tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32286304277077253202024-03-19T07:41:26.688-05:00Maintaining SanityWho did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-11590451176225352422012-01-15T21:32:00.000-06:002012-01-15T21:34:26.173-06:00How to bathe a Bullmastiff and survive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is Bear he's our 150 lb Bullmastiff. As you can see Bear is no
little dog. Bear is just about the perfect dog except for one small
thing.....Bear <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">HATES</span></b>
water. Yesterday we decided that Bear needed a bath. We don't do them too often and this is why...<br />
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One thing you need to know is we have a pretty good size
bathroom with 2 doors to access it.<br />
The first thing you have to do is get out some extra towels and take
then into the bathroom. I have to wait until he's asleep somewhere
because if he sees the towels going into the bathroom....he knows.<br />
Then I have to sit in the bathroom and run the bath water pretty
slowly. He's used to only hearing shower running so if he hears the tub
filling up....he knows.<br />
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When the tub is full I have to send a text to my husband letting him
know I'm ready and we text back & forth to decide which door to go
through. This is so I know where to stand & hide. Today we decided
to use the hall door. That means I hide behind the door ready to close
it once we are all in the room.<br />
My husband calls him and they go "looking for momma" and the walk in
the bathroom. I hurry up and shut the door! He looks around, see's the
towel, the bathwater & looks up at me like "CRAP I fell for it
again!" I reach over and take off his collar and he starts to back up
to the door. He'd go through it backwards if he thought he could push
hard enough. That's where my husband I start "herding". We get behind
and beside him herding him to the tub. Then we say the words "Ok Bear
get in the tub." I don't know why we say it because it's never worked
in almost 5 yrs but we say it. I guess it's routine. Then we go to try
to get him in and that's when it happens...he goes DEAD WEIGHT! 150lbs
of dead weight suddenly becomes 300lbs. This is where we start
laughing as we try to pick up a dog who when you try to pick him up
won't stand his feet. I mean he goes full rag doll. Well today when he
went dead weight his back foot was on my foot and then you have his
full body weight on it and I'm laughing but also yelling "he's on my
foot and I swear bones are gonna start breaking an second!" Now my
husband is laughing harder and by some miracle I get him off.<br />
Then we regroup and as always my husband (lucky one) reaches under
him on both sides on the front half while I do the same on the rear half
and we hoist his fat butt into the tub! Now you have the tub with my
husband on the left and me on the right. We have 2 cups to wet him down
and the shampoo. 2 adults equals 4 hands to wash him with right?
WRONG!! You see we each have are left hand pushing on Bear using our
body weight to keep him in the tub while hes pushing trying to get out
of the tub. That leaves 2 hands for washing.<br />
We wet him down and start lathering him up GOOD in shampoo and he
decides to make a break for it! Then we form a wall, use all 4 hands
& my husband somehow leaned in and used his head while I threw up my
leg and used my thigh all to push him back and keep him from escaping.
