Halloween 2003

Joe and I were going through some old photos tonight and this one was too good not to share! Catie and Andy in 2003......WOW! 5 years makes a big difference!

Time for an Editorial

Health insurance is always in the news and with an election coming, the Republicans and Democrats are busy debating what is best to cure our country's problem with being able to afford health care. As a Republican, I cannot endorese anything that the government runs. It is plain and simple. They will screw it up.

However, I do believe that there has to be a way for everyone to get health care. I cannot encorse a system that allows people to suffer or die because they are out of work or underemployed. For the most part, I do believe you should earn what you have, but when I hear a kid in my kitchen say they need an operation, but their parents can't afford it, my heart breaks. I heard that last week. The little girl can't hear.

Insurance companies are now playing doctor. In order to fuel their profits, they have decided to change the doctor's prescriptions to cheaper pills. It was a bit ironic yesterday when Laura told me that she was recovering from surgery WITHOUT her pain pills because the type her doctor prescribed wasn't covered and she had to wait a day to get the doctor to rewrite it. That is a night of severe pain because her doctor cannot know what each insurance company covers!

Two hours later Joe returned from the pharmacy to tell me that TWO of my prescriptions were not filled. I have taken both in the past, but the insurance company recently decided not to cover them because they are expensive. The pharmacist said she had to call my doctor and request that I be changed to other drugs. I am furious because I already took the "other drugs" and one didn't work and the other interacts badly with my other medicines. So now the insurance company doesn't have a complete list of what I am taking and they will mandate drug changes that could end up to be dangerous for me.

Catie recently needed some eye drops for an infection. The insurance company wanted to switch the prescription. When I called the doctor, he said the drug they offered would not work as well. I paid in full for the right drug.

It has come to a point where profit is overriding good quality medical care. This is when we need a law. There is a reason we go to the doctor. He or she prescribes what we NEED to get well. I cannot get over Laura suffering last night. It is wrong.

Every year I begin to dread the last day of October. I have earned my title as the Halloween Grinch! I love Christmas, Easter, 4th of July and Thanksgiving. I even get in the spirit for Memorial Day, Presidents Day and Martin Luther King Day.....but you can keep Halloween.

Yeah, I remember being a kid and looking forward to the loot. That was before I moved to Knight Street where the kids begin to line up at the curb before I even got home from work! They wait for the siren and charge like a herd of buffalo and they don't stop coming for hours. The first few little ones are cute, but by the time you stand at the door handing out candy for 2-3 hours straight, even the cutest tot looks like a football waiting for a kick.

Joe saves the day each year as he runs back to the store for more candy (no matter how much I buy) and plays the spooky music. I make everyone I can find take a turn at the door and last year Alexis was our champion. She never got tired. The only good part is seeing my grandchildren show up in their costumes. We do have some fond memories of children barfing (down Laura's back) and kids who give it up early and return to hand out candy.

When Cat was here, Halloween began in September and I was forced to get in the spirit of pumpkin carving and decorations. Catie calls it her "Personal Holiday" since her birthday is in October. I don't get the connection, but she does....she has been wearing Halloween stuff since October 1.

The countdown is on........I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

A Perfect Ending to a Great Weekend

After a fun filled Homecoming week and a winning football game, Andy and Sam had a great time at the annual Homecoming dance. They always look great together, but they sure do clean up well!

Of course, Joe and I told Andy to try his suit on about 100 times during the weeks preceeding the dance and he assured us that it fit just right. About one hour before the dance, he informs us that he "can't remember where he put the pants to his suit". Joe nearly had a stroke.

We had been out shopping all afternoon, buying new clothes for Andy's senior pictures and although he had new pants, they were not hemmed yet. Andy quickly called Justin to see if he could borrow a pair of pants (yes, he did) and found that Justin had borrowed Andy's suit pants! They were dirty, since Justin wore them, but he offered to lend HIS suit to Andy. I shouldn't be surprised at all this. So Andy picked Sam up, on time and he did have pants. They invited Joe, Catie and I to join them for dinner and we all went to River's Bend. It was really a great weekend.

EATON RAPIDS WINS HOMECOMING GAME!!!!!

It took the Class of 2009 to break the 3 YEAR losing streak in Eaton Rapids and they did it up big tonight for their Homecoming game against Perry. They started out strong and kept it coming all night, with a final score of 53 to 25!

