Overdue Post

I have been meaning to do this post for weeks, but geez, real life drama has filled the vast majority of my posts recently. doolittle insists on giving an assignment if you wish to be added to her blogroll. And since I am just a little bit afraid of her, I must obey.
Here are five blogs I frequent and hopefully you will begin to do so also.
1.Pixie is funny, cute, has an adorable nephew and you can enjoy her budding romance with the handsome Le Snail.* Watch out for her potty mouth though!
2.Melissa This gurl has a fierce serial going on right now. You are only 6 posts behind, so hurry on over and catch up with this hearse driving, world saving, superhero.
3.Azul is fairly new to the bloggy world, but her writing? Knock your socks off!
4.Jenny One of my very first bloggy friends and a daily must read for moi.
5.Thoughts from a Fostering Family I truly admire this blogger. For her dedication to fostering gay teens, her unending advocacy for kids who otherwise would not have a voice, her willingness to love even when she is pushed away.

Now my little bloglets on above list. You are all officially tagged according to doolittle's rules. Leave comments on five blogs you read and please list them on your blog, for the rest of us to read. Share the love peeps!
There Eliza, am I worthy now???

Yay for Mondays!

Another Mountain Monday. And you all know how very much I love my Mondays. Today was no exception. Little Man isn't doing such a good job sleeping lately and because he isn't going to bed at a reasonable hour, neither am I. In fact the last few days, I am falling asleep hours before he is. After putting in a two to three hour shift, and I am nodding off, and Little Man is kicking me and waking me up every five minutes, I holler for Bald Man and he takes the next shift.
This morning found me too tired to face the day. I did what any brave, dedicated and childless mother does. I rolled over after I got Little Man off to school and went back to sleep! Until 10:30! God is good and sleep is life.
Lucky for me Little Man decided to go to bed tonight at an reasonable hour, so I am posting tonight. Otherwise this would have turned into another Mountain Tuesday post.
So what are you missing in the mountains in Utah this January day? Utahan's call it an inversion. But in reality it isn't much more than just plain ole smog. But this is the view from my window today.

All that hazy stuff? Inversion. The truth, unvarnished, I didn't even edit out the phone lines. But still, the Mountains are pretty, even with the smog.
The appointment with the neuro went okay. I am still not thrilled with his very laid back attitude with my son's health, but it is fine as long as he does what is needed. We have an appt this week for an EEG and another one next week to talk to a neurosurgeon about the possiblity of removing that horrid mass in his brain. Basically more waiting and seeing. JJ is doing well on the medication, while the doctor explained it is not a good long term med, it works well short term. We will gather the test info and the consultation and decide what will happen from there.
And your treat for the beginning of the week? Our Pea has learned a new skill:

She can pucker!!! And such a little charmer she is. If you talk to her sternly, she puckers up at you as if to say, "You can't be mad at me, look at how cute I am!" And she is! Kisses from my house to yours and I hope your week is off to a good start too.

A Modern Day Parable

Wearily hammering in his last tent peg one bitterly cold midnight at the oasis, a nomad was surprised to hear his camel say, ‘Master, it’s freezing to-night, and I think I’m coming down with a touch of something nasty. Would it trouble you if I were to put my nose through the flap of your tent to keep it from freezing?’Once he’d recovered from the shock of conversation with a humped ruminant, the nomad reflected that if he could tolerate the halitosis, the camel’s warm breath might
help to keep his feet warm in the wee small hours. And so it proved.
The next night as the sun was setting, the camel, sniffing and wheezing to full dramatic effect, declared his cold much worse and wondered aloud if tonight, he might be allowed to poke his whole face inside the flap. His owner agreed (although it was a shock finding that face on the pillow next to him in the morning). By the third evening, the camel claimed to be suffering from a three-day virus. This time the nomad barely slept because the entire front end of his camel was inside the tent, and there was an icy blast too – because the camel’s enormous hump stopped the flap from doing its work. By the end of the week, while the camel snored the nights away, cosy inside the tent, the nomad shivered through the hours of darkness curled up against a sand dune, wrapped only in his djellaba.

