Sara Strasser and the Blog of Secrets

Should We All Start Blogging Again?

2011-06-09T18:10:00.002-06:00

It has been awhile since my last blog post. Wini has been to the dentist twice since my last post. She didn't have any cavities either time, by the way. It kind of seems like most of the blogs died. I used to get on everyday and would have multiple blogs to read every time. I was constantly thinking "Oh this would be a good blog post" or "I should take a picture for the blog". Now I hardly ever check. I only read the blogs that people advertise on Facebook and put an easy to click link on for me. When someone says that they updated their blog and to "go check it out" without the link being there, I never check it out. I guess I am a lazy web surfer. Facebook definitely ruined blogs. Why post a long blog and upload pictures when you can put a quick one liner on Facebook. So much less commitment. Facebook even takes away from having to text or call anymore. There is no more need for emails, invitations, to ask someone what is going on in their lives because you can do everything from Facebook. It is genius! The problem is, I have become bored with Facebook. It has become a chore to me. I know it is just a simple click and then and quick scroll down to read everything but it has lost its luster. I only ever get friend requests from dirty old men, my emails have all become junk, mass emails, and the status updates don't really update. Quite a few just make me curious or feel like I am left out of the inside jokes. And now people use the shuffle status updater. The shuffle status updater is kind of like reading bumper stickers from Spencer's Gift Store. I have had some good times with Facebook but now I am ready for the next big trend. I don't know if it exists yet or if I am just not on the up and up. I also have no interest in Twitter. It makes me think of Ashton Kutcher so it kind of bugs. I am feeling kind of like I am ready to go old school while I wait for the new and improved "Facebook". Blogs are kind of old school, right? It feels old school having to take the time to think of something to say and type out. It requires a lot more thinking than Facebook does. But what fun is a blog if too many people have stopped blogging. I want to read other people's blogs and be entertained by your lives again. There are a few of my internet friends who never stopped blogging but they are becoming far and few. I need other people to get back into it, for my sake. Entertain me, please.

Oh, by the way, I also had a baby since the last time I blogged.

Wini At The Dentist

2010-03-23T12:04:00.005-06:00

Wini went to the dentist earlier this month and had six cavities. Her first time ever having cavities and she is four. Seems a little young to me but I put all the blame on Teddy since he does the majority of the raising of her. We set up the appointments to do two at a time and space them out for one set per week. The first set she did okay with the shot but cried through the rest of it. The second time she cried through the entire thing starting before we even got into the room. So the dentist recommended Nitrous Oxide. I have tried Nitrous Oxide before and it didn't do a thing for me but I decided to try it on her anyways and boy was it so worth it!

It was just like the movies. She was singing and dancing the whole time. Every now and again she would randomly throw her arms up and give "thumbs up" for no apparent reason. It was very weird. A few times I even teared up because it was so stinkin' cute.

Here she is with the Nitrous mask on. Her eyes are a little glazed over and she looks upset but she kept giving me "thumbs up" so she must have been good.

She had a cavity on top and a cavity on bottom. I had them do both because I just wanted to get it over with. So she was pretty numb on one side of her face.

There is her famous "thumbs up" which she has never done before in her life and hasn't done since. As you can clearly see, her smile is just a bit crooked.

Vote for me!

2009-09-02T13:42:00.002-06:00

Hello to all my loyal followers. The time has come when I need to call upon you. There is a very important contest going on right now. I am a VERY sore loser and I am losing. I need EVERYONE to go and vote. Since I can not tell you who to vote for, I am counting on you to pick up on my very obvious hint. Please visit the blog ajesplin.blogspot.com and vote for the cake that sets your heart on "fire". Thanks. Please help me win. Good day to you all.

P.S. "fire" was my hint.

My Favorite Thing About Amy

2009-05-15T16:18:00.002-06:00

Spring Break

2009-03-29T13:46:00.002-06:00

Morgan and I made a semi last minute decision to take a trip during spring break. We didn't have very much money to spend so we went to Oregon because it was close and would be a short trip. We got a hotel on Priceline.com for real cheap and it was supposed to be a decent hotel.

Day one:

We pretty much just drove that day. Not too much happened except for a blizzard in the Blue Mountain range that we got stuck in. We made it through though. We got to our hotel that evening and it was ghetto. It was scary and a little dirty. Granted, the entire city was scary and dirty (sorry to people who love Portland but seriously, lets be honesty) but our hotel was in the scary part of the scary town.

Day two:

We went to the Portland zoo. Even though our hotel was only 15 minutes away, we decided (and when I say 'we' I mean Morgan) it would be more fun to take the tram. The hotel drove us to the airport where we could load up on the train. We then spent an hour and 15 minutes on the train, making every stop including one right by our hotel, all the way to the zoo. It was fun for a little bit but after a half hour the kids started getting restless. The zoo was great fun. Wini is a huge monkey lover and could wait to go see the monkeys.

That was the first hour or so of our day. We have tons of pictures from that first hour but then someone stole our stroller when we went to the bathroom and after that my arms were too full of purse, cameras, 4 coats and holding Wini and Wolfe's hands the whole time that I didn't get anymore pictures from the rest of the day. After the zoo, we (I mean Morgan) thought we should cut our travel time down and get off the tram early. That would mean we would have to take a short bus ride back to our hotel. SSSSSCCCAAAARRRRRYYYYY. I had never rode a public bus before. I was so scared and grossed out that I had to squat over my bench so that my bum wouldn't touch the seat. I also made sure not to make any eye contact but without looking timid. I didn't want anyone to think I was an easy target. I was so happy to get off the bus. We (I mean I) decided after that, that we would just drive our car from now on and not take anymore public transportation. We ate dinner at a German restaurant that Morgan just LOVED and then spent the rest of the evening back at our hotel. All in all day two was a fun day. But it was nothing compared to day three.

To be continued...

I've Got Mine!!

2009-03-21T20:03:00.004-06:00

Do you have yours???

I am off to a friends house to watch Twilight.

I am assuming the rest of you are doing the same thing tonight.

Happy St. Twilight Is Out On DVD Today Day!

Contest Is Over. And The Winners Are......

2009-03-16T12:41:00.003-06:00

That's right, the contest is over. I got five comments and now it is over. The winners are:

1st Place Amanda

2nd Place Me (I told you I was competitive)

3rd Place Rana

4th Place Jenny

5th Place Katie

The rest of you get nothing. Shoulda played my game. Now I am changing the rules just a bit. You do not have to continue this contest to recieve your prize but you do have to blog about it (except Rana because she doesn't have a blog.). The prize is going to be soooo good.

The First Five

2009-03-15T13:35:00.004-06:00

I am competitive. I can't help it. I HATE to lose at anything. I don't even let my kids beat me when we are playing games. I get it from my mom (Sorry mom but it is true. I see it in your eyes that you hate to lose.). It can be a good thing and a bad thing. For example, it is bad when I annoy people with my competitivness but it is good when I beat someone and teach them a valuable lesson....don't mess with me. (J/K) Anyways, because of this personality trait, I have done some silly things. One of the things I have done recently is yesterday, when my friend did a blog contest. She said the first five people to leave a comment get a prize. I instantly felt that competitiveness running through my blood and left a comment as quick as possible. (I was first to comment, by the way) Now for the catch. To recieve my prize, I have to do the same contest on my blog. I copied and pasted the rules from her blog.

The first five...The first people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me.However there are some limitations.

1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It will be done this year. (might take a while)

4. You have no clue what it is going to be, poetry, shoes, bags or a little invention of my own. I may bake something and mail it you . Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind! Here is the catch, if you choose to do this. You must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog.

So those were the rules. I just realized as I read through them again that it has to be a homemade gift from me. Hmmmmm. That sucks. Well, I am not even sure if 5 people will even leave a comment for me now. I am not very creative. Why did I leave a comment??!! Now I have all this committment.

Whoops!

2009-03-14T15:33:00.005-06:00

I have mentioned in the past that Morgan got me a new puppy for Valentine's Day. Well, his little puppy hair was getting shaggy so I decided I would give him his first haircut. I am a cosmotologist (fancy word for hair cutter) and cutting this little guy's hair should be easy. Apparently it is trickier than I thought. He wouldn't just sit still and turn when I needed him to like I invisioned in my head that he would. Instead he kept trying to bite me the whole time. And even though a number 1 clipper guard may look cute on my boys, it doesn't look so good on a dog. Before I gave him his hair cut, he was a dark haired dog, now he is gray.

This is his before shot. This is the day we got him. He just had a fresh hair cut. Oh my gosh he is so cute. Notice Wolfe's extremely long and skinny legs.
Here he is after. I buzzed the top of his head really well but didn't get the neck very good. I was also using a cheap pair of clippers from Ross. I didn't want to use my human clippers on a dog.
I got the important area though, his bum. I was having to use baby wipes on him when he came inside after doing a big job because the hair was a little shaggy in that area.
I didn't know what to do about his tail, so I guess I am growing it out....like a poodle.
I didn't touch his beard or eyebrows so his face is still precious (thank goodness). A dog's eyebrows are sacred. Notice I didn't cut Teddy's hair. I did that on purpose. I am growing his hair out like Orlando Bloom's hair on The Lord of the Rings. Also his longer hair is cuter in a baseball cap (Teddy's not the dog's). Anyways his hair cut is ridiculous (the dog's not Teddy's) but I am going to keep trying to do it myself. It is cheaper.

Monthly Visitor

2009-03-12T17:06:00.003-06:00

I was late but I finally got my monthly visitor.....the flu (you sickos, like I'd blog about that). Ever since September, I get the flu every single month, without fail. It is torturous. I really really really need to get insurance so I can go see a doctor. I am sure it is something very serious. I know you are dying to know my symptoms are so I will spill. First, it starts with a headache. Not a migraine, just an annoying headache that won't go away no matter how much coke I drink or pills I take. Next comes the aches. Now at first, I am thinking I slept on the neck wrong but then as it turns out I just have the flu. After that is the nausea. I don't usually throw up (I did in Sept., and Dec.) but I certainly feel like I am going to. After the nausea is the fever with chills. 24 hours later, I am totally fine. And then no one else in the family catches it. Just me. Strange, strange indeed. Does anyone else get sick this often? I am enemic, does that have anything to do with it? Anyways, it has now been 24 hours and I feel all better. 100% better, in fact. I am trying to clean up yesterdays messes and feed my kids (they have to fend for themselves while I am sick.) Tonight, Morgan is going out with friends, I am feeling all better and I am going to have an awesome night of T.V. watching.

Amy's B-Day

2009-03-10T13:36:00.003-06:00

Today is my sister Amy's Birthday. Amy is my most favorite sister that lives in Idaho. She is also my only sister that lives in Idaho. It is so nice having her live nearby. She is very nice and generous and is always a good time. She is super friendly and can make conversation with any random stranger. It is a little dangerous actually. So here are some fun facts about Amy.

A lways reliable

M usical genius

Y MCA is where she works

She has short name. There is much more to her than that. Happy Birthday Amy.

Trick candles are so funny.

With The Times Now

2009-03-03T13:11:00.002-07:00

We got a new computer! And moniter! I don't which one I am more excited about! See all my exclamation points! That is how excited I am! Our old computer (and when I say old, I mean OLD) was running so slow that even though we have the super high speed internet, our computer made it run like a dial-up. I took literally 10 minutes just to open Itunes and to sync one song onto my ipod would be over a minute long. I tried a few weeks back to download a movie onto my ipod and and it was two hours to sync it. VERY ANNOYING. Anyways we decided to break down and buy a new computer before this one was completely dead. It is very shiny and pretty and has a nice red strip at the bottom. I also no longer have the gigantic moniter that was so dim I had to close the blinds and turn out the lights to see. Now I have one of those flat screen kind. It is very exciting. Sorry I can't show you any pictures of our new computer (cuz I know you are dying to see it) but I am too lazy to do that right now. Also, I would feel a little bad taking the computers picture when I haven't taken a single picture of my kids since Christmas. I got to do them first even though my computer would never talk back to me or smear poop all over the toilet seat, or make hugh messes everywhere it goes or want me to feed it at meal times. I am not saying I love my computer more than my kids, I am just saying......

