~ Ada Verna ~

4-22-33 - 9-30-02

You'll never forget your mother's face,
the sound of her voice,
the gentleness of her touch....
They let you know you were loved.

You'll never forget the stories she told,
the traditions she handed down....
They let you know who you are.

You'll never forget the lessons she taught,
the things she stood for....
they are her gift and your legacy.

You'll never forget, and you'll always know
that you honor her everyday in how you live and who you are.

 ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Your Mother is always with you.
She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street;
she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks;
she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.

Your Mother lives inside your laughter.
And she's crystallized in every tear drop.
She's the place you came from, your first home;
and she's the map you follow with every step you take.

She's your first love and your first heartbreak,
and nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time, not space...not even death!

 

Happy Friday Everyone!  TGIF FO SHO!

Regarding my previous entry and my dilemma, I decided to just pay the ticket.  I figured I was "guilty as charged" so why fight it?

Upcoming weekend activities:  Friday night is Abbie's 9th birthday party.  Her daddy Paul will be doing his last set of chemotherapy treatments and will be getting out of the hospital the day of her birthday so her birthday will be celebrated early while Paul is feeling good.

On Saturday I will be visiting with Taylor and her mommy Kathryn.  YEAH!  "T" time! 

Now onto photos from the Compassionate Friends "Walk To Remember" that was held on the last day of the conference:

Here is our group that attended the conference from CA:

Here is a photo of Debbie showing the names of the children that we were walking in memory of:

Anyone notice that they are all males??  Weird, eh? 

• You all know how Christopher passed away........


• Mike Indiveri is the brother of our good friend Leslie.  Her brother died when he was 15 years old and was working at a local Payless Drug Store.  He was using a box crushing machine and somehow ended up in it.  Very sad.......


• Next is Leslie's son John Michael.  He was stillborn.  He would have been 17 years old right now.  He and his Uncle Mike are buried together. 


• Next is my friend Sue's nephew, Jason.  He died in an auto accident on his way home from a church event. 


• The next two young men, Bob & Michael are son's of a wonderful woman, Jill that I met here on Xanga. 

Next photo - Group shot of some of the walkers.  This was the largest amount of people that attended the conference AND did the walk. 

Our friends that we met at the conference last year in Oklahoma:

Look at this sweet decal that was on a car in the parking lot at the conference:

This gal is author Chris Mulligan.  She wrote a book about her son and communications that she has had with him since he passed away.  She is from the Oregon area so we will see her again next year in Portland.  We actually met her last year in OKC.  One of these days my friend Marla in OKC will receive her book.  I just need to find it (it's lost somewhere in my house) and put it in the mail for her!  <wink>

Speaking of Portland, I have already started planning our trip for next August!  I want to visit my friend Denise's brother in Snohomish, WA.  He owns a Rocky Moutain Chocolate Factory at a mall there.  How convenient is that?  Shopping and visiting all in one visit!

My siblings and I went to a memorial this past Saturday for a lady that passed away earlier in the month.  She and her family moved up to Vancouver, WA (real close to Portland), so we will visit the family on the trip next year as well. 

Another stop we will do is an overnight stay in Astoria, Oregon.  It is a sweet, Victorian coastal town that the movies Goonies and Kindergarten Cop were filmed.  I fell in love with that town after seeing those movies.  I've been there twice before and can't wait to go back. 

________________________________

I have been doing some remodeling here at my house for quite a few weeks and we are at the point where we need a dumpster to get rid of a lot of debris.  My brother JUST told me some guys in a white pickup truck were trying to dump some of their sh*t in my dumpster.  Grrr......THAT P*SSES ME OFF to no end.  What right do they have to dump THEIR trash in MY bin that I AM PAYING FOR? 

I'm off to go look for my rifle now.  (Kidding, I don't have one but IF I DID!)

_______________________________

Last photo for the eve - Charlie was looking SO cute watching me type away here on my laptop:

There you go!  Can you all believe I did 3 entries this week?  That is the most I've done in a long time!

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend and as always, be sure to hug your families!!

 

Xanga Friends.........I need your advice.  Last Friday I took a couple of hours vacation so I could go home and take care of my babies before meeting my sister at her office.  We were heading to San Francisco to go to a Saks 5th Avenue purse sale.  (Now that's another story!)..........After getting home and hanging out with the furry babies for a little while it was time to leave.  I went to my car at 1:15 p.m. and lo and behold there was a parking ticket on my windshield.     It just happened to be street sweeping Friday and there was to be NO parking on the street from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.  DOH! 

