How does he do that?

The past 10 years have been a mystery to me when it comes to Cameron's sleeping habits.

At birth, he would not sleep in our room. The first few nights home while Glenn's parents were visiting, Cameron did not sleep well in our room (they had his room). Once he was moved to his crib, he slept much better, but would not listen to lullabies. The radio in his room had to be tuned to 96KRock, classic rock (Joe Walsh, etc.). Anything else caused a tearful screamfest. Hey the radio was across the house I didn't care what he listened to as long as he slept.

As he moved into toddlerhood he resisted the big boy bed for a long time. Instead he chose to pull his indoor playset over to his crib and use it to climb in and out of the crib. Fortunately, he never climbed out in the middle of the night.

To this day, he still prefers not to sleep in a big boy bed of any sort. His choice is the floor or sofa. Any floor will do. Many nights we find him curled up in front of the heater vent with his ti-ti and dog. Okay, I'll give him this one...I've been known to curl up there myself, sans the dog.

One thing I've noticed is that Milo's comfort preempts EVERYTHING else. Often, I'll find Cameron curled in a ball in the middle of the floor while Milo has his head on the pillows laying as you and I would. Sometimes Cameron has his head in the dogs bed while Milo has Cam's pillow.

A few minutes ago I wandered in Cam's room to turn off his light and check on him. I found him on the bed. Imagine my shock. However Milo had the pillows and the comforter, whereas Cameron had his ti-ti.

Notice the dog bed up against the wall in the back! My dog does not sleep in his bed.

Now, I love the dog too, but my sleeping comfort trumps his AT ALL TIMES!

Will he ever prefer sleeping in his bed? I wonder if he's in his bed tonight because his floor is covered with the remnants from a garbage bag of stuff that I bagged up last week when he refused to clean his room. Nah, he's been known to sleep on top of all kinds of toys, shoes, and food. My child is a strange one, yes he is. But, I wouldn't trade him for the world.

I'm sooooo big

Today was our bimonthly doctor day. Occupational therapy then north to Kittaning to see Sharee, the Nurse Practitioner who prescribes Cameron's ADD medications.

Cameron's height is now 50 1/4". He weights 75 1/2 pounds. That is up from 45 3/4" last February. What a tremendous growth he's experienced in 14 months. The doctor estimated 3-4" in the first year and 1-3 in the ensuing years. He has grown 4 1/2" in just over a year. AWESOME! I'm so happy.

I discussed Cameron's attitude issues with the Sharee and she recommended that we give Cameron that 2nd pill I try to avoid every day. It helps Cameron think before he speaks. In other words, that filter that most of us have that says "if you call Buddy a punk, he'll beat you up" and then you decide that the consequences are not worth the action. Cameron does not have that filter. It pops in his head and out his mouth. I know that many times as children we wished we could tell our parents to shut up, yet, the thought of severe punishment was enough to keep our mouths shut and our heads down. Cameron does not think of the potential punishment. The afternoon pill just acts as a filter for him and saves him and us a lot of arguing. As much as I tried to avoid it, I am forced to administer it.

Other than doctors, nothing is new around here. Glenn is still working full-time and doing as much side work as possible to help save for vacation. Tomorrow Cameron is attending an Earth day activity at Boyce Park involving animals. I have been selling Cameron's old clothes on ebay and I'm surprised that I got $15.50 for 6 pairs of shorts. Kelly will be attending her first prom in a few weeks with her best friend in Florida. I can't wait to see pictures of her dress.

Right now, I'm laughing at Glenn Beck. The man has serious ADHD issues and I love them. The Penguins start round 2 of the playoffs against Washington on Saturday. GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4-2 and the Penguins take the series

Glenn and I are huge Penguins fans. He has been a Pittsburgh Penguin fan for years, whereas I only recently discovered the fascinating sport of hockey in 2004 thanks to Reggie Berg and the Florida Everblades. I briefly and sporadically followed the Pens when I lived in Florida. Once we moved to Pennsylvania, I became an all out fan of the boys of winter in black and gold.

We have the boys of summer...Pirates. Not such a great time, but Cameron likes them so on occasion, I'm forced to watch a game in hopes of seeing my son and husband on the TV.

We have the boys of fall....my beloved Steelers. I love them and would not miss a game for anything. We have sat through hurricane force winds in a driveway in order to see them play. God bless my husband for convincing me that an in-dash TV was needed years ago.

