HWIC - Head Witch In Charge

Oh, yeah, baby! Head Witch In Charge! Bwahaha! For those of you that know what I'm talking about, you KNOW it's funny! Don't deny. It's bad, yes, but funny! Flava Flaaaav!

Anyway, happy Halloween, everyone! I've got to say, I just love Halloween more & more the older I get. It's a big ol' pain, but it's good times. In fact, this year, I decided that I'm dressing up myself next year! I only decided that this afternoon, so it was kinda late to make it work today, but I'm already brainstorming what we might do in '09! :)

Well, I went back to fashioning the girls costumes myself. Yes, I bought them last year. Yes, it was OH so stinkin' easy (no pun intended), and they were absolutely adorable. But, you know how after you have your first child, you somehow forget how horrible childbirth is? And, then you decide to have another? And, then, when you're in labor, you suddenly remember? Yeah, I think that's how making Halloween costumes is for me. I forgot how much of a headache it is until I'd dropped some serious cash & gotten about half way in. Then I remembered.

Oh well.

So, the girls were little witches this year. Although, we don't do the whole scary, gnarly, nasty thing, so they were more like punk rock witches. Fun times. Unfortunately, I was working my little fingers to the bones today trying to get these things finished up. That's what happens when you change the game plan after you've already COMPLETED the costumes. So, time to leave crept up on me. I had NO time to get pictures, so I hauled the girls out in the garage & made it work.

Maya:

Emma:

So, yeah, we had a witchin' Halloween! (Yes. I did just type that.)

I forgot.

So, I forgot to post pictures of Emma on geek chic day. If you'll remember, we don't like making fun of people. We believe geeks can be fashionable, and we believe that being studious is ALWAYS in style. :) So, here's Emma:

And, I'm pleased to announce that Maya's hair is FINALLY long enough for piggies again! YAY! LOVE her hair in piggies!
It was rainy this evening, so we spent a few minutes outside just playing. :)
And, she's done with me. Oh well...

This makes my heart sing...

I've never done this before, but I've GOT to share a local news story that is so sweet. Obviously, I have a special place in my heart for Down Syndrome kids, but I think anyone can appreciate this!

Article from the Dallas Morning News:

Never has the selection of a homecoming queen sent so many tears falling so freely.

Kristin Pass, an 18-year-old senior with Down syndrome, became Aledo High School's homecoming queen Friday to a joyous standing ovation and the flutter of a thousand tissues on a remarkable night for an amazing young woman.

Her grandfather, Dr. David Campbell of Corsicana, escorted her onto the field and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as Kristin joined eight other young women in the Homecoming Court to await the results of the vote, cast by the 360-plus members of Aledo High's senior class.

Then came the announcement ... and pandemonium.

"Oh my gosh! I was sitting in the student section and everyone stood up, crying and cheering for Kristin," said longtime friend and fellow senior Meaghan Geary, 17, who first met Kristin in the third grade. "It was great!"

Carolyn Pass stood at the edge of the football field, taking pictures of her daughter and friends' daughters in the court, when the stadium erupted.

"It's just something you can't even imagine," she said. "And afterward, everyone was just running down to her, congratulating her. And the other girls in the court, they're all just beautiful girls, inside and out."

Ms. Pass said she spoke later with a friend. "She said the only mistake anyone made was not handing out crying towels."

The vote may have been a surprise, but no one who knows Kristin doubts her popularity, her mother said.

"Kristin has a lot of friends – she likes everyone. It doesn't matter if you're tall or short, pretty, not pretty, smart, not smart – she likes everybody. She has great friends. And Aledo is a great community."

"She's just the neatest kid in the whole wide world," added her aunt, Chari Hust of Houston, "and everybody sees that."

Clay Gilmer, who works in the stadium press box, running the scoreboard and clock, said people pushed toward the windows as the young women were introduced.

"They were all pulling for Kristin," Mr. Gilmer said.

When she won, he was thrilled. "This has been such a special time, a special week for Kristin," he said. "And I was really taken by the maturity and the love shown by her friends, her peers, her classmates.

"That makes this a double blessing."

Kristin pronounced the evening "exciting" and "awesome."

She was so thrilled, her mother said, that she took her crown to bed with her.

"She's real proud of it," her friend Meaghan added.

Kristin and her family, including sister Kendall, now a freshman, moved to Aledo when Kristin was in the third grade. She was embraced by the people in town through good times and bad, including the death of her dad, J.T., two years ago.

"We've always had great experiences here," her mom said. "We've been blessed, and I think Kristin brings a lot of blessings to the people she knows."

Her selection as homecoming queen was a wonderful surprise. But Meaghan seemed to have an inkling that it could happen.

