Bye Bye Birdie

Saying goodbye to someone you care about is never easy. It does not mater if the parting of ways was by your choice or due to circumstances beyond your control. Whether it is a friend, a relative, or a lover there is a degree of pain that will always linger in your heart. Sometimes there is a gaping hole when that love once was, sometimes it may just be a little nick.

I have not written about this yet as I have been busy and needed to come to terms with the fact that as much as I want to,I cannot save the world and help everyone in it, no matter how much they mean to me.

Shortly before Christmas, My extended family had a small crisis. My sister-in-law (Jenna*)and her husband (*frank) wound up with temporary custody of his 4 great grandsons ages 10 months to 6 years. We (my Jenna and I) spent a lot of time going from one charity or agency to another for about 4 days in a row to get things these sweet little boys needed. I bought enough items for the boys to have a small Christmas even though I should have used it on bills. I just couldn't see 4 kids going without on a day children anticipate all year.
The children were removed from their home because of neglect. I spent additional money on lice shampoos and sprays, cough medicines, diapers, and Tylenol. I did not care, as long as the boys were happy, healthy, and safe. Jenna and Frank are a bit older than my husband and I. She has rheumatoid arthritis and he has a myriad of health issues including heart problems and caring for them was proving to be extremely difficult and detrimental to their own health. I took the boys whenever possible to give them a break, it seems I always had at least one of them in my home.

Two weeks ago, they boys went into the foster care system. Frank had been having chest pains on and off for a week and his doctor told him he was on the verge of another heart attack if he continued to care for the boys. The stress of taking in 4 little ones that young was just too much. I tried so hard to find a way to take the boys myself. I plotted, planed, and schemed. I made countless phone calls to various agencies but in the end I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I barely get by on my bills even with both my husband and I working, how was I going to afford 4 more children, three of whom were still in diapers. It would take a while to get certified for foster care and the entire time they lived with me until I was, I would not get financial help caring for them. Then there was the mater of space and where to put them. In reality, our house is too small for my family of 6 let alone adding four more into the mix. Also was the mater of my landlord allowing the extra bodies into which is essentially HIS house. I got a big fat no on that one. It is not that he is a bad landlord, he is excellent actually, it was more of a worry about fire safety and such. I scoured our local newspaper for a larger place but there was nothing available. Everything was either smaller or way out of our price range. It is impossible to pay $800 for rent on our income. Regrettably I had to say goodbye.
Up until they came to live with Jenna and Frank, I had met the oldest two boys only once. The other two I had only heard about their births. During the short time they were here, I fell in love with them. I will miss these little guys every day and I pray that wherever their lives take them they will continue to be cherished and loved as much as they deserve to be.

*Names have been changed for privacy

How To Tell When Your Son is Home From College

12 ways you can tell your Son is home from college even if your haven't seen him:

1. You bought 2 gallons of milk at 10pm the night before and are completely out of milk at 3pm the next day.

2. Your washer seems to be running 24hrs a day instead of the usual 20.

3. That brand new bottle of laundry soap you bought a week ago is empty already.

4. You go to take a shower and when you turn the water on you get sprayed in the head EVERY time.

5. All 5 boxes of cereal only have enough left in them for a mouse.

6. All your mixing bowls are dirty and you haven't cooked or baked in a week because you have been at work. The mixing bowls also have various dried up pieces of cereal in them.


7. When you open the refrigerator to get a drink and think "I know I had a two full bottles of juice in here two days ago!"

8. You go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and fall in AGAIN!

9. There is no toilet paper on the toilet paper dispenser.

10. The gas hand in your car is on E constantly.

11. You find Burger king bags in your car and haven't ate fast food in a month.

12. You find THIS in your computer chair:

Vacation!

A friend of mine posted a blog asking where you would go if you had a 2 week paid vacation and why would you go there. My first choice would be to spend a week in Ireland. I have always wanted to go from the time I knew it existed. It just seems like a beautiful and magical country. I would love to explore the old castles, visit some genuine Irish pubs, and listen to the tales of the locals. Perhaps I could even catch me a leprechaun!

The second week is kind of hard to decide. I would either chose a Disney/Universal studios trip or a road trip to Williamsburg and Gettysburg. Our family went to Disney for my oldest daughter's make a wish trip and we had a wonderful time, I would love to experience that again with my children. My husband and I spent a day at Gettysburg with my sister when we took my mother down to visit her in Maryland. It was so interesting. I think it would be lots of fun to take the kids and spend more time there. I want to do the whole nine yards, from touring all the battlefields to taking the ghost tour. I believe Andrew would really enjoy seeing all the old cannons and statues. My sister has been to Williamsburg and says it is just as beautiful. Something about the history of both Gettysburg and Williamsburg just seem to call to me.

pregnancy tests go high tech.

Found this interesting little item on thinkgeek.com and had to share. No I am NOT pregnant or thinking I am (Thank heavens) just thought it was amusing. This item should be extremly useful to all those on a couple of social sites where I have seen a lot of "could I be pregnant?" questions and giving a list of symptoms. If you actually want to purchase this little gem, here is the link: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/pteq.html

• 
  Carbon-Based Lifeforms Detected
  One line or two. Yes or no. Pregnancy tests are binary by their very nature. So when we found p-Teq's USB Pregnancy Test Kit that's chock full of extra scientific information, we knew we had to get this geeky goodness to our potentially spawning fans.
  The process starts off like most pregnancy tests. You pee on a stick, specifically the absorbent test strip at one end. But everything's different after that first step. Remove the cap from the other end of the stick (cleverly provided to keep you from accidentally contaminating the wrong end) to reveal the USB connector. Pop it in your computer. The power from your USB port starts the electrospray ionization process, creating a spectrograph of the various masses for your analysis. Get it? Your analysis? Urinalysis? *rimshot* Moving on.
  You don't actually get to see the spectrograph yourself. The mass analysis happens inside the device. And p-Teq's device only analyzes for specific chemical makeups, so you don't have to worry about this thing busting you for that "poppy seed bagel" you had yesterday. The mass spectrometry software on the device comes with several sequenced hormones, including hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin), hCG-H (hyperglycosylated hCG - for detection before your first missed period), and LH (luteinizing hormone - for detection of your most fertile days). We like the fact that it does all three. After all, if you're not pregnant and you wanna be, you need to know if now's the time to be gettin' it on.
  While most home tests can detect a level of 15-50 mIU/mL of hCG, the enhanced methodology of the USB Pregnancy Test Kit can detect 5-50 mIU/mL, and will show you the exact concentration via its friendly onscreen interface. In addition, the LCD display on the device itself will light up and show you the symbol of a baby, no baby, or multiples and your Estimated Delivery Date based on the concentration of hCG, hCG-H, and LH in your urine. So you can clear your calendar in advance.
  After you're done reviewing your test results, just pop the device out of your computer and change the test strip. The display will remain lit for five minutes and then automatically power off. Note: We recommend the use of horizontal USB drives for this product to prevent accidental moisture transference.
  No batteries required - draws power from USB
  USB 2.0 compatible
  Plug and play, easy operation
  Operating Systems: Win 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux 2.4 or higher, Mac OS 8.6 or higher
  20 test strips included
  99% accuracy*
  * 99% accurate in detecting hCG, hCG-H and LH. However, these hormones do not necessarily indicate pregnancy or ovulation, respectively. Extenuating circumstances can affect levels of these hormones in your body.

What will they think of next?