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Friday, January 23, 2009

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



My beautiful friend Tara blogged about her "Word-for-the-Year" a few weeks back. This word is to be sort of your "Focus" for the year. I told Tara that my word for the year was going to be "FIGHT".  It seems to be all I do anymore with regard to Mason's Autism.

Fight - noun; a battle or combat.

We have been trying to get Mason some MUCH needed speech therapy for nearly a year now. Our insurance company (Cigna) has continually denied benefits. We have taken it to State level arguing that a Colorado state mandate rules that Autistic children under the age of five are legally entitled to speech therapy (up to 60 visits per year). Come to find out, OUR policy isn't subject to state mandates because of the way they are contracted with Gregg's employer. Well, back in Sept. I went to Gregg's employer (Big Ol' Hospital) and told them that their policy is not in state compliance and that my son is suffering for it. They agreed to change their policy beginning in 2009 so that Mason could get the speech therapy  he needs. We thought that was fair and went ahead and footed the extraordinary bill for therapy from Sept - Dec.  The first of January we put through the referrals for Mason to get speech therapy using this "new plan". We were DENIED stating the same reasons as before. Our plan had in fact NOT changed! I was unbelievably PISSED OFF at having been lied to by my husband's employers. I called said Big Hospital Employer and left a "Mommy Freak-Out" message on the head honcho's voice mail. At that point, I didn't care if Gregg got in trouble or faced reprocussions  for my tyrade. They LIED to me and my son was going to suffer even LONGER for it!

Well, today I got a phone call from a big-wig at Cigna stating that our insurance policy has been changed and that Mason will be covered not ONLY for UNLIMITED visits of speech therapy but for ANY AND ALL AUTISM RELATED TREATMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is unheard of in the state of Colorado. No insurance company in Colorado (to my knowledge) covers any autism related treatment because it's EXPENSIVE and you need a LOT of it. Some states require coverage for autism treatments, Colorado is not one of them.

The woman (big wig at the insurance company) told me that if ANYONE gave me any grief at all over billing, or benefits for ANY autism related treatments that I should call her directly and SHE would take care of it personally."Mason WILL be taken care of," she told me.  She was so sweet, and so understanding and she was my saviour today. THANK YOU DORRIS!

This is the biggest, hugest most mind blowing "WIN" I could have imagined! I was fighting to get him speech therapy and we got him total autism coverage! We got him what THOUSANDS of children in this area and hundreds of thousands throughout the country are being denied. We can now get mason the help he needs, and the insurance is going to pay for it! (Well, most of it anyway!)

I have been floating on cloud nine all day, you could not possibly wipe this smile off of my face. A weight has been lifted and now I know that I AM doing all I possibly can for Mason and it feels DAMN GOOD!


Thanks for letting a proud mom gloat!




Monday, January 19, 2009

Uhmmm ... OoooooooooKay?!


*Takes a swig of beer*

So, wanna hear about my night? Well, i'm gonna tell you because I'm pumped full of adrenoline and have nothing better to do. I was sitting on my couch watching a Bruce Willis flick at about 10 pm. Kids are sleeping, Gregg is working. Just me and the dogs....  When the doorbell rings. Nobody EVER rings my doorbell this time of night. I walk slowly out of the living room and look in the direction of the door. Next to my door is a full length window with a sheer curtain over it. My porch light is on, but I can't see anything through the sheer curtains. I decide it's in my best interest (since I am alone) to NOT answer the door regardless of how frantically my dogs are barking.  The bell rings again. I was thinking, WHO IS AT MY DOOR? Could it be Stacey? Or maybe my sister-in-law Karin? Well, it COULD be but they are both the type of people who call before coming over...  The bell rings AGAIN. At this point I figure I better go see who it is before my kids wake up and REALLY Piss me off! I grab my phone and head for the door. I pull back my sheer curtain just enough to peek out onto the patio. What is staring back at me??  GAHEAD.. GUESS!




























  A bloody man!

