Monday, May 31, 2010

Let's Go Flyers.....

Here's all I have for tonight...pics of Aidan showing some team support...LET'S GO FLYERS!!!!!!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Logan's upcoming summer break and our vacation...

So Logan is getting out of school soon for summer break. He can't wait. I can't either because he just hates school this year. There's a kid, some troublemaker, who's been bullying him all year, so he will be so glad to get away from him. I'm gonna make sure they're not in the same class next year. Logan is so happy that we are taking him out of school a week early.
Friends of ours asked us to go on vacation with them this year so we're taking them up on it. They always go around the beginning of June but they have a hard time finding people to go with them because it's so early in the year...a lot of people don't want to take their kids out of school but it's fine with us. We don't mind taking Logan out of school a little early. They have a place they rent from friends of theirs right on the beach...it's a condo and private beach...on Dewey Beach in Delaware. We're looking forward to it. We were never really able to take a family vacation because with Jared, it would have been too much. Although, we did take a family vacation in April of 2008..that was Jared's Make A Wish trip to Disney. I'm so glad he got to go before he died. That was a trip of a lifetime. Jared had a hard time flying up and back but he had such a good time while there. We stayed at Give Kids the World Village designed especially for special needs kids and their families.
We did get to vacation with our friends a year or two after Jared came home from the hospital, because we were able to get nursing coverage for 3 days....so Eric and I got to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with them. It was a short vacation but it didn't matter then...anything to get away. It's been so HOT lately, so I can't wait!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Raising a Special Needs Child

If you asked me the thoughts I had about raising a special needs child back when I first began this journey I was on...I would have said these things: I can't do it, I want my life back. Why did this happen to ME? Why God? Why me? My mom left me when I was a kid...what if I make the same mistake she did? He deserves someone who'll take care of him and never leave him. I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR THAT. Why does everyone else get to have a 'normal' child and I don't? What did I do WRONG to deserve this? Please God...give me a miracle when I wake up and let him be okay. I can't stand watching him in pain. He doesn't deserve this. He didn't do anything wrong, he just started his life here. Please God...please let my baby live. I feel so sorry for him. What if he wonders why he's different? How can I tell him without hurting him when he's older? I have nurses in my home now all the time. I don't have any privacy. They're always in my business. I need to go to sleep but she's always calling out....Wow, now that I think about it, there are so MANY.
Well, if you asked me my thoughts now about raising a special needs child, I would like to say these things: It's the very BEST thing that ever happened to me. I wouldn't change it for the world. I am so GLAD that GOD chose me to take care of him while he lived his life here. He has taught me so much about life. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have known the people that I met through him...and I'm so glad that I made some really wonderful friends along the way. He loved life and I'm glad I have that memory for the rest of MY life and I think he knows now why he was put here. When he died, I asked "Why him, God?" I now know why he didn't take him from me years ago at birth....because he had a job here...and his job was finally done, so now it was time for him to go....he made ME who I am today and I will be grateful for the rest of my life. Yes I will miss him very much and yes sometimes I get selfish and want him back to give me more JOY but I realize that's all it is....selfishness...wanting more of him, but knowing he had a hard life (yet a HAPPY one)and he was suffering in the end....so now is my time to let go of losing him. He is telling me that because that's what I feel when I start thinking of him. Death of a loved one is not easy, especially when that someone was as joyful as Jared was...but you will have strength to live again. I do because of him. Thank you for reading. I'm glad I got that out now.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Some of My Scrapbook Pages....

Life B4 Children
Reading and Falling Asleep
Dance Recital: I loved dancing and still do. I went to Joan's Dance Studio in Upland, PA.
Little things I Love page(of course there are a lot more since i've done this)
Some of my favorite quotes page

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Some Miscellaneous Hints and Tips

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the
glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser!
Works better than a cloth!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take
it "home," & can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or
so, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about
pets or small children being harmed!

Take baby powder to the beach
Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When
you're ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the
powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with
hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add
your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes
right out.

Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass-
the fibers catch ones you can't see!

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an
empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can
be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Plug pointer
If your bath plug's chain is broken, hook a key ring through the eye
of the plug so that you can pull it out easily.

Colorful Dip Dishes
If you are serving several dips on a platter, use edible containers!
Buy red, green or yellow bell peppers; slice off the tops and scoop out seeds and membranes inside. Then pour dips into them.

