Update On My Uncle

Just wanted to give you all an update on my uncle. The one with leukemia.
Well, he is home. They can not find any trace of it anywhere in his body.
He had 2 rounds of chemo, his levels went from a 7 to a 40 so they said the chemo wasn't working and they'd have to go to the next step. Well, the next step was a stem cell transplant. So, my dad went and had his blood taken and sent to their lab to test and see if he could be a donor. Well, in the meantime, since they don't have insurance, they said they wouldn't do a stem cell transplant. I will never get over the way we put a price on another human life in this country! You don't dare spend too much to try and save one, but for $400 you can end one before it's even began. And it's legal. Well, both are legal. It's sick! Anyway, so that wasn't going to happen. So, they decided that they'd try chemo again. In the meantime, they ran more tests and the first one came back saying there was no leukemia to be found. The doctors were sure it was a mistake with the test. So, they ran another. It came back to say the same thing, no leukemia. At least not now. So...whether he's in remission, or completely healed, for those of us who trusted and prayed, we know that God had a hand in getting him well again. He is now at home and feeling pretty good!!

~thank you Lord, and thank you for all your prayers!~

Hey! I'm a Crunchy Mom!

Do you know what a "crunchy" mom is? I didn' t either until the other day when I was visiting different blogs and came upon one woman's and she was talking about what a "crunchy" mom she was. So, I was interested and read further only to find out that I am a "crunchy" momma as well. Well, not all granola, but getting there. I took a very simple test to find out. Here is the link: http://www.naturalmotheringutah.org/gfq.htm Test youself...you may be more crunchy than you thought. I am "Pretty Crispy". I did however score a "O" on questions 14 and 15!! lol Kind of proud of that too!!! Anyhoo...I think I found my calling as a mom, I need to be as crunchy/granola/crispy/etc...as I can. I mean I have the attachment parenting down pat...I have an 8 year old who still manages to sleep in my bed 4 out of 7 nights. BUT, in his defense, if I was having the same asthma issues he was, I'd want to crawl into bed with my mommy too! But, hopefully by the end of October we will have some answers. I finally convinced his doctor to send us to an allergist so we could figure out what it is exactly that is making him so miserable! He's been using his rescue inhaler way too much lately.
Of course his doctor would like him on that, plus a preventative inhaler, plus Claritin and Singulair. I will let him use the Albuterol and Claritin, but the other stuff is going to sit in my cupboard until we find out what exactly is going on.
There may be some very simple more natural remedies that we could do to prevent this without having to be on un-needed prescription drugs. Of course this brings me back to my crunchy mommy ways...find anything natural over something the medical profession wants to shove down his throat. I do not understand how these parents can just give their kids medication without looking into its possible side effects (long term and short term)!?!
Ok, well, we're off to church... Taylor has drama and Tyler has youth group.

~have a great evening~

Thank you State of Indiana!

Today, with all it's problems, is why I choose to stay illegal.

Well, not "illegal" but "license exempt".

I would be illegal if I kept over a certain amount of kids in my daycare,

but I'm not doing that, so I'm fine.

But...the state of Indiana would prefer that all home daycare providers get licensed so that their "legality" is not questioned.

And you know what...I'm all for that.

What I'm not for is all the hoops you have to jump through just to get a piece of paper to hang on your wall. It's not like you have a support system after the fact.

The state bails on you.

I know this...I was license in 2000 through 2002. I did not renew my licence

because the state is worthless and unhelpful.

Too busy and not enough man power!

Well, my mom and I briefly have talked about me getting licensed again and her quitting her job and working for me. That would be nice!

So, last week, I begin the process....OH MY GOSH.

I see NOTHING has changed!

First off...I have to call 3 different places just to talk to someone about getting an application.

I call a place called 'Child Care Answers', I explain I'd like to get licensed again and would they please send me the info.

NOPE - you have to attend orientation meetings.

OK- well, I was licensed before...

OH OK - you don't need orientation, what's your name.

HMMMM, you're not in the system.

WHAT? I was just licensed 3 yrs ago, how am I not in the system?

Can you PROVE to us you were licensed?

YES, I can send you a copy of my license.

OK...well, we need that or we can't send you the packet of forms.

So, the state of Indiana has no record of licensed daycare providers from only 3 years ago??????? Great record keeping!!!!

Ok, so I send out a copy of my license Friday night.

Today, I finally get a call back from the lady who is the licensing specialist for my county. She was there when I was licensed before.

I had left her 2 messages on Friday. She finally called today, Wednesday!

That's state workers for you!

She says I HAVE to attend orientation meetings first or she will not except my application. Great, thanks! And lose the attitude!

So, I call CCR&R, they were suppose to call me back last week to tell me when they had these meetings set up. Of course, no one called.

So...they are now saying I only need to attend 1 of the 2 meetings since I was already licensed before but that I must do what my licensing lady says.

So, I call 'Child Care Answers' to ask if they got my license...YES, they did.

They are sending me out a packet with my application, I do not need to take

orientation classes.

OK, which is it? Do I need the stinkin classes or not.

