Getting to know me..

Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're Supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun! Just copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. Some of you may get this several times -- that means you have lots of friends.

1. What is your occupation? Homemaker

2. What color is your underwear? black

3. What are you listening to right now? don't hear anything :)

4. What was the last thing you ate? steak, potatoes and salad

5. Do you wish on stars? No

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? hunter green

7. How is the weather right now? beautiful weather

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Sandy on Videophone

9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? YES

10. How old are you today? 33 yr old

11. Favorite drink? Mt Dew, Pepsi, Sweetened tea with lemon

12. Favorite sport to watch? None

13. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes but have not in a long time

14. Do you wear contacts or glasses? yes glasses

15. Pets? 2 dogs

16. Favorite month? all months

17. Favorite food? mexican food

18. What was the last movie you watched? We rent movies daily, last recent good movie I saw was "Just like Heaven

19. Favorite day of the year? CHRISTMAS

20. What do you do to vent anger? Keep my mouth shut till I'm alone with my hubby and I vent and/or vent to my Mom and Sandy.

21. Fall or Spring? Both

22. Hugs or kisses? Hugs from family and friends, hugs and kisses to my children and hubby

23. Cherry or Blueberry? CHERRY

24. Do you want your friends to email you back? if they want

25. Who is most likely to respond? I think Sandy is more likely to respond as well as Mom

26. Who is least likely to respond? DUNNO

27. Who do you live with? my hubby and 3 kids and 2 dogs :)

28. When was the last time you cried? can't remember

29. What is on the floor of your closet? Box of Bucky's power tools

30. What friend have you had the longest? my sister Sandy, 30 years.

31. What did you do last night? Went to Knoxville being a chaffeur for Justin..

32. Favorite smell? Bucky using aftershave..

33. What inspires you? Love

34. What are you afraid of? Not having Bucky around

35. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Spicy

36. Favorite car? Pontiac Grand AM and Chevrolet Cavalier

37. Favorite dog breed? Golden Retriever mix and Rat Terrier mix

38. Number of keys on your key ring? 6

39. How many years at your current job? 15 years

40. Favorite day of the week? Friday and Saturday

41. How many states have you lived in? 5

42 How many towns have you lived in/name them? Woodbridge Va, Arlington Va, Washington DC, Richmond Va (I think), Maine but i don't remember the town name,Wendell NC, Knightdale NC, Raleigh NC, Jacksonville NC, Midway Park NC, Mooresville NC, Taylorsville NC, Clinton TN, Oak Ridge TN, Maynardville TN

Getting caught up with me..

SMILE! Here I am.. So now I'm posting so you can get caught up with me on what I have been doing and will be doing..

Feburary sure has flew so quickly! Hard to believe we are already going into our 3rd month of 2006 and won't be long before it is CHRISTMAS again! It is also getting closer to our Deaf Cruise trip in 2007. Can't wait for that trip as it's a big thing for Bucky and me to celebrate our wedding anniversary prior to the cruise..

After the weekend guests we had for Tori, things has quiet down a bit. Thank goodness, I needed that quietness :) Bucky's Mom was supposed to come up here from NC for the weekend but it has been derailed for several reasons so we will plan on her coming up here sometime soon..

Yesterday, Justin asked me to take him and his two friends to Knoxville Center (East Town Mall) so Justin and I went to get his two friends and my eyes nearly popped out, my brain nearly fried! when I saw his friends.. They were dressed in completely black clothes, being punk-goth.. I have seen Justin's friends but I have not seen anyone dressed like this until yesterday but I kept my mouth shut and drove them to the mall and dropped them off. I went to visit Granny and Gramps for a while until it was time for me to pick Justin and the friends up. I asked Ryan, "what did he think of the clothes" and his reply was "clothes are COOL!" OH MY GOODNESS!! I have nothing against their clothes or their desire to express who they are or what they want to be but I just didn't want my kids to dress like this.. So we stopped by McDonald's to see Bucky and to get burgers for the kids so Bucky could see the friends. He had same reactions as I did. LOL! Mom and Dad had Tori spending the day with them so they were ready to drop Tori off but they decided to stop McDonald's to get some ice creams and found me there.. So they did get to see Justin's friends too and Tori wanted to have same outfit the girl had.. OH MY GOODNESS!! :) At least clothes can be worn and thrown out instead of having something permanent that you can't throw it out when you outgrow that phase..

