the boys together.  The boys love it, and we’re all in it together.  Now to be perfectly honest, if the boys weren’t there.  We would never talk to her, she wouldn’t talk to us, but we do have the boys and we all make it work.  I really wish more people would do this. 

Don’t get me wrong, when Dan and her first broke up, it was rough.  It’s been 5 years now, and it’s taken a lot to get where we are. But we worked at it. I think more parents who have split need to do that.  Yeah when you first break up, it’s not easy, but it’s for the kids.  Put your petty differences aside and just try to stay cordial for the kids. It gets easier with time, trust me.   The boy’s mom is a great mom so that helps and Dan is a great dad.  I understand there are some dead beats out there, and there’s nothing you can do about them taking off and thinking only of themselves.  There are way too many people like that and it pisses me off, but if your baby daddy or baby mama is in the picture, take a deep breathe be cordial and try your darndest to make it work.  Please for the kids sake.

Ok, I guess that’s about all I have for now.  I’ll talk to you all next week!

Things are going a little better

Well it's been a crazy bit of a week, but things are finally starting to go on the uptake.

Had my tests done last Friday, and it was not fun.   They took video of the barium mixture going down, and it tasted absolutely horrible, and made me want to vomit, but I couldn't because of the test.  Then they had to watch it go down which took 4 hours. It was horrible. I had to do an MRI as well, but that wasn't so bad as soon as I knew what was going to happen.  Waiting the four hours while the stuff moved through my system, sitting in the most uncomfortable chairs, it totally killed my poor back.

I told my boss that I would be done around noon probably, and that I would be in work.  She kept saying, no you won't.  Well she was right. I called her right after and said, yeah I'm not coming in.  She just laughed and said, I figured.

Got back home rested, and then Dan grabbed the kiddos, and we headed down to my parents house.  I need some TLC from my family, and Daddy was marching in the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day parade. It's been a goal of his to march again, ever since he got too big to fit into his uniform.  Daddy is not down to 286 lbs. from his largest weight of 440.  For example:

This is Daddy 1 year ago at my brother's commissioning and graduation

and this is daddy, nearly 160lbs later.  What a difference right?!

He marched and we were all so proud of him.

We were all so incredibly proud of him and mom and I were balling like mad.  But he did it!!  He was pretty tired and sore at the end of it, but he was happy.  The boys ran up and gave him a hug when he passed by, he was really touched. Daddy was a little uncomfortable with the boys when Dan and I first got together, but he's really come around.  He really loves them, and does lots of things for them. He basically begged to be in the color guard because "The grandkids are coming"  It's hard to explain, but if you know my dad, and the fact that he goes out and buys box chocolate milk just for Ben you know he loves them.

Anyways we head home Monday morning, and Gidget comes and picks up the boys, and they head to another BBQ with Casey's family.  Dan and I decide it's time for some nice quiet alone time. Then my phone rings.  My poor little brother was freaking out, full blown panic attack, I've never really seen him this freaked out before.  Slight backstory, he caught his girlfriend in a lie, and this was another one of some doozie's she's been doing, and my brother got sick of it. So he broke up with her.  She comes back with I'm Pregnant.  Yeah not cool little chicky.  After I talked to Matt, we were able to find the picture she sent him as "proof" on Google, and realized she was lieing yet again. So this chica is out of the picture now.  I specifically remember telling this girl.  If you want to screw up your relationship with my brother.  Lie to him.  He hates lying.  Look girlies, if your relationship is about to end, doing desperate attempts to save it, will only cause heart ache for you.

Went back to work Tuesday. Dr. McNeir's office called the house with the test results.  I have a hiatal hernia, and a fibroid mass on my uterus.  Don't know what we're going to do about them yet, but I'll find that out next week, which I will then let you all know.  I 'm just glad it's not anything super serious, and easily treatable.  I may still lose my girlie bits, but to be honest, I've wanted them to take that darn thing out for ages because of how much I HATE my periods.

Well that's about it for me.  Have a great day y'all.