The Mountains in Autumn

With a hint of WINTER! Can you believe it? It snowed!



And now, because Mountain Monday, (although it sometimes happens on Tues) has become my photo day in general, WITNESS the cuteness!!! OMG! (that is oh my gosh, btw)





I ADORE little girls in pigtails. I am a blubbery mess of jelly when it is my Pea.



And now for more mountainy goodness. With the storm that brought the snow, there was rain, and after the rain???





Rainbows and pigtails, what more could you ask for? Could it get any more sappy?
Hmm, it might! Watch this!



Have a happy, sappy day.
With Love, from Jo

I Found It!

What has Jo found? I am sure you are all asking.
My car keys? Nope, I think the ones I lost at Pygmy Child's wedding are gone forever. The ones I left in SD are already found, just not mailed.
My sanity? Nope again, that, I am sure, is gone FOREVER!
No, what I found, is my motivation to exercise.
Enough of a motivation that I have walked for 20-25 minutes, every day this week, and I just cannot find a way to weasel out of doing it. And that, my friends, if you knew me well, is something indeed!
I hate exercising. I find it incredibly boring and I have no patience to deal with it. Yay, yay, some of you, I know, listen to MP3 players, but remember, I don't really listen to music! There have only been a few times in my life that my exercise program lasted longer than, like say... oh, two days. I tried this last Jan, but at the time didn't realize my hemoglobin was in the toilet, and that is why I just collapsed after about 10 minutes.
So you are probably wondering what in the world kicked my butt hard enough to actually motivate me to do this.
Was it the health benefits? Nope. You would think it would and really it should. Considering I am at a huge risk for diabetes. Being Native American is actually one of the risk factors. Nice huh? But no, it wasn't.
Was it my increasing dislike for my physical self? Wrong again. At 45, no wait, I am 46, I have given up and just accepted myself, for good and bad. Sorry.
You know what it is? A fear of being publicly humiliated.
The class I am taking this semester? It is about the 60's, and we are taking a trip to San Francisco. (I am dying, hoping to meet L, from Homesick Home, whilst I am there!) The kids in my class are all quite young, NONE of them were even thought of in the 60's, much less even alive then. They love having me in the class. kind of like having a dinosaur in your palentology class, Wow! Cool!
Anyway, we are taking a WALKING tour of San Fran. HILLS, people, many, steep hills. I can just see myself, huffing and puffing up the hills, while all the young folk wait at the top, while their fellow, much older, rounder classmate tries not to have a heart attack. No way, I can not do that. I have until Nov 1 to get myself in good enough shape that I am not completely humiliated. So far, that is all the motivation I need.

Mountain Monday in the Autumn and Watch Out!

Autumn has arrived in the mountains. There are a few yellow leaves here and there in the valley,(where I live) but the mountainsides are turning crimson and orange.



Lucky you and me as we watch the seasons move through their course on the flanks of my mountains. (I suppose they belong to everyone, but I consider them mine, personally)

Mountain Monday seems to be quickly turning into my personal photoblog day, but you bloggity dears don't seem to mind, so WATCH OUT, there is more cuteness heading your way!
The sunglasses looked so darn cute on the dog, we thought we would have some other darling people try them out!

Miss Pea!



And The June Bug!



So cute.
And now, the cat. Not with sunglasses. The cat crawled in, so I couldn't resist some pictures.







Adds a new level of meaning to "Don't let the cat out of the bag" huh?

P.S. I haven't forgotten those last couple of questions I need to answer, especially Gawdess, I promise to get to them THIS week!