And finally, the boys of winter. We follow the Penguins from October to April or hopefully June every year.

Today, Glenn and I were scheduled to start cleaning a 55 foot houseboat. We had great intentions and made it to within a mile of the boat before our love of all things Penguins won out. We planned to stop at Subway for a quick lunch before we started working. We pulled in to the plaza and what to our wondering eyes should appear but 16 flat screen tvs 14 of which were tuned to the Penguins game. The other two were tuned to the NFL draft. Not that anyone really cared about that...Steelers weren't schedule to make their pick til around 8 p.m. and the playoff game started at 3 p.m. Glenn and I looked at each other and it was over, no will power to be found, we were all in for the game.

We headed in and discovered that we had to sit outside because Cameron could not be inside the restaurant/bar due to age. Pulled up to a table with a tv right in front of us and proceed to watch a horrifying period of hockey. The moans and cries of despair could be heard in stereo as the Flyers proceeded to make 2 goals. I called for a goalie removal but that darn Dan Bylsma did not listen. The second period did not begin much better, a 3rd goal forced me to open my library book because I just could not stand to watch the desecration of my boys. Then a fight by Talbot fired up the team and let the shredding begin. We made 4 goals over the next two periods and the Flyers were fighting like it was the last piece of chicken at the barbecue to get that goal to tie the game. Here's where I call mea culpa and admit I was wrong, Fleury did the job. Of course, in the last minute Stevens pulled their goalie and Sid the Kid made the requisite empty netter to finish out the series.

We are on to the next series. Wish we knew against who. I'm hoping we know that by tomorrow. I'll need to stock up on nitroglycerin to help with the heart palpitations that Sid, Geno & the Flower give me, but I wouldn't trade the next few weeks for the world.

Oh, we did head over to the boat after the game and managed to clean all of the plastic chairs and two of the seats on the upper deck. We plan to get up at 7 and head over early to try to wash and wax the boat in one day. Thank our blessed saviour that we have 80+ degree days this weekend. It's nice to clean it in warm weather. But the grills going were quite a distraction.

Sleep, perchance to

I have not slept well in two nights. To be honest. I have not slept well in years. But, the past two nights have been absolute minimal sleeping nights for me. I went through this months ago and after a mid afternoon til morning nap, I was a bit better.

I was hoping for one of those naps yesterday, but testing and homework prevailed. I finally got to sleep around 4:30 yesterday and had to be up at 9:30 to get ready for occupational therapy. I was soooooooooooooo tired but I sucked it up and made the drive. Fortunately for me and adult movie came in the mail so no Madagascar 2 or some other such nonsense that would have driven me round the bend.

After O.T. we had to drive to Cranberry Target to get the coonskin hat that Cameron had lost on Monday. I originally planned a trip to the mall to return an outfit to Macy's use my $5.00 coupon at J.C. Penney's. However, the burning eyes told me to go home, do not pass go, do not collect $200 or in my case save $5.00.

I stopped at the post office to ship a pair of jeans I sold on ebay and then home. I was starving but somehow missed the Subway so I skipped lunch and opted for a Healthy Choice TV dinner.

Once home I discovered that not only did Cameron have a spelling test, he also had a reading test and two math pages that needed to be copied on to paper, solved, scanned and submitted by 8:00 p.m. To a normal parent, 6 hours is a lot of time to get this accomplished. For me, it means constant hovering, prodding and all out begging to please just do it so Mommy can wander in to la la land. Around 4:30 it was time to scan and submit the math pages. We sat down to start scanning and the computer decided it needed a nap. Every two minutes it went in to stand by mode. I checked all the settings and even rebooted to no success. Finally, I decided to let it have the nap and moved to the living room for Cameron to take his spelling test and email his teachers and tech support about the dilemma.

Now it's after 6. Shot is in 3 hours! I was so tired that I knew if I went to bed, I was done. So I had to stay up to give the shot and we moved in to overtired mode. You know that mode. The one where no matter how tired you are, you cannot sleep. Finally between 2 and 3, God Bless Glenn Beck for boring me last night, I finally drifted off. So I got about 7 hours because at 9:30 tech support called.