Now we are both wet.<br />
He has escaped before and if you think trying to get a 150lb DRY dog
in the tub you should try it with one that's all lathered up with
soap...oh and by then we are laughing and that makes it harder!!<br />
So we get him all nice and clean and I start draining the tub and
grab a towel because the "goal" is to get him dry while he's still IN
the tub. Hell I'd take mostly dry while he's still in tub. But as
usual we get about half way dry when he realizes we don't have so much
force holding him in there and he leaps out of the tub. Then with cat
like reflexes I grab the other towel to throw over him before we can do
the shake.<br />
Remember Turner & Hooch? Yeah he's a big dog and a wet dog which
means water....everywhere!! Now you have feet & legs to dry which
now equals 2 exhausted adults each armed with a towel chasing a wet dog
all over the bathroom trying to dry off feet. With that accomplished we
move on to putting in the ear wash. I don't know how he does it but
when he see's it he bows his head and tries to put it UNDER his body in
an attempt to get away.<br />
Once this is all done then the bathroom door is opened and he's
gone!!!! He won't go near the bathroom for a few days. My husband goes
for a brush and I'm left in there with the towels wiping up the water
off the floor and cleaning out the tub.<br />
We are done for this round. The dog and the humans are left
exhausted and the humans are sore! Bear takes a nap, I take pain pills
& my husband takes time to sit in his chair and not move for a
couple of hours. But in the end Bear is clean.<br />
By the way I'm taking volunteers for someone to give him is next bath if you are interested?Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-18772707346870418332012-01-05T23:47:00.002-06:002012-01-05T23:51:07.652-06:00Giving a little goes a long way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Many people make New Year's Resolutions to exercise, start a new diet, loose weight or break a bad habit and most of the time about a month later their New Year's Resolution is forgotten right up until the new year starts over and they try again. I was told one time that if you keep doing the same thing over and over the same way & you keep getting the same result then it's time to change the way you do things to get a different result.<br />
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So this year I propose to stop the typical non-sense resolutions that never get accomplished and do something that will not only benefit yourself but benefit someone else. Take a couple of minutes each day to give a gift to someone. I'm not talking about going out and spending money on someone each day but <br />
<a name='more'></a>there are tons of things out there you can do for others. I read a book by Cami Walker called "29 gifts in 29 days: How a month of giving can change your life." You see Cami like myself has MS and she had got herself into a rut of sorts where her thinking was centered around "me me me." Her friend told her that she needed to quit thinking about herself and that she needed to commit to giving a gift each day to someone for 29 days. You must give the gift willfully with purpose each day and you keep a journal of your gifts.<br />
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Your gifts can be anything from: opening a door for someone, smiling at everyone you see that day, calling and talking to a friend, sending a card to someone, cooking dinner for someone, paying it backwards (paying for the person behind you in line), leaving a quarter in the candy machine or even taking time for yourself to take a long hot bath. It can be anything as long as you give it mindfully & willfully each day. You will really notice a shift in your life and you will find that once you start giving you will start receiving gifts as well. You can find all the information at www.29gifts.org.<br />
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There are also other websites that you can check out to help others. There is www.wegivebooks.com and for every children's book you read online they will donate a book to a child that doesn't have one. You can visit www.freerice.com and play vocabulary games and for each answer you get right they donate rice to the World Hunger Program.<br />
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There is a couple of websites where you can help out our military: www.greenbeanscoffee.com go there & you can donate $2 and they will send a cup of coffee to a soldier with a personal note from you and you can even become a pen pal with a soldier. The other site is www.anysoldier.com and there you can get names & address of members of the military who could use some support from home. You can write to them and send care packages etc. They do really good work and you should check it out!<br />
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Another website is www.dropalovebomb.com. It only takes 5 minutes once a week to make a big difference in someone's life on their site. They search during the week and find someone on the internet who is in need of some support, going through a rough time or maybe needs cheering up. Usually on a blog or something and then everyone sends a positive comment on their blog that day to try to give that person a boost and let them know that there are people out there who care. They could get anywhere from 30-70+ comments on their blog in one day. Can you imagine if you were having a really tough time and you got 50 people who all of a sudden comment to let you know your not alone and they are sending positive thoughts your way? I've done it two weeks in a row now & I wish I had found this earlier. It's a wonderful thing to be a part of.<br />