As the end drew near, the team couldn't resist celebrating by pouring the water jug over Coach Smith's head. It was close to 32 degrees and he had to be cold, but continued to cheer his team to the end.


Earlier in the day a Pep Rally was held and the theme was Breast Cancer Awareness. The team dressed in pink shirts and socks, which they wore to the game.





Andy, however won a fundraising contest held by the cheerleaders (vote for your favorite player) and his prize was.........he got to dress as a cheerleader for the pep rally!



Each player entered the gym wearing their pink shirt and was escorted by a teacher who had a positive influence in their life. Andy and Mr Warriner chose to make a grand entrance....Piggy Back!



When we arrived at tonight's game, we found a poster at the entrance with a photo of Andy and I and Tim Robinson and his Mom to continue their Breast Cancer Awareness drive.



The pep rally included a Tug of War between the classes and of course, Andy played.

Happy Birthday to Catie!

Catie is FOURTEEN! Where did the time go? This year, since I didn't have Cat to chaperone, I decided to limit the number of party guests. After last year when Catie invited every kid in the 7th grade (I swear she did), we kept it small and went to the Holiday Inn for the evening.

They started off with pink gift bags, loaded with pink candy, pink and silver beads and some wild sunglasses that I had bought for Tate. Catie thought they were cool.



The girls have their own room (adjoining ours) and after hours of swimming, pizza, candy and chips are finally settling down. I don't expect it to last long, but Joe has been in there twice to quiet them down.

Andy, Sam and Justin showed up in time for swimming and pizza and spent 2 hours in the pool.



Andy and Sam took time out to "Play House"

TACKLE BY CHIN!

Here is a shot of one of Andy's tackles on this cold night of football. Sadly, the Eaton Rapids Greyhounds fell to Fowlerville, but we enjoyed watching Andy taken 'em down over and over!

We were all thrilled to see Shelby back, if only in the stands. She was able to attend the game tonight, dressed in her cheerleading gear, but the school would not let her cheer. Her teammates had made her a Welcome Back Shelby sign that was posted at the gate.



Next week's game is against Charlotte and we always look forward to this game. Seeing old friends makes it fun and Andy always looking forward to playing against his Preschool buddy, Jake Hoose....aka...."Jake the Snake", who is one of Charlotte's best. Unfortunately, Jake broke his leg in a game next week, so we will miss seeing him play, but will surely get the annual photo of Andy and Jake.



We have 3 more weeks of Friday Night Lights, playing Charlotte, Perry and finally Mason and then WRESTLING SEASON BEGINS! I'm just a little partial to wrestling, as it is just a bit warmer.

Birthday Month

Frankie, above, enjoying her birthday treats. Cat sent British Doggy Bones for Frankie, who normally won't eat dog treats. As you can see, she is BEGGING! Wonder what the Brits put in their dog treats?

When Karen's birthday came the first year after her passing, Catie decided to "give away" the birthday........to FRANKIE! At first, I rolled my eyes, prepared for a sad day that I would try to get through. Then Catie forced the idea until I found myself joining in as she sent out invitations and planned "Frankie's Party."

Now Frankie has the official birthday in September AND the celebration each year. In addition, we had Andy and Joe's birthdays this month and we are now rolling on to Catie's big day on October 9th. (She is counting the days now.)

This family will accept any excuse to celebrate together!

Hilliary Comes to Town

Mike has been working for the Obama campaign and got a chance today to meet Hilliary Clinton on her visit to Grand Ledge. Although I don't share his politics, I am glad he is becoming so politically aware.

Tonight's Debate

I watched the Presidential debate tonight with true interest. Since I was not a McCain fan, my Republican soul was uneasy. I certainly was not an Obama fan and that didn't leave me much choice. It was now the time to listen to the two candidates and decide if I really could just vote for McCain and keep my party loyalty or if I should just stay home in November.

My phone rang at 8:45 and Michael reminded me to watch. He is busy working at Obama headquarters and wanted to be sure I was armed to argue the results. Yeah, yeah, yeah! My deepest fear was that McCain would be humiliated. I do think Obama presents himself well and I admit I have listened to more of his sound bites than McCain's.

My opinion is official. McCain showed used his maturity to his advantage as he continued to refer to his wealth of experience, his accomplishments and back up what he intended to do with examples of his past. As one blogger put it tonight "He made Obama look like a Jr Senator". Yes, he did.

