Our Week

This past week had it's ups and downs.  Our new addition to the family (Neeka an Alaskan Husky) decided to escape our 6 ft. fence.  There was a board that had broken and we had no idea she could skinny through that small hole.  This was Wed. morning around 5:40AM.  Neeka is a runner and she runs fast so there was no telling how far she had gotten since we didn't know exactly when she escaped.  Danny walked the neighborhood... I grabbed Katherine and her back pack and drove the neighborhood in pitch dark.  At 6:30 we had not seen any sign of her.  I put a tearful Katherine on the bus and Danny and I decided to wait until it was light out to go look again.  I told Danny to open the gate to the backyard in case Neeka came back on her own.  Well that's what happened, Neeka just appeared in the backyard on her own around 7:15 AM.


We decided we needed to head up to the school to tell Katherine Neeka was home and safe so she wouldn't be upset all day at school.  We got there 5 min. before school started and were told we couldn't see her.  Our only option was to write a note to her.  I was mad.. really mad.  Danny said it's not like someone died, just let it go.  I kept saying they have no legal right to keep my child from me.... I turned into a mama bear protecting her cub.  I know it wasn't an emergency, but to be told I couldn't see my child!  OH NO!!!  Katherine came home and told me she got the note during lunch 1 hr. before school ended... now I was even more upset.  So after I calmed down some I e-mailed the principle.  I was nice in the e-mail but did express my anger in a polite manner.


Thursday morning I get a phone call, the principle wants to meet with us in his office Friday morning.  Oh I so did not want to meet the principle... but Danny and I went in... their explanation which I have a hard time believing, was they thought I wanted to see Katherine's teacher not Katherine.  I have serious doubts, but have chosen to believe the story and let them deal with their decision to lie if they did lie.  There are some behind the scene things going on also that I have no proof of that would let me believe there are other things going on... but since I have no proof I can't say much without looking like a paranoid idiot.  Now while I may occasionally be an idiot, I do not need to prove that fact for everyone... it will be my little secret. LOL


Friday evening... the highlight of my week.  My precious girl was honored during half time at the high school boys varsity basketball game.  I was so proud that she had been nominated for this honor, because she truly does make me proud.  She's not perfect and makes mistakes, but she has a very loving, caring and giving heart and she makes our whole family proud of her behavior.  We had a great time at the game.  I got into the game and was cheering... Danny was cheering a tad and Katherine finally got into it in the 4th period and started cheering too.  It was so much fun.  Below is a picture of Katherine with the basketball team and coach.  The coach made a very good short and sweet motivational speech and told the kids to stop the stinkin thinkin that tells them they can't do something.  He said if your brain tells you you can't do something add the word yet to the sentence.  I can't do this math problem YET!... I can't run a mile Yet!  I had just had this talk with Katherine I was so happy she could hear this from someone other than mom. Great ending to a rough week... and I am going to stop the stinkin thinkin myself.

Katherine is kneeling on the right.. navy blue Salinas shirt 4th one from the right.

Friendship

The past couple of years Danny, but mostly I, have been struggling with a friendship.  Usually I am spot on when meeting someone if that person's personality will mesh with mine and if we will be friendly or "friends".  This time however I think I ignored my gut intuition and tried in vain to make a friendship work when it was very toxic to me.


My question I guess is do a lot of people find themselves in toxic friendships or is this something that occurs very rarely?


In my case the toxic friendship was based on me being used... I take 50% responsibility for the toxicity because I have a back bone and could have said no, and normally would have, but chose not to over and over again.  Most of the time I took pity on this other person or did it for the sake of my daughters friendship with this "friend's" daughter.   I was told 2 years ago to cut off this friendship from other friends who were not mutual friends of ours, and I didn't.  It just came to a point where I could give no more of myself and get nothing in return... and it wasn't just monetarily it was emotional, time.. service and compassion.  Things were wonderful if I was doing this person a favor or helping them... once I started saying no that's when things turned ugly.  Looking back over there years our family has done numerous acts of service for the other family and not once did they ever do any acts of service towards us with out a condition of we did this for you the other week and were wondering if you wouldn't mind doing this for us since we did yada yada.  There was one occasion where I let myself be pressured into spending a lot of money that I really didn't have to spend and have regretted it ever since.  I also found myself becoming more negative about the world around me which I began to dislike... I found myself making comments about others that were not complimentary which was not like me... I began to take on this other person's attitude and for that I regret.  I wish I could go back and stop myself from letting out the negative comments (I don't ever think I made mean comments, at least I hope not and I don't remember any) but my focus on the negative side of things began to suck some of the joy out of my life.  It really is easy to get sucked into the glass is half empty attitude when you surround yourself with people who see it that way.  I am not saying I don't have an occasional bad day or that nothing bad ever happens... but I like to think that at the very least I learn a good lesson form the bad things and I grow from them.


My husband, who is usually very slow on the uptake when it comes to seeing people for who they really are nailed this family on the head.  He never ever wanted to be around them, he'd grudgingly go once in a while and I'd find myself making excuses as to why he would not join us or visit.  I think he secretly got down on the ground and prayed a prayer of thanks when I told him the friendship was over.  When I did end it I felt such a relief and like this thousand pound weight had been taken of my shoulders.  This was just a confirmation that ending the friendship was the right thing to do for me.  I hadn't really understood just how much stress I had put myself under trying to remain friends.  I'm not sure exactly why I feel a little guilty about it though.  Maybe it's because I feel I should have ended it long before I did, maybe it's because I don't want to admit to myself that I failed at a friendship... even though I know intellectually it takes give and take on both parts to have a good friendship.  I'm not really sure, but I know I still struggle with it.


