Serious Matter on our Hands this weekend with the Gulf of Mexico Spill

Before I go on my rant I want to remember the people who lost their lives on this oil rig.  My prayers and thoughts are and have been with their families and friends.

Now for my rant...I live along the Gulf Coast.  Actually I grew up here and moved back in 2001 so I could raise my children down here.  My husband is a fisherman.  We live off of the Gulf's seafood industry.  Not necessary that we make our money from the seafood but what my husband catches when he fishes we eat.  The area I live is home to many shrimp boats, fisherman, and oyster beds.  It is also home to many people who work on these rigs.  Just like the one that blew up and is spilling thousands of gallons of oil at the moment and is threatening the land that I love so much.  For those who do not live here do not understand what is getting ready to happen to the Gulf Coast Coastal area along the Gulf of Mexico.  Hundreds of miles of coastal land is getting ready for a natural disaster.  We are use to hurricanes but oil spills?  In my 40 years I do not believe I can remember one of this magnitude.

Now for a little information about one of the areas that is going to be hit hard.  This pretty much goes for all of the areas that are going to be hit hard by the oil.  I live in a small little town just to the East of Mobile Bay.  My hometown sits on the beautiful Mobile Bay.  Not only do we have sea life here that is unique and its own way but we also have a phenomen called Jubliees.  Mobile_Bay_jubilee

The oil spill is going to also effect these areas too...http://www.mobilebaynep.com/
Dauphin Island Sea Lab
http://www.weeksbay.org/
http://www.outdooralabama.com/Fishing/freshwater/where/rivers/delta/

This is just a few of the places that are going to be devasted by the oil spill from the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.  Several states are going to be affected.  I have read over and over that we need to stop our whining but until you live down here and realize what is going to happen to the place you call home you have no clue what is going on.  We are not whining but are concern about the place we call home.  We are concern for the those who lost their lives in the Gulf of Mexico when the oil rig exploded.  Of course we know that a life can't be replaced and my heart goes out to the familes and friends of the victims. 

Yesterday I spent the day with my fifth grader's class at Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores.  Two of the places that are going to be hit hard by this massive oil leak in the Gulf.  I fear that yesterday will be the last time that I see the white sandy beaches as I remember them.  I am afraid that by Sunday these areas will be covered with a slick coating of oil.  Wildlife will be lost.  Families will lose their jobs because they depend on the waters in order to make a living. 

I would like to thank the Coast Guard for helping because I realize that they are getting a lot of heat for how they responded.  I also would like to thank the people who have volunteer their time to help protect our coastal lands!  I do have one request...President please send some help this way to the Louisana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.  We are going to need all of the help we can get to help fight this major disaster headed our way. 

The Beach as I remember it on 4/28.  Looking at Dauphin Island Bridge

from the top of Fort Morgan Fort.

The White Sandy Beaches of Gulf Shores in Alabama 4/28/10.

Sunday these beach will be covered with a slick coating of black oil.

The sea life that lives in the water will be destroyed.  

Sunday will not see children playing on the beaches but 

instead they will be volunteering to help to do what they can.  

What do you say to an eleven year old when she ask what can I do

to save the animals from the oil?

http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/volunteers-needed-for-possible-oil-spill-cleanup/879708/Apr-28-2010_2-38-pm/

Nothing like Recital Week

You would think I was a pro at this by now since my oldest daughter has been taking dance since she was 2 1/2 years old and she is now 11 but every year dance recital week gets me by surprise.  Today we start out our afternoon at the Civic Center in town where they have to have their recital costumes but not the makeup.  That is great because I don't want to put makeup on my 11 year old after she had poison ivy this past weekend.  Today will follow up by Friday afternoon at the Civic Center until after 5:30 in costume.  My two youngest daughters take dance on Fridays so they will be there at that time.  Saturday morning we have to be at the Civic Center in costume and makeup at 8am.  It is going to be a long day.  This is where they actually go through the whole rehearsal for the first Act and it usually takes several hours.  For a short period of time we will go home and rest and around 5pm we have to be back up at the Civic Center for the recital.  The Big Show! 