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There are a lot more sites out there and there is a lot you can do in your house, or for your family or your city. Clean out your closets and take donate your stuff that you don't need to a charity resale shop like the Salvation Army etc. You can donate money, food or your time at a local food pantry. Stop and give a couple of dollars to a homeless person on the street. If you think about it most people are one paycheck or one missed payment away from being homeless. There are all kinds of things that you can do and the www.29gifts.org website has lots of ideas on the things you can do. The important is that once you start giving even if it's a smile to a stranger you will start to receive things in return and you will be a much happier person. <br />
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So take a chance this year and make a commitment to give something every day. I promise you that you won't regret it! <br />
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<br />Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-76388122378836693492010-11-26T20:32:00.000-06:002012-01-05T21:54:22.572-06:00Black Friday Casualty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First off lets start off with a couple of definitions: <br />
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<b>What Does <i>Black Friday</i> Mean?</b><br />
The day after Thanksgiving in the United States. Retailers generally see an upward spike in sales and consider this to be the start of the holiday shopping season. It's common for retailers to offer special promotions and to open early to draw in customers. <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Casualty: <span style="font-weight: normal;">a person who is killed or injured in a war or disaster (or in this case Black Friday.)</span></span></h1>
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<a name='more'></a>This year I am not a Black Friday Survivor but rather a Black Friday Casualty. Its hard enough doing Black Friday but doing it with MS is a whole different ball of wax. Here is how it went down:<br />
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Let me start by saying I’ve been dreading this for over a week now because I have been having a very hard time with weakness in my legs and I can’t stand or walk for very long before I start getting weak, sore and loosing my balance. I also know as a seasoned Black Friday shopper that scooters & shopping carts first thing in the morning are not a helper but a hindrance. </div>
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Last night we started out by going through the ads we needed and going through the kids Christmas List. I transferred it all over to the computer and spit out a print out so that I could read it easier and even went as far as looked up the video games they wanted and copied and pasted pictures, prices & the locations that had them at Game Stop. I got smart this year! So this is about 9:00 pm last night…nothing like the last minute to develop a plan. So then I took a shower about 9:30 pm or so and put my makeup on for today. Then I waited awhile & blow dried my hair and then about 10:45 pm I laid down on the couch to take a nap and get up at 1:15 am to fix my hair, get dressed and get my husband up for him to get ready. </div>
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The plan was to leave here at 2:00 am and drive an hour to Lubbock and start off at Sears. First time for us because usually Wal-mart is starting point but for once we found what we wanted at a different store. We got up and left by about 2:15 am and got to parking lot of the mall at 3:15 am. Thank the Lord I got the up front handicapped parking spot. We waited in the car till 3:45 am and then got in line for the last 15 mins. </div>
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So we know we are going to the electronics section of Sears which is upstairs to get a couple of the digital camera’s and a couple of those little flip video recorders that are a different brand for $20. Can’t beat that deal! Well let me tell you….EVERYONE was headed for the electronics. We were all a little worried about if that escalator in the store could hold everyone lol. We got up there and there was NO, NONE, NADA organization by Sears at all. So we quickly figure out that the digital cameras you had to get at the registers because they were not on the shelves. </div>
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Ok so there are 3 cash registers up there in the electronics section and the lines right in the middle of the electronics sections had lines all the way back to Sibera. But right next to there is the vacuum section and a register there. I was like “Hot Damn!” There was only 5 people in line! What luck to start off the day! Woo hoo…not! That line moved slower than molasses in December. We got to know the people around us VERY well. </div>
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Thankfully we started talking with the lady behind us about what all we all in line to buy and her daughter (grown) walked up about the time we were saying the $20.00 video cameras. She said “oh those aren’t in the back I saw them on a display over there.” “Do you want me to go get you one?” Well I left my husband standing in line and followed her over there and there was only 7 left and I took 3. I thanked her a hundred times for her help because by the time we found out where they were they would have been gone. </div>