Poking My Head Out

blinking blearily into the sunlight, who, what, hmmm? I have been trapped at home the last few days with a Little Man who has a bad cold. And as always, he pretty much slurps me up with a straw when he is around. And me, being fairly round, I don't quite fit up the straw, so I just wiggle around uncomfortably at the end of the straw while he does his best to devour me, heart and soul.
He went back to school today with the help a Dayquil. And I am trying to put my life back into some semblance of order. Poor, poor Bald Man. The night before last, he went to bed pretty late, which wasn't bad, except Little Man woke him at 5:30 AM. That would be a shooting offense in my book. It wouldn't have been so bad, except last night? JJ called at 9:30 pm and informed us he needed to go to the ER, like right now! Eeek! The child was "playing" with his friends. If you are not a teenage boy, not married to anyone who was a teenage boy, or raising a teenage boy, you perhaps do not understand the level of physicalness their "play" devolves to. JJ got pushed onto a piece of VERY sharp metal and basically flayed his arm open. And cut the muscle. In more than one place. Many, many stitches later, we are just very grateful the child did not cut any nerves or arteries or tendons. If you are not squeamish, but instead intensely curious, JJ's best friend took pictures. I really did not feel comfortable posting them, but for the morbid, if you email me, ( I will never tell anyone you did!) I will email you the pictures back. Ack! Boys!
Me? I am feeling a bit wrung out and tired from the last few days. Tomorrow? Ah yes, Little Man will go to school again and I, I will go and play! Hooray!

Do you know how fast things can go from just fine to h-e- double toothpicks? Less than five minutes after I wrote the above, I get a phone call informing me that Little Man's bus was here and where was I? I was flabbergasted since I had assumed he had been picked up by his therapeutic afterschool program 45 minutes earlier. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! No, Little Man instead was awaiting my arrival at the bus stop. Thank goodness, because he is disabled, they don't drop the kid off, they wait for someone to get there. The bus driver informs me, after I tell her, that he was NOT supposed to be here, that perhaps I should tell his teacher. Oh duh! Now why didn't I think of that? Oh wait! I did think of it and I actually had talked to his teacher, TWICE this week, informing her of his schedule. Gosh darn it all to heck anyway. So in spite of a couple of phone calls, I am unsure of where the gap was. Either his teacher, or the afterschool program. We will get to the bottom of it. And the heck with trying to create any semblance in my home today. Little Man is home and all my hopes are down the drain. Mountain Dew, I will drink you and hopefully feel more like dealing with the unexpected delivery of my child.

Cuteness in the Mountains

You are forewarned! This post leans heavily on the pictures and one very cute video. Take whatever precautions you need to to protect yourself from melting into a puddle from the cute rays.
We'll do the mountains first, because they beautiful, not cute. These pics were snapped today at the university I am attending for one class this semester.





The mountains in Utah have never failed to fill me with delight and wonder.

Watch out! The next photos are dangerous....

Guess who is 12 weeks old???



Guess who is already beginning to sit and roll over on her side???



Guess whose super powers include melting the hardest of hearts with one single smile?



(The tongue action happens when she is especially amused.)
If you just now guessed my sweet June Bug, you should be ashamed. sheesh.

Let us not forget the first giver of the cuteness addiction.



The Pea was watching Dora with The Kitten Formerly Known as Justin the other day.

And no, we are NOT done with the cute yet! There is more cute!
Jack the cool dog:



I saved the video for last.



I taught Meeko the game "Which Hand" in about five minutes. You take a sunflower seed, hide it in your hand, and then she taps your hand with her claw until she guesses. Dang the bird is cute and smart!

Hope this post finds with a big smile on your face when you are done!

If It's Thursday, I Must Be Lost

Ah yes, the two step of insanity. But at least I am not alone on Planet Confused.
I needed to call and check on Little Man's appointment with Hematology. So, unsuspecting of any foul play or trickery, I pick up the phone and call the Large City Children's Hospital main line. "Hematology" I say. "Yes ma'am" the operator responds. Next I hear a young man's voice, "Oncology". I say, "they must have put me through to the wrong department, I am looking for hematology". The nice young man, says, "it is the same thing". I fire back, "not when you are a mother it isn't!" He laughs and says, "Oh sorry, I suppose not, same clinic then, okay?" Geez, the last thing anyone wants to hear when they call for an appointment for their child is the words, "oncology clinic".
So they start looking for his appointment, but they can't find it. They say, "oh on the 26th.." I say, "no, that is his pediatric visit", they say, "oh such and such" and I say, "no, this and thus". We danced prettily like that for about four minutes. The guy sounded cute. But then, they say, "hmmm, I can't find his appointment." And then the nice young man who I am imagining is very handsome and probably young enough to be one of my children, asks what the visit is for. I say, "his doctor wants Little Man checked for Von Willebrands" The young man responds with, "Oh! They like to have the lab work done for that BEFORE they see you, so you need to talk with the nurse first"
Since yesterday afternoon, the nurse and I have played phone tag. It really isn't so bad, except when you have played so much phone tag over the years chasing appointments for your kid with all the specialists, it just gets old. So finally, this afternoon, the nurse gets ahold of me, and says she will schedule the blood work. And if it is funky, they will schedule an appointment for him to the Blood Disorder doctor. I then say, "oh his pediatrican wanted him to see the doctor anyway, and go over the labs, because he has so many weird ones." The nurse says,"well, your doctor's office will need to call and make that appointment." I laugh, and say a wee bit stupidly, "but they already did that", knowing if they can't find it, it doesn't exist. She informs me THEY have to call. Nicely, but firmly.
I call Little Man's case manager and tell her they have lost his hematology appointment. She said, "but I already set up that appointment!", I say, "I know, but they lost it and it is gone, perhaps I am just going crazy". The case manager says, "well then I am too, because I clearly remember doing that." I apologize, because even though I am not the one who lost it, I am the bearer of bad news and I don't want her to be upset with me, and somehow, it feels like it is my fault.
So again, his ped's office will have to call and make another appointment. This time I need to write it down somewhere permanent. Perhaps on wall with a BIG, BLACK, Sharpie.

