Forever.

Hey there!  First off, here's the new stuff for the week.  2 brand new wordart packs this week!  Woohoo!

Click HERE to go to the Store

by Sharon

by Henriëtte

Click HERE to go to my store

 by Henriëtte

by Sharon

Well, here we go.  A backwords recap of the week.  So today, I got the kids ready for school, and did a little living room cleaning while I watched Breaking Dawn part 1.  I moved the couches and swept real good and even mopped.  Which is quite a feat, because I have been having MASSIVE migraines as of late.  Anyway, my meds were somewhat working, and it wasn't that tiring.  So the living room kinda got done.

At 9:15am, Julia came and picked me up, and we headed to the Transmountain movie theater, and we bought tickets for Breaking Dawn part 2!!!  We were excited!  I had joked last year that we would go "if we were the last two people at Ft Bliss".  It sounded bad, but she knew what I meant.  And yeah, we WERE the last two people at Ft Bliss.  hehe.

Leanne met us there too, so really, we were a group of 3.  hehe.  It was a WONDERFUL movie!  I really enjoyed it!  DEFINITELY go see it.  Great way to finish off the movies ;)

After the movie, Leanne went home, and Julia and I went to Olive Garden for lunch.  And met Maggie and Hannah there.  And then I remembered to click some photos.  I've been bad as of late.  Here's me and Maggie.

And Julia and I

Julia making a face at me.  Apparently I take bad photos of people, and they get perturbed when I post them on Facebook.  Gesh!  Where's your sense of adventure???

Me and my water.  I figured between my DDP at the movie (I smuggled one in) and all of the Excedrine migraine I've been popping, I'd had enough caffeine.

Yesterday, Eme was sick and stayed home from school.  I had a migraine, and Julia had a stomach bug.  We spent the day at Maggie's house chilling and watching movies.  And dealing with her stolen iPhone.  Story to follow.  Anyway, here's Eme with Maggie's bird.  Which grosses Julia out, because of her bird phobia.  LOL.  She's a germ-a-phob!  hehe.

And that evening, after the headache cleared with the meds (I have 90 minute windows of feeling good periodically during the day), I cleaned the dining room.  Because it had been TRASHED for weeks.  Utterly trashed.  Seriously.  You wouldn't have wanted to have seen the photos....

So here's the story.  On Wednesday, after my morning stress group, I took Tom with me to family Therapy with Jake.  CPT couldn't make it, and the therapist thought it would be a good idea to have Jake and Tom talk.  Sounded good to me.  Anyway, therapy was at 1pm on the West side.

It went well for the most part.  Jake apologized for stealing his money, and Tom said that Jake seemed to have changed and seemed like a cool guy to hang out with.  So after therapy, Tom and I headed to Bassett Center to meet Julia and Maggie and Hannah.  We finally caught up with them around 2:45pm.

We went to Bath and Body works, and I picked out a ton of stuff I wanted, then realized that I left my debit card in the car.  Drat!  So I ditched it.  Then we went to another store to look around, and I did the same thing!  Talk about scatter brain!  lol.

In the Melrose clothes store, Hannah (4) wanted to show me a photo on Maggie's iPhone 5, and that's the last time that Maggie remembers seeing the phone.  We parted ways and headed back to the bus stop.  I passed her at the stop light heading towards post, and she said she'd lost her phone and was going to look for it.  I said I'd get Jake.

We don't know what happened to the phone.  We really don't.  I called it.  No answer.  Straight to voice mail.  NOT a good sign.  Someone took it.  Someone knew enough to power it off.  Ooooo, thiefs make me mad!

Finally, she came back home devastated.  She was crying and sobbing.  We were all at the park with the kids.  She grabbed her iPad and enabled "Track My Phone".  And it actually showed up!  Across town!  Up by the mountains!

She used my phone and Julia's phone to call around to her hubby (in the field) and the police and her phone company and such to find out what she should do.  They locked the phone and she called the police.  They told her to get within 3 blocks of the phone, and call them back.  The officer made it sound routine.

So I sent my kids home, had Tom babysit, and Maggie and her kids and I headed out for a "sting" operation to get the phone back!  We followed the "track my phone" app on her iPad, and unfortunately, it led us to an apartment complex.  Drat!

She called the police back, and this time, got a Woman detective.  Who was awful.  She was like, Um, what do you want us to do, knock on every door???  Poor Maggie.  She said, "No, but I'm just doing what I was directed to do by the first officer".  The woman scoffed at her.  SOOOO rude.  The woman on the phone had the nerve to tell her to go knock on doors, and if it came down to a physical violent altercation, to call 911.  Um, yeah, sounds like a good plan.... NOT!

We let the apartment manager know what we were doing, and she was SUPER excited about it.  She even came and walked around for a little while with Maggie.  I guarded the kids in the car.  But it was no luck.  The app just wasn't specific enough.  So we headed back home, Maggie just crestfallen.

I went to Cub Scouts that night with a MASSIVE migraine.  I'd medicated myself when I got home, around 6pm, and I was SO hurting.  I had CPT drive us, and luckily, Sister Caldwell was our guest teacher.  So I just had to crowd control.  About 20 minutes into it, my meds kicked in.

Anyway, the next day (the day with Eme and the bird on her shoulder), my migraine is still there.  But I take meds, and get the kids to the bus, and go with them.  Looking all hot and sexy.  With unfixed hair and a blanket and junk.  And hop in Maggie's car, and we decide to go back to the apartments.  Because Maggie has found an aerial view of the map!  Which looks like it's narrowed it down to 3 apartments!  Much better odds!

Here's what Maggie and I look like.  Oh yeah, we are DANGEROUSLY scary!

So we get to the apartments, and we know it's either the top apartment, middle, or bottom.  From the picture, it HAS to be.  So we knock on the top door.  It's a young German girl.  She is abrupt, but nice enough.  She knows nothing.  We've invented enough of an "out" for the thief to save face and give the phone back.  "I lost my phone at Bassett Center.  Do you suppose that your toddler may have picked it up by accident?  We are offering a reward.  Please help us".  Nope.  Dang it!  So we leave a note on the other two doors, because there is no answer there...

Anyway, eventually that day, the other 2 tenants call us back, and they know nothing about the phone either.  Sigh.  And the phone hasn't shown up on "Track my Phone" again either.  So it's gone.  I suggest to Maggie to call USAA insurance, and see if it's covered on Renters.  And after about an hour on the phone, she finds out it is!  Because she didn't actually see Hannah set it down, they are saying that it was Stolen!  She just has to pay a $250 co-pay, and it's to be replaced!  She was SO relieved.  Because those babies are $850 brand new!  Anyway, that's the saga of the cell phone.

Here's is a picture from Tuesday.  That morning, Julia, Maggie, Hannah and i had gone to the movies to see "Trouble with the Curve".   GREAT movie!  Who knew that Justin Timberlake with whiskers was SUCH a hottie!  Mmmmm!

I was texting Kari at one point, and we decided that we needed to celebrate something that day.  And it was between World Kindness day and Indian Pudding day.  And yeah, Indian Pudding sounds SO much better than me being nice to people.  hehe.  So Eme and I made Indian Pudding from scratch!

