What's Up? Where ya been Gonzo?

Gonzo? Gonzo! Do I look like Gonzo?
(Oh God, I hope not! (although probably) Latest reference to the Gonzo joke. "Boo" now is into the Muppet Show. I bought him season two for his birthday. "Boo" is now ten years old.)

All joking aside. What's been up lately? Where's she been? Dropped off the face of the earth?
(Maybe?)

Been busy certainly. I'd started another post "Holy Homeschoolers Batman - this is a lot of work!" but decided not to publish it - or at least maybe not yet. Any how - yes, I've been homeschooling since Christmas break. (Long story, (staffing issues) which I may share at some point.) Needless to say, this has put a "cramp" in my own attempts to get back and complete school. But, like I'd said when "Boo" was born. I've got the rest of my life to finish college; I've only got the here and now to raise my child.

So, outside of the "business" of this; I've been trying to complete my story "Gates of Hell". I'd managed to get two chapters up by the end of December and my most recent one is half done; but still, life's been more busy than I'd really like it to be at this time.

So, to those who've been wondering what happened to me - that's been a big part of it lately. My goal is to get Boo to bed earlier, so I can get some of this other stuff done. And I promise (if not mostly to myself) I'll write a little post on homeschooling.

PS. Ahavah - Noticed you're missing from the "Blog followers" - hope you're OK dear.

Progress



 Bathroom in transition.
Gotta get the curtains back up!





 Looking good though!




Next - the living room!


                   

Got a new rocker - (it's now our "computer chair"

Paint the door, put up the tree!

(minus the ladder of course)

Now the kitchen!

Some of the new additions to the "furniture family". 

(And that door got painted too!)

Now of course we can't forget the Lego projects. They're always a work in progress.

Paint makes a big difference!

Second half of the kitchen. Got my spoon rack up, some of my plates.  

On the right hand side is the down stairs hall. I'm going to paint it a nice moss green and with the pictures - think it'll look great.

Upstairs hall.

"Dr. Spookey" makes a great temporary door stop to one of the upstairs bedrooms.

What was going to be a "drawing room" turned into an upstairs bedroom.

Boo has since thus taken up residency in here. Eventually, we'll turn his room into the "drawing room". (When he gets too big for his bed - that is.)

Last but not least - my room!



I plan on painting it a dusty rose pink. I think that will set off the white comforter and ceiling well.

It's slowly coming together. Got other stuff to do still, but I'm quite happy with it; (and proud of my painting abilities without getting paint on the carpet!)

Yeah for me! 

Celebrating a Milestone!

I finished one semester at SUNY Geneseo!

Yeah for me!

I know that seems kind of strange. I've attended other schools without any problems, but SUNY Geneseo and I have an interesting past. I'd first attended there as a transfer from Monroe Community College in the spring of 1998. I'd never completed the semester though, because I'd ended up being hospitalized for depression. After the hospitalization, I'd dropped out of college for about 18 months and than returned to MCC and finished up my associates degree. I graduated from there in 2000.

Post MCC, my plans had been to go to Cornell for Landscape Architecture. I'd been accepted, had all my ducks in a row and we were getting ready to move. I was just awaiting my financial aid to go through. I didn't foresee any problems, I had several resources at my disposal and than I found out I was pregnant. Well, I'd put my application on hold for a year, than mom died and all proverbial hell broke loose. Cornell got put off indefinitely.

So here I am 13 years later, sort of back where I started. Kind of, sort of, but not really; (back where I started). Thirteen years ago though, I didn't have a house, a child or a pair of crutches. This semester hasn't been bad. I took two classes and I'm registered for three classes next semester. I got my final exams tomorrow; Intro to Psych Stats - bright and early, 8 AM (oh goody) and Geography of the Developing World - noon.  

