Happy Birthday Connor!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR BUG! YOU'RE 3!

Hard to believe this little critter has been around for three years now! And yes, I really do have three family birthdays in a row. Makes for a lot of cake and some extra pounds, but it's all good! :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Thirty-eight years ago (when he still had hair), my sister, Ann, was almost my dad's birthday present. But she just had to have her own special day, so she came out one day too soon.

Over the last 38 years, my dad has lost most of his hair. He says it's from those two cuties in that photo there with him. :)

He may not have as much hair as he used to, but he's still one cool dad!

Happy 65th Birthday Dad!
We love you!

Happy Birthday Annie Bananie!

See these really adorable kids to your left? Would you believe me if I said that was me and my older sister, Ann? I know, I know, what the heck happened to us? We used to be so cute. :)

So why am I dragging out the old photos, you ask? Well, today is my sister's 38th birthday. Since she loves to embarrass me every chance she gets, I thought I'd do a little embarrassing myself today and wish her a special day.

It's hard to believe we're really getting this old. Seems like just yesterday we were fighting over Oscar the Grouch and splashing in our kiddie pool. We can still do those things, but I'm betting the neighbors would think we were a bit weird.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE BANANIE!
And don't worry----you're still cute! :)

My little piano man....

This picture was taken at Christmastime last year. Connor was just starting to show an interest in music then. He liked it when I put my keyboard on auto song and played music for him.

Fast forward to today, and I caught my little piano man standing on his chair in front of my keyboard. He had turned on the Song Select feature, selected #2 (My Favorite Things) and started it up. He was "playing" along, although none of the notes were right. But he was singing to the song, and that little bugger had every word right. I don't even know all the words to that song without looking them up, and it's one of my favorite songs! I was so amazed I almost forgot to get video of him doing it. Once I figure out how to download it (if I even can on my ancient computer), I'll add it so you can all see it. It's really quite entertaining. :)

Phelps, Schmelps...J.Lo. is the real athlete here!

In case you haven't heard, Jennifer Lopez is training for a triathlon. And the self-appointed diva is tired of all the focus being placed on the mediocre athlete Michael Phelps. PAY ATTENTION TO HER!
This was the sentiment she expressed just two days ago, during one of her highly-publicized training sessions. Apparently, in addition to cameras and reporters in tow, her make-up artist also was on hand just in case that pesky sweat messed up her mascara or something. (I'm rolling my eyes right about now).

Here's a story on her "look at me, I'm the best" attitude if you need a good laugh: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26272630/?GT1=BUZZ3
In this story, she seriously says she's upset that so much attention is being paid to the Olympics, and particularly Michael Phelps, right now. She thinks that's all overrated and people need to fall at her feet in amazement. (again, eye rolling here)

Apparently, she has started her own blog with training tips for everyone. I wonder if any of those tips have to do with how to keep your professionally-done make-up job from running while you sweat.

I really feel sorry for her. Truly, I do. To think the world revolves around you must be a tough thing to deal with every day.

Never a dull moment in China....

China confiscates Bibles from American Christians

By GILLIAN WONG,

Associated Press Writer

Updated August 17, 2008

(AP Photo/Greg Baker)

BEIJING (AP) A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Bibles confiscated by Chinese officials when they arrived in China is refusing to leave the airport until they get the books back, their leader said Monday.

Pat Klein said he and three others from his Vision Beyond Borders group spent Sunday night at the airport in the southwestern city of Kunming after customs officers took the Bibles from their checked luggage.

"I heard that there's freedom of religion in China, so why is there a problem for us to bring Bibles?" said Klein, whose Sheridan, Wyoming-based group distributes Bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world.

The Bibles were printed in Chinese, he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The move comes as China hosts the Olympics in Beijing, where false media reports last year claimed Bibles would be banned from the games. The state-run China Daily reported last month that 10,000 bilingual copies of the Bible would be distributed in the Olympic Village, which houses athletes and media.

In China, Bibles are printed under the supervision of the Communist government. The officially atheistic country allows them to be used only in government-sanctioned churches and in some big hotels catering to foreigners.

A woman on duty at Kunming airport's customs office confirmed over the telephone late Sunday that 315 Bibles were found in the passengers' checked baggage.

The officer, who would only give her last name, Xiao, denied confiscating the Bibles. She said authorities were just "taking care" of them and provided no further details. She later said she was not authorized to speak to the media and referred questions to the national customs headquarters in Beijing, which did not answer phones on Sunday.

On Monday morning, Klein said Chinese officials had shown the group what they said were laws that banned bringing Bibles into China, but that the documents were in Chinese. "We are waiting for them to come back with the law in English," he said.

Chinese officials had asked the Christians to leave the room at the airport where they spent the night, but Klein told the officials they did not want to go without the Bibles.

Klein said the customs officers had told him that they could each have one Bible for personal use, but no more than that. He said the officers had videotaped them and were insisting that they leave the airport.

"We don't want to go without taking those books. It cost us a lot of money to bring them here," Klein said. "They're saying that it's illegal to bring the Bibles in and that if we wanted to, we had to apply ahead of time for permission."

