So little time, So much to write - of So little importance (rant involved - be warned)

OK, where to begin. Let's start off on the topic of juvenile delinquents. Is it the parent's fault? Lets look at the following events:

A couple of days ago Karl and I went to our local stop 'n rob convenient store. We got there just in time to miss seeing a bike get stolen. We were there but we weren't paying attention. I had picked up the mail as we were leaving our house and we were sitting on our car in front of the store when one of the clerks (we'll call him.... Greg - 'cuz that's his name) came and knocked on our window. He says, "Karl! Did you see that kid steal the other kid's bike?" NO. It happened right in front of us. *doh!* Anyway, it was decided that I would stay at the store and get the things we came for, Karl got a description of the kid and the bike and Karl drove the car to go find the stolen bike. We could see the boy crying who's bike had just gotten stolen. Karl didn't find the kid on the bike but he thought he did and almost jumped on the wrong guy. Shortly after Karl got back, the kids RETURNS TO THE STORE in an SUV and the clerk recognizes him. Apparently the kid didn't tell the people he was with that he had just stolen a bike and they just happened to stop by the store on their way out somewhere else. The police pulled into the parking lot just as the clerk is telling us that the kid who stole the bike (we'll call him Freddy - yup, that's his name - there's no protecting the criminals here!) is definitely in the SUV. Karl was about to go and talk to the people in the SUV when I motioned to him that the police were there. He went and told the cop where the suspect was. Apparently the cop knows Freddy all too well. He told us (after arresting Freddy) that he has arrested good 'ol Freddy many a time... as well as his mom. So Freddy confesses, the cop takes him (in the back of the patrol car) to go get the bike. By that time another officer is talking with us in the parking lot. (us being Karl, me, the victim, the victim's sister and now the victim's mom). The people that Freddy is with are his in-laws and of all things, they are copping attitudes TOWARDS US! - the victims and the people who are helping the victims. Puhleeze! We aren't going to be intimidated by a bunch of criminals ermm.... the people who originally denied that Freddy was in the SUV. Freddy is only about 12 or 13 years old... tops! I'm afraid he probably has a life-time of being a criminal. I feel bad for the dude - his mother is a crack-head and his in-laws (could be an older sibling's family?) are either criminals or at least don't care if he is doing anything wrong. But I felt really bad for the boy who's bike was stolen right in front of him. His mother said that his first bike was stolen right out of their garage and the garage door was closed! This new bike has been kept inside the house. This kid had only left his bike right outside the store doors for a moment when Freddy the Fredster took off on it. The owner took off after him and almost caught him! Greg kept telling us how fast that kid is. The clerks have given him permission to bring his bike inside the store from now on.

Another juvenile delinquent story:
This evening Karl and I went to KFC for dinner. As we were leaving we see 3 teenagers getting out of a car. They are wearing the "goth" garb, which is fine. They all have thick eyeliner - one which looks like tears. Fine. Their hair look funky. No problem. Piercings everywhere. Not a problem... it's their bodies, what do I care? But their language! "F" this, "F" that... more than every other word is "F" and they are talking very loud. I close my car door and notice that the back of on kid's shirt says, "I am the god of "F". HUH? I wonder where the mom is?! Oh wait... she is in the car, smoking her cigarette while waiting for the kids to get her some chicken. Ahh... well, if they are getting her some chicken then I guess it's ok for them to talk like that and wear a shirt with the "F" word spelled out in big bold letters. I was repulsed. As I said, I don't care if the kids wear the goth stuff, the chains, piercings, make up and wild hair. It's their business. But what I do care about is them polluting the air with their obscenities: both vocal and visual. I am trying to raise my children to love the Lord... not be the "god of "F". I was highly offended that someone would even use the word "God" and "F" in the same sentence much less print it on a t-shirt. Karl told me that there used to be laws against wearing stuff with vulgarities like that but not anymore. "Freedom of Speech". Well, I'm sure that's exactly what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote about freedom of speech. I can tell you one thing. If any of my kids were to bring home a t-shirt that said that, it would go directly into the fireplace. We'd have a huge fire even if it were 110° outside. If a friend of one of my kids wanted to enter my house (or my car) wearing something like that I would say no way. Go home and change your shirt... and by the way, change your attitude while you are at it. I would definitely not be taking the little ... kid.... to KFC and listen to him (or her, I couldn't tell which it was) talk like that either. There have been a few times that a friend has been visiting and I've heard an undesired word come out of his mouth. I have told said friend that he isn't allowed to talk that way at our house. If he says it again, he has to go home. One kid didn't think he had to obey MY rules at MY house and he was sent home and wasn't allowed to come back until he changed his attitude. He came back with a much better attitude and if I ever told him not to do something again, he obeyed right away. Recently Karl and I saw that same kid at a local store and he came up to us and was very happy to see us again. (we moved away from that neighborhood 9 years ago) He asked how everyone was doing and he still had the utmost respect for us. I was very happy to see that he seems to be a nice young man.