ADD THIS FOR TENDER MEAT EVERY TIME
Stir 1 tsp of cornstarch into your favorite marinade before adding the meat. Cornstarch helps the marinade cling to the meat, creating a protective layer that slows the rapid rise in internal temperature that causes dryness.

FROST PROOF YOUR CAR WINDSHIELD
Fill a spray bottle with saltwater solution and use to spritz the windshield at night. The salt coating lowers the freezing point of water, which will prevent snow and condensation from sticking to the glass and crystallizing into ice. Reapply every night, the frequent use of windshield wipers throughout the day will remove the salty layer...

KEEP SALAD GREENS CRISP
Even after a shake in a colander, washed lettuce still ends up sitting in a pool of water. Ensure a non soggy salad by placing a saucer upside down in a bowl before filling with the greens. Any excess water will run off the leaves and collect underneath the saucer...

SOOTHE SENSITIVE SUNBURNED SKIN
Place a few damp tea bags on the sore spots and leave on for 15 min. The tannins in the tea act as a mild astringent, diminishing tenderness and painful swelling...

Monday, May 24, 2010

My Montage 5/23/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

A farewell to the most remarkable boy in my life. Jared has his own blog now...so follow his blog to hear his story. http://jaredrynegriffin.blogspot.com

The Voice Inside My Head

I don't like the voice inside my head today. It's taking me to a very dark place, that I don't usually go to. My heart is telling me to stop...and I will listen to it.
The voice inside my head wants to attack the nurse who let my baby die. It's saying that the mistake is unforgivable. She should have known what to do as a professional. She should not have panicked. As I write this...it's also attacking me because I was here that day. It's telling me I should have been more careful because she was an LPN and not an RN. LPN's were never that good for Jared...nowhere near as good as an RN. It's telling me I should have fought harder for Jared's life. The voice inside my head is not as strong as my HEART....so I will continue to fight this feeling for the rest of my life. If time really does heal all wounds...then it just cannot come fast enough. It's been 8 months too long, and it still feels like a knife went through my heart.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

My Stamps miss me...



I have been ignoring my stamps for way too long. I've been working on jewelry and not my cards. I really need to get back into cardmaking. I think I'm going to do cardmaking (or) scrapbooking this week. It's just that I work with my craft at my dining room table, instead of upstairs in my craftroom (where all my supplies are kept). My jewelry supplies are easier to move from room to room....the cardmaking supplies are not, unless I have a card or scrapbook design in mind. Usually, I get my ideas just by looking at my stamp collection, I don't know why, I just do. Maybe I oughta go upstairs for a bit and sit by them and THINK. Yeah right.... until the baby either follows me upstairs or is into something downstairs while I'm up there.
I don't care...that's it....I'm going to start tomorrow...I LOVE THEM TOO MUCH...my stamps and I are a good pair and they're calling my name!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Journal Jar

Hi everyone. I thought it was time for another question from the old journal jar, so here it is:

What was your favorite job and your least favorite?

Well, in my whole life, I've had few jobs. The one that stands as my favorite would have to be in Griffin, Georgia. (Yes...as in my last name....Griffin) Anyway, I worked for Precise Packaging. We packaged utensils and plastic cups...both separately. It was an assembly line..everyone had their own thing to put in...like the salt, pepper, fork, knife, spoon, and the napkin. The plastic cups were packaged at a different machine, in its own wrapper. This job was a lot of fun. I worked the overnight shift. I got the job with my friend at the time who was my ex-fiancee's sister. I was living with her because my boyfriend/fiancee cheated on me and I needed a place to stay, because I ran away from my dad, and she let me stay with her for awhile until I thought things through. I had just turned 18, and I didnt know what I wanted then. Thanks to Michelle and Bo Briscoe...they helped me out. (Just in case they may come upon this blog)I finally went back home to my dad in Florida because I realized he was my father...the only father I'll ever have and the relationship was worth saving. (I was wrong by calling the cops on him because he wouldn't let me stay with Jonathan, my ex)Oh yeah, this is supposed to be about my favorite job, isn't it. I can't help it, that job brings with it a lot of memories.
I'll have to say my least favorite job has to be when I was working at McDonald's in Green Cove Springs, Florida. It was my very first job while in high school and it sucked. It just wasn't for me...I didnt like working in the "kitchen" or the front end at the counter (and drive-through). I didn't stay there too long. After that job, I think a little later is when I moved to Georgia .
Well that's that. Come again for another journal jar question.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Dear Jared...the END.........