China faces routine criticism for human rights violations and repression of religious freedom. Religious practice is heavily regulated by the Communist Party, with worship allowed only in party-controlled churches, temples and mosques, while those gathering outside risk harassment, arrest and terms in labor camps or prison.

A Chinese Christian activist was detained Aug. 10, the opening weekend of the Olympics, on his way to a church service attended by U.S. President George W. Bush in Beijing. A rights group said later that the activist, Hua Huiqi, a leader of the unofficial Protestant church in Beijing, had escaped from police and was in hiding.

Police have denied any involvement in Hua's disappearance

A backward leap in women's rights......

Everyone who knows me knows I am not a bra-burning feminist type. But I do believe in equality for women in many areas, including health care, voting and job salaries. Sadly, though, women are still fighting battles on many of those fronts. The illusion of equality is there, but in reality, we are far behind our male counterparts.

This morning I got an email from a friend of mine, warning me about new rules President Bush is trying to pass under the table (meaning without Congressional approval) concerning the legality of birth control pills. Mr. Bush would like to have our right to use them taken away by adding wording to existing legislation that would equate the use of birth control to abortion. Here's one story about it if you want to read it: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5935532.html

I do not wish to debate whether birth control is the same as abortion. I believe that's a personal decision for people and is none of my business. However, as a woman who is on birth control for reasons other than prevention of pregnancy, I find this very disturbing. The very suggestion that birth control is used only for that purpose shows Mr. Bush's ignorance of women's health issues. Many women, like myself, have medical conditions that can be helped by using the pill. If he takes that option away, he is compromising my well being, and I am not OK with that. If you are not OK with that, either, write or call your local Congressman or woman and tell them.

Please boycott this movie....

The movie is Tropic Thunder, featuring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. The trailer for this movie looks innocent enough. But for a good portion of the movie, Mr. Stiller proclaims to have found his "inner idiot" in order to play the role of a mentally-handicapped person.

The premise of the movie is these guys are filming a movie. But during the course of the movie, something freaky happens and they actually turn into the characters they are portraying. For Stiller, that means he becomes Simple Jack, a mentally-handicapped man.

While there is nothing wrong with playing a mentally-challenged person, there is something wrong with the judicious use of the word "retard" in this movie, with the sole intention of making fun of people with this disability. I have never found using that word appropriate in a joking context, and I can't believe any reasonably, compassionate adult would do it, either. But it happens. And it's sad.

I heard an interview with Mr. Stiller this morning, saying in order to play the role, he had to first accept that it was OK to be "stupid" and then he was able to do it. He also said he didn't understand what all the fuss and protesting was about, that people just needed to get a sense of humor.

The Association for Retarded Citizens is boycotting this movie. If you want to learn more or support their efforts, please visit: http://www.thearc.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1800&srcid=183

Cheering for Dan.....

If you all have a minute, go to http://thebeginningofsomethinglegendary.blogspot.com/ and post an encouraging message for my pastor and friend, Dan. He currently is training for a marathon in September and he's encountering a lot of obstacles, including a pesky blood blister on his foot. So cheer him on and encourage him not to give up.

And remember, Dan, if you're reading this, believing you can do it is half the battle of actually succeeding! :)

Thump thump...thump thump.....

So I've been a bit paranoid since Thursday morning.
I woke up with quite a pain, right in the middle of my chest. I've never had anything like that before. I knew it wasn't breathing-related, because I used to have mild asthma, and it wasn't like that. It kept me awake for over an hour.

Later that night, I was nauseous. And for days I'd been breaking out in clammy, cold sweats, especially at night.

Nervous, I began googling with a list of my symptoms. And guess what came back? About 18,000 sites about heart attack signs in women. I thought for sure if I wasn't already having one that I was surely going to after seeing that information. Since google isn't always right, I called my doctor. He asked me a bunch of questions and then said that yes, I very well might be having heart issues. He told me to take an aspirin. If it helped, he suggested I should probably come see him if the pain came back. The aspirin helped.

So now I'm all paranoid. My family has a history of heart disease. I'm only 34 and I take relatively good care of myself. I try to eat right (except for the occasional piece of chocolate that calls my name) and I exercise. But maybe that's not enough.

I haven't had the pain since Friday, but that doesn't make me feel any better. I will likely schedule an appointment and get the once-over by my doctor to see if he can find anything wrong. But until then, I fully intend to panic.

All of this is enough to make my chest hurt. :(

I'm coming out.....

Not that kind of out. :)

And actually, it's not me who's coming out. It's Connor. He's coming right out of his shell.

One of his biggest issues with his PDD-NOS is his lack of appropriate social behavior with other kids. He loves to be around other kids, but he seems to have no idea how to actually interact with them.

Today, we had a playdate with my friend and her little girl, who is about 5 months younger than Connor. We've had playdates before, but he's never been much interested in her. Not today. He was holding her hand, talking to her, and at the end of the playdate, he actually asked her "Rachel, you want to have lunch?" It was sooooooooo cute I almost cried. He even hugged and kissed her goodbye.