And in other news, Morgan got me a puppy for Valentines day. It is sooo cute. He is a miniature schnauzer. We named him Otto. He has the schnauzer cut and is so funny. Morgan made up for the fact the he didn't really acknowledge me on Valentines Day and lectured me weeks prior about how he HATES the day by bringing him home that night. He pounces around the house and even Wolfe can't resist him. He tries to squeeze him to death. Seriously, I can't leave them alone unsupervised or else he will squeeze him to death. We still have that other dog but he is just not cute anymore compared to Otto. (J/K we still love Duke but he really isn't as cute as he used to be compared to Otto) So needless to say, Morgan has been getting away with things more now that he was the hero of Valentines Day.

And I should mention the fact the Morgan went back school in January. So far he is doing quite well. He is getting 100% on his tests (except for his music class which was the one he took for a supposedly easy A) and he is the jerk who is setting the curve in his classes. I am proud of him for doing so well. Hopefully time will fly by while he is in school.

My big annoucement though is that we are unpacking. We have lived in our house for close to 2 1/2 years now but I just really haven't felt like unpacking until now. I have found all sorts of treasures, things that I don't know how I have gone with out, like my grill cheese sandwich maker and my hand mixer and some nick nacks. I also started hanging up pictures. Hopefully those cock-eyed door to door salesmen will stop asking me if I am just moving in. It is so tacky to assume.

Ramona Quimby

2009-01-10T17:24:00.001-07:00

Morgan got me a Pedi-egg for Christmas and my heels were feeling good until they wore out the blade. Now they are sharp as a razor again.

It Was Magical!

2008-12-16T17:42:00.003-07:00

It really was, gize. For our Christmas present this year, my mother in law bought tickets for the entire family to ride the train up to the "North Pole" and see Santa Claus. It was super fun. As an extra little bit of magic, it ended up snowing that day just for us. That did make it a little colder than I could handle but the North Pole wouldnot have been the same without snow. The drive up took forever since our van has bald tires and no traction control but we made it. See, I told you we made it. Here we are in front of the wrong train but ours did look exactly the same. Morgan opted to not wear a coat.

We couldn't find Jesse for our earlier photo shoot and by the time he got back to the train, the other kids had scattered off. Here is Jesse in front of the same wrong train.

Wini wanted to go up to the top of the train just like on the movie "Polar Express" and was very rudely told no but the consession lady. Tractor Grandma was trying unsuccessfully to console her.

Here is most of the group. It looks like a few people's entire body didn't make it though but at least we got the concession lady in the very back.

Santa, obviously.
It was too cold for the kids to stand in line to see Santa so the adults stood in line while the kids waited on the train. The picture is actually after we saw Santa but it was a good example of how they waited on the train.

My father in law and his twin brother, Santa, as requested my Santa.

It was tons of fun and something I definitely want to do every year. Thanks Leon and Janie for such a fun day.

BFFs

2008-12-10T08:30:00.002-07:00

Growing up, my sister Jenny had a best friend that she was inseperable with. Awhile back she did a blog post to this special, special person and then yesterday I happened across a picture of them together. I figured out how to scan (finally) so now Jenny can have this picture forever.

Her and Big Mamma were so close! We miss you Big Mamma!

Happy World Aids Day, Everyone!!!!

2008-12-01T16:42:00.002-07:00

I am so excited that it is December! I started getting anxious and excited for Christmas back in July. Every year I say I am going to be more festive and I never do it but I think this year will be different. My kids are getting older and I am able to do more things with them without having to curl up in a ball and cry afterwards. It is also fun having a 12 year old for Christmas too (Jesse, my pcs kid is the 12 year old for those of you who didn't know). This year I am hoping to be able to ride the train upto the "North Pole" aka Horseshue Bend and see Santa Claus. I am also wanting to do fun things at home with the kids like gingerbread houses and watch Christmas movies together and maybe even go see a Christmas show with the kids. I am way excited. These are all the things I plan to do every year but when the time comes to actually go do it, it sounds to exhausting but this year will be different. Just wait and see.

I had a very fun Thanksgiving. It was my year to go to the in-laws. We took family pictures and ate a tasty meal. On my way home from the in-laws, my mom called and said she, my dad, Erin and Maddie were all going to see Twilight. Of course I wanted to go. I arrived at the theater late and thought it was a bit odd that my mom wasn't sitting next to my dad. The order went: Erin, Maddie, my mom, empty space for me, and then my dad. Hmmmmm wierd. Whatever. So the movie broke down during previews and took an hour to start up again. My mom and I decided to go to the bathroom while they were fixing it up. when we came back I offered her to sit next to dad. She acted kind of wierd and refused to sit by him but I just assumed that it was because she wanted to sit next to Maddie. When the movie started, I then realized how very wrong I was. The first time I saw the movie, when Edward makes his first appearance on the screen, I heard screaming girls. This time all I heard was my dad yelling, "Oh for crying out loud!". While it was just as funny, it was distracting. Instead of hearing giggling girls through the whole movie, I heard my dad's hysterical laughter. At times, I was laughing just as hard because laughter apparently is contagious. He kept asking why Edward was wearing lipstick and if he had autism. I see why my mom didn't want to sit next to him. Don't worry everyone, I still loved Edward and I love the movie. It was very memorable seeing it with him. In fact I even went to see it again two days later. I laughed again the third time because the acting is terrible but it doesn't matter because of Edward.

I had a great weekend with my sisters (Amy, Erin, Jenny, Katie) and the best part of it was that Morgan watched my kids for me all weekend long so I could go out stress free. The games are always fun. We played a few rounds of trivial pursuit. My team won once and the other team won once so it was pretty fair. I love it when that happens. It is so fun playing games with my family. They make me laugh pretty hard. Jenny had some pretty cool dance moves that she was doing while we listened to the Twilight soundtrack over and over and over and over. It was a good time. I hope everyone has a wonderful World Aids Day!!!! Wah waaaaaaah!!!

Twilight

2008-11-21T13:16:00.002-07:00

Last night I went to see Twilight at midnight because I just couldn't wait any longer.

Chapter One:
The Experience.

I was more excited to see this movie than I was for my own wedding day (no offense Morgan but you said the same thing about the Fiesta Bowl so now we are even). We arrived at the movie theater an hour and a half early and there was no where to sit. There were 11 in my group and we were supposed to meet another group as well. So they let us go into another theater that had room for us. The theater filled up pretty quick and soon there was estrogen everywhere. Lots of cameras flashing, screaming, and women (not girls) running up and down stairs goofing off. I was so excited. Here we are "flanking it". It took awhile to explain how to "flank it" but after awhile people were catching on.

Of course I wore my Forks, Washington sweatshirt. People were soooo jealous of me when I told them I bought my sweatshirt in Forks.

That is my ticket. I will keep my ticket stub forever. It was the best night EVER!

Chapter Two:
The Movie.

Mt heart was pounding as I waited to see Edward face appear on the screen. Once he arrived, it did not matter that Charlie's driveway was concrete even though we all know it was made of brick or that Billy Black and Jacob did not arrive to Forks on Bella's first day of school or that Bella wore a wrinkley tan skirt to the Cullen's house not jeans or the fact that Edwards bedroom was way too small and a king size bed with feather pillows could never fit in that. All that mattered was Edward. He was so hot with his white face and poofed up hair. His buggy eyes were calling to me and suddenly I was the only person in the movie theater.

What I LOVED about the movie:

Edwards hotness. Edward was so hot.

Bella. She was very pretty. Now I understand why Edward loved her. It was because he couldn't hear her whiney and annoying thoughts and we could in the book but in the movie, we couldn't hear her thoughts either and what do you know? I liked her.

Edward and Bella together. I think they had good chemistry and I enjoyed watching the lion fall in love with the lamb.

I liked that they changed it to have James and Victoria in the movie more. It made it more action-y and also helped build their characters for future movies.

I liked that they left the end open with Victoria for the next movie.

I thought the movie in general was fun to watch and I really liked it. I am in love with Edward all over again.

Now the bad news. I hate to say this because I love him so much and I want to blame everything on Bella but Edward was a little wierd with his eyes. He had crazy eyes. He also forgot to act like a human and blink. It was okay though because he is Edward and is hot. There was one scene that I lost it and couldn't stop laughing.

This is me re-enacting that scene. As you can see I am an excellent actress and Katie is not. The part when Edward was sucking James venom out of Bella was a bit hard to watch. Bella did an excellent job with her part. I believed she was in pain and I wanted Edward to make it go away but with a better expression on his face.

He is so hot.

This is me re-enacting Edwards buggy eyes and head movements. I really should be an actress, don't you think?

So hot!! I love him!! But now I feel depressed. I have that feeling again after I read the book for the first time. Why didn't I marry a vampire??!!! I love Morgan but he has to sleep, eat, shower, and blink....oh wait, I am glad Morgan has to blink. The only way that I got over the books before was to just keep reading them over an over until that feeling went away. Is that what I need to do to get over my movie depression because that could get expensive.

Anyone want to go see it again?

Human Nature

2008-10-27T23:28:00.002-06:00

I know ya'll are anxiously awaiting my post about Seattle but I have been muscling through a tough day of sealing the deal and sick kids. Do not worry, I will post the tomorrow. I did manage to squeeze in some time to download some Michael Jackson to my ipod. So so depressed to be home again.

Foto Friday

2008-10-17T13:54:00.002-06:00

This is a picture from when Tom, Katie, Morgan and I got mixed up in that gang. I am not proud. Don't worry, they all got returned to their rightful owners after we recieved our ransom except for the giant squirrel which still lives with Tom and Katie.

**No lawn ornaments were harmed in the taking of this picture.

Random pictures Morgan took this morning.

2008-10-12T15:25:00.001-06:00

Late Fav Photo set!

2008-10-10T20:06:00.001-06:00

This is a picture of Morgan and his friend Josh from when they were in high school. Why are they in that old beat up Ford Fiesta wearing goggles and helmets?

That's right they are just driving it into the canal at 45mph for the fun of it.

I think that Morgan is still in the car in this picture!

To Add To Markie's Post

2008-09-28T18:46:00.005-06:00

Even though I didn't read the book and didn't even know there was a character named Wanda until today, this is still what I pictured her to look like.

Don't forget to read my review below!