I will never forget the day you left us….just to even think about it hurts just as much as the day it happened. Hopefully, as time goes by, it’ll be less painful.
It all started because we brought a new nursing agency into our home. Bayada always provided you with the best qualified nurses. The reason that we brought Southeastern Healthcare here was because you had 2 primary nurses, 1 of which moved away to Canada and the other nurse took over covering most of the days. Well it was now time for this nurse to go on her vacation leave for 3 weeks, which she does every year, but there usually is always another nurse here to cover her shifts while this nurse was away. This time, we were told by Bayada that your nurse was moving within a year and they didn’t have another nurse to cover your case. They suggested that we look into getting another nursing agency to cover the days while they covered the nights. One of your night nurses worked for Keystone Mercy also, so we decided to get her recommendation on what nursing agencies to look into. We had 2 or 3 nursing agency supervisors come out to the house to meet you and go over your chart. Well it came down to 2, either Maxim or Southeastern. We chose Southeastern because we didn’t want to go with Maxim because they just ended a lawsuit or something.
We called Southeastern to let them know that we had chosen them. They told us that they had a nurse who really wanted to work with you fulltime during the week. They said she was a really good nurse who was trach and ventilator experienced. They said she could start right away if we could just orient her to the case because Bayada wouldn’t do it because of liability issues if something happened.
Well, the night before the nurse was going to orient, I ended up going to the hospital, so Daddy had to orient her to the case. He went over a few things with her and she told him she’d be alright until he got back from the hospital. Over the next few days and 2 ½ months she got to know you, she even took you to summer school.
Okay Jared, now I’m going to fight myself to talk about what happened on Wednesday, September 2nd.
I just want you to know that I was NEVER good with any of your “emergency situations.” I had always tended to “shut down” before thinking straight. Most of the time, when your trach came out, we (I or Daddy or the nurses) popped it right back in and you were fine, just like it was nothing.
Well, anyway, I came downstairs with your brothers that day somewhere around 11am. I came into your room to say good morning. The nurse was working with you at your bedside. She had your wheelchair pulled up next to your bed, because she was getting ready to take you out into the living room. I went into the kitchen to make breakfast for your brothers and myself. While I was making breakfast, I turned around and looked over at you and you were fussing a little and I just thought it was because she was messing with you. A few minutes later, she got you in your wheelchair and then I heard her say, “Jared, you better not be doing what I think you’re doing.” She told me she thought he might have had a bowel movement. She pulled you forward and looked in your pants and said, “No, he didn’t, I guess he passed gas.” She, then, took you into the living room while I continued getting done in the kitchen. I’m not sure when I came into the living room, whether it was 5, 10 or 15 minutes later, but I came in and sat down at the table with my breakfast (I remember picking a piece of bacon up and putting it in my mouth) and I looked over at you and I screamed “Karen, he’s blue!” but you were past that, you were actually white as a ghost staring straight ahead, your eyes not moving. You go from looking blue to pale white pretty quickly. She was standing behind your wheelchair messing with the power cords or something. She then, threw down what she was doing, reached around you and said, “Oh shit Karen, he’s decannulated” (meaning your trach was out), and then she said, “Alright I got it…it’s in.”
Then a few seconds later said, “Wait a minute, it’s not in…it’s still out. Go get another trach, Karen.” At this time I was freaking out because I had no idea how long you were decannulated. I couldn’t see a pulse-ox to see how far gone you were. I grabbed a trach from your room and ran back in with it and she again said, “Okay, I think I got it in” and I screamed,
“No Karen, he needs oxygen, we have to get him back to his bed.” She started grabbing for the portable one on your wheelchair but we couldn’t get to the ambu bag because the wires were all tangled up. At that time, (even before) one of us should have picked you up out of your wheelchair and put you back in your bed) but we didn’t because for one, your wheelchair was wedged between the wall and the recliner and two, there were Legos and toys that the baby was playing with all over the floor and I was kicking them out of the way to move your chair. By the time we got you into your room to get to the oxygen tank, the nurse yelled “Call 911.” I called 911 and then I called Daddy to come home quickly (All I said was it was you and he sped home.) I ran back to your room and she was pumping oxygen into you but it wasn’t doing anything for you, you needed help. A minute or two later Daddy walked in and threw you in your bed and started CPR (Daddy got your heart started back up) and then the ambulance team arrived and they gave you some kind of medicine to keep your heart going or something like that. A cop came in and saw me and Logan crying and he told me to go upstairs with the boys. Well you left us that day, but they brought you back to life, however you were out of oxygen for a long time. They took you to the hospital (Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital) and later you were transferred to Dupont, but you never did pull through, you ended up brain dead. A week later your body started shutting down and we had to let you go. We did the most PAINFUL thing ever in our lives….we pulled your lifeline. I had to walk out of the room and Daddy held you in his arms and he watched you slowly slip away…..he watched you DIE……and then you were gone….FOREVER. We walked out of that hospital for the first time knowing it was the last day of your life. Goodbye Jared……………………………….