Here's the recipe.  And yeah, I DID go and deliver bowls to Julia's family and to Maggie's family, so I may have been NICE too.... hehe.  We used the cool whip and the raisins.

Me at Walmart.  I LOVED this bearded hat!  hehe :)

Oh yeah!  I cut bangs!  What do you think???  I thought they were nice :)

After having been in the 70's, it dipped down to the 30/40's.  Jim thought he was gonna FREEZE!  He came bundled up for the bus like this.  He told me he wanted to move some place warm.  LOL.  I didn't have the heart to tell him THIS was the warmer place :)

So yeah, that was my week.  Hockey practice, church, piano lessons, movies, cleaning, shopping, phone drama,  lots of therapy appointments, play dates, migraines, and all sorts of stuff.  It was a busy week.  And now it's Friday night.  I'm waiting for CPT to come home.  We are going on a date.  Tom is babysitting.  Thank goodness!  I don't know what we are doing, but it should be good because we are together.  We are doing better.  He's decided to stop being so serious about everything, and just let some things go.  And it's really helping :)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.  Thanks!

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Just Relax Freebie

 

  Click HERE to go to the store

Click HERE to go to the store

New stuff up there!  Go check it out, I KNOW you will love it!  hehe.  So, where to begin.  My pictures loaded out of order, so you get the backwards version.  Today is Thursday.  After getting kids off on the bus, I went to Julia's house and tried to teach Maggie and Julia to crochet.  I'm a lefty, and they are right handed, so they did everything opposite of me.  Yeah, that was comical.  hehe.

But we had fun chatting and hanging out.  Right as I was about to leave for an appointment, Julia's dad came over with DUNKIN DONUTS!!!  Super dad, I know!  Julia was gonna take him to the airport.  I managed to get a Boston Cream one before I left.

I went to the school and got Joe, and we headed to the West side, making it just a few minutes late.  I need to work on my tardy skills.  Or my non tardy skills, I guess.  I crocheted while Joe therapied.  I really like Ms Nance.  She's awesome. 

We swung by Savers to donate the crap in the back of my Suburban, then we swung by McDonalds drive thru, then headed back to school.  I signed Joe back in, and headed back home.  Just in time for Maggie and Julia (and Hannah now too) to pick me up.  And we all headed to Costco for lunch.

Since I'd already eaten, I just got a soda and and ice cream.  The girls got some REALLY yummy smelling grilled turkey sandwich thing.  I wanted one, but I'd already eaten.  NEXT time!

Next, we headed into Bassett mall.  Julia needed something from Target.  I found a super cute dress for $12.50, but decided against it.  Then it was on to Bath and Body works.  I almost got some lotion, but decided against that too.  Sigh.

Then the girls dropped me off at an appointment that CPT and I had.  Marriage counseling.  The dude is moving next week.  I want to go see Ms. Nance, but CPT doesn't think that we need anymore counseling.  Sigh.  How do you convince someone to go get counseling?  I don't want my marriage to be this way anymore.  We just fight all the time...

Anyway, CPT dropped me off at the bus stop, and I chatted with the girls for a couple of minutes before the bus came.  Then home we headed.  CPT was home, and we argued for about an hour before I couldn't take it anymore.  So here I am, loading me store and blogging.  Sigh.  

Now lets work backwards with some of these pictures....

Here's me on Election day.  I voted for the other guy

We pulled Tom out of class on his Birthday during lunch, and took him to Carlos and Mickey's.  He was SO happy and excited to eat lunch with mom and dad and their old people friends!!!

Yeah, I'm naughty, I know.  But I wonder how many people giggled...  This is at Target.

Lifesized nutcracker at Costco.  Julia has a membership, so I get to go a lot!

Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.  Zombie Farmer, Vampire, Civil War Dude, and Red Coat boy

 CPT and Batman

Zombie Lovers

 This was my face paint on Halloween Day.  I went to all of my appointments this way!  LOL

We went for a weekend trip to see Jake in October.  He was doing really well, actually.  He comes back after Thanksgiving, because the insurance runs out.  We want him to believe that it's because we are letting him come home, not because we have no other options.  Anyway, he got an off campus pass, and we took him shopping.  He really liked this leather jacket.  Isn't he handsome?

CPT and Jacob at the Movie theater, playing video games

Jake and I

This was my costume for the Ward Halloween Party.  Zombie!  Yeah, I like zombies.  I freaked kids out, and LOVED it :)

Tom won 1st place in the chili cookoff for church!  Way to go, Tom!!!

And yeah, that's kind of a pictorial journal of what's been up in our house.  Lots of homework and therapy appointments and errands.  And I've been watching lots of TV on my phone.  Breaking Bad is my new guilty pleasure.  I also like Revenge, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, and Walking Dead.  I think those are the only ones that I'm currently obsessively following.  

Oh yeah, and we're switching around the kids' rooms again.  Tom is moving downstairs, and Joe and Jim are going upstairs.  And it's a FOREVER project.  My house is so trashed in the mean times.  I need a few days to just focus on it.  Too bad I don't have a few days....

I'm trying to keep a positive outlook on it all.  I really am.  But I find myself getting down a lot.  Finding it harder to look on the bright side.  Finding it easier to just wanna watch TV all day long.  And I know that is bad.  And I think I could even handle the Jacob situation, if I didn't have the marriage problems.  Or I could handle the marriage problems if I didn't have the Jacob problems.  You know what I mean.  I just find myself overwhelmed.  

Ok, so I'll stop complaining.  At least I'm good at taking my meds, right?  I never miss on those.  Because THAT would really mess things up.  LOL ;)

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.  Thanks!

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Monster Math Night at School

Hey, you guys!  I'm giving it a second change :)  It helps when your "boss" gives you a gentle nudge to do so.  hehe.  LOVE Maya.  She's a great lady, and I'm glad that she did.  I need to get back to designing.  And blogging is part of my process.  So here we go.

But first, here are 2 of my new wordart packs for the week!!!  Get excited!!!

Leaves 3 WordArt Pack

Halloween 8 WordArt Pack

I really can't even remember when the last time that I consistently blogged was.  Or what was going on.  I know that we were having Jake troubles.  Of course.  And yeah, we still are.  He's in a treatment center.  And only has a month left.  And we can't find a place to send him after.  Because no one will take him.  Because of his condition.  Sigh.  It's just one big struggle.

So our new strategy is to convince him that we WANT to give him another chance.  Have him thinking that he is home on OUR terms.  Then, at the first terroristic threat or aggressive behavior, we call the MP's and they take him to the mental hospital, and Medicaid pays for it.  We got him declared Disabled over the summer, and on Medicaid.  So that was good.  We have a plan, even if it's gonna be tricky.

So there's an update on that.  That happens right before Thanksgiving.  And CPT is going on a training.  So it'll be tricky.  We need to get the house all prepared for that.  We are working closely with the therapist to get a contract worked out between all parties.

A lot of my friends moved.  It was so sad.  But I've made some new ones, and there are some still here.  I'm hanging out with Julia every day.  And I see Laura, and Charlotte, and Maggie, Elaine, Leanne, Chelsey, Lesa, and Maria.  Yeah, I know there are more.  hehe.  Anyway, kids are in school, and I keep busy during the days.  Because if I didn't, I would just sleep.  That's what my meds do to me!  LOL. 