My Lil Pink Pedal Pusher

Never thought that one of my daughters would get to be a Pink Lady  from the movie Grease!

Sad to say that I do not have a picture of my oldest daughter in her ballet outfit.  I will try to get one this afternoon.  She is a rose from Bette Midler's The Rose.  Another song from my childhood.  :)  The outfit is beautiful and I wish I had one but she didn't want to do pictures the day I took pictures of my two younger girls. 

Beautiful Life taken too Early

Many people in my hometown are asking why this morning?  Why would a young, beautiful girl with so much ahead of her in life had to die this weekend?  There are stories going around at the moment but until the family says what happen I am not going to report what I have heard out of respect for her family and friends.  No need to spread rumors if they are not true.  

As a parent of three daughters I can imagine the pain of Elizabeth's parents.  Nine years ago in 2001 I lost my only son at the tender age of 3 years old and 6 months.  He was a healthy young boy whose life was taken too soon by the hands of another person who shot him.  Nine years later I can say that I have made it.  Somedays are harder than others but there is a light and leaning on faith and friends do help.  My heart goes out to Elizabeth's parents because I remember the numb feeling that I felt when my son was killed.  The feeling that it is a nightmare and when you wake up your child will be there.  The only problem is that the nightmare continues and you do not wake up from it.  Reality sinks in and you ask why?  Why did it happen?  Could I had done anything to prevent it?  Even though I know more than likely Elizabeth's parents will probably never read this they need to know that it is not their fault.  They provided a loving home for their daughter and from what all of her friends and her brother's friends have said they are wonderful people.  There is no blame but just heartache.  

At the moment my heart is torn for this family because this is a club you do not want to join.  A club of losing a child.  I know for me it is different because I have been there and until you experience the heartache of losing a child you do not know the pain.  It is not something you get over.  There is no limit on the grieving.  Nine years later I can tell those parents who are going through this that you never forget but there is a time when you will be able to look at your child's pictures and remember those great memories of them and smile without tears coming to your eyes.  There is life after you lose a child even though at the moment and even years after you feel like there is no life because a part of you has died.  To keep your child's memory alive you must go on living.  Find a positive thing to do in order to remember your child's life.  

I wish this beautiful child would had realized how many people loved her and how many people she has touched.  It is sad that after someone dies that the realization of the love that surrounds the person comes out even though they are not here to witness it.  Please keep Elizabeth and her family in your prayers as they go through the most difficult time in their lives.  Please pray for Elizabeth's journey to heaven and help the family and friends that she has left behind.  If you are a friend of the family that is reading this please pass it on.  Also here is a little advice from just my experience of losing a child.  

Don't be afraid to speak my child's name.  Hearing my child's name will not hurt me.  Actually it is a soothing memory of him/her.  

Don't be afraid of bringing up memories of my child.  I want to hear the stories and remember everything. 

Don't be afraid to show pictures of beautiful child.  I want to see pictures.  

Don't be afraid to comfort me or talk because I am mourning the loss of my child.  I need your friendship more than ever and even though I am crying don't be scared to talk to me.  

Our children are not gone.  They are angels in heaven looking over us until we join them. 

Worry Wart on the lose again

DD had his doctor's appt today and it was not good.  I knew the doctor was going to say that he needed another heart cath so we will be at the hospital on Tuesday morning.  Don't know what will happen from there.  Already have one stent in his artery.  I think that is what they did.  So I guess I better start cleaning house because I can almost bet my mil will be making a visit. 

Short but sweet this morning b/c a certain lab kept me up all night

Going to be short and sweet because I have to get some ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZssssssssssssssss in before I have to be at work this afternoon.  Finally home at last with the girls at school.  They were on a roll this morning because I think I actually threaten to pull over the car and let them walk the rest of way to school because they were fighting.  Got to love mornings where it would be better if they just stayed asleep and woke up on their own so they would not be so cranky. 