Anyway Spring breaks are coming up here soon. In March, Ryan will have 3 weeks spring break, He will share one week of his break with one of his siblings each. Tori will share Ryan's first week then second week, Ryan get to enjoy his one on one time with us then Justin share Ryan's last week.. THEN Tori has another one week vacation in April.. Time is getting close to Summer when the kids are out of school. I'm BUSY looking for summer camps for the kids to attend so they will have something to do through the summer.. Any informations??

I have looked up Bill Rice Ranch Camp in Murfreesboro TN but Tori doesn't like wearing dresses or skirts so she said NO! She wants to ride horses, swim etc but not to wear skirts or dresses.. She's too tomboy for that :) Anyway, I looked up a few camps that I think Tori would like so I'm going to check more into that and see what I can come up with for her and also looking for something for Justin as he's older and bored easily :) Ryan will be staying home this summer but maybe he will have the chance of going camp next summer..

I'm trying to think up of something to quilt as Mom, Sandy and I will be getting together on Saturday to do our quilting and I have no idea what I'm going to do :) Maybe make a small bag for me to carry my wallet as it's a bulky wallet that carries everything into one big wallet..

THEN on Sunday, Mom, Dad, Robert, Sandy, Granny, Gramps along my family will be getting together for TACO SALAD that we had postponed several times due to the weather. I'm really HUNGRY for that as I LOVE mexician food.. IT's the best!

On Tuesday, I have an appt with Vocational Rehabilation HOPING to get some feet into doors to get jobs or a job training for some type of jobs I'm hoping to be doing... Bucky has been frustrated trying to get jobs and he's going to have a meeting on Tuesday with another agency and see if they are able to help him getting a foot in the door and be able to be employed asap.. I was hoping that we would be employed by now so we could be earning enough money to be able to file taxes next year and bring home hefty tax refund.. OH well! Just hopefully that we will be able to get jobs before middle of year!

Will be busy on Tuesday as you know Bucky and I have meetings Tuesday morning then Mom and I will have to pick Granny up to go to her heart doctor for her appointment.. Hope that the appt will go well and be able to get the results on Friday without any delay..

Ryan has gotten his yearbook from school last Friday.. It is a paperback yearbook but so adorable! I love looking through yearbooks to see the faces and the expressions of the children.. I can't wait to have Justin's and Tori's coming in April or May.. :)

I wanted to say Happy Belated Birthday to Uncle Murphy as his birthday was last Tuesday the 21st.. And to say Happy Birthday to Elizabeth as her birthday will be on Feb 28th, this coming Tuesday.


Till Then! M-

North Dakota

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT

North Dakota News

This text is from a county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota state after the recent snow storm.

WEATHER BULLETIN
Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:
George Bush did not come....
FEMA did nothing....
No one howled! for the government...
No one blamed the government
No one even uttered an expletive on TV...
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit
Our Mayor's did not blame Bush or anyone else
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snow storm
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....
No one looted...
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something
Nobody expected the government to do anything either
No Larry King, No Bill O'Reilly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera
No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Streisand, No Hollywood types to be found
And Nope, we just melted the snow for water
Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers
We Fired up wood stoves
Broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns
We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die"
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes or 'sittin at home' checks.
Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves. The world Does not owe you a living..

~~~~~~ Thanks Vicki for sending me this email..

Funny Stuff to share..

I have gotten several emails from different people so I'm posting it here.. Enjoy! Laugh loud! :)





I love Garfield.. His comic strip always get me to laugh at how stupid or how crazy Garfield can get or how Jon can be.. :)



~~~~~~~~~~~~

This came from Vicki, Thanks!