I have family therapy for Jacob once a week.  We do lunch at the school with the kids every Friday.  Joe is in Hockey.  Eme has piano on Tuesdays.  I am the den leader for Joe's den, and we do that on Wednesday.  Anyway, I can't go and catch you up on everything.  That would take forever...  Lets just pretend that I never stopped.  hehe.  Let's just pretend that you know what I've been up to.  ROFL!

So today, I got up and got the kids ready.  I now get up at 6:30am.  Because I help the kids get ready.  Instead of sleeping on the couch.  See, I've improved.  hehe.  I make sure that they have good clothes on (usually ones that I picked out the night before), and we get breakfast from the menu (we're back on a menu!).   Tom leaves at 7am, and the other kids go to the bus stop at 7:15am.  I go sometimes, and other times, I let Emeline supervise.  She IS a 5th grader this year, you know!

Today was Crazy hair day, so we use my SUPER sticky hair goo for Eme's hair.  She looked super fantastic!  Such a cutie!  Jim?  He doesn't have much hair, so when he asked to have a mohawk, I tried not to laugh.  I settled for face paint crayons in his blond hair.  hehe.  I thought it was cute :)

And KIM is at my house!!!  She had a doctors appoint at the VA hospital here in El Paso that couldn't be taken care of at Ft Hood, and flew in yesterday.  So we got ready for her appointment, picked up Julia, and headed to the hospital.

She was hurting, because she had to fast, and couldn't take her meds.  Poor thing.  She headed off to her appointment, and Julia and I hung in the waiting room, and cut out paper stuff for the "Monster Math" Halloween party that evening.  Julia had gotten roped into helping.  hehe.

After a while, we were done, and headed over to the main hospital cafeteria for a bit to eat.  We got chicken wraps.  They were super yummy.  We ate and chatted, telling stories from our lives, and then Kim was done.

We headed stopped by Julia's house to get her jacket, and then we went to Rainbow Fountain for Kim to get a shrimp cocktail!!!!  Remember those?  I'm SURE I blogged about those.  They are da bomb!!!

This is us, posing in front of the sign.  See how happy we are.  That's because I made my Suburban fit in the parking spot.  We all clapped.  The girl walking by thought we were quite funny....  hehe.  I live to amuse.

Julia and I got smoothies instead of food, because we were SO full.  I got Mango, and she got strawberry.  Yums!  We sat and ate and chatted, then headed to Bassett and the Jewelry Box.  You KNEW that was coming next, right???

Kim got a few things, Julia got a few things, and I abstained.  I know, right?  I am showing self restraint!  Amazing :)  I was trying to put the finishing touches on my grocery shopping list while the girls shopped (I had the menu done, but needed the detailed list).  We then headed to Target.  Julia needed to get Brooke a white shirt for her Halloween costume.  We wandered around for a bit, then headed out.

We dropped Julia off at Costco so she could pick up her prescription, and we circled the parking lot a few times.  And look what we found in the air!!!  I'm not sure what it is.  But I've seen it at the airport before.  Laura would TOTALLY know what this is.  She JUST got a job at the airport as a baggage handler.  How cool is that.  She used to work in Canada doing that, and now she is practically in Mexico doing that.

Next stop, Commissary.  Because I was on a menu, but I ran out of food.  So now my kids were used to following it, and I didn't have the stuff.  Anyway, I convinced Julia and Kim to come with me.  That's JUST what she wanted to do.  Fly to El Paso to go to the commissary.  hehe.  Actually, being part of her old groups everyday life is EXACTLY what she wanted to do.  hehe.

We started shopping, and I gathered the stuff on my list.  And I actually came in under budget.  But we were running out of time.  Julia volunteered to go and pick up the children, and we checked out, used her money to get her groceries, and we were waiting by the curb when she got there.  Perfect timing!

I dropped her and her kids and the groceries off at her house, and then my kiddos carried in my groceries.  My theory is, if I buy it, YOU can carry it in.  ha!  I got all the stuff put away, the kids had snack, we cleaned up a tad (and I mean a very little tad), and got ready for Monster Math night, the kid's school Halloween party.

Everyone threw on a costume from the costume box, and we called it good enough.  I should have probably looked at Jim's costume a bit more careful.  It was too small.  hehe.  I didn't know that boys could have "camel toe" until tonight.  Wait, can I say that out loud?  Too late....  Bless my heart.

My kids LOVE this event.  It's the Halloween party for the school, and they have educational games in the gym.  Bingo games, spelling activities, math activities, you name it.  And the kids get candy.  There are nachos and hot dogs and stuff for sale.  They had a costume contest, and it was just a LOT of fun.  Here's a few pictures from the event.

Here is Alex, Julia's oldest.  He's precious ;)

Emeline and her friend

Me and Kim and Delia (my behind the fence neighbor)

Jim, Jacob, and Hannah (Maggie's Kids)

Julia and Brooke (she was NOT pleased she had to wear her karate outfit.  They were going STRAIGHT to practice after the party.  She would rather have been the angel she wanted to be and is going to be on Halloween)

Emeline is SO adorable :)

After the party, we all headed home.  We left about 20 minutes before it got over.  Kim was tired, and my feet hurt.  And I think Tom was done.  hehe.  Jim could have kept going strong.  LOL.  Oh yeah, Jim and Brent were at Hockey practice.  That's why they were not at the event.

We un-costumed, and started on dinner.  Taco Pie.  I found it on Pinterest, and thought it looked good.  OMGosh, it was SO yummy!  Click HERE to go to the website for the recipe.  FABULOUS!

I didn't have the right pan, so mine didn't come up over the edge, and next time I'm gonna try and have it go that way.  And I had too much sour cream on top.  But it was delicious!!!!  Everyone at it.  Every last drop was eaten.  Definitely a keeper.

Just as I was getting ready to put kids to bed, Emeline asked if we could ready scriptures together as a family.  How could we say no to that.  She's SUCH a sweet girl.  So Kim got to experience Harty Family scripture reading.  LOL.

And yeah, don't be thinking that we're all perfect here.  I may be portraying the wrong thing.  We have problems.  CPT and I haven't been getting along so well lately.  He had surgery on his knee.  He's been on Convalescent leave for 3 weeks.  Men are made to work.  hehe.  He's going stir crazy.  And getting nit picky.  Anyway, we've been fighting.  So the fact that Eme asked for scripture reading was SO nice for a change.  It brought a peaceful spirit into the house.  So, THANKS Emeline.  I love you all the more for that.

Then the kids went to bed, CPT started cleaning our bedroom (for some reason), Kim played on her phone, and I blogged and uploaded photos to facebook and loaded my store.  See how productive I am!  And I'm done now.  It's 10:15pm.  I'm uber exhaused.  This is late for me.  LOL.  I'm not up for super late nights anymore.  I need my, well, sleep.  

We'll see how this blogging/designing/staying on top of it goes.  I want to get some freebies together too.  I don't have one today, so please forgive me.  Hopefully an update will suffice. 

Anyway, night, y'all, and I will see you tomorrow!!!