However I do know I will get over this and that this whole experience has brought me to treasure my friends even more.  I may not have my best friends geographically close, and we may not talk on the phone much and we may not see each other or write letters often.... but I know my true friends would be there for me in a heartbeat if I just asked.  I have been very blessed in my life to have some really awesome friends.  I would do almost anything for them and I know they would do the same.  So to all my friends who may or may not read this post.  THANK YOU for being my friend. THANK YOU for being good examples in my life.  THANK YOU for bringing me laughter to the point of almost peeing my pants (okay I might have once or twice peed my pants but you'll never know) LOL.  THANK YOU for your smile.  THANK YOU for a hug.  THANK YOU for inspiring me without even know it, and THANK YOU for being you.

Best of Intentions

I really do have the best of intentions... and almost a year ago when I last posted an update, I really did think I was going to be much better at updating my blog....but nope. So once again I am going to try to post more often. Here is a a quick update on the last year.

Katherine decked out in her Daddy's Team cheerleader outfit...

a present from her to her Daddy for Christmas.

Katherine and her newest cousin, Alyssa.

Joseph and Julie's daughter (4 mnths)

Katherine and Pop Pop on their annual Thanksgiving Day walk.

The grey/white Husky... our new addition to the fur members of our family.

Neeka! She came to use a stray in October and is the sweetest girl ever.

Katherine and her Daddy on a sunset dolphin cruise (Gulf Shores, Alabama)

Katherine walking along the beach in Gulf Shores

Katherine & Danny in a blue angels jet at the naval aviation museum.

Katherine eating alligator while on vacation.

Katherine outside of the beach house right before leaving for home.

We had a very busy year and a very good year. Katherine continued with her swim lessons during the summer and was able to pass the swim test that allowed her to swim anywhere in the pool unsupervised. Along way from not even being able to put her face in the water when she started. I must say we have been very, very, very blessed with a lot of love and laughter this past year and look forward to another year full of the same if not more.

It's been a long time

We'll so much for me keeping up on the blogging... but I am going to try again. This year Katherine asked us to let her take cheer leading classes. I had asked her in the past about it and she always said NO!.... this time she asked me so I thought I should at least try. The classes are offered on a pay as you go basis and you can choose to perform for the San Antonio Spurs at one of their games and in the St. Patrick's Day parade... she chose to do both. Here is a video of her first rehearsal for the performances.. this is in addition to her class routines she is learning. She is in the teal tank top and black bicycle shorts.

I'm so proud of her... as my brother told me she suffers from CRD (Caucasian rhythm disorder). She is also doing this without any of her friends being involved which is major in her life. She only learned these moves today in an hour and a half clinic. She sure is growing up fast.

Don't Be Scared

I know.. it's been forever and a day since I posted anything. I'm not sure why I haven't posted other than losing my password, but after all I did figure it out a while back.



Lots of things to catch up on... this year we did not get season passes to Sea World and I really missed it. Hubs not so much. He says you go one time you've done it and you don't need to do it again. I say.. you've done it once you keep going back each time there is something new to discover. I know Katherine was a little disappointed, but I am hoping to get them this coming year.



Our poor little dog came down with Leptosporosis and we figured it came from the craptastic neighbors behind us. The house has been in need of repair (lots of people keep coming and going). Some people from Tennessee moved in and we thought we had finally some decent neighbors. They chatted and said they were fixing up the house and seemed really nice. 3 months later they packed up the house and left... leaving the house in shambles. So what did we find.. that house has rats (I say mice Hubs says rats... maybe I am in denial cause rats sound so much worse than a little tiny mouse... but both are gross). Well rats/mice spread the lepto and Hubs has caught 5 of these critters in our backyard that we share with the craptastic neighbors. Anyway... long story short and lots of money later our darling dog pulled out of a very serious case and survived surprising the vet and us. We love him and you'd never know he has permant kidney damage from the 3 week ordeal. We've learned alot and we are so thankful that he found the strength to fight and get back to normal.



Katherine started the 2nd grade (can't belive she's that old) and she's doing so well. Her challenge this year was that she was put in a class with all new kids. She is still trying to find a best friend in her class, but she still has her besties from Kinder and 1st grade even if they aren't in the same class. I am proud to announce for the first quarter she did have straight A's. We are so proud of her.

Katherine & Mrs. Garcia

We have also been lucky enough to have family that have allowed us to use their property in the country to go have a good time and get away from the city... it's so peaceful and pretty there.. here is a sunset picture

Katherine and Hubs in the RTV... it's fun to ride around and explore.



here our our little puppies (poopies)

Since life is calling and I need to get chores around the house done, I'll close this post with Katherine's birthday portrait... more to come later. I'm posting this now so I don't forget.

OOPS!

I know I haven't blogged in forever, but I lost my password and just now figured out how to get into my blog to post... So much to Catch up on, so little time. I promise more blog entries to follow... In the meantime here is one of my favorite pictures from mother's day 2007... my little baby isn't a baby anymore... she's a big second grader starting tomorrow.

Interesting Conversation with Katherine

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with my 7 yr. old.

Katherine: Mom don't throw out the empty Dr. Pepper bottle in the refrigerator.

Mom: Why?

Katherine: It's got my voice in it... ya wanna hear?

Mom: No! Don't let your voice escape. How'd your voice get in the bottle?? Ursula and
Ariel???

Katherine: Yup! Just like the little mermaid.

My question is.. why do we need to store her voice in the refrigerator??? I'm all for preserving her sweet little girl voice. I know when she's 16 I'll be longing for it.