And the last item on the agenda would fall under the heading: "You might be a redneck if". At least this one is not anywhere near the stupid stuff I wrote about above. This one is family related. Fortunately most of my family doesn't read my garble so I think I'm safe in writing this... after all, it is my youngest brother that says our family puts the FUNK in "Dysfunktional". lol Anyway, my niece got married last month, June 21, in CA on the beach. We weren't able to attend the funeral wedding but my middle brother sent us some lovely pictures. Beautiful young bride and handsome groom. White sand, blue sky and ocean waves in the background. Cute ring bearer (niece's youngest brother), beautiful flower girls (sister's girls), nice wedding all around. My brother, the bride's father, sent me an email inviting us to the wedding. I wished we could have made it but Jessica is unable to travel and I just can't leave town with her not doing well. I sent an email to my brother telling him how much we wished we could make it and hoped he would understand why we couldn't. I didn't get a reply but I usually don't.... just one of those "man things" I guess. So today I get an announcement for my niece's wedding in the mail. Yes, the one who got married 3 weeks ago. I figured the announcement must have gotten delayed in the mail. Oh wait... there's a picture included. It's a picture OF THE WEDDING. Did I mention that on the announcement it says: couple is registered at Walmart. Is this a hint? hahahaha!!! Is it just me or is that a redneck thing to do? Karl and I had a good laugh over it. He said we should send them a picture of our wedding from 1985 and say that we are registered at Walmart too. ROFL... I bet my brother and SIL figured that since we weren't able to attend the wedding that we might like a picture of it and the announcement for a scrapbook but it was really funny the way it came across.

Hey, at least we got a laugh out of the whole thing.

[disclaimer: if you don't agree with anything I wrote then too bad. It's my blog and I'll write what I want to. haha! I have the power to delete unwanted remarks... mwuahahahaha!]

Our Government at it's finest

So the State of Arizona lost (misplaced, accidentally shredded, sold?) quite a few of their employee records. If that isn't bad enough, Karl received a notice that he had to provide proof that he is a US citizen by a certain date. huh? Karl was required to provide proof that he was a US citizen when he applied for this job 8 years ago. Karl's sergeant was also one of the employees who had to provide this documentation.

Karl asked his sergeant what would happen if he didn't provide that information? Would they deport him to DENMARK since that's where his ancestors came from? He is like 4th or 5th generation that was born in the US.

Are we still living in the dark ages?

I didn't know some people were still living in the dark ages. Look at what I found when I searched for a google support group for congenital heart defects:

The real cause of heart defects.

"Newsgroups: alt.support.heart-defects
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:33:50 -0500
Local: Thurs, Aug 17 2006 7:33 pm
Subject: The real cause of heart defects

The doctors want us to believe that heart defects are caused by some
sort of medical condition. They're wrong. They just tell us that
because they know they can get their greedy hands into out bank
accounts.

Heart defects are caused solely by demons. The heart is the symbol of
love, and it's proper functions are controlled by "God" or good
spirits, (whatever you believe in). A heart goes awry when an evil or
angry spirit invades it. People who do not share, do not spend their
life doing good, or who become too self centered are the ones whose
hearts are taken over by these evil demons. Once this demon enters
the heart, the damage begins. They start by blocking the flow of
blood, or damaging the hearts functions in other ways. This condition
worsens and eventually these demons take total control of the heart.
Soon, the persons body begins to deteriorate and fail. When the demon
takes complete control of the heart, the good spirits leave and the
demon is in control of this heart and the body it keeps alive.

