Termite Free

We are officially TERMITE FREE in the Rhocchini house. We were able to move back in about 3 pm on Saturday and start unpacking the bags and bags of groceries that were boxed up and/or bagged up.

Monday we paid for a cleaning crew to come in and clean the house top to bottom. Let me just tell you... it was wonder-flipping-ful. It was nice to get everything really cleaned up once and for all. I mean... we knew we had termites in our bedroom on the floor, for example, but we couldn't see them. Our vacuum is broken so it did a pretty lousy job in the bedroom. It is really truly awesome to sit here in my house right now, as I type this, and know that my house is somewhat clean. Sure, the kids have stuff to pick up -- but the tubs are clean, the toilets are clean, the floors are clean. As a person who is slightly O.C.D. about cleanliness... it feels REALLY good.

Today is Kayte's 15th birthday. She had a pretty laid back day today. Tomorrow we are going to cook Crab Legs for her and Stuffed Shells for Justin (who turns 16 on Friday). By "We" of course I mean Michelle, because I can't cook crab legs nor stuff my own shells (I'll buy 'em frozen and cook 'em!). It should be fun! We have family coming over.... Auntie Katie, Amanda, Evie and Jimmie. Julie has to work and mom is teaching rap to kids in bible study. Later, the end of July or beginning of August, we'll have a BIG party for them with all their friends (many of whom are out of town now for summer break). It's always a problem when your birthday falls over summer break.

Hey, speaking of Julie... I got a bit mad tonight... and I'm going to quickly blog about that and then leave for tonight.

Tonight - Julie called me and sounded "loopy". I thought it was kind of funny because it has been a LONG time since Julie sounded loopy. Of course, I knew she was on some kind of pill - it was extremely obvious. She wasn't 'high'... she was just loopy. Slurring a little and loopy sounding in her words and the things she said.

After I got off the phone with her, I checked the caller ID and saw that she had called earlier in the day. I asked the kids if they had talked to her and they said they had. I could tell by the WAY they said it that they knew why I was asking... they knew something wasn't quite right with her as well. They told me that she had gone to the doctor the day before and gotten medicine for her back.

Justin told me that when he talked to his mom about it - she told him not to get medicine. She told him it was none of his business and that she wasn't getting a narcotic. Well, this really HACKED me off because it is TOTALLY his business. He CARES.

Besides... let's be honest here. No, Julie should not be taking Narcotics. BUT... Narcotics are NOT the only thing Julie abuses. She abuses Insulin. Regular pills. Soma. Food. Sleeping pills. Anything she can take one pill of, she can abuse by taking more.

She went to the doctor yesterday and got Skelaxin and Neurontin. A muscle relaxer and a medicine used to treat Epilepsy. Nothing big - nothing horrible. She's not 'off the wagon'. She's not doing anything awful. She's not overdosed or anything.

But I'd be lying to say I'm not concerned.

She has a LOT going on, I know. She's working a lot. She is moving out of her house on Sunday and into her own little apartment. She has to be excited and stressed.

I'm worried and ask that you all please keep her in your prayers. Thanks.

"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you."
-George Lucas-

Jackpot!

Last I left you, I told you that I had to leave because Justin had an accident. Well - I thought I should update you on that.

He was out playing "manhunt" which is like hide-and-go-seek only in the dark. Because we live on a dead end road off a dead end road... it's the perfect neighborhood for this kind of game. About 10 neighborhood kids got together to play, Justin included. I told him NOT to go into people's yards. However....

Justin came in and we knew something was very wrong. He was bleeding and his face was all cut up.

Apparently one of our neighbors three doors down had two trees they were trying to grow close together. To do this - they strung them together with fishing wire. This fishing wire was right about eye-level.

Justin was running away from someone and decided to run between these two trees for some reason. IN the neighbors yard.

The result of which you can see in the photo.

At first we wondered if we were going to spend all night in the emergency room - but - most of the cuts are really more like burns, not actual slices in his skin. The worst one was on the bridge of his nose, but even that one after looking at it after we had ice on it for a while and the initial swelling went down, didn't look like a deep cut. Nothing that sutures could fix anyways.

I don't think he'll be running around in neighbors yards in the dark anymore.

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Tonight was a good night - it's Father's Day. Amanda's plan was to take Chris to the Hard Rock for a total body Massage. It was a complete surprise for him!