Now then, here we are, 5 days later and I'm about ready to pay for my parking ticket online when I noticed that the person that wrote the ticket did not put my correct license plate number on the ticket.  SO here is the dilemma.  What do I do?  Do I pay the ticket even though the license # is wrong or do I just kind of forget about the ticket?  How would they find out that it was issued to me with the wrong license # on it??  The office didn't put my VIN number on it.  SO, what would YOU do??

_  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _

GUESS WHAT TODAY IS?!  ANY GUESSES?!!  If you guessed that it's Bonnie's birthday then you were right!!  Please go to Bonnie's site and wish her a HAPPY 39TH BIRTHDAY!

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to post photos of the walk from the conference but I have decided to post pictures from our visit to Graceland in honor of the lovely Bonnie!  I do believe she LOVES Elvis.  Is that right Bonnie??!

1st photo:  Graceland:

Elvis' resting place:

Elvis' front room:

Dining room - Can you imagine the people that ate at that table?

Elvis' basement:

The Jungle Room:

Look at what they did to Elvis' racquetball court after he died:

Check out these duds:

 

 

Dig these rides:

Can you see the price of gasoline on this tank:

THAT would be TWENTY-SIX CENTS!  Gosh, if we could only go back to THOSE days!

I LOVE me a man in a uniform:

I hope you all have enjoyed this Elvis Presley picture post.  Now get your A$$ES over to Bonnie's site and wish her a HAPPPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Heh heh Bonnie.....did you love my picture post?!  ha ha!!!  Actually, here are a few goodies for you.  I hope you enjoy them!

   

   

   

     

What more could you ask for Bonnie?  Puppies, chocolate and cake!!  I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!  And many more!!

 

ENOUGH OF THAT POLITICAL CRAP!  It's just not my idea of good time.

Hey Everyone!  I started writing this on Friday.  Where did the weekend go?! 

LOOK at these photos my friend sent to me from Texas:

Do you all see the butterfly in the photos?  I couldn't believe that my friend took those photos.  Aren't they awesome?!

This entry is going to be a picture post from the Compassionate Friends Conference that we went to in July.

Prior to attending the conference we had to send in a photo of the child that we were remembering at the conference.  The organizers at the conference then put the photo on a record:

 

On Friday I volunteered to help the "Button Lady" make photo buttons.  This gal does this with her own money and makes the buttons all weekend until her supplies run out.  She has been doing this for quite a few years and only asks people for donations for this service.  She is also a bereaved mom as she lost a child too.  I had a good time making the buttons and can't wait to do it again next year.  She is behind me in the photo:

Robin spoke at one of the workshops.  He said some very nice things about what we have done to keep Christopher's memory alive:

Here is Debbie with service dog Bailey.  He is a Burmese Mountain dog and a real sweetheart:

Saturday evening was the dinner and candle lighting ceremony:

 

This next photo is of the people from our group that attended the conference:

 

Believe it or not, tomorrow I will post photos from the walk that we did on the last day of the conference.  You all have a wonderful Tuesday and be sure to hug your families.

 

HELL YEAH I flushed the toilet!  I should have done what some of you suggested and made some loud "bathroom" sounds before flushing!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I'm borrowing this from Pat's site (she found it on Newsweek):

"If I had a friend with five kids, including a newborn with Down syndrome and an unmarried, pregnant teen, plus a demanding job and legal problems, I wouldn't ask her to so much as bring cookies to a PTA meeting!  What was John McCain thinking when he asked Sarah Palin to take on the responsibility of being one heartbeat away from the presidency?  I am a feminist and all for breaking glass ceilings, but not at the expense of the family.  A parent who stands for family values has to be responsible to this sacred duty first and to career and ambitions later.  Your article ("McCain's Mrs. Right," Sept. 8) says Palin "seems to enjoy that role of strung-out supermom."  I don't feel safe with that characteristic in someone serving as the vice president of my country."

Ximena Tagle
Houston, Texas

 

BATHROOM ETIQUETTE QUESTION #2

The first question I asked was quite a while ago and had to do with saying, "Bless you" after someone sneezes in the bathroom (in another stall).

Here goes with the question:

If you are in the bathroom with someone else that is on a cell phone, do you

• A.  Wait for them to end their conversation before flushing the toilet or,


• B.  Do you flush the toilet when you are done taking care of your business and not worry about the person on the phone?

Greetings Friends!

On Saturday Charlie had his first playdate.  I was babysitting Abbie and Emily because their father was receiving his 2nd to last chemo treatment (yeah!).  We went to Taylor's birthday party and then after that we went to visit Charlie's surrogate daddy, Jason (remember, he had Charlie before he came to live with me?).  On the way to the girls house we picked up Charlie so he could spend the night with us.  Jenny also joined us.  The girls adore her! 