There is no way that surgery does any good. The demons must be
removed by the heart owner. However, there are times it's too late.
The person no longer has control of their own body and the demons now
own the person. These people die. Those that still have some of the
good spirits are able to heal themselves. The surgeons do nothing, in
fact they often do more damage than good. Some people report feeling
better after heart surgery and this may be the case. However, the
better feelings are caused by the prayers these people receive from
friends and relatives during the surgical procedures, NOT by the
surgery itself.

The solution is preventative medicine. Be in control of your life,
live a life of love and these evil demons will not enter the body.
This is the only sure method to prevent heart defects.

Edwin"

I was tempted to email the writer and tell him he's an idiot but I figured... what's the point? I have better things to spend my time on than arguing with him. You know what they say, never argue with an idiot because those who are watching may not be able to tell the difference. lol.. I have no idea of this guy knows someone with heart problems or who he is. Is he even for real or just posted to a board to try and get people riled up? I don't see any responses to his post so if that was his intent, he failed. A friend of mine suggested that I blog about this so I decided I might as well.

I know there are many of us heart-parents who have had to deal with other people giving us poor advice about things they know nothing about. Some are trying to be helpful and others seem to be critical whether they intend to be or not. I have to tell you that in the 18+ years that I have been a heart-mom I have NEVER had anyone tell me that Jessica's heart defects were caused by demons. I have been told to "just have faith and not worry about it" far too many times by people who don't live with caring for a very sick child who cries out in pain, fear, loneliness... spent endless nights holding a child who struggles to breathe either because her body can't handle a fever so her breathing is compromised or her asthma is acting up or she has pneumonia for the umpteenth time.... held a child who is coughing up blood, is choking, gasping for air and crying out that she's not ready to die... sat by your child's hospital bed with her hooked up to all types of monitors, breathing machine and endless tubes and wires coming out of her everywhere and being told she is dying and to spend her last hours with her... then when she pulls through only to find out days later that she is blind and paralyzed. These are only some of the things I have lived through with my precious child that God entrusted to me. We had another rough night last night and a very emotional morning this morning. I swear, if anybody tells me to my face that her heart defects are caused by demons - today they will get a black eye! LOL!

I do, however, appreciate all of you who are supportive and lend a listening ear. What a blessing to me you all are!

Heart Specialist - oh really???

Heart Specialist


EDIT: This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Sony Electronics, Inc. because its content was used without permission

This commercial annoys me on so many levels. First of all, being born with half a heart is a very real and serious heart birth defect. I know several families who have children born with HLHS (hypoplastic left heart syndrome)through my online CHD (congenital heart defects) groups. If it's not bad enough that the commercial makes light of being born with "half a heart", the commercial continues with the doctor having been born with 2 hearts! Wow, how convenient. THEN... she does open-heart surgery on this guy - on the sidewalk, in the rain - the man wakes up in the ambulance to see a heart-shaped scar on his chest. Oh puhlease! Then he asks the doctor what she did with the other half of her extra heart and there's a little "orphan savant" boy with a heart shaped scar on his chest and he calls the man (who just had heart surgery) "papa'". If the man is his dad then he isn't an orphan afterall, right? Another thing, if the doctor gave the man 1/2 of her extra heart and then gave the other 1/2 to the boy... why doesn't she have a scar on her chest? How did she do the heart surgery on herself? Oh wait... maybe she kept the extra heart in her pocket just for emergencies just like this one.

My daughter has had 5 heart surgeries and I just checked... nope.. not one scar in the shape of a heart. Silly us taking her to the hospital for her heart surgeries when we could have just had a stranger perform it on the sidewalk, in the rain, without anesthesia or ventilation, etc. Can you imagine the money we could have saved not staying in PICU for weeks at a time?

I also noticed near the beginning of the commercial they clicked on "ending for women". Does Sony really think women are that dumb?

I welcome any thoughts and opinions. (but no spam)