My eyes burn as I listen to my husband do the dishes. I'd love to go to bed, but Cameron is schooling in my room and the mommy in me does not allow me to ignore the random things he says into the microphone. I wake up every time he speaks. Forget homework, I'm going to bed from 1:30 to 6:30. Can't miss the hockey game.

On a positive note, Kelly called during the Spelling test. Her voice was the sweetest part of my day. Well, that and Cameron making a pan of freezer to oven brownies (somehow they taste better when someone else makes them). She wanted a few dresses for Prom. Since I don't know where they are, I opted to send her cash. She is open to visiting us for a few days later this year. I checked in to getting tickets for her to join us on Arizona but they are already over $300.

Good night, farewell, see you on the flip side. I'm climbing in Cameron's bed.

Happiness

I follow another mother's blog Snarky Mommy and today she blogged about the guilt she feels after seeing stories about dying children or a husband who lost his wife the day after the birth of their baby. She commented that when she hears those stories she tries to put life into perspective, yet over time she is back to the same stresses and demands and can't always look past those pesky problems such as her son throwing a bowl of peas during dinner.

I admit that as snarky as I am, I certainly forget to see the funny. Later, I generally find a funny twist on things but I tend to get too serious at the time and snap out.

Glenn and I are going through a major dispute right now. As I mentioned earlier, he is smoking again. No, it was not a one time thing. He's buying a pack a week (to my knowledge). He quit 11 1/2 years ago and I was very proud of him when he did it. It is an expensive, smelly, filthy habit. And 11 years ago, the price was less than half what it is today. I have taken to punching him everytime he discusses the cigarettes or lights up. I know it sounds abusive, but, if he's going to abuse his body with those stinky sticks then I'll be glad to give him some abuse where the pain remains long enough for him to remember. Pretty soon I expect to see a bruise on his upper right arm. That tends to be the spot where I get him. I discussed this situation with his father last week and he is agreement with me and my punishment. He even lets me know when Glenn sneaks off to grab a smoke.

I know that hitting my husband is not kindly, wifely thing to do. Yet, he has high cholesterol and cancer in his family. I'd rather he felt some pain now than for him to have a heart attack or lung cancer. I don't want to lose my husband young. I want him to be around long enough for us to enjoy the time after Cameron goes off to college or military. And to enjoy our grandchildren together. We missed a great deal of time together while we were young. Glenn will be 50 when Cameron graduates. I'll be 47. That is still young enough to get the RV and travel the U.S. or for Glenn to become a long distance driver and I'll join him on the road.

I've been a bit "bitchier" lately and I think it's due to woman's moods. I asked Cameron if I've been nastier lately. He responded no. He just discovered that if Mommy gets what she wants, she's happy. If not, noones happy. I assure you we don't use that popular line in our house. In fact, it's usually if Glenn is unhappy, then the house is unhappy. He sulks thereby bringing the mood of the house down. Everyday we stress when he is coming home in fear of what he will find wrong. He checks out the car to be sure I did not scuff tires or scratch it. Then looks inside to see if we left a mess. He's gotten better about the house. In fact, he tends to ignore Cameron's room, which I have a problem doing. The dishes are rarely done when he gets home and for some reason, the house is always dusty. I think it's the furnace vents! I have to clean the dust in the bathroom almost every other day. Well I should do it every other day, but I'm just too lazy.

Last night, I downloaded a book Make Money with Overstock.com. After paying $24, I discovered that it was just a how-to on auction selling on overstock.com. Well, I know how to E-bay, so I decided to start ebaying again. I've been shopping at Crazy 8's alot so at 8 p.m. last night I headed up there to see if they had anything cheap. Unfortunately, their $2.99 sale was over. We headed over to Macy's and found a few things for $4.99 and I uploaded them last night. During this whole trip, Glenn sulked.

He is still sulking about work. Now, I support him and how he feels. Yet, we can't change the situation and I find that sulking about it gets us no where...excepting fighting.

I'm getting excited about summer. I need to find something to keep Cameron and I busy. Right now, he is playing Webkinz.com and I think if given the opportunity, he would do that all summer.