Summer Vacation Freebie

Hey you guys :) I've been getting a lot of "Are you ok?" messages lately, so I thought I'd pop on here and let you guys know that yes, I'm ok. I'm just taking a break, I guess. I guess that's what I'm doing. Really I'm stunned with all that's happening. I'm not really sure how to process it all.

My child has Conduct Disorder. And he isn't doing well in Residential Treatment. He's been there since July 2nd. And he's been in so many fights and arguments. They've had to move him to a different unit. To one with kids more his size. The more aggressive kids. He can hold his own over there.

Family therapy is going horribly. The first session, he yelled at us all, and hung up his therapists speaker phone. The second one, he spewed profanities at his brother, Tom, and then wished his dad death wishes. We were asked to NOT bring back the younger kids after that. I've now got them all in individual therapy. It's amazing how he can terrorize us all, EVEN through a phone...

Mrs. Nance, our therapist here in El Paso, has been SUCH a great help. She is a wealth of information about Conduct Disorders. One of the therapists that has actually worked with them. She was in charge of a Psych Ward at a hospital for a few years, and has a very down to earth approach with them. She had us read the Samenow book, "Before It's Too Late" book, and it was very enlightening. She said his work and approach is really the only way to deal with Conduct Disorders. The only approach that is shown to work.

Anyway, family therapy at RTC (residential treatment center) isn't working. Jake is getting into trouble. He was caught torturing a frog (putting it on an ant hill) and also torturing lizards. And yeah, animal cruelty is NOT good....

He therapist has told us that he should NOT come back home. Because being at the RTC has only empowered him. He is not going to get better. He is a Conduct Disorder, unsocialized. That means that he doesn't need people. He has no need, no craving for contact like you or me. He has no conscious. And he is totally self center. She said if he comes back home, he will most likely kill one of us. And yeah, that is NOT good. So now I'm left with trying to find an alternative placement for him.

I went to the Social Security office and put in an application to get him deemed Disabled. Once that happens, he can qualify for Medicaid, because he is in an RTC. Then we can get him transferred to a different RTC that takes both Conduct Disorders and Medicaid. Because the one he is at now doesn't take Medicaid, and the army insurance only pays for 5 months....

So, all of that is going on. Needless to say, I'm about up to my eyeballs in stress. The stress of having a child with no hope for rehabilitation. The stress of trying to find a permanent placement. The stress of fighting with an RTC to help me. The stress of trying to pick up the pieces at home. And then trying to process all of it. I know that nothing I did made Jake this way. He is just "wired" this way. But it's still hard. I believe in hope. But it is such a hopeless diagnosis. He needs to be in an RTC until he is 18. To prevent him from harming himself or others. And then it's just a matter of time before he ends up in prison. It's hard to wrap your head around....

When I'm not spending my time thinking about all of this, the rest of the summer has been great. The kids are doing really well. I love them so much, and enjoy having them around. We have been going to the pool, hanging at home, going to the $2 movies, playing with friends, and thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Aunt Sue is coming next week for a visit, and Eme and Aunt Sue and I get to go to Albuquerque for a Miche weekend! We are SO excited. The boys are going on a Civil War weekend. School starts on the 27th of August, and I really will be sad to see the kids go back. I've enjoyed spending time with them this summer. They are a joy to have around :)

CPT made the Captains list last week, so he's really going to be a Captain!!! hehe! I'm so excited for him :)

So I know that there are a lot of good things going on in my life. And I can choose to focus on them. But even when focusing on the positive, I feel bad for doing so. Because I have a Conduct Disorder child sitting in an RTC in East Texas, not needing anyone, not changing, not ever changing, being that way for the rest of his life, because that if just how he is, and I need to figure out how to fix the unfixable problem. Because I am his mother. And that's what mothers do....

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :) Thanks!

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June 2012 Complete Alphabet ZIP

Hey you guys :) I just wanted to pop on here before I go to bed tonight. I'm planning on coming back tomorrow AM and posting the rest of the alphabet. Yeah, I know. I kinda disappeared.

Good news, though. This past week has been SO nice and peaceful! Jake went to San Marcos residential treatment center in San Marcos, Texas (between Austin and San Antonio) last Monday, and I've had a WONDERFUL break. The kids are finally getting unspooked, and we are just relaxing and settling into a great groove.

We had our first meeting with the therapist here, and Jake and the therapist there. Yeah, he's been in 2 fights and had to get a new roommate because he refuses to get along... So he's doing the same things for them that he's doing for me. At least he's consistent, right? Maybe they can help him...

Jake's therapist here recommended a book, "Before It's Too Late", by Stanton Samenow. For Conduct Disorder in teens/children. So far so good. She said that there is a specific way that you have to approach them. Way different with other disorders. I'm on chapter 4, I think. Still getting background information. How their brains work. So far, I've learned that they believe that things are strictly their way, that they can shut off the "good fear" that influences us to make good choices, the disregard injury to others, the have unrealistic expectations and pretensions, they take the easy way, lying is a way of life, they refuse to be held accountable, and they are an island unto themselves. Nice... That's what I've been dealing with. Soon the book should be giving me some ideas on what to do to help. I hope, anyway. So far, just background knowledge.

We have 2 different times a day that family can call Jake. Cpt America and I have both called, and Cpt's parents have called. Aunt Sue, and Grandma Ida, and my mom and dad have both called too. So he's getting family interaction. I know that people have been writing letters, and sending things. So he's not deserted there. I just hope that he listens to the things that they tell him. Or that he dislikes it enough that he will change his attitude. Time will tell. The insurance will pay for up to 5 months is all. I don't know what we will do when he gets back.

Tom had a Boy Scout Court of Honor last night, and was advanced to a 2nd Class scout! Great job, Tom! He was presented with a bunch of merit badges and such too. It was a great meeting. He really enjoyed his week at BSA camp.

We've been going to the pool, and free lunch all this week and last week. Today, we went to the real movies, and saw Kung Fu Panda 1. For $2, we got a popcorn and a drink and admission! It was a special summer thing. There were a TON of kids there, but it was a good time. I took Julia's kids with mine because she was helping her dad out with an Eye Appointment. We went to free lunch after, then to the pool. Yeah, I was BEAT afterwords. I tread water in the deep end for 55 minutes!!! ha!

I worked on some designing since I have been slacking, then decided to hop on here and blog for a bit. I know that you all worry about me when I disappear :) That one thing that I wanna do better with. Blogging helps me to clear my head. To focus my thoughts. To make sense of the craziness that goes on in my life. I've really missed it. Sure, some days it's really nice to NOT have to worry about it, but I do miss it in general.

CPT and Tom and Eme and Joe are reenacting this weekend. That leaves Jim and I home. Ha! That sounds like Gemini! hehe :) I'm not sure what I'll/we'll do. I've been so tired lately. I need an energy burst. I think I may go to bed now. Or get into bed and read for a while. Yeah, that may be a good thing :) hehe.

Oh, forget it. I'll just post the wordart alphabet now. Then I'll go to bed. ha! So here's the zip file with A-Z in it :) There ya go :)

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June 2012 Alphabet "E"

Hey girls :) Yesterday was better. Less crying. That's a good thing. I actually showered and got pretty too! It's been a while.

