The Legend of a Blustery Day, A Lizard, and A Toilet!

October 19, 2011

The Legend of a Blustery Day, A Lizard, and a Toilet!

It all began on very blustery day in Houston, Texas.  There are not to many of these kinds of days in Houston. After checking for smoke from forest fires, and seeing the allergy report, we decided to throw caution to the wind and so we opened up the house.  Now, opening up the house means that we have to leave the doors open because most of the windows in our house do not open.  There is just one tiny problem with opening up the doors.....in Houston, the builders who build all these big fancy, expensive homes DO NOT believe in screen doors!

Now usually when we open the doors, we post a guard near the door to watch for the little creep crawly things that like to walk in just as big as you please.  I secretly think that they think an open door is an open invitation to visit!  However, there are times when the guard leaves their post in order to do things like get a drink, use the restroom, eat dinner, talk to someone, or the constant change the laundry routine.

Well, at some point during our blissfull, blustery day, a creepy crawly little orange baby lizard decides to invade the territory.  He went unnoticed....probably came in during a potty break for the guard!  If he did come in unnoticed, he must be very good at hiding because we hadn't seen the little critter until he decided to put in an appearance in the front bathroom.  And the bathroom is several steps from the front door.

Now, if I was a lizard, I am not sure I would go find the bathroom.  I would probably be thinking that the bathroom was a room that would have fairly frequent visitors, and knowing how humans are usually not very friendly to lizards in houses, I would avoid that room...I'm just saying!

However, our little lizard must have been curious because he decided to go to the bathroom.  Now there are all kinds of exciting things lurking in our front bathroom.  There's the cabinet with the bandaids, the rolling drawers....which have also been used to roll over and KILL creepy crawly things....the pedestal sink, the toilet, and the shower stall.  Since the shower stall has a big glass door, our tiny lizard must have decided that he was never going to manage to open the door.  Inside the shower is the water home storage.....good place to store it right....it's been known to leak!  Also in there are the vaporizors!  Probably not a real good place for a lizard to explore.

Who actually knows what the little lizard found to explore in the bathroom, but somehow he got himself up on the toilet seat.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  This big tall human named Cymbre came into the bathroom, saw the lizard, and was prepared to scream.  However, instead of screaming, she did the "old flip and flush" routine on the poor little guy.  She just flipped him into the toilet and flushed!  Hope he said his prayers...hope he said goodbye to his mom before he left this morning....hope he's not a very good swimmer....hope he can't swim back upstream and attack when someone is least expecting him!

Well, after a few minutes Cymbre goes back into the bathroom....and there before her very eyes is the little lizard sitting in the toilet bowl.  Now she says "Another installment for the blog"  and promptly flushes him again.   This time he has been flushed several times!  And every time she walks by, she flushes him again.....poor thing....just recovers from one wave and another one hits.  Kind of like a Tsunami I would imagine!

Has he not heard that all drains lead to the ocean....does he not want to be Nemo's friend, and meet the sea turtles?   Maybe he forgot his lunch.....or has to go home to finish his homework!  TOO BAD little lizard.....you are learning how to swim today.....flush again.....maybe he just needed to go potty!   TOO BAD...do your business outside!  HAHAHAHAHAHA........

And the moral of this legend.....watch out for the "flip and flush" or humans are not friendly people, or Flanagan's HATE lizards in the bathroom....you can pick whichever moral you want!  Bottom line.....now we are guarding the toilet to make sure he doesn't put in another appearance!  Should have just smashed him to start with....in the future, there will be no compassion!  LIZARDS be forwarned.....invasion into the Flanagan home is life threatening!

As We Speak.....

October 10, 2011

As we speak Guy is in China going to some meeting....he didn't want to go, but went because someone asked him to be there.   Two long plane flights later, and he lost 12 hours he is finally there.  We went to church, took naps, ate two meals, and watched a movie while Dad was flying around the world!

SO, we are waiting to see what will break this week.....you know something will, it always does when Dad leaves!

I just got back from a very quick trip to see the grandbabies....we had such a fun time.  Now the house seems so quiet when I am home alone.  Next time, I am staying longer....I didn't get enough play time this time.  I'm just saying.....a Grandma needs lots of playtime, and we didn't get to go get ice cream, and we didn't go for happy meals.....

