Back again!

I wonder if blogging is like developing a new habit.  It takes 21 days?  Could be.  If so I'm probably screwed but I'll give it a whirl!  I missed yesterday because of one of my mom's famous blow up episodes.  Fun was had by all.... NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I bet you thought my next post was going to be about those hunky King boys, didn't you?  Yeah me too.  Alas, it just isn't so.  Maybe tomorrow!  Just to help out a bit here is some more eye candy!!!

I don't think I could ever tire of looking at them!  Especially Tim!  But on to the topic.  I had a conversation with my daughter that I never, ever, EVER thought I'd be having.  As I mentioned yesterday was one of my mom's blow up dates.  The usual not so pretty screaming and yelling and her telling me to get out.  At 9 years old Princess Bear (PB) is more than aware when this stuff happens not that it slows my mom down a bit.  The whole thing was over the general state of the house which while not wonderful wasn't that bad.  Then again my mom isn't know for being reasonable or rational.  I will say PB's room was a complete s@#t hole.  I've basically gotten to the point that its just not worth the fight.  PB has been sick lately and I'm done doing the total room overhauls.  My mom on the other hand wants it picked up at all times.  So the melee ensued.  I finally looked at PB at one point when my mom wasn't in the immediate area and asked her if Mommy had to leave the house did she want to go with me or stay at my parents.  My parents would have you think that I'm the worse mother in the world to even contemplate taking her with me until I'm on my feet.  Especially since some time at a homeless shelter would be necessary.  I understand that it would be a huge change and somewhat scary for PB.  Really I do.  I also understand that I can't complete trust my parents and that if I left PB here that they might try to use that against me to gain custody of her.  While I do love my parents I'm not thinking they are the best choice of custodians for her.  I also think that as scary as a shelter might be that PB would be very traumatized to be away from me.  It's always been me and her and she has spent 2 nights away from me in her life.   Much to my relief PB instantly pointed her finger at me indicating that she wanted to go with me.  She wanted to know how soon we could move, could we pack all her things and could the cat and dog go with us.  Actually she was somewhat excited about potentially moving.  Bless my child's heart!  I also know that when the time comes that we either move out on our own accord or my mom kicks us out that PB will have a very hard time transitioning.  This has been the only home she really remembers and she does love her grandparents when my mom is being a decent human being. 

Now on the upside of all of this is that PB's room is nice and neat.  I can't say I have huge hopes for it but we'll see.  My mom wants me going in there 4 or 5 times a day to do spot checks and have her pick up.  C'mon she's 9 and its just a room! 

On completely benign and boring side notes other than for a bit this morning when my mom seemed to want to continue the ugliness it was a nice day.  Fall has definitely arrived here in Central Illinois!!!  We woke to a bright, crisp morning.  My dad came in and told me to turn off my alarm. No need to twist my arm!!!  So PB and I slept until a bit after 8am.  We got up and chilled for a  bit and then I jumped in the shower when it seemed like my mom was in a decent enough mood to be around PB.  Sunday school started a few weeks ago but she missed the first 2 weeks due to not feeling well.  She was a bit nervous but excited that Sophia would be in her class again!  I was a bit nervous because I didn't know that the class for for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.  That seems like a pretty broad range to me.  All in all it went well and PB seemed to enjoy herself.  She came home with some Saints cards so I told her to discuss them with her Dzadza (grandfather) since that is more his thing.  We got home in time to watch the Fox pregame show.  Ah the boys on Fox are back and I couldn't be happier!!!  Of course my mom wanted PB to get in her room immediately and pick it up.  We had to finish the blanket PB made for her best friend Shay since she is still home recovering from surgery.  We had plans to go visit and I wanted to have PB finish it so I could wash it and we could take it with us.  I've got to say that PB did a great job with all the knots!!!  We had a great time visiting with Shay and Laura.  The girls had a blast and I introduced Laura to the King brothers!!!!  I've converted another person!!!!  Laura also told me if it ever gets to the point that my mom does kick me out that PB and I are more than welcome there.  It was nice to know that I won't be totally screwed.  Oh we also watched the Bears go.  They stomped all over St. Louis.  I know its not a huge feat but I'll love any win we get!!! We went to 5pm mass and that about rounds out our day.  So that is todays story morning glory!!!!