Smart Remarks Book Club: The Host

2008-09-28T17:35:00.003-06:00

The Healer's name was Fords Deep Waters. Because he was a soul, by nature he was all things good: compassionate, patient, honest, virtuous, and full of love. Anxiety was an unusual emotion for Fords Deep Waters. Irritation was even rarer. However, because Fords Deep Waters lived inside a human body, irritation was sometimes inescapable.Thus begins the highly anticipated first adult novel by Stephenie Meyer. The opening scene shows a man, occupation Healer, getting ready to implant a Soul into a human being. These souls are parasitic aliens that have spread across the galaxy. They are able to take hosts--different hosts--on each planet. Our narrator is a Soul named Wanderer. She's unusual, in a way, because she has been to many planets--I can't remember if it's seven or eight or nine--and lived that many lifetimes. The souls know no death, they just move onto a new host when their host's body dies. This is Wanderer's first time on Earth, her first time in a human host. Our secondary narrator is a woman named Melanie. And you've probably guessed by now that she is the host body to Wanderer.These aliens didn't take over the world overnight. They didn't announce their arrival at all. Their goal--if they had a goal--was to assimilate quietly and peacefully with humans. It wasn't until the humans noticed that something was off that there was any resistance, any battles, any blood shed. What was off? Humans were being too nice, too perfect, too Mayberry. From the Souls' perspective, they were doing humanity a huge favor. They were turning these rowdy and unpredictable and altogether too violent and volatile humans into peace-loving, happy-go-lucky people. Souls love everybody, accept everybody, trust everybody. Except for that one teeny tiny little detail that they won't take no for an answer. All humans must be implanted. As long as their are humans without Souls then there is the potential for blood shed and loss. To "protect" themselves--or so they claim--they must either assimilate or destroy those resisting pesky humans. Those Souls that are seeking to destroy and/or assimilate humans are called Seekers.Melanie's luck has run out. Or so she thinks. On the verge of being captured, she throws herself down an elevator shaft. She thinks that she'll avoid her fate by destroying her body. But Healers are really good at repairing the human body--another so called "benefit" to this alien domination.Wanderer and Melanie are soon to be linked together for life. Not that that is the plan. Souls are supposed to erase, eradicate, the consciousness, the personality of their hosts. But Wanderer finds that Melanie will not go down without a fight. She guards her life, her secrets, closely. She will not accept the finality of the situation.Life is about to turn very interesting for this two-in-one package as they journey together into the Arizona desert to find the meaning of it all. It's a story about humanity, about sentient life forms, about right and wrong, about justice, about love, about forgiveness, and grace, and redemption. It's a novel with a lot of heart and soul and gumption.This concept isn't completely original. They're not as overtly (openly) evil as the goa'uld (go-ah-OOLD) by any means. But the concept of a parasite invading through the neck and wrapping themselves around the spine and brain and 'controlling' the human and 'erasing' the host personality has been done before. So has the concept of a human host living side-by-side compatibly with a parasite--that's a Tok'ra for you. Tok'ras are the 'good guys' in the parasite world (supposedly though Jack still calls them snakeheads) who only enter voluntary hosts. Even the concept of love can be seen to be similar to that found in Stargate--the parasite and host body falling in love with their mate's parasite and host body. Four personalities, two bodies, love all around.It was hard not to think about goa'ulds and tok'ras while reading The Host. That could be because I tend to relate all things back to Stargate eventually if at all possible. It doesn't have to be oh-so-obvious. In this case, I think if you've seen Stargate at all, you can see the connection in some ways, but not in all ways.This story has plenty to make it special all on its own. I don't want to get into the particulars but the environment was very unusual but it worked. In some very teeny tiny way it reminded me of Dune. I don't know why. I've only seen the movie once. But there were scenes from that movie that came to mind when reading the book. Maybe it's the desert environment. (There are no giant worms however.) I don't know. At this point, it's irrelevant. (Maybe also slightly Journey to the Center of the Earth). She created a world that is so strange, so different from present day life, from reality. It's a world that it's easy to get swept up into in a way. The setting, the characters. It just worked. It was very rich in detail. I thought the depths of the back-story was just really well done. (The little details that Wanderer discloses in her storytelling and her question and answer sessions.)I can't say that I fell quite in love with it as much as I did Twilight upon first reading it. But it's good. The romance, the chemistry, isn't quite as intense, quite as magical as it is for Bella/Edward/Jacob. But it isn't a romance without some merit. I personally was more into Ian than Jared, but that's just me.First sentence of chapter one: I knew it would begin with the end, and the end would look like death to these eyes. I had been warned. Not these eyes. My eyes. Mine. This was me now. (9)So I definitely recommend it. Do you have to love science fiction? It might help. But if you're not a fan, don't let the genre turn you off. This is a story about what it means to be human. (In some ways it mirrors the themes of the novel Frankenstein--what it means to be human, to live, what it means to be a monster.) It's a human-interest story therefore. It explores the depths--the good, the bad, the ugly--of humanity in general. The fact that some humans have been possessed by aliens while others haven't is just a distinction that separates it from other novels you might have read through the years. But science fiction fans, I hope, will be pleased with it as well as newbies.I would have read it anyway--it's got Stephenie Meyer's name attached to it--but it comes with a blurb from Orson Scott Card himself. So you know it has to be good.And for those that are curious, I tend to like Wanda/Melanie much much more than Bella as far as personality goes. In Twilight, Bella didn't annoy me so much. But in some of the sequels, I found myself growing more and more irked at her. Definitely to a point where I understood where all the hate was coming from saying that she was too whiny and mindless (in a way). Not that I'll ever reach a point where I'll stop reading the series. Who could stop now? (I'm on Team Jacob by the way.)

Is it plagerism to copy a book review off a total stranger's blog??? The book was so boring I couldn't even bring myself to read this review.

****This review was written by Becky Laney and was used on this posting w/o her consent.

Fave Foto(s) Friday

2008-09-26T07:30:00.003-06:00

I was planning on a different picture for today and doing an entirely different post. As I went to download pictures off my camera, I found Wini's birthday pictures and saw pictures of these two beauties cruising around, having a good time.

For those you who don't know, my niece Violet is on the left and Wini is the driver. Those girls had so much.I love how big Violet's smile is on the bottom picture.

My Addiction

2008-09-24T21:14:00.002-06:00

It all started about four months ago. We had a major change in our family and a teenager came to live with us. She seemed like a very nice girl and loved little kids. She had no history of aggression and was never ever mean to my kids. In fact, my kids loved her and at times preferred her over me. But at night time when I was trying to sleep, all that kept running through my head was "I have a teenager living in my house that I just got out of jail." I know it was silly of me to be so paranoid but what can I say, my dad was a worry wort and it is in my DNA. So after tossing and turning I decided to get up and get the kids and bring them in my room. I laid Teddy and Wini on a mattress on my floor and put Wolfe in bed with me. Morgan was very annoyed at my paranoia and told me he would not put up with the kids sleeping in our room every night. The next night was the same thing though. This time I waited until Morgan was asleep, then I crept out of my room, grabbed the kids, and put them in their same positions. I always made sure that Wolfe was on the end at my flanks and me in the middle so that Morgan would never find out. Morgan was usually the last one to wake up in the mornings so the kids would be out of our room and usually the evidence would be gone. I made sure that me and Wolfe snuggled up together really tight so Morgan wouldn't feel crowded. Time went on and as I got to know this teenager, I really did feel like she loved my kids but then she started to hang out with hoodlums and giving them my phone number and address. Now I was paranoid about who might be sneaking over to our house at night. So the kids still had to be brought into my room at night. Again, time went by and eventually this particular teenager ended up getting arrested and leaving our house for good. So now all my paranoid fears are gone...but I still can't sleep. There was way too much room in my bed and I needed to hear the sucking of a binki and I missed the creepy sleep talking that went on at night time. So as soon as Morgan was a sleep, I went and got the kids and brought them into my room and fell fast asleep.

Hello, my name is Sara and I am addicted to kids sleeping in my room.

I know it is not my fault. It is a disease. There is family history of paranoia and children sleeping with their parents for prolonged periods at a time. I try every night to not bring them in. I look myself in the mirror before bed and tell myself, 'I am strong and I don't need them to sleep.' But I can't do it. I need them.

I Am So Lazy!

2008-09-23T23:24:00.000-06:00

My friend was over at my house today creating a blog and forgot to log out. I of course took the opportunity to post something on her blog (and apparently left some comments on other peoples blogs under her name. Sorry). But now I still have to post something on my blog. Oh No I Don't!! I can just copy and paste it right onto my blog. I am so smart. Alls I need to do is just add the word "flank" in a few times and change the spelling of "guys" to gize and I have got a post!

The picture you are all enjoying is me flanking my three kids. I had a forth at the time but she is not pictured and no longer lives with us (flank goodness <--J.K.). So this day started out as many of our days with the Neustaedters do, flanking at the Horse Troph, a.k.a. Golden Corral. Neustaedters like to eat at this place because all their kids eat for free and Strassers (me) like this place because of the all-you-can-eat-do-it-yourself-ice cream dispenser. Well, as soon as we are all un-satisfied but our tummies were full we left. Usually after our shmorgashborgs, we will go over to a park near someones house. So I decided not to use the germ infested public restroom and just wait until we get to one of our houses to go to the bathroom. As usual we load up our kids and then since we are too lazy to walk from one handicap parking space to the next to decided where to go now, we just drive away and call each other on the cell phones. As we are discussing where to go, Steve makes a wonderful <--being sarcastic, suggestion that we go to Jump Creek. Well of course Katie and I don't want to take 9 little kids and a teenager with a bad attitude to Jump Creek but Morgan took Steve's side and since he was driving and in the lead, that is where we went. I told Morgan I needed to go pee but he assured me that they had REAL bathrooms up there. I didn't recall there being plumbing in the middle of nowhere but if any of you know Morgan, he is always right. So I just continue to "hold it" with a very stuffed tummy for the thirty minute drive to Jump Creek. And to make matters worse, I had no cell phone coverage so I was unable to ignore Morgan the whole time while I talked to Katie. We finally get there and I can see the restroom. I quickly dash over and get inside and IT WAS A PORT-A-POTTY!!! Oh no he didn't!! Okay well I really had to pee so I tried to psych myself up for it but as I peered into the deep dark toilet, all I could imagine we a giant snake in the flanking position living down there, waiting for an unsuspecting girl to place her bare bum on the toilet seat. Snakes are such perverts. Anyways, I just couldn't do it. So I leave the bathroom and tell Morgan I need to leave but he says, "Oh stop being a baby and just take a cup, pee in it, and then dump that in the toilet." Genius! It was quite easy to find a cup since my entire car was filled with McDonalds happy meal cups. I grabbed my cup, ran to the bathroom, and started to relieve the pressure off my bladder. UH-OH! This cup isn't very big. I also didn't "prepare" my self well enough to be able to tell when I was getting close to the top of the cup. Not a big deal. I will just stop right now, empty the cup, and then finish. Well, unfortunately, I was already at the very tip top. As I VERY carefully tried to move the cup away from my clothes while still having a half full bladder, I ended up spilling most of it on my pants. Crap! Now what? Oh I tried to play it off like it was no big deal. "Oh that, it is just a little pee I spilled all over my pants. It happens." Steve took the opportunity to make fun of me as much as possible (<--hissing at Steve) but I don't think any of the 9 kids thought it was a big deal cuz "Peeing your pants is the coolest." Well, at least it was just my family and the Neustaedters who saw. Except as we hiked to the waterfall we actually saw quite a few people. I tried to make loud comments about how stupid I feel for falling into some pee smelling water so that when the strangers were wondering if I fell into some pee smelling water or if I peed my pants, they would think I just fell. I am not sure if they bought it but I like to think they did. We finally made it to a very crowded waterfall and I quickly sat down on a rock and crossed my legs for the remainder of the time, acting as though I was tired and "I will make the sacrifice of sitting here taking pictures of you gize". Once my pants were dry and I now smelled like stale urine, we pack up the kids and left. I was quite anxious to get home and take a shower. After wearing pee pants for several hours, the shower never felt better. So now I have TONS of pictures to remind me of the day that I basicly peed my pants. The moral of the story, Don't use port-a-potties. Perverted snakes live in them and they will bite your bum if you sit on one.
If you would like to read the exact same blog, feel free to visit Katie's blog. I did find a few more error in this one that I was able to fix. It may be fun for you to read both and find the errors I corrected. Maybe I will give a prize to the person who finds the most!!