"Everyone loves Kristin," she said, "and I didn't know for sure, but in class everyone was like, 'Who are you voting for?' and everybody was like, 'Vote for Kristin, she's so good.' "

Kristin doesn't care what's on the outside, Meaghan said. She's friends with everyone, and everyone admires that.

"She's the person we all want to be," Meaghan said.

And, pictures taken by her mother:

Twinkies! Ha!

Ah, it's twin day. :) I approached it a little differently this year. I could have made them match EXACTLY, but it wouldn't have been very fun or stylish... just a t-shirt & jeans, you know? So, I thought to myself, "hmmm... if I had a set of boy/girl twins, and I had to dress them alike, what would I do?" Forget that the boy is 30 years old. :) That's what he gets for not helping me come up with something.

So, yeah, T-R-E-N-D-Y here we come! Curt is so NOT trendy! I mean, I'm not saying he's not stylish, I'm saying he's not trendy. He doesn't like the trends. He's always saying he's "too old" for that nonsense. Well, when you're dressing six year old twins, trendy is fun! Haha!


Okay, so it's not THAT bad, right? Ha! All he could do last night when I was putting his outfit together was shake his head. Oh man... fun times! Here are HIS problems with the outfit:

• suit jacket with jeans - BIG no, no for him
• loosely tied tie hanging low
• tie with jeans
• top it all off with the hat

Now, he LIKES the hat, and he wears the hat. He just doesn't like the hat with THIS gettup. I think it's just the final touch to a perfectly put together trendy outfit. :)

There are a couple of ways that I think these outfits could be a little more twin-ish. I wish Emma's vest wasn't denim. What can you do, though? I wish it were a suit material. That would have been perfect! But, what I wish even more than that is that I had a vest for Curt! Haha! That would have been TOO much fun! I threatened to run to town to buy one for him last night. He was not amused. Oh well...

And hey, if anyone giggles at his outfit today, and he starts to feel embarrassed, he just needs to tell them, "whatev. I'm a POPstar!" Bwahaha!

More to add today...

Okay, so, if you haven't read my LAST blog post, you should go read it. This one is basically an update to that one.

Curt came home for lunch and told me that when he was taking Emma to her class room this morning she would not go into her hall. She cried and said she was embarrassed. Curt made a deal with her that he would go get Mrs. Ripley (one of her fave teachers that she'll never have), and if Mrs. Ripley thinks it's too silly, then Emma could come home and take the hair down. (Wink wink! Like a TEACHER is gonna tell her it looks silly!) Anyway, she was okay with that. It certainly helped that Mrs. Ripley came around the corner wearing a huge fro wig on her head! Ha! So, Emma agreed to stay.

Well, when he told me all that, I thought, "Oh great. I've scarred my kid for life. She'll remember how mean we were by making her wear crazy hair to school. It'll be one of those stories that morphs into this HUGE crazy drama making us parents look EVEN worse than we should!" (Yes, I truly thought ALL of that!) So, I thought I needed to soften the blow. I had the BRILLIANT idea to fashion my own hair into a crazy mess & go for a visit during recess. Hey... if SHE'S gonna be embarrassed, she's not gonna be embarrassed alone, right!?! Yeah. I felt like a fool. But, it's only fair. I shared her hair with the world, and now I must share my own. Sigh.
So, tonight when we were sitting around the dinner table playing "good part/bad part," Emma's good part of her day was that she actually did NOT end up being embarrassed of her hair! YAY! No scarring this time! :)

When she got home from school, however, she was ready to take it down. And, honestly, I can't say that I blame her because after about 20 minutes of those stupid rubber bands in my hair, I was starting to get a headache! I knew what to expect when we took out her hair, but she did not. She was quite surprised and pleasantly so. CURLS!
Then, she contrived this FABulous plan to take a photograph with one dog on each side of her.

My thoughts on the matter: "Ummm, yes, Emma. I would LOVE to accommodate you on this matter as these dogs are SO pleasant & well behaved." (Insert eyeroll.) They're like herding cats, those two. But, hey, she could get just about anything she wanted from me at that point because I'm still absolutely CERTAIN I've caused a need for therapy today. Another sigh.
Aren't those boys just SO cooperative? She envisioned one SITTING NICELY on either side of her looking at the camera. The fact that we got them to STAY STILL is a miracle. Truly. Look at the dork on the left. Ay yi yi.

Okay... on to my NEXT big saga. THIS was my Thursday:

I'm still in total disbelief. Get ready because this is LONG! You'll be horrified, too, I'm sure!