She took me with her so that while she was waiting for his massage, she had someone to walk around with. Amanda and I decided to play some slot machines. I found these one machines that Evie had been playing while on the cruise and loved (not exactly the same but similar) - you bet money (nickel slots) and either win on the 'pay lines' -- or you might randomly get to do this ' spin' thing where an arrow spins around and lands in a spot. Whatever that number is tells you how many extra credits you get. Well, Amanda put in $40 and won $100 - not bad at all. I put in $100 and had about $43 left. L-O-S-E-R. Ugg.

When his massage was done... we had another surprise for Chris - we had reservation at Floyds at 5 (in the VIP section I might add!). But that left another 45 minutes to kill... so we walked around and blew more money in the slot machines. Didn't win... but didn't lose - just played around with that same money basically.

After dinner, I still had this voucher for $43, so I asked if we were going to cash it out before we left or if he wanted to go play it out (give it back to the casino). He decided to go back to the machines with it.

Chris hit the Jackpot. 50,000 credits for $2,500! Woo hooooooooooo!

This means that we can now have our house tented worry free.

What a blessing. A true blessing.

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As I type that, Chris just came down from the bedroom. The termites are swarming so badly in our bedroom that they are all over our bed, our pillows, our floor, EVERYWHERE in our room.

How the HECK am I supposed to sleep in there?

The house is being tented on Thursday. Gosh, I wish it were tomorrow. But it really can't be. We have so much prep to do.... and we've got to plan where all the kids are going... so much to think about.

But right now - all I'm thinking about are those termites.

In my bed.

God bless the Indians who helped pay for our tenting. I know some think gambling is wrong... immoral... whatever. But - I don't see it. We were just out having a little fun with our daughter for Father's Day. We were blessed to have hit the Jackpot.

Morals and Visits

So… Let me tell you, before I delve into something not really happy and joyous – how SIMPLY WONDERFUL Julie was at my house on Sunday. We were busy all day re-doing the two bedrooms, moving furniture, painting, grocery shopping, going to the hardware store, doing laundry, steam-cleaning the carpet, cooking dinner , painted a wall downstairs – and Julie must have asked 20 times what she could do to help. It was very nice to have her so involved and asking so often what she could do to pitch in and help. It was very much appreciated.

I had a very uncomfortable conversation last night with Julie. Uncomfortable because it’s something that I don’t WANT to talk about. I want to continue enjoying these good weeks without thinking about much more. I want to just living ‘in the moment’ so to speak.

You see, I’ve been trying not to blog much about Julie on purpose. She has been doing SO well… she really has. I know she is trying really hard. The other day I heard her talking to the kids about her not working too much so that she wasn’t overworked to the point where it put her over the top and back into the mental hospital. I can appreciate that she is trying that hard. She admitted that she still gets depressed… still has good days and bad days, of course. But fact of the matter is – she still has this Diagnosis. She still has Bipolar with Borderline Personality Disorder. Still has periods of time where she hears voices and can’t make them stop. She still Self-Mutilates. She is still a diagnosed “addict”. She will always be these things… and it will always have to be monitored… even when she’s much older, and if she has years of a ‘good history’ behind her… she’ll still have to be mindful of it. It’s not like an alcoholic who simply has to stay away from alchohol (well, not simply, but you know what I mean.) She has a mental condition and will always have this.

What is hard to explain to people is that… it’s almost harder at times when she is doing good. Because I still see LITTLE things. Tiny things. Things I would dare not talk about because I would not want to bring her down when she’s on an upswing. We usually only get a few months with Julie like this. As Gwen once said to DCF, the longest she’s ever seen Julie well was 9 months. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Julie go for a whole 9 months… but then again, things might have been going really well for them when they moved up to Maryland at the time. Who knows. But the little things are still there. Even when Julie is well – her MIND simply does not have the capability of thinking as an ADULT would think. It never has. Her mind still functions as if she were a teenager. And, for the most part, that’s okay. Sometimes it gets frustrating… for example:

There was an incident when we went to the river on Memorial Day. We needed to take 3 cars. Michelle drove one, Julie took hers, and we took the Durango. Julie had FOUR kids in the car with her. We gave Julie a MAP, printed DIRECTIONS and she had her cell phone. Additionally, several of the kids in the car with her had cell phones. We are driving down the interstate, doing maybe 60 mph… Chris in front, Michelle behind us, then Julie behind her. I look and I don’t see Julie. Where is Julie? Well, Julie is RIGHT on Michelle’s BUMPER. Like, ONE CAR LENGTH BACK. 60 MPH, and ONE car length back. The WHOLE TRIP. Michelle was TERRIFIED the whole time… and did her best to NEVER slow down. God forbid something jump in the road or something, Julie would have had NO time to break.