How To Shower Like a Woman:

Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks. Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown.

If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

Look at your womanly physique in the mirror - make mental note to do more sit-ups/leg-lifts, etc.

Get in the shower. Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofah and pumice stone.

Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43 added vitamins.

Wash your hair again to make sure it is clean.

Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner enhanced with real passion fruit.

Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red.

Wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash.

Rinse conditioner off hair.

Shave armpits and legs.

Turn off shower.

Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower.

Spray mold spots with Tilex.

Get out of shower and stand on bathmat.

Dry with towel the size of a small country.

Wrap hair in super absorbent towel.

Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head.

If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.


How To Shower Like a Man:

Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.

Walk naked to the bathroom.

If you see wife along the way, shake wiener at her making the 'woo-woo' sound.

Look at your manly physique in the mirror, admire the size of your wiener, and scratch your butt.

Get in the shower.

Wash your face.

Wash your armpits.

Blow your nose in your hands and let the water rinse them off.

Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.

Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding area.

Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.

Wash your hair.

Make a Shampoo Mohawk.

Pee.

Rinse off and get out of shower.

Avoid bathmat.

Dry off forearms and butt only.

Fail to notice water on floor because curtain was hanging out of tub the whole time.

Admire wiener size in mirror again. Shake it to watch water fly off.

Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.

Return to bedroom with towel around waist.

If you pass wife, pull off towel, shake wiener at her and make the 'woo-woo' sound again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vicki sent this link to me and I wanted to share with everyone who comes to this blog.. We are taking too much of time not really using our time wise and we are not making right choices.. Thanks Vicki!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mom sent this to me.. I had to chuckle and wanted to share with you all.. Thanks Mom for the chuckle!

How come when you mix water and flour together you get glue?..

and then you add eggs and sugar... and you get cake?

Where did the glue go ?

NEED AN ANSWER? You know darned well where it went!

That's what makes the cake Stick to your BUTT

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (may be even a chuckle). We all need a good laugh, keep on smiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~














Dad sent me this picture and I agree with this one.. I won't be surprised if there is actually P.A.S. among deaf people.. There are Sidekick color and Sidekick II and Blackberry, T-900 among the deaf people.. It is blessing to have it available so we could keep i touch with anyoe who we need to get in touch with BUT it could also be annoying because there is no privacy and no time limit of people getting in touch with us :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Mom sent me this link.. WOW that squirrel sure have a death wish! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cindy Sheehan asked President Bush,"Why did my son have to die in Iraq?"
Another mother asked President Kennedy, "Why did my son have to die in VietNam?"
Another mother asked President Truman, "Why did my son have to die in Korea?
Another mother asked President F.D. Roosevelt, "Why did my son have to die at Iwo Jima?"
Another mother asked President W. Wilson, "Why did my son have to die on the battlefield of France?"
Yet another mother asked President Lincoln, "Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?"
And yet another mother asked President G. Washington, "Why did my son have to die near Valley Forge?"
Then long, long ago, a mother asked,"Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"

The answers to all these are similar-- that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness and freedom.

No I didn't write this one...it was e-mailed to me with no author; and I thought the magnitude and the simplicity were magnificent!


Till Then! M-

The weekend went by..

Hello Everybody,

We made it through the weekend! :)

The girls had good time together despite being cooped in the house with a couple of minutes playing outside.. We had snow again this weekend!

Here's the pictures of the girls.. Justine is one on the left, Amanda is the one on middle and of course, you know my daughter, Tori is on the right :)

Justine is 14 years old, Amanda is 13 and Tori is 12.. But Tori is taller than both of them. I guess I have tall children! Justine and Tori has known each other when Tori was 3 and Justine was 5, being in preschool together.. Amanda has moved to Tn last summer and will be moving back to New York in March..