Yep. You read that right. There is a young man standing on my patio COVERED In blood. wearing black thermal underwear and wearing a t-shirt wrapped around his hand! I'm like.. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh whaaaaaaaaaat????????? At this point, the sheer curtain fell right out of the window and landed on the floor exposing the young man to Codi, my rottweiler who promptly went ape-shit upon seeing this bloody person. I asked him through the window if I could help him, to which he replied, "Please call my mom." I had the phone in my hand and asked him for the number and dialed. There was no answer. I asked him if he wanted me to call the police and he said NO. I told him I would be right back (with the phone still to my ear) and to not move. I went up to my room and called the police. I told them that there was a bloody man on my patio, what had transpired up to this point and to get somebody here.. FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
    I went back downstairs where I could get the boy back into my line of sight, and I found him slumped over on the patio. It looked as if he had collapsed. I let Matani the wonder spaz out of his kennel, dawned a little self-protection and went out onto the patio to see what was going on. He was still conscious and told me that he had been approached by a group of people who asked him for a smoke then beat him up. At that point I called his mom again and this time she answered. I confirmed with the woman on the phone that she had a son by the name he gave me. She said she was his mom and I gave him the phone. He started whimpering telling his mom that he had been beat up. I gave his mom the address to my house and informed her that the police were on their way. I asked if I could give her son some advil and she said okay.  I went into the house, grabbed him some advil, a pepsi and a bag of ice (after telling him not to open my door or Matani would eat him). When I came back out and gave him the items the police showed up. Two cars at first, followed by about 6 more cars, a fire truck and an ambulance!!!!!  

 Can you say "WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD!"

I told the primary officer (we'll call him "Officer Hot-pants" for now ) what the boy had told me, then I went into the house while the police questioned him. I am still not sure what the extent of his injuries were. I do believe he had the hell beat out of him, and more than likely had been cut with a knife as he had some very deep gashes in his hand. His neck and pants had been cut, and there was blood all over his face. He seemed very scared, very weak and very lethargic. He was also freezing. The paramedics put him into the van and began trying to warm him up. 

Officer Hot-Pants beckoned me back outside to tell me what he had discovered. Apparently this young man was 16 years old. He told the police that he had gotten into a vehicle with some people he did not know to smoke some pot and they hurt him. The police had received a call before I had called about a young man standing in the middle of an intersection near my home trying to wave cars down. The kid had told me that this incident happened about 10 minutes away, and he had walked to my neighborhood. Officer yumminess... errr Hot-Pants said that the kid WAS very hurt, but was also very stoned, and judging by the way he was dressed he was probably up to no good. I asked the officer if there had been any burglaries in my neighborhood and he said no. He proudly reported that this is 'HIS' neighborhood and he wouldn't tolerate that kind of stuff in 'HIS' neighborhood. Had there been any wrong-doing in this neighborhood, he would have let me know. Then he told me his exact schedule, what days he works and that he's always very near by in case anything were to happen again. (Because bloody people show up on my doorstep a lot??...) The caring officer did thank me for what I had done for the child, but reinforced that when bloody people show up on my doorstep I should only speak to them through the window and not open the door. That's what HE'S for.  He could see my killer attack dogs, but I didn't think it proper to tell him about my personal protection. I understand what he was saying. In retrospect, I should not have opened the door as I didn't know what was beyond the porch. I'm sure the cutie pie was just extremely concerned about my personal safety *laugh*

            We chatted for a bit about the neighborhood and the kid and then I went back in the house because.. well... it was very cold outside.  Not too many minutes later (maybe 15) there was another knock at the door. I opened it and there stood the boys mom, wanting to know where her son was. I walked out onto the patio and saw that the barrage of emergency vehicles that had blocked off my street about 5 minutes before had all packed it in and left. I told this poor woman what I knew about her son, how he looked and acted while he was here, the story he told me and that he had told the police something else, though I did not tell her what her son had told Officer Hot Pants, let them break her heart.. I didn't want to do it, it wasn't my place.  I told her they were planning on taking him to the near-by hospital. I wished her luck, and that I hoped her boy was okay. She thanked me and left.

These things just happen to me. Weird shit just ALWAYS happens to me!  I do hope the kid is okay, and that maybe he learned a valuable lesson tonight. I am glad that I was able to help him to get the help he needed tonight so he didn't continue to run around lost, bleeding and cold. I hope the punks who did this to him get caught...