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Some Scrapbook Pages of Jared

FUTURE MOST WANTED PAGE: This was an idea from Jared's very first homecare nurse, Pat. She was wonderful with him. Jared always loved having her around. She took very good care of him in a professional and personal way...with lots of tender loving care. Thanks Pat...for giving my boy so much joy!


THE GRIFFIN FAMILY PAGE: This page was done when we were just a family of 3...hubby, myself and Jared. These were the days when I was telling myself that I didn't want any more kids because Jared was a handful....which wasn't what life had in store for me. Jared needed siblings....so 2 more children came along...Logan & Aidan.



HEAVEN SENT PAGE: This page was made while Jared was in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital...in the NICU. This was back when he still had an endotracheal tube. He got a tracheostomy and gastrostomy tube, I believe at 4 months old. He was in the hospital for 8 months before we brought him home. He really was heaven sent as I discovered over the years....he couldn't have come from no other place other than heaven. Dear God...Thank you for sending him my way.


SCHOOLDAYS PAGE: This page was done after Jared's first year of going to school. He went to Easter Seals School in Media, PA. He loved going to school. He loved circle time and music therapy. Those were his happier times while at school. Later, he developed an attitude because he had to do things he didnt want..like the physical and occupational therapies. He went to school with his nurse, which in this pic was Bernadette. She did a lot with Jared at school...she made him WORK, and Jared didn't like that, so sometimes he would give her the attitude. Oh, what a riot he was! Thanks Bern, for all your hard work and determination with him. As you used to say, "Go, Jared, Go!"


These are just a few of the MANY scrapbook pages I have of him......which are cherished now more than ever before. Well, thanks for looking and until next time...goodnight and God Bless.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Household Hints

DID YOU KNOW???
-COOL WHIP will condition your hair in 15 minutes.
-PAM cooking spray will dry finger nail polish.
-ELMER'S GLUE-paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and
blackheads if any.
-MAYONNAISE will kill lice, and it will also condition your hair.
-For shiny hair, use brewed LIPTON TEA.
-For sunburn, empty a large jar of NESTEA into your bath water.
-For a minor burn, use COLGATE or CREST toothpaste
-Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it.
-Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in....kills insect stings too
-For bee stings, use meat tenderizer.
-For puffy eyes, use PREPARATION H.
-For Athlete's feet, use cornstarch.
-Use KOOL AID to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a
cycle. It will also clean a toilet.
-Use KOOL AID in plain yogurt as a finger paint. Your kids will love it and it won't
hurt them if they eat it!
-PEANUT BUTTER will get scratches out of CD's. Wipe off with a COFFEE FILTER paper.
-For a sticking bicycle chain, use PAM no-stick cooking spray.
-PAM will also remove paint and grease from your hands. Keep a can in your garage
for hubby.
-PEANUT BUTTER will remove ink from the face of dolls.
-When doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with cornstarch and watch them slide
on.
-For heavy dandruff, pour on the vinegar.
-For body paint, use CRISCO mixed with food coloring. Heat CRISCO in microwave, pour
into an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice.
-For a tie-dye T-shirt, mix a solution of KOOL AID in a container, tie a rubber band
around a section of the T-shirt and soak.
-For preserving a newspaper clipping, use a large bottle of club soda and a cup of
MILK OF MAGNESIA, soak for 20 minutes and let dry. It will last for many years!
-For fungus on toe or fingernails, use VICKS VAPOR RUB.
-A slinky will hold CD's.
-To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with COLGATE toothpaste.
-For wine stains, pour on MORTON SALT and watch it absorb into the salt.
-To remove wax, take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb
into the towel.
-To remove labels off glassware, etc., rub with PEANUT BUTTER.
-For baked on food, fill a container with water, get a BOUNCE paper softener and the
static from the BOUNCE towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak
overnight.
-For baked on food, you can also use 2 EFFERDENT TABLETS and soak overnight.
-For crayon markings on the wall, use COLGATE toothpaste and brush it.
-For dirty grout, use LISTERINE.
-For stains on clothes, use COLGATE.
-For grass stains, use KARO SYRUP.
-For grease stains, use COCA COLA. It will also remove grease stains from the drive-
way overnight.
-For fleas in your carpet, use 20 MULE TEAM BORAX, sprinkle and let stand for 24
hours.
-To keep fresh flowers longer, add a little Clorox, or 2 BAYER ASPIRIN, or just use
7-UP instead of water.
-BUDWEISER BEER conditions the hair.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My Montage 5/18/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Hope you all enjoy this. Thanks for looking.