At one point, when we couldn’t take it anymore… we pulled off the road into a convenience store. Michelle and I both JUMPED out of the car and went RUNNING to her window to YELL at her. Chris was yelling too. It was bad enough to just follow that close…. But to do so with FOUR precious lives in the car with you – there was just no excuse. Speaking of excues – her excuse for following that close? “I didn’t want to get LOST” With that, Amanda said: “You had PRINTED DIRECTIONS, A MAP, AND A FREAKING CELL PHONE!” That’s my daughter. We’re not talking about leaving her behind a few blocks, we’re just asking for a few car lengths. SAFE, LEGAL distance is all.

The other thing that jumps to the front of my mind is the guy from Miami that was going to MOVE IN with her when she got her new apartment. See, Julie HATES to be alone. I’ve said before that she’s a sex addict, but she’s also just... lonely. She likes to BE with someone. She likes having someone there, even if that someone treats her like crap and STEALS from her. (Arthur!) Some guys treat her that way… steal from her over and over and over again, and she just keeps having them come back – over and over and over again. I don’t get it. Anyways – she met this guy on the Internet from Miami. She belongs to several dating sites, probably where she met him. She decided to let him move in with her so that she wouldn’t be lonely. Mind you – she has NEVER MET HIM. Well… apparently now things have changed and he’s not moving in with her, but still – what kind of a person think’s that it’s a good idea to move someone in that you have NEVER MET BEFORE? Scary stuff, let me tell ya.

But there are tiny little things too… not just big things. Little things that remind me that she’s just not well. Like… the kids birthdays are coming up in two weeks. Julie, being their mom and working now, went out and bought them presents. This is GREAT for her, and VERY thoughtful. She bought them bathing suits, again – thoughtful. But Julie, being in the ‘teenage’ state of mind, couldn’t possibly wait until their birthdays… she wanted to give them their presents right away. This ended up being okay because it is summer and they could use them early anyways. But Julie has also always been like this, she’s rarely been able to buy a gift and keep it until the time when it’s supposed to be given. It’s just – the way it is… the way it’s always been.

These are just some examples that come to my mind of the little things that I don’t talk about and keep to myself when she’s being really good.

Okay, so more to the point of what I started with here… the uncomfortable conversation….

Julie tells me that she’s going to go to the courthouse and ask for unsupervised visits and overnight visits. How do I feel about that?

How do I feel about that?

I feel sick about that. But how do I tell JULIE that without hurting her?

I know what Julie wanted me to say. She wanted me to say that I thought it was a great thing for her to do... that she should absolutely go and get the court's blessing for unsupervised visits and overnight visits. It's just not that easy. My mind thinks WAY longer than just the last 3, 6, 9 months or even the last year. My mind thinks big picture... long term... down the road as well as past history. The full history and the big picture.

Here’s my concern….

Right now – Julie is doing well. But – this is just the time when she’s doing well. History – a VERY LONG HISTORY has shown us that she WILL get depressed again. She will hurt herself again. She will overdose again. She will abuse medications again. This isn’t a “What if”… it’s a “WHEN”. It WILL happen. She has been doing it since she was a KID.

Even IF she can tell the courts that she’s been clean for 6 months… does that negate a twenty something year history of abuse? REALLY?

If the courts give her unsupervised visits and OVERNIGHT visits (which is what I have the most concern with) – this will be HORRIBLE when she is back in a depressed / overdosed / abusing state. What am I supposed to do then?

What I kind of like about the set-up now is that I don’t have to be the “bad guy” and be the one to tell Julie “no” when she asks if she can go somewhere with the kids. Although – truth be told – when she is doing THIS well, and she asks if she can bring them to McDonalds or drive them to Church or something – I do tell her that she can do it. But, the court order, as it’s written, makes it so that I don’t HAVE to be ‘the bad guy’, ya know?

But, I would totally and completely object to Julie having overnight visits at this point. Should she try to get overnight visits I’d have to bring up a lot of stuff that I don’t want to bring up. The fact that she would even ENTERTAIN the thought of someone moving in with her that she didn’t know. The fact that a year ago the police were investigating her for solicating a young man on the internet. Turned out he was 18, but – eww. He was only 18, and Kayla – her daughter - at one time was dating his TWIN BROTHER! Additionally, he was mentally handicapped. There are so many examples of how she just doesn’t think like an adult. Not totally WRONG, as Julie often points out – not like it was illegal or anything… just… not like a rational adult. Julie could always say some of this is ‘old’… but again, we’re talking a long history of abuse and mental illness – a few months of being ‘good’ doesn’t mean that she’s ‘better’ by any means.