Now that I am home, I am working on some scrub tops for an Activity that Cymbre is doing for YW, and was going to make a pirate costume for Jack, but I found the complete outfit for a cheap price, so I decided to save some sewing time and just buy it for him instead.  We will have to bend the hat brim, but that should be something his dad can handle with a couple of big elastics.  I made the Wendy outfit for Lucy while I was in Utah.

Cymbre has developed another floater in her eye...guess she's lost some more of her vitreal jelly.  Not to panic....we all get them.  So far her eye migraines have tapered off, but we are still getting an appointmnet with a child neurologist who deals with headaches.  She gets migraines in her head because of the ones in her eye, so we need some course of action to relieve them.

We are back in the full dance routine, and the girls are LOVING teaching their babies.  They just adore those little 3-5 year olds.  I'm glad they don't cart any home with them.  Dad and I just aren't so good at keeping up with the little ones these days....Dad claims it has something to do with getting old....I keep reminding him that I am not old!  I am just falling apart in my youth!

It looks like the girls will be able to participate in the dance recital this year.  Last year it was on a Sunday, so we didn't dance in it, but this year we got a Friday date.  Yeah!  Now we spend more money on costumes, but the girls LOVE it!  These two should just be on stage constantly, and then they would be happy!  We are grateful for all the dance teachers and choreographers that are working with them this year.  They have been given so many wonderful opportunities to become better in their talents, and to gain happiness in the perfecting of their skills.  So once again for recital we will have around 15 costume changes....I hope I can keep up.  It's the 8 count shoe changes that kill me!

My Sunday School class continues to go well, and next year I will be teaching the Book of Mormon to the 16-18 year olds.  Cooper's group will be coming in my class, and so that will mean there will be a whole herd of them.  I already started buying props for some of the stories, and since it's Halloween time, I have been able to stock up on bloody arms for acting out the Ammon herding the King's sheep story.  Cooper is already excited!  Hope I can live up to my reputation......I need a Liahona, and some golden plates, and maybe a sword of Laban!

The dance costume making business is beginning to get busy.  I have bought some premade pieces, and now I just have redo them.  It's better than starting from scratch, but I'm still not sure how to make a halter style top from a men's tuxedo shirt.....I might give up!  Cymbre's dress just needs shortening, a tulle cumberbun, and a tulle petticoat under it, and her headpiece which is just some feathers this year.  Cooper has the tuxedo top, tuxedo pants, bowtie, and some tuxedo shirts cuffs.....OK!  Cooper's jazz costume is still under a lot of consideration....it's the song Standing There by the Creatures....so they want something creatureistic.....what the heck is that?  And I found her a terrific prom style dress in Utah for her tap with Mark Goodman...he wanted something girlie.  It's a silvery all blinged up dress that I just don't have to do much too....maybe shorten just a bit.  Maybe some gloves and tap heels.  Fishnets with seams that have been rhinestoned.  Their tap group and contemporary group will have costumes purchased by the studio.  And the recital costumes the studio orders, so I will just have to alter them as needed.

I am cutting way back on the alterations for dance costumes for other people....there are just a few ladies that I will still do.  Mostly just my friends.  I just don't like it anymore, but it does give us some extra money.

The girls are both busy with their class presidencies in YW, and we finally don't have to work on personal progress anymore.  They both have their medallions, so I told them they can be done if they want to be done.  There is an honor bee they can get if they want too, but I don't have to do anything for that.  I am so glad to be done with 4 YW awards, and one eagle scout, and Duty to God award.  I feel like I earned them all, but have nothing to show for it.

Guy has lost a lot of weight lately, and is looking really good.  Back to those days in England where he did all that walking....

Houston finally got some rain, not enough, but some.

Well, I think I finally have all the stuff for theses scrub tops so I better get busy, there are 6 to make....just a good afternoon of sewing if I just sit down to do it.  And if I can get the sewing machine to cooperate!

Everyone needs to get out there and look for someone who needs some help....they are everywhere if you just look.

Have a great week.  Love you bunches.

Mom

You Are In Trouble Doctor!

September 20, 2011

Well, all those places that I reported the doctor we saw last week are contacting me and telling me to report her to the Texas State Medical Licensing Board.....something tells me she is going to be in trouble in the state of Texas along with the state of New York!  Makes my day!!!!  Sorry.....shouldn't feel that way.  It took me three hours to fill out all the government forms to have her investigated.