Ahhhh Monday night excitement!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

There is something WRONG with me...


Today, not only did I lock my keys (and that damn phone) in the car, but I also locked my two-year-old son in the car too.  How? I have NO flippin' idea. At this point, I am convinced that my car is doing this on purpose.  Again, I called Onstar (after borrowing an SUV - yes, SUV that had onstar) and then a cell phone because the SUV's Onstar service wasn't working. And started ranting into the phone something about a car, a baby and UNLOCK IT NOW!

He did.. I drove away wondering if perhaps I was just born without the gene that keeps me from doing this.... repeatedly.

GOOD LORD!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Sooooooooo Monday was Ashlis  bestest friend Calista's birthday.

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY CALISTI SWEETIE!!!!!!!!!!!

What do three gorgeous littles do for a birthday? Skating? No, too much work. Party? No, too old fashioned. Sleepover? No, not yet. Zoo? No, too much poop. No, these little divas packed it up and headed off to the SPA. Yeah, you don't need to go back and read that again, I said "SPA".  Stacey found a great little place near our houses that is a spa, for kiddos. MAN this place rocks! Calista, Tori and Ashli all went in and had the works! There were peppermint pedicures, facials, glittery lotion rubs,  manicures, glittery make-up, princess (and punk rock) hair doos,with sparkly hairspray,  lolly-pops, jewelry, webkins, cameras, flashes, mama and paprazzis going ape nuts and two very tired (yet thoroughly amused) beauticians! We ended our 2.5 hour spa day with many walks and runs down the modeling cat-walk in the spa with the girls (Ashli) singing "Jingle Bells"  (of course) LOL!

To say the girls had a good time would be a devastating understatement. 
To say that the moms were a teeny bit jealous? Well... it took every bit of self control we had to keep our feet out of those "Toe Baths" as Ashli so eloquently described them!

Thanks for inviting us Stacey, we had a BLAST!


The girls kicking back with their feet in the peppermint "toe baths" while watching Kung-fu Panda. (Notice the facials?) Gah! I've NEVAH had a facial! I'm dripping with envy!


Calista's facial.. CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!  I think it was a white chocolate facial? Not sure.


This is Ashli after she had her hair and makeup done. She had a BEAUTIFUL princess hairdo, it pained me to take it out that night!!



Three little ladies lined up for their manicures... LOL!  Too precious eh?


Everything PURPLE! Fingers, Toes towels, rings, toe ring.. you name it~



Ashli's hair and makeup again  (sigh, i wish I could make it look like that!)



This is Ashli cracking everyone up while she was getting her hair done. She had everyone in stitches the WHOLE time!


Lovin it, and she's totally a natural. That's scary.





Sorry for the crappy photos. I was shooting raw indoors with no external flash and almost ALL of my photos came out blurry! I have got to get this fine-tuned!


Just testing.. and teasing =o)






Can anyone build a kick - butt blinkie? Man, I suck! LOL~




Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Hallelujah and Merry Christmas!




I am bowing down before the RAW gods. I've had this silly little camera of mine for a year and a half now and have not had the nerve to start shooting in RAW format. I braved going to all manual settings and that seemed a large enough jump into photography for me! OH  MY GOSH!!!!!!! Heather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHY didn't you smack me and MAKE me shoot RAW?! My wonderful photographer friend!  It wasn't until I saw what my good friend Wendy was doing with her macro shots in RAW that I decided to take the plunge.... today. HOLY CRAP! What an amazing difference in both quality and editing capabilities! NOW, I get it.  (shaking head)  I get it. BRING ON THE PHOTO SHOOTS! LMAOOOOOO!

Here are some random shots that i've been meaning to put onto my blog but haven't. And a couple that I shot RAW today (YAY ME!)

I hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful Christmas, and a prosperous and Happy New Year!




