The ups and downs of the past year

I haven't posted for almost a year, and here is why. I have had very few ups and a lot of downs this past year. First my daughter Nikita started 7th grade and made it through with a 4.0 gpa I am a proud Mom. Second I found out after nearly 26 yrs of diabetes that I had to go on to medication, I had been handling it with diet controlling. The only times I was on insulin was when I was pregnant or in the hospital. Well I went on pills which is so much better than insulin in my opinion, not that I want to be on medicine. The upside to this is that I have lost in a year 50 pounds. I am still on pills at a lower dose and still losing weight. I have also got a regular size wheel chair instead of the very big one, that I had for almost two years.
This year has been tough on us financially my husband Larry hasn't worked as much as he usually does. In his line of work it is feast or famine. This past year we have had terrible car problems on both his & mine, that have cost us a fortune and our cars mine is 10 yrs old and his is almost 7 yrs old. Neither car is completely fixed we don't have the money.
In May we had excitement if you want to call it that, we had a serious leak in my living room ceiling. All I can say is having homeowners insurance is a good & a bad thing. First we found out that it was our hot water line that was leaking, so we had to turn off the hot water and only turn it on when we were showering. We did this for 10 days. Then the insurance had me find a place for us to stay and I did and we were able to bring Ziva the cat with us. That was nice but it wasn't home. We had to move out for a week because we had asbestos and that had to be dealt with and I didn't want to go home until plumbing was done. Which when the plumber looked and saw that galvanized pipes were up against copper pipes that, that was the cause of the leak. My father in law who I never have met he died before I met my husband decided to leave the old pipes in and not remove them. Well the plumbing got fixed then we moved home, we were in a hotel for a week. That had both a up and a down I still cooked because we had a kitchen. I guess you could say I am a glutton for punishment. Well after we moved home we had to deal with drywall people, painters, acoustic & carpet cleaners. Once they were done I was happy then Larry had an idea lets move the furniture in the family room to the living room and get the carpet cleaned in the family room. We did, then a week later we had all the furniture moved back from the garage to the living room where it had been for 2 1/2 months. We got rid of a lot of things and simplified which has been an up. We redesigned how the living & family room look which is an up too.
For the summer we were to broke to go on vacation or really do anything which sucked for all of us, but more for Nikita. Also most of Nikita's friends weren't in town to hang out until summer was almost over, which was a down for all of us. Our School district decided to finally get on to the High School schedule kind of, Nikita lost 3 weeks of summer for this. We will be out of school in May which is an up.
Well Nikita has been in school since August 12. I feel like I have been too, this year I took on HSA (our PTA) V.P. of  RRR which is a mentor ship program which they are redesigning and I have no idea what I need to do to help yet. The school had a Book Fair I helped with and Back to School night I help with. I am currently going to be writing a newsletter I guess for the Honors Academy which Nikita is in, I spent 60 hrs working on getting all the parents who submitted there info into the computer and I have spent about 4 yrs inputting the information into a e-mail account that will serve as the out going e-mail newsletter, and 1 1/2 hrs working on a little snip it I will be sending out this week about our upcoming car wash. Over doing it yes I have I need to learn to not take more than I can do. I hope I learn this sooner or later. This is both an up and a down.
Tonight Larry told me that my truck seat isn't moving forward or backwards, I am short and the last one to use the truck was Larry and he is tall. Larry did something I hope will work I can barely reach the pedals barefoot, I hope tomorrow I can with shoes. Can't get this fixed don't have the money.
One last thing my kitchen sink is squirting water out and Larry tried to fix it last night, well I am here to tell you that, that leak is better but another one sprung. I just have to laugh at all of this especially when I told my Mom tonight on the phone. I guess I could cry and whine about it some more but that ain't going to fix it or bring money here magically.
Let's hope the job Larry is going to tomorrow lasts for a while so we can at least not have to live on credit cards. I hate this and I am sure there are others out there that understand.
Even though my downs have out weighed my ups this year I have one thing left to say and that is yes I am alive and this to I hope shall pass.

