Monsters

I was reading Zenmomma's blog, and saw her monster name and Richard and I just had to get our own! We made monster names for everyone here, and had a good time cheering up the family.

Get Your Monster Name

Get Your Monster Name

Sad...

Well, we lost Tim. He underwent surgery to implant the LVAS, and all looked well except he didn't wake after the anesthesia wore off. They did an EEG, and there was no activity. Many different neurological

tests later, they decided that he must have had a stroke either during surgery or immediately after. We got the news on Valentine's Day, and he died on February 15. The funeral is Thursday. My mom's birthday is Friday, she is going to hate her birthday and Valentine's Day from now on, I think. It still doesn't feel real, he was just here putzing around the house!

Tim

Well, we have gotten a reminder that you have to be in charge of your own health, that you cannot rely solely on health care profesionals. Most of us know this, but I guess we forget.

My mom's long-time significant other, soon to be spouse, is pretty sick. His doctor has been blaming his breathing problems on adult-onset athsma, even as it got increasingly more difficult to breathe over the last month. Tim, as well as most of the family, has felt that there must be something more going on, but the doc was sure that it was just a problem with his lungs.

Turns out the problem is his heart. Sometime recently he had a heart attack and didn't realize it, and he has had a worsening case of CHF, that is why he hasn't been able to breathe! Grr! He went to the ER in Ruidoso one night a week or so ago, and they immediately shipped him up to the Heart Institute in Albuquerque. From there, they shipped him to the University of Utah Medical Center where he is awaiting a LVAS heart assist device and hopefully a heart transplant. His heart is too badly damaged for medications to do any good at this point.

My mom is up in Utah with him, and his kids have been taking turns going up there when they can. If all goes well, he will have the surgery to implant the LVAS Monday morning, and then will have to stay in Salt Lake for a while to heal.

Archive Meme

Jenny tagged me with this Archive Meme. I was a little intimidated my it, especially since I really don't have that many posts to choose from! Going back, I really do have more than I thought, so here goes!

1. This link is supposed to be about family. When we went to Wisconsin for my Grandmother's 90th birthday,
it was the first time that I had even met some of my family!

2. Friends. Well, anyone who knows me well knows that I am not good at keeping up with friends. Most of my good friends that I actually keep in touch with are family! I have one friend in town that I see regularly, and most of my other close friends live out of town. So this post will have to be about Richard's friends!

3. A link about myself? Not sure that I have one of those! Well, really at the moment my life is all about the kids in my life, Richard and my neices (and I love that!). There are lots of things that I would love to do, mainly start painting again, but there is always something that needs to be done first. Getting my own house has probably been the biggest step that I have made toward having the time and room to paint again, so I guess this one will have to do...

4. Something that I love, well, my whole blog is about that! Here is one that I hadn't read in a while.

5. The fifth one is supposed to be about anything that I want. Well, one of my favorite things is the familiarity of my life. One example of that is my kitty Ren. Every time anyone heads to the bathroom in my home, Ren is not far behind. In fact she comes tearing in after you, at full speed. If you are sitting down on the toilet, she will rub and crawl all over you, looking for you to pet her. If you don't head straight to the toilet, or after you are done, she goes right to the sink! She just loves water! Crazy kitty!!

Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you've written. ... but there is a catch: Link 1 must be about family. Link 2 must be about friends. Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are... what you're all about. Link 4 must be about something you love. Link 5 can be anything you choose. I think this is a great way to circulate some of the great older posts everyone had written, return to a few great places in our memories and also learn a little something about ourselves and each other that we may not know. Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be *newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better....and don't forget to read the archive posts and leave comments! Wow, a whole post with lots of writing and no pictures!

I am not going to tag anyone this time, I guess if you read this consider yourself TAGGED!

Dinos Alive!

There is a new exhibit in the old movie theater at our mall. We got a brand new 10 screen theater last year, not too exciting to those who are used to such things, but we are a fairly small city and had a terrible theater up until now. I am so short that at the old theater, even a normal sized person in front of me blocked my view, and Richard has only gotten taller than me this year, he always had a hard time seeing before. Now the seats are angled so that even I can see with someone in front of me.

Anyway, so in the space where the old theater was, there is a temporary dinosaur exhibit that is really cool. There are animatronic dinosaurs, with plants and rocks all around so that they look real. They move and make sounds, and a tour guide will walk you around and tell you about the dinosaurs if you want. I guess the dinosaurs were actually used in the background of the Jurassic Park movies. Cool!

I couldn't get pictures of the animatronic dinosaurs because it was too dark, but there is a play room (oops, an education room :-) Ha Ha) that Richard had a lot of fun in.

Excavating dinosaur bones.

Richard LOVED the giant fabric dinosaur. You could create new species by putting lots of different parts together. He spent more than an hour putting together different parts.

CatDog Dinosaur!