OH! Also I have some pictures of Justin to post.. :)

Don't you think my Justin is such a good looking 14 years old boy? I think he is :) He comes up with different way to express himself and having those pictures made.. There are some more and it is all here..

Yes I know you are holding Queen.. :) You can see what he looks like now without his long bangs.. I think he looks better now but unfortunately, he shaved his brows :( I told him he's going to have very bushy eyebrows now..
I am very proud of my children and I know they are not all perfect but it doesn't change the fact that they are MY CHILDREN.. Justin may have typical teenager attitude as well as Tori but it just proves to me that they are leading normal lives as many other teenagers.. Ryan is very easy going at his age and I look forward to see what he will be doing when he reaches the ages that Justin and Tori will be leaving behind.. :)

This was taken today.. We still have some snow and we are also having some more snow coming tonight so we will see how things goes tomorrow if the boys will be at school or at home driving us nuts! LOL !

Happy President's Day when you wake up in the morning! I don't see why many businesses are closed on President's Day but they are! OH WELL! :)

Till Then! M-

The weekend's approaching..

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow Tori will be bringing home two of her girlfriends for the weekend visit.. Tori's so excited about her sleepover weekend as she has been begging for them to visit for some time now but our timing was off. Since one of the girls will be moving to New York March 3rd. So I gave in and said yes, you could invite them over for the weekend visit.

I think it was pretty cool that both girls comes from deaf families as well as Tori. They are close buddies in Middle School.. So this weekend should be active! :) TSD has so many children that comes from deaf families.. It's so unreal!

This reminds me of when I was younger at ENCSD, there was not many children with deaf families in my peers. Only a handful of us such as Amy Ensley (deaf parents), Howard Gilbert (raised by a deaf guardian), Karl Riddle (Deaf parents and aunt/uncle), but several children had deaf siblings at the school.

However, there were PLENTY of deaf staff at ENCSD:
John Hawley, Clay Hixon, Barney & Mary Williamson, John & Barbara Williamson, Marion & Jeannie Parris, Marty Blakely, Ricky Matsen, Robert & Jean Watson, Joy Owens (she became deaf late), Richard Glover, Donnie Shores, Charles & Sylvia Williams among many other staff that has came and gone.. ENCSD continues to have new deaf staff to this day but unfortunately I know maybe 3 or 5 of them so I can't name them all :)

I am glad that we did have some exposure to deaf world with those staff around but I am disappointed that ENCSD doesn't have that closeness in alumnis like many other schools has. I graduated from ENCSD 16 years ago this June and have not had a class reunion yet.

Will post some pictures of the girls later this weekend.

Now I am going to look through my yearbooks to remember those fun and good times I had in high school! :)

Till then, M-

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Hope your loved one treat you to something special, may it be eating out, a card with roses, heart filled with candies or just spending time together and saying I love you!

I look forward to spend some time with Bucky and our kids today so they all will know how much I do love them.. VERY MUCH! It's Day of LOVE! :)

Just don't forget to say "I love you!" everyday during the year..

Love you! M-

TV Movie on Lifetime

I watched the movie on Lifetime last night "A Princess and the Marine" and found out that it was a true story..

The Princess & the Marine
Starring: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Anthony Azizi, Marisol Nichols, Navi Rawat, Keith Robinson, Dave Power, Luke Hari Based on the true story of an American marine who meets and falls in love with a princess in Bahrain while he is stationed there. Aware of the political and religious repercussions, they race against time to escape to the United States, where they can marry.
[Closed Caption] [TV-PG DL]


The beginning of their story toward their divorce 5 years later..

I was appalled at the ending when they DIVORCED!! They fought all they fought against just to divorce 5 years later! Guess not every marriage is meant to be.. Oh well!

Sunday Stuff to Share..

Hello Everyone!

Yes, It is still snowing in Tennessee but we didn't get 6 inches last night :( This morning it is still snowing and snowing.. Maybe today?? I doubt! :(

There is something that I have gotten and thought I would like to share with you..