For the first time in a long time, I felt totally encouraged by his progress today.

Help show support for disabled kids.....

If you have or know someone who has a child with a disability, please visit this website and show your support for these wonderful children:
http://www.geocities.com/silverribbon4ok/

A blast from the past

So I was sitting here, waiting to do a phone interview for work, and my phone rang. It scared me so bad, I almost fell off my chair. But that's not the interesting part, although it was pretty funny to see me jump a mile high over the ringing phone. At least my cat was amused, anyway.

I always check caller ID before I answer. We get some really weird calls for the people who used to have this phone number. So now, if I don't know the number, I don't answer. Well, I didn't recognize the number. But something told me to answer it. So I did.

It was an old friend that I haven't seen in over 5 years. In fact, I think the last time I saw her was at my wedding. We've been friends since the 4th grade, but once I got married and moved away, I admit, we drifted apart. Some of that was my fault, but some of it was hers, too.

While it was great to hear from her, I felt a bit awkward at first. My friend was always a little abrasive when it came to asking personal questions. Within the first 5 minutes of our call, she had asked if my child was "normal," if my marriage was on the rocks or if it was OK and if I was happy with my freelancing job. When I answered all of those things in the positive sense, she seemed disappointed. Then she flat out asked me if I was unhappy in any way, like she needed me to be miserable or something. It just seemed....odd. Yes, I have some challenging situations going on right now. But I wouldn't say I'm miserable and depressed. It was like my friend was hoping I was miserable and depressed. It was very weird. But then I remembered that that was just who she was, always prying and always asking for information that most people would recognize was not within the normal comfort zone of conversation. I accepted it a long time ago. But I had definitely forgotten what it was like to be grilled about my happiness. Hopefully the next time she calls, we can focus more on the positive than the negative.

Yes, I'm a sucker.....

See this really cute looking cat? Well, it's mine. Sort of.

About 3 weeks ago, my kitty, Gabe, woke me up at 3 a.m., yowling like a crazy cat. I'd never heard him do that before. So I went downstairs to see what was up and also to shut him up before he woke up Connor. He was glued to the patio door, carrying on like I'd never seen him carry on before. So I looked outside. There, crouched in the corner, was a small black cat with the greenest eyes I'd ever seen. They were so bright and green it was actually kind of creepy. So I pulled Gabe away from the patio door and went back to bed.

The next morning. the poor thing was still huddled on my porch, looking really confused. And hungry. At one point, it tried to lick the old grease off my grill. So, being the animal lover that I am, I decided to take it out some food. Yeah, I know, mistake number 1. But it's just who I am, to love animals like that. When I was a little girl, I used to regularly have several cats and dogs in our yard. Some of them were ours, some of them were the neighbors and some of them, I had no idea where they came from. But they flocked to me because I gave them food, love and attention. It used to drive my mom crazy.

But I knew I had made the right decision with our new kitty once I got outside and got close to it. It was awful. I could count every last one of its ribs. It clearly hadn't eaten anything in a long time. It wouldn't let me get very close, so I put out some food and water and went back inside. It ate every last morsel.

I have seen the kitty now every day, sometimes twice a day. I always give it food and water and I can now sit pretty close to it while it eats. I hope to gain its trust enough that I can maybe scoop it up and take it to the vet to make sure it is OK. I suspect it's a female, because if it were a male, my cat would be all territorial. As it stands now, he's just very happy to see our new kitty every day. And I'm sure this won't be a shock to anyone who knows me, but Gabe used to be a stray himself. We rescued him when we lived in Zelienople. We found him eating birdseed and huddling under cars to stay warm. Poor thing. He wasn't much more than a kitten then. Now, he's a fat, 14-pound happy cat. :)

We've started calling the new kitty Shadow, which I guess is good whether it's a boy or girl. Even if it never lets me get close enough to verify its gender, or even pet it, I'll continue to feed the poor thing. After all, God made all creatures, big and small, and I'm sure He sent this one for me to take care of and love.

Consider yourself warned......

I got an email about the latest scam to get your private information the other day. Now, I must get tons of chain emails a day, talking about this kind of stuff, but this one seemed familiar, so I called the FBI myself to ask about it. They did confirm it is a real scam, so I wanted to warn everyone, because jury duty is one of those things that scares us all since the penalties for shirking it are steep. Here's the message:

The FBI has put out this warning about a serious phone scam that steals people's identity. The caller tries to get you to think that you have skipped out on jury duty and there is an arrest warrant for you. They then ask for personal information in order to "clear" your arrest warrant. Go here to read more:

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

All these scams are getting scary. The other day, I had someone call pretending to be from Nielson Media Group. Anyone who knows about this group knows that they never call to ask you to participate. They send out mailers about it, asking you to sign them and return them if you want to participate. I thought it was weird this woman was calling, but I knew it was weird when she started asking for personal information that had nothing to do with my television viewing.

Just be careful everyone. Scammers think of some new way every day to rip us off.....