Frogs

We inherited 2 frogs from Richard and Dianna when they moved. The frogs lived in their HUGE pond at the big house, and I am not sure how happy they were in my 2 20 gallon tanks. They had lots of guppies to eat though, and places to hide.
A couple of months ago one of them escaped, I found him in the middle of my dining room, still alive. He died the next day, and I buried him under a bush on the side of the house.
The second one made his escape a few days ago (despite the lids of the tanks being taped down with duct tape!). He also died a day or so after being returned to the tank, but not before he ate BOTH of my new baby plecostomus fishies! I guess he felt that he deserved a last meal better than guppies. Richard and I buried him in the middle of the Frog Band, in the front courtyard. We figured that he would enjoy listening to frog music, while he fertilizes my grass and flowers.

Globetrotters

We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters a couple of weeks ago. Mom's long-time boyfriend has been pretty sick, so I haven't had time to write. I first saw the Globetrotters when I was pregnant with Richard, though I didn't know yet. I took him to see them when he was about 6, and now he is 12. It was a lot of fun, the Globetrotters are always funny.

Christmas/Solstice

The first ornament in the tree, that is Roo hiding in the branches. She had a perfect little niche for herself between a few of the branches about half-way up.
Stimpy, hanging out under the tree. All of the cats loved the tree skirt, very soft spot for a nap! They also loved the homemade beaded ornaments around the bottom. Last Christmas the kittens were only a few months old, and they just destroyed the tree. They climbed all over it and most of the lights and ornaments ended up on the floor. This year they are much calmer, still climbing the tree, but not being quite as chaotic.
My very favorite present of the season. When I bought the house, it had gas log installed into the fireplace. The previous owners told me that it worked, but of course, like with many other things that they told me, that was less than completely true. So, for winter this year, my mom had the gas logs removed for me and now I can use it as a real live wood-burning fireplace! Yay!

The Last Few Days....

We've been doing lots over the last few days.


Making Cookies... Lauren wasn't too fond of having to mix the dough by hand in the last step!


Watching scary movies...




Playing video games...
(The smudge in the picture is a kitty's tail!)
And adding to the wish list...

8 Things About Me...

Sandra Dodd tagged me with this, and the only real reason that I haven't posted it is that I couldn't think of 8 more people to tag! I am not online too much anymore since I don't have internet at home, and most of the people whose blogs that I read have been tagged recently. I decided that I was just procrastinating though, so here goes!


1. I like being tagged. I am not very social, and it reminds me that there are other people in the world and that I really like keeping in touch with the world, when I do it.


2. I love giving gifts. I love buying, finding, or making them, deciding what someone will like, wrapping them, everything. I just love the whole process (except mailing, I am terrible about that!)


3. I love tattoos. I want a 3/4 sleeve one day.


4. I always wanted to be an artist, a working artist. When I was a teenager and thought about stay-at-home moms, I thought No Way! I could never do that. I would hate it! Well, now I would love to be able to stay with Richard all of the time. My job allows me to be with him more than most working moms, but it is never enough for me.


5. I am a terrible procrastinator. I keep telling my self that I am going to be better, but I haven't been. I have gifts that I bought last Christmas that I haven't mailed yet (see #2).


6. Besides my son, my brother and sister-in-law are the two people that I admire the most. They are the most true and honest people that I know. I am glad to have them in my life, and especially glad that they are here in Alamogordo where they can be a good influence on me!


7. I purchased my own house last year. I never thought that I would be where I am in my life. I am a single unschooling mom, who owns a house. I never thought that I would be able to do that!


8. I have 8 cats, 2 dogs, one frog, 2 turtles, and many guppies, who are mainly food for the frog.


That was harder than I thought! Fun though.

The "rules":
* link to the person who tagged you
* post the rules
* name 8 things others don’t know about you
* link to 8 other bloggers


Here are my links:

Ironwood Farm Project
Our Hapa Home
Learning in Freedom
Bodhicitta
ZenmommasGarden
Wistful Wanderlust
Five Free Birds
Organic Learning

So busy...

We have been so busy lately...

I have been working extra shifts lately, and the lady is out of town, so we are taking care of her house as well as ours. Richard has been staying with his aunt and uncle while she is gone and I am at work, and he has been helping them move.



We went to the X-Prize cup and airshow last weekend, it was awesome. I will have to post some pictures. We were going to try to go to the Modified Nationals this weekend in Las Cruces, but I didn't realize that the races started at 2pm instead of sunset as ususal. I am probably more bummed about it than Richard, oh well, next time!



We have birthdays coming up, Lindsey turns 21 on the 7th, and Richard turns 12 on the 19th. I don't know what I am going to do for Richard's birthday yet. Maybe just take him and the family out to dinner and have cake at home. We will see. He has been saving his money to buy an Xbox 360. He has been mowing lawns and saving his allowance. He has more in savings than I do right now! I am proud of him.

90th birthday

This is Lauren with Grandma (that would be Lauren's Great-Grandma). It was Grandma's 90th birthday, and she got everyone together in Wisconsin where she and Grandpa Chuck always vacationed.









The whole group. Lindsey couldn't come, so not the *whole* group! Lindsey, cousin Michael's girlfriend, and cousin Lyndon and his wife Lorina were missing. Other than that it is the whole group. I think! That is Chuck's tree in the middle.