So, I call the licensing lady...leave message. Maybe she'll call next week!

THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I HATE MESSING WITH THE STATE!!

They have NO idea what they're doing!

So, I have 3 different organizations/state offices telling me 3 different things.

I asked the one lady " Do you guys NOT have a handbook of the policies"

She said they did...well, each office must have a different version!

I think for now, I'll keep my numbers low and forget about messing with getting licensed. Not real fair for my mom who is sick of her job, but what can I do?

I refuse to do this back and forth, they said this...they said that....

If you all can't get on the same page,

FORGET IT!

I understand now why this state has so many illegal daycares!

I blame THEM!

OH and now we must be finger printed...not just once, but every two years.

What is that about, my fingerprints don't change!

I guess it's just a little bonus for my local police department,

Cause , like all the other requirements, I have to pay for it myself.

Along with getting CPR and 1st Aid certified, getting a TB test plus a physical,

a drug test, background check and whatever else they can get us to fork out money for.

Ok, that's the end of my rant for the day!

I am on my way out to look for a new dryer.

Ours isn't heating right and it's taking 3 hours to dry 1 load of clothes.

I have to pick mom up from work too and we'll probably get something to eat.

~have a nice evening~

How Old Am I ??

Church was great this morning!! They showed pics of when they went to Mississippi to help the huricane victims and some of the people who went got to talk about what they witnessed down there and how it effected them , all in a good way. I'm sure it was life changing for all of them.

I found out today that you can swim with the dolphins at the Indianapolis Zoo for $175 for 35 minutes. HOW COOL!!! I would LOVE to do that with my kids. I wish I were a rich woman. What a cool homeschooling field trip! They would love it! If anyone reading this would like to contribute to that, I would hold you forever in my heart! :o) And I'll send you pictures!!

Ok, so how old am I ??.....well, let's say that I may slip back into the highschool/college freshman category...I love Laguna Beach. Oh my gosh...WHY?
The kids are such spoiled brats...why do I watch it? And that whole Jessica and Jason thing reminded me so much of a girl I knew...it made me want to slap myself!! Seriously though, for those who watch it, isn't Lo the sweetest!?! I love her! I'm not a fan of Kristin...grrrrr Can't stand "the new girl" although she seems sweet actually...I think she's just trying to fit in. I do like LC but feel sorry for her and the way she keeps taking Steven back. He just keeps going back and forth in between her and Kristin and it's sick.
Ok and of course...I'm still keeping up with "The Real World", I can't help it...I've watched that since before I had kids! Hey, I was 19, I was allowed!! I do have to say I get bored with it now, everyone's just sleeping with each other or getting drunk and getting arrested, not very entertaining!!
Ok, good one and at a more mature level....DOG the Bounty Hunter!!! Now that is a show!
I also started to watch that one with Peter Brady...boring. I only watched it because Florence Henderson made a guest appearance and basically told him to throw his girlfriend out...well, HELLOOOO she is 25 years younger than him!!!

And I'm going to leave you with that for now, because my computer keeps freezing up for like 3-5 minutes at a time and I have things to do...so, bye for now and I will let you know what's going on at our "cottage" later.

~have a wonderful week~

At The Request of My Cousin Jeremy...

I am going to post again...a new blog...WOW! Are you all shocked.
Like anyone ever keeps up with this. LOL

Well, not much has happened since I last wrote...Chole is doing fine. She's nice and dry and hates water now. She hated baths before, even as a puppy, so I found it odd that she would just jump in the pool like that. But she's fine and back to normal now. Well, I don't think she was ever normal, but she's back to her old doggie self! lol

My aunt Gail and cousin Jer came for their visit. It was a great time. Unfortunately my mom had to work the whole time so she didn't get to see them much, but we had fun. The Friday night they were here, we went to an Indians game downtown. We even got up on the big screen when they showed the
"Flex Cam". We were all standing up flexing our "muscles" and there we were up on the screen. My first thought was "hey, that girl has the same shirt on that I do" but then again, I'm a blond! We didn't really do much the rest of the weekend. Hit a couple garage sales and went out to eat, rented movies and ate some more. We love to eat!!! I can't believe it's been almost a month since they've been here! Time flys!! We need to go down there sometime soon. They live in West Virginia. I love to go down there in the fall, the leaves are so pretty!

I need to ask for prayer for my uncle! He's not doing real good and after two rounds of chemo his numbers went from a 7 to a 40. They can't do anymore chemo now and are looking at stem cell transplants. On a good note, his immune levels are rising and he may be able to go home in a couple weeks if he gets his immunity built back up. That would be nice for him!

We didn't get to go back to co-op this year! At least not yet! I have lost a couple kids in my daycare and can't hire someone until I can pay her and right now I just can't so, we didn't get to go back last week, but I'm sure we'll get back there soon.
We had such a great time last year that I really want the kids to be able to go back!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful September! Bless the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Bless President Bush for having the guts to admit he failed! It's about time!! Maybe next time he can cut his 5 week vacation short to take care of the country that he's suppose to be in charge of! I will stop there, because I could go on awhile!

~Have a great week!~