A Blogger's Work Is Never Done

2008-09-22T15:39:00.000-06:00

I think what I hate most about blogging is that as soon as I finally get around to blogging about something, it is old news and everyone else keeps posting new blogs daily. A blog a week is really really good for me but even with my 1 blog/week I am still always near the bottom of everyone's blogger's list (thanks mom for keeping me from being at the very bottom. Your sacrifices are never ending.). Most people will blog about whatever happens during their day and it is not usually exciting but I am always very entertained reading it. So I will try to blog about my day and I am sure you will all be very entertained.

Today Morgan and I took Teddy and Wini geocaching. (For those of you who don't know what geocaching is, it is when someone hides a little box of treasures* using gps coordinates and posts it on the internet. Then you can go find the "treasure box", take something out of it and then leave something behind for the next person) I absolutely HATE geocaching but Morgan, Teddy and Wini love it. Teddy and Wini think they are searching for treasures that pirates left behind and Morgan likes to collect the traveling coins that are in some of them. Ususally when we go it involves four wheeling-which I HATE, hiking-which I HATE, and then we only find the geocache maybe half the time. Today was another flanktastic adventure. Morgan first tricked me into going by telling me he had to go into Boise to pick up his pay check. He invited me to go along and since I only had about 10 loads of laundry, 3 messy bathrooms, floors that needed to mopped and vaccumed, toys that needed to be picked and 5 beds that needed to be made, I decided I could take the day off and go along for the ride. As soon as we pulled out of the drive way, he pulled the geocaches that he had sneakily printed off. I told him I didn't want to do it but since Teddy and Wini already heard him, I was out numbered. The first cache was out in the country. Morgan and I had our usual fight about how he loves the georgous scenery with it's dried out weeds and broken down cars and hopefully someday we can live there and me having to disagree. We finally got to the first cache and it is rocky and on the edge of a very scary cliff. Morgan is wandering around looking for it while I am trying to keep both kids at my flank and stumbling around the rocks in my very unstable and unsupportive sandals. We finally found the treasure and Teddy got a dirty old broken compass, and Wini got a tiny dirty plastic frog. Now on to our next destination. This one was in the same general area but instead of walking around a rocky cliff, you had to actually climb up the cliffs, holding tightly to the rocks. Morgan says, "Oh you and the kids can just wait here in the car and I will go up, find the box, and bring it back down to you gize." Of course I agreed, I was going to climb the rocks with my kids at my flank, just to get a plastic toy. So the kids and I sat in the car. And we sat. And we sat. Thirty minutes later, Morgan shows back up with no box. Typical but at least I didn't have to hike around looking for it. I just had to sit in a hot car with two very bored kids who nothing to play with except a dirty old broken compass and a tiny dirty plastic frog. After that adventure, we had to head home to get kids off of buses. The whole adventure was flankishly annoying and hopefully it will be at least another week before I am tricked into it again. But at least we got a dirty old broken compass and a tiny dirty plastic frog out of the deal.

*Pieces of crap and old toys people found while cleaning out their cars.

Photogenic

2008-09-18T08:27:00.000-06:00

My sister, Amy left this comment about how un-photogenic she is. I think she is way off. Every photo of her is perfection. As I was looking through Wini's birthday pictures on my mother-in-laws facebook, I found yet another picture-perfect-picture of Amy.

See! Georgous!

Wini Penny

2008-09-12T09:37:00.000-06:00

Today is Winifred's birthday!!!!! She is 3 years old. I love her and am so glad I had her. She is super funny and way smart. She has lots of creative ideas. She is a chunky little girl and so much fun to squeeze and squoosh. Wini and Teddy are best friends and play so well together. Wini is the kind of kid that can sit and play with toys for hours by herself. She is pretty well behaved and I am so pround of her. I love her sweet little voice and all her speech impediments. Here are some recent pictures of her: Wini and her BFF, Teddy.
My little rag-a-muffin at Jump Creek.
Three years ago I had my baby girl. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I instantly loved her. Morgan was quite annoyed that I was pregnant and even more annoyed when we found out it was a girl (he wanted only boys so we could form a football team. Seriously.) The second I had her though he was in love. She has been the apple in his eye ever since and he spoils her. Here she is 3 years ago:

The first time I "held" her. One arm was still tied up and I was still being sewn back together.
Morgan being happy even though it was a girl.
Her first bath.

I am looking HOT!
Her nose was so cute and big.

The beginning of their friendship.

Just had to throw this one in of Wolfe because it makes me laugh.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WINI!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

My New, Old Computer

2008-09-10T15:40:00.000-06:00

Well, our computer (lap top actually) finally gave out a few weeks ago. We had stopped using our desk top computer a few years ago because we discovered that with a lap top we could just "barrow" our neighbors internet FOR FREE! Anyways it finally gave out so we broke down and bought internet again and our using our old computer. It is very nice. The screen is gigantic. The only parts that really suck is 1) My itunes account is on the other computer and I didn't back it up and 2) Sims is WAY slower on this computer. The good part about it is all the old pictures I found of kids from a couple years ago. They changed a lot. Here are just a few for you. Teddy probably around 18 months.
Teddy almost looks fat there and Wolfe looks exactly the same except shorter.
Our poor dog. Wolfe still treats him like that but now that he is bigger, the dog is actually getting hurt. Duke loves Wolfe though and never runs from him or growls or snaps.

I wish I could show side by side pictures of how much they changed but all my recent pictures are on the other computer. Oh well. More pictures to come!!!! Stay tuned!!

Bring It On, Mark!!

2008-09-03T17:40:00.000-06:00

Top of the List

2008-09-03T15:11:00.000-06:00

I just realized today that if I post more blogs then I will be at the top of Katie's list. That is motavation. Katie, are you there??

Smart Remarks-----Breaking Dawn

2008-08-26T11:19:00.000-06:00

******WARNING!!!! IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THIS BOOK, DO NOT READ THIS POST!!!!!***********

Well, I finished reading the book a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the book club to give my review. When I read Twilight, I was instantly in love with Edward. I couldn't eat or sleep and was very dissappointed that Morgan was not a vampire. I quickly read New Moon and Eclipse and when it was all over with I was so depressed. The only way to get over the depression and to start all over and re-read them. After 10 days I had read all three books, four times each and the depression was over. I was starting to feel okay about the fact that I was married to Morgan and he has to sleep at night and can't hear thoughts and doesn't have super strength...and then Breaking Dawn came out.

I was feeling hesitant to read it because I didn't want those feelings to come back. Fortunately this book wasn't as good as the others and when it was over I was okay with it. What I liked about the book:

I liked that Bella and Edward got married right away and that it wasn't all dragged out. I liked that she had a baby and became a vampire and I liked that the Volturi came and ruined everything. I also liked how it ended and I liked Bella's powers. I liked that Jacob finally got over Bella so that she wasn't constantly leading him on. And of course, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this guy:

What I didn't like about the book:

The entire book of Jacob.

I didn't like all the boring filler stuff. I felt like it went on and on sometimes. I didn't like that Jacob imprinted on Reneesme and speaking of Reneesme, I hated that name. Way groovy!!! I was also getting a little annoyed by Bella and Edward's love for each other. Yes yes we all know that you are in love. I was slightly annoyed by the fact that she was willing to sign her 3 month old baby over to a 17 year old teenager who had a crush on her because she couldn't live without Edward. She needs to take care of her responsiblities and live to raise her baby. I was also annoyed that she was only giving Jacob enough money to get by for a year!! He is raising your baby!! He is needing child support for the next 18 years.

Anyways, I enjoyed the book but out of the four, it was my least favorite. On a side note, I have been writing this post for 3 days now so if it sounds a little choppy, that is why.

Can't Sleep

2008-07-23T05:28:00.000-06:00

Well, it is 5:30 in the morning and I can not sleep. Since nothing good was on t.v. I decided to come downstairs are check out blogs. Everyone is doing a great job updating so I decided to go ahead and update mine. I know everyone has axiously been awaiting this.

Wolfe's therapy ended. He was in IBI (Intensive Behavioral Intervention) for the past 3 years and since the state will only pay for three years of private therapy it ended. Unfortunately, that meant we had to lose our therapist who we loved. The first two hears of therapy were wasted on very very VERY crappy therapist until we got Chris. The last year he got Wolfe to be able to understand and to start communicating. He is also starting to learn how to spell and because of this his behaviors are much better. We are sad to lose him. I think I am the most sad. Wolfe likes his new therapist but I am still having a hard time adjusting and miss Chris so much. We had him over for dinner a few weeks ago and we will have him over again. His new therapist (Alora) is nice. She has been doing developmental therapy for awhile and I hope together we can get Wolfe talking more independantly. The other night I was watching Judge Judy and Wolfe came out of his room and got right in my face and started saying, "Backa!" I was just like, "Yeah yeah, backa, go back to bed." He was persistent and kept saying "backa". I was starting to lose patience and so I said, "Wolfe! What do you want?!" I was totally shocked when he said (and signed),"I...want...BACKA!!!" As he yelled Backa he did the bubble sign. I figured out pretty quickly that he wanted popcorn. I was so impressed that I turned the t.v. off and spent the next little while working with him to talk more. I can ask him if he is happy or sad and he can answer. It is very fun.

Teddy and Wini have been having a very good summer. They are bestest friends and play so cute together. A couple nights ago (everything happens at night around here) Teddy was running down the stair and ran into Wini. He was screaming and there was blood everywhere. It took awhile to calm him down and figure out what was bleeding (it was the inside of his lip that his tooth cut up). The whole family was gathered around him giving him sympathy and asking if he was okay. Once the bleeding stopped and everyone was calmed down, I noticed that Wini was giving me the dirtiest look. I looked at her forehead which had a big goose egg and I vaguely remember her crying in the background during the commotion but since she had no blood, she got no love. She was pretty mad about it. I took Teddy to the doctor the next day to have his lip looked at and as soon as the doctor walked in the room Wini said,"It's okay, my head feels all better." If you knew how much attention she normally gets, it is funnier. Teddy's lip was fine by the way. His mouth just looks like the joker and it will take a week or two to heal.

Our PCS kid is doing well. She is very dramatic but I guess that is a 16 year old for you. She has been grounded for the past 6 weeks and gets ungrounded in less than a week. I am dreading it because I much prefer her at home where I can keep an eye on her. I don't think she thought I would seriously be able to stick it out this long but it was surprisingly easy to follow through. I don't think this will be the last time she gets grounded but maybe she will be able to stay ungrounded for a little while at least.
A month ago we took a second PCS child. She had a history of aggression due to her disability so we only would take her on a trial basis. We agreed to one month. We got her June 29th and so far everything was going well. She was very helpful and loved the kids. She was only 12 but she was big. Last night things went bad with her and I had to have her removed from the house. I don't think I am aloud to go into detail so all I will say is I am fine, she is fine and none of the kids even saw what happened. Morgan and I have decided to not let her come back which is disappointing because we really liked her and I am sad about what is going to happen to her. That is the reason why I can not sleep. I have to go to court in four hours for her and I have to tell her mom that I can not take her back. Her mom is a wonderful lady and I really hope she can find a home for her daughter. She deserves to be raised with a family. I now have an opening for a child but right now I feel sad about the one I could not help so I think I will wait awhile before I accept another. There are so many children out there that need a home. No child deserves to be raised in a group home or hospital because of a disability. If anyone is interested in becoming a PCS provider feel free to contact me to get info. There is a huge need for it.
Well, Morgan and I decided to start going back to church when we got PCS kid #1. It had been a few years since we had gone regularly. No particular reason for not going except just being lazy. Anyways, our second Sunday back, they pulled us out of sunday school and asked us to be primary teachers. I thought it was a little premature of them but we accepted and now I have to go to church. The kids all love it and I am glad we are going again but I sure do wish I could go to church and get a break from kids. I am really looking forward to school starting again and having a routine. Summers in Idaho are frustrationg because it doesn't get dark until after 10:00. When I was younger I LOVED it but now that I have little kids, it is annoying. So we all stay up too late and wake up late. School keeps us in a regular routine and I am missing that.