On a more postive but not so postive note:  My husband had a nuclear stress test done about two weeks ago and it showed something negative so he has an appt with the heart doctor again.  In 2006 he had a stent put in and had been doing pretty good with it.  So after today we will know more but I have a funny suspicion that he will be having another heart cath which could lead into more stuff.  I don't mean to knock my husband down or anything like that but when you don't take care of yourself all of the time things happen.  He would argue with me on this one but you can't spend the weekends at the bars partying and drinking and eating foods that are not heart friendly and expect everything to be okay.  You can't live a healthy life style one minute and live a unhealhty life style  the other minute and not expect their to be a consequence.  I am praying that nothing is wrong but I am preparing myself for the outcome if the doctor says otherwise and hope that maybe my husband will listen.  It is frustrating when he doesn't listen but like this past weekend he stayed out on Thursday till 2 or 3am, went to work the next day, stayed out till 2am the Friday night, and came home around 1am on Saturday.  Of course he is working till 10:30 or 11:00pm but still this could not be healthy and I know he is drinking some.  It is not a whole lot but he is still drinking and that is not good. 

I guess I am frustrated with things right now because I want my husband to wake up and realize that his lifestyle is not healthy for him and that he has three beautiful daughters that need him.  Of course I need him but I don't think he cares at times what I think even though he should.  I know he is stressed out over money, losing his father last year, and his job situation but you know there are somethings that we can not help and the money situation is one of them since prices have gone up and wages have not.  Actually my wages have been cut in half thanks to my wonderful job which thought it would be nice to force me to step down from my full time position.  Of course they can take my job and shove it at the moments.  LOL 

Well I guess I better keep my word and make this short and sweet because I need some sleep.  Especially if there is a chance I am going to coop up at the local hospital in town tomorrow and will not be able to sleep. 

The End of Spring Break

Spring Break was last week for my darling daughters.  As usual my place of employment decides to increase my hours the week that my girls are out of school.  Last week I had 30 hours and this coming week I have 19 when the girls are back in school.  Spring Break was kind of cut short for my kids thank to my wonderful job.  The girls did get to do a few things this past week.  On Monday we went to watch my 7 year old nephew play baseball and they won!  On the days that I had to work my mom took the girls to the pool and the beach at the Yacht Club.  They seemed to have a good time.  Friday we went to Orange Beach with my neighbor and her children.  Now if everyday could had been like that for us it would had been a Spring Break.  Even despite my car getting stuck in the parking lot because I drove off on the edge and into the sand while I was trying to turn around.  It took five teenagers lifting my car up and one pulling it out with four wheel drive.  Thank goodness for these polite young men who were at the beach during their Spring Break.  It is great to be able to write something positive about our youth population because so many times it is negative and there are some good kids out there that deserve recognition for what they do. 

The house is quiet at the moment.  Almost too quiet!  I am probably the only one who is sad that my girls had to go back to school and I am counting down the days till Summer Break.  I actually enjoy their company.  On the other note I am going to take this morning to relax and catch up on some needed sleep.  I am exhausted from working and trying to keep the girls busy when I was off.

Another trip to the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully good news!

Lately I have been spending my days at the pediatricians, othropedic, or the hospital.  We have been to the x-ray department at Thomas so many times in the last month that they are starting to know my daughter by her first name.  LOL  Today we have another appointment and hopefully we will find out why she can not walk on her foot that she hurt roller skating four weeks ago.  We do know she has an extra bone in her foot that was discover last Friday when they did xrays of her foot.  Now if they can figure out if that extra bone is the culprit.  So in a few minutes I will be driving to the next little town up in the street to see a doctor.  I am sure BCBS is beginning to hate me at the moment. 

Some people wonder if she is making it up because the first diagnose was a sprain.  My husband still thinks I am overreacting and that it is just sprain.  He keeps insisting that she needs to put weight on it.  Of course that might be the case but what if there is something major wrong with her foot and the xrays missed it.  Well I guess that is why the doctor order the nuclear bone scans yesterday.  So I will be updating later tonight on what happens at the doctor.  Meanwhile I am fighting what appears to be allergies and a cold and Gwendi has a touch of what appears to be a stomach virus but could be from the radiation that they gave her yesterday in order to do the tests.  I don't know if she would have a reaction from it or not. 