School hasn't been too bad. It's taken a little getting back into the swing. Eleven years is a long time to be out of "the learning loop" so to speak. I'm just starting to get the hang of stuff and the semester is over. The Geography of the Developing World, I have no doubt I'm going to get a good grade in. I'm hovering somewhere around a B and if I do real good on the final; it'll be a B+. The Intro to Psych Stats - well, we'll see what happens there. I've struggled through that class the entire semester and I've been praying that God help me pass this one. I don't really want to have to take it over again; but if I do, I'll go with a different professor. Not that I disliked the one that I had. His tests are worded funny though.

Any ways; I'm looking forward to Christmas break. I'm going to spend it painting rooms, hallways and putting up boarders. I bought all the paint back when my settlement money came in and just haven't gotten to coloring all the walls. I did put up Christmas lights for our town's holiday celebration. Got some new additions to my "furniture family", plus one new addition to our "creatures made by God" family.

The four legged furry kind you know.

The cat's name is Schnuckerdoodle.

She's a black and white medium hair domestic.

A product of "kitty direct". Direct from the local animal shelter that is.



The Lord of Love and Head Lice!

Hum, this is a complicated one. Where to start this post?
(Warning - this is going to be a long one!)
Alright, here we go. This isn’t going to make sense at first; but you’ll understand later why I’ve set this "skit" up the way I have.

Narrator: "Hello, my name is Annie Oakly."
       Annie Oakly - rootin tootin no-nonsense type of cow-girl with a rather unique wardrobe.
      Yeah, that’s me!

Enter stage right:
Anakin Skywalker - Anyone who’s watched all the Star Wars movies knows Anakin is a complicated character. He starts out as a slave and his life is filled with all sorts of tragedy. His mother is murdered by these little sand people called "Jawah" and his wife later dies; (in part caused by his own doing). He is somewhat of a sympathetic character, except for this diabolical streak he has. He later turns to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader.

"Anakin" is about 40 years old. He claims to have some sort of hearing impairment; but I’m not sure how severe it really is. He states it prevents him from getting a job; but I’m not inclined to believe that either, because the friend of mine who took care of Casper (the friendly ghost) while I was in the clone trooper medical facility, is a college professor and she’s deaf as a door post!

Anyways, Anakin is filled with hatred. Anakin particularly seems to dislike women. He complains constantly about how the empire’s public welfare system is prejudice against him. He can’t get what he needs, because the system "favors" women. He also claims his "ex-wife" (there’s question as to whether or not they were actually married) takes all his money in "back child support". Than in all of this, no matter how you slice the cake - Chancellor Palpatine is the cause of all his woes.

Now Anakin has two children. He’s had these kids for 6 years now; which, in the case of the youngest is longer than the mother has had the child. He claims financial hardship is the reason he has trouble feeding and clothing his kids. He tells these children he only gets 700 credits a month in Empire Disability. (He told me the same thing and than admitted that he gets Supplemental Empire Disability for one child and Empire dependent credits for both of them.) Now I know exactly how much money Anakin is taking in, because this rootin tootin cowgirl is in the same system. That’s what happens when your horse gets hit by a star fighter. Real bad news; but anyways. Point of the story is - Ol’ Annie Oakly here can adequately feed and clothe her child on this income; so what’s up with Anakin?

But than again; there appears to be evidence that "Anakin" has alcohol and nicotine addiction issues.

Next, enter stage left:
Betty Boop - Now what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a cartoon Marilyn Monroe? Betty Boop of course. Now granted, my perception of Marilyn Monroe mostly comes out of a singing Jedi Knight’s (Sir Elton John) Song "Candle in the Wind".

"Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all;
you had the grace to hold yourself, while those around you crawl.
They crawled out of the woodwork, and whispered into your brain;
They set you on a treadmill, and they made you change your name."

"Seems to me, you lived your life like a candle in the wind;
Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in.
I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid;
your candle burned out long before, your legend ever did."

"Loneliness is tough, the toughest role you ever played;
Hollywood created a superstar, but pain was the price you paid.
Even when you died, all the press still hounded you;
all the papers had to say, was that Marilyn was found in the nude."