I don't know if either candidate can take on the financial mess this country is in and fix it, but I pray we elect the right man.

Birthday Weekend

Birthday weekend began on Friday night at the game and continued until our Sunday family dinner where Andy and Sam smeared cake on each other's faces. It wasn't a wedding, guys!



Alexis and Daniel enjoyed the visit, complete with living room gymnastics with Catie.



We had a really nice family weekend between our Saturday dinner with Shelby, Dan and Ruby (Tacos cooked by Joe), the whole family working at the Wrestling Club golf outing, with Justin and Andy soliciting cash from the golfers to support the wrestlers and finally hitting the bed by 9:30 pm on Sunday....we were tired!

Happy 17th Birthday Andy!

As Samantha (above) informed the crowd, it was #15's birthday. Andy was on the football field, as he is every Friday night. He had his new football cleats on for luck and had a good amount of play time. It was looking good for ER. Eaton Rapids was winning throughout the game until the final minute of the last quarter when Ionia scored. The game went into overtime as Ionia tied the game. Ionia won 20-14 in overtime. Oh, so close....maybe next week?

Who wants Oreo?

The kids named him "Oreo" for obvious reasons last spring when he came around, hungry and meowing at the door. Of course, we fed him and he never left. He lives in our backyard. I told Catie "NO!" day after day when she begged to let him inside and now that winter is coming she is worried. With the recent rain, he is at the back door begging to be let in.

We cannot have another animal! I had her take a portable crate outside so he had shelter from the rain, he is welcome in the garage and there is always food for Oreo, but he is not getting in! PLEASE...SOMEONE TAKE OREO!

Eaton Rapids FLOODS!

Island Park is no longer visible, with the Grand River running over it. Catie and I toured downtown today to see what everyone was talking about. We found the ballfield looking like a small lake, sandbags at the doors of downtown businesses and after talking to neighbors whose houses were filling, checked our crawl space to find water had soaked half the contents. So much for being the "only house in the neighborhood that was dry".

Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

Although it isn't Hurricane Ike, it has been raining a bit too long. School was closed due to flooding, people were gathering downtown to fill sandbags and the neighbors basements were filling with water. I was feeling lucky that we only had a small lake in our yard.

Joe returned to work today, after a month of being ill, only to find the nap he was looking forward to after work, was not going to happen. He decided to check on our boat to make sure it had not taken on too much water.

It was completely UNDER water, except for the bow, which was sticking up and proving the Bayliner claim that it won't sink. When he called me to come to the dock, he said I should bring buckets. Buckets? You have to be kidding!

My back would not handle the job and I am sure we would still be there. I headed for Home Depot and returned with a large pump, hoses, 100 ft extension cord and Andy! The pump said it would put out 3650 gallons per hour. Joe and Andy pumped it for at least an hour before it was empty and floating again.

According to reports, the river will peak by Thursday. Can't wait!

Friday Night Lights in ER

Hey, Mom! Do you or Dad want to wear my Jersey to tonight's game?"

Ok, Andy, that is enough to choke a Mom up, bring a tear to the eye and make me dying to go to the football game.


Today is Friday and although I have always said "I hate football", I am looking forward to the game. Yes, Eaton Rapids has a reputation for losing games and yes, we know that hasn't changed so far, but I am learning that there is more to this "football thing" than winning games.

Every night after school the boys practice until 6pm, watch game videos and come home tired and hungry. Every week, we sit in the stands and cheer and groan as they try to break that losing streak. They want to be the team that did it.

Thursday night Team Dinners bring unity as they gather to bond with each other and parents who serve them. They come home with stories of the best plays, the coaches lessons and team decisions. Homework is getting done on time. You can't play sports with bad grades.

Finally, Andy is a bit of a scrapper. I am not talking about his wrestling, but when he perceives someone is being treated unfairly he gets mad and is the first to stand up for them. Last week it was the annual fight between the "Rednecks and Mexican kids" that he chose to help break up, instead of join. Fighters get suspended and can't play football. Yesterday someone insulted his girlfriend and the coach and his football buddies persuaded him not to put the kid's lights out. After their "discussion", I don't think the kid will be mean to her ever again.

I guess I don't hate football any more.

Almost done.....

