We just got home from celebrating my father's 61st birthday. 13 of us altogether gathered for dinner and cake and a little craziness. Things get crazy when you have people together that range in age from 91 to one!
This year was a special year. Usually a 61st birthday isn't, but for us it was. In early June, he had a very serious heart attack. He's had two stents put in his heart in two separate surgeries. This summer has not been an easy one for our family, especially my parents. Although he has a few issues that will need to be addressed with his heart in years to come, we are happy he's alive, OK and back to work. We all chipped in and got him an Nikon D80 digital camera and lenses, camera bag etc. It's backordered, so I had to make a computer printout of the gift. He's really excited. We normally would not have splurged, but we know how much he wanted it and we realized time is precious.
I've spent a lot of time this summer worrying about my Dad, it was nice to celebrate for a change. Tomorrow we get to celebrate my parents 40th anniversary!
Here's a picture of my father and his four granddaughters. Hopefully, these little ones are the reason he takes care of himself and lives a long life!
Caylee Anthony is gone, baby, gone. I had been meaning to see the movie for a while now and finally got around to it. When you have two young daughters, it's scary to think they could be abducted in the blink of an eye. I liked the movie and I couldn't help but think of poor missing Caylee Anthony. I have been following her case since the start.Forensic evidence came back yesterday proving a decomposing body was in the back of her mother's car-almost certainly indicating that Caylee is dead. It didn't come as a surprise to me or many others. I held out a glimmer of hope that someone still had her alive and was hiding her.In the movie Gone Baby Gone, a four year old goes missing. The poor girl led a miserable life and would have been better off being adopted by a loving family. She is found alive at the end and returned to her mother to continue her life, filled with unhappiness, loneliness and lack of affection. Had Casey Anthony decided to place her baby for adoption before she was born, that little girl would have just celebrated a third birthday with a family that adored her and could have been enjoying the last carefree days of summer. A life that could have been saved. Caylee-you deserved so much better!I hope they recover her body soon, where ever her mother buried or discarded it. Her grandparents and uncle seemed to care and I'm sure would like to have a proper funeral and burial for her. As for Casey Anthony-I have no use for her. She is a mentally ill, sociopath who loved partying and men more then her own daughter. There are couples and families who would do ANYTHING to adopt a baby and love them unconditionally. Then there are parents who kill, abuse and discard their children with no appreciation for the gift God has given them. The world is full of injustices.
I'll always have you..............Jordin Sparks said it best.
I have to admit, I have been thinking a lot about getting a tattoo lately. I have always wanted one. Years ago, I would have picked my alter ego-Snoopy as Joe Cool and put it on my ankle. I still may do it, but right now I want to memorialize my two babies lost to miscarriages in 2006. I have been looking at designs, but am undecided. Maybe cherubs, maybe hearts with angel wings, I'm not sure at all. Looking online can make your mind spin-so many designs, websites, things to think of. I think I have narrowed it down a bit, but need to give it more thought since it will be permanent.
I'm hoping it will help me heal a bit. I think of them every single day. For my husband the pain is not as real. He thinks I am overreacting when I even bring up the miscarriages. Tomorrow would have been my first angel's 2nd birthday. She was due to be born by C-Section on 8/25/06. I should have been having a 2nd birthday party today and not thinking about how to memorialize angels I never met.
I did see a beautiful image of two angels that reminded me of my two girls. My beautiful brunette and my angelic blondie. Here's the image that reminds of my my angels here on earth!
at 3:30 AM!!!!!!!!!!! I was sleeping and heard by cell phone go off that I had a text. I know nobody would text me at that time. It was either the VP decision I signed up for or an Amber alert. It was the VP decision. I was not surprised by his choice to pick Joe Biden and was actually disappointed in 1) receiving a text that woke me up and 2) that he did not pick Hillary Clinton. Needless to say, I just shut my cell phone off for the rest of the night and went back to bed. A very anti climatic decision if you ask me.Supposedly there was a leak that forced the Obama camp to send out there text after 3AM Eastern time. Most expected the text to come this morning, when people are awake. Much ado about nothing....hopefully, I will get a better night's sleep tonight!