 

Guy is in San Antonio for the SEG convention, so we are home alone just waiting for the trauma to arrive!  I know I shouldn't plan on it, but something ALWAYS happens.

 

Cymbre's eye faded yesterday for several hours, but thankfully she didn't get a headache....score one for Cymbre!

 

I am still taking on the school district because they hire dumb monkeys to do the humans work, and then my taxes are paying them.....maybe I should run for the school board.....nah....I would have to have a heart attack at every meeting!   They won't take the off campus grades in a sealed envelope from the studio.  They want them faxed....however, they can't manage to provide the studio with the correct information to be able to fax them.  Some schools are just taking the envelopes, but Cymbre's isn't.  Her registrar is just being a real ....well, you can fill in the blank....but it isn't a very nice word.  So the studio that doesn't own a fax machine is supposed to fax in the grade to a person they don't know the name of, and don't have the fax phone number of.  OR, the studio director can drive for an hour to the district office and personally hand in the grades.  WHAT?  For 5 years we have turned in the grades in sealed envelopes, or even sometimes just the paper, and it's never been a problem.  This year, because I started asking questions as to why our studio didn't have the information, it seems that the monkey at the district is trying to attempt to do a very small part of her job.  (Guess she didn't like being told that for the past 5 years she hasn't done it....) So at Cymbre's school, the new registrar is being a pain, and refuses to accept her grade....at the high school for Cooper, they didn't care.  So what's happened to consistancy is district policy?  And, if the parents aren't supposed to be involved in getting the grades turned in, how come when there is a problem the school district lady calls and rips the parent who isn't supposed to be involved.  Oh, she wants me to make the teacher call her......GIVE ME A BREAK!   I told the district lady that if she was doing her job, she should be the one contacting the dance teacher....it wasn't my job to make her call her.  I am not her boss, mother, husband, or clergyman.  Our studio doesn't own a fax machine, and doesn't have the money to buy one.  Maybe she should just go visit the teacher, email the teacher, or heaven forbid call the teacher.  And that she can't expect our teacher to drive for over an hour to hand in a piece of paper, when all the other schools are taking the grades the kids bring in.  You might say this district lady isn't happy with me......I could care less.  I have done off campus pe for 5 years, and never once has there been any communication from the district to any studio we have worked with, or that I used to run.  So this year, because I started asking when grades were due, the new lady at Cymbre's school is flipping out.   If one school has to obey the policy, why aren't the rest of them having to obey the policy, and why do we have the stupid policy anyway.  My tax dollars at work paying monkeys!  I want a rebate!!!!!

Cooper is home sick today...sore throat, ears hurting.   The doctor gave her some medicine....she'll start to feel better by tomorrow night I hope.

The girls have an ok from the dance director to enter the Hall of Fame competition in Austin, and attend the Tap2You tap convention in Dallas.  She doesn't need them on those two weekends.   Cooper is now working on the solo that Mark Goodman came and choreographed for her.  It's hard....a challenge for her.  She was thrilled to work with Mark.  He is a master tap teacher who has performed on Broadway.  Cooper is still finishing up a jazz solo, and another tap solo with MS. Andee too.  Cymbre is doing her tap solo with Ms. Andee, and then they both have a tap group and Cooper has a Contemporary group this year.  Cooper will probably do Tap Kids again this summer...it was a tremendous experience for her.  They will also attend the Jump and hopefully, the Pulse dance conventions.  So it will be a busy dance year for them.  Guess this mom better get to work on costumes!

 

My Sunday School class continues to go well...at least now they believe that I can play the accordian....some of them have seen it.  This week I made them pretend to be home and visiting teachers who had to take the messages that Paul wrote in letter to the saint in Corinth to their families.  They had to read the scriptures, figure out the lesson to be taught, and then give me an idea as to how they would teach the family.  It was an interesting experiment.....they learned some things about how the scriptures really do relate to our day.  On a side note...since I will be teaching the Book of Mormon next year, I bought some bloody arms from the halloween section of the store....don't you think that will be fun when we do the Ammon story?  I think I will get the Bishop to dress up as the king, and let the kids bring him the bag of arms.....should bring the story to life for them don't you think?  I will get all of Cooper's group next year...rumor has it they are already looking forward to coming into my class.  Guy just wants to know where we are going to store our bloody arms....

