My daughter Claire

My daughter Claire will be 16 in July and I have to admit this time of her life scares the hell out of me. I have less and less control which means that I can not protect her from bad decisions she might make or others make. I can not protect her from bad people and the evil they can do. All I do is affirm to her that I love her everyday and tell her she can come to me with any problem. I might be upset but I will never stop loving her and we can deal with anything. I also have told her the following over and over:
1. Do not drink and drive or swim,
2. You can call me any time of the day from any location and I will come for you if you need my help.
3. Make your stand in the parking lot- NEVER get in a car against your will!
4. Don’t go out alone and always tell someone where you are going.
5. Your friends are not you, you can say no to them.
6. Enjoy life while you can!

I found the following in "Here If You Need Me", which sums up my prayers for Claire:
“As a mother I pray for miracles of the most ordinary kind on their behalf: I want their hearts to keep beating. I want them to live. If I could speak one prayer for you, my children, it would be that your hearts would not only beat but grow ever greater in gratitude, that your lives, however long they prove to be and no matter how they end, continue to bring you miracles in abundance.”

I love you Claire

CCHS Graduation

Last evening my exchange student graduated from Central Catholic High School. While at the ceremony I was unfortunate enough to be witness to one of the most ridicules displays of power I have ever witnessed. Honestly, I thought I was going to be in the middle of a riot. So here was the situation. At the graduation an announcement was made that the audience should withhold their cheering and celebrating until all students names were read, well if you have been to more than one gradation you should know that NEVER happens, someone always shouts out. So the names are being read and someone lets out a "Way to go...!!!" The reader stops and waits for the celebrating to stop and then continues. Then another family starts celebrating, this time the reader (I will call her Ezmeralda) stops and give the family the "stink eye", I swear she was cursing them and she said "We have kindly asked you to refrain from celebrating until ALL names have been read ... and I think under her breath "may all of your first born have a third eye and a tail." So the audience gets quite, the names continue to be read and obviously Ezmeralda did not put the Fear of God into someone because oops there it goes, another shout out "That my Boy!! At this point I though Rev. Hartigan was going to blow a clot! First, he is as big at a VW and was turning red. He waddled up to the podium, grabs the mike and bellows "We have kindly asked you to refrain from celebrating until ALL names have been read!! The crowd calms down, the names are being read and damn if someone did not shout out! This time Rev. Hartigan yells "security, man your positions and escort anyone out who does not remain quiet." Oh Central Catholic was asking for problems!! First issue is that 98% of the cheering families were black, 85% of the audience that is complying with the schools request to be silent are white. One white old man yells "stop showing your ignorance," to the celebrators. Second name read after Rev. Hartigan pronouncement and someone had to go and push the envelope "We love you Lakisha"!!! Re. Hartigan waddles up to the mike and yells "security remove them!" Now the audience starts chanting "throw them out, throw them out," I am seriously thinking we are going to have a riot. Security runs up to the top of the Sullivan Center and escorts a family out. I can now sense the tension in the air, I am sitting in disbelief and checking out the nearest exit. Crowd quiets down, name are being read and here we go.. This time the families know they are going to be escorted out so they stand up, give their shout out and proceed to walk out. This happens three or four more time before the reader FINALLY reads the last name. I sat in disbelief, would it taken any longer if CCHS had just allowed the families their few moments of celebrating?

Funny!!

WE have a sick piggie!

My 15 ½ year old daughter has a Guinea Pig named Lucilla LaCoco or “Lucy” for short who is 5 years old (Guinea Pigs live 5-8 years). On Sunday my daughter came in my room and said we need to make an appointment and take Lucy to the vet there is something wrong with her feet. I looked at her feet and instantly I knew the problem; and I knew this was going to be a major deal. I recognized that Lucy has “bumblefoot,” which is a bacterial infection that Guinea Pigs are susceptible to. Usually, piggies contract this from poor living condition, illness or injuries. All I will say on this is Lucy has not been taken care of, as best as she should have been.