Sarah

Public schools

OK, I'm really not even going to mention that I did it again.  I was going to blog about my newest obsession, The King Brothers of Freedom Farms, aka the Farm Kings.  They look something like this:



 

Don't worry! I will be doing a post on them very soon. Very, very soon! Unfortunately I have another topic that is really nagging at me.

Princess Bear (PB) got sick last Thursday night.  It was probably triggered by the fact that keeping my daughter away from cats and dogs is simply impossible even with her allergies.  Her piano teacher has 2 new kittens that PB was all about petting.  They really are darling kittens; black!   I LOVE black cats!!!  Anyway I digress PB was playing with the cats and her allergies were already acting up.  This led to a full blown upper respiratory infection.  Thursday night she woke up in the middle of the night running a 101.9* temp.  It was not pretty (especially since Friday was my birthday).  I started breathing treatments Friday morning because she developed a hacking cough.  We were trying to get her healthy enough to go to my cousins wedding today but no dice.  PB missed school on Friday & Monday.  In the scheme of things not too bad for her.  The condition of her going back to school is that she needed to have a breathing treatment at noon.  Since we use samples from the Dr for her breathing treatments because the prescription costs around $400 the school nurse cannot give PB her breathing treatments.  So this Mom has been going to the school daily to do it.  It's amazing what you see when you are in the office a lot. 

Now I really don't understand this but the entire district that my daughter is in is a very poor district.  The entire school is on a grant program that provides free breakfast and lunch to each student daily.  That could be its very own blog post.  It's amazing what they feed these kids.  Back to the school in general.  Here are some stats I found when I googled her school.

Overview: XYZ Primary School

Grades Offered Grades PK-6

Total Students 443 students

% Male / % Female 52% / 48%

Total Classroom Teachers 41 teachers

Students by Grade



This School (IL) School Average

Teacher : Student Ratio 1:11

This School (IL) School Average

% American Indian n/a

% Asian 2%

% Hispanic 7%

% Black 61%

% White 29%

Unknown 1% 3%



This School (IL) School Average

% Eligible for Free Lunch 77%
% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 11%

School Statewide Performance View Education Department Test Scores

School District Name Peoria 150 School District

District Total Revenue $178,634,000
District Expenditure $181,355,000

District Revenue / Student $12,875

District Expenditure / Student $13,071



So just a few thoughts off the top of my head.  There is no way that there is a 1 teacher to 11 student ratio in this school.  I know that it is because they have so many special needs kids and some of them are 1:1 so it's very deceiving.  I won't start with how in reality the school is very, very, did I mention very understaffed.  Probably not legally but in what should be done for the best interest of the kids.  PB is in a special ed room (more like a glamorous closet) with 6 other kids.  They share their aide with another classroom (located 1/2 way across the building).  The teacher is spread too thin and the room is too crowed.  PB has to go in the hall when its time for her to work on her math work. 