I have now finished crocheting 5 baby blankets, but Cymbre gave the last one to her YW leader who is having a baby soon.  So, now I am looking for another pattern to try to start making another one.  I love to crochet while I watch TV or wait for the girls.

Well, must get busy doing something constructive....guess I'll fold some clothes before I have to go get the Beastie at school.

Have a great day....get out there and do something fun to someone.

Love you.

Mom

Crazy Lunatic Doctor!

September 15, 2011

So,yesterday I take Cymbre to see a child neurologist to see about her headaches.  Since we know she has a retinal vasospasm ocular migraine in her eye (which causes her vision to go black, sometimes for several hours) and this typically causes a migraine inside her head.  Hence the doctor visit.  The eye specialist recommends we see a child neurologist to obtain some medicine to give Cymbre some relief when she actually gets the migraine in her head.  The one in her eye doesn't cause her any pain, just a very sore eye,  but the one in her head is an entirely different situation.

Now, this doctor was listed on our insurance list....however, she shouldn't be listed on anybody's list!

So we get there, and go inside after driving about 40 minutes.  The place is a pigpen.  Papers and books everywhere.  The front desk is so messy, I can't even see the desktop.  However, I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt....BIG MISTAKE!!

So we are sitting there (we are the only patients in the office)....and I overhear the front desk personnel talking about the forms I have given to them already filled out.  Now at the top of the form it asks for name, b-day, SEX, SSN, etc.  However, the person doing the computer cannot decide if Cymbre is a boy or a girl....excuse me?.....How about reading your own dumb form?   It's listed right there at the top, or there's always take a look at the patient who is dressed like a girl, with a girl hairdo and wearing make-up.  So I stand up and say, excuse me, but we are sitting right here and it just so happens that the patient is a girl....I wrote it on your form, and it should be clear from seeing her that she is a girl.

Then the nurse calls us back, and while they are weighing Cymbre on the scale, there is a scotty dog standing right there at the scale.  I about DIED!!  Again trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, we just looked at each other, and I can tell that Cymbre is thinking maybe we should be leaving.  We make it into the exam room, and the dumb dog follows us....there's a little bed in the corner for the dog....who on the way to her bed has sniffed in my purse.  (I don't like dogs, and I really don't like them sniffing around in my personal belongings where I have my insulin.....I'm just saying!!!!)

So now I am thinking....what the heck is going on?  Who is this doctor, and why do we have a dog in the exam room?  Isn't there some health law that doesn't allow this?

There are books and papers scattered EVERYWHERE, and I am thinking that the fire marshall would certainly not be happy with this.  (Note to self....see how you report something like that to some official person)  I mean he wasn't happy one time at the dance studio when we had some cases of printer paper stacked up....he would probably have a heart attack immediately if he saw this place.

I am just about ready to tell Cymbre we are leaving when the doctor comes into the room.  She looks like she has put her finger in a light socket...her hair appears to not have been combed in months.  She is wearing either paint splattered clothes, or bleach splatter clothes...I'm not sure which.  Either way, TOTALLY, not what you would expect to see on a doctor who is treating patients.  She sits down, says you won't mind the dog, and immediately starts talking to Cymbre.

We tell her Cymbre's story, and she immediately tells me that Cymbre is probably having seizures, and will need a daily seizure medicine and a bunch of tests.  EEG, MRI's, a longer EEG, bloodwork.....and I am thinking....Guess again lady!!!  I am NOT drugging my daughter everyday if she doesn't need it!  And you haven't proven to me that she needs it!

So I just tell her that I am tired of doctors who don't listen to us....the kid has never had a seizure.....she doesn't listen.  Instead she focuses in on whether Cymbre is a perfectionist or not....if you are a perfectionist you match all your clothes, you don't mix things up.....Are you kidding me?   Perfectionists tend to suffer from migraines.....so yes, Cymbre does match her clothes. (Could it be because I buy them in matching sets?  DUH!!)  And perfectionists bring stress on themselves, so we need to write a note to school to have them have someone there to read Cymbre any tests she needs to take to avoid her having stress about her eye going black....WHAT????  (If we do that, they will fill out form to classify Cymbre as a special needs child at school and it will follow her the rest of her life!)  NOT happening!!  This is a straight "A" student, who because of her eye may have to use a colored transparency to reduce the glare of the page, but she is capable of taking a test all on her own!  Even if her eye goes out, she can still see with her left eye, and the teachers know that she may require extra time if that happens. By now, I am sure that I need another dose of my blood pressure medicine!!!   I am considering hyperventilating....(Ok, mom....try to calm down....breathe.....)

