Friday, April 30, 2010

JV Cheer Squad, here we come!!

The Diva made the jv cheer squad. I think she's happy, although her first comment was "I don't know why I didn't make varsity I caught the girl they dropped!"

We are officially entering a new era in our household. In a few short months we are going to be the parents of a high school cheerleader! Ack!! What will I do?? After wringing my hands in fear that I may never be home again next year, I have decided...it will be ok. I may never have any money ever again, but I will be ok. When I was filling out the paperwork for her to try out I may have skipped (ran) past the dollar signs attached, but now I am fully aware this will cost me an arm and a leg.

Will they give you $550 if you donate an arm and a leg to science?? Probably not, so my new plan is to start saving now and hope that she gets the summer job she is interviewing for at Six Flags.

Oh, and by the way, we also have a spring formal in two weeks and graduation (8th grade) a week after that. So, we need two dresses, a strapless bra and some rockin' shoes (for the spring formal of course!!)

Pray for me peeps, I'm off to find that bottle of Southern Comfort now. Oh wait...I have to pick her up from track practice tonight! How many things can she find to do before we are both overwhelmed??

Thursday, April 29, 2010

C really is a Vampire Princess!!!

So, C decided to go to the doctor as she has been sick (cough due to cold, anyone???) for a minute now. That is an offender minute by the way, not an irl minute, so it could last from 20 minutes to 49 years. Just so you know...

Anyway, the doc was concerned so he ordered blood tests and we got the results yesterday. She, my lovely wife, is... Vitamin D Deficient!! Apparently the numbers on an average human should run between 50 and 100. While C is hovering at 5.6. Not 46, but 5.6!! I have never even heard of someone being Vitamin D deficient, so I really never knew that it could make you sick. Like, really, really don't want to get out of bed, look like a truck ran over you sick. Apparently, that is exactly what happens.

So now she has to take some gel tab thing once a week for a helluva long time, and then we get to go back and re-draw her blood. By the why drawing her blood is like looking for a needle in a haystack, or something equally difficult. 3 years ago it took 5 chemo nurses 11 sticks for 9 tubes of blood just to find out she has some random clotting disorder. Fun stuff huh???

I am so looking forward to having to force her to take meds to fix this little issue...NOT!! And, the Doc says something bizarre about how she is not absorbing the Vitamin D from the sun like she is supposed to. Well duh...she works evenings. She sleeps in the afternoon, and rarely goes out before dark. Why would this be a problem??

So here's to the princess of darkness, the love of my life!! :)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I want to change the world, at least my world...

The other day I read an article to C wherein the Lutheran Church has finally decided to accept us (teh gays, I mean really do they care about little ol' me??) the way we are. To the point where they will even reinstate people who they previously ousted because they were open and honest about their personal lives.

That got me to thinking... do I want to be accepted for who I am now?? I mean if they didn't want me or my kind then, then do I want to be a part of them now? I'm not trying to sound mean or cold hearted, but coming out was hard for me. It meant giving up some of the people I considered to be family, and understanding that my life would never be the same again. I'm not complaining, I am happier now than ever before in my life. I know, deep inside me, that I am where I am supposed to be. But it was hard. I had to tell C that I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it, and then I had to decide if I was strong enough to do it.

Then I had to tell my Mama and my Daddy. For those that don't know, I was raised Southern Baptist. You all surely know how hard this was, I can't imagine how hard it was for my parents to hear that I was going to "CHOOSE" to be different than I had been all my life. I came out three years ago in February at the age of 32.

Parts of me wish I had come out 15 years ago when I first had questions, but really didn't know. We teach our daughters that that part of themselves that we all term 'virginity' is sacred. It is special, something to be given only to someone you love with all your heart, mind and soul. Part of me wishes C had been that person, part of me feels sad that she wasn't the first and only I shared that with. But...if I hadn't been married to the EX, three of the kiddos wouldn't be here. And, if C hadn't been with her ex, the eldest wouldn't be here either. So, it's kind of a toss up.

I say all this to say that I want to be more involved in the LGBT community in my area. I want to prop them up, and shout from the rafters that I believe in this cause, I believe in US!! But, I really don't know how. I don't have extra money to give them. And, with four children, work, and Phoenix Flight I kind of run out of time to breathe. So... How do I do this?? How do I help them and all of us gain the acceptance the Lutheran's have graciously granted us from everyone else?? Clear as mud? I hope so!! :)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Why are some things not as important??

So, being a good lesbian blogger (oh sorry, are you surprised??) I try to engage my partner whenever I can. When I see a good conversation starter I tell her about it, or ask her opinion. I have asked her several times recently because a friend of mine (Sasha) is a great conversation starter.

Sometimes if I want to leave a comment on another site that I think C might feel would compromise her (or our) privacy, I will ask her if it is okay. Most of the time she simply says she doesn't care. BUT... if I want to put pics up of our children, then she gets all bent about it. I guess that is what I don't understand. If it's okay for me to share intimate details about our personal lives with a person whom I consider a friend, but don't *know* in *real life*, then why is it not okay for me to share details about our children?? I don't really want to show their faces, but I think it would be cool to put certain things on this page.

I feel obligated to ask her, hello...it's her life too, but I don't think I want to know the answer sometimes. She doesn't care about blogging in general, or mine in specific most times. I, on the other hand, feel like I've built some really good friendships (in a loose sense) out in the great wide web. Do you all ever have this issue?? How do you, *I*, resolve it? I can't force her to care about everything I do, because hello...I'm never going to care how a car goes together, but it would be nice if I could share this with her more often. Any thoughts???

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The dogs have graduated!!!

So, the Phoenix Flight Program has successfully graduated our first round of dogs!! My dogs did great and my offenders were outstanding! I am so proud of all of them! Alex went to his forever home, and they are Collie people, so I think it will be great for him. His offender trainers cried, which made me sad. The reality of it is, it's not a success unless they all go to good homes, but I hate to make anyone hurt. Hopefully we will have 6 new dogs in the first week of May, keep your fingers crossed!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Update on Phoenix Flight

All of my dogs graduated their Canine Good Citizen Test last night. This is probably the hardest thing I've done since I've worked in a prison. It has been fun, rewarding, sad, disappointing, and sometimes scary.

I have had to remove two of the trainers. That sucked. We lost a 3rd due to a court-ordered treatment transfer the day before the test. The other two trainers were flying stupid in a no-stupid-zone and had to be tagged. I hated doing it, but I am ultimately responsible for the safety of my dogs.

Next week is graduation, and then I have three weeks to find homes for 4 of the 5 dogs, before we bring the next crew of six in. My boss is already freaking out this time. I told him that normally he gives me until the week before, he said he was trying to beat the rush on freaking out. It all makes me tired.

The program has not been without its detractors. There have been both officers and classification staff that have wanted to see this fail. There have been others who waited until they saw signs of success before attacking. I will stand by this program no matter what. We are doing the right thing, for both the dogs and the offenders. This is the most important thing I've done since I started working for the Department 5 years ago. And, in the end, we will succeed. We may be tired, we may be stressed, but we will stand and be counted in the end as people who have done a positive thing for both offenders and rescue dogs.