Back to School Night good the bad & the ugly!!

Last night was Back to School Night at my daughter Nikita's new school she is now at Buena Park Junior High. I titled this the good the bad and the ugly for this reason:
The good, all the Buena Park Junior High Staff & Teachers were very nice and helpful last night. Some might know that I am handicapped. I walk small distances and for long distances I use a wheel chair, that is if Larry is with us because I can't lift the wheel chair it is very heavy. I digress, the Principal and both Assistant Principals  went out of there way to make me feel welcome and helped us when we needed it to get into and out of buildings. I was also checked on a few times during the night which I appreciated and I am very grateful for this.
The bad, Nikita had way to much fun running with me from class to class, which terrified me a lot. The school has lots of uneven surfaces and things to run into. I held on for dear life and almost got knocked over and almost hit poles, benches and Nikita did run over someones foot.
The ugly, were the kids & the parents, I got knocked into pushed out of there way and when it came time for anyone let alone a handicapped person to get out or into a class there was very few adults I saw with the exception of Staff & Teachers acting polite to there fellow adults. I saw only a very few students that were polite and the ones I did see were the ones who know me as Nikita's Mom. It is sad that people don't care to be polite/nice to there fellow human beings let alone a woman in a wheel chair.
I found that I am not sure if I want to do this again, it is sad that we as human beings forget to look out for each other. I did like what I could absorb in the classrooms where I wasn't being hit moved or focus was on me because of the wheel chair.
In today's society technology is good and bad, we forget to communicate to one another and some people just don't teach basic manners to their kids today, or maybe they were never taught. As I have said in other posts I am teaching Nikita to have manners and yes it is a daily thing I feel I need to do so that Nikita can show respect to others and act like a civil/polite human being! Believe me I am not perfect and I don't want anyone to think that I am!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simplify

This is a word I hope to use more often in my life throughout the years to come. First I am a 45 yr. old wife & mom or as Rosanne Barr used to say (domestic goddess). Larry and I have been married in a few days 22 yrs. And we have been together in November 24 yrs. We do not have the perfect marriage we have our ups and downs like anyone else does. If you don’t know I have a 12 yr. old daughter Nikita. I have a step son Jeremiah he is married & he has three kids. Well back to point. I am so sick of living with too much stuff/clutter and things we never use any more.

I have started with my kitchen which I have spoken about before. Kitchen isn’t done yet but we are starting again this coming week. Nikita was gone so it was hard to work on it without help. I gave Nikita last week off since she wasn’t home for 18 days and needed to readjust to being at home. That may sound crazy to some but she was on a different time and schedule and I wanted her to get back to being a home.

Nikita and I talked this past week and we are going to work our way around the house and simplify where we can when we can. When we are done with the kitchen, we will go next to Nikita’s room, she has so much stuff hers and my in-laws. When we moved into this house which was my in-laws I was pregnant with Nikita so we didn’t get rid of everything. Nikita shares a closet with a bunch of their stuff and Larry’s and my stuff too. Nikita is a pre-teen and needs her space. My in-laws are now deceased.

When we are done with Nikita’s room it is off to the linen closet, then Larry’s & my room. We will then move back downstairs to the living room and last but not least the small family room we have. I will be giving updates along the way. I am hoping to be done with kitchen & Nikita’s room before the end of the year we shall see. I know that seems like a long time but school is starting in about a month and Nikita will be busy with that and of course there is softball (fall ball) usually one practice a week and a double header on the weekends. Nikita will also have debate competitions too. If we get done by the end of the year I will be pleased. If we get farther I will be amazed!