Last year, for Glenn's birthday, his mother gave him her Chrysler LeBaron. It's a nice car that needs a new transmission and a new top. A few months ago, we finally moved the car from Schenley to our house. We kept planning to use boat money to fix the car, but somehow the money always got spent and the car sat out back. On Monday, Glenn sold the Lincoln Towncar that I drive. He decided to use the money to fix the transmission. On Wednesday, the tow truck came and took the car to Ohio to be repaired. We'll get to the top soon. I figure we can park it in the shop when it rains until it's fixed. That's what we did with the VW. Sound great, right?

Now, let me tell you about a little addiction problem my dear husband has. CRAIGSLIST. I take the blame for this. A few years ago it was e-bay. When I say I take the blame it means I told him about the website. Once he discovers a place where he can shop from the comfort of our bed or the living room sofa, he's all in. Even better when the site contains cars and car parts. A few years ago, during a hurricane evacuation, Glenn slid off the road and damaged the side of his Dodge Ram. By purchasing replacement/upgrade parts on e-bay we were able to save enough on the repairs to replace the laptop lost in the accident. So I can't fault him too much on that one. Let's not discuss the "lost" oil change receipts from Gulf Coast Dodge. Later to be discovered that those receipts also were for new chrome trim, etc. He's been car and motorcycle shopping on craigslist.com. Every night he laments that "great, now that I sent the Chrysler to be fixed, there is a **** online, I can buy." I find it to be annoying when he does this. I think the responsible thing was to do exactly as we did. I think I'd be hurt if I gave someone a car and they just let it sit in their yard, while they bought several other cars. Now, he is considering selling the Chrysler and buying a motorcycle. He feels like the poor kid when his friends talk about going riding and he can't. I don't care if he gets a motorcycle, but I'll be left driving the Cadillac and since it was the car he bought to drive, I'll always feel like it's his car and feel funny driving it.

Not that I expect the Cadillac to stick around long. He's been talking about selling it since he bought it. Please dear Lord, let my husband be happy long enough to stop. I was surprised that the Lincoln made it 10 1/2 months. Glenn's usual ownership is 6 months. Although, he's been itching to sell it since September (which was 4 months of ownership). I'm used to buy and keep until it's unfixable. I wouldn't mind too much if it didn't cost me money everytime he did it. He sells a car for 1,000 then buys a new one for 1,000. So now the transfer has cost me $$$. No gain! I like gain.

I'm laughing out loud right now as I look at Cameron. He's on webkinz.com and just virtually spun a wheel and he has his fingers crossed. It's so cute.

As I said before, I'm snarky...sarcastic, if you may. I've been reading http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?&showforum=490 and my favorite shows to read/snark about are Real Housewives of New York, Table for Twelve, RHoOC, and Little People, Big World. Yes, I know, I need a life. If you ever need a good laugh, visit this site and read the forums, especially the RHoNY, the posts have been especially hilarious lately. If you actually watch RHoNY or Judge Judy, visit http://jezebel.com/5194344/comic-confrontations-judge-judy-vs-the-real-housewives-of-new-york it will make you laugh so hard, you'll cry. I read it while Glenn was asleep beside me and had the hardest time holding my laugh in.

I'm currently going through Grey's Anatomy withdrawal so I've ramped up my reality tv watching. Table for Twelve is a new show on TLC about a family with 2 sets of twins and a set of sextuplets. They are great and the complete opposite of Jon & Kate Plus 8. I saw the preview of Real Housewives of New Jersey and I think it's gonna be a wild ride.

Now, as a balm for my soul, I'll go watch Seventh Heaven. Have a great weekend.

Dirty, rotten bunny tortures again

Every Easter there is an egg hunt! Of course there is. As we went to my mother in laws this year, she had the honor of it being at her house. She has a big yard with a beautiful garden. Normally, the children are forbidden to be in the garden. I fear raking leaves in the pachisandra sp. June brought 72 eggs (12 for each child, color coded) and one golden egg containing $5. I supplied 2 dozen prefilled eggs that I picked up last year for a quarter a dozen. Sweet deal! So now we have 97 eggs hidden amongs the trucks, garden and boats throughout their yard. I have to say, it's hard to find space for all those eggs.