I’m not sure how I’d feel about unsupervised visits… I’d have to wait and see how I feel down the road a bit. Right NOW, I wouldn’t MIND her taking them to the movies or to dinner alone. She will always be mentally ill and at the same time, she will always be their mom. So, as long as she’s having GOOD days – I’d be open to, with the court’s approval (or maybe without it if I could get away with it and not risk losing the kids), allowing Julie to take them out to dinner or out to a movie. Again, when she’s doing really well and having these good periods of time. But – what I don’t like about that is that it puts me in the middle of having to be the one to determine WHEN those “good times” are. Of determining when she calls and she’s slurring and she says she’s “just tired” and I know she’s lying and I have to be the one to call her on it… I have to call her a liar and tell her she can’t take them out to dinner. THAT would be difficult.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you – in our uncomfortable conversation – she mentioned that she didn’t consider the kids to be “kids” anymore if they had… well… sex. I find this VERY odd that Julie would feel this way and that she would keep bringing it up (she has said it on more than one occasion to me). I asked her WHY she keeps saying that. She said that – in her mind – once you have “done it”, you are no longer a KID, you are an adult. All grown up.

I told her that I felt the COMPLETE OPPOSITE. That… I felt that a KID who chose to have intercourse, in particular IF they chose to have it at a young age, needed their PARENTAL GUIDANCE then more than EVER. They needed to NOT be abandoned and left to be treated like an adult… they needed the wisdom and guidance of their adults and parents THEN MORE THAN EVER in their lives. The LAST THING THEY NEEDED was for their mom to just say… That’s it… you are an adult now. SEE YA!

I just don’t get it!

There again, that is the difference in our parental style of raising kids I suppose, now isn’t it?

Which bring up an interesting point. What IS IT with parents today?

This teenager has a mother who actually LET her have this dress MADE for her high school prom… then let her WEAR IT…

Mind you – there IS an actual DRESS CODE… and enforced DRESS CODE at school functions. I don’t know what part of this dress the mother or the daughter thought this dress might pass dress code – the top that just BARELY covers her or the bottoms that barely cover her.

What are we doing as parents today? Are we raising moral children?

Speaking of children… I have to run. Justin just got in from playing “manhunt” with the neighborhood kids. It night time and he was running between some trees and hit some fishing wire strung up between two trees – and really hurt his face. I need to take care of him.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. Ernest Hemingway

Messed Up Medicaid and New Rooms

I just got off the phone with the Medicaid office after calling 6 different numbers and spending 2 hours on the phone between dentists offices and Medicaid offices - I'm FRUSTRATED.

Kayla saw the dentist this morning - she has four wisdom teeth coming in. The dentist this morning said they need to come out and she needs to see an Oral Surgeon for that to happen. Well, she has Medicaid - thanks to DCF providing their 'excellent level of care'... you know... DCF wanting to make sure that the kids were completely taken care of and all. (Yeah, I'm totally being sarcastic)

Well, there is only ONE oral surgeon in Tampa who will take Medicaid patients. I was warned that they are not 'friendly' on the phone... 'when they pick up the phone'. They were right about that... it took me almost 2 hours to just get someone there to answer the phone; then I held for 25 minutes before someone came to talk to me. When she did talk to me, I said "good morning, I need to make an appointment for my Niece". She said "NIECE? Let me guess... you are her legal guardian?" I smiled and responded, "Well, yes I am." She snapped back with "Well then, we won't take you. Get a pen and write down this number. Got it? Good. 800-633-3953. That's the University of Gainesville - you have to drive her to GAINESVILLE to have her wisdom teeth removed. We do not do Guardianships here." Did I mention that she had a HORRIBLE attitude with me? She was very snippy on the phone.

I said... "Gainesville?" She said - yes, Gainesville. So - I said - what if her mom just brought her in? Will you take her then? She said "If you are the Legal Guardian, then obviously the mom lost parental rights, so NO, the mom can NOT bring her in. You have parental power, YOU must be the one to bring her in as the Legal Guardian. So, YOU have to drive her to GAINESVILLE to get her Wisdom Teeth removed."

I snapped back "Well, you are incorrect on that one on the "obviously the mom lost parental rights" statement - the mom has NOT lost parental rights, I simply have permanent guardianship over the children." She said - "Then take her to Gainesville, we can't see them here." Again, her attitude was HORRIBLE, but then she had the AUDACITY to ask me... "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Give me a break.