TGI Friday's Buena Park at Knott's Berry Farm

I went to dinner last night to TGI Friday's I was very disappointed. We haven't been here in about 5 years is what Larry said. Well now it will be at least 5 years before I go again. This is what happened: I asked for a booth and was told they didn't have any, which you could see that they did, I then said can we have a half booth half chair seating. The hostess said fine. I was having difficulties walking last night and she tried to have us go to the back I asked why would you do this when I can barely walk all she said was OH! Then Nikita and I were seated. Larry came in and said please give us a regular booth this is ridiculous. They did and here we go walking back and around a person you really can't get around with a cane. Almost fell and tweaked the back and had shooting pain. That should have told me how the night would be. Well we ordered our food, while ordering we were told the cook/chef just might not get you steak right but he/she will try. Don't remember if it was a male or female cooking. I said maybe I shouldn't get steak both Larry and the waitress said you can always send it back. Well we ordered an appetizer asked for no green onions and of course they were there I just picked them out, I hate to have to send food back. You never know what they will do with the food when you do this. If you didn't know onion's and green peppers cause me to become sick. It causes serious GI problems for me. I won't go there and gross you out. Well then our food comes and first they gave Larry fries he asked for fresh potato chips. Then we both Larry and I cut into our steaks and Larry's was barely medium well, Larry prefers medium rare. I ask every place I go what is your medium like and what is your medium rare, I do this because I have found it varies from place to place. So I said I will take medium rare, well I got very well done. parts of the steak (rib eye) were edible and some weren't. I also had grilled shrimp and they too were very well done. Larry & I didn't send them back because we weren't sure first what we would get or how long it would take. The waitress was nice but I never saw the manager to talk to about this. I do not expect free food or anything but they should be aware of how the food is coming out so they don't lose more customers.
We like to support our City's Restaurants we live in Buena Park and we have tourist that come to see Knott's Berry Farm which this TGI Friday's is located and we need to keep them coming not run away. I have nothing more to say than I hope they get there act together before they go out of business!

Old fashion

Are you old fashion? Well I guess I am, and that is ok with me. I am the type of person/Mom/woman that believes we teach our kids biological or not to respect our elders. We do not have to agree with them but show respect. This is an example of this: If your name is Joyce Johnson you should be called either Miss Johnson if you are not married, Mrs. Johnson if you are or if you prefer Ms. Johnson. I believe this is done until the person is at least 17-18 yrs. old unless the adult states otherwise. I was brought up this way.

What I stated earlier is that you don’t have to agree with your elders but being disrespectful of this is wrong. If you have an opinion I believe you can talk about it, but you are not allowed to force it on the person. I respect and this is what I am trying to instill in my daughter that we don’t have to agree on everything but we do not need to make the other person agree with us, they are entitled to their opinion.

I also believe that you should teach to your children not to judge people by color, religion or mental/physical disabilities. I think you should get to know people as people and not a label.

I am doing all of this while raising my daughter Nikita, I would hope she would do the same when & if she has children.

I try to set realistic boundaries for Nikita. Here is an example where I made a mistake I am not perfect and anyone who is my hat is off to you: Nikita went to a drop off party and when I got there I wasn’t sure if she should stay or not. I should always go with my gut! Well the parents of the Birthday girl who just turned 12 dropped her off with her 18 yr. old brother to John’s Incredible Pizza for a party. Well when I got there I find this out and I talk to the 18 yr. old and another parent I know they seem to think it was ok so I let Nikita stay even though there was no parental supervision of 12 yr. olds going to be there. Plus Nikita has a phone she can call me if there is a problem. Well Larry & I go on our merry way to South Orange County to shop, come home and then I go to pick Nikita up both me & the other parents that I know agree that 3pm is a good time to pick them up that is 4 hours of time at John’s Incredible Pizza. Well when I get there the other parents who I saw in the parking lot did not go to the meet place, not sure where they went. Well I gave Nikita till about 3:05 and texted her she did not respond so at 3:10 I called her. She then came out & had serious attitude to me for interrupting her fun. Serious attitude isn’t acceptable to me, like talking down to me and raising her voice at me. Well on the ride home I found out what happened and she tried to blame me for lack of fun she had. First I take responsibility for leaving her there which after talking to Nikita I shouldn’t have done. I guess the party wasn’t organized with a set time to start and stop and that people (12 yr. old girls) were arriving at different times. I am not sure exactly when they went in but it is my understanding that the 18 yr. old brother took off and left the girls in the mall while he shopped then came back they ate and had just started playing games in there arcade area when I arrived. Well I told Nikita that it was time to leave and we did, she got mad at me on the drive home about the party and that she was the first to leave. I got pissed to say the least I will tell you that I did curse and told her she had better change her attitude or she would lose her phone and anything else if she kept up the way she was behaving. I told her she was lucky I left her there that I will not make that mistake again. I will always go with my gut it is usually not wrong.