Cameron, Linda, Shawna, Shannon & Keara

We hid the eggs around 12:30 when we got home from church. Poor Cameron was the only kid at the gathering until around 3:30. So what do you think a solo child would do? He roamed the yard! He found the golden egg and kept it to himself. Once dinner was over, the kids made a beeline for the yard and their eggs. Cameron did not quite understand the concept of: Cameron, green eggs, Keara, pink eggs, etc. He found 3 eggs that weren't his and was forced to hand them over :<. Then onto the golden egg. Of course, it was determined that he had an unfair advantage so Glenn let him keep the $5 and refilled to be hidden again anonymously. Meaning that the adults would pass it around quietly until the kids were so confused about who held it and then it would be hidden. Uncle Jim was the final holder. He hid it and then after dessert, the kids went back out to find it. Cameron was allowed to participate as it would be a fair hunt this time. The clues were given...down low with a view in the side yard. Uncle Ernie took that to mean that it was hidden low in plain sight, yeah right! Keara, with her broken arm used a broomstick to flip through those leaves leftover at the edge of the fence and in the basement window wells. I truly believed it was in the window wells and persuaded her to dig deep in there. I helped for about a half hour then we had to get home to Milo who had been alone in the house since 9:30 when we left for church. It was 7:00 p.m. by now. The kids were still looking when we left.

Cameron and Glenn went to the baseball game on Monday then I met Alan, Wilma, George, Cameron and Glenn for dinner before we went to AAA to buy a car and sell a car (they bought a car from Tony's FIL, we sold the Lincoln). At dinner I asked about the egg. It was in the well, under a rock. No way would we ever put our hands in those leaves to move a rock. Good hiding bunny Jim!

Cameron at the Pirates home opener

Score 7-0, PIRATES WIN!!!!!

There ended up being 4 cakes and 2 peanut butter pies for dessert. Can we say sugar overload. So we were able to bring some of the bunny cake home. Jerry's girls made a chocolate bunny cake that was very cute also. I did not get a picture though.

The bunny cake I baked and Glenn decorated

Today was back to school. Cameron and I agree that we miss Spring Breaks in Florida where you usually got a week off of school. Cameron did return to find that his English teacher was at the hospital to have her baby so he had a new English teacher. We knew it was coming, just not today. She anticipated late March or early April so I guess the baby was late.

The Easter Bunny took a shortcut

This weekend has been quite fun-filled. Thursday night we dyed eggs. Actually, Glenn and Cameron did. I put one egg in the pink and it took all evening to dye. Instead, I baked a cake.

Yesterday, Cameron and I went to Tanger Outlets in Washington County. I found a cute outfit for Cameron for Easter. It was a short set. Whoops! It was quite cold today. Glenn decorated the cake last night after the Penguins won their final regular season game.

This morning, Cameron starting waking us up at 6 a.m. looking for his Easter basket. In our house, the bunny hides the basket and the kids have to find it. He must have woken us up at least 10 times between 6 and 7:30. I knew that it was on the porch hiding on the other side of the hutch. I kept telling him to check all the corners. My mother in law called at 7:49 about paper plates so we got up and went out to see if Cam ever found the basket. Nope. I finally recommended that he check the porch, maybe the bunny could not get in. He did and lo and behold there it was. He was very excited as it was Webkinz themed. The past year he has really been into Webkinz.

Off to church. The service was beautiful and then we went to Glenn's parents house for dinner. A few minor blips but otherwise a great day. The egg hunt for the kids was very time consuming. I'm not sure that some of the girls ever found all of their eggs. Cameron had been alone most of the day and used the time to wander the yard scoping out the eggs. Not a big deal because each kid had their own color to find. However, there was a "golden egg" with $5 in it. Of course he ran right out and got it. Glenn felt bad so he let Cam keep the money and then put another $5 in it. Later, Uncle Jim rehid the egg. As of our leaving noone had found it. I even helped the kids but could not find it myself.

It was a great Easter. However, I think Cameron would have enjoyed it a little more had the Easter bunny not taken a shortcut and put the basket on the porch.

Which Peanuts character are you?

Glenn and I have often referred to Cameron as Linus as he has been attached to his ti-ti since he could walk. Yet, recently it's become PigPen. I swear that child could attract dirt in a tub. He can't drink without forming a ring around his mouth. How does he do that?

Glenn is my ever loveable Charlie Brown. No particular reason, but he is certainly the star of my show. Ever feeling like he can't accomplish anything, but he really does.

Of course, Milo is Snoopy. The family canine who believes he's really human and runs the show.

Kelly is Lucy. Bossy and downright cute. Hates when the dog kisses her.