Here's one I took of Ashli today while we made cookies. Isn't licking the mixer thingy the best part about  making cookies? I think so! So does Ash!  (Shot in RAW)




While I was experimenting with my new found RAWness, Mason was my willing? subject. All of the photos I shot today would have been deleted had I not had the extended editing capabilites that come along with RAW shooting. ESPECIALLY the photo above!



Another one of my "would have been deleted shots".  Now? One of my favorites of Bubby this Christmas!  Yes, yes, I know. Bad call putting him in an orange sweater LOL!


Bubbs helping to re-decorate the tree. He's enjoyed trying to figure out how to re-hang the ornaments he rips off!  (RAW)



Me continuing to stalk my son. And him running at me (ready to throw my camera I'm sure).  RAW



Bubbs doing that "ornament thing" again. But hey, it made for some good pics!



Here's Ash by the tree. Not shot in RAW, but I thought it was cute anyway!




Dad and bubbs in November when we went on a veeeeeeeeery long hike. Mason and Ashli did SO well. They hiked a few miles with us through some pretty tough terrain (well, it would be tough if you were three feet tall) and came through like champs! Way to go kids!


I would show you photos of the kids with Santa, but in my "Spring Computer Cleaning" I seem to have DELETED my scanner! Add that to the list of stuff to fix! HA!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!





Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Memories of Fall 2008



Here is a digi (I know, faint - right?) from me using Stacey's Cinnamon Spice kit. This kit really is FANTASTIC and you can dl it free on her blog HERE.





I {heart} my Secret Santa!


Well, well, well... today I discovered the identity of my "Secret Santa". I'd been wondering for a while who she was and today I found out! Thank you Rebecca for the wonderful package! Some of my very favorite things were in there. Each gift I opened was most DEFINITELY something I would have picked for myself! You rock! 

Not only did she include some awesome scrappy goodness, but chocolates (a woman after my own heart I tell you!), and a BEAUTIFUL handmade card, along with one of the most beautiful mini albums I've ever seen. Rebecca is a master at distressing everything. You should definitely check out her blog HERE.

Here are some photos of the goodies I received, thanks again honey! LOVE IT!


Lovely pearl stickers which I just ran out of (thank you!), Beautiful Primas that are SO my style and a great asst. of gems. PERFECTION!



LOVE that spice candle, it smells SO yummy! A bottle of MORE yummy primas and uhm HELLO?! CHOCOLATE! I'm eating one right now, they are TOTALLY YUMMY!


Isn't this card gorgeous? I just LOVE handmade cards. Now for a SECOND time, I find myself asking Rebecca ," Where did you find those poinsettias?" LOL!


The Lot, I'm a lucky girl eh? Thanks "Santa"


Is this not just BEAUTIFUL?! Oh my I nearly choked when I opened up this beauty! It's a LOVELY HAND MADE mini album that Rebecca created for my family. Unbelievable how talented this lady is. I really REALLY love this!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Two new AWESOME digi kits!




Yes,  I am a walking? ad campaign for my dear friends! 

Stacey just released TWO  new complete, jam packed digital scrappy kits in her store! They are jam packed with LOTS of embellishments, definitely check them out HERE.  And here's a tiny secret... shhhhhhh,  *looks around suspiciously* if you go to her blog (HERE) she is giving awayparts of a mega kit each day for FREE!




Hmmm I don't know what happened with that little guy there. Apparently my stellar blogging skills are seriously lacking lately!







Saturday, December 13, 2008

I feel old...



You know, sometimes you see something, or hear something that just kind of hits you in the gut and makes you feel really damn old.  Maybe you see a photo of yourself, and notice that you are getting wrinkles around your eyes, or you find a few gray hairs and think it's "distinguished". Maybe the National Finals Rodeo comes and goes yet again, reminding you of those never ending wild nights you usedto have not so many years ago... or maybe, just maybe you are listening to the radio and the announcer informs you that Nikki Sixx just turned FIFTY FRICKEN YEARS OLD! Yep. 50.  5-0 folks. *shaking head*.  If you don't know who Nikki Sixx is, get off my blog! Because that means you are either too young to remember and YOU will make me feel old, or you slept through the 80's.