For those who are deaf/hard of hearing who needs fire alarms in their house, please go to this link and apply for fire alarms..

For those Deaf Women who have been abused, I got this news clip through a email forward from Dad.. Thanks, Dad! I am glad it's there for any women who has been abused or needs their services..

Now hearing people has their own type of Videophone like us deaf people having D-Link and Sorenson.. It's this OJO selling for $599.99 online..

Oh my goodness! I would die if I had seen this from heart attack! I laughed watching this but if I was right there watching this fold, I would be scared or something like that..

Enjoy your Sunday! :)
M-

PS- Happy Birthday to you Jonathan! Hope your birthday is special as you turns 15 yr old.. Hope to see you soon!

Snow In Tennessee!

Beautiful White Snow in Tennessee!!

On Friday, the weather said we are to have rain then snow acculimation of 1-3 inches by sunrise Saturday morning and 6 inches by the evening, so we had snow when we woke up and the kids was having so much fun playing in the snow before it melted by mid afternoon. The kids was disappointed that it didn't last much long.. Bucky was hoping for a blizzard to be able to be stuck in the house for some reasons I don't know! LOL! Justin took the picture of the house with our first real snow!
He stood on the van to take this beautiful picture! The snow isn't much but it's still snow! :)

Tonight, Bucky went out and rang the doorbell so it would flash into other room to get my attention and said "It's snowing again!" So I went outside to look and WOW! It was really snowing pretty good! So I came inside to get my camera and try to catch the beauty of the snow but I didn't get that well but you could see the snowflakes was defintely falling.. I looked up the sky and took the picture as the snowflakes was coming toward us..

Just to imagine the flakes falling free and aimless toward the ground.. I often wish I could just fall down free and see where I land.. Well, in my situation it may be quick fall though! PLOP! HA!
Then I decided to take the pictures of our house using the night feature and I know it's not all that great but I think it looks pretty good..
You can see snowflakes falling there also.. We have the streetlight right across our house so that is why we have that yellowish look.. Snow is building up the ground so hopefully we will ACTUALLY get that 6 inches of snow the news weatherman said we were supposed to get.. Our van is coated with snow but my car isn't coated that well yet. Guess my car is hot stuff!LOL!! :)

When I came back inside, Ryan was very hyper jumping around, wanting to be someone in Dragon and Dunegon and I took his pictures while he did his moves of being that strong man! You gotta to admit, that little boy is so adorable! :) He loves being "Superhero" Every day he would ask me, "Am I strong?" "Am I fast?" and my reply every day would be, "Yes You are strong," "Yes you are fast!" Yesterday he said, his classmates said he was not strong or fast or a superhero.. He was really sad about that and I told him that to Mommy, he's a Superhero and he's strong and fast! He grinned real fast after that and continues his dream of being Super Hero.. :) He wants to be someone important like those superheros.. So be looking out for him growing up and be a superhero! :) In fact, I think he already is mini SuperHero.. He survived and overcame Neuroblastoma cancer beginning at 5 weeks old and be in remission by 5 months old..

Hope everyone will enjoy their snow as East Coast is going to have blizzards.. Enjoy your SNOWSTORMS! Send some our way! :)

M-

Hoop For Heart

Tori is doing a fundraising for TSD now collecting donations to give to American Heart Association. She's hoping to raise at least $100.00 so she could get basketball from Hoop for Heart..

You can donate a flat donation of any amount OR you can donate a specific amount for each hoop she makes (beware, she is pretty good at shooting baskets) and when she get that hoops made, you can pay for each hoop.. I prefer for all donations to be flat donation so I won't have to bother you further :)

If you are interested into donating, please let me know as she's required to have money order or personal check to hand it in on Feburary 17th.. Please email me at LiveLaughLove29@hotmail.com with Hoop for Heart in subject so I won't delete you..

Please help Tori accomplish her goal.. She has raised 58 dollars so far so it's so close to her reach. Last year she collected $94 dollars..

Thanks!