Meet My 3 Boys...Jared, Aidan and Logan


Hi everyone. This picture is probably my one and only picture that I have of my 3 boys. I have one more but its a family picture. I wish I would have taken more to look back on. When it was just Jared, hubby and I took so many pictures, we were overloaded with them...then it came to Logan (my 8 year old)and we didnt take so many. Well then Aidan (the baby) comes and we have very little. A year and a half later, Jared dies and here comes the regret. I know...when a loved one passes away, it's always a bunch of if onlys. If only I did this or did that has driven me crazy over the past 8 months that I have to stop with all the regrets and keep all the treasured moments. I have MANY of those and I will be writing (blogging) about them on other days.
Jared, as you probably know now, was my special needs boy (my oldest...14). He is and always will be my biggest joy in life because to me, he was "a perfect child living in a not so perfect world". He was like an angel showing us and others what life was REALLY about. For that to have been his calling in life...which I believe it was...for so many reasons. Most importantly for me because I had a very troubled childhood. (My mother left me not once but twice...I've disowned her as my mother....until I had Jared and he made me see the light.)
Aidan is the baby of the boys. It saddens me to know that he was so young when Jared died...I really wish Jared could have stayed awhile longer. Even though it was a tragedy in the way we lost Jared (which will be another post), I now feel that maybe it WAS his time to go...especially because at times before he passed, I had thoughts of who was going to take care of him the way we did...with absolute tender loving care...as if he were our only child. Sometimes those thoughts were really painful.
Logan is my middle child. I'm glad that he spent a lot of his time with Jared. He was always good to him...he and Jared used to watch Disney movies together. Here's a picture of Logan watching TV with Jared(although the television not in pic, was on a dresser so Jared could see it...and Logan would sit on this stool).



So these are my little men and they ALL bring me such joy. Thanks for coming by. Until next time...God Bless all of You!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Jared's Movie Collection


Today I'm going to blog about my son's movie collection. First of all, my husband made this shelf for Jared. He had so many DVD's that we were running out of room in their old spot. My husband also wanted something that we could see all of the movie titles where as before this shelf, we had movies behind movies and we couldnt tell what Jared had. As I said in a previous post, we bought a new movie for Jared just about every week so we knew that it was only going to get worse. Eric (my husband) started this project and I thought it was perfect for Jared's movies. At one time, we even tried putting them up alphabetically, but that didnt stay for too long. We had nurses for Jared and some of them couldnt keep up with putting them back the way they were, especially when Jared got to wanting choices of 6 or more at a time. Mr. I Know What I Have and I'm not picking until you give me more choices....that's just the little attitude my big guy had.....he couldn't speak, but boy did he know what he wanted and knew just how to show it.
Well...Jared is gone now and you want to hear something crazy I did when he first passed away....Jared was cremated after he died and I used to set his box of ashes on my dining room (which was his old room) table and turn the TV on and put one of his movies on for him just because it was his favorite thing in the world to do. I was grieving and this was how I felt close to him. Yes, I was a nutcase (and still am sometimes)!
Jared's movies are now collecting dust....unless one of my other sons feels like watching one. Well, only the 8 year old watches them here and there, my other son is just 2, so it will be awhile before he's ready to watch one.
I still stand at this shelf sometimes and fall apart but then Jared's spirit comes to rescue me by giving me something else to think about...usually it's something I should be doing at that moment or someone in the house calling my name and I walk away and forget what I was doing before. Yes, Jared has been watching over me....this I know... which is a whole new post. Come again everyone. Until next time..thanks for coming by my blog.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

WHEN I WAS BORN.....