*Afternoon Update*
Since I am so willing to complain when Little Man is being vile, I must present for your viewing, NON vileness. I picked him up at the bus stop, just a bit ago, and he wanted to go get a new game. I am pretty indulgent about this, he gets at least one new one a month. Don't judge me too quick, there are so few things he really enjoys and playing video games is one of those things, so we try to let him have some joy in his life. He is looking so very handsome today, his hair is too long, and getting pretty wavey because of the length, and he looked oh so cute smiling at me with hope. So off we go to the game store, which is all of like one minute from the house, if that. He was soooo GOOD in the game store. So very normal, so cute, as we went through the games, and discussed which ones he had, and which ones he wanted. He finally decided on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game,(with the monsters, he informed me!). In the car on the way home, he points the picture on the front of the game, which shows one of the turtles giving a toothy grin. Little Man then informs me, turtles don't have teeth! When I mentioned these turtles do, and they eat pizza, Little Man said, turtles are like frogs and they don't have teeth and they eat flies. Where in heaven's name did that come from? So normal, so sweet, so well, dang it all, just very little boyish. I don't get enough of that. I just want you to know how very much these moments mean to me.

Mountain Monday, um, I mean Tuesday

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to have our newest grand daughter, June Bug, blessed. Basically it is a formal way of announcing the child and introducing them to the church, putting their name on the rolls of the church and a chance to get together and celebrate a new family member.



Because we were at Girlfriend's family's house, I got to snap some pics of the mountains north of us. Here ya go:





And now, to finish the question and answer portion of this blog. (finally!)

From Melissa Is it considered offensive in your culture to compliment someone's spouse?
Melissa, my family all agrees that the lady you work with is a freak. No it is not considered offensive, she is just weird.

From Eliza
So...buried? Not put up on a platform of sticks in the sun or eaten by local scavengers? Coffin? Yes? No? I am sure you could do the traditional form of burial on the Rez, although no one does anymore. Everyone is buried or cremated. They still do the tradtional drum ceremony and wakes though for the most part. The wake is fascinating. Usually a couple of days. The body in an open casket, with a star quilt. Lots of eating, laughing and crying. I love the wakes, they are the best part.
premarital sex? Yes? No? Also, circumcision? Male? Female? Either? Ever?
No particular taboos about premartial sex, although traditionally, my people believe whomever you have sex with has a part of your soul, so you should be careful. Circumcision is not traditional, and only for boys, so it is a mix who does and who doesn't. Most of the babies are born in the hospital, under IHS, Indian Health Services, so whether or not a boy ends up circed would depend on whether IHS was doing it or not.
And if I, as a non-whatchamacallit (American Indian?), upped and killed someone (theoretically--for the moment the MIL and I are friendly...ish) and your mom said I could crash at her place could the feds came and get ME? Yup, the feds COULD come get you and probably would for a capital offense. You would be more likely to get away with it, if you were white,lived on the Rez, and committed a crime like beating your Indian girlfriend or wife. They would NEVER do anything about it. Not that I am bitter about it or anything...grrr.