WONDERFUL NEWS!

Hello Everyone!

We finally find more information regarding Bucky's Graduation which will be held on May 5th 2006 at 7 pm.. Bucky has turned in his measurements for cap and gown and will be getting that on April 1st, He will have to go and order his class ring and invitations on March 15th. OH BOY! It's exciting time now that we are approaching.. He has requested for interpreter to be present at the ceremony for himself and for the family as you all know, Tori and I am deaf :)

We are also having S N O W!! Yes SNOW IN TENNESSEE!! OH BOY!! We are supposed to get between 1 to 2 inch snow and Knoxville is supposed to get 2 to 4 inches of snow.. We will see how much we have got in the morning but it's beautiful sight to see the snow on ground!

Ryan is so excited about upcoming Valentine's Day party at school.. I guess Emily and Ryan has patched up and are back together again.. Ryan picked out a biggest Valentine card from the box we bought and wrote EMILY on it :) Then he started to hug the card and kissed it.. I asked him You want Emily to have that, He said "I want Emily be my Valentine!" I guess Emily is Ryan's first crush! AT 1st GRADE?!? Mmmm. Hope you all are getting special treats from your loved one on Valentine's Day..

:) M-

Another Sunday Passed..

Another Sunday Passed..

Super Bowl-- Steelers won again.. Bucky was disappointed! He was rooting for Seattle.. He wanted new winners.. Oh well! Till next year I guess..

As you may realize by now that we didn't get together for that Mexician feast we were supposed to have yesterday (Saturday) it's being postponed till next Saturday after seeral things has happened on Friday.. So it will be multi celebration for few reasons, to celebrate Sandy and Robert's closing on the house they will be signing on the 10th, to celebrate Valentine's Day being with our loved ones early :) and just being together..

We did have some flurries but no SNOW! We will see if we will have any snowstorm coming up here anytime soon as our last blizzard was in '96 so it will be the 10th anniversary of having blizzard.. Bucky said he's hoping for one good snowstorm.. I don't know if I really want one or not.. :)

Mom's arm is being slinged for a couple of days after having a bad fall and bruise her arm real bad and muscle sprain. It was odd to be on the opposite side watching Mom being taken care of in ER while it has always been me being patched up while she was by my side growing up but it made me feel so good that I was able to be there with her.

Ryan and Tori went and spent the night at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Robert's house last nite and this morning, Sandy called me on telephone but I didn't answer the TDD but called her via VP. She mentioned that Ryan is sick with fever of 100.1, OH BOY! So Bucky, Justin and I went over and picked up Ryan and brought him home and took him to see the doctor. The doctor said Ryan has ear infection and the drainage is making him cough. So no school for Ryan tomorrow!

Tori is spending tonight with Nana while Papaw is gone to work. Tori seems to enjoy her time over there this weekend! No Justin to fight over for time on computer. LOL!

OH! Guess what!? Out of blue tonite, Justin said "I'm thinking about cutting my hair" I asked him if he was serious and he said yes so Bucky ran and got the shear and we cut his hair off. I think he looked so GOOD with his haircut. He looks so much older than 14 yr old. He's wanting to grow his hair at one length and have it longer than he had it before.. I will snap a pic in the morning and post it..

Till then, M

Saturday...

Our Saturday went by too quickly!

I got up at 6 am wanting to get up at 8 but had set up the alarm wrong! Sheesh so I had planned on getting started on the cleaning and get the closet in living room converted to my quilting space. My mistake of going back to bed and woke up at noon but fortunately Bucky was in mood to do some work with me so we worked on putting up boards for shelves in the closet and I have gotten pretty much of my stuff settled up but not entirely because I have to make some purchases of plastic bins etc to be able to complete my intention of being organized..

Sandy and Robert came by to pick up Tori and Ryan for their overnight visit and dropped Justin at Barony so he could hang out with his friends playing with Magic cards..