To Jenny, Happy 31st Birthday! Love Sara

2008-06-14T16:34:00.000-06:00

Thursday (the 12th) was Jenny's birthday. I meant to post something earlier and have not had any time to do it. Fortunately no one else has gotten their post up either. Jenny and I were bestest friends growing up. We always hung out together and since she liked to be in charge and I just liked to follow, we got along quite nicely. She is very creative (if you don't believe me, then go look at her post) and can always get stuff done. She is a great mom, student, homemaker and she is very good with a microwave. We always had so much fun growing up. We were never bored. When I got married, my mom gave me 3 books that were filled with all my school work, my church stuff, my essays from when I got in trouble and other odds and ends. My favorite thing in the book is the contract Jenny wrote up and had me sign. It pretty much sums up our relationship growing up. Here it is, unedited:

I, Sara, promise never to break the morning rules whitch are the following: 1 must be totaly ready for school before finishing unfinished homework 2 be dressed before going to breakfast inless it's an emergely or if we both agree not to be dressed 3 we can't leave until the room is clean 4 hair must be done after we are dressed 5 put pigamages in laundry when your done - or you'll have to make the bed by yourself 6 no playing Netendo. and if I follow these rules Jenny won't boss me around, but if I do break these rules Jenny may boss me around me around about breaking the rules. But if Jenny bosses me around about something else, I can break one of the rules.

My favorite things about this contract are:

1. I never did homework so it was not neccessary to include the part about unfinished homework before getting ready for school.

2. Our room was always a big mess and I wore my p.j.'s to school.

3. The fact that Jenny can't spell.

4. I was 12 and she was 15 when we wrote this contract.

Anyways, Happy Birthday! I love you!! Below is a little tribute with all the pictures that I have of you. I hope you enjoy it.

Sorry, this is the only picture I have of you on my computer.

The Gradute

2008-05-26T14:29:00.000-06:00

A year ago, Teddy had qualified to go to developmental preschool. He was a little behind on his speech but he mainly he qualified because he was so shy during the testing that he wouldn't say anything. After a very long year of him not wanting to wake up, being too cold after his bath to get himself dressed, and not eating his breakfast quick enough because of that drop of milk staring at him from the table, he finally graduated. I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to summer time and not having to watch for buses for an hour and a half everyday. Wolfe still has another week left of school and then I am sleeping in for 3 months. Since many of you wanted to be at the ceremony so badly, I decided to post some pictures.
This is him lining up before walking down the aisle.
He is so nervous. He was trying to concentrate on not tripping.
That kid next to him was FUUUUUUUUUUNNY! He was very enthusiastic.
This is him getting his "diploma".

The after party.

This is his teacher, Miss "Mickey". Her name is really Vickey but Teddy can't say it right and since I thought Miss Mickey was cuter, I never corrected it.

He had a great year and is so much easier to understand. He is basically all caught up but still has to do 40 per week in resource room when he goes to Kindergarten but I think it is only for a few months. He is very cute and funny. We like him alot.

It's A Girl!!!!!!!

2008-05-23T16:13:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned earlier, we got a call for a PSC child. We went down today and met her. She was super sweet and very smiley. We talked with her and her mother for awhile and after we came home and discussed it, we decided to accept her. She will be coming and living with us as early as tomorrow or as late as Tuesday. We are very excited to have her come.

What You've All Been Waiting For...

2008-05-22T16:51:00.001-06:00

An update!
I finally got PCS certified. I got my medicaid provider number last week but then we had no idea what to do. Everyone we called gave contradictory information and I had no idea how to get a kid. Some people said it was so easy to one and others said it is very hard. I also found out that for some reason, they have had a lot of people wanting to be providers. It is frustrating after 11 months of trying to become a provider to find out that no one really knows what is going on. Today, though, as I was lazying around on the couch, watching Judge Judy, I got my first call. I was so excited talking with the lady that my voice was very high pitched the whole time and it took everything I had to not just accept the child without meet her or asking Morgan first. Anyways, we are calling her back tonight at 7:00 and if she hasn't found anyone else yet, then we will meet tomorrow. I am not allowed to give out personal information but she is a teenager and I think it will work out having her live with us.

Two weeks ago my friend had a baby. I got to go in the delivery room and watch her have it. It was very slimy and not nearly as sanitary as a c-section. I was impressed with how quickly she was up afterwards and she got to instantly hold her baby for a long time (I can't hold my babies until recovery). I think I still prefer c-sections because it was gross (sorry Katie) and I like my nice long vacation in the hospital. He was a very cute baby, 7lbs 3oz. She named him Fintin. Now when we go to the movies I have a sweet little baby to hold the whole time.
Isn't he cute. He should keep my desire to get pregnant down for a little while.

As I mentioned earlier, Wolfe is in baseball. It is more for Morgan and me then for him. He gets really bored.

He is so cute in his baseball cap, missing his front tooth.
Here he is about to bat.
I love this picture. He is alittle slow and needs Morgan to help him swing to actually hit the ball but we still let him try a few times by himself before we interveen.
Outfield is pretty boring so he just beats up on us the whole time. I don't know this lady in the picture, she just got in my way.
I know it looks like Morgan is handing him his bat but really Wolfe was trying to hit Morgan and he just caught the bat. It made a good picture though. It is fun to go and cheer him on. We have had a lot of supporters (mom, dad, Bailey Grandma, Amy, Steve and Katie) so Wolfe always has the biggest group cheering him on. Thanks guys for coming.

Wini has been wanting to potty train. She doesn't get how to do it but she loves to sit on the potty and sing songs. I am not very good about staying on her to go potty so nothing much has come of it. With Teddy, I just waited until he was old enough to get me saying "stop peeing your diaper". She is so funny. I love having a two year that can talking. They are so wierd.

Isn't her black eye precious.

Teddy's birthday was on the 9th. He turned 5 and was so excited about it. He had a very Iron Man-y birthday. He got lots of Iron Man stuff, costumes, action figures, cars. He was a great time. Amy and her family came, Jennifer and her family came, Grandparents and aunts and uncles were there too. It was a great time. I love him tons. He is too funny.

Happy Birthday Teddy!!!

Rude Rude Rude Rude Rude

2008-05-03T23:28:00.000-06:00

I would just like to say that my blog is not slow...my life is. Not too much has been happening. As far as I go, nothing has changed. I am still waiting to get my kid. I did get my foster license and finished all my courses to be a child care provider. I turned everything in about 2 weeks ago but when I called on Thursday to see how thing were going, they still hadn't turned in my paperwork and needed me to sign a few more things and get more paperwork. So I took care of all that on Thursday and my paperwork got sent out the same day. I am a little nervous because the lady doing it was brand new and my application is the first one she has ever done. That is my typical luck. I have been working on it for 10 months now and I feel like it is never going to happen.
Morgan is doing good for anyone who cares. Real estate is picking up a bit but I still want him to get a job. The main reason for me wanting him to get a job is so I can get pregnant and have insurance (and also so we can pay bills). He likes selling real estate but we both hate how inconsistance the pay checks are.
Wolfe has had a very exciting last couple of weeks. He lost two teeth (one being his front tooth) and he looks precious with it gone. He is funny when we pull them out. He is flipping out until we finally get it and then he is totally calm, spacing off like nothing ever happened. He mood changes so instantly. He is also playing baseball this year. He started a couple weeks ago. It is challenger baseball so it is only disabled kids. It is more for mine and Morgan's enjoyment than his. He gets really bored because every kids gets to swing until they hit the ball and every kid gets to run through all the bases. Plus baseball is just a boring sport. It takes a long time to get through all the kids. It is fun to go to his games and help out. Grandma Bailey is here right now and she came to his game today.
Teddy is very obsessed with Iron Man. He draws iron man on everything and talks about him nonstop. He is turning 5 next week and he is very excited about that. He thinks his face is going to changed and he will look like Wolfe. He is nervous about hair growing on his face when he turns five though. He thinks if he puts baby powder on his face it will make it so no hair grows out of it. Maybe it will work, I don't know. He is quite funny. He is very excited about having another Grandma (Bailey Grandma, as he calls her). He calls my mother in law "Tracker Grandma" and my grandma "Bailey Grandma" and then calls my mom "Other Grandma". My mom isn't too happy with her title. We are trying to teach him to call her Candy Grandma or Movie Grandma.
Wini is a holy terror. I thought having a girl would be so easy. I imagined her just wanting to sit at the table and color in a coloring book but no. She is a boy trapped in a girl body. She is so dirty and wild. She much prefers dinosaurs and cars to baby dolls. When ever she does play with her barbies, she just makes her dinosaurs eat them. And the emotional break downs. Holy crap! She has an emotional break down every day at 1:00 p.m. and again at 5:00 p.m. She is super pretty though and when she is being a good girl it more than makes up for the naughtiness. I love summers because she looks so good in shorts. She too is obsessed with "Ailey Grandma". She saw a lady in the store with white curly hair and started screaming because she wanted her grandma.
So that is what has been going on with us. Do you see why I haven't been posting anything??!! Is this post everything you have been hoping for??

Time For A Change

2008-04-05T23:53:00.000-06:00

Some of you may be a little confused. I am sure you are thinking something is different about my blog. Well, I won't keep you in suspense, I changed my template. I went ahead and just used one of the generic blogger templates but since I just had the plain black before it is quite the change. As you may be able to tell, I have sacraficed a Saturday night to go through the different template options and try out different ones. It is a very important job that requires the entire evening. If you happen to pop by earlier in the night you may have been lucky enough to see one of my choices. It is almost bedtime and I must go take care of other important tasks that need to be completed before the end of the night. I am behind by 2 episodes of Judge Judy and need to be all caught up by Monday at 3:00 p.m. I hate to procrastinate so I really have to go.

Our Last Home Inspection

2008-04-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

We just finished our last home inspection and we are all finished for the year. We have to get rechecked every year and do an extra 10 hours a year of continuing education but we are done for now. On Monday we will be licensed for foster care and in a week and a half I will be licensed for PCS. FINALLY!

Morgan is packing up right now to go camping with a friend. It is a little nice every now and again to have the house to myself for a day. The kids and I are going to go rent a movie (Enchanted) and get some cookies and have a fun night. They will all sleep in my room tonight because I get scared at night by myself and I need to blame every noise I hear on one of my kids. Other than sleeping I am looking forward to fun with the kids. Last time Morgan went camping I got the crazy idea to go roller skating. I won't be making the same mistake again and will be spending as much time as possible safely in my house.

Update

2008-03-30T20:21:00.000-06:00

Well my homestudy went just fine. She wasn't at all interested in how clean my closets were, how organized all my toys were, and she didn't even acknowledge my sparkling base boards. She just visited with us for awhile and then spent about 5 minutes going through our house. Everything was good with the house except she wanted 2 out of the 3 window wells to have better covers on them. I basically stressed out for nothing as usual. I will hopefully be licensed this next week and then on the 12th I have one more course to take on medications and then I can turn in my application to medicaid. I have been working in this for nine months so it is hard to believe that I am almost done. Just 2 more weeks as long as everything goes well.