From Jesse Louise I have always been intrigued by the spiritual aspect and the connection with nature. I am pretty much unaffiliated as far as religion goes and I'd love to hear more about native american beliefs.
As a christian and a Lakota, I have had no problems melding these two things into one in my heart. Both teach love, humility, taking care of others, a belief in a connection with those who have gone before us. Being a Lakota has given me a knowledge that we are all connected to each other, and the earth with us, and all that is on the earth. So it makes sense to me that we all are created from the same source, whatever name you choose to use, Creator, God, Great Spirit. Since my youngest childhood I have known that the Earth is alive and the animals on the earth are our relatives. Being Catholic was not a good thing for those beliefs, but funny how the LDS think the Earth lives and that animals have souls. I was at peace with that. Here is a link about the 7 sacred rituals to the Lakota. the 7 Ceremonies.
I am currently reading Joseph Marshall's The Lakota Way. It is a really, really great book, and good instruction in living in a good Lakota way.
Email me and remind me to do a whole post about Lakota Spirituality, okay?

I am going to save the last two questions for another post. Happy Mountain Monday, (Tuesday)!

Interim Post

Ssssshhh! Don't tell Little Man I am out on the computer, he is sure to have a hissy fit about it if he finds out I am doing anything besides tending to his needs.
An explanation is needed before Mountain Monday tomorrow. It seems as though my youngest has lost his mind. Many, many, times lately. Eeek and egad. He was less than stellar on the trip to SD, but seemed to adjust after a few days. But he also had me pretty much 24/7. Therefore, going to school and his therapeutic after school program unhinged him, again. Wednesday was his first day of school. He was good in school I was told. But when his support person brought him home, he bit her, HARD, on the stomach. It was bad. Then he came into the house and lost his mind. Severely. I had to restrain him physically. It was a very long and very terrible afternoon with him.
Thursday was his appt* with his psychiatrist. He was actually pretty good at the appointment. But then. I did the unreasonable and unthinkable. I tried to get him to go home. WITH his DVD player, and his DVDs and with the set-in-stone routine of going to McDonalds afterwards. WHAT in the heck was I thinking? You would have thought I was offering to pierce his favorite body parts with red hot nails. He lost his mind over a piece of paper. Which he couldn't have, since it was his rx for his meds. When offered a similar piece of paper, he screamed, hit, and scratched me. It took 3 people, (myself, a guy who works there and a gal who works there) to get him out to the car. And at least another half and hour of wrangling before he would half-way calmly sit in his carseat buckled, so I could dare leave. I am NOT thinking about the future or what would happen if I had him by myself and that happened again. I just can't think about it. I have been traumatized from the length and intensity of the last couple of days.
We have currently canceled his after school program for the next week. I just can't do that to him. I sure wish I figure out a way to not to it to me! Change is so hard on him. Now you know why your other questions have yet to be answered. They will. Tomorrow. Amazing how one out of control kid can suck up your life. Today was good, Bald Man and I both napped whilst Little Man watched Godzilla. A nap. Glorious!
*Appointments:
Sept 7, the psychologist comes to our house. ( I have got to clean, like really, really good before she gets here, lest she be led to believe my messy housekeeping is the reason why Little Man is so out of control.
Sept 26 appt with his Pediatrician
Oct 2 His new neuro PA who is doing the oversight of his Vagal Nerve Stimulator (his pysch warned me they are going to freak over his meds. Yay! I can hardly wait to deal with that one.
Oct 8 Appt with the Orthopedist for his "extremely" flat feet
Oct 11 appt with the hemotologist to try and figure out why this kid keeps bruising off and on and to deal with his other blood dyscrasias. He will get such weird labs at times, and we don't know why.
Nov 6,Appt with his Gastro doctor

Don't ever let anyone tell you I don't get to have any fun, just look at that list above and you can see it is PARTY TIME at Casa Tangled! Whoot!

Bloggerus Interuptus

Sorry for the dead cyber space here. My blogging life has been hijacked by my real life. Little Man re started school on weds and it has been well, unpleasant is a nice way to describe my life right now. Hopefully with Bald Man home for the long week end I will find some time to get back to the important business of blogging. Love you all and hang in there, I SHALL return!!