My understanding is this is an ancient Bedouin parable with implications to more modern situations. Utah is not well known for its' camels. It is on the other hand it is very well known for its' teenagers. They make up over 30% of our population in this fair state and honestly, I think most of them have been parking their butts in my living room!
Okay, we shall back this truck up a couple of weeks, while JJ was not at school. He had a couple of friends who say they don't have a first or second period, so they would come hang out here.
Are you getting the camel analogy yet? If not, it will happen soon.
Anyway, JJ is now back on his regular school schedule and he is out the door by 7:15. Imagine my surprise yesterday, when after getting Little Man on the bus, I walked out to the living room at about 8:30 and there sat a teenager. But he was chatting with Tank, and JJ and Tank do share some friends, sooo, I didn't think too much about it. Until Tank left for work and left this kid there! Um yeah, it gets better, hang in there. This kid calls some of his other friends and pretty soon there are five, yes 5! teens in my living room, of varying sexes and ages, and NONE of them are mine. Nor is anyone home, besides myself. I tend to tolerate my kids's friends for their sakes, but heavens to betsy, none of my kids were home. At lunch time, JJ showed up, and close on his heels, two or three more kids, which ended up being four by the end. I was a bit aggravated, so I went to my room. Sometime later, it was awfully noisy in my living room, and I thought to myself, that rotten kid is going to be late to his next class! So I go out to the living room, and guess what??? My kid had gone back to school and left these four "friends" in my living room. I was not the least bit happy and wondered how I could get rid of them without being too rude. I finally, at about 2, just told them they really needed to leave. Then I had a major hissy fit when my hubby got home.
This morning, they knocked at the door again, and when Bald Man denied them entrance, they tried to push the door open in a joking fashion. Bald Man was not amused. Today, after some more showed up, I have declared a moratorium on all teenagers at my house during school hours. Although they think they are slick saying they don't have class then, even I can figure out that you have missed pretty much an entire day of school. I will not be party to a bunch of dead beat kids skipping school, especially when mine is at school.
Camels, teenagers. I can see the resemblance. Stinky, foul tempered, pushy, subborn... the list could go on, but you get the picture.
So watch out when the camel asks to have his nose in the tent, before long your living room will be filled with teenagers too!

Yay for Mountain Mondays!

I bet you guys all thought I had forgotten about Mountain Mondays huh? Well, with the internet being down and then up and then down, and now up again, not to mention JJ's ride to the hospital in an ambulance, things have been a bit, um..., well, crazy would be an understatment. For some of you, it is not Monday, but it is Monday here and I will share my beautiful winter mountains with you.

It is amazing to think this beauty is just outside my window.
News on the homefront: JJ has his appointment with the neuro on Fri. If he blows off this seizure problem as being no big deal, we shall be looking for a new neuro.
The Pea has had a bad week with a rotovirus and her puking and other assorted nasty eruptions have kept her mama and me hopping.
Little Man is continuing to cruise at 65 lbs, for which I am extremely grateful. I had such a weird dream last night in which Little Man was getting oxygen at night. The doctor wanted to put a permanent trach in his neck, but I looked at the doctor and told him I was not ready to accept my child being declared permantently sick. What our dreams reveal about us huh? It has been a rough couple of weeks for your Jo, really!
And a little funny for you too, so you can see that I still have a sense of humor and that not everything is gloom and doom around here.
Meeko the Magnificent has been widening her horizons around here and is feeling more comfortable exploring. Tonight she decided to explore something else!:
Bald Man as you can see is a good sport, and surprisingly enough, Meeko usually runs when she sees the camera, but this time she let me capture this moment for you.
Enjoy the mountains and Bald Man's bald head!