Again I try to get her to focus on the headaches....NO....we have to hear about her personal medical issues....who is Cymbre's retina doctor?  She has some retinal issues...She tells us she is hard of hearing..WHO CARES?  I am not here to hear about your personal issues.  Then she tells us that she has been dealing with being brought before the medical licensing board.....OK...RED LIGHTS flashing, red flags waving, I think I am getting a headache and it's from my blood pressure I am sure.  My heart is pounding, and I can see myself in jail for killing this woman....it's time to leave.  I am praying for an exit excuse......


She tells us that at our next visit she will see Cymbre alone....I am thinking, you will have to kill me first.....I know, not very Christian of me.

After a little more non-pertinent discussion, she is called to the phone.....THANK GOODNESS....Heavenly Father is listening to my prayers of what do I do now?  So I tell Cymbre, let's go....we go out to the front desk....and are checking out when she comes out and says....wait....we have to order her tests.  So now, I am thinking, order whatever the heck you want....I'm not taking her....however, we wait a minute and I tell them that if she needs tests, I want to have them done at my local hospital and not downtown.  Are they listening....I doubt it!  And while I am standing there, she asks me if I want to get the tests because of my headaches...EXCUSE ME....I am not the patient.  AND No, you are not treating me or ordering a bunch of tests when I already have a headache treatment plan that works for me.

Don't you just LOVE doctors who don't listen, and then make snap judgements based on NO physical information?  Excuse me, I am a medical coder, and I know that she has to have much more information in order to make an accurate diagnosis.  She has to have documentation in written form...so I tell her she can't write seizures as the diagnosis on Cymbre's records or I will tell the insurance company that it not right and she is committing insurance fraud.   WE LEAVE!

We get in the car...Cymbre is telling me she doesn't want to come back....I am telling her that we aren't coming back....I am trying to decide just what I am going to do.....but we aren't going back.  Maybe we should get the MRI, but nothing else, and then take the results to another doctor.  I have to think, but first I have to drive home in the rush hour Houston traffic!  I must get my rage under control and focus!!!!  We stop at a gas station to get a big drink!

Remember that prayer for an excuse to leave....well, it is answered with an interesting sidenote....Guy's office is just right there not far from the doctor's office...just acrossed the street from where we stopped to get a drink. Heavenly Father must have known that I needed to see Guy desperately.  He came out of his office parking lot just as I was passing it....we saw the van....I told Cymbre to call her Dad.  As soon as I heard his voice, I could feel myself start to calm down....being able to see his vehicle made me feel like everything was going to be ok, I could do this, we could figure out what to do.  It is amazing to me that he has that influence on me even from a distance.  Somehow I just know that if he is there, we will somehow manage to figure out this latest little trauma from our resident black cloud. (You would think after 32 years and counting, that  dumb cloud would be tired of hanging around us ALL the time!)  I manage to pull in front of him at a stop light, and there is a confidence in knowing that he will follow me all the way home.  Somehow, he is protecting Cymbre and me from behind us.

All the way home, I am thinking....this is just another chapter in the Soap Opera of the Flanagan Family book people say I should write.....I have to calm down first.   I have to find a competent doctor for Cymbre first.....I have to make it home and talk to Guy first.  I should have made him come with me....well, maybe not....he would have lost it! 

I go home and after I get the girls to bed, I sit down to see if I can find out why the doctor was disciplined by the medical board.   Well, I did.....three counts of over-perscribing controlled medications to 98% of her child patients, and perscribing controlled medications to herself.  (That's a big no no!)  She cannot practice in the state of New York as they took her license away...so I am thinking, does the state of Texas know this???

There is no way, I will even think about considering taking Cymbre back there.  We have to find another doctor.

Fast forward to today:

Cymbre's eye goes out at school for about 30 minutes....thank goodness, it came back and she does NOT have her headache.  We don't need another 4 day episode.

So today, we get a call from the doctor's office.  Cooper answers it...I tell her I am not talking to them.  She takes a message.  They want me to call a hospital downtown to set up Cymbre's tests.  I say, to bad, not doing it.  So she just pretends to take a message.