CPT and Jake were home until 3, so we decided to all do lunch together. We had to drop Eme off at 8am at Volleyball camp in the morning, then hung out at home. Jake woke up around 9. He watched cartoons with the little boys. Although, at one point, CPT did hear the cartoons noise change. He went to check on the kids, and Jake had somehow convinced them to change the program to something that HE wanted to watch. Jim later told us that Jake had said "THIS IS DUMB" over and over and over until they relented and let him watch what he wanted to watch.... Poor little boys. CPT fixed it and they got to watch their cartoons again.

Eventually, it was noon-ish, and we went to pick up Emeline. We told everyone that we were going for Chinese. Jake just wanted to go to the youth center. He didn't want to go to family lunch. So we left him at the Youth Center. And we all headed out for lunch.

A while back, the girls and I had gone to lunch at a SUPER yummy and cheap place on Dyer. It used to be an Italian joint, I'm guessing, because there were statues of Italian chefs out front. LOL. And they never took them down. So it's a Chinese restaurant with Italian chefs out front. CPT was dubious. The place looked shady. Plus is WAS on Dyer. That place IS shady.

But it was SUPER cute on the inside. They dumped all their money inside. You sat at tables with couches. They had a HUGE circular fish tank that the boys were fascinated with. We ordered off of the lunch menu, and it was only around $4.50 per person! Awesome! And the portions were MASSIVE! We all brought food back for dinner! hehe :) So now I didn't have to cook, either :)

Jim got Sweet & Sour chicken, Eme got pepper steak, Joe and I got the almond chicken, and CPT got... um... yeah, I can't remember. Something with beef. It was good! We all got the white rice with it. It came with egg drop soup. They brought us little bowls, and a HUGE bowl of soup for our table. The kids LOVED the soup. We ordered 2 orders of Crab Ragoon to share. LOVE that stuff. And we got some crunchy thingys for the soup. Yeah, I LOVE that restaurant!

After lunch, we went to Walmart for a few necessities. And ended up meandering the store for an hour or so. We ended up talking to a grandma lady about special needs to quite some time. She hugged us when we were done. hehe. She made us promise to take the kids to the Grand Canyon before we left the El Paso area. LOL.

Then we headed back home. CPT and Joe washed the cars, and I headed to my doctors appointment. It was just a meds recheck. I think they wanna make sure that I'm not getting depressed again. And can you blame them? With the amount of stress going on in my life???

I said how I was feeling a bit anxious a lot, and a bit depressed. But how it was to be expected, what with all the crap going on. How I've been crying a lot, and been not as interested in the things that I used to be interested in. So they upped my antidepressant. We shall see if that works. Hopefully I feel better. Can't make it any worse, right???

When I got home, CPT was ready to head back to camp. He picked up Jake, and off they went. And I haven't heard from them since. No cell reception up there :(

The kids and hunkered down for a Friday night at home. Then Laura texted, and asked if we'd go and collect a package from her doorstep. Sigh. I LOVE Laura, and of COURSE I would, but I'd JUST put on my jammies, and had hunkered...... So I grabbed my purse, and the kids, and loaded into the Saturn, and we headed across town.

We grabbed the box, stashed it in the backyard, and decided to swing by the kids' old school from when we first moved to El Paso. Laura lives REALLY close to there. Then we drove by our old house. The new tenants had planted shrubs and put down some decorative rock. It looked really nice.

Then we headed home, and hunkered for real. LOL. I watched a few episodes of that newer series "The River", and the kids watched TV. Then I put everyone to bed, and yup, that was our Friday night.

The men (CPT, Jake, and Tom) come home on Saturday. But I'm not sure what time. They said noon. I'm not holding my breath. hehe. But miracles DO happen - ha!

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June 2012 Alphabet "d"

So, I only have 2 new releases for today, but I do have 2! And that's better than nothing, right? hehe :) Hope you like them! Click HERE to go to my store :) Layouts by Sharon :)



Not much time for an update, I'll be brief. This past week, Jake has been as Scout Camp with his dad. Because we were afraid to have him at home with me and the little kids by ourselves. CPT and Jake came home on Thursday night because Jake was refusing to obey. Not being violent or anything, but just not following rules. Not going to classes. Getting other kids to give him money. Borrowing pocket knives to carve weapons to use in the zombie apocalypses. That kind of thing. He was distracting from the other Scouts experience. And yelling at his dad and cussing him out too. That's not acceptable. So CPT brought him back for the evening

They are gonna go back Friday around 3, to make the closing campfire, then gather up stuff on Saturday AM, get Tom, and come back home as scheduled. I was happy to see CPT. I've missed him.

And the insurance came thru for the Residential Treatment facility in San Marcos! Jake and I fly out on Monday. I check him in on Monday, spend the night in San Marcos, then fly back home on Tuesday. And I get to see Kim, and my sister might drive over to see me too! And one of my blog/facebook friends said she might come see me too! Anyone else wanna come see me???? I'll be there Monday night and Tuesday morning! Party in San Marcos, Texas!!!

Bring lots of Chocolate and DDP (Or Diet dew, your choice!!!) CPT is staying at home to take care of the other kids, so it'll be a girls party!

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Big sigh

So I know that heavenly father will not give us more than we can bear. That is the theory. Right? Ive been taught that all my life. So if I'm still breathing, I'm supposed to take it, right? I think I may be at my limit. I haven't made it thru a single day in June dry eyed. And that's unlike me. I'm wanting to stay home and not come go out. To hide. To retreat from the world. I don't sleep well at night, and when I do, it have violent or creepy nightmares.

We finally got Jakes diagnosis. Not autism. Not aspergers. He is Bipolar 2. And conduct disorder. Do you know what Conduct Disorder is? It's what they call Antisocial personality behavior in adolescents. Or in other words, psychopaths (what they called it before they gave it the PC name). The people who go on a rampage and kill their family in their sleep and don't feel remorse. They have no conscience. I gave birth to a psychopath.....

Here's what Wikipedia had to say about Conduct Disorder :

Callous unconcern for the feelings of others.

Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.

Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, though having no difficulty in establishing them.

Very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence.

Incapacity to experience guilt or to profit from experience, particularly punishment.

Markedly prone to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior that has brought the person into conflict with society.

Yeah, that can definitely be jake. See why we though aspergers? And medicating for the bipolar and then the depression let the conduct disorder run wild. He became interested in people, and then used them to get what he wanted, with no reguard to them. When we last took him to the psychiatrist, she said that he had no real bond or attachment to the family. That it scary.... Very scary and disturbing. Probably why he likes the hospital so well, and doesn't mind going there so often.

Anyway, I feel used up and spent. I have nothing left to give. I am functioning on empty. CPT and Tom and Jake are at Boy Scout Camp this week. So I get a slight break. I sill have appointments and doctors appointments and am trying to get him in San Marcos. But now I have no babysitter. So I get to drag 3 little kids along. At least CPT has Jake for the week and I'm not afraid for our physical well-being...

Long overdue update

Hey guys. This is long overdue, but here it is. Jake got out of the hospital on the 12th of June. They called me at around 10 am and told me to pick him up by 6pm. I,of course, burst into tears! How was I supposed to deal with him??? He wasn't any more fixed than when he went in! Sigh. We were trying to get him into residential care, but it was a long process.