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Also one other good point was that register was right next to the bathrooms. Thank you Lord. Those were the <b>only</b> good points. Finally when we get up 2<sup>nd</sup> to the register the couple in front of us was getting a video camera and the supervisor had walked up. As luck would have it Sears’s 30 year old DOS cash register’s system went down and they couldn’t tell if they had any in stock or now. So the poor couple had the choice: #1. take a chance and buy it hoping they had it, go down stairs to package p/u and see and get it or wait in another line for a hr to get a refund. #2 have waited in line for a hour and not try to buy it. They chose #1. Then the little supervisor lady asks if they want the extended warranty or not. They said "no" and that little lady went off on the customers. I swear her eyes about bugged out of her head and she said “WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO BUY A WARRANTY?!?!” So God love the husband he said “What is it a bad product?” and she said “NO ITS LIKE A HOUSE YOU BUY IT AND GET HOME OWNERS INSURANCE!” You would not believe how snippy she was. I almost busted out laughing at the guys comment to her. She got upset and walked off to let the poor guy at the register to finish.</div>
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When we FINALLY get up there to check out we get our stuff done which took forever because they wanted to sell you the warranty…no then they wanted your email address, phone, last name, brand of toilet paper used etc. We finally get checked out only to find out we also had to go down to package pickup to get the cameras. As we walked off I looked down at my watch and the "short line" with only 5 people in front of me took 1 HR & 5 MINS to get done!</div>
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So we get downstairs to the package p/u and you are supposed to scan your receipt at this kiosk and they bring out your stuff. Guess what went down? Yeah so we had to do it all by hand. We got back in line right behind the people before us upstairs and thankfully for them they did get the video camcorder they wanted. We laughed about how rude the supervisor was got our stuff and left!</div>
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We went on to JCPenny’s in the mall and by now I’m hurting and starting to walk really slow and sway a bit. We leave there and come back through Sears to leave when I find some boots that my son wanted that were $50 but were on sale for 50% off so I got them. By then the lines downstairs were thinned out. </div>
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We left there and went to Old Navy…looked like a bomb went off in a war zone, went and had breakfast and then to Wal-mart. There I DID grab a motorized cart because by then walking was extremely painful and my meds were just starting to kick in from breakfast. We left there and went to a Game Stop, Hastings and onto a 2<sup>nd</sup> Wal-mart and got finished…oh and another motorized scooter & finally by Ultimate Electronics and we were out of town. </div>
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All on two hours sleep! We came home and crashed and took a two hour nap but I was in so much pain that it was only sleep out of necessity but not good sleep. I will be going to bed early tonight! So that is our Black Friday experience. We have made a pact that we will NEVER go to Sears again. That was enough for us! So we made it though another year of Black Friday. I know some people think all of us who go out are crazy and maybe we are but all in all we got home and figured it up and we wound up saving $277 and in this economy we need all the help we can get. </div>Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-67165095915992893582010-11-22T21:12:00.000-06:002012-01-05T21:54:57.103-06:00Christmas Shopping Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well it's that time of the year again. You know what I'm talking about...eat the turkey and try to get a little sleep before going out to be one of those crazed maniacs out there on Black Friday. Yes I admit I am one of those people. You'd think there would be a 10 step program for those of us but when you have 3 kids you almost have to do it just to save money. So now it is the time to do your homework.</span></span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Homework? Yes I said homework. I've been on the websites for the last week watching those Black Friday websites like a vulture flying overhead to see when a store I have been waiting for puts theirs out. Tonight I find myself with 5 tabs on my browser open all trying to compare prices and deals. I keep bouncing back and forth between tabs. If Academy Sports & Outdoor would just get their ad out I'd be set. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now we have my next problem. My kids are all growing up. Long past the time for Barbie's, Bratz's dolls (I hated those...they looked like hookers), Hot Wheels & Nerf Guns. Now they are pre-teens & teens we move into the hard to buy for category. I mean it might not be that hard if you have lots of money but when you are a family living on public servants pay that crap gets expensive! Now they want digital cameras & I-pod's and what ever else that cost more money than I care to imagine. I remember when it used to be so easy and you could pick out the toys wrap them up and they had all kinds of presents under the tree. They were cheaper for one and second they were bigger in size so it looks like a whole lot under the tree. Now jump ahead to the teen years and its smaller stuff under the tree and not much of it because the prices are so high. The sad part is that it only gets worse. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can't wait till they are old enough when I can just write them a check or give them a gift card with money on it and let them do as they wish like my family does. But if I do that now they will just blow it all on little crap they won't appreciate.