"Goodbye Norma Jean, from the young man in the 22^nd row;
who sees you as something more than sexual, more than just our Marilyn Monroe."

Now Betty Boop is 14 years old and just like Marilyn Monroe, has certainly had her share of men in her life who were interested in little else than what they could get out of her for their own selfish "needs". Is Anakin one of the men who could be added to that list? Annie Oakly here believes it’s possible; (Betty has Stockholm Syndrome awfully bad) but the investigators of the Empire’s child services division have never pinpointed anything of that nature. (Many founded allegations of neglect though.)

So sadly, just like Marilyn; Betty Boop doesn’t know "who to cling to when the rain sets in". She has no real sense of self and just bleeds into the expectations of who ever it is she thinks she will get the most approval from. Consequently, Betty doesn’t always act or dress appropriately and will often fly into fits of rage when things don’t go her way.

Betty has a few other issues too. She eats dirty things off the ground, puts inappropriate things in her mouth, and has a fascination with dirt. I suspect Betty actually eats dirt. I’ve never witnessed her doing it; but there was one afternoon I believe that is what had happened. She’d brought a cup of dirt into a public rest room and was in there for 20 minutes. When I asked her what took so long, she said she had to wash her hands and face because she had dirt on them. The cup had come from one of those burger joints that you see all over the galaxy. It had been mine. She’d taken it and filled it with dirt, after she’d drank the left overs of Casper’s soda, ate his ice and than ate my ice. Betty has had numerous cases of parasite infection. Is it any wonder? Betty appears to me to have an eating disorder called PICA.

Betty also steals things that are of little value; except maybe to her. I’m missing a shower curtain liner. I don’t know if she’d actually taken it; but I can’t find it? She’s taken posters with other kid’s names on them, photos of other people’s children and some of Casper’s sidewalk chalk. This is another psychological disorder called Kleptomania.

Oh look; here comes the Tanzanian Devil 
Taz - Taz is a rather lovable ten year old whirlwind of chaos. You know, flies endlessly, eats couch cushions and generally leaves a wake of messes in his path. Taz is rather hazardous to the health of toys, although I don’t think it’s necessarily intensional. He has a low frustration tolerance. Taz also has a hearing impairment, speech impediment and may also be mildly cognitively impaired. Taz has a temper though and can string together quite a list of profanities. He’s got a mouth on him worse than most Storm-troopers I’ve heard. Taz tries hard though and will apologize when he’s done something wrong. He likes Casper and they generally get along fairly well together.

Taz though too isn’t without his own psychological issues. He has a tendency to urinate in inappropriate places. He’s been known to do this down heat register exchanges, (He actually did this in my house.) on bathroom floors, (at least that was easy to clean up) carpets and even his own toys. He’s only ever stayed overnight at my house one time and let me tell you; we won’t do that again! As you can probably guess; Taz is Betty Boop’s brother.

Other Characters on Naboo:

Captain Rex and Raggedy Ann - Rex was a clone trooper who served in the imperial army and suffered a traumatic brain injury from an accident while on active duty. Rex gets veteran’s benefits, but also works (at least part time).

Besides home-schooling, Raggedy Ann spends her days scouring garage sales, thrift stores, clothing closets and food banks to help feed and clothe their six kids.

Oldest boy, 16 who has a job - I’ve never seen this kid.
Goofy,14 - 15 year old - Goofy seems to be cognitively a bit slow.
Daisy Duck, 12-13 year old - She’s a good kid, tries to help Betty make better clothing choices.
Bugs Bunny, 10-11 year old - He likes to play games, but not big into computer ones. Casper likes him. Busy kid though. He’s usually doing something with his oldest brother, Captain Rex or his
grand-ma. Grand-ma lives on a farm.
Smiley, 7 year old - The name says it all!
Tweety Bird, 3 year old.