Monday, December 8, 2008

Some Digi Goodness



Lots of you (traitors) dabble in the dark-side of scrapbooking. My dear friend Stacey is now designing her own lines of digital kits that are flat out AWESOME!  She created the cutest Christmas alpha and kit! She is giving the alpha away and you can check out the Christmas kit and all of her other fabulous creations at her store HERE.







Sunday, December 7, 2008

A Family Affair...




Here are a few shots from a session I did today with a really LARGE family, 14 people in all.It was a real pleasure working with these folks! They were SO easy to photograph, and a very very nice family!





























Monday, November 24, 2008

A moment of of unbelievable humiliation..

Thanks to my sweet, precious, adorable, perfect daughter, I have experienced a level of humiliation I previously thought
unattainable

Ash and I went to Michael's tonight to pick up a few things (thanks Rebecca!) and we were in line to check out. The lady in front of us had a few returns, and a few purchases. Needless to say, we were in line for quite a while. While in line, Ash struck up a conversation with the sweet lady returning things. Ashli had that lady and the cashier laughing and smiling with her cute and sweet ramblings, her screeching laughter pierced the silence of the store. FINALLY... It was our turn to check out and Ash was sweet talking the cashier like she always does. I was half paying attention to her while I was digging in my purse for my wallet to pay. Then it happened. I heard that sweet, angelic voice pipe up and say, "Wow! You've got a BIG butt!"  I looked up just in time to see the cashier return from her bent over position and stare at me with a half shocked / half disgusted look on her face. My heart sank all the way to my shoes and my jaw dropped even lower than that! Of course I chastised Ashli for her rude and extremely improper outburst and had her apologize to the still shocked woman and then we RAN for the door. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!  Ashli was SO upset. She didn't understand what she had done wrong. When I told her that she had hurt that woman's feelings by saying her butt was big, she replied by saying, "But mom, all giants have big butts." ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Lord...

What is a mom to do?

Friday, November 21, 2008

I {heart} Technology...

If you read my blog on any kind of a regular basis you know that I am CONSTANTLY losing my keys, or locking my keys (and cell phone) in the car. I swear this is an every-other-week thing with me. It's so rediculous at this point that it's even kind of comical.  No, not really.

Today I had a VERY special and VERY delicious lunch date with Ashli at her pre-school. The children worked very hard and prepared  a lovely meal of Pumpkin bread and Pork & Beans with hot dogs. Mason and I arrived for the meal, and when it was time to go I came to the all-to-familiar realization that the keys (and the phone) are locked in the car. AGAIN! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I went back into the pre-school and started calling home. Home is the only number I know by heart (the rest of the numbers are programed into the damn phone... in the damn car).  Gregg of course is asleep because he works nights. Any phones within his earshot have the ringers turned off.  I sat in the class room for about 40 minutes calling and calling and calling. Hoping that he might just wake up and hear the phone...   I began to get pity looks from the other parents in the room, and one lovely mom who obviously felt VERY bad for me even offered to give us a ride home. Then, like a brick to the forehead it hit me.  

*I have OnSTAR*

(Cue the orchestra, and let the angels sing)

DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'VE HAD ONSTAR FOR A YEAR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why just now do I realize this????? Do you know how much aggrivation this could have saved me if I'd have realized this MONTHS ago?

I called Onstar and explained to the sweet guy on the phone that I was locked out of my car and trapped in a pre-school room full of 4 year olds. He understood the urgency of my situation and offered to help.   This man, in God knows where America sent a flippin' LASER beam from OUTER FRIGGIN' SPACE  down to my car, and popped the locks! NO SHIT! It took him a half a second to break into my car from... uhmm..  I have no idea where! I am so in love with OnStar! Ya, I'll be renewing my service contract with them, I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize I had this tool in the box!

Monday, November 17, 2008

I've been a busy girl... doing something for ME!  YAY!  I have been wanting to create an advent calendar for my kids for a really long time. This week I finally got it done! (Thanks Amy for helping me find the right calendar).  This is a Karen Foster 8" x 8" x 1.5" countdown box. It has 25 drawers that measure 1.5" x 1.5". Ya, I know. I went cross-eyed working on this one! LOL!

