Another Mountain Monday

It still seems amazing to me that so many readers enjoy the mountain pics every monday, but I am here to serve you, so I will continue to post them.
This week's pictures are so very pretty, autumn meets winter on the mountain sides. It hasn't quite made up its' mind in the valley, sometimes it is winter, some days it is fall. Weird. Here ya go!







And what would my photo day be without the crazy cat? She climbed through the sleeve in my jacket.



Now the cat is like half born...



The Pea unscrewed the top off the sticky bow stick stuff that Girlfriend uses to stick bows to Junebug's head. Let me tell you, that stuff is soooo sticky. We are still finding sticky places on the carpet and floor. The Pea was very sticky indeed and needed a bath. Post bath:


Last, but certainly never least, my darling June Bug:


And she is amazing! Rolling over both ways, and just four months old!
Voila:


P.S. I have developed such a blog crush on Navel Gazing at Its' Finest. She is an incredible writer, funny, heartstring tugging, honest, Mormon mommy. The best part? She lives in UTAH! I am going to stalk her relentlessly be so charming she can't resist agreeing to meet me. Really, she is amazing.

It's A Zoo Here!

No, really, it is a zoo here. You don't need to pay money to see an animal show and wonder if the animals are well treated. No, you can come to my house, for FREE and know that the animals are in charge and spoiled to death. ::::::shaking head::::::
I had so many great animal stories and pictures this week, I couldn't include them all on Monday, so they have their own post today. I have also included a couple that I have been meaning to post.
Where to start? How about with the gross? We are conscientious doggy owners and when we walk Jackie-Boy the dog, we always pick up his poo in doggy poo bags.


See? Even our Pea knows you must have a poo bag while walking the dog!
A tip for you. Always check and make sure the bottom of the poo bag is sealed. Otherwise, you will end up as I did this week, with a handful of warm, soft... well you get my drift. Gag, that was soooo gross.

In no particular order, some pictures of the Kitten Formerly Known as Justin:


Yum Yum Kitty

You have heard of a cat nap, how about a cat lunch?



Fluffy wanted to know what was so great about Peter's digs.



The Kitten Formerly Known as Justin has been known to become so bored, she literally climbs the walls...(or doors, as the case may be)



We are continuing to allow Meeko to be fully flighted and she has discovered the joys of flying. Trying to catch her doing it has been somewhat difficult. Here are some of my attempts.





If you have ever wondered what the underside of a cockatoo looks like, wonder no longer! She landed on my camera.



Finally!



And now! The pièce de résistance! I have been working with Meeko for about an hour, 5-10 minutes here and there for the last few days to accomplish this!



(That is Oldest Son's hairy hand and arm, not mine!) Who needs Cute Overload when you have my house? Enjoy all the cuteness that is the Tangled Zoo!

Countdown to Frisco

There are about two weeks left before I am off to San Francisco. A two day walking tour. If you recall, in September, I realized that I would be walking up and down hills with kids 20 years my junior. I found my mojo to exercise. Public Humiliation Princess said, oh you didn't want people to wait at the top of the hills for you? And I said no, I didn't want them to call an ambulance for me! And I wanted to let you know, I walk at least 3 times a week, more often 4 or 5. I am incredibly proud of myself, really.
I really don't enjoy it. I told Supermommy, (remember the one who runs 6 miles a day?) that my exercise counted more than her exercise. She wanted to know why. I told her she enjoyed running, she LIKED it for heaven's sake, I, on the other hand, hated it, despised it, and had to force myself to do it every day. There fore, when God was counting up virtue points, I got more than her. She thought it didn't work like that. But, what does she know? Can anyone be sure how God counts things? NO! So let me feel virteous and self righteous. I gotta get my good feelings somewhere, since they sure as heck don't come from exercise!
But I have made so much progress and I really am terribly proud of it, so I will share it with you.
I was doing a track at a park near our home. I have no idea how long the track was, I just knew that two times around took me 20-25 minutes at first. By the second week I had to bump it up to three times around the track to make that 25 minute time frame. Third week? Four times! Nothing like progress to make you feel good about what you are doing.
Supermommy likes to keep track of how far she is running, so we did a better job keeping track of it. Do you realize I am walking almost 4 miles a day now? I feel like so pumped about that. And there is the Hill of Pain that I must climb. It is kicking my butt, but I am stopping fewer times each time I climb it. My goal of course is to be able to do that stupid hill without stopping at all.
Today I hit the gym at our apartment. It was my first time on a treadmill.