Here is another example of me being old fashion; I was out to lunch with a friend & her two daughters and Nikita too. The girls sat at their own table and so did me and my friend. While we were there we saw a couple of Mom’s leave there girls in high chairs to go get their food. First of all I would never do this and never will. This is how I did this when Nikita was that little, Me and the other Mom would take turns watching the kids while the other got food, not leave the two girls in high chairs unattended. I see this all the time and wonder WTF. Nikita was always moving and squirming I would be afraid if that she would get out and take off or fall out. In case you were wondering we were at Souplantaion having lunch.

I know I am getting a little soap box or preachy but this is how I feel. I just don’t understand people the way that they do things today! I know that there is probably more I should talk about on the subject but I stated this at 1:30 am and now it is 2:30 am and I think I will stop for now. I will update if I feel necessary.

Went for a crown & lost a tooth

Well, yesterday was a tough day for me I was scheduled to have a new crown put and maybe worst case was a root canal. Well my dentist got the crown off which took a while, kudos to the dentist he put it on years ago it was very secure. Well he went in to repair a cavity that was caused by acid reflux, while in there it looked worse than he imagined and thought well we will need to discuss this. So we did and he could have done a root canal, then a few other things I don't remember the exact phrases/words, but knowing my luck in a few weeks the tooth more than likely would have to be extracted. My Dentist Dr. Patrick O'Connor gave me a choice, I chose to have the tooth extracted. Well usually it doesn't take very long to do this, but of course we are dealing with me, the tooth just wanted to stay put. It took over an hour to get it out. I was told that the roots of the tooth were devil hooked to my sinuses. Well I made a joke that I am a little devil, he laughed. If you know me there isn't anything little about me. Well the tooth was extracted it did a little damage to my sinuses. Dr. O'Connor fixed it.
Well I can tell you that it took until 5am for my bleeding to stop "YUCK". This morning when I saw myself in the mirror I just had to laugh, my face is a bit bruised and swollen. I will say at least this time I don't have a black eye. The last time he extracted a tooth my whole side of my face was bruised and I had a black eye. I did try to take a picture of myself to post it but I am the worst for taking pictures of myself by myself. Needless to say I kept cutting off parts of my head. You will just have to take my work for it. I plan to go have some scrambled eggs they are soft to eat I will be able to eat non soft food tomorrow if I am up to it. Have a great day.

update on taking care of Nikita's garden

Well so far so good, only one yellow squash died, can't figure out what happened it turned brown. I am making sure it is watered and not over watered. The tomatoes are sprouting too, there are 6 or 7 sprouts. The Catnip is doing great, the cucumber is OK not really growing but not dying either. Catnip is at top left in oblong container, round container to the right is cucumber. Just below cucumber is yellow squash flowering, just to the left in round container is the 6 or 7 just sprouted tomatoes.


The cauliflower is doing good growing slowly. As you will see the cauliflower is purple & white.


We are also growing watermelons, cantaloupes, peanuts & zucchini. At the top in large container is melons, to the left is peanuts & bottom is zucchini. The melons & peanuts were a school project Nikita did in her class.


I think I am doing OK will see what Nikita thinks when she gets home from Texas next Sunday. I will let you know.