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Update on my daughter with the hurt foot!

Four weeks ago on Tuesday night Gwendi turned her ankle while racing at the local skating rink.  With tears and a few mumble words out of her mouth she hopped to the side of the rink where we were sitting.  I quickly took her skates off of her feet and placed her on the mushroom seats that they have.  I think those must be a custom to skating rinks because they had them when I was younger.  One of my friends quickly went to the snack bar to get some ice and I headed to get the car.  On the way home she was begging to go to the ER so I called my dad on the cell.  He works at the local hospital and ask him what I should since our copay to the ER is outrageous plus there is no telling what one might catch from sitting in the ER.  After dad wrapped her ankle we went home and made plans to take her to the pediatrician. 

The next day after I got the girls to school I took Gwendolyn to the pediatrician.  We were sent over to the hospital to have xrays that morning and then waited to hear something about her ankle.  Around 4pm I finally called the doctor's office to see if they had any news.  Her xrays didn't show any fractures so we thought we were in the good.  The only problem is that she couldn't walk so later that night my husband and I looked all over the town for a pair of pediatric crutches.  Well the local pharmacies do not carry them.  The next morning we went to my mom's church and they help me find a pair of crutches in her size.  Funny that they would have them at a local pharmacy in downtown which was of course close when I was looking for them. 

Several weeks went by and still no sign of improvement with Gwendi's ankle.  We tried to get her to walk on it but she would just hop around the area she was in.  Easter egg hunt involved crawling on the ground with her foot up in the air.  I had plan to take her to the doctor but the schools were having SAT testing so I had to wait until a day when they didnt' have them schedule which of course would be the make up day on Good Friday.  So the pediatrician worked in that afternoon and called the orthopedic to see if we could get her in that afternoon.  After picking up her xrays from the hospital we rushed up to the next town to see the doctor.  Well they decided to do a foot xray to see if maybe it was her foot causing the problems instead of the ankle.  They called a sport medicine doctor in to examine her foot along with the orthopedic.  I have to say was very impressed with both doctors.  After looking at her xrays they discover that she had an extra bone in her foot which could be the culprit. 

Tuesday morning we have to be at the hospital at 8am to have more tests.  This time they are doing a nuclear bone dense scan on the foot to see if it will reveal more of what is going on and then we are going to the orthpedic on Wednesday afternoon.  So hopefully we will have an answer to what is going on with her foot.  Oh did I mention that she has a dance recital the first week of May that I have already paid for the outfit and months of lessons.  Grrr!.

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Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone!  Hope everyone is having a great day.  Well despite the crutches and bum foot and an upset stomach the girls have had a fairly good day.  They look so darn cute in their dresses.  We were planning to go to church but unfortunately Laura got the runnies and I decided that it might not be a wise decision to go to church with that type of issue. 

Overall we have had a good morning though.  Hunted easter eggs out in the front yard.  Even Gwendolyn manage to find some with the help of her sister Laura.  It is amazing when the girls want to be nice that they can be.  I guess it is sibling rivarly.  I should know because I have sister too but I just don't remember fighting like my three girls do.  LOL

I guess I am going to try to stop by the park and go see my co-workers at their little get together.  

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Why Can't the Schools in my area make sure that they do not do things on the same day?

I have three children and they all go to three different schools.  Overall this is not a bad thing but when the schools plan activities it makes it really difficult for the parent.  Why don't they make sure that the other school doesn't do the same thing on the same day so I don't have to disappointment one of my girls.  Would that be too much to ask? 

I found out this morning my youngest daughter's field day is on the same day my middle daughter is going on a field trip.  Now why would this happen?  Did they plan it?  I can't believe in two places at the same time.  I want to be but one of my girls will be at her school for field day while the other is on a field trip several cities away which I had already planned to go to.  So how do I break this to the youngest?  I have gone on several of her field trips and have not gone on a field with my 8 year old.   

I want to scream at the moment because I do not want to pick between the two. 

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