I called back the Dentist who referred me to this quack. They confirmed this was the ONLY Oral Surgeon in the area who was taking Medicaid. I then called the 6 different Medicaid numbers talking to anyone with a pulse trying to plead my case -- because SURELY they don't really expect me to drive from Tampa to Gainesville for a simple tooth extraction.

Six phone numbers and two hours later I find out that -- they DO indeed expect me to drive to Gainesville to have any type of Oral Surgery done that the kids may need. The next closest Oral Surgeon who doesn't see guardian cases either is Orlando. I suppose I am fortunate that this is JUST a simple wisdom tooth removal. At this point, Kayla's four teeth have broken through and appear to have come in without issue. They are not impacted. There appears to be 'room' for them to grow in without issue.

Lesson learned here though -- should one of the kids HAVE a dental emergency and need emergency Oral Surgery -- I will make SURE that Julie is the one to make the appointment or that I say I'm their mom or something like that. NO WAY am I even going to MENTION the word "Guardian" again.

My friend Michelle said I should call back, since I didn't give my name, and try to make an appointment for her now. Ya know.... I just don't know about it. They were SO HORRIBLE. Kayla now tells me she's in no pain. I told Michelle -- I don't know that I would bring her DOG into see this Doctor unless I had NO other options. Truly my experience with them was THAT BAD.

Uncaring. Unkind. Snippy. Barking at me as if I were an idiot who didn't know how to find a pen and paper and I didn't know what a Guardian was.

This doctor HAS to be overworked... no doubt. But -- if our government can't do SOMETHING to get our dentists / Oral Surgeons to accept Medicaid rates -- where there is ONE in the Tampa 'area' - the next "closest one" being flipping ORLANDO, and the ONLY ONE who will take a poor child who is being raised by anyone other than his or her mother is the Oral Surgeons out at the University of Gainesville.... something is wrong with that system I'd say. Someone needs to look into this. Raise the pay. Entice the doctors. Do SOMETHING to get more Doctors on board.

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Sunday we had a SUPER busy day. We all went to Church, then went to Home Depot to pick up some supplies. The intention was to paint Kayla's room while she was at work. She TOLD us she had prepped her room, knowing we were going to do it. Well.........

Kayla really does have the NEATEST room in the house (other than ours) - but - it's not 'clean' by any means. There is the hair GOOP everywhere... hair everywhere... papers... notes... earrings... just stuff EVERYWHERE. But if you look in her closet - clothes are organized by color and size. Hair products - all 20 or 30 bottles - are all lined up neatly on the counter.

The prep for the room took FOREVER. Patching holes - pulling off the tape on the walls - taking everything out of her room - then we rented a steam cleaner and tried our best to clean all the hair gel and hair spray out of her carpet.

Once we got everything out of her room, we thought.... ya know - this room is really big. Kayte and Justin are CRAMMED in their little room. Kayla is all by herself in this big ole room. We should switch them.

Then I thought -- WAIT -- what am I crazy?? That means moving two rooms!

We got the big room all painted - it was a dark blue, so we had to do primer, then paint. Baseboards, trim, and FINALLY it was done. We moved all of Kayte and Justin's stuff into the BIG room and WOW it looked FANTASTIC! They had SO MUCH more room. BUT finishing this room (at dinner time I might point out) meant it was time to start on the smaller room.

We couldn't very well move Kayla into the small room and not paint it. The small room was also blue. It wasn't nearly as bad as the bigger one was - but it did need a paint job.

We painted the smaller room. It looked FANTASTIC as well. What a difference a coat or two of paint makes, I'm telling ya.

Kayte and Justin have so much more room in the bigger room. Kayla is squished in the smaller room because she has SO much furniture (queen size bed, dresser, and two end tables) but - it looks like a hotel room. Or a dorm. It looks FANTASTIC.

I should take a moment to publicly thank my wonderful husband and good friend Michelle who both worked their tails off. ALL. DAY. LONG. Julie worked as well. Amanda came over and helped out late afternoon. But - by far and large - Chris and Michelle worked all day and all night long. Thanks so much you guys. :o)

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I should run for now. Chris wants the laptop! I have to go think about getting to bed.

The termites are swarming in our bedroom. Flying all around. I have to think about how to sleep with them flying all around.

Eww

Ewww

Ewwww

I think if I just kill what's there and then turn off all the lights - I'll be good.