A few minutes later the hospital calls me...I answered.  They say that the doctor ordered all these tests, and they want to set them up.  Well, number one, it's not the location that I asked them to schedule tests at, number 2 we're not doing them.  I tell the lady that I am not coming for tests, and also not returning to the doctor's office.  She says she needs to know why.  I tell her the doctor is a lunatic.  My daughter does not have seizures, and I'm not paying for a bunch of unnecessary tests, and do whatever she has to do.  I'm not paying them anything.  She says she will have to call the doctor.  FINE!  She tells me I am not the first person to tell her these things about this doctor.  OK.......

Then about 5 minutes later, the doctor is on the phone....I don't answer.  The machine picks it up...she is raving on the answering machine.  Instead I go to the computer.  I open the email from her office that had the forms to fill out. I decided to email her. I inform her that we are not returning, we are not going for the tests, her diagnosis is wrong.  I am calling our insurance to tell them it is a false diagnosis on the claim (insurance fraud)  Sorry that's the medical coder coming out in me.  I told her that her office is a pigpen, that the dog should not be roaming all over the office even if it is a theraputic dog.  I told her that I think she is very unprofessional in her dress, and I am reporting her to the medical board because she just wants to drug my kid.  I told her that her office staff is incompetent....they can't even read their own forms.

In other words, I figured out how to really tick off a doctor....I don't even care!

They call again....I ignore the phone...deal with it lady, we aren't coming back. 

So, again I go to the computer....I find her license disipline again.  I figure out how to write a complaint.  I report our entire story to them.  Then I go online to her medical profile, and write a flaming review.  AND, I locked the review in, so she can't remove it.  Then after some thought, I looked up the Texas State Health Department.  I found where I could file a complaint or ask a question.   So I filled in the form and just ask them if there should be a dog freely roaming around a doctor's office while patients are being seen?  They are supposed to email me back within the next three days.  IF they tell me that shouldn't happen, I am going to report her.  I am also considering contacting the Fire Marshall.  Something tells me that the Health Department, OSHA, HIPPA and the licensing board may be visiting her office in the near future.  I'm just saying!  If I have my way, she won't be listed on our insurance program either.  I may contact the Office of the Insurance Ombudsman also, (they are the big wigs no one likes to deal with)....they deal with insurance fraud.   Big fines, and jail time usually result in their visit.  As a medical coder, I am obligated to report cases that I have first hand knowledge regarding. 

 So after all of this, I guess you could say that I am a rebel with a cause.....moral of the story....Don't tick off the Mama Bear!

The rest of the day I was dealing with the school system regarding our off campus PE situation....but that's another chapter for the book.....stay tuned!

I really think I need to go find someone with worse problems than I have right now....it will take my mind off my own.

Enough Crap!

September 13, 2011

I am so tired of trying to please people who really don't care, who treat me like crap, who break promises repeatedly.  I'm just done!

I have made some decisions, and I am not changing my mind...I deserve some repect.  I'm tired of years worth of disrepect, or people trying to just write me off, ...oh it's just mom having a fit again....just unfriend her, don't follow her,  and start a new page...she's to stupid to find it.....well, I am not stupid....I know what happens.

I have decided I am doing what makes me happy from now on.....no more going out of my way to send packages, texts, be available, cowtow to whatever someone thinks mom needs to do.  No more being the "Mom mat"....no more she'll get over it...no more putting up with being called immature, told to grow up, told to just get over it!

What ever happend to treating Mom like she is someone special....I mean, she just sacrifices everything to be where and when you need her.....what about what she wants sometimes?  What about some respect just because she is the mom, some respect for her feelings and opinions......NO, we just like to stomp on them!  We like to make fun of mom when we get the chance, to tell our friends our mom is crazy.....that she is having a midlife crises.  WELL, GUESS WHAT....it's not a midlife crises.....it's the way I am treated that is pissing me off!!!  What about asking her something instead of telling her what's happening?

I am no longer going where people expect me to go....or be what people expect me to be.....the only person I have to answer to is Dad, and he loves me no matter what!

I am tired of people breaking promises made, and then blaming me for it.  Tired of people talking to me like I am stupid, and belong in a mental home.  The doctor think I still retain all of my mental capacity for those of you who bother to think about caring.