Awww Crap, try number 2

My dear internet peeps, yesterday sucked, really, really bad. The day started off good! JJ was gone to school after way too long a break, Little Man was off on the bus and I had just eaten breakfast and was in the process of taking a little nappy. Phone rings. It is the high school. The lady on the phone says, "your son has a medical condition?" I am all, yes, no, um, well we just went to the doctor and he cleared him medically.. Heck what can you say quickly to someone who asks that??? The lady then informs me JJ was unconscious and they had called the paramedics. Our apartment is literally next door to the high school so I was dressed and to the school shortly after the paramedics had arrived. I spoke with the teacher who witnessed the "incident" and he told me JJ had said, "I am having a seizure" so he made my son lay on the bathroom floor, (um, yuck!) and then my child became unconscious. He started to wake up as they were loading him in the ambulance. The hospital was where I got to spend my day, worrying about my boy. Geez, the tox screen came back negative for anything, (thank goodness, but it is impossible not to wonder until that comes back, if he had done drugs or something, but he hadn't.) He had another small seizure in the ER. They did a CT scan, but there wasn't anything new in his brain, or with that dang mass either. After the second seizure, they started him on seizure meds until we can get him back to his neuro. The worst part of this has been his recovery from the seizures. He was NOT himself. He was talking like an old man, mumbling, weaving when he walks, falling asleep at odd times. He is not his bright, energetic self at all. Impossible not to be concerned about his state of being. We were just praying he will be back to his snotty self by morning. (And he has been for the most part) I would feel better about it, except I am fairly sure he has been having a series of smaller seizures today.
One really funny thing and one really sweet thing happened at the hospital.
The funny thing? This kid, who can’t even get a coherent sentence out of his mouth, the first thing he asks for, even before his underwear, is his cell phone! He is sitting there, unable to coordinate his fingers well enough to send a text message, holding onto the phone like it is a life line.
The sweet thing? After we were first put into the room at the ER, the nurse said JJ was breathing too fast, but he wasn’t really with it enough to talk to him. I don’t know about the rest of you parents with teens, but they get as prickly as a hedge hog at this age, both emotionally and physically, it seems as though they are always pushing you away, telling you they don’t need you. I began to stroke JJ’s head, just murmuring mommy nothings to him, and guess what? His breathing rate immediately went down. Ha ha! His body betrayed him, he still finds comfort in his mother. I am not saying a word to him about it, just keeping that small treasure in my heart and of course telling the whole world on the internet. On my son’s deepest level, my son still needs his mommy.
Today, we are waiting for a call back from the neuro’s office for a fast appointment. JJ stayed home, I think he is having some small seizures, because he keeps acting weird. We are just keeping an eye on him for now and waiting, waiting, waiting for the neuro to call back.
And by the way? Thanks Liza, for saying that my karma had a seizure lighting rod attached to the top when she heard about this. She thinks she is funny, and actually? She often is!

Awwww Crap!

Yesterday was started off like a really good day, with all children who are supposed to be in school, (JJ and Little Man) off in school. I recieved phone call from JJ's school shortly thereafter, which was to ruin not just yesterday, but a goodly portion of today. Basically JJ had a seizure at school and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He is doing much better today, thank goodness, and I have a nice long update for ya, but my BRAND NEW cable internet went down last night as I was blogging. More crap.(I am at the library, which is the reason for the hasty blog entry) We are waiting for a call from the neuro, to be seen quickly, we hope and JJ is now on seizure meds. He is feeling better, but not great, and I think he had a series of small seizures today. More crap. Keep us in your prayers/good thoughts please. The cable company is coming out tonight to fix the stupid internet thing. You know, I have had better days!

I am BACK!!!

Ah yes, my most darling bloggity blogger-puffs, your Jo-Jo is back. The cable people arrived yesterday, between 1 and 5 as promised, but did not finish until about 5:30. After that, I would have posted, but Little Man had a serious meltdown that kept me hopping until I finally dropped into bed completely exhausted. And whatever, they say cable is faster than DSL, but I can't tell, so if you were wondering if it is worth the extra $$ to switch, tell you what, I don't think so.
But!!!! What does make this whole switch worth it, is COMCAST on demand!! I swear, I almost fell to the floor last night in a fit of ecstasy and delight. I told Bald Man I would have pressed my naked body on the TV if I thought it would care. On demand means you can watch it any time, for free, with no commercials and you can rewind and pause too. You will never, ever in a million, gizillion years guess how much easier my life just got. Because Comcast has Ben 10! and Dragon Tales! and Diego ! all of Little Man's current obsessions favorites. Last night was a great example of the improvement in our life with our newest addition. He was foul and screaming and hitting. But whilst he was watching Ben 10 and Diego, he was quiet. 24 minutes of peace and quiet, who knew, they can be bought!!! I wish I were kidding, but I am not, I am deeply, disturbingly elated by the thought of having Little Man being able to be drugged by America's favorite past time.
I shall be visiting everyone's blog in the next couple of days, catching up on my bloggy reading and leaving my snarky comments as usual.
:::::::waving cheerily::::::

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Come Tuesday, my beloved Bloggy McBloggersons, I will be back online. The cable company just couldn't get here any sooner. I have been impressed with how much faster DSL is than dial up, now I can't wait to experience the magic of cable! Whoo hoo! Tuesday can't get here fast enough, but the good part is having to go to the library to check up will make that much more grateful to have my internet back.
Little Man continues to cruise along at 65 lbs I am very happy to report. No drugs and nothing else for now. Just what formula he will drink, (usually about 4 oz) and what little food he will eat. Speaking of which, I will have to make a trip to the store again today. Hamburger Helper started making single serving size Cheeseburger Macaroni, which is one of the few things Little Man will sometimes eat. He ate 2 servings last night! That is a BIG deal. So whatever he wants, (in terms of food) he gets. Any calorie is a good calorie when starvation is around the corner.
Oh you guys won't believe the irony of this. On Monday, we were getting Little Man ready for school, and guess what? His zipper on his coat, yes, THE coat broke! So I had to go coat shopping. You know what? All coats have those zip in liner thingys now, so his teachers are soooo out of luck on that one. Actually I hope they hate it just as much, they richly deserve it, for making my life so miserable.
Pymgy Child is slowly getting used to Big City life in her new state. I forget how small Utah is, and how very safe, compared to large cities. The weather in Florida? She loves. In the 70's there and we have six inches of snow this morning. And it is going to be 2, yes, just two degrees here tonight or tomorrow. Pbbbhtttt on her.
Love you all for not abandoning me during my internet-less period. Hang in there, tuesday is just around the corner.