It had been such a nice break with him in the hospital. Everyone got a breath of fresh air. It was stressful still, but there was no walking on egg shells.

Anyway, we got him back, and tried to back to normal life. And it was hard. I was emotional. I was afraid. He was trying, but was still difficult and strange. He is still defiant and won't take directions. He's broken into the electronics cabinet and taken electronics in the middle of the night. We've had to buy a huge safe. $550

He doest take care of his actions and has hurt Jim twice. Accidentally of course

When jake couldn't get into the safe, he snuck into our bedroom at 230 in the morning for whatever reason, and we caught him watching us. That was super creepy!!!

We caught him in the bathroom trying to BIC shave his head, and the top of his head is all tore up now. He need help. More help than I can give him.

I've tried every avenue I can think of. Insurance. Supplemental ECHO Insurance. Short term care. Long term care. MP's. EFMP. Respite care. School IEP. Family Advocacy. It's just a long process. Everyday I'm at some agency or office filling out papers or getting reports or looking for help. While my other children suffer. Today we get his full psychology report. And have a therapy session. And a doctors appointment.

He's too well behaved for short term. It takes a long time for long term. I just hope that nothing bad happens to us before he gets approved..... Pray for us.

June 2012 Alphabet "D"

Morning, you guys. Sorry I haven't been around, like at all. I tried to go back and post a few of the alphabet series for you. Try and catch you up.

Yesterday was the last day of school, so maybe now I can blog in the mornings and catch everyone up. I've been having a hard time blogging in the evenings. It seems to be the only time that CPT and I have together, and to spend it on the computer only causes tension between the two of us. And that's the last thing that I need right now.

So the last time that I blogged, I was going to school with Jacob. And it worked, for the most point. During one of his finals, he finished in 1/2 the allowed time, and wanted to draw. But he needed to study for the next final. So I wouldn't let him use the paper or pencil. And he "wrestled" me for the pencil. It was interesting. What freshman boy gets into a tug of war with his mom for the pencil in the middle of class? The dude at the table across from us was giving Jake some serious strange looks. I eventually got the pencil because I was quicker. And after about 10 minutes of pouting, he decided to study. And after studying, he got to draw.

Anyway, each evening after school, we had some kind of power struggle. Either from doing homework, of cleaning his room, or with his dad, or something. They were getting worse and worse. And he's a super intelligent child. He knows which things we will and won't back down from. We only stick our guns to the most critical safety issues with Jake. So those are the ones that he's gonna be adamant with. He even went so far one night as to tell his dad "I LOVE pushing your buttons and making you mad"... Yeah, THAT didn't go over well...

So on Saturday, we had 2 baseball games to go to. Joe at 9am, and Jim at 10am. Tom and Eme stayed home. Jake had to come with me. CPT went to the shooting range with friends. Jake didn't wanna go, but he can't be unsupervised. That's just how things are right now...

So he did passable at the first game. Not too much complaining. He was gonna have Ms Julia help him study for his Spanish, but I forgot his paperwork at home. And he forgot his reading book at home too. Fail on both our parts. And it was too far back home to go and get it. And I had taken my meds WAY too late on Friday night to go drive some more. I was feeling not so good. A little out of it, in fact.

Julia took the little kids at 9:30 to Main Post youth center for their game, and we followed at 10:30 ish. Kari drove me, since I was feeling a bit strange. That's what friends are for. hehe. We got there, and Julia and Kari had folding sports chairs for us to sit in. Not like George Moore field with the nice bleachers.

Jake's mood went downhill from there. He didn't wanna be there. He wanted to go home. He wanted me to take him. Nope. He wanted to walk. Nope, because he can't be left unsupervised. Plus, there were other kids at home. He even tried to walk off a few time. But he came back. He did seem to have a bit of self control. And he came back and sat down.

But then he wanted to play on my phone. And phone are NOT for children to play on. That's how phones get broken. So I don't let kids play on phones. Big kids. Little kids. Any kids. I just don't. Only once in a blue moon. So I said, no, kids can't play on my phone. And he didn't take that as an answer, and kept demanding an answer. "Answer me, mom.".. Over and over again...

He got even more agitated, and grabbed my arm, threaded it thru the camping chair, and held it there against my will. It hurt. And he wouldn't let it go. For between 10-20 minutes. The time is a bit vague to me. I can't remember the timeline. It's all kind of a blur...

He was saying "WHY CAN'T I PLAY ON YOUR PHONE" and being a punk. He was banging my arm against the metal poles. I was trying to escape my arm, but I couldn't get it away from him. He is so much bigger than me. I was getting more and more upset. I was trying my best to hold back tears. Being tortured by your own child is NOT enjoyable...

At one point, he or I knocked our chairs off balance, and we went over. Like I said, my memory of the event is a bit blurry. I'm still a bit traumatized by the event. We fell to the ground. And I fought back. I managed to get him and a choke hold, and I can remember yelling in his face, "THIS IS NOT HOW YOU TREAT YOUR MOTHER". Yeah, I was not in control at this point. I had been emotional abused for the past 15 or so minutes and was rattled.

Well, he didn't like that, and went after me harder. He knocked me over, and started throwing punches. We hit the ground, and of course the game stopped. Jim's coaches are MP's. The both came running, and tackled Jake off of me. I of course was sobbing uncontrollably at that point.

Yeah, I'm THAT mom. The one that gets beat up at her 6 year old baseball game.... Sigh. Someone from the other team called the MP's, so they showed up about 3 minutes later. Luckily we didn't have to fill out paperwork until after the game.

We explained to the coaches how he was special needs, and Jake kinda wandered around cooling off. It only took him about 15 minutes to fully cool off. I stayed rattled for MUCH longer. The rest of the game is a huge blur to me. One of the moms came and talked to me. She worked at CYS and ACS or something like that, and said to pursue Respite care thru ACS. If approved, they would pay for up to 40 hours a month. For an older kid, I could get money to hire someone to "babysit" Jake so I wouldn't have to be the only one to supervise him. Sounded good to me. One more good resource.

We had called CPT, and he was on his way to the game. He got here as the game was over, and when I was just starting to talk to the MP's. We ended up being there 2 hours after the game got over talking to the MP's. Oh yeah, I do remember being so emotional that I yelled at the MP's when they I first started talking to them. LOL. Looking back, I wouldn't have done that.

They were like, "How can we help you, ma'am?". And I was like, "Really? You can't help me. My son physically abuses me, and you can't do a thing, can you? He's a minor, and he's special needs. I have called the MP's, and they don't do a thing! So YOU tell ME what you can do to help me.". Yeah, I may have been a bit rude... They ended up being SUPER nice, though. And the short dude knew ALL about Aspergers. He was very good to have there. He was supportive. I thanked them in the end, and apologized for yelling at them. LOL.

I am almost to the point where I can see humorous parts to it. Almost. I still cry about the experience. I still have moments where I relive it. And can't stop myself from doing it. It was scary. I can definitely say, that if I lived with a physically abusive spouse, I would leave them. In a heartbeat. I would NOT stand for that.