I do some pretty wonderful things if anyone bothered to stop and take notice....I have talents and abilities besides just being the "Mom Mat".....there are qualities in me that people actually admire....not that any of those people are my family....cause you certainly wouldn't know it by how I am treated.

I am tired of my family and my extended family just assuming that I am stupid, uneducated, and not worth listening too.  I am not some piece of trash you just get to throw away at your convenience.

I am not just the mom who sends presents....I have feelings too.

I am doing my best, although it is pretty obvious that's not good enough for most people...so I am just done!

And if you are feeling guilty about how you treat your own mom after reading this, maybe you should do something about that...heaven knows she's probably shed her share of tears over you!

I'M.SO. DONE!!!!!

They Are Stunned!

August 28, 2011

Today I stunned my sunday school class....remember that I teach the 16-18 year olds.  They aren't easily stunned!

We were talking about the Holy Ghost, and that you have to develop the ability to listen to him...kind of like you develop a talent.  So I asked them if they had a talent, or something that they used to do well that they no longer really do.  So of course, they all sit there with blank looks on their faces, so I have to come up with something....so I brought out the fact that I play the accordian and the organ.  Total and shocked AMAZEMENT ensued....shock and disbelief...they even thought I was lying.  Now why would I make up a lie about playing the accordian?  So after I promised them that they could see my accordian when Cooper and Cymbre have another party....we managed to get on with the lesson.  The point being, that just like you have to develop a talent with practice, you also have to develop the ability to listen and follow the Holy Ghost and his promptings with practice.  And once you develop that ability, there are numerous blessings that will come your way as you just heed the promptings as soon as you receive them.  We also talked about lost opportunities when you put off that impression for even just a few minutes....case in point.....there is a homeless man that lives under the bridge on one corner that I frequently drive past.  Most days when I see him, he knows that I will drive around the corner and bring him something to eat....but the last time I saw him this week....I neglected to follow my impression to feed him, and then when I went back after I was finished shopping, he was no longer standing on the corner.   I could just kick myself.  It only takes just a few minutes to drive thru some place and get a meal and drive back around the corner and hand it to him.  Now I wonder just how many blessings I don't get because of my own laziness....and if he went to bed hungry....and if he saw me drive past.....and more important, what the Savior thinks of my actions.  So in my guilt-ridden state of mind, I have decided that I will go look for him everyday this week, and feed him every time I find him.  We'll see what happens.....

At any rate, we managed to bring the lesson around to the point that with practice you can readily listen and heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, thereby, influencing peoples lives for good.  You also have to keep the commandments, read your scriptures, stay close to the Savior, and prepare yourself to be able to receive those promptings.  Then we put it back in biblical times when Paul was teaching the saints of the early church about the Savior, His crucifixion, resurrection, and the need for baptism and the Holy Ghost.  And how he taught that just being baptized was not everything that a person needs to inherit the kingdom of heaven...that's just half the plan.  The more important part is actually the spiritual part...the gift of the Holy Ghost.

And now, those teenagers probably went home and told their parents that Sister Flanagan plays the accordian and the organ.....and can you imagine that?  Hidden talents.....and no, not the chocolate coin kind!   And just for the record, I am NOT playing the accordian for the ward talent show...they cannot bribe me enough.  I just don't think "Beer Barrel Polka" is appropriate for a church setting.

Although, recently I had the opportunity to play every song that I know on the organ, and after an hour and a half.....I must admit, I felt pretty good about myself and that ability....and NO, I don't want to be the ward organist again.

Cymbre is having a lot of problems retaining her vision again....it seems that it just likes to fade away.....sort of go on vacation for several hours at a time, and then decide to function again when it feels like it.  She is just sitting in her desk at school....not being bumped around or anything.  SO, we are back at the eye specialists yet again this next week.  Who knows what they will come up with this time.  At least she isn't like the boy she knows at school this week who is getting a glass eye because he has cancer.  He offered to trade her eye problems.  She chose to keep the one she has....which seems like a real trial at times to us.  At least she can see sometimes though.  The boy getting the glass eye will only have one eye to see with permanently.


Just came home from putting Guy on an airplane to Halifax, Canada.   Hold your breath.....who knows what will happen this week while he is gone.  Something ALWAYS does!  He will be back the end of the week, hopefully, we will survive that long without him.  It's always so difficult...especially with the general lack of sleep that ensues because he is gone.