Everyone knows I have taken up knitting and I am much better at starting projects than finishing them. My friend tells me I am a "Process Knitter". What is that? It means I enjoy the process, not the product. She is right. However lately I am starting to actually finish things!

I had a sweater for Alexis down to the last inch on the sleeve when I checked with Laura and found that our little darling has a long body. Sooooo, it WAS finished (that should count, right?) until I found out I have to make it longer. I WILL have it done to wear this season.

I figured out that if I just finish all the partial projects I have in my stash, I will have gifts for everyone ready for Christmas....and everyone thought I was just giving up on them. I had a plan all along.

Catie Isn't Stupid

She has important things to do, like cheerleading, choir, talk on the phone and get on myspace, so she has to make sure that homework is done quickly and efficiently. That is why she came home from school and advised me that WE have a fun project to do!

Since the assignment was to write a paper on a famous historical person, Catie immediately suggested to her partner, Nicole, that they choose Abraham Lincoln. "My grandma knows all about him!" Nicole's response was "OUR project will ROCK!"

Now I do have to say that Catie immediately suggested a trip to Barnes and Noble to buy some new books on Lincoln that "we" could read. Then she asked me if I wanted to tell her all about the one I just finished, so "we" could use it. I don't have any dumb babies!

Not that I am counting, but in only FOUR days school starts and I am looking forward to total peace and quiet from the time I get up until at least 4pm. I am overwhelmed with thoughts of how to spend that first day. Then I start projecting forward to the next day and the next....I have 4 days of QUIET coming up in only 4 days!

I love my little darlings, but they keep a different schedule during the summer and I am frankly, tired. They don't get up until late in the morning (or afternoon) since they stay up ALL night. The microwave door slams at 2am and it sounds like a sonic boom when you are sleeping, but they have to have a snack since they usually were not home for dinner. As each cupboard door slams, I jump and head down the stairs to see who is up NOW.

Often I find an assortment of teenagers making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pizza or warming every leftover in sight. When we go to bed, the population is usually reasonably, however kids sneak INTO my house, not out (usually). If they don't see me up when passing the front window, they head for Andy or MIke's bedroom windows where they find easy access. Mike sometimes complains about the dirty footprints on his bed from Justin jumping in. They all know the Chihuahuas bark at any sound of a door opening, so it is easier to use a window.

Football and Cheerleading practice has started, the first official game is Friday night and the school supplies are waiting on the kitchen table. All that is left is that first blessed morning. I am really torn between doing everything I have put off forever and just sitting all day and enjoying the peace. My knitting and the TV sound great for the first day!

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.

To this day, I find Lincoln quotes to be profound and applicable to today's life. This man with so little education and such a great mind, simply devoted his life to making a difference in the world he touched.

My lifelong fascination with Lincoln began in the 3rd grade when I began checking out every book in the library about this Civil War President. He was a very odd and colorful character.
I began with the stories written for children about his early years in the log cabin, learned of his poverty and his strugle for education. Those books read a bit like something from Little House on the Prarie.

As I grew older and understood the Civil War, I continued to try to understand his politics and applaud them. I traveled to Washington DC and the highlight for me was to visit the sites of his life, ending in the boarding house where he lay dying after his assasination. Karen shared this interest and she and I chose to go to Ford Theater, while Joe and Cat moved on to the Pentagon and the Mint. We both loved Lincoln.

One day I found a photo of him with an inscription that motivated me beyond all else. It described the countless failures in his life and ended with his ultimate victory of becoming President and the Emancipation. As usual, I passed it up because I could find countless other ways to spend my cash with 5 kids to feed and educate. I was so moved when I opened my Christmas gift from Dave and Maryann and found the coveted artwork. It hung in my office for years and I am searching for the right place to put it now at home.

I happened upon a book called simply, Mary. It qualifies as historic ficion, although the book was written by taking the letters that Mary Lincoln wrote during her lifetime. When she was finally committed to a mental institution by her son, she began writing her life story in letter form. She was not mad, but grief stricken, after losing 3 sons and her husband. I can so totally relate to this woman's anguish and only pray that my 3 sons choose not to commit me any time soon.



Through this book, I grew to understand not only the power of a wife who believes in her husband, but came to know Lincoln, again on a deeper level. They were a fascinating couple, who changed American history. I highly recommend this book. Wouldn't it be nice if an intelligent person, with good morals and deep love of country could be elected today?