Every now and then I work on a scrapbook that I'm making for myself and this is one of the pages from my book. I had a lot of fun working on this page. I wanted to find out what things were going on the year I was born......1971. Here are a few things:
-National Public Radio begins programming (5/3/71)
-Amtrak Railroad begins operation (5/1/71)
-Jim Morrison of 'The Doors' dies of heart failure at 27 (7/3/71)
-John Lennon releases "Imagine" album (9/9/71)
-President Nixon announces 90-day freeze on wages, prices & rents (8/15/71)
-1,000 convicts riot & seize Attica, New York Prison (9/9/71)
-World Hockey Association forms (9/13/71)
-Golden Gate Bridge lights out all night due to power failure (12/14/71)
-Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida opens (10/1/71)
-NHL great Gordie Howe retires (9/9/71)
-Development of a serum hepatitis vaccine for children announced (3/29/71)
-1st time a golf ball is hit on Moon by Alan Shepard (1/6/71)
-Series of tornadoes cuts through Mississippi & Louisiana, killing 117 (1/21/71)
-Boston Patriots become New England Patriots (3/25/71)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Handmade Thank You cards





I made these Thank you cards a while back. I really should get back to making some more. I've been working on jewelry a lot and now I'm starting to miss cardmaking and scrapbooking. I love to do so many different crafts, sometimes it makes me crazy because I don't know which one to work with. I REALLY love to do jewelry, but my sister in law makes really pretty cards and she's got me wanting to design cards again. Oh what would I do without my crafts!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Journal Jar

Every now and then on my blog, I'm going to do a Journal Jar Post. Life is short and memories last a lifetime. I'm just going to reflect on moments of my past, however, I'd like to hear about others if you'd like to join in.

MY FIRST QUESTION:

Who was my best childhood friend?

My best childhood friend was Denise Schott (now Denise Navarro). We had lots of fun together. I remember when she and I used to "play school." She would have all these school worksheets and books to "play" with. She was the teacher and she would grade me. She was just so much FUN to play with and I will always treasure that memory.....Thanks for the memory Denise!

My Favorite Choker


I love to make jewelry. It's one of my favorite things to do. I recently just made this choker for myself. I like to make chokers with pendants and I usually make them with memory wire because they're so easy to put on when in a hurry and you don't feel like fiddling around with some type of clasp. Sometimes I make a choker and then I get an idea on a long necklace to go with it, and it usually turns out really pretty together. I made earrings for this choker also. Right now, I'm learning to bead embroider and I've made a few lace chokers....here's one:

Monday, May 10, 2010

Jared....my very special HERO


This is my firstborn, my very special boy, Jared. He was born with a rare muscle disease called CFTD (or) Congenital Fiber Type Disproportion. He was trach and ventilator dependent, had 16 hours of nursing. He lived 14 years with it...he passed away this past September from cardiac arrest. He was always a happy boy...truly my inspiration. He loved movies....that was what most of his life was about. His dad and I bought him a new Disney movie just about every week. He ALWAYS got excited when he saw us opening up a new movie for him. We would sometimes hold up 1 or 2 movies with his new movie and he would hit the newest movie with the back of his hand and smile. He brought so much happiness into our home. He was someone who made you realize how grateful you were just for life itself. He just needed a movie to make him happy and he was all set. It was really hard for awhile (and still is)to live without him because he meant so much...but I will be forever grateful to have been the one to take care of him while he was here on Earth. I have learned so much from him. Although he had a hard life (medically), he lived a HAPPY one. Now, he's watching over me and the rest of our family and many others I'm sure. Love ya Jared!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. I hope all the mothers and grandmothers have a very RELAXING and wonderful day. It is actually my first Mother's Day without my special (needs) child here with me. He was very special to me in the biggest way possible......my true HERO. I lost him this past September. I dont want to get too emotional today, but I will tell you all about him in another blog. My husband and my kids ALWAYS give me the best Mothers Day...so I'm trying to stay HAPPY so I dont bring them down. God bless all of you and Happy Mother's Day again.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

My First Post Here

Hi everyone. This is my first time here. I've never blogged before so it'll take me some time to get used to doing this. It will be a little slow until I learn more about blogging. I love to CREATE so a lot of this blog will be about crafting. I find myself taking the time to make sure I get a little bit in every day (well, MOST days). I design a lot of jewelry. Right now I'm getting the feel for bead embroidering and I love it...It's so much FUN! Well, since there is only so much time in the day...I better go think of what I SHOULD be doing......like the rest of my LAUNDRY.