It is so sad to see how the majority of these kids are dressed and taken care of.  I can understand not having money and not being able to buy things.  It's just so sad.  The kids are in uniforms that are too short, too small, too big or in general disrepair.  It's just heartbreaking.  If you want to look beyond that there is the general attitude of the kids.  There is absolutely NO respect for adults.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard kids acting up or out.  It's just sad.  If you say something to them they either laugh at you or look at you like you've grown another head.  When I was waiting for PB to come to the office the other day a little boy was sitting on the arm a chair.  One of the aides I know well told him to sit correctly so he wouldn't get hurt.  The child looked at her and completely disregarded her.  A few minutes later another adult told him to sit properly.  Again the child completely disregarded her.  Now I'm not sure about you but I would never, ever, ever complete have disregarded an adult when I was young.  Now part of it was I was sent to Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school.  And when I pushed the limits in high school the consequence was an all woman's boarding school.  I understand that you generally get a better education and get away with less in Catholic schools.  That said I also know that if I was ever that rude or disobedient I'd get my a$$ beat.  No ifs ands or buts.  I was hit for reasons much less severe than that I can't even imagine!    Honestly, what is wrong with kids now????  I thing the answer lays in a few things: 1) kids know that the school and/or adults wherever can't really do much to discipline them.  2) The world is so scared of child abuse that its done a complete 180* to the point that parents hands are tied.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of the beat the butt game.  Mostly because I lived with it on a very regular basis since my mom was not any better at controlling her temper when I was young.  I do think that if I parent hits their child in a way designed to get their attention instead of trying to impart pain its OK if that's what they believe in.  Unfortunately if you do that now DCFS will be on your doorstep before you know what happened.  For the life of me I will never understand.  Dealing with DCFS is such a joke.  Incompetent doesn't even begin to cover it.  I worked in daycare for several years.  I had a little girl in one of the toddler rooms that came in with obvious cigarette burns, iron burns and other marks.  I called DCFS.  DCFS sent a man to work with a little girl that was around 16 months old.  First not very bright thing in my mind.  Then he wanted to interview the girl in a room without anyone else present.  Um, let me think about this for a second, NOPE!!!  I finally said if he wanted to interview the child it would be with me in the room.  I would remain silent but I wouldn't send her in there by herself.  He finally agreed.  The man asked her burned her and the little girl named several people.  The DCFS worker asked to have the little girl taken back to her room so we could speak.  He had the gall to look at me and say "It's obvious that she's lying.  Next she'll tell us that the Easter Bunny and Santa burned her too."  Absolutely NOTHING was done.  I can't even tell you how angry I was.  I called and talked to his boss and filed a complaint but of course nothing happened then either.  On the flip side I have a friend whose daughter decided to poke her screen out of her window and stick her head out the window.  My friend was found to be negligent and had to go to parenting classes and all other kinds of rigmarole.  Seriously?????   I don't want kids to live in fear but I do want them to know that if they mess up there are consequences.  If that takes getting your butt popped so be it.  If that is losing TV for a week so be it.  If that is losing phone privileges so be it.  Parents and schools need to be able to get across to kids what is acceptable behavior and what isn't.  When they can't do that we have a generation of kids that think they can do whatever they want without any real consequences.  Never a good thing.    I was also going to discuss our failing school system and No Child Left Behind but this has already gotten too long.  SO- you have at least 2 more blog posts from me in the near future!  Freedom Farm/ King Brothers and No Child Left Behind! 

Catch ya later!

Another post just to stick with it!

I really do need to remind myself how much better I feel when I post regularly and check out the blogs I like regularly. I have given up the gaming on Facebook. It was a complete time waste. While I had a lot of fun there was nothing productive happening. So off with its head! Other than that I'm ready to absolutely fall out. Its 1am but chances are I won't sleep when I try. I will be so glad when I'm done taking prednisone. While it works well is really some evil stuff! Don't know if I'll post something tomorrow. Hopefully because I'll be in Chicago on Sunday. It might take a few of these random little posts but I'm back in the saddle baby!

Another long absence

Well if I had a dollar for every blog post I've written in my head I'd be well on my way to being rich! Unfortunately life doesn't work like that does it? Before I try to get back into the swing of things one more time I need to share an obituary of a friend. Her death is so completely senseless and pisses me off in so many ways. Shauna & I used to work together years ago at a daycare. I hadn't seen her in several years and that upsets me as well. She was such a full of life person and the fact that she was murdered by someone who she loved is just incomprehensible to me. I woke up to hear the news of a murder- suicide on Memorial day weekend. It was one of those things that you hear it and then try convincing yourself that it just isn't the person you know although you really know it is. To say that I'm angry at Carlos is putting it mildly. I don't know how things were going with them. I don't know if they were fighting or what transpired that night. What I do know is that 3 kids are now orphans. The world is short a person that truly brought light and laughter into it. There is so much I want to say and probably need to say but I don't want to put anything out there that the kids might run into one day. Here is Shauna's obit. Hopefully I can lose the anger I feel and find a way to pay tribute to Shauna in a way that is worthy of the great person she was. So until we meet again Shauna.......

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Shauna Christine Parks
April 26, 1982 - May 27, 2012
Biography
Shauna Christine Parks, age 30, of Peoria, passed on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at her residence.

Shauna was born on April 26, 1982 in Peoria, Illinois to Christine Marie Parks.

Carlos Hightower, her friend of 13 years, passed away on Sunday, May 27, 2012.

Shauna is survived by her three children, 13 year old Mykai Jordan Parks, 11 year old Alexa Donielle Hightower and 9 year old Kemry Lei Hightower; her brothers, E. Cordell (Jennifer) Johnson IV of Morton, Illinois and Michael Vincent (Beth) Johnson of Peoria; her aunt, Penny (David) Radley of Peoria; two uncles, Spandau Parks of Los Angeles, California and Richard (Rebecca Lahood) Parks of Peoria; cousins, Lisa Casper (Martin), Rosemead, Illinois; Lt. Col. Laura Radley, Charleston, SC; Justin Radley (Nini), Sherman Oaks, CA and Sonny Parks, Peoria. She was preceded in death by her mother, Christine Parks, her father, Elmer C. Johnson III, and her maternal
grandparents, Barbara and Venice Parks.