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So like I said here I sit looking at Black Friday ads and trying to figure out what to get the kids this year. After all of that comes putting up the tree....day long process, wrapping the gifts....another day long process and hopefully rest....yeah right!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just remember only 32 more shopping days left. But who's counting?!?!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-63718859610303619172010-11-14T23:20:00.000-06:002012-01-05T21:55:21.949-06:00Hazards of the job<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You may or may not know but I am a dispatcher for the local Sheriff's Department here. I hold the coveted title of "senior dispatcher." No there is no glory or even raise with this title it just means that I've put up with the crap longer than the other dispatchers and so I get the good shift. We are out here in pretty rural and we have over 900 square miles of county that we cover. In this county I not only dispatch for the deputies but for 3 small towns with their PD's, EMS & Fire Dept and 2 other even smaller fire departments. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You may have noticed the picture I posted..."Warning Dispatcher with Attitude." Well I'm certain that was made for me. I hold the blue ribbon when it comes to "Dispatcher with Attitude." Why? I'll tell you why...there is more stupid in this world than most people realize. Now I know you say "Oh I know there is lots of stupid people out there" and yes you are right but unless you work in law enforcement you have no idea to what extent! If more people knew exactly what went on or who these people were and what they did their would be more state mental hospitals out there than prisons. I'm sure you've hear the saying "stupidity isn't a crime so you're free to go." It's true.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So yes I have a attitude. There is only so much stupid one person can take and honey most days I'm at my limit so I thought I would list a few examples for you:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Case #1 - I get a call from one of the small towns in our county. Its from the local convenience stores there. The clerk is all frantic because they have a chicken who is causing them problems. You see this chicken is walking around by the front doors and when someone walks in the store the chicken follows in behind them and goes in the store. Once in the store the chicken freaks out and starts going crazy jumping around and knocking the stuff off the shelves and stuff is flying all over the place. Then the clerks get it out of the store and just as soon as someone walks in here comes the chicken again! So they want me to send a officer over there. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ok now let me ask you....when you go to school to become a police officer do you think they have a part of class to teach you how to deal with a crazy chicken?!?! I can tell you no where in the penal code is there anything about that. So I tell the clerk there is nothing an officer can do about it so they ask what can they do? Well I tell them (as a joke) just kill it and put it in the fryer in there and serve fresh chicken! The clerk says "ok" and hangs up the phone! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I feel like Bill Envall....here's your sign. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Case #2 - I get a 9-1-1 call of a frantic woman (has to be a blonde) </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">who is all upset about a deer who ran across the road during a section of road where there is road construction. I try to get her to calm down and say "did you hit the deer with your car?" She tells me "no." I asked if anyone else hit the deer and again the answer is no. So now I'm confused. I ask her to tell me again what happened..."I'm driving through this road construction and this deer ran in front of me and I almost hit it." So I'm like "Well what are you wanting me to do if you didn't hit and no one else did?" I swear this is what she says "<b>I want you to go out there and find the deer and tell it not to cross the road there because it's not safe!</b>" I had a pretty hard time at this point not to bust out laughing and told her we'd send an officer out there. Bad deer! Shame on you for crossing the road right there?!?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Case #3 - This happened just a couple of weeks ago. I get a 9-1-1 call from a lady who is all upset because her husband is in a lot of pain and needs an ambulance to where they are to take him to the next town to the ER. So I'm like ok no big deal and ask where they are at. Any guess? They are at our local ER and she wants me to send an ambulance there to the waiting room to pick up her husband and drive him over a hour away to the next town because (are you ready for this).....they are not getting seen fast enough! Needless to say we had a little chat that 9-1-1 was for EMERGENCY use only and sitting in the ER was not an emergency but abuse of 9-1-1. I was just a little bit pissed when I hung up the phone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here are 3 examples of why I am the dispatcher with ATTITUDE! I tend to have little patience for stupid and OMG there is more out there than you know. Maybe another day I'll give you more examples. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Please remember one thing.....9-1-1 is for EMERGENCY use only. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-17030242213713051642010-11-13T23:25:00.000-06:002012-01-05T21:55:35.855-06:00Happy Birthday dear daughter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well today would be my daughter's 17th birthday. At age 36 I feel old to say that I have a 17 yr old daughter. Jada passed away when she was 4 just three months shy of her 5th birthday. For those who don't know let me give you a little background.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jada Renee Bates was born 17 years ago a year after I graduated high school. She showed up 12 weeks early which made her very premature. She weighed only 2 lb 3 1/2 oz at birth and along with the low birth weight she had a wide range of health issues. Those include:grade IV hydrocephalus with a shut, a intercrainal cyst with a shunt, cerebral palsy, cortical blindness, 3 seizure disorders and a lung disease. Sound like a lot? Well it was. She functioned on a a 3 month old level, couldn't hold up her head, talk, walk etc nor could she eat by mouth, everything went in by feeding tube. She had 25 surgeries in 4 1/2 yrs. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All this being said she was the light of my life. She was very happy, very spoiled and I couldn't have asked for more. I look back now and realize that I'm the mom of a 17 year old daughter and I can't help but wonder what might have been. What would it be like now if she hadn't had all those problems and would have been born a healthy child? What would she be like now? I guess I'll never know but that was not the way things were meant to be. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jada taught me many things during the years she was here. I became a state licensed advocate for people with disabilities and I always told people "Its what she <u>has</u> not <u>who</u> she is." "She <b>has</b> a disability she is <b>not disabled</b>." Way back then I thought that the reason I was put on this earth was to take care of her and when she passed away I felt lost. I didn't know my place anymore. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now that I have been diagnosed with MS I came to a stark realization. Jada was sent here by God to teach me. She was the teacher and I was the student. Now here I am with the disability and I always used to preach PMA- Positive Mental Attitude when Jada was alive. I always had a way of staying positive because after all those lengthy stays in the hospital I would see someone out there who had it worse off than we did. Jada had a long list of problems and we had more medical equipment at home than most hospitals. We spent more time in hospitals than most people could imagine but I always kept positive because even though we knew her time on earth was limited there was always someone else out there who had it worse off than we did. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So now I realize she was here to teach me so that when I got diagnosed with MS I had to remember that there is always someone out there who has it worse off than I do. She also taught me to keep a positive mental attitude and that its what I have not who I am. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So even though I feel very old today to think my precious baby girl is 17 today I am very happy for those years I got to have her. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Happy Birthday Jada. I love you always!</span></span>Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3228630427707725320.post-59545384687764125802010-04-22T00:49:00.002-05:002012-01-05T21:55:52.566-06:00<br /><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Maintaining sanity" is something probably easier said than done, more so when you have MS. I've had it now for years and even though most days are ok there are days when you do all you can do and still don't seem to be able to maintain your sanity.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />It happens right from the start. You go through all the tests for it. To get to the "final" diagnosis they have to rule out a whole bunch of other things it could be. Like Lupus or West Nile or any of a hundred other things. The bad part through all of it is that you get test results that come back "normal" or "negative." To so many people that would be considered good news but when there is something wrong with you and you know it down to the core of your being there is something wrong those words can cut like a knife. So then you finally get your diagnosis and then comes dealing with the hand you've just been dealt. Here is where "maintaining sanity" kicks in. <br /><br />You can handle the hand you just got dealt in a couple of different ways. You can accept it and do your best to put your best foot forward and keep on going or you can choose to curl up and cry. The choice is up to you. Either you can go around with a positive attitude or you can sit and wallow in self-pity. The choice is entirely up to you. <br /><br />I myself chose to take the positive approach to it. Sitting around crying about it doesn't change a thing. Getting involved and getting out like always and doing the same things you did before the fatal phone call or you can sit and cry. Here is where I issue my word of warning....sitting there crying about it isn't going to change a thing so you might as well put on your big girl/boy pants and deal with it, <br /><br />The other thing you have to remember is YOU are your own best advocate. Stand up for yourself with the doctors. Don't let them run over you. Stay up to date on everything and do the research for yourself and don't rely on others to get it to you. Plant your feet firmly on the ground and stick with your convictions. No one not even the doctor can tell you exactly how it feels. You have to make the decision to maintain your level of sanity and don't take no for an answer!</span></span>Who did it?http://www.blogger.com/profile/05319342301517324617noreply@blogger.com1