I very proudly used Cosmo Cricket's "Wonderland" line for the papers here. They are my alltime favorite Christmas line out there... and for good reason!  I also used the following products: 
Rubz- Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket
Stickers - K&Co, Mark Richards (gems)
Stickles (Uhm helloooooooooooooo! Love these!)
Lots and LOTS of thickers 
Prima flowers (of course)
Colorbox fluid chalk
Mod Podge

Front View

From the back. The script reads, "In the air there's a feeling of Christmas".

Some cose-ups of the drawers
Lemme tell ya, i.5" x 1.5" is NOT a lot of workspace!






The wooden sign at the top is also by Karen Foster and reads, "No pouting allowed".  Too bad Ashli can't read yet... LOL!

I put this on the back so that hopefully, future generations will know I made it. =o) Awww Sappy sappy right?




Now, for more (yes, this post is SUPER LONG I have lots to say!)

You will recall that we just moved to our new neighborhood this past August. The one thing I miss noticeably about our old neighborhood are the rabbits. It was very common for us to have 1-6 cotton tail bunnies sleeping or sunning themselves in our front yard every day! They were pleasant to have around. There are NO rabbits at our new place. They are one of those things you really don't miss, until you don't see them anymore. =o(

But guess what!?!?!

Matani went APE nuts the other night when I let him outside. I've never heard this dog bark and go mad like he did, so of course I go running outside like mama Rambo ready to shoot someone and what should I see on the other side of my fence???? 

No silly, not a rabbit.

A DEER!

Who needs stinkin' rabbits when I HAVE DEER!!!!!!  
I desperately wanted to get a photo but it was REALLY dark out and she was just too far outside of flash range. Not to mention I didn't want to blind her and have her go running into the street!

Well folks,  TODAY I found her. Rather; Gregg found her! She was sleeping in between the neighbor's houses. So off I tramp camera in hand to finally catch a photo of her. She is a loner. No herd. I hope she will be okay this winter. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for her. I took this photo at 8:30 this morning. It's now nearly 2:30p.m. and she is still snoozing in the same place! 

Yes, I love having friendly woodland creatures!



Are those ears not the cutest ginormous ears EVAH?? I love them!


These are just some REALLY cool shots of an amazing sunset we had last night. I'm a sucker for a killer sunset... and a full moon...   *sigh*  Yes, I do love a full moon.... oh but that's a totally DIFFERENT Story that I probably shouldn't share with you people. So, here are some completely untouched sunset shots.




Saturday, November 15, 2008

A Mommy Moment...



"I am thankful, for you"

said my sweet little Ashli tonight as she climbed into my lap and gave me a GREAT BIG hug.

Oh, out of the mouths of babes! She made my whole day!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Uhm... eww?


I have heard the term "window licker" a few times in recent past. I never knew what it meant, and thought I would be showing my uncoolness if I asked. I do believe I have finally discovered what folks were talking about when they used the term "window licker". What I did NOT realize is that all of those folks own South African Boerboels! Wow! Small world eh?




Yes, it's gross. Yes, I'm going show you more.




Oh quit complaining. You only have to LOOK at it. I had to CLEAN UP AFTER IT!





As I was watching the gallons of slobber drip down my sliding glass door, I was reminded of a fact sheet I read before buying Matani. This fact sheet was an integral part of our decision to purchase this particular breed. The author of that 'fact sheet' was a dumb-ass who OBVIOUSLY  has never had a South African Boerboel living in their home with them.  I shall now clear up some common misconceptions about the S. African Boerboel for you.

1. South African Boerboels very rarely bark. 
    My Ass!  Have you ever tried to talk to me on the phone? Call... and listen to my dog!

2. South African Boerboels don't shed.
    My Ass... again! This dog sheds more than any other dog I've had the pleasure of sharing my bed with. ICK!

3. South African Boerboels don't produce the mass quantities of drool that other Mastiff breeds do.
     MY ASS!!!!!!!!!  You saw the pictures right?


One could easily understand why I felt the sudden urge to strangle the shit out of the author of that fact sheet while I was mopping up all of slippery, slimy puppy drool.

Pleasant Dreams.