It was also my first time to fall off a treadmill. Ouch. My MP3 player fell off the treadmill first. I turned around to grab it, well, yeah, I stopped but the treadmill keeps going. Next thing I know, both my MP3 player and I are on the floor. I was just really glad no one else was in the exercise room to witness my humiliation.
I just wanted to let my posse know that I haven't given up on the whole exercise thing. And whether or not I can keep up with the kids in S.F. I will know that I am doing a much better job than I would have if I had never started exercising at all.

It is Still Monday!

The Pea, Jackie-Boy the dog, and I went in search of the perfect Mountain Monday post.


We looked here


But all we saw was a sea of cat tails. Have you ever seen so many? Me either...

How about under here?


Nope...

The Pea and Jack went off roading to look...



But the perfect picture wasn't hiding the grass either.

Ahhh, now this is more like it!







I think the three of us did a good job, what do you think?

These last three pics are included just because they are cute and this is my blog!

I am really proud of the following pic because I was able to get the Pea in mid-hop.



And this one because I think it is beautiful, all back lit and she is letting the pussy willow fluff blow in the wind.



And this one? Well, I bet you can figure it out for yourself.

I am a BAD Blogger

Yes I am. But I have a good excuse, I do! My good, good girlfriend from another state, to be known as Supermommy, came to my place this week for some serious Jo loving. I just want to tell you that if you choose me as your friend, I am the BEST friend ever.
Evidence. Supermommy has had 9 kids. NINE!
She shows up at my door this week and I am all like, "Wow, you are sooo skinny, you have really lost some weight!"
I am then informed, with Supermommy pulling out the sides of her pants and complaining, THESE pants are TOO big! I have got to shopping while I am here. These fours, (you heard right!) are too big. I need some twos. Size 2!
The proof that I am the best friend ever? I didn't hit her, strangle her, nor did I shove a tube down her throat in the middle of the night and pour melted lard into her stomach. I went to the Kohls, where we forced by lack of 2's in the grown up section to move to the juniors. Sigh, come on I want to hear a collective groan of empathy from all of you! And I did. I ran around Kohls looking for the right color and pocket size. She has no butt now, because she is so dang thin. Do we feel sorry for her? Nope, we do not, but we did sigh and tsk and look for smaller pockets. Because we are nothing if we are not the BEST FRIEND EVER!
She will be leaving in a few days and I expect Mountain Monday to resume as usual on Monday.
P.S. Another reason not to hate Supermommy. She is really watching what she is eating and she is running 5 or 6 miles a day. So at least she earned her svelte new shape.

To the World At Large

NO! We do not drink beer.
NO! We do not let our much delayed 10 year old drink beer.
There is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why my son's mittens smell like beer today.
It is, of course, my husband's fault. He was very wrapped up in getting Little Man to the bus, and failed to notice the child had picked up a can. A beer can. With beer in it. That he then proceded to shake and of course spill all over. Now he smells like beer.
We don't live in a double wide trailer and none of our children are named Bubba Joe thank you.