So, I adopted the two pups, right? They're full grown... about 2 years old, I think. Anyway, they had been neglected & abused by their original owners. They were rescued by a sweet couple which I, in turn, adopted the dogs from them. It all went through a local humane society.

Okay, so, I paid an $80 adoption fee for each dog. That was to include the cost of neutering, a heartworm test, a rabies shot, as well as all their puppy shots. Well, you have to go to certain vets that work with the Humane Society to have all this done. The Humane Society set up an appointment for Thursday with a vet about 45 minutes away from me.

I loaded up the dogs bright & early Thursday morning. Fortunately, I left Maya with Curt in case the dogs got irritable in the far back, as I'd be the only adult in the car and wouldn't be able to control them. We get to the little town where the vet is located. I turn on his street. I drove up & down that RESIDENTIAL street two times passing it by each time because it wasn't obviously a vet. Turns out, it's a SHED in the backyard of this house!!! That should have been my first warning.

So, I get the dogs out of the car & am having to coax them to the door of this place. (They're VERY nervous about anything new... very skittish because of their past.) Anyway, I open the door to this shed-thing expecting that there will be some sort of reception. I should have known there would NOT be reception, though, because the entire building is about 8 feet by maybe 14 feet?

Anyway, when I open the door, I'm RIGHT THERE in his work area! The main room was about 8 foot by 8 foot with CLUTTER to the ceiling!!!!!!!! There was a work table in the center of the room with a KNOCKED OUT DOG ON IT'S BACK! It's legs are TAPED to the side & he's CUT OPEN WITH HIS INSIDES ON HIS OUTSIDES!!!!!!! Ummmm! I was completely shocked! Before I could even make any sort of sense of the situation, he was injecting my dogs with sedatives!!! It all took place literally within 5 seconds of getting in the door.

At this point, my dogs are flippin' SCARED out of their minds. The vet was showing no compassion or gentleness what so ever. He got one of them into a crate in that room with him, but he said he didn't have another crate in there big enough for the other one. So, he opens this door to a closet-type space. This area is probably 4 feet by 6 feet maybe. Anyway, there is a space of floor right as you walk in the door maybe 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot (if that) that is clear. The rest of the closet was loaded from floor to ceiling with GARDENING tools!!!!! He shoves the other dog in a dirty, scratched up crate in there. I was horrified. He comes out of the closet & closes the door. He just leaves my poor pup in a dark, windowless closet without letting me reassure him AT ALL. I was so heartbroken for my dogs. And, honestly, I've never been a "my-dogs-are-my-kids" type person. I mean, I love them, but I'm not like that...

So, I'm in the main area, now, with this 90 year old vet, the dog up on the table, and my other dog crated. I literally had NO idea what to do.

I excused myself outside and called my contact at the Humane Society. I was crying at this point because I could NOT believe it! Not only was it BEYOND skeevy, but he couldn't even do the heartworm test because he doesn't have the facilities for that. Ummm... ya think!?! Holy cow.

So, my contact was HORRIFIED, too. She could NOT believe it. She told me to get them out of there... don't leave them, which I already did NOT want to do! I did NOT want to leave them!!! It was insane. So, she made a few phone calls and found an animal hospital about 45 minutes away. She said they would take the dogs immediately if I'd scoop 'em up & bring them over. So, I went back in & told him thanks but no thanks. My dogs were not totally knocked out. They were awake but could not function. They couldn't walk or even stand. I had to drag/carry my 60lb. dogs out the door & up into my car by myself.

Anyway, so, I get them into the back of my car & we're driving along. Well, at this point, I'm guessing they were INSANELY nervous & unsure of what was going on, plus they were irritable as all get out. (Understandably so!) So, about 30 minutes in to the drive, they start fighting VICIOUSLY in the back of the car making all sorts of weird sounds & snarls... barking, biting, the whole thing! They wouldn't stop & they wouldn't listen to me. I've only had these dogs for about 3 or 4 weeks, I'm guessing, and while I think they're super gentle & sweet, you just NEVER know what a dog is capable of, you know? They were VICIOUS! I didn't want to stick my hand back there for fear of them attacking me, too. So, I just cried. Ha! I was so nervous about the whole thing... I got shaky, and I could feel a panic attack coming on. The whole morning & now this fighting just broke me down, I guess. I had to call Curt, and he talked me through it. Crazy, I tell ya!

The new vet was much nicer & more reassuring. They were kind to my dogs & just professional, you know? I just couldn't believe it. Anyway, that was my morning. It was horrible. I felt like this place should be on Dateline. You know how they have random folks practicing dentistry in their back bedroom or something?!? Ay yi yi.