Me, I always feel like the parent or teacher in the background who, when talking, sounds like "wah, wah, wah." I don't think anyone really hears me or understands me, but, I'm here in a pinch.

I love my family and I'm sure to outsiders we must look like a cartoon. Trust me, inside we are a cartoon.

Hopefully, you now have a smile. Take that smile and pass it on. :>

WPXI Field trip

Today was Cameron's field trip to the NBC WPXI news studio. It was quite informative.

First, we were directed to meet in a meeting/conference room and the tour guides took us through a power point presentation of who and what is involved in a tv show. Then we were allowed to tour the actual studio.

As it was right after lunch, 1 p.m., the news room and studio were quite empty. We passed through the newsroom where there were so many TVs it would make a gamer jealous. Cameron imagined all the different systems and games he could switch between at once. LOL

Then into the main event, the NEWS STUDIO. The kids were allowed to roam freely provided they did not touch the computers. They were allowed to sit at the news desk and play in front of the mono screen which the weather forecasts are done in front of.

Cameron at the News Desk and in giving the weather.

We were able to watch a live weather broadcast from literally feet away. I was amazed that Scott Harbaugh was able to do a several minute broadcast with no teleprompter or notes. He said he does a live broadcast every twelve minutes throughout the afternoon.



Scott Harbaugh broadcasting live on PCNC

We were then led through the big heavy doors that were in the original Channel 11 studios into another studio that is used to house and tape shows such as The Jerome Bettis Show. We were able to see the room that the person in charge of punching up the commercials sits.

Fortunately, the severe weather and emergencies held off long enough for us venture outside and meet Chopper Bill and see the Channel 11 chopper up close.

Cameron and the Channel 11 Chopper

Cameron and I had a great day together. It was nice to spend some time where he wanted to hold my hand and be with me. I know those days are fleeting and will soon be over so I plan to enjoy them for as long as I can. Glenn wanted to join us, but, the coordinator at the school told us parents would not be able to tour. When we arrived we found that all parents could and it was a slight disappointment that Glenn was not there to enjoy it with us.

Life is fabulous

For once, in it seems quite some time, everything is looking up. Glenn has been home at a decent hour all week. By decent, I mean before 9 or 10. Today, we actually were able to spend some time at work together.

Today, Glenn had to detail a motorcycle and I needed to get over and cut the graphics for the other side of a van. Silly me did not put my logic hat on when I did the job originally. Who would ever guess that a van would want their business name on both sides? I'm starting to feel like my brain is in that post-baby fog that we all get immediately after we birth our little miracles and realize that they have sucked all of our brain power through our nether regions. You'd think after 10 years I'd be okay.

Linda and Alan were supposed to come down last night to buy a car that Alan wants to fix and resell. Unfortunately for them the title to the car is in Charlotte and won't be here for a few days. Fortunate for me as I did not have to rush around cleaning the house.

I swear Cameron is a walking disaster zone. He leaves a messy trail everywhere he goes. And when he can't take that mess, he moves on and makes a new one. He has two rooms and both are destroyed. Glenn and I have found a new use for the snow shovel....we use it to scoop up the voluminous pile of cars that Cameron insists on spreading out downstairs. Not such a big deal, except they are spread through the walkway to get from the basement to the stairs leading up to the living area. Very annoying when you have a laundry basket or bag of groceries. I have taken to walking to the front of the house to get in. Coupled with the area rug folded up and set right in the walkway from the laundry area to the inside door to Cameron's room, I hate going down to the basement.

Glenn and I have been laughing for the past week about our anniversary card. We went to Wal-Mart on our way out of town Friday night and each of us separately went to pick up a card for the next day. As the cashier picked them up, I noticed that the backs looked exactly alike, I know that most cards look alike, but, there was a plastic that folded over it. I asked her to glance at them both without us seeing them and letting us know if they were the same. THEY WERE!!! How many couples do you know who buy the same card for each other? This has been quite a card year for me. Glenn informed me in February that I had bought him the same Valentine's Day card for the past few years (except when I was away). I explained that I must really mean those words if I keep repeating them.