So, thus is Raggedy Ann’s household. She’s a generous soul and likes to help out when ever she can. She’s a major source of clothing, school supplies and other resources for Betty and Taz.

Whiley Coyote and Tigger- Another two souls Casper loves. They’re about 8 and 10 years old and both love video games. They come over frequently and play Lego Indiana Jones with Casper. Whiley and Tigger’s dad is rather protective of them. He doesn’t particularly like Taz’s temper and won’t let his kids play with him. He’s quite concerned about Whiley being bullied. Whiley has Torrettes Syndrome.

Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fud - 8 and 10 year old boys who’ve also had a hard life. They like to play "shoot ‘em up" video games. Ones that aren’t particularly appropriate for their ages. (Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto) They’d been in foster care and now live with Grandma. Grandma is quite vocal about the fact that she doesn’t like Taz or Betty. Betty is too "slutty" and Taz is too violent.

Elmer and Yosemite have their own demons to face though. Yosemite can be rather mean; which causes friction between him, his siblings and others in the neighborhood. Elmer is the more friendly and outgoing of the two. He’s the one who comes over the most to play with Casper. He likes theater and he and his sister "Melody" can sing quite well. We’ve all been encouraging them to pursue additional music lessons at school.

Interesting planet Naboo is - Yeah!

So here we come to the title of this post:
Lord of Love and Head Lice

Well, you can probably guess what happened. This is the second summer in a row that I’m aware of, where Taz and Betty (and Anakin) have had head lice. This summer though, they gave it to half the neighborhood; even despite my best efforts to avoid it that night Taz stayed over. When both the kids got up; I washed all the bedding including the animals and pillows that were in the bed with Taz. We still ended up with lice; yet I expect the initial infestation came before the sleep over. Both Taz and Betty had been in our house, as well as in Captain Rex and Raggedy Ann’s house. (They ended up with it too.) One week later; when cleaning Casper’s room again after the initial lice sweep - I even found dead lice in his Lego bin. I’ve washed every toy, sheet and stitch of clothing this kid owns. I’ve washed every sheet and stitch of clothing I own!

Casper had been itching for about a week before he went to camp. I’d found two black bugs with wings in his hair one night and never thought "lice", since lice are usually white or gray and don’t have wings.

Lice don’t jump or fly; they crawl. They are actually kind of hard to get (outside of head to head contact) unless a person is so infested, that the adult bugs are falling out of their hair. Lice are also species specific. Humans don’t get lice from birds or dogs, since feathers and fur are different than hair. The only other species known to be able to get human lice are monkeys. Now who originally gave it to whom (monkeys or man) no-one knows, but lice are one of those parasites that don’t cross species. So, since there are no monkeys on Naboo; we pretty much know where the lice came from. Yes, I am currently far more familiar with the life cycle of human head lice than I ever cared to know.

Sadly, I suspect Taz and Betty still have them.

Casper left for camp in the middle of August and when they did a lice check on kids coming in; they didn’t see anything. The following Wednesday morning at about 4 AM, I woke up real itchy. Now I’d had eye surgery about three weeks prior and was taking oxycodone. When ever I take that - I itch anyways. So I didn’t think much of it before that fateful Wednesday morning, when I found bugs in the shower. Well, at that point I knew exactly what it was.

So as soon as the drugstore opened; I went and got some lice treatment. I contacted camp and had them check Casper. Sure enough; he had it too. The nurse said he had it pretty bad; although primarily on one side of his head. (The side they obviously didn’t check when he came into camp.) The nurse said she’d "had grandpa lice coming out to greet her" and requested if they could shave Casper’s head. (I’m feeling all itchy just writing this.) I told her - do what you’ve got to. So, they shaved Casper’s head.

Well, I’d spent 4 days going through my own hair and still combing nits out. When I went to get Casper at the end of camp; he’d looked at me and said. "Mommy, I really didn’t want this haircut." So the following day; after four days of messing with my own hair. I shaved my head too. (Little "old school" I know but - it got rid of the lice!) This helped Casper to not feel so badly about his own little bald head. Crazy momma Oakly aint got hair either! Consequently, we both were looking like a couple of cancer patients.