But there is nothing you can do to get away from a physically abusive child... You just have to endure it. How is that even remotely fair?

We decided that Jake needed to go back to the hospital. If he could freak out THAT badly over a phone, he was NOT in control. What if he had done that to one of the little kids. Yeah, NOT acceptable. We were taking him to the psych center. But not PEAKS. I was NOT pleased with the pill sharing from last time. Did I tell you about that? When he unpacked his stuff from last time, he had pills stashed in his stuff! He hadn't been taking them! They would stuff them in their cheeks! Then try each others pills. Or crush them and snort them. Sigh. I don't know what to even think anymore!

Police reports take FOREVER to fill out. The coach from the team filled one out, and so did Kari and I. Kari's hubby Brian took my little boys and dropped them off with Tom, then CPT and I headed to the Psych center with Jake. We stopped for some Burger King first. It was lunch time first. Thank you drive thru.

We started our paperwork at 1:15pm. And yeah, at 10:05pm, we headed home. OMGosh! It took freaking all day long! We slept in the little room for a while, chatted (Jake was 100% back to normal by this point... CPT and I? Not so much), built puzzles, whatever we could do to hold off boredom. But we eventually got him admitted.

This new hospital seems SO much better. It's right next to Childrens hospital closer to downtown. And is high speed. Professional. Clinical. Makes PEAKS looks like a summer camp. These people seem to know what they are doing. I feel like my child is in MUCH better hands here. And Jake was SO excited to go back. Sigh. He LOVES the hospital setting. The routine. The order. The structure. His Aspergers mind craves it.

We were exhausted by the time we got home, mentally. And just went right to bed. And slept in in the morning, and only went to Sacrament in the morning. And tried to relax on Sunday. And told the kids what was going on. Jim was sad, but the other kids seemed happy-ish to see Jake in there. He terrorizes them, to some extent, and makes their lives hard. It's really such a sad situation...

Monday morning, I got the kids to school, and had another longest day ever. I went to Jakes school, and talked to his teachers about getting his finals. And told them all my story. Then went to the counselors office, to talk about how to proceed for the end of the year. And told my story. And asked about Spanish. And because I still wasn't happy about that Spanish teacher, we talked about how that teacher probably wasn't following Jake's IEP mods. Jake stopped trying because he didn't understand. And his particular brand of Aspergers makes him not want to ask a lot of questions. So the teacher is supposed to check for understand. And obviously, he was not. He just got mad that Jake was mouthy (he told the teacher that Spanish and his class was pointless and stupid and Jake shouldn't have to take it).

The counselor sent me to the assistant principals office to tell her about Jake and Spanish and the teacher. So I told me story again. And finally had all of the school stuff done. Then I headed to the MP station to get the police reports. It would help me with the Respite care application, I'm sure. And I told my story again. Of course, each time I tell my story, I cried and got all emotional, and relived the experience... Not good for ones psyche... I'm becoming more and more of an emotional wreck as the day went on.

I got the reports (minus the one from Saturday - it wasn't processed yet) and headed to the psych center for the meeting with the professionals. We were meeting about Jake today. CPT meet me there too. And it was a GREAT meeting. We met for about an hour and a half, and talked about Jake. Childhood stuff, current stuff, issues, positives, negatives, future plans. All sorts of stuff. They agreed that a residential treatment facility for about 6 months would be a good choice for Jake. They took copies of the police reports.

And they wanted a FULL psychological work up for Jake. Good thing we are in the process of getting that done. We had an insurance approval pending, and were on the waiting list. They said that they would even release Jake to go and get the evaluation done, send a nurse with him (like as a field trip), then take him back, whenever the psych evaluation was. Sounded good to me.

We left that day hopeful. CPT and I went to lunch at Chilis. He had to eat and run, so I stayed, finished eating, and paid the waiter. I was super out of it. After lunch, I went to Big Lots, thinking that it would cheer me up. I walked around and put a few clearance items in my cart, but my heart just wasn't in it. I ended up ditching my cart after a few minutes, and went home. It's sad when Big Lots doesn't snap me out of it...

But before I could get home, I turned and went to ACS (Army Community Services). I checked in, and asked for where the Respite Care sign up was. It's in the EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) wing. So they directed me over there. And I saw a worker there I knew who showed me the way. And I told her my story, and cried and relived it again, of course.

It was a 30-40 minute wait to get seen, and she didn't want me just blubbering in the waiting room, so she let me wait in her office. Thank goodness. I was kinda a mess. So I had about 15 minutes to compose myself in private, then she came in. And we chatted until the man came in to get me. And I went to his office, and told him my story, and cried and relived it again...

He was very helpful. He started off asking what special need Jake had, and I said Just Aspergers, to which he corrected me. NEVER say JUST Aspergers. JUST? Aspergers is enough. Don't I know that!!!! Aspergers is extremely hard to deal with, especially in the teen years. NEVER will I say JUST again. Thanks, sir, for putting me in my place :) hehe. And Aspergers usually don't come alone. It's coupled with something else. Which we will find out when we have the full psych evaluation, I'm sure...

We talked about all the options, and he explained the application process. How I fill out all the paperwork, and how the board convienes to decide who gets the $$ for the respite care. And how to fill out the long answer part. Talk about how my family has all these activities that they love doing, and how because of my special needs child, we are unable to do it. That's the pattern to filling out the paperwork. OK, I can play ball. The board meets every 2 weeks. I missed the meeting by a day, so I have 2 weeks to fill out the papers.

And I needed to go to the hospital and get a print out of the EFMP summary. To see what the army thinks my childs special need is. So there was another stop... My day was getting super long.

I ended up at the bus stop right after the bus came. My kids went home with Tom, and I check to make sure everyone was ok. And to add more pressure to myself, I was starting to feel like a slacker neglectful parent. In my quest to keep myself and my children safe from a teen special needs 'abuser', I was being neglectful. Nice. More guilt. Not a good day.

So I get to the hospital, and go to the EFMP department. And ask for the EFMP summary. Which she prints out. And I tell her my story. And cry. And then notice that they have the diagnosis wrong. They say that he has PDD. Dr. Meyers. The dude who first tells us that Jake has Aspergers. Sigh. So I ask her what we can do to fix this. She give me 3 HUGE copies of forms to give to each of his different doctors to fill out. That will fix the problem. Then, I can give it back to her, and she can enter it into the computer, and give me a NEW printout so I can give it to the respite care man before the board reconvenes in 2 weeks...

I headed back home. Jim had his last game that night, but I couldn't go. I just couldn't. I really really wanted to hang with Kari (she's moving Wednesday!) and Julia, but I just couldn't face the team after what happened on Saturday. So Julia agreed to take Jim. Who was having a melt down. And of course he was, after getting NO grown up attention. Poor kid. I feel SO bad for my kids. And then I cried on Julia when she came to get Jim. Sorry, Julia.

Then CPT and I took Eme to her last Volleyball game. She's so cute :) After the game, they had a pizza party and got trophies. We dropped her off at home, then CPT and I went to the hospital to see Jake. I had the rest of his finals and books to give to him, and I had called the Psychologist. The insurance request had come in, and he was all scheduled for a psych evaluation at 2pm on Thursday. We informed the hospital of the time, and they said that they could call me.