Good News

When someone asks you, "I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?" How do you answer?
I am a big fan of doing/saying the bad first, and then follow it up with the good. If I have something fun to do in a day, I save it for after I have forced myself to something distasteful, (like housework!) as motivation to get it DONE, so I can enjoy something better.
So, in typical Jo fashion, I will give you the bad news, and then follow it up with the much better news.
First off though, let me whine, please! I am soooo, sooooo very tired. Exhausted both physically and emotionally from dragging my sweet boy to two days of dr. appointments at the Large City Near Me Children's Hospital. I got home last night at almost 6 and just dropped. I couldn't even eat dinner until after the boy went to sleep, I was that tired. And still am. On Tues he was really pretty decent, but the day is so long when you have to drive so far, wait, and wait, in waiting rooms, and in the drs office, wait and wait, interspersed with bits of excitement in the form of outbursts from the boy, or people trying to ask questions, or heaven forbid! touch the kid, which usually earned them a scratch and a growl, seriously! So, yes, I am tired. Haven't even eaten breakfast, I am that tired. I had to drink a Mt. Dew to even get up the energy to post. Then I am going back to bed.
So, Tues was the neurology appt. I am too tired to do links, peeps, sorry, but if you don't remember what I am talking about, you are going to have to go ask Dr. Google.
Little Man has a Vagal Nerve Stimulator for his seizure disorder. We really, really love the contraption, it has given him and us a quality of life we didn't have before. So the person we saw is the PA that oversees the VNS kids. (Part 1 of the story was us switching insurance and now having to switch to some new specialists for the boy, remember?) I really, really liked her. We also got to meet his new neurologist who is also a woman, and I really, really liked her too! Yay for all that. I liked them until they told me that because Little Man's VNS is set a bit higher than average, the battery in the thing is going to die sooner. They will need to contact the manufacturer to find out a better time frame, but it was probably about 3 years. OOOOPHHHFFF! It felt like someone socked me hard! in the midsection. Horror flooded me as I remembered how very awful the implantation had gone. Infections, bleeding, PICC lines, it was really, really awful. The dawning horror that this would probably take place in the next few months because the 3rd anniversary is coming up in Feb was the final cherry on my mountain of rising fear.
We will hear from them soon on a date. The small good news about this, we know WAY better than to let his VNS die on its' own and try to do the surgery as emergent. It will be scheduled ahead of time, Little Man will be on IV antibotics first so we should be able to avoid all the post surgical complications we had last time. (They have to replace the entire thing, the battery is sealed inside, surgery is unavoidable)
And that my friends, is the bad news. Not the worst news in the world, but you have to understand that my reaction was just so very visceral and deep. The thought, "I just can't do that again, I can't!" went through my mind more than once. Ha, ha, like anyone ever asked me!
And now, for the sweeter and less awful part of this post. Little Man does not have Von Willedbrands. His labs were all good, yay! Why he does this cyclical bruising and why his labs are sometimes off is beyond anyone's ken, but hey, we have no need to enter the doors of Hematology again, at least for now. She said if his labs got funky again, we should come back. But I am pretending his labs will never be weird again, so we are not going back.
(Shaking fist at universe, do you hear that? We are NOT going back again!)
Little Man was less than pleasant for yesterday's appt, which is a large part of why I am so very tired today. Wrassling with the uncooperative, sometimes violent and ugly is just very tiring. He SPIT all over the scale when they tried to weigh him. Large amount of spittle, running down the nice electronics. I was embarrassed and horrified. He hit, pulled the doctor's stethoscope off her neck and wouldn't give it back, scratched, growled, yelled and was generally not very nice. The doctor did tell me he is not the easiest patient she has tried to examine. I told her she was NOT the first doctor to tell me that. Sigh. Then awful, ugly rush hour traffic home, and I just collapsed. Still feeling the effects. But hey, I have the day off today, we have the psychologist tomorrow and the orthopedist on Monday. Can not wait. Will have to try to rein in my thrill.
Now, I am going to try to eat some breakfast and GO BACK TO BED. yes. bed...
****updated at 10:55am****
while lounging in my bed, I received a phone call from the neurologist's office. Little Man's VNS has less than 3 months left on it. Neurosurgery consult ASAP and surgery. Gut punch. I am sick with the memory and the worry. Crap. If I swore, I would be swearing right now. Dagnabbit all.

First Mountain Monday in Oct

***Warning! Picture heavy, as it seems most Mountain Mondays have come to be.***

Pretty, pretty mountains!



Pretty, pretty sky!



And now! The cuteness that permates Casa de Tangled. You have been warned!

My darling, darling June Bug. No one except her mommy can make her laugh the way I do. I did ask Girlfriend if she would so kindly mention that to the "other" grandmother the next time they saw her... bwwwaaahaaaahaaa!
BEHOLD! The cuteness!





And more cuteness, this time from the beasts.
Meeko's clip has grown out and guess who is flying now?



Suprisingly enough, The Kitten Formerly Known as Justin, (Fluffy) even though she doesn't have feathers, did some flying too!



And finally, the cat is insane when it comes to laser lights. "I can haz lazzer lights?"



Mondays are a great day, aren't they?

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!!