I was trying to do a new template for my blog and ended up erasing all my links to everyones blog and in the end, I have the same template I had when I started. I got really annoyed and haven't been blogging ever since (it happened 4 days ago but I usually check blogs 2-3 times per day). So I now have to go find everyones blog names again and put links to them all. Very annoying.

Well, that is all for now.

YIKES!

2008-03-26T00:29:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow (technically today, actually) I have my first home study. Someone from Health and Welfare is coming over to my house to interview my family and me and to inspect my house. I was very motivated a few weeks ago to get things done and be prepared but as time went on and I was overlooked I sort of lost my interest to keep up on my house keeping. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am not the tidiest person especially when it comes to laundry. I have been cleaning all day but keep finding any excuse to stop for several hours at a time. Finally after I finished Biggest Loser, I decided to start up with the cleaning. It is coming along but Teddy's room smells like pee. I can't really clean it because he is sleeping right now, and I can't open a window because he will then freeze to death. It is pretty boring and I don't want to clean anymore but I guess I will get back to it. Hopefully I pass and don't give them anymore excuses to not license me.

Some Time Around Here

2008-03-24T11:00:00.000-06:00

It is the end of the month and so I have to finish up the birthdays for the month. I believe that there aren't any birthdays next months...right?

Happy Birthday Clayton! His birthday was 4 days ago. Clayton is my brother in law. His is a GREAT babysitter and my kids love it when he comes over to hang out. Hope you had a good day. My present it is the mail.
Happy Birthday Jennifer! Her birthday is today. She is my sister in law. She enjoys dressing up like Laura Ingles
<-------------
J/K this is her costume for Christmas Caroling. Hope you have a great day. Even though I am seeing you tonight, I still put your gift in the mail, too.
Happy Birthday Katie! Her birthday was sometime in the 20's. Maybe the 21st?? She is my more racey sister in law (compare the two picture between sister in laws). She is very skinny except apparently she has a lot of junk in the trunk. Hope you had a great birthday! I'm still crocheting your gift but I think I my have the size wrong.

FInally the perfect school!

2008-03-15T17:02:00.000-06:00

Morgan and I have been talking quite a bit lately about our children's education. Public schools offer quite a bit these days but in so many areas they are still lacking. We really weren't sure what to do.

Then one day I was watching Judge Judy and I realized that there was an alternative school right here in Nampa that offers all of the specialized education that our kids need to have a bright future!

Welcome To Manhood, Morgan...If You Were A Jew!

2008-03-14T23:31:00.000-06:00

Today is Morgan Nish's 13th birthday!! It is hard to believe he is so old now. Morgan was such a sweet baby. He never cried and was very laid back. He is still the same now. He is too cool for his aunt now but I love it when he comes to town and I get to see him. My favorite memory of Morgan was when I went to Vegas to babysit the Nish kids. Becky and Wade went on a cruise and it was during the week so I had to get the Hayley off to school in the morning which I was not very good at. We were always running late so one day we all took off in a hurry and Morgan, Emma, and I were still in our p.j.'s. Hayley was the last one out of the house and apparently she didn't close the door behind her when she left. It was wide open when we got home. So naturally I sent the kids in first to make sure it was safe for me to enter (Morgan was around 4 and Emma 2). Back then Morgan had the CUTEST speech impediment ever! Once the kids entered the house and everything seemed clear so far, I then tried to send Morgan up the stairs to make sure it was safe for me to go up again. He walked up a few steps and then wouldn't go up any further. I kept trying to persuade him to go but he said,"Uh hu, dar a man up dere!" I went screaming and running out to the car (fortunately Emma and Morgan followed) and we spent the entire day at Kmart in our p.j.'s with no shoes until Hayley got home (I always felt safer with Hayley around). I of course told the story to Becky and she has never asked me to babysit again while she went out of town. I loved Morgan words that he made up. A few that I can remember are:
brrrrr = car
vroom = airplane
weee = slide
q = gun (my personal favorite)
He also had a funny one for fork but I can't remember. That is how all his words were. It was a secret code when he talked. Only Becky and Wade could understand him. I love Morgan very much and enjoyed having him a part of our family. So much so that I named Wolfe's middle name after him! Anyways we hope you have a GREAT birthday and MAZEL TOV (if you were a Jew)!
Love,
Morgan, Sara, Wolfegang Morgan, Teddy, and Wini

Again I had to steal this picture off Becky's blog. Please everyone, send me some pictures of your kids!

A Day Late and Dollar Short

2008-03-11T08:40:00.000-06:00

March is a busy month for birthdays. Yesterday was Amy's birthday. I meant to post something yesterday but got sidetracked and never got around to it. So I am doing it now. Happy Birthday Amy!! I am so glad she moved back to Idaho. It has been fun having a sister around. Amy really does a lot to help us out. She has loaned us cars, babysat, helped us move, and always comes over to our house for birthday parties (it is a long drive). She is always willing to help out me and everyone else. She is a good friend to everybody. If you are ever wondering what is going on in someone's life who you have not talked to in 5 years, just ask Amy because she just talked to them last week. I don't know where she finds the time to work 5 jobs, take care of her kids and house, have about 125 very close friends, and still manage to watch Alias. My favorite story about Amy is when we flew to Las Vegas last year and there was this really white trash girl sitting in front of us. She was cussing and swearing and being obnoxious. She was pretty slutting too. The whole flight she was talking very loudly, making plan to meet up with the guy sitting next to her and talking about how she is so excited to go to Vegas and get drunk and have fun. Everyone on the plane was really annoyed. As soon as we landed Amy walked straight over to this older couple and started joking with them about the girl. We walked with them to the train thing, rode with them to the other side of the airport, walked to together to get our luggage and left the airport with them. Amy was talking with them so easily and joking the whole time. I almost felt like I needed to give them a hug goodbye and was suprised that she didn't. When we finally parted ways with them I ask her how she knew them and she said that she never met them before in her life. She is always like that. She can talk to whoever and it seems as though she has always known them when in fact they are a total stranger. I am sure a lot people remember her. My kids just came over and I lost my train of thought.....Anyways, Happy Birthday, I love you, sorry I didn't get you a gift. I will get you one in a few months.

Black Sheep Trailer

2008-03-05T08:52:00.001-07:00

Okay, first read my previous post and then come back to this. This is one of those movies that you have to own. I haven't seen it yet but I am going to try and rent it. It looks like a GREAT script. If anyone has seen it, LEAVE A COMMENT!!! I have to know how it was.

Black Sheep....WAIT, DON"T GO YET!!!!

2008-03-05T08:35:00.001-07:00

This morning when I checked my blog, I noticed that my counter had gone way up. I checked my site meter to see who was looking and was surprised to see that today I already had 32 people looking at my blog by 8:21 a.m. Then to my even more suprise I noticed that they were from all over. There was a few from United States (San Diego to New York) but a lot of them were from places like Germany (I had 10 different viewers from all around Germany), Taiwan, Czech Republic, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Poland, and Austria. So I clicked on about half of them to see what they were looking at. None of them stayed for very long (in fact they instantly left) and they all entered my site on the black sheep page. I tried googling Black Sheep but the only interesting thing that came up was a super funny preview to a movie called Black Sheep (I will download for all to see in a minute) but that came out in March '07. I didn't find my black sheep page and I don't know what new has happened with a black sheep to get all these people looking. Obviously they had a hard time finding it too if they ended up on my page. If anyone has insight, let me know!!

Another Birthday!!

2008-03-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is a busy month for birthdays apparently. Today is Atticus FIRST birthday. He is such a cute baby and very happy. I am looking forward to getting to know him as he gets older. I wish that all my nieces and nephews lived closer so I could see them all more often. Having all these birthdays makes me realize that I don't have any pictures of my neices and nephews. I stole this one off of Katie's blog. So if any of my sisters or brother wants to send me pictures of their kids, I would love to have them.

Happy Birthday Hayley!

2008-03-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday! Today is Hayley's Birthday. It should have been yesterday but since it was leap year, she had to wait a whole extra day to get her gifts. Hayley is such a funny girl and lots of fun to hang out with. We were all very obsessed with her as a baby but she always liked Jenny best (Jenny has glasses, yeseree). She used to think that I was her same age and if she had to go to bed then so did I. A few summers ago she came up to Idaho for a visit and I had a ton of fun with her. I wish I could have lived closer to her while she was growing up but have loved all the times have have got to spend with her. I hope you have a good birthday and get good gifts (although they couldn't top last years gift). We love you.
Sara, Morgan, Wolfe, Teddy, and Wini. I stole this picture from Becky's blog. She had a friend with her in it but I cut her out and the face Hayley is making is so much better when she is by herself.

Testing Testing 123

2008-02-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my main title and post title are not showing up. I just posted a new post and that isn't showing up either. Lets see if this works though.

Better late than never!

2008-02-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

So sorry I didn't get this posted up earlier but I pulled out my old nintendo and haven't really done much since. So happy birthday Tony AND Violet. I was going to make a pic. video but I don't have any pictures of either one of you. Maybe next year.

Pride

2008-02-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Morgan and I just finished our Foster Care class last night and got our certificate. We still have to do 3 homesteadies (YIKES!) and take one more class on how to administer medications and then we are done!! The homestudies will take about three to four weeks and then we could have a child placed with us anyday. It may take a little while because we are not doing regular foster care and we are taking a child that is voluntarily given up so we have to wait for someone to pick us. I feel very excited and anxious. We started this process at the beginning of July and it feels good to finally be at the end. I am sad the Pride class is over because it was a lot of fun but having it end just made things a little more real for me. I did find out last night that I am not allowed to post pictures or say anything about the child on blogs or myspace or anything like that. Disapointing, I know. Anyways, we are excited about having another kid join our family. We have set certain standards about what type of disability we will take and which ones we won't but I know that when the time comes, we will have a hard time saying no to any child. I will post when I get the child (not anything personal, of course) so that people will know when we get them but we are expecting sometime around end of March/beginning of April.

2008-02-17T01:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Lindy!! I hope you had a great day and gots good gifts. I am getting this just a few hours late but that is okay. The best part about being married to Morgan is having you as my sister in law. I am so glad that I got the opportunity this last summer to have you live with us and to get to know you. You are a great person and helped us out so much and I could never thank you enough for that. We really appreciate everything that you have done for us and everything that you still do for us. My children love you and have a special bond to you. You are so much fun and I always have a great time hanging out with you. I only hope for the best for you and hope that you will find a hot, british, rich uncle while you are away nannying that will make Edward look like a scrub. We will miss you so much when you are gone. I had a good time looking through pictures while making this video and seeing all the weird pictures that you download on the computer. There is no music for 2 reasons. 1. I don't know how to download music. 2. If I could download a song, I would probably download "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?". Love, Sara, Morgan, Wolfe, Teddy, and Wini.

My Valentines!

2008-02-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

I completely forgot all about valentines day this year until late Wednesday night when my parents reminded me. I did not feel like going to the store so I decided I would just keep my kids home from school. They are young enough, they won't know. My parents though luckily had some chocolate hearts and red construction paper so we decided to just make our own and let the kids go to school. I think it turned out way cuter than buying valentines. Wolfe and Teddy wrote their names on the cards (Teddy needed a little help towards the end but Wolfe loved doing it). Anyways, I am SURE that my family in Vegas is DYING to see my kids write their names so I decided to take a picture and post it.
You can tell on Teddy's which ones he did by himself and which ones I helped with. Since Wolfe has two classes (his regular Kindergarten and his extended resource room) he came home with his backpack stuffed full of candy. Teddy was a bit jealous because there is only about 10 kids in his class and two of his Valentines were wasted with pencils.