I went through three containers that has a lot of papers in them so I found many papers that kids did when they were little.. OH SO CUTE! :) I also found those below in the containers so I decided to type them out here and you guys can read..

This is for Bucky as Valentine's day is approaching..

I swear

I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
And I swear like the shadow that's by your side
I see the questions in your eyes
I know what's weighing on your mind
You can be sure I know my heart
cuz I'll stand beside you through the years
You'll only cry those happy tears
And though I make mistakes
I'll never break your heart
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like a shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, till death do us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear
I'll give you everything I can
I'll build your dream with those two hands
We'll hang some memories on the walls
And when just the two of us are there
You won't have to ask if I still care
Coz as the time turn the page, my love won't age at all
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I swear (And I swear) like the shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, till death do us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear
I swear (I swear) by the moon and the star in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like the shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, till death do us part
I'll love you with every single beat of my heart
I swear, I swear oh... I.. swear...

*****

I found this email that I had printed several years ago..

DEAF

What is it like to be deaf?
People have asked me
Deaf? Oh hmmm how do I explain that?
Simply, I can't hear.

Nooo, it's much more than that
It is similar to goldfish in a bowl
Always observing things going on
People talking all the time
It's being a man in his own island
Among foreigners

Isolation is not stranger to me
Relatives say hi and bye
But I sit for five hours among them
Taking great pleasure at amusing babies
Reading books, resting, helping out with food

Natural curiosty perks up
Upon seeing great laughter, crying, upsetness
Inquiring only to meet with "never mind"
"Oh, it's not important"
Getting such a summarized statement
of whole story

Supposed to smile to show the happiness
Little do they know how truly miserable I am
People are in control of language usage
I am at loss and real uncomfortable

Always feeling of being an outsider
Among the hearing people
Even if it was not their intentions
Always assume that I am part of them
By my physical presence, not understanding
The importance of communication.

Facing choice of the Deaf camping,
Weekend and family reunion
Facing the choice between the family commitment
and Deaf friends
I must make the choice constantly
Any wonder why I chose deaf friends?

I get such great pleasure at Deaf Clubs
Before I realized, it's already 2 am
Whereas I anxiouly look at the clock
Every few minutes in the family reunion

Our communication flows back and forth
Catching up with little trivals, our daily life
Our frustations in bigger worlds
Seeking the mutual understanding

Contented smiles and laughing are musical
So magical to me
So attuned to each other's feelings
Truly happiness so important

I feel more at home with deaf people
Of various color, religion, short or tall
Than I do among my own hearing relatives
And wonder why?
Our language is common
We understand each other

Being at loss in control
Of enviroment, that is communication
People panic, retreat to avoidance
Deaf people are like plague

But Deaf people are still human beings
With dreams, desire and needs
of belong just like everyone else

By Dianne

*****

Here is something I didn't realize I had until tonite..

Don't Forget The Children
The hearing children born to deaf parents!

They are the hearing ones who learned your language. They can laugh and cry and weave stories in sign language with the best of any of you. But they can hear.. And now you say that you don't need them, those hearing people.

But they are the ones who bore for you the taunts and jeers of other kids on the playground who didn't understand the magic of your sign and who whispered the magic lies that you could really hear after all.

These children sat between you and the teacher on parents conference days. They are the ones who called the doctor, the insurance man, and the plumber in the days before hearing people had a TTY

These children are the ones who listened to the sounds that the old Chevrolet made to see if it was running ok as if being able to hear made them into mechanics.

Those children are the ones who helped you when you needed to write a letter, and you said that no one understand your English. And they helped you untangle your best grammar into the confused order of rhymes of hearing people's language.

These children didn't kjnow somebody wouldn't let you have a deaf president now. They thought you could do anything you wanted to do except hear.

These children knew you could drive clear across the state without getting lost (Or even needing a map) and that you know how to row a boat and how to catch some of the biggest fish in the bay.

These children were the first one to believe in you and accepted you as people who heard with their eyes and talked with their hands. They were your first deaf advocates and public relation people.