Yesterday, Cameron and I took our weekly drive north. First, we stopped for Occupational therapy and I used that time to put in a quick phone call to Sherry, my favorite sister in law. It was quite informative for me as she explained that Sacagawea has two pronunciations. Please don't ask how we get into these conversations, I'm not sure we know. It's always interesting to talk to her. I really wish we could have spent more time together and gotten closer when I still lived 3 hours away from her in Florida. Oh well, coulda woulda shoulda. I think we are both in a good place and more even paced together now than we were then. After occupational therapy we drove to Butler to pick up Glenn's glasses. I dropped them off when I took Cameron to June's a few weeks ago. There was a scratch in the lens. A little dustup trying to make them understand that I did not have the lenses, therefore, I cannot return them at this point. There was a note in the file with the glasses to request the lenses. After that, I headed to the best part of the day, BEST BUY. I love Best Buy, they have great stuff and even better warranty/replacement plans. I've been without my laptop since early March due to a fan issue. Here's where my day starts to go downhill. I was informed that the hard drive was damaged in shipping. They are able to replace in in the store, but need my recovery disk to reinstall windows. Luckily, I always transport my computer in the bag, which contains the recovery disk. I whipped it out and asked how long. A few hours to a few days. I went to the bank and then was forced to wander around Target hoping the computer would be done in a few hours. By 3:30, even I was done for and opted to head home. Tomorrow, I am heading to Cranberry to revisit the chiropractor, go the bank and hopefully pick my baby up. Wish me luck.

Cameron has been writing his own homework in his book this week. That is a major improvement. He had another long assignment to do this week. He had to recopy the odd problems from his math book and solve them on paper, then scan and submit them to his teacher before class today. I started him on 15 problems around 5:30 yesterday, I even helped him solve them, wrote the problems out for him so all he had to do was copy our work onto the paper I wrote for him. He worked on it until after 10 last night then had to get up at 7:30 this morning to finish. He kept waking me up to tell me he was working on it. I just kept telling him to bring me the finished project. School started at 10. He brought it to me at 9:48. I asked him to write his name on top. I was so proud, he wanted to write in cursive. I ignored the lowercase c in Cameron, but had to laugh and comment when he spelled Hazlett as Hazllett. I quickly grabbed it, scanned it and emailed it. During class, the teacher informed us that we did not read the directions correctly, it was supposed to be sent through the testing website. I resent it and hopefully he gets a good grade.

Yesterday, he took his spelling test and 6th English test. He scored 20/21 on spelling and 82% on the English test. I'm really proud of him. I sat with him through the tests and I did not even know alot of the answers on the test. I was never good with adverbs and other parts of speech.

I've done really well with my diet. I have not had any soda since Saturday at the museum. Tonight, however, we decided to go for Dairy Queen for dinner. I don't think I can count the banana split as a good dairy/fruit exchange. Cameron had a mini-meltdown as he wanted chocolate ice cream in his blizzard. Glenn nor I heard him say it so we held firm and threatened that Glenn would eat it and he'd have none. By time we got home, that vanilla ice cream was okay. We are trying to hold firm on our decisions, Cameron is using his ODD in full force to fight us. I thought I'd have to give him a second pill today as his 4 hours ended at 11:30 this morning. He did okay in class. Only a few times did he try to discuss movies and games with me instead of class. It took me a minute to remember school and promptly refocused him. Luckily, he only had 1 page of math and I skipped the spelling as he did so well on the test, as homework.

We keep reworking our vacation, so stay tuned for the final product. As of now, we are considering flying to Phoenix, renting a car and basing ourselves out of Williams, Arizona (Grand Canyon area). We figure we can get in some skiing in Aspen, show Cameron *and me* the lights of the Vegas strip and visit Hollywood, all of which are within a days drive of Williams. We can spend more time in each place and less time driving all over. I found a great attraction at the Grand Canyon that closes on December 23rd so we really were having a hard time getting there if we drove.

The Grand Canyon railroad has a "Polar Express" train that runs twice a night through 12/23. It goes from the Grand Canyon to the North Pole. They serve cookies and hot cocoa and once at the North Pole, Santa climbs aboard and gives each child a small gift.

This may be our last year for Cameron believing so we want it to be a great year. He has missed many visits with Santa through the years due to our being too busy to get him there or impatient about standing in line. This should be one great memory. After that we have not real set schedule. I found airfare leaving Pgh on 12/17 and returning 1/1 for $721.00 total for all three of us. I think that price is pretty reasonable.