Well, every year I always hope that Morgan will impress me with Valentines Day. He has failed miserably for the past 9 years and last year was the first time I didn't expect anything and this year I didn't even remember. He usually get me hand sanitizer (trial size and not name brand, of course. This is the usual gift for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, etc.) but this year he did something a little bit different...

If you are wondering what you are looking at, it is my table with no gift on it. I can't say that I blame him because I do still have 3 or 4 unopened hand sanitizers. I have to admit that I really don't care. I would probably be a little annoyed if he did buy me something and since I got him the same gift that he got me, I can't complain. He did however get up with the kids for me and get them off to school while only waking me up a few time to ask where to find clothes and to see what Wini is doing ("Hurry, hurry, look, you're going to miss it! It is sooooo cute!" I have seen it all, already, Morgan). Anyways, even though I am no longer his Valentines (Wini is now) it was a nice day. I love you Morgan and this does not excuse you for our anniversary (NO HAND SANITIZER PLEASE). Hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Days!

Scars and Legs

2008-02-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

I know this is very cliche to say but I have nothing to post. I wanted to put up a new post because my last post are a little "Debbie Downer" if you know what I mean. So I decided to take some pictures of my scars and show them to you. I personally don't think it is funny but alot of you sick people found it humorous and loved the roller skating picture so I thought I would share. This is the inside of my ankle. The big blob in the middle is where my skin actually tore from my foot twisting around so far. When they first removed the skate it just looked like a skinny scratch on the top part of my ankle and then after they twisted the foot back around it was a circle on the side of my ankle. Wierd.
This is the side where they put the plate in and tied all the ligaments back together. It gets thicker at the bottom because that is where they recut it a few months later to take out the screws that were preventing me to walk. All the dot scars are just the staples. Apparently the doctor was to lazy to stitch.
These are the screws they took out of my leg (there are still 10 left in my leg). They crack me up because they just look like something out of our garage. I was expecting something a little more medical looking. It does look like maybe it required an allen wrench so that make it a little more fancy. The battery is just to show size, that was never in my leg.
This is a picture Teddy took of my leg. He didn't get why I was taking pictures of my leg but he thought it looked like fun. This is not the leg I broke by the way, just in case you were wondering what happened to my scars.
This is what I wished my leg really looked like. If this was my leg I would constantly be squeezing it and would always showing it off. I probably wouldn't wear the diaper, depending on how lazy I felt.

Well that was my post. I hope you enjoyed. Please leave comments so that I look more popular than Morgan (we are always competing). And then go visit his post and leave a comment (because I am such a good wife).

Misinterpreted

2008-02-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

I think that some people may have misinterpreted what I was saying in my last post. Let me explain myself. First of all, when I found that web site with that autistic persons perspective, I found it interesting. I do agree with them on the fact that autism is not an illness that needs to be "cured", it is who a person is. I have yet to meet a parent or a person with autism who feels it is an illness that can be "cured" but I have not met everyone. In that article, the autistic person said that they would like help with the problems that come along with autism (like the eye contact or the not being able to focus on one conversation) but that they are not looking for a cure. So for someone to feel like they "hate" their autism, it is more that they hate the bad stuff that comes along with autism. Now to defend me a little. I am all for doing everything possible to help my child be more independent and to be happy and to help him deal with any issues that come along with autism. He goes to special schools, I drove him an hour and half to get him to Boise for speech and O/T three times a week and I do developmental therapy for him daily to help teach him how to adjust with the autism. I am NOT trying to "cure" it because it can't be "cured", I am just trying to help him get through obsticles that he has to deal with. I don't think I am a saint or wonderful for doing it. I agree that there is no such thing as a "normal" child. Every child has some kind of obsticle to get through. Some kids may be more typical than others and may not need as much help as other kids but most parents do what they need to do for their child and don't mind doing it at all. When I say that I don't like hearing about the "cures", I meant the kooky stuff like swimming with whales, rubbing ointments all over their bodies, adjusting their backs three times a day, acupuncture, feeding them only leaves for a month, or going to see a "healer" etc, etc, etc. I do appreciate people thinking of us and wanting to give their opinions but don't push it on me when I say no thank you and don't make me feel guilty for not trying. What I love is when someone tell me about therapies that can help with a certain problem, or a new company that has opened up with available spots, or guide dogs for autistic kids, something that will help, not "cure". I am always looking for a way to help him and to help me. I don't want to change his diaper when he is an adult, if someone has advice to give on a way to do that, I would appreciate it. I want him to communicate with me any way possible, if someone heard of a new technique to try I want to know. I know that I don't know everything and I like hearing about things to do for him that can help him be more independent because that is the only way he will be happy when he is older but I can't "cure" him and I don't want to. I liked everyones comments and they did not offend me. I appreciate all the nice things people said about us. I just wanted to make it more clear what I meant to say earlier because it sounded like maybe people might have misinterpeted what I said.

Maybe He Doesn't Want To Be "Cured"

2008-02-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

I was doing different google searches today on autism. I was looking up "cures for autism". I love Wolfe the way he is but sometimes feel like other people don't think I do enough to "cure" him and so I was curious to see what I need to do to "cure" him. I came across this page in my search and found it very interesting.

A cure for autism?
Sometimes I feel angry when I read about attempts being made to 'cure' autism.
I do not wish to be 'cured' from my autism, and many autistic persons who are able to communicate their feelings, say the same thing.
Autism is not something that I have, it is something that I am. Autism is in every emotion I experience, in every thought I think. Autism is throughout my philosophy, my political beliefs, my religious convictions. Autism affects my choice of job, my taste in clothes, my favourite music and literature, the artforms I like, and those I dislike. I am autistic in my views on humanity, my opinion of individual persons, Everything!
Autism is not a cage, with us as the prisoners. You cannot talk about a person 'emerging' from autism.
If it were possible to remove autism from a person, you would get a different person. A person who, perhaps, fits in better with his surroundings. Maybe a person who abides by the rules of society more. A person who does not stick out. That person will look identical to the previous one, but will be a different person nonetheless.
Another autistic person said that when people talk about curing an autistic person, what they are actually saying is that they wish that instead of this person, there was someone else who is more 'normal'. Naturally that is not a nice thing to hear if you are the person they're talking about.
I'm not against medications which will alleviate some of the symptoms or problems of autism. For example, if there were something which would filter out the 'noise' of a crowded room and let us concentrate on one conversation, that would be very useful. If there were something that would help autistic people make eye contact (some autistics find this impossible), that too would help.
However anything that would alter my mind is so abhorrent an idea that I view it in the same light as homicide. I even find hypnosis horrifying. The idea of anyone else taking control of my mind and manipulating it is unthinkable.
I know that when people talk about curing autism they mean well, but they really don't know what they are talking about. Please keep any such cure away from me. Star Trek fans will understand what I mean when I say I don't want to be assimilated into the collective.

I really enjoyed that because I do have a hard time medicating him when he can not speak to tell me whether or not he hates that medication or putting him through therapies that I have no idea are working or the very worst is sending him off with a therapist that I have no idea if they are being nice to him or abusing him (I do have a geat therapist right now but I have had awful ones in the past). I know that the only improvement I need to see in him is just him being happy (and learning how to communicate) and just because I want to see him get married and have babies doesn't mean that he wants to get married and have babies. So now I know what to say to people when they tell me what I need to do to "cure" him (which happens ALL THE TIME**) is just to say "maybe he doesn't want to be "cured".

**Sorry to anyone who has tried to tell people how to cure their child's autism. I do understand that you are trying to be helpful and I appreciate that people think of me and Wolfie and want to help but there is a large majority of mom's of autistic kids that are uncomfortable when people push their kooky ways to cure it on us. I do know that it is just with good intentions and people feel like why not try everything possible. It is because I don't want to put my child through uncomfortable situations that I have not tried everything. Thank you to everyone who has cared, I didn't post this because I am mad, only because I found it interesting and I agreed.

Sara does the weather

2008-01-29T01:05:00.001-07:00

I got tired of waiting for morgan to get a new job so I took the initiative!

Happy Birthday, Becky!

2008-01-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Becky! I hope you have a great day and get spoiled today! Sorry I didn't call but I don't have long distance but just wanted you to know we were thinking of you!

Happy Sixth Birthday Wolfe!

2008-01-14T17:28:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Wolfe! I love you so much. I love having you in our family.
Wolfie is a very wierd boy and WE LOVE IT! I appreciate how innocent he is and at times how quiet he is. He makes us laugh so hard. When we showed him this video he tried to blow on the screen to blow out the candles. He is still our little baby and we love him the way he is. It was hard for me to come to terms with how he is and how he will be in the future but I have come to realize how blessed I am to have such a sweet little boy and I enjoy taking care of him. I look forward to our future together and am so happy for all the many accomplishments that he has done in the past few months (he can now write his name). I know that he will continue to improve but all that matters to Morgan and I is that he is happy and healthy. So far he has been a happy and healthy boy.
When Wolfe was first diagnosed with autism, his doctor told me that I shouldn't worry because Wolfe would be able to get by on his looks alone and he was so right. All his teachers, therapists, and doctors LOVE him. I have even had therapists fight over who got to work with him. Kids at school are drawn to him and want to play with him. He is very special and even strangers can pick up on it.
I love having him in my life and I especially love that his name is now written all over my walls, doors, sheets, car, scratched in the table, and even part of it on Wini (she was his accomplice). My favorite times with him his when he plays nicely with his brother and sister and wants to be a part of what his family is doing, which isn't very often. I am grateful that he is so snuggly and likes to be kissed and hugged and squeezed. I have actually learned to enjoy the strange looks people give me when they see Wini walking through the store and Wolfe crammed in the grocery cart high chair.
Also I want to thank my neices and nephews for being so interested in Wolfe. I especially want to thank Bailey and Calvin for how helpful they are with Wolfe. They always try to include him and do a great job helping out with him. I am very impressed with them for including other kids with disablilities and not being afraid of them. Calvin has a friend in primary with autism that he befriended and by him doing so, other kids have become friend with the little boy. I love hearing things like that because it reminds me that kids are loving and understanding. (my other nices and nephews are great with Wolfe too, they just aren't around him very much)
Anyways the point is that I love him and hope he has a happy birthday!

TedZilla

2008-01-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

Dateline NYC... Gigantic 4 year old terrorizes time square and shortly after photo was taken crushes a cardboard cutout of youtube and Blogger sensation Jenny Esplin.

Happy Birthday, Morgan!

2008-01-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

This is Morgan and today is his birthday. He is 28 years old but only 19 when I first met him. My sisters introduced us and I liked his strange sense of humor. I think he is funny and we always have a good time together. Even when I get annoyed with him he can still make me laugh and make me forget all about why I was annoyed in the first place.

I love you very much. (These are not my lips, they are actually your cousins, I stole them. I get the point though.)
You are a good daddy and your kids love you and love spending time with you too. Happy Birthday, hope you have a good day!

We...had...the time of our lives...and we owe it all to youuuuu!

2007-12-31T00:17:00.000-07:00

Morgan and I were a little sick of the same old same old (dinner and a movie) so to spice up the marriage we decided to take dance lessons. It was a complete success! We have never been closer! I brought the camera along and had the dance instructor take a picture of us during our recital. Don't worry, we were wearing our G's, they just crept up.

Merry Christmas to me!

2007-12-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Morgan held out until the last possible minute and then told me to look outside!
He had traded in our minivan because he thought that I deserved to have a new car that got better mileage. Yippeee!

I FIGURED IT OUT!