So, sometimes when you try to pull someone out of the mud - you get a little dirty yourself! Anybody ever wonder if Jesus ever had head lice? That question never crossed my mind until this summer.

Well, in the midst of all this chaos, many days of Betty being at our house (some time eating breakfast, lunch and dinner here) and weeks before I even knew about the head lice; I finally called Child Protective. They opened an investigation and neither Betty or Taz were permitted to come down to our house any longer.

Not to say that I haven’t seen them; or that nothing else has happened since. I’ve had to confront all three on different occasions for various things. The question now becomes; how do I continue to show forth the grace of God in all of this? Some times love has to be tough and we are often times called upon to speak the truth in love; even when the truth isn’t pretty.

Ironically, Taz and Betty have come down here since. They both had said they weren’t allowed to talk to me; but I made it quite clear that if you’re down here in my yard - you’re not going to avoid me. They seem to have accepted that and at this point so has Anakin. He apparently has ceased in totally forbidding them from having any contact with us. I still want to help these kids and apparently so does the rest of this community. (They get a lot of help; not just from neighbors, but from the school, community organizations, individuals and even business owners. One antiques store made popcorn every morning, all summer long and primarily for Taz.) Is our helping these kids just further enabling dad to not take responsibility though?

I don’t know - tough questions!
I do know one thing though - there are a lot of people praying for these kids.

If there’s one thing I know,
it’s you were never left alone,
cause you can always call on Jesus’ name.

And if there’s one thing I pray,
it’s Jesus helps you find a way,
to make a change and listen to your heart.

God will take away your pain if you choose to let it go.
If there’s one thing I know.

One thing - by Salah    

Woe, what a summer!

Hey peeps, summer is almost over (or really over for some of us who started school already)!
Yes, you heard it here first folks "Earth shattering" uh - news?
I started school!

On the more serious side though, it's been one heap of a summer. Sort of trying to find our place in this neighborhood. We've made some friends; (and an "enemy" so to speak - got a couple of kids around here that really need to be in foster care. My "enemy" came to be on account of my calling Child Protective. That's a story for another post though.)

Most recent news. My settlement money will be in by the end of this month! Yeah for me and thank You God! It'll make getting back and forth to school a lot easier. Being able to drive myself will make my life much simpler (especially in the winter)! I got a car all picked out too and will be going Tuesday to take a test drive. If I like it - it's mine!

Speaking of settlement; Boo and I went today to pick out some furniture from our local furniture store. I got (what will eventually be) a new bed (and chest of drawers) for him. It's queen sized and for the time being will serve as a guest room till Boo is too tall for his current bed. Got him a memory foam mattress (since he's so in love with mine). It will definitely help him sleep better and maybe even help the seizure issue. Good sleep is a plus for any of us.

Other odds and ends:
Dinning room table and chairs.
Pantry for the kitchen. (place to store bags and gobbly gook.)
Tip out trash bin.

Got a glider rocker for my room.

Deacon bench for my little hallway.

Small "side board" for upstairs linens.

Oh, and last but not least - I got a small book case for Boo's (current) room.

Had another surgery on my right eye. They took the saline bulb thing out and replaced the lens. I really can't see out of it any better than I could; but I think the doctor expects that will improve some as the eye heals up. It seems to be taking longer (and hurting more) than what I remember of the other surgeries. But than again; other parts of me hurt less now, so maybe I'm just noticing the pain in the eye more? LOL Despite this though; it is slowly getting better.

Well, I have more I could write; but for the time being I think I'll leave off with this. I got some other post ideas in my head. Just got to get to doing them.

Future posts: (not necessarily in this order though)
House photo updates.
Some new clothing combination shots.
The Lord of love and head lice.      

Day 15!