It's almost 2 am and I really should get to sleep. Good night.

Oh, on a great note, I spoke with Kelly's dad the other day. She took her pre-test for the GED and only missed 2 questions. They recommended she take the test soon. Mike is supposed to go watch a video and talk to the appropriate people and schedule Kelly for the test. She should take it next week. He'll let me know if there is any kind of ceremony for her. If so, I'll have to dip into vacation money so I can fly down and see her.

Dinner with a side order of police!

Tonight, Glenn and I worked until around 8:15 so we decided to forego the meatloaf and head out to Kings. Glenn had been having a bad day and just wanted to eat and come home to bed. Cameron was in rare form.

At one point, I had had enough of Cameron's mouth and threatened to sit in the car until dinner was over. Glenn convinced me to stay and I picked up my book I carry with me so I could just ignore him for a little bit. Cameron told me to go ahead, he'd bring my dinner to me. With Glenn's mood and every other word emitted from Cameron's mouth being sassy, he slapped Cameron in the mouth. Not a proper choice, but he'd reached the end of his rope, or so we thought.

A few minutes later Cameron told Glenn to "shut the h*ll up" or something to that effect with the profanity. That was Glenn's last straw. He pushed Cameron up and took him to the bathroom. Always a threat that we've rarely if ever had to use. But, a 10 year old telling any adult that is UNACCEPTABLE.

As soon as they stood up, the lady at the next table started yelling at us that we were wrong. The staff asked her to be quiet, I told her to mind her own business and even asked the waitress to cancel our order. We'd even pay, but I'd had enough of everything at this point. The lady said she'd call the cops and proceeded to do so.

Our server understood our dilemma and offered to move us to the back dining room. We accepted and went. A few moments later, we weren't even completely seated yet, Cameron came out of the men's room and sat down. He heard the lady and now he was mad at her and over his anger at us.

We continued on to eat our dinner with the support of the staff. At one point, the waitress told us that the lady had indeed called the police. Now, Glenn is supremely pissed.

We saw the police drive up but continued to eat our dinner. Once we were done, the officer came back to talk to us. He explained that in no way did he agree with the lady. He explained to her that all families are entitled to raise and discipline their children as they saw fit. He talked to Cameron and determined that there was no abuse. He could see that Cameron was happily eating his dinner and conversing with the officers.

I told him that I thought one of the problems in today's society is that many children are allowed to speak to adults in an inappropriate manner and do other things without discipline. He agreed and recounted that he had been the recipient of many stone cold beatings and he's none the worse for the wear. He explained to Cameron that his mouth can get him in a lot of trouble. Haven't we told Cameron this before?! He took down Glenn's name, but assured us that it was informational only and would go no further.

Glenn offered to share his discipline with the lady, but the officer and I told him that it was a bad idea and stop saying it. By the end of the episode he was shaking.

Anyone who knows Glenn knows that he is the patient parent. Yes, he has tweaked in the past, but he's generally a better parent than I. And he is not abusive towards a person. He usually destroys property. He's never ever raised his hand to me in 23, almost 24 years. We had been contemplating cheating on our diet for dessert, but Glenn had lost his appetite over the entire situation. We paid our bill and left.

Unfortunately, on the way home, Glenn stopped and bought yet another pack of cigarettes. I handled that well until he lit up in the car. I'm not sure how many he smoked as he stayed outside for awhile talking to Tony and Rob about the situation. When he finally came in I convinced him to shower and then gave him the computer to surf Craigslist.com.

If you've read my previous posts, you know that I will give in to Cameron to avoid a scene in a restaurant. This time the planets aligned and not for his benefit.

When we got home, I gave Cameron his shot and then sent him to bed. Tomorrow is Occupational Therapy. I see a full day of medication as he needs to be "on" for O/T and then for testing when he gets home. In between we have to go to Cranberry to the bank and Best Buy (computer comes home :>...can you imagine my smile since I will no longer have to share with Glenn), then to Butler to pick up Glenn's glasses. A long day again. Fortunately, I have all of my signage work done until Friday. Yippee! I expect tomorrow to be better. I know we all have bad days. Today everyone did and Cameron suffered for it. We handled it well except for his two inappropriate comments. And FYI, he would have had his mouth smacked or spanking for saying that to Glenn no matter where we were.