2007-12-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the video of Frances being silly. She is so cute!

Happy Birthday, Frances!

2007-12-18T12:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a good day and gets LOTS of presents. We love you and miss you and hope we get to see you again soon. I tried to download a very cute video of you being wierd and I couldn't figure it out :(

2007-12-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!!

2007-12-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Dad! You are such a great dad and Grandpa. We appreciate evrything you do for us and love you very much. I don't have very many pictures of you without Wolfe because he will never leave your side when you are around but I did find a few. Hope you have a great day!

FHVD

2007-12-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our annual Bailey Christmas Party. We have a world famous white elephant party and we usually spend the whole year looking for that perfect gift. This year we got a rat for Morgan's gift to give. David was the lucky winner. After about 10 or 15 minutes of everyone screaming and freaking out we put the rat in a corner by the front door. At the end of the night David conveniently left the rat behind. I could tell that Casey really really wanted the rat but Holly would no way go for it and Amy forced us to take it out of her house. So now we have a new pet...until Friday night when we go to another Christmas party and can pawn him off. Teddy will be devastated. Please tilt your head to the side to look at the pictures.

2007-12-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

For anyone who wants to see morgan's A list celeb encounter, go to: morganstrasser.blogspot.com

My Star Sighting

2007-12-09T17:59:00.001-07:00

It seems as though everyone has had a star sighting lately. Anna saw the guy from survivor, Tom with Adrian Brody, Corey with Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie, and Morgan even had a run-in with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. I don't mean to brag but I too have had my own personal experience with an A list celebrity.

Meeting Santa

2007-12-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today was my parents ward Christmas Party. Here are a few pictures for everyone to enjoy.

My mom feeding Wini. She is fun to feed.
Her just beng sweet.
Wolfe is very nervous.
Teddy requsted that we draw out a picture for Santa.

He wanted to make sure that Santa knew he wanted his

robot from a store, not made by an elf.

Wolfe wasn't going to sit on this perverts lap.

Wini was the only one not afraid of Santa
Wini still hungry as usual.
Teddy just has to copy everything Wini does.

No No, This Is My Page

2007-12-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

I changed templates to make it more festive and I also changed my music to Christmas music. Enjoy.

You might be a red neck....

2007-12-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is Teddy's first hunting trip. Morgan took him about a month ago but I am a little slow at getting things done. They did see a few deer but could not shoot because they didn't bring bullets for the gun. Teddy had fun though and he thought he was really hunting deer so it was fine. Maybe in about 10-12 more years I will let Morgan take bullets...MAYBE.

I LOVE MY HUSBAND

2007-11-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

A FEW MORE THANKSGIVING PICTURES FOR YOU

2007-11-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some more picture of our Thanksgiving. We had mom and dad over to our house for dinner. Wolfe's therapist also came. Amy was with her in laws so it was just the 8 of us. It may sound like a lot to some but I am used to groups of 20 or more so it was small but very nice and relaxing. We made lots of food and it was very yummy.

<-- I love this picture of dad. Typical dad putting something in his ears. He was probably telling a joke too.

Here is mom watching Teddy play. Every time she looked away, he would make her look at him again.

<--Teddy insisted that I take a picture of his transformer.

This is Chris, Wolfe's IBI therapist. His family lives in Ohio so he came to our house for dinner. Wolfe wouldn't leave him alone and at one point was laying like a baby in his lap.

<--I know I say this a lot but she is cute. This isn't even Thanksgiving day but...

Here are the boys (Wolfe and Teddy). I like how Teddy is trying to protect himself because he knows Wolfe is in a bad mood.

My little silly bear. He kept wanting me to take his picture doing something funny and then he has to look at it immediately afterwards.

2007-11-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

This is my pretty little girl on Thanksgiving. I got her all dressed up and then asked Morgan to please do her hair (I really did ask that nicely) and he brushed out half of it and then said he is all done because she wasn't enjoying it. So that is not how her hair usually is (well actually it is but only after a few hours).

My Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

After slaving away on the stove all day to make a nice meal for my family, my little Wolfie would have nothing to do with it. So this what wolfe got to eat. I gave into him because I wanted him to sit with the family and eat. It worked.

This meal consists of ramen noodles and chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs (in case you can't tell). He did also eat a roll too.

So I keep trying to do a post with multiple pictures and it doesn't work the way I want it to. SO I am going to do a whole bunch of post of my Thanksgiving so I can get all the pictures. Feel free to comment on everything and tell me how cute my kids are.

MORGAN HAS A BLOG

2007-11-22T00:59:00.001-07:00

Morgan now has a blog. His address is morganstrasser.blogspot.com. I recommend everyone checking it out and listening to his fantastic music (especially "Sliegh ride" by various artist and "The 8 Days of Christmas" By Destiny's Child). Make sure you leave comments so that he feels popular.

A TYPICAL REALTOR IN 2007

2007-11-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

FHVD

2007-11-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

Carrie or Wini: Who is better?

I woke up that morning with an eerie feeling. I kept trying to shake it off but it just wouldn't go away. The kids were good that day and I got a lot accomplished. That night I was going to take the kids to a friends house. It was stormy outside and looked a little cold. Wini and Teddy had asked for some apples. So I cut up some apples into wedges and got them each their own caramel cups to dip their apples in. I sat them down in their chairs at the table and then went upstairs to get their coats, some extra diapers, and p.j.s. I remember leaving the knife I used to cut the apples out on the cutting board. I know I should have put it in the sink but for some reason I left it out. As I was upstairs gathering the kids stuff for the evening out, I heard a strange noise from down stair and that eerie feeling I had all day caught up with me. As fast as I could I ran down the stairs, around the corner and into the kitchen. I couldn't believe the horror of what I saw.

2007-11-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Winifred " Wini-Penny"

1. I like broccoli (and any other food!)

2. I can't wear size 2T because the thighs are too tight and I can't wear size 3 beacause they are too long. I now just wear stretchy pants and I look good in them.

3. I have 82 binki's and I stash them all over so that I don't ever have to go without. I like to call them "uh-oh kinky's"

4. I am the boss of the whole family including my brothers. Just ask any of them and they will verify.

5. I like to have baby powder for every diaper change. In fact if my parents forget it I ask for it by name.

6. I am widely reguarded as the world champion of butterfly kisses. (acording to my mom and dad)

Wolfe and Teddy's tag

2007-11-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here are Wolfe and Teddy facts

Wolfe:
1. I love chicken nuggets. I can eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner and I like to scream when I pass a McDonalds so that my mom will turn around and get me chicken nuggets.

2. I can talk. I just choose not to.

3. I don't want to look at you so stop making me.

4. I am obsessed with my Papa. I can just sit on his lap and stratch off his face all day. I like to hit him and go for rides in his car.

5. I like my blue and white striped shirt and don't try to make me take it off... EVER.

6. I like to color cars. I don't need paper, I can use the walls or the tables, and I don't need pencils, I can just used a knife and scratch it in the table.

Teddy:
1. I prefer to describe colors by reference rather than by name. ie.. yellow=transformer, green=bad guy, blue=batman, red=op prime and so on...

2. I like it when my dad wears "mickey mouse, long on his neck." (mickey neck tie)

3. I like to wear my "huckslee pants" pants with a flannel liner. (please see elmo in grouchland for huckslee reference.)

4. I negotiate everything!!! My bedtime, my wardrobe, my punishments, my food, my seating positions in the car, and my parents plans for the day.

5. I am a ninja.

6. I am in charge of Winifred!!!

Now I will tag...

1. Winifred Mary Strasser
2. Homer Esplin
3. Thomas Morgan (Jr.) Not you uncle "Tea Bag"
4. Violet Morgan
5. Atticus Morgan
6. Hazel Jacoba Morgan

Tag I am it?

2007-11-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I better hurry up and do this because I am not sure what will happen to me if I don't. I have nothing interesting to say so...enjoy.

1. I always wear sandals. It does not matter if it is snowing, raining, freezing, sunny, hot, cold whatever, I always wear sandals. My feet get clostrophobic if they are in shoes and the worst ever is socks. I hate putting them on and having them snag on my dry, cracked heels.

2. I am very lazy. Shocker, I know. I could just laze around all day. I am so lazy in fact that I want to get a golf cart to go to the mail box or the neighbor's house. Morgan said no of course but I am very lazy. My kids bed time gets later and later every day because I am too lazy to get them ready for bed.

3. I love driving around by myself at night. The reason is because I can space off and sing as loud as possible. I am a terrible singer so I really need to be alone to do it so that I belt out as loud as possible and pretend like I am auditioning on American Idol.

4. I love Sweet Valley High. I have read all the books including Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley University. I bought them all off ebay a few years ago and every now and again start the adventure over again.

5. I hate fruit pies and enchiladas sauce (the red one). Other than that I LOVE ALL FOODS. When I cook dinner I like to pretend I am doing a cooking show and get all my ingredients out before hand. I do it so often that Morgan thinks nothing of it and sometimes make a guest apperance on my show.

6. I don't share dairy products. I would rather just give up my ice cream or my glass of milk than share. And the worst is when someone comes over and drinks the last of the milk. I hate running out of milk.

Now the people I will tag: Joe, Beth, Joel, Lila, and Jennifer. I know it is only 5 but I don't have that many friends. Sorry. And if I break something for not completeing it then everyone has to pitch in for the medical bills.

OOPS! I did it again!

2007-11-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

I notice a few spelling errors. My apologies. I also notice my video of Wolfe is titled "The Black Sheep". I realize now that it looks like I am calling Wolfe the black sheep, but actually I am calling my self the black sheep. Sorry Wolfie.

Super Morgan

2007-11-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Before viewing, please remember that I don't know what I am doing. I still haven't figured out how to download music onto my videos (any? help). So before playing, please turn off my music, I know it is hard to do because it is so good, and start humming the superman theme song (Tried to download but...)

I hope you enjoyed my short film. Please leave comments, without them I can not improve.

The black sheep

2007-11-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

It seems as though everyone in the family are computer genius. Everyone does fancy fun stuff but I can't do any. I am not creative like the rest of the family either but I am going to try. This is my first ever try at making a movie. I know its boring but its my first time SO BACK OFF!! Just kidding. Please give your comments and criticism I need all the help I can get.

Music coming soon...

She is soooooooooooooo cute.

2007-11-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

2007-11-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

I bought new baby shampoo the other day (cucumber and melon) and was washing Wini's hair with it. Teddy came in and said,"Oh mom, it smell so good, like Disneyland!"

(I had to find a cool picture of Teddy to out on here because he asked why he wasn't on computer too.)

Sara Strasser and The Blog of Secrets

2007-11-10T15:08:00.001-07:00

Sara has grown up among the beautiful kids but she has never been one of them. Sara? She has always been the geek, the weirdo, the misfit. But not anymore! Suddenly Sara's got a friend who's got her back. The popular kids are talking to her. And she's got not one but three kids. Sara's not playing by the same rules anymore. In fact, she's out to break them all!

Style or Comfort??

2007-11-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

My cute little baby likes to eat. She eats so much that now she can't fit in her jeans anymore. We lay her down and shimmy her pants up and she sucks in so we can button her and then she screams and cries because she can't sit up. We like her chubby so instead of cutting back on what she eats we switched her to stretch pants. Now she is free as a bird and can move as she wishes. I figured now she can move better and will just work off the extra weight so we can still feed her as much as she wants.

My Diet

2007-11-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

Does it count as not cheating if I ate three bowls of ice cream as long as that ice cream is 1/2 the fat? I am allowed to pig out if it is diet, right?

2007-11-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

I am starting a blog and I don't know what I am doing. Check back a little while later.