This one is not from the birthday trip, this is Richard at the lake after riding the jet-ski at Elephant Butte. He was very excited.

Many more pics to come.

Junior Zookeeper

Richard participated in a junior zookeeper program at our zoo. It was a week long, and he had a great time. He got to help feed and clean up after most of the animals, and spent a whole morning helping to prepare the animal's food. He had a great time, and he got hugged (on the leg) by an otter!

P-Bear

A few weeks ago Richard and I received a package in the mail, P-Bear clothes! My sister makes Paddington Bears (and their clothes), she made one for me when I was little (the lighter one) and one for Richard when he was a baby. Mine is all worn, there isn't much fur left. Richard's is nice and fluffy.
Well Richard's P-Bear has been wearing an old baseball outfit that was Richard's when he was a baby, waiting for clothes. Right around my birthday about a month ago we finally got clothes for him! Yay! Thanks Alison!

Monster Jam!!!

Richard and I went to Monster Jam in El Paso Saturday night, it was incredible! I only have a few photos that I took on my phone right now, Richard took a ton that we still need to get developed. For now, here is El Toro Loco, El Paso's favorite truck. The crowd just went crazy every time the announcer would even mention El Toro Loco, and there were tons of kids running around with red hats with bull horns! So cute!


This is Maximum Destruction catching some crazy air. Max D won the Freestyle part of the night. You can see the crowd in the background, the Sun Bowl was completely sold out. It was crazy. We had so much fun, Richard got autographs and pictures with each of the drivers before the show. They were all really nice, and all were willing to take a second to talk to the kids, even though there were thousands of people there. What an awesome night with my boy!

H2O cat

I don't even have normal cats! Every morning Ren sits on the bathroom sink until I turn on the faucet, then she sits in the sink and lets the water wash all over her. She just sits there and drinks and showers, loving the water. I guess that is what happens when you name your cat after a mosquito...

Myspace

So Lauren and Lindsey convinced me that I needed to get a Myspace page. Well, I did it, but I am not too sure of the whole thing. They assure me that it is a very cool thing, but I kind of feel like a jr. high student again with the whole "will you be my friend thing." Lauren assures me that it is ok to ask someone to be my friend, that though I may be a total dork, this is not why!
Here is my Myspace page, if anyone is interested:
www.myspace.com/rejsmom

Black Dog

My poor Black Dog, she is a mess without Bailey. She is bored and so she gets in trouble. That is my mom's brand new bamboo blind in the background, chewed to pieces. It hadn't been installed yet, she chewed the package open. She used to stay outside most of the day, and she was ok, she and Bailey ran and played, and chased kids along the fence. They had their own inside paito room with a dog door, and came all the way in occasionally to visit. She came inside more often with Jake (my sister and brother-in-law's dog) when he was down visiting, and though he helped her to calm down and be a good inside dog when people are here, she can't be alone inside because she gets into the garbage and chews everything. That still would be ok, but now she is not satisfied to ever be outside, ever! She is in at night now but needs to go out when my mom is at work and Richard is not hanging out over there.

Jake also taught her to knock down the dog-door cover, so she comes into the patio room and bangs on the inside door, she even knocked it off of the track. I tried to take her to my house for a while, but she chases the kittens (they just love to run fast, it is too tempting!) and she tears down my screen and patio doors trying to come in.

I know what the dog whisperer would say, she needs an hour long walk every day! She would probably be ok with a friend, but with the unexpected litter of kittens I am not sure I can do that yet! Hopefully when the kittens get a little older she can be with them. She is 13 or so, I would love to have her inside all of the time where it is warm during her last few years, but we can't have someone at mom's house with her all of the time.

A friend may have to be the answer, we will see....

Our Visitor..

We have a kitty that comes and visits, we don't know where he lives, but he is pretty fat, so he probably has a home. We put food out for him anyway! :-)

He is mostly white, with black on his head, and has long hair. Richard has named him Tigger. Our kitties like to gather and talk to him through the sliding glass door. It has been so cold lately, I would love to bring him in. He is a little shy though. I am hoping that he does have a good home somewhere, since I kind of have a full house!

Stimpy, hanging out. He is very laid back.

Mew, she seemed to be really shy at first, not very social. But lately she has really become a people-kitty.






The twins, sort of. They seemed identical when they were little. Ren though, (the one in back) has become very fluffy. She has a full coat, not long, but full and fluffy. She looks like a snow leopard. Roo, the one in front, is sleeker and her coat is has stripes, while Ren has spots.
These two were always the first to do anything when they were little. They were the first to get out of their birthing area, the first to scale the baby gate, etc. They have calmed down a little, and Mew was the first to climb my curtains! Ra has taken over lately as the resident mischief maker. He loves to get into trouble.

Kitten pix

These pictures are 2 months old. The kittens from our litter are 3 1/2 months old in these, and Lou is 6 weeks or so.



This is Lou, a friend from work found him on the mountain. She was going to keep him but her dogs were a little rough with him, so he joined our litter. Bastet has adopted him and he nurses with the others.



Ra (named by Richard after the Sun God), stalking something.


Lou.


Sir Lou, that is.



Almost the whole tribe.