And now that you are busy with your deafness, you don't want to let those hearing people join you in your deaf only, deaf first, deaf me activities. You have to fight for your empowerment over your own life and they, aftr all are only hearing.

But remember, they are YOUR CHILDREN!

it was printed from CODA Connection 1992..

*****

Enjoy your Sunday.. :)

Till Then, M-

More Stuffs To Share..

:) Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well and happy..

Tax monies are coming to our neighborhood and we are seeing new automobiles coming to the street.. Our neighbors, Christy bought a mini-van, Arthur bought a big fancy van, Jennifer/Stevie bought fancy big car with their taxes.

Sandy and Robert are excited about becoming homeowners of the house they have been living in for a year after my family had moved out last year to move into this house we are living in. So our grandparents will soon no longer own the house.. They are very excited and planning on putting down fence in their yard so Max their dog could be able to run around free instead of that small dog pen they have in yard.. The reason why I didn't mention Lucy because she is no longer over there with Sandy and Robert..

Lucy has came over and become part of our family.. So now I have three children and three dogs, 3 girls and 3 boys.. At first, we were not sure if we would be keeping Lucy because we were not sure how Angel and Buddy would get along with Lucy but to my surprise, they got along very well.. Lucy at first was afraid of being here but the next day, she was playing very well with Angel and Buddy so we said alright, you can stay..

A comment that has made me feel real good about myself, "You really know your son very well" by an interpreter who interpreted for us at Justin's school.. We had to have a meeting with Justin's teachers. I had commented how things has been with Justin and my point of view of what's happening and they decided to call Justin into the meeting to ask him some questions and Justin answered excatly what I had said to the questions we were discussing.. The interpreter said, after the meeting that she was amazed that I knew Justin very well.. Many parents would say, "I don't know what went wrong or I don't know what my child is thinking", etc but I knew what he was thinking and I knew what's happening with Justin.. It made me feel real good that I do know my son very well because I do pay attention to what's going on with him.. I love Justin very much and I love Tori and Ryan just as much as I do Justin. I am happy the interpreter was able to see that..

Ryan broke my heart when he came to me when I was on VP with Sandy, he came with a sad face and said "girls at my school don't like me, I don't have girlfriend because Emily broke up with me" and cried so hard. I didn't even expect for Ryan to be so upset about this but he is very senstive boy. I felt so bad for him and I gave him hug and tried to comfort him.. It bothered him that the girls didn't like him especially with Valentine's Day party coming up. He wanted to have a special Valentine girl.. He mentioned that he didn't want to go to school on Valentine's Day.. Awwwww, my little baby boy.. :(

We are looking forward mexican day at our house Saturday BUT the news are saying we are going to have snow.. I'm not sure if we will or not have snow, if we do have snow on Saturday, I know my grandparents won't come and I'm sure Sandy/Robert and Mom/Dad won't come either.. OH man I hope not to have snow this weekend! I am so HUNGRY for mexican food! YUMMY!

Super Bowl is getting close.. I don't care who wins because I don't watch football. I just watch Super Bowl for one reason and only, THE COMMERICALS! :) May the best team win, preferably underdog! Bucky is looking forward Super Bowl with excitement of having pizza and chicken wings! *rolling eyes*

Job hunting is still on.. Bucky and I have been sending out resumes, applying for jobs online and looking for companies surrounding us and still have not heard back from any companies for an interview or even Thank you for applying.. We are hoping to be able to have jobs so we can start working and be able to file taxes next year and be able to do more of our additional to the house.. Oh boy, job hunting really sucks! I hate hunting for something and feeling discouraged.. I'm not going to give up hunting for jobs because there is a job for us out there waiting.. It's just hard not knowing where and what job is out there for us..

Kids are looking forward their Spring break which is coming up in March.. I don't know what they will do for their Spring vacations.. I know they will be home but doing what?! :)

Till Then!
M-

Live Happily, Laugh Loudly, Love Freely!