On Monday I called the Vet and was able to get Lucy an appointment. I called my daughter’s father and told him to bring Claire and meet me at the Vet. I wanted Claire to be involved in the decision making process on Lucy’s care. The Vet looked at Lucy and confirmed my diagnoses of bumblefoot and then proceeded to tell us the care that would be involved in treating Lucy. This would be long term care, feet wrappings, medications, x-rays, multiple appointments ….etc, etc, etc …. I asked her how much and she said “I will let you talk this over with your daughter and you need to decide if you can commit to the time you will need to care for Lucy, if you can not I think you should think about euthanizing her, and I will work on a quote.” I started crying which was a BIG MISTAKE because the Vet probably though, we have an animal nut on our hands and she will pay out her butt!!!

So the vet leaves the room and my daughter starts crying and says, “What do you think we should do?” I said “Claire, she is not my Guinea Pig and I am not making the decision (is she crazy, if I decided to “put Lucy to sleep” I would be branded the rest of my life.” I can see it now; Claire would be on Oprah or Dr. Phil telling the world how her mom killed her only friend in life!!)

I told Claire if we decided to treat Lucy, she would be the primary care giver and I would be the backup. Claire said she would like to try and see how it goes and if Lucy does not get better we can talk about it again. Okay, decision made, mom is not a bad guy, Claire is taking responsibility.

The Vet Tech comes back in to the room and hands me the quote, I almost started crying again! The quote was for $436-610.00 What the #@! !!!! Lucy only cost me $16.00. OMG!!! The Tech explained the cost would be over 6 months and they wanted to go higher than lower on the quote. Now what do I do? I let Claire make the decision and now I am panicked. I thought about the quote and calculated the cost over 6 months and though I can handle the bill. So, I did what any guilt ridden mom would do; I wrote out the first check to the Vet for $177.00 dollars. On the way home I went to Petco and bought $50.00 worth of supplies. On Tuesday I ordered medical supplies to care for Lucy in the amount of $66 and Lucy will have her first follow-up today at the vet for another $80.00. So…if I add this up correctly in four days I have spent $373.00 on Lucy. How in the hell did the vet tech come up with $436-610 for six months!!! Breath in, Breath out, Breath in, Breath out!! Okay enough about that!

Lucy came home Monday with hot pink bandages on her feet. She looks quite stylish with her black and white fur and pink go-go boots. Lucy is now living the life! Her cage is now in the dining room instead of my daughter’s room, so that I can keep an eye on my new investment! Her diet was modified so she is now eating her pellets along with kale, greens, green peppers and liquid vitamin C (by the way that is more money I spent, we do not eat these foods!) She is given medication twice a day, her cage is now cleaned everyday and she gets a clean towel for her bed everyday! What have I done!!!

I will keep you all posted on Lucy’s recovery!

Update: Lucy has new go-go boots they are now pink with purple hearts. We will continue with her meds and she now gets foot treatments every two-three days. She will return to the Vet in eleven days. I wonder when we will start giving her facials!!

12 Things to Remember By Sonia Ricotti

1. Life is short. If you are stressed, worry, eat unhealthy, or focus on the negative "stuff" - your life will end up being even shorter.

2. Your troubles of today are only temporary. Look for the silver lining. If you look hard enough, you will find the silver lining and it will make all the difference in how you perceive your situation and how you feel.

3. When things are good in your life, they will seldom become great. We rarely make changes when things are good. Only when we hit rock-bottom, are we forced to make changes -and that will lead you to greatness. So, if you have hit rock-bottom, hold on to your socks and start celebrating because... your greatest life is just around the corner!

4. Stop staring at the closed door (the negative stuff). Search for all the open doors (opportunities) all around you. There are many.

5. You are perfect. Regardless of what you have been told, what people think, or how people treat you - you are perfect exactly the way you are.

6. The only opinion that counts is your own opinion of yourself.

7. You already have all the answers - they are just lost in the mental fog. Clear your mind of all clutter and negative chatter. Meditate, exercise, journal, and take time to yourself to reflect.

8. Don't follow the crowd. It will only take you places where others want to go.

9. Today is tomorrow, so stop procrastinating. Get out there and start living your greatest life.

10. Be different, be bold, be loving, and always follow your heart.

11. Be conscious of what you are feeding your mind.

12. When the going gets tough - give! No matter how bad things are, there is always someone, somewhere, in a worse situation. Give your time, money, or even just a compliment.Make a difference.