Well, it's been just over two weeks since "Boo" and myself moved into our Habitat house. I have been busy unpacking (obviously) and things have been "unexpected" - I guess.

(My sincerest apologies to those attempting to follow my stories on Fan Fiction. I have not posted a new chapter in almost a month. Just like this blog - be getting to that soon too.)

It's been peaceful and rather quite - with just the two of us. I think the anticipation of the whole separation thing on Boo was actually worse than the event. He seems to me to be far more relaxed than he's been in (maybe) his entire life? His summer thus far has been full of school (he's home by 11:15), playing with his new neighbor friends (although they are not really "new" - he knows some of them from school), and going to a local youth rec ministry. It's a new world for Boo and his life has changed a lot. He seems pretty happy though. Yeah, he has his typical "I don't want to go to bed now because I've got to get up and go to school tomorrow tantrums; but other than that - he's got more freedom now and he seems to be employing that freedom wisely.

As for me; I've spent a lot of this time turning this house into a haven for the both of us. Shelter from the Storm.

"Please don't let them hurt Your children. We need love and shelter from the storm.
Please don't let them hurt Your children; won't You keep us safe and warm."
(Dear Mr. Jesus)

Speaking of shelter for the children. We've got a lot of kids in this neighborhood who either are, were, or need to be in foster care. I've been praying a lot for these kids and I know I'm not the only one. We've got some good neighbors around us and a lot of need. God, You gave me this house for a reason. Help me be a genuine light in the darkness.

On the lighter side of life though; I'm enjoying decorating this place. Some of the curtains and stuff I've ordered for the living room have come in and when I get stuff in a little more resemblance of order here - I'll take some (more better) pictures and post them on the blog.

I'm in a quandary though! What to do with the "ugly lights"????

Yeah, these domed bulb things. I was in the kitchen when Ed was installing them and he said: "Hey give me one of them ugly lights!"

The name stuck!

So, any suggestions on what to "do" with the "ugly lights"?

  I was thinking of painting them to look like planets?

Mercury
             Venus               Mars

BUT......

 wouldn't exactly go with the Italian Tuscan themed kitchen.

So the next idea was impressionist representations of Renaissance European cities!

Prague, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Rome and St. Petersburg.


Intriguing idea -not sure if I'm going to go with it?

 Despite this though, I find that I'm oft a few curtains short of a pair!

Boo picked out Star Wars curtains. I hope "Wally World" gets restocked soon!

 Annie's happy hanging out though!

 Living room needs some work! Yeah I know!

Like I said - I'm a few curtains short of a pair!

 Upstairs bathroom's lookin pretty though!

Did the wall boarder today.

Once the mirror comes in - we'll be cookin!

 Some of my dolls have found a home.

I also found some new furniture.

Raymore and Flanagan clearance center! YES!

 Couple of items found a home.

My mom's lamp and dad's clock.

 Yeah, still a few curtains short of a pair! Even missing a rod here!

Got some sheers I'm working on. Found all the curtains at Pasty Jenny's (J.C. Penny's) They need to be shortened because the windows are lower to the floor than "standard".

 And here's my prized bargain!

Tempurpedic Cloud adjustable bed!
Paid $1,200. for it! Now that was a steal!

Talked to my knee surgeon a couple months ago about medical justification for a bed like this. (My feet swell pretty bad sometimes.) He said let him know when I find something - he'll fill out the paper work.

And last but not least - what will eventually be my "drawing room".  (I know - I'm a product of a bygone era. Who in the 21st Century has a "drawing room"?)

Eventually, I'll get a drawing table, storage for my craft/ sewing stuff and various sundry / extra bed for anyone who comes to visit.

Yada Yada Yada!

The Day is Finally Here!

I closed today on my habitat house! I can start moving stuff in next week!

Haven't posted much of anything lately. Even on my Fan Fiction Story "The Gates of Hell" since I've been packing like a maniac to move.

The day is coming though - so I'm real happy!