Shauna worked at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria for almost six years. She began in Patient Registration in the Emergency Room. For the latest years, Shauna was an Emergency Department Clerk in Health Information Services. Besides enjoying working in the ER, she often said many of her fellow workers had become really good friends.

She was baptized at the Bradley Epworth Methodist Church in Peoria
and attended all her life as did her mother, grandparents and other family members.

Shauna attended Peoria High School. Later she received her G.E.D.
She had taken many classes at I.C.C., hoping to apply to nursing school. Some semesters she took a full class load, worked full-time and still was a full-time mother to her children. She worked hard at every level, and her family and friends were proud of each success and right decision she made.

Shauna loved her children more than anything in the world. She just loved life.

She collected frogs; her favorite color was green; her favorite flower was sunflowers.

Contributions may be made to the “Shauna C. Parks Memorial Trust
Fund” for the benefit of her minor children, Commerce Trust Co.,
416 Main Street, Peoria, IL 61602

Friends of Shauna and her family are asked to bring a picture to be displayed at the funeral home and will be later given to her children to remember their mother.

Cremation rites will be accorded and a memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 4pm at Cumerford-Hurd Funeral Home in Peoria. Reverend Tom Eckhardt will be officiating. Visitation will be held two hours prior to the service at the funeral home.

A private family burial will be held at a later date.
Online condolences may be made at www.cumerford.com. Arrangements made by Richard S. Wilton through Cumerford-Hurd Funeral Home.


Memorial Service
Saturday June 2, 2012, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM at Cumerford-Hurd Funeral Home
Click for Map and Directions









Facts
Born: April 26, 1982
Death: May 27, 2012
Place of Death: Residence
Occupation: Methodist Medical Center

Guestbook
Share your thoughts and memories about Shauna Christine Parks in the guestbook.
Sign the guestbook
Read the guestbook

A new me? The old me reappearing? Hmmmmm

Ok so I mentioned the really great conversation I had with Ryan at Barnes & Noble. Unfortunately no email from him. How disappointing! There is also a guy that I've been the smitten kitten for named Adam. Now why I think this guy is so awesome I'm really not sure but he is quite the sweetheart. He's a pharmacy tech at the Walgreens Princess Bear (PB) and I use all the time. There is another tech there named Mark who is also a complete sweetie and they both really help out above & beyond. Last week when PB was finally released from the hospital I dropped her off at home & went to Walgreens to drop off some prescriptions that needed to be filled. Hit HyVee for some soft mushy food that might entice PB into eating and then went back to Walgreens. There were problems with both of the scripts. Adam knew that I was beyond exhausted so he got on the phone & refused to leave anymore messages attempting to sort out the problem but stayed on hold & demanded answers. Mark helped out as well and they got both problems fixed. I was so grateful! I bought them each a $15 gift card to Barnes and Noble (actually why I went in there on Friday!).

I was in Walgreens 3 times yesterday. I don't even remember why the first time. The second it was to drop off a script for PB so she might be able to avoid an emergency room trip next time she breaks out in hives big time. I worked yesterday afternoon and didn't leave until around 7pm. I saw that Adam's car was still at Walgreens so I went in to pick up the scripts. If nothing else I can always count on Adam to make me smile! I told him I wasn't sure if B&N was an ok gift card for the two of them. He then kind of shushed me up because they can get into trouble for such things. He did say that it was so kind of me and I really didn't have too. He was joking around that I keep PB sick so I can come see him. Well no but its about the only nice thing about her being sick! So I went out to the car and got ready to leave and the brave me came out again. I wrote a note asking him about some coffee he had told me about & asked him to call or text me. Well so far nothing and thats ok. If he does he does and if not so be it.

What I'm more curious about is this brave side of me that is showing all of a sudden. I don't know what has caused this to come out but I'm kind of liking it. I used to be so confident, bold and pretty impulsive. I'm not sure when that part of me went undercover but it has. My friend Susie was the one who reminding me of this. I keep on thinking, racking my brain for some sort of plan so PB and I can get our own place. I still want a little place in the country and am thinking about doing some dog breeding. Not to worry I'm such an animal lover no mini puppy mill here. I'm thinking of having some breeds that cross well with poodles so they are good for kids with allergies like PB. Airedales, Austrian shephards, Bernese Mountain Dogs and my all time favorite English Springer Spaniels!

