(I wrote this Friday night, and didn't get a chance to post it, so I thought I would go ahead...even though I now have more updates for you as far as soccer goes)...

Well, I got my notice in the mail yesterday saying that they received my request for an appeal. Whoopee! It also informed me that they have no influence in the matter from this point on, and basically that my child’s future would depend upon their legal department, and then the Attorney General’s office. It listed a website that I could refer to for fighting my own case, but I wonder how helpful that can be. If they really want me to get the waiver, wouldn’t they just have approved me in the first place?? Duh!

I figure my chances are pretty good, even though I was denied the first time. Although, they must be getting a lot of appeal requests, because they still have yet to send me the appointment letter. I wonder if it will be via phone conference like they said, or if it will need to be up in Tallahassee. I would honestly prefer a face-to-face meeting, as I seem to do better in person. I tend to become flustered and over talkative on the phone. Plus, if it was a face-to-face meeting, I could always bring Loni…I doubt they would deny him then! He would tear whatever room we were in to pieces in a matter of seconds!

I have a big weekend ahead of me. My daughter has her 1^st soccer game tomorrow morning, and then my son has his first one this year in the afternoon. I’ll be spending all day at the fields because of pictures and opening ceremonies! Then Sunday night is the Colts/Pats game. Go Colts!!! I’m also letting my oldest have a friend come over and spend the night tonight. It’s against my better judgment, but this is my daughter’s teacher’s son, and she needed him to spend the night somewhere, so I said yes. I like her teacher. She’s pretty cool, and I like her son too. He’s a good kid, and my oldest needs to be surrounded by those kinds of kids at this age.

Come to think of it, maybe we’ll bring the puppies to the soccer field tomorrow! We still have 4 for sale, and what better place than one where there are kids running around everywhere with their parents in tow? Isn’t that awful of me? Actually, I would hate doing that to people, even though it would be nice to only have the 4 puppies I’m keeping. Actually, I am only keeping 3, but I am holding one as a Christmas present for a friend. I took them all to the vet today, and he was actually quite impressed with them. They all tested negative for worms, and each and everyone of the little ones were healthy and happy, and well-behaved. He said that was quite rare to have a litter that size where they were all so perfect right from birth. My mom and my mother-in-law said that this might be my calling. I would agree with them, except for the fact that I am about $250 in the hole right now as far as the puppies go. Once I sell the rest it’ll be great, but for now it kind of sucks.

That’s all for now. I’m sitting at my son’s soccer field typing this to post later, and I am dying of hunger. Plus I am going to pick up his friend right after this, and my car is sooooo trashed. I need to stop and clean it out somewhere. Happy blogging everybody!

Take care,

Leslie

So Halloween has come and passed, and we managed to come through it mostly unscathed. My daughter wanted to be a ghost, but because my husband didn’t get out of work when he was supposed to, I wasn’t able to make it to the store to purchase a white sheet. I couldn’t bring myself to cut holes in any of our other sheets, and somehow a blue r pink ghost didn’t seem right. So, with her plethora of dress-up clothes, we managed to make her a princess Barbie. She looked soooo cute!!! I would post pictures, but I’m not sure how to transfer from my cell phone to the computer. I didn’t have time to take regular pictures, because Loni was having a fit. He didn’t want to get dressed, let alone in some stupid outfit and wear shoes. We actually didn’t even get him a costume because he never would have worn it. So we put him in pajamas, but the fact that we put shoes on him drove him nuts. I put my daughter’s crown on her head, and it took me 5 full minutes to adjust it and get the bobby pins “just so”, and Loni walked by her and ripped it right off her head! So just getting out the door was challenging enough, let alone the trick-or-treating part.

When we finally did manage to make it out the door, my daughter was shockingly well-behaved. My 13 year old was a pain in the you-know-what! I swear I had to correct him and redirect him about 100 times more than my daughter. Loni only stayed with us for about 3 houses, and was complaining the whole time, so I told my hubby he could take him home. Hubby was very grateful! So while he headed home, I took my oldest and my daughter to several more houses. I think we must’ve walked 4 miles roundtrip! Good thing I burned off all the fat before I ate the candy, right? Ha-ha.

I had a great system going with my daughter that really worked. She’s very concrete in her thinking, so I explained to her that we had to follow the light (I had a flashlight with us), or we had to go home. So the whole time we walked, she was very well-behaved, and she followed the light. Me being me of course, I had to mess with her a little bit. I would take the light and suddenly shine it on the opposite side of the street, or point it so she had to turn around. But she followed that light like it was water in the desert! What a good girl she was!

The last house we went to actually had a really cool set-up. Not only was their house decked out with decorations, but instead of candy, they were giving out miniature sodas and juice boxes with Halloween themes. My son picked a “Jones” soda called “Berried Alive” (how cute!), and my daughter got a juice box. That was actually her favorite thing. Up until that point she wouldn’t let me help her carry her candy. Once she got the juice box, she was fine with me holding her bucket, and she held tight to the juice box saying “I got my Halloween juice box”! She held it the whole was home, and drank it as soon as we got there. Of course, she had a little bit of candy too.

My oldest was being a stinker, and kept giving his sister a hard time. Whether it was about the light, or who was going to ring people’s doorbells, or who would walk first, he just wouldn’t behave. I suppose that’s typical, but yet, incredibly annoying. I sometimes think he thrives on giving me a hard time. Oh well! That’s a teenager for you!

Then this morning, I was awakened at 6:15 by the sound of Loni barfing near my bed. That was fun. I got him into the bathroom, and he sat down to pee, instead of bending over to barf. After he started peeing, it started coming up, so he ended up throwing up between his legs into the toilet. He actually has always had a throwing up issue, from the time he was a baby. He gets the slightest cough, and it turns into that post-nasal thing, and he barfs at the drop of a hat. I had to tell his teacher that over and over again until she finally understood that he really wasn’t sick to his stomach. So, she stopped sending him home all the time, which was great. I guess he was OK for the rest of the day, but he made up for it this evening by barfing all over the couch and floors. He got his bath a little earlier tonight.

Sorry for the graphics for those of you that chose not to heed the warning.

Anyway, right now I am typing this as I sit at my son’s soccer practice, and I will post it once I am back home with my comfy little wireless network. I am actually going to go out onto the field here in a minute to watch him play. He has his first game this weekend, and even though he’s played for 5 years now, him being goalie always makes me nervous. I guess it’s kind of like being the quarterback’s mom. If something goes wrong, it’s your kid’s fault. I’m always worried that there will be some jerk for a parent in the crowd who’s going to say something that will tick me off.

Anyway, that’s all for now. No new updates on anything else (the appeal or the sister-in-law situation). Well, actually, I think there might be some new news there, but not that I feel like commenting on tonight.

Happy blogging, and Happy November everyone!

~Leslie