So, I go to pick up the dogs on Friday. I get there, and they tell me that Chuy has heartworms. Great. That's fantastic. Really. Now we're working on that.

Guess what the dogs did next? Yep. They licked at their bits SO much that they tore open the incision. Another fantastic moment for us. Of course, I discovered this on Saturday evening. That's how it works with kids, and apparently that's how it works for dogs. They'll get sick on the weekends. I had to call a local vet to see them after hours, and I got to PAY for that doozy, too. Yay.

It gets better folks. No, truly, it does. The dogs are now on antibiotics twice a day. Whatever. Here's the best part... EVERY STINKIN' DAY, we get to WASH their bits with a mild soap & water! YES, WASH THEM! Then, we get to treat them with neosporin after that. Oh joy of joys. I know you are laughing right now. That's okay. I've come to terms with the fact that I've done SOMEthing to deserve this.

The ONLY redeeming factor of it all is that I get a bit of entertainment value out of my dogs because they now get to wear the e-collars for TEN days! It's the LEAST they deserve, I can promise you that! Enjoy:

Go ahead. Judge me for finding humor in it if you want. All I have to say is that you're not the one hand washing gnarly dog bits daily because your jerk dogs couldn't leave well enough alone. Final sigh.

So, here's the good news. Tomorrow is twin day. As he did last year, Curt had the bright idea to be twins with Emma. Fine. BUT, he gives it all absolutely NO thought. Like, dressing a grown man & a 6 year old girl as twins... that's easy? I always struggle with what to do. Well, THIS year I've devised a BRILLIANT scheme. If I have to figure it out all by myself, I'm going ALL out. Bwahahaha! Now, I'm not gonna dress him like a girl or anything, but, man oh man! It won't be THAT bad. To us. To him, it'll be HORRIBLE! He's very much the "I'm too cool for school" kinda guy. There are certain things he'll wear and certain things he won't wear. Tomorrow, it's all gettin' thrown together into a wonderfully coordinating ensemble. :) Stay tuned!

It's that time of year again!

First, let me say thanks for the support, guys! You all are awesome!

Second, it's spirit week at school. Remember last year? Unfortunately, they took out my favorite day this year. No 80's day. :( Bummer.

Anyway, today is crazy hair day. Last year, I fixed about half of Emma's hair before she asked to see it. She looked in the mirror and immediately started crying. She was "embarrassed." She made me take it out. I was irritated, to say the least. I'd spent at least a half an hour on that one stinkin' side.

This year, though, I thought she'd be all for it. I thought she'd be older & more confident. Well, guess what happened this year!?! Yep! I fixed half the head, and she starts crying. I was so irritated again that I just had to leave the room. Not my proudest moment as a mom, but you KNOW there are times when it's best to walk away. So, I did.

I came back a couple minutes later, and we chatted about it. She was embarrassed again. I told her to be a rockstar! Haha! She bought it. Or, maybe she was just distracted enough by me jumping around like a maniac sporting the rock on hand sign. I was just demonstrating how she needed to own it, you know? I mean, if a kid giggles at her hair (which it's crazy hair day - hello!), I told her to tell them, "whatev... I'm a rockstar, and my mom's a rockstar, too" whilst making the rock on hand sign with both hands. You know... owning it?!? At that point, I think she was more embarrassed of my behavior than her hair. Niiiice. Mission accomplished. :)

So, here she is sporting her crazy hair:
Anybody got any ideas for geek sheik day? :)

Well, I went and entered a contest.

I came across a contest. On a whim, I entered it. I haven't entered a photography contest since I've been into photography this go around. (Just one county contest 10 years back when I was in college...)

Do I really think I might win? Not really. I think there are several pictures far better than mine, but it doesn't hurt to enter, right? So, anyway, there's a popular vote to choose one of the winners. There will be other winners chosen by the judges later.

I debated whether or not to even post this on my blog. I feel like asking for votes is borderline... I don't know... goofy. I mean, it seems like the absolute WORST photo submitted could win if they have quite a network of friends that are willing to vote for them. I feel if-fy about asking people to vote for my photo knowing that there are better submissions.

SOOOOO... what I'm asking is that you hop on over to the contest & vote. Vote for me if you so desire, but I'd also like to encourage you to take a gander through the rest of the photos. There are some awesome shots there. Vote for your favorite! I'm okay with that! :)

Here's my entry:

It's image number 0099. WHATever photo you decide to vote for, you can vote by clicking on the image & then clicking on vote for this picture. Or something like that.

Truly, though... vote for your fave! :) I'm not opposed to the loyalty votes, though. Haha!

Here's the link to the contest: Capture the Summer Feeling Photo Contest