I think I am becoming a Germ-O-Phobe

More and more I notice things that really bother me and others seem oblivious to the dangers lurking. The following give me the willies!!
1. Community pretzel or chip bowls.
2. Coffee lids that are all in a stack that you have to put on yourself.
3. Doctor office magazines (don't even get me started!)
4. Comforters on hotel beds, I was recently told by a maid that they change them once a month!!!
5. Public water fountains.
6. Shaking hands at church or meetings; I am fine with hugging.
7. Bathroom door knobs and the worst is the bathroom faucet handles!

God Help us!

This afternoon I stopped in the coffee shop/deli located in the building I work in to get a little afternoon caffeine. I asked the 19/20 year old counter girl for a "Caffe Latte." She stared at me, looked up at their menu board and then back down at me and said "we do not have Caffe Lattes". I said, "well that is strange I get one here almost every other day." She looked back up to the menu board and back at me and said with a vocal inflection that indicated I was really wasting her time "Do you mean a Latte"! I should have looked at her and said "no, I want double strength coffee with steamed milk in it!"

Mother Daughter Bonding, by Gunfire

Today my 15 1/2 year old daughter and I went to Clelands Indoor Pistol Range to target shoot. I told her I was going with a friend and she asked if she could come along. I was her age when I first learned how to shoot a gun so I had no problem. She had never shot a gun, held a gun or even seen one shot so it was quite the experience but a good one. I do not own a gun so we rented a Ruger .22 semi-automatic and I borrowed my father's Smith & Wesson 9mm. I believe she is now hooked and I think we will be going back once a month for Ladies Night! It had been 28 years since I had shot a gun but as you can see from my target I still have it!!

I am sure he was wondering what the heck

I consider myself fairly intelligent but I have moments when the synapse are not all firing! Yesterday, I had one of these moments. I had a 5 hour drive home and bought a blue tooth headset so that I could talk hands free while driving. I tried to call my daughter but I was not having much luck getting in touch with her, so I called her father, my ex-husband. John and I have a decent relationship but there are some issues. I would say they are more annoyances than anything. Anyway, I called John up and left the following message:
ME: Hi John, This is Janis. I am trying to find Claire, I want to know if she fed Grissom. Can you have her call me?
Call was over and I THOUGHT I hung up my headset, well I didn't. It was at this point a Semi-truck driver appeared as he was going to come into my lane and I have a tendency to voice my opinion, even though the driver can not hear me. So ... this is the rest of the message John heard:
ME: WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING! KEEP YOUR BUTT OVER THERE!! I AM NOT PLAYING THAT GAME!! I then heard the headset click.
Oh well, it will keep John on his feet!

Bathroom Extortion

I should have peed on her floor! I was driving home tonight from Buffalo and I made the mistake of having way too much coffee and pop (soda for all of you non-Ohio people)before I got on the road. I was on I-90 and my bladder and my gas tank dictated that I should stop at Chautauqua, NY. When I had visited Chautauqua in the past it had this very cool vibe, there are great old houses and it is the home of the Chautauqua Institute which holds open forums on public issues, international relations, literature and science. Chautauqua Institute was founded on the belief that everyone “has a right to be all that he can be -- to know all that he can know.” Well, back to my story. So I exit the toll road and headed towards the lake and I stopped at this little carry out/ gas station. The first thing I noticed, was that the gas was over $2.17 a gallon which was ridicules because every other gas station was around $1.76 a gallon. The second thing I noticed was a sign on the door that said "no public restroom"! I went in anyway because I wanted to ask where was the closest public bathroom. The only people in this place were the owner, a tattered old man buying bread and myself. When the old man left, I asked the owner where is the closet public bathroom and she said "I would guess closer towards town". She must had seen the look of exasperation in my face because she next said "I do have a bathroom for MY customers and if you buy something you can use it." Then she broke into this litany on how the beach was across the street and if she let everyone use the bathroom she would have people in all day long and she would not be able to pay for the toilet paper. I wanted to shake her and say "For God's sake lady it is February, there is not a soul within 100 yards of this place and I am in business attire not my frigging bikini ... but I didn't. I just grabbed the closet thing to me a can of pop and put it on the counter, threw down my money and said where is the bathroom PLEASE. When I came out my pop was on the counter with my change and the owner was no where to be seen! So much for the cool vibe in Chautauqua!