I also I've been pretty buried in my Christian Kane CD. There is a song on there called: Something's Gotta Give HERE to listen

Here are the lyrics. They reflect how I'm feeling at this point in time.

Faded dreams and blue jeans
A Rangers cap with sweat rings
There’s a hole in the sole of my favorite boots
Well I’ve been at it a long time
Working on that bottom line
And every shirt I’ve worn, the collar’s been blue

One of these days I’m gonna jump off that shelf
Hit that ground runnin’
At least that’s what I keep tellin’ myself

Chorus.
I’ve been sitting on the fence for way too long
Warmin’ that bench as chance moves on
And believe me that ain’t the way to live
And this barely getting by is really getting old
And it’s hard to turn the wrench on a rusty bolt
But someday, somethin’s gotta give

Busted hands and broken land
Black gold turned to sand
And the whiskey is the only well that’s running deep
And the dust devils dancing on the mesa again
At the mercy of that west Texas wind
The tumble weeds they seem to know more than me

They always find their way right out of town
They never turn back
They keep on rollin’ and they don’t slow down

Man its been a long time!

Wow! I really forget how much I love the release of writing things down! :) The blog had been going on wonky on me for months and months. Our computer had been having problems too so I thought it was all related. Nope it just took one of those 2am a-ha moments to figure it out! Then with the holiday craziness and Princess Bear being ill things were a bit crazy. She finally returned to school after being gone since the beginning of December. Thats another post all on its own.

Today I really am doing some thearuptic writing. I stopped in at Barnes & Noble the other night. I had to grab a couple of gift cards to for our Pharmacy techs who have always been great but even more so lately. I also grabbed a copy of Backwoods Home Magazine. Since I was there I was grabbing a copy of Christian Kane's CD. The guy in the music/video section told me I had to check out there but he'd hold my things until I was done. I hate that policy but it turned out to my advantage. The guy in the CD/video department was named Ryan and cute in a very non-assuming way. He made a comment on my Backwoods Home Magazine and proceeded to have an incredibly cool conversation. We seem to have a whole lot in common. As I was talking to him & kept on thinking that I hadn't had an intelligent stimulating conversation with a guy in G-d only knows how long. As I walked away he called after me "It was really nice talking to you". I kept on replaying the conversation with him in my head thinking that it was so odd that I'd felt so connected in such a short period of time. I was also really amazed how similar our views seem. SO being oh so bold, which isn't like me AT ALL (anymore) I grabbed the phone and called Barnes & Noble. I asked for Ryan and told him I was the one in there a bit ago and gave him the exact address for Backwoods Home Magazine and told him again how much I enjoyed talking to him. He said he'd really enjoyed it too. I then got even braver and told him that it wasn't a come on (well not really!) and asked if he did Facebook. He said no he didn't. What???? Then I said I was going to give him my email addy for that and he just said he'd grab my email. WooHoo! I started to give it to him and he said he had to grab a piece of paper. So I gave him my email addy and........



have heard absolutely nothing! :( I can't even tell you how bummed I am. It was also a bit loud on both sides of the coversation so I don't know if he got the info correct but at this point I'm not so positive. I did go back to B&N today because, hey it is one of my favorite places to drop money after all! I've been playing around with buying the book Tomatoland and also want the first season of Haven. So I looked for Haven & asked if Ryan was working. I think I might have just taken myself into stalker territory. The woman started answering that Ryan wasn't there at all today and wouldn't be until and stopped. Ugh!

So in short I've realized a few things
a)slipping into stalker territory is beyond easy to do
b)intelligent conversation is one of the sexiest things ever (well I knew that but this was just a big reminder!)
c)that Barnes and Noble can very well be my downfall. I want to win the lotto so I can just have a field day!

Ok so I'm going to stop ruminating and get to some cleaning. Hopefully I'll be posting with much greater regularity. I have lots of stuff to talk about! Happy New Year!

Sarah

OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!

I FINALLY figured out what was wrong with my blog & why it would go wonky every time I logged in for the past several months!!!!!!!!!!! It was like the bloody thing was hijacked! I was so bummed because I couldn't post or catch up on blogs on my blog list! I'm back baby!!!!!!!!!!! Ok- more to come- I've got to vacuum & get ready to babysit my nephews. OH YEAH! Doing the happy dance!!! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming! :)

Sarah