I just signed up for facebook the other day, after a friend invited me. I was so surprised to find out lots of people I know were on it, unlike myspace. I guess it's more user friendly to us old farts in our upper 30s! I have to say, it's easier to use. I connected with some old college friends, old high school friends, old co-workers, current friends and even some old grammar school friends. It's great to know I can reach out to them and see how they are doing now. I love seeing the pictures of my friends and their families. I was reluctant to sign up for a long time, but I am glad I did. I do encourage it, especially if you are planning a reunion of some kind and hoping to contact people you've been out of touch with for a while.It's cool to see how everyone has their circle of friends and how they have a few friends in common with you-it's like 6 degrees of separation! Great for social networking!
Up until 1988, the Olympics were for amateurs. It was their time to shine. The young non professional athletes waited their whole life to possibly become a household name. For the past 20 years, the Olympics has become a mix of professional athletes and amateurs and I don't think it's fair. That's what made the Olympics exciting-young, undiscovered talent hoping to win their country the Gold medal. Mark Spitz, Bruce Jenner, Eric Heiden and the 1980 Mens Hockey team will forever stand out in my mind-my childhood Olympic heros. Unknowns rising to be American heros. Making our country proud and encouraging the youth of our country to go for the Gold. In this summer Olympics, we have pro tennis players, some countries have pro baseball players and of course pro basketball players. The US did not send our best pro baseball players-they are too greedy to take two weeks off and miss two weeks pay to make our country proud. They are already "discovered" and well paid. Pro hockey takes a break during winter Olympics so athletes can represent their team in the Olympics. I personally like watching womens softball the best. I can relate, I played softball. For these women, this is as good as it gets and the highlight of their career. Once a player graduates from college, there isn't anywhere to go. No leagues, no going pro. Women of all ages from all parts of the country playing together in hopes of medaling! I hope people around the world appreciate the dedication these athletes have for their sport. I hope a new breed of Olympic heros rises and that they are the amateurs. Pros have the endorsements already, millions of fans and multi-million dollar paychecks. They don't need another pat on the back. Let and up and coming athlete have a moment of glory.
Happy Birthday Caylee! Today you turn 3! You should be celebrating with friends and family. A party with cake and ice cream, lots of balloons, maybe even a clown. Instead of today being a day of celebration, it's just marks one more day that you are missing. Nobody has seen or heard from you since mid June. A web of lies and deceit makes the investigation more complex. A nation is concerned for you, but we are all helpless. The only one who holds to the key to where you are is your mother and she's not talking. Millions of people are thinking of you and praying for you today-just know that you are loved. With each passing day, the prospect of finding you alive grows dimmer. As a parent of two young girls, I am fascinated and disgusted, all at the same time, by your disappearance. My heart aches for you-a young, innocent soul, who should be enjoying a care free childhood. If one of my girls were missing for a hour, I'd by hysterical. You're missing for 7 weeks, yet your mother only talks of herself and found time to party, shortly after you went missing. Right now you are a lost soul. I hope you are found so we have closure to the mystery that surrounds you. Whether you are somewhere on this earth, or up in heaven-Happy Birthday to you!
There was a show on last summer that I loved-it was called Fat March. I was hoping it would come back this summer. It was a show about overweight people that were picked to participate in the game, with a prize based on how many team members made it to the finish. The contestants had to walk a certain distance in a certain number of hours every day. Everyone lost lots of weight. They were working with personal trainers and their meals were very healthy. Unfortunately every night they had to sleep in tents. That must just kill you after walking all day.I loved the show and found it inspirational. I was hoping it would come back, but it didn't. Oh well, I'll just have to wait until The Biggest Loser returns for my fix of reality TV dieting!!