Once we got home and introduced Charlie to Max, the rest was history.  They were BFF's (Best Friends Forever)!  Max had so much fun that he didn't eat dinner that night or breakfast the next morning.  He loved Charlie and vice versa: 

 

The next day Denise picked up Jenny and also took Charlie home too as I was spending one more night at Abbie/Emily's house.  After Charlie left, Max finally ate his breakfast and pretty much slept the day away.  Charlie and Max are only a couple of months apart in age, so they are both puppies with a lot of energy. 

Here are some photos from their playdate:

Charlie hiding from Max (I love this photo):

Can't have an entry without posting photos of the birthday girl Taylor! 

Here are Denise, Abbie and Emily at the bakery when we picked up Taylor's cake (Denise decorated the cake):

GO CAL BERKELEY!  Taylor's grandpa is a graduate of Cal Berkeley.  In this photo Taylor was wearing her grandpa's hat:

And here is Princess Taylor:

Before the party Abbie was reading to her sis and Taylor:

Taylor is threatening to touch the cake: 

Abbie and Emily gave Taylor some crafty type items for her gift:  construction paper, crayons, glue, stickers, etc.  When Taylor opened up the gift she said, "I don't ever get a break from homework!"  What the heck does this 4 year old know about homework?!

I'm leaving you all with a poem that I found here online for 9/11:

Nation Of Survivors

In the bright September morning without warning to us all,
A few thousand lives were shattered and we watched two buildings fall.
And a billion souls felt empty, and the flags at half-mast fly,
In the memory of the innocent which didn't have to die.

We've lost brothers, sisters, cousins.  We've lost family and friends,
But we've made the choice not to forget their lives and tragic ends.
Though we've had our share of troubles we have put them all aside,
As a nation grieves we find ourselves defending them with pride.

We're a nation of survivors, with one heart we share a tear,
But we live to serve the memory, not giving in to fear.
Though they try to take security with the things they've done and said,
All their acts of inhumanity bring unity instead.
So we stand here as a family. One heart, one soul, one voice.
We are challenged by this moment, and united here by choice.

--Jack Foshee Jr., Sept 12, 2001.

 

OH NO,

LOOK WHO'S FOUR!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!

I had the photo above (and photos below) taken a couple of weeks ago of Taylor.  It was supposed to be a surprise for her mama but how do you explain that to an almost 4 year old?  Kathryn called when we were waiting for the photos to be done and Taylor said, "I'm having my picture taken".  Blah blah blah.....!!  Anyway, the outfit is Taylor's birthday present.  I got it from www.etsy.com.  Taylor will be going to Disneyland next week and after her daddy saw the outfit he said that he wanted Taylor to wear it ALL three days that they are there!  Cute, eh?!

Here are more photos:

 

The little Crocs are Disney themed too.  Cute, eh?! 

Time to get busy here people.........Have a wonderful day and be sure to hug your families. 

Here is a conversation that Taylor and I had a couple of weeks ago:

Taylor:  Tia, you have big boobies.
Tia:  One day you will too!
Taylor:  I keep waiting for them to grow. 

Howdy Ho Folks!  Long time, no see, eh??  I've been a bad Xanga friend.  Not just lately,but for quite a while. 

Last month we went to a Butterfly Release at the cemetery where Christopher is buried.  It was put on by the group that does the Angel of Hope (Christmas Box Angel) program in early December:

The organizers of this event did a good job of putting it all together.  We had a guest singer, Alan Pedersen who has also lost a child (his only child Ashley) sing songs that he wrote.  We saw him last year in Oklahoma City.  Alan is traveling across the country just putting on shows wherever he is invited.  Robin and I both bought one of his CD's.  He has a wonderful voice and sings from his heart:

Besides Debbie and Robin going to the event, my niece Wendy and her children also joined us:

After Matthew opened up his envelope with the butterfly in it he said, "My butterfly pooped in the box"!

Debbie got a visit from Christopher....this butterfly stayed on her arm for a VERY long time:

Debbie liked releasing the butterflies so much so that she wants to do a release next year for the anniversary of Christopher's passing.

I'm closing this entry with a poem that I found here online:

Butterflies

Butterflies delicate,
butterflies blue,
butterflies still
remind me of you.

We are here for a while,
then we are gone,
but not forgotten,
for we will be changed
into something more beautiful.

Like the butterfly,
we do not really die,
but shed only
our outer shell.

We then become
even more radiant,
when in our glory,
with Him we shall dwell.

For we are transformed
into new creatures,
in garments of white.
While singing His praises,
we are filled with His Light.