Ack!

I am still without internet access and losing my mind slowly. Gotta make this fast before the librarians kick me off.
We heard back from the neuro yesterday, (finally) who informed me his scan was perfectly normal. I said, wow, you mean that cyst in his brain is gone? Um... well... ahem... um, no... (turning pages and finally reading a report he hadn't bothered to read before calling) no, that is still there. Oh, I replied, I wouldn't call that perfectly normal, would you?
In spite of my sarcasm and annoyance, the good news is the cyst is no larger, stable in other words and is not what is causing the hearing loss. We shall be seeing the ENT next about that. Re scan in a year. Let us all breathe a deep collective sigh of relief. Yay!
Little Man is cruising along at 65 lbs. When/if he dips below that we will consider starting a new med, Megace, (sorry no time to link)which is a cancer treatment steroidy type drug that makes ya hungry.
No other news in Chez Tangled for now. Hugs and kisses to all my beloved interneties, don't abandon me!

I am Jonesin' Big Time

I need it, I must have it, I want it, I am craving it....
We are having internet issues. And they probably won't be fixed with the weekend right here. I am at the library right now trying to catch up quickly on my email and going through serious withdrawal with not having readily available at every moment. It is probably good for me, but that doesn't mean I have to like it! So your Jo will not be leaving her usual snarky comments on your blog. Sorry, we will get it fixed as quickly as possible, or I just might curl into a fetal ball and waste away from lack of internet peeps!

The First Mountain Monday of the New Year

Alright, alright, it's Tuesday, but I have a good excuse teacher! It is called REAL LIFE. Ugh. Yesterday was, thank goodness, the last day of Christmas vacation and Little Man was FOUL! He kept me hopping all day, I finally escaped by taking him to the movies, which proved to be not much of an escape. In fact, it was the WORST movie experience of my life.
Let me tell you the comedy of errors that was our movie going experience. Little Man is really good while the movie is playing. Getting in the movie and getting out often prove to be patience busters. Yesterday was no exception to this rule. He was yelling at me, wandering away, etc, only, the lines were long, because I guess everyone and their dog was at the movies. We were waiting in line for popcorn, (Little Man insists and we are always hoping he might actually eat some of it. He didn't) The guy was extra slow and with the long line it was really bad. At one point, after he took our order, he went down the end of the counter, turned his back and blew his nose. Me and I guess everyone in line held our collective breath to see if he would wash his hands. He DIDN'T! EWWWWW. So after a brief discussion from my back up posse, I did request (very nicely by the way) the young man wash his hands before he touched our food. Of course that only added to the wait.
The movie was crowded, so we were close to the front. I could not believe it when the kid behind me started kicking my seat. I turned around, the mom told the kid to stop. Moments later, his sister started kicking the seat. I turned around and ahemed. The mom told the kid to stop. I am not kidding you, those two monsters spent the whole time we in movie kicking our seats. I finally gave up, and moved to the front row, I was going nuts.
The only decent part of the movie was after I complained to the manager, I got two free passes. I have never had anything like that happen before. I mean people have kicked the seat, but generally after the evil eye and maybe a polite "could you stop please?" works great. The manager told me next time to go get management, if they don't quit, they will be asked to leave. You know it is sad thing when my kid, with all his problems, lack of cognitive skills and his autism is better behaved than two "normal" kids. GRRRR!
I know, I know, you are waiting for your lovely mountain picture and I won't keep you waiting. Here ya go!

And because you have been so patient and waited through my whiny movie experience. Here are some really pretty wild rose hips covered with frost.

Can you believe it? Beauty, just growing wild, on the side of the road. What a world!

And here ya go. The first picture of my beloved Little Pea of the New Year. She is so dang cute and every day grows in beauty and delight.

Happy first Mountain Monday (ahem, Tuesday) of the Year bloggies.