The girls have dance tonight, and I have to take them dinner at some point.  Now if I just had a good idea what to make to take, it would be good.  Last week I made pasta salad, but since Guy is gone, we don't want that again.  Maybe Subway sandwiches tonight.


Cymbre just called, her eye has faded out again....let's hope the specialist has some ideas on Wednesday....say your prayers that it will stop.  At least we know that the priesthood says that she will be ok in several blessings that she has had, so at least we have that to hang on too.  However, this mom could sure use this situation to stop....it's very nerve-racking, to say the least!


The girls are both busy beginning to organize things for YW.  They are both in presidencies, so we are busy at times.  Cymbre has a pajama party with Mrs. Texas coming to share hair and make-up tips for the beehives, and Cooper is working on some Armour of God activity for all the kids.  Sounds fun to me, and it keeps them out of trouble.  Our new YW president seems to be getting her ducks in a row, so the girls are excited.


Costume designing and sewing time has arrived yet again....I know what I'm doing for some of them, but the others we are still looking for ideas.  They also are in the tap group and Cooper is in the contemporary group, so there are more costumes this year.  Cooper is also doing a tap solo to get ready for college auditions taught to her by a master tap teacher we are flying in, and she wants to compete it also.  So everything counted, it is 7 costumes.  I dread gluing down all those rhinestones!


Well, I am going to finish the row of crocheting on the baby blanket, change the laundry, and go get the errands done before I have to pick up Cymbre from school, and the homework, dinner, dance routine starts. 


And I have to go look for the homeless man to see if he is hungry today too.


Get out and do something for someone you don't know....it's fun.


Love you bunches and bunches.   Say your prayers for Cymbre and her doctors.


Mom

Here We Go Again....

August 24, 2011

It's just the third day of school, and Cymbre has spent the most of the school day without vision in her right eye.  She was just sitting in class and it faded....GREAT!!  U'sually, it come back within a few minutes, but today her eye is hurting and it didn't come back for several hours.  This is a concern.  We almost called the retina doctor to see her.  However, shortly after I picked her up she was tapping her head and it came back....now we just have the very sore eye.  At this point, no migraine though, so that's a blessing.

SO,

Because of this I took her medicine to school today....tylenol, Aleve.....she uses those for both her knee pain, and her headaches.  She has a perscription headache medicine, but it makes her too sleepy to stay at school....so it stays home.

Dad says he is sending Grandma to visit the grandbabies the end of September into October for a week.....HURRAH!!!! YIPPY!!!  YEAH!!!!   Haven't gotten to snuggle that Baby Lucy yet, and Grandpa thinks I need to go do that....so I am going.  And Russell....I think you should catch up the ironing before I get there.....I'm just saying....

Cooper is loving her new laptop, and it's making the homework situation a bit easier because they don't have to fight over who gets the computer....they both have one now.

Dad is getting ready to do some traveling....Halifax, San Antonio, China....who know's where else.

There was a break in in the neighborhood night before last.....the sheriff thinks it was someone who knew the family was out of town....guess they really made a mess in the house, but didn't take anything.....interesting.  Why go to the trouble to just make a mess if you're going to break into someone's home?  And why would you break into the home of someone who lives across the street from a police investigator....are you dumb?

Fall dance classes have started, and so has the student teaching.  Thank goodness for that teenage driver....no living at the dance studio for Dad and I this year.....can you imagine, after 13 years we don't have to go there everyday for hours?  What will we ever do with ourselves?

They came and put new venting all in the attic....guess we'll see if the kitchen stays cooler now.   We can hope!

Cooper's little beep beep car has started living in the driveway at night because the sprinklers are causing hard water stains on the passenger windows.  OK.....whatever!

I'm collecting dance costumes parts, so I guess the costume season has started once again.  I have to make a halter style tuxedo shirt....OK....shorten a prom dress for Cymbre, and do a jazz costume for Cooper and another tap costume..some sort of dress for Cooper.  She has two tap solos this year....Mark Goodman is going to come and do one for her to use for her college auditions.  She will need that especially next summer....expensive though.

Cymbre is busy with beehives...they are making a scripture journal this week.  They are covering a composition book with bee material, and then writing some scriptures in it.  Cooper isn't planning any acitivites currently, but the YW president as her for an idea for standards night.

Guess that's about all.....

Have a good day.

Mom