Chris on the other hand probably won't sleep at all tonight.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi,

Summer Rules

So, Chris and I came up with some summer rules for the kids. We wanted them to know that there would still have to be rules over the summer, even though they were home from school.

Here is what Chris and I came up with:

1. No sleeping past 10 a.m. Set your alarm clocks if need be. (This was because they kept sleeping in till 2 pm)
2. Eat breakfast daily. Clean up after yourself. Put cereal boxes away. Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. No dirty dishes in the sink!
3. Take a shower if needed and get dressed.
4. Do your daily chores. Pick up your rooms. Start your laundry if it's your day. Finish your laundry by 5pm. Sweep and mop floors, etc.
5. Absolutely no one is allowed in the house without permission.
6. You must get verbal authorization to go anywhere.
7. Keep in mind that we work. Please plan your Bush Gardens and Adventure Island days wit us in mind.
8. No excessive phone calls to us. We are working.
9. Limit your time on the video games. It's not healthy to be inside all day. Go outside and get some fresh air. Go to the park (but get permission first).
10. Do Wii fit daily.

Well, Justin thought he'd be funny and RE-DO the rules. He re-wrote them as follows... I thought you'd all get a kick out of his version....

1. Sleeping past 10 AM is totally AWESOME.
2. Never eat breakfast daily. Don't bother to clean up after yourself. Put dirty dishes on the floor for Jinx and Grace (our cats). They need some good food too. And Malcom. (A small kid who lives across the street the kids pick on often)
3. Never take a shower. You don't need to put clothes on, walk around with your boxers on if you want. It's SUMMER.
4. NO MORE CHORES! It's Summer.
5. Everyone is allowed in the house without permission. Parties are a necessity.
6. Who needs verbal authorization to go anywhere? Just go - but make sure you are back by 8 AM the following morning.
7. Don't keep in mind that we work -- call us ALL THE TIME! We LOVE hearing from our children even though we are very busy.
8. Don't limit your time on video games. You can play all day, as long as you don't get owned. THAT will result in punishment!
9. Never go outside - the sun is a bad person.
10. Make sure Jonathan gets.... well.... a date by the end of summer. (I'll keep it clean because I know some folks from Church read this - Justin may have been a bit more graphic however in his 'exact' wording!)

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Things here are going pretty well. I have pretty much decided that we are going to get Justin and Kayte Metro PCS phones when we get their "reward phones" for their awesome honor roll report cards.

I've been thinking about what to do with AT&T for a while now. I like being able to get online and look and see what the kids are doing - how late they are on the phone, if they are texting at school, etc. However, we can only have 5 lines on the family plan. Additionally, we are already paying a LOT for our 5 phones we have now. We'd have to break out and get another plan, then add another line to that. It would cost quite a bit more.

There is a LOT to this whole thing. AT&T has been mixing up our bill for months... we haven't been able to look at anything online in months anyways. Then there's the problem with the 'accidental internet' usage. Since Kayte got her cell phone, she has been accidentally going online. To check the weather, to look at things, to download free ringtones, etc. But that costs money every single time as it's 'pay per use', there is no way on AT&T to turn that off. Every month I pay between $10 and $20 for these 'per use' charges.

With Metro PCS, there is no accidentally getting on the Internetring-tonesInternet and pay-per-use. And, with Metro PCS, it's unlimited talk and text - UNLIMITED! That's just AWESOME for teenagers. Not to mention, it's cheaper per month than AT&T. Oh, and with no contract required - it's month-to-month. So... if they mess up on report cards, we can just not pay for them for the month.

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I should mention big news from Chris. I don't usually post about stuff about anything other than news about me or the kids... but this kinda involves me.

Chris quit the praise team. Remember... he had made it, and I didn't. It was hard - hard for me... hard for him too I can imagine. We've always done this together, ya know?

He felt it was the right thing to do, and I couldn't agree more. I would have done the same thing.

There's just lots of stuff going on there, but I can't really get into all that right now. It's really late - it's actually midnight on Thursday and I've got to get to bed.

Work has been HOT HOT HOT. Our air conditioner at the office has been broken for 3 weeks now. We found out yesterday that it's because our AC ducts are completely full of MOLD. So much mold in fact that it's completely collapsed some of he ducts in places.

And I'm breathing that stuff in every day. Lovely.

Gee, wonder why I have had sinus problems and headaches for the past couple years?

It's been 85 in the office every day for 3 weeks now, and although I get to wear jeans an tee shirts most days, I can't wear shorts. I might wear Capri's tomorrow though. We'll see.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, they keep us going all the time.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
Mother Teresa