We visited with Jake for about 30 minutes, and it actually went very good. It was funny, because we had brought Jake his Literature book with "The Odyssey" in it. And CPT decided to read part of it. With feeling. It was SO funny!!! And the fact that we weren't the only people in visiting room made it even more funny. CPT had Jake and I laughing hysterically :)

After the visit, we headed on home. And put the kids to bed. And were exhausted again. I don't think I could keep this pace up. I had told my story about 12 times that day. And relieved it 12 times. Yeah, NOT cool.

I thought I would get further in this post, but life got away from me. Let's tie it up here, and I"ll try and come back on Friday and catch you up for the week.

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June 2012 Alphabet "C"

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June 2012 Alphabet "B"

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June 2012 Alphabet "A"

Oh yeah! See, there IS good things that come from going to school with my kid! I got to design while supervising inside of classes - hehe. Most of his teachers are wonderful. Most. I'm not a fan of the Spanish Teacher. I think he gave up on my son months ago. And really, Jake can be a punk. But most of that is the Aspergers. Jake himself is a very nice child. The Aspergers sucks, though...

Anyway, click HERE to go to my store to give it a look see!!!






So, I can't even remember when I blogged last. PEAKS called and let Jake come home. His first day was good, but then fell apart in the evening. Come to find out, he was trying to smuggle meds to another kid. He's so "gullible" for lack of a better word. He'll do whatever the other kids tell him to for approval. And I'm not sure how to convince him to stop.

Anyway, we got him back on his meds, and he seemed to be doing MUCH better. Our campout over the weekend went VERY well. He was trying SUPER hard to be on his best behavior, and had a ton of fun. He and his dad got along very well. Then school started back up on Tuesday, and he didn't even mind having me along too much.

I followed him around, and we transferred him out of PE and into ROTC. Too many triggers in the PE class. I think there may have been an incident at home that night, but I'm not sure. I can't remember. I did take the kids to the pool on Tuesday night, and they had a TON of fun.

On Wednesday, we had school again, and it was just really long and boring. After school, I took the kids to the baseball game to see the local team play. Joe's team got to go on the field and meet the players. Jake was to do his homework and make up work there. He was pretty good the entire time, and got a whole unit of Geography done.

We didn't get home until around 10pm. But then at bedtime, he and his dad had some issues. I'd taken my meds, so I'm not even sure what it was about. But it was bad. Jake and his Aspergers comes off a HUGE disrespect to CPT, and CPT doesn't take it well. Then CPT doesn't back down, and gets his tender feelings hurt. So things get worse and worse and worse.... Yeah, not a good situation. Feelings were definitely hurt. Then it was finally over, and CPT didn't think that I backed him up. Yeah, cause I was on Topomax.... Sigh.

Anyway, that brings us to Thursday. I got the kids off to school, the administered a random drug test on Jake. He came back clean. Thank goodness! He was grouchy though. I think he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. And CPT was still grouchy from the night before too. Maybe that had something to do with it too...

Jake and I got to school on time, and while he was in ROTC, I turned in his books. We just needed to find a World Geography book. I wonder where it went... He was SUPER grouchy and agitated today. Later, we realized that he hadn't taken his meds. That makes sense! He was actually the one who realized it!

I really really had fun in ROTC with Jake today. The kids in charge had the others stand at attention, and then quizzed them for the test. When they got questions wrong, they had to do push ups. I just really like all of the positive attitudes and team work-age going on in the class! It's a GREAT environment! I would 100% encourage ANY high schooler to go out for ROTC!!! Great program :) Great role models! There was order and discipline, but there was caring and kindness and no one was pushed harder than what they could do, either. Well done, ROTC. This mom was very impressed.

Next class was Math. I SO love that teacher. She's awesome. I designed in that class. And eventually got Jake to read a bit in his book. He didn't want to listen to me today. At all. Sigh. I totally should have known about the meds!

Then we had lunch. Yummy sandwiches again! But no jalapeno today! Yesterday, a crisp whole jalapeno was included with my sandwich, like a pickle. So weird.... I guess it's a Hispanic thing. We also got Ice Cream sandwiches! I'm liking the school lunch thing - hehe.

After lunch, we had 5 minutes in the library, then went to Spanish. HATE that class. The teacher spent about 15 minutes playing on his laptop (or whatever he was doing) before he even acknowledged the class. Then, he had them do a worksheet (without any instructions). 1/2 of the class was just sleeping/doing something else.

And I started having a conversation with Jake, trying to convince him to go and asked his teacher for past work from when he was in the hospital. Yeah, he wasn't having anything to do with it.... He didn't want to do the work, so he wasn't going to ask. Come on, Jake! You're KILLING me!

After about 30 minutes, I convinced him to take a note that I had written asking for the assignments and what to do for the final. The teacher "himmed and hawwed" and sighed a lot, then Jake came back with a buttload of homework pages and a copy of the final. Which I took immediately. I'm keeping hold of all of the finals that he has collected. Because the thought of a 14 year old in possession of a final before the final just doesn't seem right..... I don't know what he'd do with it, but yeah.... no. Not gonna happen....

The last 45 minutes of class, he and I worked on 2 worksheets. Most of the time, we texted Julia for answers. Cause she speaks Spanish, having grew up in El Paso. hehe. She was a plethora of information! hehe. We got a whole passage translated! I was surprised at how much he and I together actually knew, though.

Finally, it was the last class. We went to English, and the teacher said that we could just go home. She and the class were watching a video, and there was no real reason for us to be there. She would mark us present for the day! Sweet! 1 1/2 hours early! So we headed home.

Jake finished off one of his English books, and took his test that he needed to finish off, and then had a small amount of free time. I got the little kids from the bus at 3:30, then CPT was home too. I dropped Tom off at the movies at 4pm. The 6th graders were going to see "Battleship" at the theater. He was so excited.

We had dinner, and CPT and Jake got into it again, and I got drug in again. Sigh. I'm not really sure what it's all about. The disrespect thing again. Yeah, Jake doesn't like being told what to do. And there are things that he NEEDS to do. But I think that we have to find other ways to tell him what to do, without him KNOWING that we are telling him what to do. Brute force doesn't always work. But CPT doesn't see that... As if my life isn't full of enough stress. Now I have it from one more angle.... I need a migraine pill...

I fixed dinner for the kids, and then CPT and Joe went to Hockey practice. I had to go and meet a lady about a Miche purse issue, and took the kids with me. Then went to pick up Tom from the movies. We were home by 7:00pm or so. We had dinner, then had some free time. I got my blog done, and my store loaded. It's now 8:00pm. And I need to put the kids to bed. And I'm super tired. I don't know how working moms do it. I really don't.

I have a fast pace, but it's all fun stuff. Not boring stuff. I think the boring stuff takes WAY more energy than the fun stuff. My most saddest thing is that Kari and Erin BOTH are moving next week. And I'm missing ALL of the playing and exercising and lunching while I'm at school with Jake.... Not that I'm bitter or anything.... No, I'm not, really. I'm just sad that I can't play with my friends. I love my son, and wouldn't risk his safety for the world!!!

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